There was a sickening lurch in Tess' stomach, her last meal threatening to come out of the wrong way. The tiny hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stood on end, and her breath got caught in her throat.
Captain Lionheart was standing there, still as stone, a long blade drawn in one paw, bigger than the lion himself. It was very fancy, complete with engraved monster-writing and darkened red blood which he had never cleaned.
Integrity and Bravery...
"Hello Patience," Lionheart whispered. There was a low growl in his deadly voice, and his eyes glimmering with barely suppressed excitement. "It seems I've found you at last."
The whole world around went deadly silent, as if time itself held its breath. There was no wind and the breaths came out as white water vapour.
Tess glanced back at her house. Papyrus and Undyne were inside, having a peaceful afternoon. Why should she kill their nice time? They couldn't go up against this beast. She should sound the alarm, that's what they agreed on.
But she hesitated.
"I don't want to fight," she whispered calmly to him. "Why can't you leave us alone? We haven't done anything to you."
But Lionheart had taken a step forward. "Oh, don't give me that. I've waited for so long to go up against another human. At least give me a good battle! Show what humanity is made of!"
How was Tess meant to represent all humankind? She was just an ordinary girl who didn't want a part in anything. She twitched when the snow crunched beneath his feet.
"Please don't take another step forward," she begged. "I don't want to fight you!"
"Oh well then, I guess we're going to have to end you quickly," he shrugged. "The thought makes me shudder!"
But to Lionheart suddenly paused when Tess tapped her foot thrice on the ground. Before he could stop her, the human raised her head and took a deep breath.
"ARISE AND COME TO ME!" Her voice was so loud even the people of Snowdin could've heard it. The echo called back to Tess, multiple times, but somehow Tess couldn't recognise some of the voices that came back to her.
Arise and come to me.
Arise and come to me.
Arise and come to me.
Her alarm call caused multiple things to happen. The little river next to the house suddenly rippled, and from its depths burst a long wooden boat, its cat head giving a ferocious roar. Its rider was not on its back- possibly because it hated fighting, but its steed was as scary as ever.
The wooden door swung open, and out burst Undyne, already in battle-mode. Her fins were flattened and her lips drawn so far back that even her gums showed. Between her hands was a single blue spear, sharpened and glowing like an echo flower. Following shortly behind her was Papyrus, shaking on his bony knees at the sight of the massive lion.
Tess couldn't help but feel that lump of guilt form in her throat. All these monsters came at her distress-call, because they cared. All because she made them love her. Now they were willingly facing death for her sake.
"You called?" Undyne asked nobly, as if Tess was her queen. She bowed her head as she stood beside her. She handed Tess the sharpened stick that she had been working on. It was Tess' weapon, but what could it do against someone like Lionheart?
Lionheart glared at all of them- at the mad Sea Wraith and nervous skeleton, at the menacing boat and lastly at the little human. He snorted, but then erupted into a great howl of laughter.
"Oh this is better than I have ever imagined!" he roared, pressing his free paw to his brow as he tilted his head back to laugh to the ceiling.
And he continued laughing, letting out his cold euphoria in a cold, meaningless tone. After a while he gradually stopped, going from hysteria to uncontrolled chuckles to small snickers and finally ending in a deep breath.
"This has got to be my birthday," he giggled, beginning to twirl his blade in his paws. "It could've been just the human that dies, but this is way better!"
He made a violent move forward, but halted suddenly. His excitement faded when he pulled at the vine that had tied itself around his ankle. His great head glared back, and his tiny emotionless eyes set on the tiny yellow flower that grew from the ground.
"I've killed you millions of times," said Flowey threateningly, however with his cold smile. "It isn't wise to toy with the likes of little old me."
Before Lionheart could react, two more vines erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves around Lionheart, pinning his arms to his sides. He couldn't move.
Just when Tess thought it was already over, that Flowey would go in for the quick kill and steal the stage, Lionheart smiled a truly terrifying smile.
"Is this some joke?" he sneered, smiling even wider. "If you've really killed me a million times, can you tell me what I'm going to do next?"
Flowey's expression soured. "That's not how it works," he remarked coldly. "But if you want to know what you're going to do next- I'll happily tell you." The two green vines tightened around Lionheart's torso. "You're going to die."
However Lionheart didn't even flinch when Flowey applied more pressure. Instead he tensed himself and pulled apart his arms, taring through the vines as if they were just frail cobwebs. He pulled apart Flowey's vines with his muscle alone.
Flowey's eyes widened for a moment, but he reassured himself and pulled back his mouth to make a high-pitched scream as another vine whipped out from beneath the ground. It reached high, then snapped towards Lionheart like a whip. However Lionheart was faster.
His free paw grabbed the green whip firmly, even though the strike left a raw-red mark on the palm of his paw. With absolutely no effort whatsoever, Lionheart pulled the vine towards himself, taring the yellow flower from the ground, which sent him flying to the air. The little plant had no time to process what was happening, and before he knew it a huge paw was gripping him tightly around the stem.
"It was a neat move," purred the lion, his eyes not leaving Flowey's. "You made an intimidating entrance, flower-boy." With no further comment Lionheart swung his arm around the axis and threw the weed as hard as he could. The buttercup hit the trunk of a tree with a somehow satisfying CRUNCH before falling to the ground. He didn't get up again.
"Now, where were we?" Lionheart turned to the kids, but found another surprise attack coming his way. The wooded steed had shot out of the water and flung itself at him like a rabid dog.
"Alright guys, this is the moment we've all been training for!" Undyne told her two friends blankly. "We fight, or we die."
"But what about Flowey-" Papyrus started.
Undyne cut him off. "We'll worry about that flower douchebag later. Right now we've got to deal with this unholy animal that just looks like a monster!"
With those words the blue Sea Wraith roared and followed in Boat's footsteps to attack. Papyrus only hesitated a couple of moments before he too jumped into the action.
What am I doing? Tess wondered, staring down at her sharpened stick helplessly. My friends are fighting for me... and all I am doing is waiting.
She flinched when the hurt cry of Boat rang in her ears.
All I can do is wait... What am I waiting for? For death?
Her eyes began to sting at the edges, and she couldn't look away when the lion sliced off Boat's long tail with his blade. It made Tess angry. No... not angry... Furious.
"SCREW MY PATIENCE!" she yowled at the top of her lungs, leaping forward in a speed never achieved by her before. The long stick was lifted up over her head as she lunged for Lionheart.
All her life she was waiting. And for what? The barrier was never going to be destroyed, and her promise was never going to be upheld. She was never going to achieve anything by standing to the side. It was now or never.
Her soul shrieked, begging the girl to not go against her own trait, but there was no changing the human's mind now.
It was incredibly difficult for a human to defy their core trait. Bravery cannot back down, even if facing death right in the face. Justice will not stop until justice is fulfilled, even at the cost of their own life. Determination will never give up, even when it drives them to psychopathy. Patience will wait forever.
But Tess was sick of waiting.
However Lionheart saw the human coming, and lashed out with his leg. His foot caught Tess right in the temple, and the consciousness faded from her brain as she tumbled back into the snow, still clutching her weapon in one hand.
Tess was never good at fighting. Her heart wasn't in swinging her sharpened stick to deal damage, not matter how loud Undyne tried to train her. She did accept lessons, though felt like they didn't do any good. She was much more fluent in dodging attacks. Undyne would rage when Tess would snake through every spear, so would Papyrus.
But everyone had their limits.
"Tessy!" Undyne shrieked, but saw that her human was only knocked out- her light blue heart had not shattered. She still had the majority of her health points clinging to her, she would survive.
Their master plan was already falling apart. Flowey and Tess were knocked out cold, and Boat backed off, weeping over its amputated tail while it tried to clutch onto its remaining 1hp.
Now it just left her... and Papyrus.
The lion was on him now, clutching the tall skeleton in a huge paw, lifting the long blade with the other, ready to bring it down onto his skull.
Undyne gave a howl of fury and leapt at him, smashing into the lion's side with all her might. Her claws raked across his long mane, attempting with all her might to get him away from Papyrus. He threw her off with ease, but thanks to distraction Papyrus managed to free himself from Lionheart's powerful grasp and draw back.
"Are you okay?" Papyrus asked Undyne while a temporary break lasted between them and their opponent. Undyne gave an immediate and brisk nod. "What'll happen now?"
Undyne had no idea. It was just them and the lion now- all their other allies were out of the fight now. But could Undyne and Papyrus beat Lionheart? He was much bigger, much older and much more experienced than both of them combined. And beating him would mean turning him to ash- did Undyne want that?
I made a promise, Undyne told herself. I will put Tess and Papyrus before anybody else. Including myself.
It was her turn to fight now. She lifted her arm up and called upon her faithful green attack, spears appearing from nowhere to fling themselves at Lionheart. However he raised his blade and began to block the incoming spears. Despite this Undyne kept her attack going, the shots getting faster and faster. A few shots managed to slip past the lion's guard and lodge themselves into his body before disintegrating into nothingness. The spears however left the open wounds which allowed blood to escape. Lionheart's health points were lowering, though not by much.
Keep going, you must keep going! Undyne begged herself. Keep your turn going for as long as possible.
However she couldn't. Her magic needed time to regenerate. A single moment was enough, but in that single moment the turns would switch over to the opponent's. Lionheart would be free to attack then.
Just when Undyne's magic strength was about to wear out, Papyrus also threw his hand up. His blue magic overpowered Undyne's green influence, and with a great heave he lifted Lionheart into the air and slammed him into the ground as hard as he could.
Undyne breathed a sigh of relief. At least Papyrus had her back. She breathed a sigh of relief as Papyrus took over the attack, letting her magic energy flow back into her. She could always count on Papyrus.
With one final heave, Papyrus and Undyne commanded their magic with their hands alone, not synchronised at all, but the attacks flew at the same target. Blue spears and bones flew from all directions and emerged from the ground, and the lion's soul switched from green to blue and back to green again.
"You're doing it all wrong Papyrus!"
The little skeleton was so startled at Undyne's harsh voice that he dropped the bone he was carrying into the snow.
Undyne had took it upon herself to teach her two friends as well as herself how to fight. She wasn't the best at it, since all they learned at school was how to take control of their magic- they never actually got taught how to fight. Papyrus was okay at fighting, but he felt as if that was not enough. He wanted to be absolutely extraordinary.
"You're arms are very vulnerable if you keep them straight like that!" scolded the teen, her hands on her hips sassily. She had began to shed her milky teeth, so she had wide gaps between wobbling teeth, and soon like all Sea Wraiths, she would be bare-gummed for about a month before her adult teeth would start growing, sharper than ever before. "You should really learn some proper sword-arm techniques!"
"Will you teach me?" Papyrus asked sheepishly, picking his bone up quickly from the ground.
"Of course! Fuh-huh-huh!"
"Undyne is just as good as you are," Tess remarked from the porch. Her cheek was propped up on a fist, watching the two monsters with unblinking eyes. "We're all bad at the whole fighting thing."
"You never know when you have to fight!" argued Undyne, flicking her wrist to suddenly hold a spear. "We need to be strong! We need to know how to protect ourselves!"
Papyrus sat down in the snow as Undyne picked up a long, straight stick from between the trees. With a sigh she started to sharpen the stick with her spear, the wood curling right off the stick like rose petals.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm making Tess a weapon," Undyne replied with a shrug.
Papyrus and Undyne marched together just like they had practised, without even sharing a glance they attacked in unison. Lionheart was pushed back as bones and spears flew right at him. Some of those attacks bounced harmlessly off of his dark armour, but some slipped in through the cracks and lodged themselves into the soft flesh. The magic attacks disappeared on contact, but left behind massive, gaping wounds which stuck the golden fur together with sticky red glue.
For as inexperienced as they were, the skeleton and the sea wraith made a good team. All those years they grew up together, they learned how to read each other's minds through body language. Tess knew that too. The three knew each other like they knew their own minds.
They were strong. Perhaps even strong enough to beat the captain of the royal guard himself. Undyne could feel everyone's hearts pounding together as one. Hers, Papyrus', Tess', Boat's... All of them wanted to live.
Undyne flashed a glare towards Tess. The young woman had woken up from the kick to her head, and had Boat at her side as they tried to put themselves back together after Lionheart's attacks. Tess looked up at Undyne. Their eyes met for a single moment.
Grey human eyes met yellow monster eyes, and for that moment, the human and the monster shared a special connection- as if destiny had meant for them to meet all along.
"So," the monster broke the silence first. "I know your name probably isn't 'human', so unless you want me to call you that, maybe you should tell me what I should call you?"
Tess got over her shock and steadied herself. "My name's Tess. Tess Ashby. And who are you?"
"My name's Undyne the Undying," the monster introduced herself proudly, puffing out her chest in pride. "But you can just call me Undyne."
"Are you okay Tessy?" Undyne called over to her. Her human gave a curt nod, but then her expression widened into horror.
"BEHIND YOU!"
Undyne barely had time to react. A forceful blow of a massive closed fist his her right between the shoulder blades, knocking all air out of her lungs. If it had not been for her gills, it would've been the end of little Undyne. As her lungs were forced to shut down due to the force of the hit, the gills at the sides of Undyne's neck sprung into play. It would take a day or two- if they survived at all- for her lungs to fully regenerate. That's why it was good to have gills as backup.
The hit had sent the wraith girl tumbling into the snow, trying to recollect herself. Before she got up, Lionheart threw his foot across Undyne's face, so hard that three of the shark-teeth flew from her mouth and would've gotten lost in the snow if it had not been for the trail of blood that they left behind them.
Undyne's claws flailed at Lionheart, catching him twice across the face before a gleaming huge pike burst through the ground to force him back away from her.
But what difference could it make? Undyne had taken heavy damage, and Lionheart was close and fixed on her now.
"How's it like up there on the surface?" Papyrus asked one day. They had finished their exploration of their new snowy surroundings and returned to the warmth of the hermit's hut, which was now theirs.
Tess' eyes glimmered with anticipation. "It's a truly wonderful place," she said emotionally, reaching through into her mind to grasp the few memories she had of that place. "There's the ocean, huge so that everywhere you look all you see is water."
"You're fibbing," Undyne pointed out from the kitchen. "There can't be something big like that."
"That's the brilliant thing!" Tess shook her hands. "And there's salt in it too!"
"Salt?" Papyrus echoed, black eyes widening in awe. "Like the same salt that's on the walls of Waterfall?"
There was a snort from the kitchen. "You licked the walls at Waterfall? That's disgusting!"
"Actually no! Salt kills bacteria!" Papyrus pointed out, quick to defend himself. "And besides, it did taste really salty."
Undyne's face popped into the doorway to Papyrus' room, where the others were hanging out. Tess was laying on the floor staring at the ceiling while the skeleton himself sat comfortably on the mattress, snugging into the warmth of his orange-red hoodie. "There's no such thing as the ocean! If it was really as big as Tess says it is, and that it's full of salt, it would've all run out by now!"
Tess shook her head. "The ocean is so big it never runs out! There's fish and sharks and other animals that live in there too."
That got Undyne's attention alright. "What about Sea Wraiths!?"
There was chattering laughter coming from Papyrus. "You're one of the last Sea Wraiths on this planet Undyne, and all of them are underground."
The blue fish huffed. "But sharks and orcas and sea serpents are my distant cousins as a species!"
"Just like skeletons and humans," Papyrus exclaimed, stabbing the air with his finger. "I think humans descended from skeletons."
His remark just made Tess burst out laughing.
Undyne was going to die. Lionheart had pinned her to the ground with a foot, an uneasy shine in his eyes that nobody in their right mind would ever want to see.
The sight ignited something within Papyrus. The scenes flashed between his eyes, remembering the crunch of Flowey's stem as he was tossed against the tree, Boat's shrieking as its tail was cut right off. He remembered how effortlessly Lionheart had knocked out Tess, and as he blinked the memories away he saw that now Undyne was going to be hurt by Lionheart too.
All his life Papyrus didn't want to fight. He and Tess would always chose flight over fight, much to Undyne's annoyance. He never wanted to hurt anyone, and fought only because Undyne and Tess and everyone else did.
But now everything hinged on him. Undyne was going to get hurt. Nobody could get to her in time, but him.
Should he really attack someone on his own to save someone? He risked death on either side.
Undyne... Tess... He would always choose them.
With a swift movement, Papyrus raised his hand up then threw it towards Lionheart. Four bones constructed themselves from nothingness and zipped towards Lionheart. Three of those bones bounced away from Lionheart's incredibly hard armour, but one burst through the chainmail at his shoulder, digging into an already-open wound.
Lionheart turned from Undyne to give Papyrus a dangerous glare. He had been fed up with being the piggy in the middle between two opponents less than half his age, and itched to be on the giving end of the pain. Quickly realising that he couldn't do that with Papyrus still standing, Lionheart stepped up to face him.
"Why are you fighting?" asked the 'hero' suddenly.
Why was he fighting? Couldn't they just sit down and settle this over a cup of tea? He could feel grey eyes, yellow eyes and wooden black eyes burn into his bones like acid, making him realise that he was trembling all over.
"I don't want to fight you," Papyrus began. "But I have to. If I don't, you'll kill my friends."
Lionheart's flattened ears perked up with joy, and he flipped his sword up. The long blade just about completed its cycle before he caught it at the leather handle again. "Clever Papyrus. You remind me of Sans, you really do. Except, if it were Sans, he'd ask no questions and attack me head-on."
Then you don't know him at all, Papyrus thought angrily.
Lionheart took a few steps forward and carried on speaking. "And what a dilemma you've got here. Fight against your pathetic morality, or fight for your friends' lives? What will it be, Gaster's son? Which will you choose?"
A few moments of uneasy silence passed. His whole being was shaking uncontrollably in fear. He didn't want to fight, never in a million years. Couldn't he turn things around with words? Sometimes words did not work- he knew that now.
"The Great Papyrus has chosen!"
Battling his fear and inner morality with all his might, Papyrus pushed his usually weak magical power forward. Bones of all shapes and sizes burst from the ground or out of thin air and flung themselves at Lionheart. His opponent dodged most of them, but was caught completely off-guard when his soul was tainted deep blue and was thrown right back into the shadows of the trees.
"Unydne, are you okay?" he called over to his fish-friend. "Please tell me you're okay!"
"I'm... urgh... Fine," was her answer. Undyne was trying with all her might to stand to her feet, but couldn't do so without the support of a tree. Her gills were working rapidly, and Papyrus guessed that her lungs were forced to shut down. HIs bony hand touched his own exposed teeth when he noticed the wide gaps in between the sharp shark teeth. They would grow back within a few weeks, but he wasn't sure that they had that much to live.
"Surrender now Lionheart!" Papyrus called to the recovering beast. "Or I will be forced to use my special attack!"
He could hear Tess' gasp of protest, and he saw Undyne's eyes widen. Maybe he shouldn't...? I'll only threaten him with it, Papyrus decided. He planted his feet firmly into the snow and watched with unblinking eyes as Lionheart stumbled into the light again.
But what Papyrus did not realise was that his turn was finally over. Was it just him, or did Lionheart's blade grow in size?
It would've been game over for Papyrus if he had not dodged quickly to the side and avoided Lionheart's slashing blade. The blade swished right past his non-existent ears and caused a panic attack to awaken within Papyrus. Before Lionheart could charge at him again, Papyrus was already at the other end of the clearing.
"I am The Great Papyrus!" he yelled out, stammering at first but steadying as he spoke further. "And I am the guardian of my friends!"
He was now shaking all over- but to his own surprise, it wasn't fear that caused him to tremble. It was power.
The special attack should bring Lionheart down to a state where he could no longer fight, at least Papyrus hoped so. He did not want to be like Lionheart, covered with red blood and white dust and so bedridden with LV it was ridiculous. But he needed to put a stop to this madness.
Abandoning all sense of fear and anxiety and anything else that might've been holding him back, Papyrus' right eye fared a deep red-orange colour, so brightly it looked as if it was on fire. A creature behind him appeared out of nowhere, just like his bone attacks. However it wasn't just a mere cartoon-ish bone, but a long, slender animal skull, eyes burning the same colour as Papyrus' was. The dragon skull opened its jaws to give one mighty roar that caused the sounds of battle to sound like the faint giggle of a baby by comparison. Lionheart's eyes widened as the floating skull fired a bright white beam of light towards him. He didn't have time to react; Lionheart was swallowed by the light.
Two deep breaths filled lungs that weren't there, and the gaster blaster flickered like static before winking out of existence. The smoke caused by the snow and the explosion of light was still hanging around, clouding the area where Lionheart was. Did he do it? Was it all over?
No. Of course it wasn't. Papyrus was foolish to think it was. He had let his guard down, and didn't expect it when Lionheart suddenly leapt from the mini-blizzard, eyes ablaze and paws clutching his blade with all his might. His mouth opened widely so the tall skeleton could see into the depths of his throat surrounded by lots of huge white teeth.
The powerful blade drew a neat cut diagonally across Papyrus' chest, tearing through his deep orange hoodie and through his ribs, causing the wound to bleed. All in one fell swoop, Papyrus' health dropped to one.
The tall skeleton fell back into the snow, wailing in the burning pain of the wound. Tears formed at his eyes, and dribbled down the dry cheekbones.
A shadow was looming over him. A shadow with burning eyes and a wide, toothy smile.
"It was a brave move, Gaster's son," Lionheart sneered. "But a dumb one at that!"
He didn't get to do anything else. He was once again distracted at the flurry of spears that he was suddenly bombarded with. Once again the dark armour protected him from most shots, but some managed to lower his unbelievably high health.
Undyne looked... different somehow. Her long red hair was spiked up in its pony tail, her pupils were thinner than ever and in one hand she held the largest spear Papyrus had ever seen. The Heroine had appeared.
"You're gonna have to try a little harder than that!"
It was very late. The fire in the fireplace had toned down to only smouldering embers between the coals, which cast red wisps of light around the shack. The silence was only broken by the cackles of the dying flames and the gentle breathing.
Undyne was sure she was the only one awake. She sat there on the floor, leaned against the sofa with her legs outstretched towards the fireplace, wondering to the night. At her left, Papyrus held his bony cheek on her shoulder, snoring quietly 'nyeh-heh-heh' with each breath. On her right, Tess was curled up with her head on her lap just like some sort of cat.
Undyne was fine with this, and soon her own eyelids began to shut.
They had gotten so close.
There was nothing left now. Flowey was down. Boat was down. Tess was down. Papyrus was down. Undyne was the last one standing.
And what a fine, unpolished diamond Undyne turned out to be. Of course Undyne was one of the few monsters to possess such raw strength- she was a natural at this sort of thing. She was young. She was inexperienced. And she was down to half-health already. But The Heroine never gave up. She was very determined for a monster, and she had raw power at her very claw tips. Only a few could match up to The Heroine's power.
Lionheart was unfortunately one of those people.
"Finally! A worthy opponent!" Lionheart had remarked with a wide smile.
The lion and the fish fought for what felt like eternity, both lowering each other's health steadily with well-aimed attacks. Blood pumped in Undyne's ears as the rush of battle howled around them. She was well aware of everything around. Every movement of her opponent, every movement of her own. She could feel the eyes of her friends on her scales, wide eyed. They relied on her to finish this. Right now.
The wind was howling. The hearts were pounding. For one moment Undyne felt as if she were winning. She was going to save her friends.
All it took was one mistake. Undyne slipped and stumbled, and that was enough for Lionheart to flip things around.
There was only a few nanoseconds in which it happened. Like an adder, Lionheart plucked one of Undyne's smaller spears right of out the air. As Undyne tried to regain her lost balanced, Lionheart advanced and plunged the spear right into Undyne's left eye.
The Heroine screamed in pain, falling right back onto her back, pulling the spear right out of her eye before it pierced the brain behind. It hurt so much... Much more than everything else. She was half-blind now, the eyesocket bleeding badly where the eye had been torn out of.
One health point left... she had failed.
"Undyne! Undyne!" Papyrus called from behind her. He was still clutching onto the single point of health he had, still bleeding from his chest wound. It was clear that he was in pain too. His skeletal arms embraced her close, but Undyne hardly felt a thing. The agony in her eyesocket was mindnumbing, and combined with the fact that Undyne had lost, she was on the verge of unconsciousness. It felt like her body was about to crumble into nothingness at any moment.
She could feel Papyrus' frail bones between her webbed hands. He was nearly dust too. All it took was one hit, and both of them would be dead.
Step. Step.
"How cute," Lionheart cooed sweetly. His colossal blade twirled round his paws, covered in the dried blood of Integrity and Bravery, and now with more-resent splinters, Sea Wraith and Skeleton blood as well as bone marrow. "I shed a tear." He drew a line down his cheek to imitate crying, however he didn't seem sad at all. In fact- he was almost bouncing with barely suppressed excitement. "But I guess I really should thank you two. You gave me a better fight than I've had in a long time! I forgot what it was like to have opponents worth fighting, even if they are monsters." His long tongue licked over his lips. "You two are going first."
Lionheart raised his blade above his head, ready to bring it down onto the two downed monsters' heads. That expression, it wasn't an expression of a soldier forced to kill in the line of duty.
This was an expression of a pure psychopath.
Papyrus and Undyne huddled closer, closing their eyes against the world around them. They didn't want to watch as Lionheart struck them down. They pressed their faces into the other's shoulder, waiting for the final blow.
But it never came.
After a short while, Undyne lifted her head to see what was going on. Her weakened, upside-down monster soul gave a nasty jolt.
Tess was standing there, crouched in battle-mode. Her silver eyes were narrowed, and her hands clutched her weapon so hard that her knuckled turned white. She held it up above her head, parrying Lionheart's blow just in the nick of time.
"I will never let you hurt them," said Tess simply.
Lionheart's cold stare bore into Tess' eyes, and he smiled even wider. His great muscles worked under his thick golden pelt as he swung his sword once more. There was a flash of movement where the human had attempted to protect herself with the sharpened stick. But upon collision, Tess' weapon didn't last.
And neither did she.
Tess fell to the ground, the snow around her slowly turning a very vivd scarlet. She was no longer moving, no longer breathing, no longer living.