Frisk opened the refrigerator. In the last two weeks, she and Alphys had been setting up a small garden to grow some healthier, more organic foods and ingredients. Anywhere else in the Underground, this would be an impossible feat, but they had the advantage of living in the most advanced laboratory below the Earth. Also, the only one, to Frisk's knowledge. Thanks to the technology at their disposal, and a little bit of monster magic to speed up the process, the seeds they found in the dump grew into healthy fruits and vegetables in no time. This helped facilitate a proper and nutritional diet for Frisk, and a more superficial diet for Alphys, who wanted to finally cut out her unhealthy eating habits and try and get fit.
Frisk reached in and grabbed an apple, and nearly closed the door before noticing the bag of Popato Chisps that was still in there.
Or, rather, the bag that was in there again. This bag was newer than the other one was; the packaging was slightly different as well. She narrowed her eyes and closed the door, before taking a bite out of her apple. She walked into the living room, where Alphys was watching an old human workout tape from the 90s, following along to the instructor's words.
"Yeah! Alright! You got it! Work it out!"
Alphys looked over at Frisk and smiled. She paused the tape and bent over, panting heavily. "Oh… Hey… Frisk…" She grabbed her water bottle and started chugging. "Ah. What's up?"
"Why are we still buying chips?" Frisk asked.
"Excuse me?" Alphys seemed confused.
"I don't eat them, and I never see you eat them, either," Frisk reasoned. "So that means that we're just throwing them away. Isn't that sort of a waste?" She thought about it for a second. "And also, why are we refrigerating them? That's really weird?"
Alphys chuckled. "Oh, Frisk. Just because I'm dieting doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself a little bit every now and again."
"Isn't that cheating?"
"Frisk, EVERYONE cheats on their diets SOMETIMES." She took another sip of her water. "It's just one of those things people do. And look, despite that, I even lost a couple of pounds already!"
Frisk looked up and down Alphys' body. "You have?" she asked skeptically.
Alphys glared. "Okay, so a two-pound difference isn't immediately noticeable. The point is that this diet is working, so cheating just a little bit isn't HURTING me." She glanced at the clock, and her eyes widened. "Uh, speaking of which, I think I'm going to go cheat right now."
"Is that something you can just decide to do?" Frisk asked, following Alphys as she walked to the kitchen. "I thought it was, like, an impulse thing, or something along those lines." Alphys grabbed the bag of chips and walked back into the main lab, which was a lot different now. The fridge that was in here had been moved back into the kitchen where it belonged, the computer desk had been noticeably cleaned up (Alphys even managed to find a second monitor at the dump), the aforementioned garden was placed in the center of the room, with new warm lights overhead, and the large screen which previously contained surveillance footage of wherever Frisk happened to be at any given moment now contained surveillance footage of the area around the lab. Alphys walked towards her bathroom. "Wait, where are you taking those?" Frisk asked.
Alphys froze. "Uh…" she stammered for a moment. "T-to the… Bathroom?"
Frisk tilted her head. "You're going to take food into the bathroom?"
Alphys' eyes darted back and forth. "Yes."
"Also, how come we have to use separate bathrooms?" Frisk asked. "I don't see the point in having two bathrooms just to accommodate me."
Alphys again avoided eye contact. "Yes." She ran into the bathroom and the door closed behind her.
Frisk sighed. Alphys was weird. She turned around and left the lab, deciding to go for a walk. Feeling the heat of the magma around her, she started walking in the direction of Waterfall, where she would trade heat for humidity and eventually end up in Snowdin, which was no longer off-limits to her now that Sans wasn't quite as dangerous to be around.
She had been in the Underground three weeks now. Two of those weeks had been spent living with Alphys. She finally felt like she had a place to call home and, yet, somehow, she didn't feel… whole. She knew why, of course. Looking around, Frisk saw that every monster had a purpose. Whether they were running a store like Gerson or Temmie, patrolling the Underground like the dogs, or cleaning the filth like Woshua, every monster had something that they were good at or a service they provided. Even Mettaton, who Frisk previously thought was suffering from a case of Chuck Cunningham Syndrome after their battle, had been out entertaining the monsters of the Underground.
Meanwhile, Frisk was just sort of… there. Or she felt like that was the case, anyway. In the three weeks she'd been here, she didn't really feel like she'd contributed to Underground society in any helpful way.
Well, hey, look on the bright side. In the last timeline you helped them with their crowding problem!
...Frisk guessed that was true. Regardless, she wanted to help them in a way that actually helped them. Granted, Frisk acknowledged that perhaps most monsters didn't WANT her help, and she wouldn't exactly blame them for that. Humans sucked. But that didn't stop her from wanting to help.
Come on, Frisk, relax a little bit, Chara said. You don't exactly have to be the patron saint of the Underground. Just don't be a prick and you'll be fine.
I know, responded Frisk, but all I've really done is sit around. I want to help SOMEBODY. Chara took control of Frisk's body… Just to roll her eyes. He then rescinded control immediately. Stop doing that.
Didn't you help Undyne with her whole "murder guilt" thing?
I guess… But now she doesn't have a job!
Oh, she'll live. Hey, didn't you help Papyrus with his whole "zero friends" thing?
He had Undyne and Sans before. Frisk put her hand on her other arm and looked down at the floor. Chara groaned, and the two were silent for a while before they finally ended up in Snowdin.
Friendly faces everywhere, commented Chara. Frisk glanced over at the skelebros' house. Well, almost everywhere.
Be nice to Sans.
I am incapable.
Frisk rolled her eyes before overhearing a conversation Papyrus and Undyne were having nearby. Undyne was wearing a new outfit, which looked to be much warmer than what she was wearing before; this new outfit consisted of a turtleneck and a black leather jacket.
"So as I was saying about your crippling inability to get your feelings across in an appropriate matter, Undyne," Papyrus began before noticing that Frisk was nearby. "Human! Good day! I was just talking to Undyne about how she keeps writing letters and then tearing them up because she's bad at expressing herself!"
"OH MY GOD!" yelled Undyne. "That's not what's going on! I'm REVISING my letters because all of the other letters are just DRAFTS."
"Wowie!" exclaimed Papyrus. "I didn't know that the revision process entailed completely re-writing the work!"
"It can!" Undyne replied dejectedly.
"I'm learning new things every day!"
"Anyway, kid, what's up?" Undyne asked.
"Just trying to find ways to make myself useful," responded Frisk. "I'm sort of tired of sitting around on my caboose all day waiting for things to happen. I want to help people, but I can't do that if I'm just sitting around, you know?" Frisk crossed her arms. "I'm sort of just hoping I come across a cat stuck in a tree at this point."
Undyne grinned. "Hey! I know how you can make yourself useful!" She produced a sealed envelope from her coat pocket. "This is a very important letter. I need you to deliver it to Alphys ASAP."
Frisk smiled. "Oh, is this a love letter?" she asked as she reached for it. Undyne pulled it away, however.
"What?! No! W-why would it be a…" Undyne broke down into a stammering fit. She even sounded like Alphys now! "It's… I-I… It's a very professional letter about very professional matters!"
"Yeah!" said Papyrus. "Undyne goes on for, like, three paragraphs about how her soul is incomplete and only Alphys can make it whole! That's super professional!" Undyne glared. "Why, one of the doctor's specialties is soul research! If anybody can fix Undyne's soul, it would be her."
Frisk tilted her head. "Alphys did soul research? I didn't know about that." She glanced at Undyne, who just shrugged.
"We don't really talk about her work. Now, if you could deliver this letter—"
Say, Chara, didn't you say you were hoping I'd give you my soul?
Uh, yeah?
What's wrong with your old one?
Shattered. Only this piece of me remains.
Wow. That sucks dude. How would you like a new one?
Excuse me? What are you-oh. No. No no no no. Not a good idea.
Why not?
Undyne tilted her head quizzically. "Uh, kid?"
Look, forget about me, okay? Chara said. Giving me a soul would be a huge mistake.
How?
So you know how I'm all pissed off and stuff all the time? Imagine exactly the same thing except now I've got a body to do stuff with.
Is it a good looking body?
Chara was unamused. You're hilarious.
So if we fixed your soul and somehow managed to extract it from me—assuming I am in fact carrying your busted old soul around—you'd get a new body with it?
No, we would need a vessel to put the soul in, and my new body would be formed around that vessel. Stupid. Chara paused for a moment. But we are not doing that.
"Human!" Papyrus yelled. "Have you fallen asleep while standing up?" He frowned. "My brother is such a bad influence on you!"
Frisk snapped out of her internal argument. "Uh, sorry guys. Yeah, I'll deliver the letter." She grabbed the envelope from Undyne's hand and read the address that was written on the back.
Alphys.
The lab.
Hotland, The Underground
"And don't read any of it, OKAY?! Or I'll kick your butt?!" Undyne threatened. Frisk chuckled and put the letter in her pocket. "AND DON'T CRINKLE THE PAPER EITHER!"
Hey, I have an idea, Chara interjected.
What are you—oh, Frisk responded as Chara took control of her body. She didn't put up much of a fight, she figured she'd just yell at him later.
"Heyyyyy, Undyne!" Chara said, trying (and failing) to copy Frisk's mannerisms. "Why don't you come with me?"
"...what?"
"Well, I mean, how do you think Alphys would feel if you had a messenger boy—uh, girl—deliver this very personal letter?" Chara reasoned. "Why, it would come off as so very insincere! Don't you want to be there in person?" He smirked. "Unless you're chicken."
"WHAT?!" Undyne shouted, infuriated.
"Yeah, Undyne!" Papyrus encouraged. "I thought you were a fish! When did you become a chicken?" Chara realized that Papyrus was not goading her, but simply was confused as to whether or not Undyne was a literal chicken.
"I am NOT a chicken!" Undyne shouted, before grabbing the letter in one hand and Chara's body under her free arm. "I am going to DELIVER this letter and NOBODY is going to stop me!" She started marching towards Hotland. "Not even…" She slowed to a halt. "Myself." She stood in the snow for several seconds before regaining her resolve and marching forwards once again. "Yeah! This letter is getting delivered, and Alphys is gonna LIKE IT!" She stopped again. "Or maybe she'll hate it." This would continue for the entire trip.
Okay, I'll bite, began Frisk, once again in control of her own body. Why did you do that? she asked.
Frisk, it's OBVIOUS that whatever Alphys' "dark secret" is, it's in that bathroom, Chara reasoned.
...Wait, really?
So, if we can get Undyne to "inadvertently" walk in on whatever's going on in there, then there will be no secrets between them and they can work out their problems together! Chara sounded very proud of himself. Aren't I clever?
Oh, yeah, that might work, said Frisk. She then immediately realized everything that was wrong with this plan. Chara, this is a terrible idea.
How so?
During the discussion, they arrived in the lab. The bathroom door automatically opened for Undyne. She shrugged and walked in. "An elevator, huh? Must be a fancy bathroom."
Alphys needs to be able to spill her secrets on her own terms. Frisk thought for a second. Need I remind you that Undyne doesn't even know about resets yet? And neither of them are aware that you exist?
They're KIND OF aware of me.
Yeah but they don't know EXACTLY what's going on here.
The elevator door opened. Suddenly, the room lost power. "Huh," Undyne said. "There goes my ride up." Nonetheless, she marched forward, Frisk and the letter still in tow. Frisk failed to notice that they were in a new place. "Huh. This… Is not a bathroom," Undyne said.
Look, Frisk, all I'm saying is this is a great opportunity for—
"HOLY SHIT!" Undyne shouted as she dropped the letter and the kid and summoned a spear. Frisk landed with a thud and groaned.
"Ow. What the hell are we—" Frisk looked up and saw some… thing. It was a blob—an abomination. It looked like a monster, but it had been… Melted? And fused with other monsters? Jesus Christ, I've never seen a monster like that. Frisk looked up and saw that Undyne was just as shocked. Did we take a wrong turn? This doesn't look like the lab… The creature lunged. Summoning all of her determination, and without thinking, Frisk LOADed.
"Human!" Papyrus yelled. "Have you fallen asleep while standing up?" He frowned. "My brother is such a bad influence on you!"
Frisk, disoriented from the sudden change in space as well as time, stumbled. She felt like she was going to vomit. "Ugh… Jesus…"
Undyne looked worried. "Are you okay?" Suddenly, her look of worry was replaced by a pained expression. "Aw, crap, I have a headache… Where did THAT come from?"
Frisk looked up. Chara. What the HELL was that?
You're asking me?
Undyne grabbed her forehead and closed her eye. "Uh, Papyrus, I think I'm gonna go lie down for a bit," she said. "I have the worst headache all of a sudden." She glanced at the human. "You look like you're getting pretty sick. Don't worry about the letter, you can deliver it later. Ugh…" she groaned and walked into the house.
Papyrus glanced at Frisk. "I sure do hope I don't catch this bug that's apparently going around. Would you like to rest up a bit before you leave?"
"No, I'm… Fine, really. You should go check on Undyne."
"As you wish!" Papyrus turned around and entered the house. The second he was gone, Frisk ran into the trees and emptied the contents of her stomach.
Ew, complained Chara. You really couldn't hold that in?
Ugh. Okay. I feel better now.
Hey, did you notice how Undyne felt the effects of that reset too?
Yeah. I think it's because of how close we were to each other, reasoned Frisk. Or something. By the way, don't ever do that again.
So, are we gonna ask Alphys about what we saw in there, or no? Chara asked.
Maybe? Frisk sounded very unsure of herself. I still feel like she should tell us in her own time.
Ugh, fine.
Meanwhile, in the house, Undyne was lying on the couch, an ice pack on her head. Papyrus had gone to the shop to find something with healing properties in hopes that the headaches would go away quicker, and Sans was nowhere to be seen, so she was alone. She stared blankly at the TV. Undyne hated being this lazy, but the splitting headache stopped her from doing much of anything until it subsided. She just didn't know WHY it happened. One moment, she was fine, the next…
She closed her eye to try and sleep off the pain. Immediately, she was assaulted with a disturbing mental image. She was in a dark room, similar to Alphys' lab and yet somehow dirtier. Dust—the other kind, thankfully—covered the room. Mold could be seen on the walls. Nearby were computer screens that looked like they hadn't seen use in years, and just ahead, an elevator with no power. Directly in front of her was… She didn't know what. It wasn't a monster, that was for sure. It looked as if somebody had melted together pieces of multiple monsters to create some… abomination of nature.
She pushed the thought out of her mind—probably some kind of messed up fever dream cooked up by her headache-afflicted mind—but it was immediately replaced by an even more disturbing image.
Undyne observed the scene as if she were an outside viewer. It felt like a weird mixture between a dream, a memory, and reality. She could see herself, full-clad in armor, carrying a spear, and perched atop a narrow bridge which sat above a ravine. Just across from her was a human. At first, she thought she was once again having that same nightmare, as she still sometimes did even now, but she noticed that something was off. There was one human, not two. She then realized that this human was Frisk. There was something… off about her, however. She was doing that red-eyed glare again. All that she could see in the human's eyes was hatred.
They weren't alone. Undyne saw that, behind her doppelgänger, Monster Kid sat, having fallen over—not into the ravine, thank god—and stared in horror up at the warrior in front of him. Undyne looked at herself again and gasped. A large split in her armor had been made, and behind that a massive gash in her flesh could be seen, blood seeping from it. The other Undyne held on to her wound to stop the blood flow as best she could, to no avail—her gauntlets were stained.
"Undyne…" the kid began, tears in his eyes. "You're… You're hurt."
"Hurt?" Undyne gave a pained laugh. "It's nothing." She smiled at the kid. "Next time, listen when I tell you to leave, okay?"
"Undyne… I…"
"I'll take care of this!" Undyne said, although it didn't seem like she believed it. "Get out of here!" she exclaimed. The kid left, reluctantly. Once he was gone, Undyne stumbled and looked into the ravine below. "Heh," she chuckled. "'It's nothing'... No… Somehow, with just one hit…" The real Undyne looked at Frisk. She had done this? No, she hadn't. This is just a headache dream, she kept telling herself. "I'm already… Already… D-damn it…" Dream Undyne looked like she was using all of her strength just to stand up, and she wasn't even doing a very good job at that. "Papyrus… Alphys… Asgore," she lamented. "Just like that, I… I've failed you…" Why did she feel like she actually said all of this, as if she were recalling a memory?
"I've heard of fish half price," Not-Frisk sneered, "but this is ridiculous!"
Was that a pun? the real Undyne thought, disgusted that even in her nightmares she was assaulted by these lame-ass excuses for comedy. It was then that she noticed that her injuries were so severe that she actually appeared to be falling in half.
Doppelgänger Undyne began to turn to dust. Somehow, though, she was able to hold on to her physical form for just a while longer. "No," she said in defiance. "My body… It feels like it's splitting apart."
"It is," Not-Frisk said. "Straight-up."
"Like any instant, I'll scatter into a million pieces."
"And make a mess all over this perfectly good bridge! Oh, who will clean it up?" Not-Frisk smiled. "Certainly not Woshua."
"But," Undyne said, ignoring the awful human in front of her, "deep, deep in my soul, there's a burning feeling I can't describe."
"It's called 'pain'. You're feeling it because you are dying." Not-Frisk yawned. "Speaking of which, can you die already? This is taking longer than I would like."
"A burning feeling that WON'T let me die."
"What?"
"This isn't just about monsters anymore, is it? If you get past me, you'll… You'll destroy them all, won't you? Monsters… Humans… Everyone."
"You caught me. And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling monsters!" Not-Frisk feigned frustration.
"Everyone's hopes," Undyne continued. "Everyone's dreams. Vanquished in an instant." She smiled. "But I WON'T let you do that." She looked up at human with a determined look in her eye. "Right now, everyone in the world… I can feel their hearts beating as one!"
"Ew."
"And we all have ONE goal! To defeat YOU!"
Not-Frisk chuckled. "Listen, that's something the United Nations can worry about once I'm topside. Don't you worry, I'm sure SOMEBODY will try to stop me eventually. Somebody who's less dead." She shrugged. "Who knows, maybe my actions will force NATO and the Soviets to join forces in order to stop me." She looked up in thought for a second. "Assuming NATO and the Soviets are still around. It's been a while."
"Human… No… WHATEVER you are—"
"Ouch."
"For the sake of the whole world…" Undyne grinned even wider, her eye wide with excitement. "I, UNDYNE, will strike you down!"
"Right, but there's the whole 'currently dying' thing standing in your—what the hell are you doing?" A bright glow began to envelope Dream Undyne. The real Undyne couldn't believe what she was seeing. Soon, Undyne's mangled body was replaced with a new one. Her armor was stronger, her hair was like lightning, and her eyepatch was gone entirely. In its place, a beam of pure determination shot out.
"You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT," Undyne smirked.
Not-Frisk looked shocked at first, but then she grinned and crouched into a defensive stance. "Finally, a challenge," she said, and the battle began.
Undyne awoke in a sweat, gasping for air. She frantically looked around and saw that she was still in Papyrus' living room. A blanket had been carefully placed over her, and on the nearby table was a cinnamon bunny, presumably to help her with her headache, which had mostly subsided. Also on the table was a glass of water, which she grabbed and gulped down. After putting the glass down and gasping for air once again, she sat up and noticed that the room was totally dark. She tried to make out the time on the clock. It looked like… 12:40. AM, she assumed.
The next thing she noticed was that she was still dressed in her coat, turtleneck, pants, and even boots. No wonder she was sweating (although the intense dream certainly didn't help). Papyrus, being the sweet goofball he is, probably didn't want to intrude on her privacy, but he could have at LEAST removed the coat and the boots.
"Jeez… What was that all about?" she asked herself. That nightmare had been so strange. It was more real, and yet, more distant, than any dream she'd ever had. A scattered dream that's like a far off memory… Why did she have it? She knew, without a doubt in her mind, that Frisk would never intentionally hurt her. And she didn't want to hurt Frisk either. So why was a violent confrontation between the two in her mind? Why was she thinking about that?
Wanting to shake the thought away, she decided to busy herself, first by getting more comfortable. She slipped off her boots and coat and left them by the door. She then removed her turtleneck, leaving only a tank top below, and switched to more comfortable pants that she could actually comfortably sleep in. Finally, she untied her ponytail and let her hair flow out; it always felt more natural, sleeping like this. She walked into the kitchen and splashed water on her face, as if to remove any lingering images of the dream from her eye. When she was satisfied, she turned off the water and went back to the couch to lay back down.
As she began to drift comfortably into slumber, Undyne decided that nobody had to know about this particular nightmare. After all, that's all it was; a figment of her imagination.
Nothing more.