Chapter Seven: Spear of Justice

I don't know how long Sans and I talked, how long I answered his questions about what the surface was like. He listened to everything raptly. I'd never met anyone as curious as I was! It felt… nice. It was nice to share my knowledge with someone, even if I couldn't answer all of his questions. It took my mind off of what being killed and dying for good would be like, at least, but I knew I couldn't stay. I couldn't get to Asgore without going through Undyne, and she wasn't intent on letting me past her.

I was determined to disappoint her. "The third time's the charm," after all.

I excused myself. Sans, still sitting on the bench, bid me a laid-back farewell. I made it back to the pier but this time, before stepping out into her sight, I limbered up and prepared myself to run before she ever saw me. She might still try to block my way, but maybe if I got a running start she'd be too surprised to do it. It was worth a shot, at any rate.

I ran. I didn't like how loud my boots were on the boards, but there was no helping it. I ran past the point where Undyne always started her attack before and I heard her shout for me to stop. I didn't, naturally, and then the rain of spears began.

Now that I was calmer I noticed that the spears always made a sound when they first appeared, hung in the air for a fraction of a second then flew toward me. She couldn't change their direction once they were on their way. They were easier to dodge than I originally thought, but the trick was to stay calm. Sometimes it was best to stand in place and wait for them to fall, then ducking under them to continue running. Sometimes I had to lure them to a corner before running the way I needed to. I was still getting hit, but not nearly as much as I had the first time, and none of the spears turned green.

I made it to the long grass at the other end of the pier. Now that she wasn't above me I hoped it would hide me better. I crouched down to my knees and stilled, trying not to breathe too loudly. I heard Undyne walk closer and closer, and her armor clinked softly as I watched her raise an arm. She brought it down decisively, and I thought I heard someone squeak as she raised them above the grass. It turned out to be the monster kid, who was being held by the cheek and didn't seem to mind his predicament at all.

She let him down and left. Once I could no longer hear her I made for the other side of the grass, the monster kid following after me. Half of his face was rather swollen…

"Yo! Did you see that!? Undyne just… TOUCHED ME! I'm never washing my face ever again!" He shook his head at me. "Man, are you unlucky. If you'd been standing just a little to the left…!" He smiled. "Yo, don't worry! I'm sure we'll see her again!" He dashed ahead, tripping again.

I was relieved to find another save point (oddly, my clothing was mended along with the health I'd lost). The echo flower next to the mouse hole was cute, because it squeaked like the mouse living in the wall. Further on I was a little surprised to see Sans standing next to a telescope. He said he normally charged a fee to use it, but since he knew me I could use it for free. Thinking there could be another hint I took advantage of his kindness, but the telescope didn't work. All I could see was pink, no matter where I looked. When I straightened my back and looked at him he asked if I was dissatisfied, and that he'd give me a refund. It was then I noticed something was odd about the eye I'd put to the telescope. My fingertips came away covered in pink paint and Sans laughed at the face I made. I had a thought and grinned.

While he was distracted by his own laughter I pressed my finger between his brow ridges, leaving a little paint dot behind. I said, "Well, don't you look tickled pink!" before dashing for the marsh. I half-expected him to chase me, but he seemed content to stay where he was. Lucky for me he was such a lazybones.

This far into the marsh the environment was very different from where I entered Waterfall. The water was shining all around, lily pads floating and cattail-like plants called "water sausages" growing. I had learned what they were called from one of Mother's books…

More little mushroom trees were growing from short, almost black grass that barely reflected the ambient luminescence. There were more echo flowers, and I heard the beginning of a passing conversation between two people. One person asking if the other had a wish to make, that second person saying they did, but it was "kind of stupid."

As I walked along, being challenged by random monsters that were far less scary than Undyne, I received another call from Papyrus. He wanted to talk about how the friend he mentioned earlier had a rather "murdery" opinion of me. But, since I was such a smart cookie, I would figure that out and change what I was wearing after such a suspicious question! That way I'd stay safe, there'd be no betrayal, he wouldn't have to lie and he could stay friends with the both of us.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't think what I wore would really matter to Undyne. She had to know what I looked like, minus the bandanna, by now. I only thanked him before he hung up.

Onward. I found ancient writing continuing the story of the old war. It simply said that the power to take their SOULs is what humans feared of monsters.

I walked until I was at a crossroads. I found a sign saying an "artifact of great power" was in one direction, but I wasn't interested in power so I went down the other. I found more ancient writing, saying that the power to take a human SOUL had no counter. Humans couldn't take a monster's SOUL because it disappeared immediately upon death, and it would take incredible power to take the SOUL of a living monster.

But there was an exception. The "Boss Monster," whose SOULs were strong enough to persist after death, if only for a moment. A human could take it, but it had never happened, and it never would.

I came across an old statue being illuminated from above, somehow, with water falling upon it. There was something… forlorn about it. The structures at its feet were strangely dry, like it was protecting something. A little ways past it was a basket full of umbrellas, and a sign saying "please take one!" It was perfect, so I took one to the statue. Once it was covered by the umbrella, a music box started playing a song from the statue's feet! I listened to it while I sketched.

Back at the umbrella basket I took one and moved forward. I was grateful for the umbrella, as water was falling like rain from… somewhere. If I had to guess, I'd say it was all condensation falling from the ceiling. I met the monster kid again and we shared the umbrella. As we walked, he gushed some more about Undyne. Saying how "cool" she was, and how she never lost to anyone.

We passed by an echo flower growing a ways off the road. As though it reminded him of something, he told me a story about a project he had in school. How King "Mr. Dreemurr" brought seeds to grow and teach everyone about responsibility. He then told me he'd thought "How cool would it be to have Undyne at school! Then she'd beat up the teachers!"

I couldn't think of anything to say in response and kept walking. Then he said "Well, maybe it wouldn't be that cool. She doesn't hurt the innocent, after all!" That… gave me mixed feelings about her. I was innocent… but as I thought about it, from her point of view, maybe I wasn't.

The "rain" stopped, but I held on to the umbrella just in case. We walked into a room where the ceiling soared above our heads with stones shining like stars up above. In the distance was the castle, illuminated by lights all over the capital. I was in awe, and even the monster kid paused to stare at it, with me.

"Yo… You ever been to the capital before?" When I told him I hadn't, he said "Me neither. I've never left Snowdin 'til today. Mom and Dad never let me do anything fun, like explore. But today's been AWESOME, hanging with you! I mean, we've already seen Undyne twice! I can't wait to see her again!" I could only say that it might happen sooner than he thought.

We reached the end of the road and I was able to put the umbrella away in another basket. The only way forward was up a ledge that was too high for me to reach. The monster kid had an idea, kneeling so I could step onto his shoulders for a boost up. Once up on the ledge, I thanked him and asked what he was going to do, without arms and all.

He smiled and said, "Don't worry about me! I always find a way through!" He tripped, yet again, in his haste to go and find that route.

More ancient writing lined the walls. The humans declared war and attacked suddenly, without mercy. It could hardly be called a war. The humans had been too powerful, and the monsters too weak. Not a single SOUL had been taken, and countless monsters were turned to dust…

With that laying heavily on my mind, I walked until I was on a wooden structure not unlike the pier, but without water below. The posts were rooted down, down, down in the stygian blackness. I could just barely see more decking below me. I walked on, only to stop when circles of light surrounded me. They suddenly became spears, rising from the deck before disappearing! I couldn't see her, but I knew Undyne had to be below me.

Her attacks were easier to dodge than last time. The spots of light telegraphed where they'd be sprung, so I could run past without worrying about not seeing it. The main problem was the maze-like layout of the deck I was running on. But as I advanced Undyne's assault became faster and faster, so I took that as a sign that I was nearing the end and she was getting desperate to stop me. Although I suppose she could have been getting angry.

I reached the end of the line. There was no way forward so I doubled back, hoping I could find another way out of here, but…

Clank, clank, clank, clank

It was too late. Undyne was blocking the way. We stared at one another, me trying to catch my breath and her just being intimidating. Then, spears from above destroyed the deck! My stomach flipped as the floor gave way out from under me, and I fell into the dark…

"It sounds like it came from over there… Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you…? Are you okay? Here, get up… Frisk, huh? My… name… is…"

I woke up and couldn't remember where I was. I listened to sound of rushing water until remembered. I sat up and found myself laying in another bed of golden flowers. I thought,*How are these growing here, without any sunlight?, then stood. The flowers were surrounded by bits of decking that had come down with me. When I looked up, I couldn't see anything and had to wonder how far down I'd fallen.

I stepped into knee-deep water. I was surrounded by waterfalls, and I found a save point amongst heaps of old trash from the surface. Some of it would flow down and into the abyss below. As I looked for a way out, or at least forward, I passed by more heaps of trash. Sometimes I would see a brand name I recognized from before The Blackout, and even found a computer that seemed beyond repair. There was a pile of dust jackets made of plaspaper, a material that was being made right before The Blackout which was waterproof and more durable than even laminated paper, and yet still felt like paper. At least, until someone with claws tears them, like these had been. All the ones I could make out seemed to be for fantasy novels.

There was a training dummy, just like the one Mother had used to teach me how to "fight." I stared at it, thinking of introducing myself the way I had to the other, then decided not to bother. But before I could walk more than a few steps an angry voice shouted at me.

I turned back around, but found nobody. Then, the training dummy slowly turned toward me… and its eyes changed. It dove into the water and I watched its wake as it swam (?) to block my way.

"Hahaha… Too intimidated to fight me, huh!? Well, too bad! I'm a ghost that lives in a dummy. My cousin used to live in a dummy, too, until YOU CAME ALONG!" They were shaking themselves so hard cotton was flying out of their body. "When you talked to them, the things you said were so horrible, so SHOCKING it spooked them right out! UNBELIEVEABLE!" All I had done was introduce myself, so I didn't understand why that would have spooked their cousin. But that didn't matter to the ghost in this dummy. They stilled their body long enough to glare at me. "HUMAN! I'll take your SOUL right out of your body!"

The Mad Dummy picked a fight. They insinuated that I wouldn't be able to hurt them with physical attacks, since they were a ghost. But as their bullets flew at me I figured that, if I stood between the bullets and the dummy, the bullets would fly into them and they'd wind up hurting themselves. Attack after attack I kept dodging, and cotton flew all over the place. It got challenging as their attacks intensified, and they started moving around so much, but I managed. In the end, the Mad Dummy summoned a single, easy-to-dodge knife. When they missed they refused to let me go, and was laughing maniacally when "acid rain" started falling on them. That was enough to make them give up, and the fight ended. It turned out the ghost I'd met in the Ruins was the one who had saved me!

Napstablook looked forlorn, as they had last time. "…oh… I'm sorry… You guys looked like you were having fun chatting… and that other guy left as soon as I showed up…"

I shook my head. "It's fine. We were done chatting, anyway."

"…oh?... Well, ok…." Napstablook looked like they wanted to ask something, so I waited patiently until they said, "um…. My house is near here… You can come hang out, if you want…. I mean, I understand if you're busy… No pressure…"

I gave them my most encouraging smile. "That sounds lovely! I'll be there shortly."

That seemed to cheer them up, a little. "…really?... okay…. See you…." They disappeared, and I could finally get out of the water and onto solid ground.

I found myself at a very tranquil crossroads with a save point. One road was a dead-end with a little yellow bird just sitting on the ground, so I left it alone. The next road led to a house shaped like a hybrid dragon-fish leviathan ready to swallow me. Nobody was home when I knocked. The Mad Dummy was standing on a mat outside, saying this was how they earned their living.

The next road had two matching houses mirroring each other. The pink one on the right was locked, so I went into the blue one on the left. Napstablook was there, and they showed me the music they had made and was sharing with others on their crystoputer. They had an icebox, and it made me wonder what ghosts ate. It turned out to be ghost sandwiches, which Napstablook shared with me. Unfortunately, it fell through my hands and onto the floor…

After cleaning it up, they said they liked to lie on the floor and feel like garbage after a meal. It was a "Blook family tradition," they said. I accepted the invitation and laid on the floor next to them. At first it felt like just laying on the floor, but after a while something… changed. There were no thoughts, and no worries. Our planet just carried us through the cosmos, one more dust mote in the vastness of the universe… But as nice as it was, I knew I had to be going. We stood (or floated, in their case), and I thanked Napstablook for their time. They said I could visit whenever I wanted.

The road away from the save point took me to a shop run by a very, very old-looking turtle monster named Gerson who had an interest in history. I saw a symbol on the wall like the one I kept seeing in the Ruins and was embroidered on Mother's tabard, a winged circle above three triangles. When I asked what it was he said it was the "Delta Rune," the symbol of the Kingdom of Monsters (it wasn't a very original name, but then Gerson said "Old King Fluffybuns can't name for beans!" and I understood.) The original meaning of the rune had been lost to time, but it was thought the triangles symbolized monsterkind, and the circle symbolized the angel. When I asked what he'd meant by "angel", he told me of a prophecy.

"The Angel, the One who Has Seen the Surface. They will return, and the Underground will go empty." Gerson said people used to think that meant the barrier would be destroyed and the monsters freed, but as of late had taken a grimmer approach to things. That they were an Angel of Death, to "free" everyone from this mortal coil. That gave me a chill.

Undyne turned out to be something of a local hero, according to Gerson. Through "grit and determination," she made her way to the top and became head of the Royal Guard. Given how different she was from the dogs that were supposedly Royal Guards, I had to wonder how hard it had to have really been.

I bought more things to heal myself with, then moved on. Ancient writing was on the wall, and it seemed like the story was nearing its end. It said the monsters surrendered, and were sealed under Mount Ebott by seven great magicians. Anything could enter through the barrier, but only a being with a powerful soul could leave. There was only one way to reverse the spell, and that was for someone to attack it with the equivalent power of seven human souls. The author expressed doubt of this ever happening, as there were no entrances or exits for humans to enter.

I passed through two rooms where I had to make my way through in near-total dark with just glowing mushrooms and crystals to light my way, for a short time. I eventually came to a room where I couldn't see anything but an echo flower ahead of me. I paused to listen to it and it spoke in a familiar, metallic echo…

"Behind you…" As I turned around the room illuminated, and Undyne was there.

She spoke. "Seven human souls. With that power our king, Asgore Dreemurr, will become a god. He will shatter the barrier and finally take the surface back from humanity. He'll give them the all the suffering and pain we've endured. Right now, we have six." She paused, as though to let it sink into my mind. "Understand, human? This is your only chance at redemption. Give up your soul before I tear it. From your. Body." I backed away, running into the wall next to the echo flower. Undyne summoned a spear to hold, then pointed it toward me as she advanced. She was almost upon me when the grass next to us rustled, and the monster kid jumped out between us!

"Undyne! I'll help you fight!" He turned to me, ecstatic. "YO! You did it! She's right there! Front-row seat!" He bounced his gaze between the two of us, then with a confused expression he said, "Wait, who's she fighting?" Undyne dismissed her spear and grabbed him by the cheek again, dragging him off. "H-Hey! You're not gonna tell my parents, are you?"

I sighed in relief. A path I hadn't been able to see in the dark had opened up, so I followed it. Lights danced upon the air like fireflies as I passed more echo flowers that continued the passing conversation I'd heard earlier. Someone had a wish, but would only tell if the person they were talking to didn't laugh. After a promise, the wish turned out to be to climb the mountain everyone was trapped under and look down at the world all around. Laughter rang out softly, because it turned out to be the second person's wish, too.

It was very… touching. I could understand the feeling of wanting to stand under the sky and feel the sun. To watch the moon and stars in their nightly trek. To breathe fresh air and not feel like the dark was going to grow hands and grab you by the throat…

I found more ancient writing, but it was just the prophecy Gerson had spoken of. I almost made it across a bridge when the monster kid stopped me..

"Yo! Yo, I know I'm not supposed to be here, but I gotta ask you something." He hesitated, looking very young and uncertain. "I've… never asked anyone this before but… Are you… a human?" I could only say yes, and he looked crushed. "Ha ha… I knew it! Well, I know it now… Undyne said to "stay away from that human!" So, like, um… We're enemies, I guess? But I suck at that, ha ha…" He kicked at a small rock by his foot before looking back at me. "Yo, say something mean so I can hate you. Please?"

I shook my head. "Absolutely not."

He seemed shocked. "Yo, what? I have to? Aw, man… Okay, here goes!" He cleared his throat. "Yo! I… I hate your guts!" I knew he didn't mean that, and his expression was miserable. " … Man, I'm such a turd. I'm going home." He left and tripped like he usually did, but then he fell off the side of the bridge!

Shock froze me for a second, and he was hanging on by the skin of this teeth! I heard and saw Undyne clanking onto the other end of the bridge, but I didn't care about her! I rushed to help the monster kid and pulled him up by the back of his sweater. Once his feet were back under him, he looked at me with something like awe. Undyne came closer and the monster kid put himself between us, quaking in fear. He found the courage to speak.

"Y… Y-y-yo… If… if you wanna hurt them, you're gonna have to go through me, first."

I couldn't see Undyne's expression because of the helmet, but she eventually backed off. Our sighs of relief echoed a little.

I pat him on the back. "Thank you, for that."

He turned to me. "Yo, I should be thanking you! You really saved my skin there… I guess being enemies was just a nice thought, haha." He smiled. "We'll just have to be friends, instead." I nodded in agreement. "Man, I really have to go home now. I bet my parents are worried sick. Later!"

He dashed off with a smile, though somewhat carefully so he didn't trip again. I only then realized that we had never exchanged names.

I exited the cavern. The landscape (cavescape?) was changing again. The rocks were starting to look more igneous in nature, and a baleful red-orange glow illuminated the air. The wind was howling as I followed the road to the jagged mouth of another cave, but when I looked up Undyne was standing on the rocks above. She repeated what she'd said before, about Asgore taking my soul and becoming a god, transforming the world. Then she added something new…

"First, as is customary for those who make it this far, I'll tell you the tragic story of our people. It all started long ago…" She stopped. She looked into the distance for a moment before turning back to me.

"You know what? SCREW IT!" Her shout made take half a step back, but she wasn't done. "WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT STORY WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!?" She let out a roar, and tore her helmet off her head, throwing it so hard onto the ground it bounced several feet in the air before clanking to a halt. Her face was finally revealed, blue scales bunched on one side of her face while she smirked. The long, red tail of her hair blew like a standard in the wind. She wore an eyepatch with the Delta Rune over her left eye, and the other glinted. She had more to say.

"YOU! You stand in the way of everyone's hopes and dreams! Alphys' history books used to make me think humans were cool. BUT YOU? You're a coward! Hiding behind a kid just so you can run! Acting like such a goody-two-shoes, on top of it!" Her voice took on a mocking tone. "Ooooh, look at me! I'm hugging and making friends with everybody!" She glared. "You know what would be better for everyone? IF YOU WERE DEAD! Your continued existence is a crime against monsterkind, because your life stands between us and freedom!"

She held a hand over her heart. "I can feel everyone's hearts pounding together. We've all been waiting our whole lives for this moment! But we're not nervous at all. Together, we can't lose! I'm going to show you just how determined monsters can be! Once you step forward, you'd better prepare to die! Fuhuhuhu!"

While she'd been yelling, a save point had appeared. I noticed that I usually saw them either right before something important happened, or right after something important happened. Right now, it was just the thing I needed.

I stepped forward, and Undyne seemed pleased. "This is it, then. No more running away! HERE I COME!" She jumped from her perch, spear in hand and landed only a few feet away from me. She turned her spear green and stuck it in one of my feet (which oddly neither hurt my foot or boot), then summoned two more. She shoved a spear into my hands before stepping away.

The fight began. "What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked.

She looked at me like I was being stupid. "That's so this is a fair fight! You've run from me for long enough. You need to learn to face danger, head-on, or you won't last a second! But you can't dodge while you're stuck, so use that to defend yourself with. Like this!" She held her body a certain way, spear in her hands. "WELL? TAKE THE STANCE!" I didn't want her telling me what to do, but if she was going to give me hints on how I could survive this fight I wasn't going to complain. I copied the way she was standing as best I could. She seemed satisfied.

She gestured heroically to the sky. "For years, we've all dreamed of a happy ending. Sunlight is just within our reach! I won't let you snatch it away from us!" She flipped her spear and sent spear-shaped bullets my way. I held my spear up and found that just touching the incoming bullets would make them disappear. They came at me faster and faster, until she declared the "warm-up" to be over. I only just barely managed to stop all of the bullets before the spear turning me green suddenly disappeared! The spear I was holding also disappeared, and while I was trying to figure out what happened I was hit with one last bullet before Undyne's turn ended. But my soul was no longer green…

I fled. Undyne seemed so shocked that I had the gall to try and run she was frozen for a moment. I didn't make it far, just barely past the mouth of the cave she had been standing on top of. She grabbed my by the back of my sweater and turned me around so she could grab the front. She said, "You won't get away this time!" then stabbed me in the foot with another green spear before setting me down and giving me another spear.

She had a disgusted look on her face. "Honestly, I'm doing you a favor. No human has made it past Asgore!" She smiled menacingly. "Killing you now is an act of mercy, so stop being so damned stubborn!"

*Just where have I heard that one, before? But even as I struggled to negate her bullets I couldn't help but notice something. She didn't seem to remember killing me twice already, just like Papyrus couldn't remember calling me. Was I the only one retaining these memories?

Finally she dismissed the green spear and the one I was holding. I dodged the last incoming bullet and ran again. I ran over a river with the big ice cubes I'd seen in Snowdin flowing down it. I saw the beginning of a gigantic sign when Undyne caught up to me again, turning me green and giving me yet another spear.

"You've escaped for the LAST time!" Bullets flew at me, hard and fast. I was glad I bought things to heal myself with, because I needed them. Undyne held her fist in front of her and shook her head. "Alphys told me humans were determined. I see now what she meant…" At the thought of her friend, she pounded the ground with that same fist, cracking the stone. "But I'm determined, too!" She drew a finger across her neck, like a knife. "Determined to end this NOW!"

By some miracle, I survived her onslaught. I could almost hear her gritting her teeth together. "RIGHT NOW!" The patterns were getting more complex, and yellow bullets that changed what direction they were coming to attack me from were being thrown into the mix. But Undyne was looking tired as she sent more waves after me, breathing heavily. I'd run out of items, and couldn't heal…

"NGAHHH! DIE ALREADY, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" I couldn't block all the bullets, and died again.

I started over from before I stepped forward. I had to make it all the way back to where I'd been, but thankfully she hadn't changed the way her spears flew at me. I made it back, and this time just barely managed to survive until my soul went back to normal.

I ran, and I saw that the sign said "Welcome to Hotland". But as I was running, I received a call. I almost answered before realizing Undyne was still on my heels, but when I looked back Undyne had stopped.

"Well, are you gonna answer that, or what? You're being rude to whoever's calling."

Bafflement, pure and simple, is all that kept me from saying something snarky. When I answered, it turned out to be Papyrus.

"HEY, WHAT'S UP!? I WAS JUST THINKING… YOU, ME, AND UNDYNE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT SOMETIME! I THINK YOU WOULD MAKE GREAT PALS! LET'S MEET UP AT HER HOUSE LATER!" He hung up before I could respond. I started running before I hung up.

Undyne caught up to me again, but she didn't turn me green so I ran as soon as I could. Maybe changing the color of someone's soul took a lot of energy? She certainly looked tired enough…

It had been getting warmer as I ran, and the temperature kept rising as I saw magma down below. Up ahead was another sentry station, and none other than Sans was at the counter. He was resting his head atop his crossed arms, looking like he was asleep. But he opened his eyes just enough to wink at me as I ran past.

Relief flooded my body. I probably had a goofy smile on my face but I didn't care. I heard Undyne stop to yell at him as I kept running.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? Why'd you let the human get away!?"

I heard Sans say, "welp, i would have used my net, but it's full of holes."

"NGAHHH! I'll deal with YOU later! And don't think I'm not telling Papyrus about this, either!"

I made it over a rope and plank bridge when I noticed that Undyne's clanking of steps were getting slower. I dared to look back and she was still coming after me, but looking haggard.

"Armor… so… hot… But… I can't give up…!" She stretched one hand toward me, but I stayed out of her reach. Her breathing was labored before her eye glazed over and she collapsed, unconscious. When I turned to leave I saw something that looked like the "water cooler" my parents had received as a gift from one of their salvager friends. The "hot" and "cold" functions hadn't worked, but it still dispensed water and had been an intriguing novelty when I was a child.

I looked back at Undyne, and sighed. *I'm going to have to do the right thing here, aren't I? Dammit.

I took one of the little paper cups from the holder and pulled the blue lever for cool water. I got as close to Undyne as I dared and poured it on her head.

She stirred and I stepped back. She stood, one hand going to her face to wipe away the moisture she found there. She looked at me, or rather at the cup still in my hand, then looked away and down at the magma that surrounded the path we stood upon.

She didn't say a word. She just turned around and left.

I took that to mean I had "won" our fight. All I could do was get a cup of water for myself and move on. Thankfully there was a save point nearby, but there were two royal guards blocking one of the crossroads so I stayed away from them. I looked up, up, up at a building which had a sign calling it a "Lab." The last road I could take led to a cloaked person that could ferry me back to Snowdin and Waterfall, and presumably return me to Hotland.

I was faced with a decision. Continue onward through Hotland? Or go to the house I suspected was Undyne's and "hang out" with her, like Papyrus had suggested?

She was loud, she was a bully and a stickler for manners at the strangest of times, but… From what little I had seen of her, she at least held to her convictions. She cared about her people, her friends and her king. She honestly thought she was doing the right thing by hunting me down. And after what I had learned of monsterkind's history, getting a glimpse of how they grappled with their hopelessness, maybe it was the right thing to be doing…

I wanted to help the monsters. They didn't deserve to stay down here any longer. Even if humans could be dangerous, the monsters deserved to stand under the sun, too.

But I didn't want to die.

*What am I supposed to do…?