Chapter 3: Carnage

Papyrus nailed firmly several planks to the windows, as fast as he could. In only a few hours, his house transformed into a survival bastion.

Once Sans was sent to safety in the Ruins, Papyrus triggered the emergency protocol his brother and him worked on years earlier in case the house was at risk of being invaded. He set his deadliest traps to strategic emplacements: doors, windows, the upper floor balcony. He didn't hide them in the hope it would dissuade the cowards who wouldn't hesitate to turn around as soon they realized he was not that reachable.

His sudden bustle drew the attention of some onlookers. Outside, a small crowd of monsters was whispering and pointed at the traps with a worried expression. They must be thinking of an assassination attempt to come, which was not that uncommon down there. They had no idea what was about to happen to the city. Maybe that, for once, it would encourage them to respect the curfew a bit faster this time. Collateral damages were not that rare in these types of events.

He turned on himself one more time to make sure everything was ready: not a window opened, not a door unlinked to an explosive. Papyrus nodded, satisfied, before going upstairs to his room, where he put the television and all of his valuable possessions Sans couldn't take with him. No one would reach this room, he promised it.

A plaintive meowing echoed from his closet. Papyrus partially opened it to let a long-haired white cat out. The creature rubbed her head against his legs, then jumped on a bed, staring at him as an invitation to join her. The warrior sighed but accepted to lower his guard a few instants to pet his princess, the apple of his eyes, his most precious baby girl, Doomfanger, right between the ears. The feline purred, happy with the attention, and bumped his hand so he scratched her when she wanted to.

"I promise you this is only temporary. You'll be free to roam your domain as soon as I am finished."

"Mreow."

"I know, I know. This is very discourteous for a lady of your rank. If I double your evening ration, will you forgive me?"

"Meooow."

He nodded patiently, and about to answer, when the royal Deltarune appeared on the television, ending abruptly one of Mettaton's stupid shows. It ruined the mood. Papyrus held his breath when, after a few interferences, the imposing figure of the King showed up on his screen, and every screen in the entire Underground.

The time had come.

"People of the Underground, good evening. This announcement will be brief. After the tragic disappearance of Thioric, our beloved general of the Royal Guard, the post stayed vacant for a few months. This is no longer the case as I made up my mind. My choice was inclined towards a recent recruit, who proved his worth with genius ideas and great ambition, serving the Kingdom for already a decade with devotion. I salute Papyrus of Snowdin, new general of the Royal Guard."

Papyrus gulped when his portrait appeared on the screen. The photo had been modified to make him look ferocious, the look harsher. He didn't like it. But now, everyone knew.

"Papyrus showed a level of skill and ambition no captain before he managed to reach, and his methods brought peace in Snowdin and Waterfall over the years. His new title gives him new powers, such as a lifelong immunity for his family and his descendants, or the right to kill whoever he judges is not respectful enough, or tries to intimidate him by any means. You owe him submission and etiquette."

Papyrus clenched his fists, feeling like an impostor. Asgore erased entirely Undyne's hard work to protect the Underground in a few words. Doomfanger purred lightly to calm him down. The worst part was still to come.

"As it is tradition, twenty notorious criminals had been gathered in the castle, one for each general of the Royal Guard who served us since the Great War. They will be executed by the new general tomorrow, under the castle's balcony. Everyone must attend the ceremony, women and children included. Every monster who refuses to attend the ceremony will be arrested and executed by the Royal Guard without judgment. Be our new general reign long and victorious."

Asgore hit his chest twice, ending his speech. The image glitched again to resume Mettaton's programming, not too happy about the interruption.

Papyrus switched off the television, and gently put Doomfanger back in the closet, safe. The cat whimpered, but Papyrus couldn't risk her life. He valiantly got out of his room and locked the door behind him. He went downstairs, then put on his armor in a hurry, helmet included. He waited the last minute to wear it, as a way to delay the inevitable.

In a few seconds, half of the Underground would knock at his door to kill him. This too was a tradition.

Focus, he didn't see a tiny figure slide out of the kitchen and run to hug his legs. Papyrus flinched in fear and looked down. Brown hair, baby face, innocent eyes, big smile. Oh, it was only the human.

"Not now, Frisk, I'm busy."

A long awkward silence took place in the room as Papyrus stared at the kid, sure he was missing something important about them. But what?

… Oh.

"Frisk?!" Papyrus screamed, shocked and completely panicking. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Mommy snake pie again. Eeeew." Frisk grimaced for all answers. "So Frisk escaped to have Papy lasagnas!"

"You can't stay here! If someone sees you…"

It was the worst time possible! Not only the kid risked dying in his enemies' hands, but they might be noticed by Asgore as well, which would make him and all his friends executed in the morning with the twenty criminals that sick man chose. And he didn't count Toriel in this, who would surely behead him way before Asgore had the chance even to capture him if she learned the kid stayed with him in the middle of a terrorist attack! But what else could he even do? He couldn't just lead the kid back into the Ruins now that all his traps were activated!

Papyrus turned on himself. He was lacking time. He grabbed the child under the arms and carried it into the kitchen. He opened the closet under the sink and pushed Frisk inside. The child tilted their head, confused.

"Don't move from here before I come to fetch you."

"Papy trouble?"

"Yes. I'm serious, Frisk. Stay there."

Something knocked at the door. Papyrus tensed. He signed to Frisk to stay silent and locked the human in. He then blocked the door with several chairs to make sure the kid wouldn't get out… Or so no one could get easily in if he ever… He preferred not to think about it. Most of his attackers would be small criminals. He could deal with them.

The skeleton walked back into the living room. He summoned a red sharp bone and lowered his helmet's visor. The noise behind the door got more and more insistent until a large crack appeared in the wood. He heard several people walking around the house, searching for another entrance. On his right, a trap activated as one of them touched a window. A large metal spit crossed the head of a squirrel monster, killing them on the spot.

The door creaked dangerously, then fell. Undyne weakened it too much the day before anyway. The short-range bomb hidden behind exploded, taking with it a big part of the wall and a bunch of idiots standing too close. Papyrus heard screams of rage in the smoke, then a first monster ventured in. The creature didn't think and charged the general, an axe in the hands, only to be electrocuted to death by another trap he walked on. His dust dispersed on the floor, covering his rug with disgracious grey stains.

Several others tried their chance and met a similar fate, walking or touching deadly traps hidden in the decoration. Papyrus simply stayed where he was, his sword in his hands, amused by their blatant lack of skills. Unfortunately, the number of attackers kept growing, and soon enough, the traps weren't enough to stop them.

Papyrus recognized the first monster who made its way towards him: Burgerpants, a cat monster working for Mettaton, during the day at least. At night, it was one of the most respected scoundrels of Snowdin, spreading terror wherever he went. The skeleton kept calm, not impressed. His sword blocked the first attack, then countered at full speed, trying to reach the cat to the head or the chest. Burgerpants avoided him and tried to reach the skeleton's legs. Papyrus knew what he was trying to do. If the general fell, he would be buried under an army of monsters and would have no chance of surviving. However, the cat was also too stupid to see he perfectly understood his plan and got caught like a beginner when Papyrus surprised him from behind and broke his two knees with one powerful strike.

Burgerpants fell on the ground, in shock and screamed when he realized his face was right in front of the sword. Papyrus had no mercy and sank it in his throat, before cutting on the right, beheading him. The scoundrel convulsed on the floor, then dusted. A pitiful end, but at least with honor. Papyrus could respect that.

A bunch of other monsters managed to reach him, but they were less of a threat. Most of the attackers were young and inexperienced, it took only a few seconds to kill them or send them to die in a trap. A bear managed to reach his face, notching his cheek deeply, but Papyrus took opportunity of his surprise to skewer him right in the soul. But doing this, he couldn't dodge a rat monster that sent several magic bullets into his chest, breaking one of his ribs badly, to the point it pierced his armor. Papyrus charged them, quickly ending them as they were not good with hand-to-hand.

For long hours, Papyrus dodged, blocked and attacked, sinking into a morbid instinctive dance. He had no idea how many monsters he killed, or how much his level of violence grew. At least enough for him to not feel anything as he put crying and begging surviving monsters out of their misery. He thought the stream of monsters would never stop, but soon, several renounced and ran away. Several monsters waited the last moment to take advantage of how tired he was, in vain.

He was still standing.

He was still alive.

At four in the morning, the last monster perished under his sword. Only silence could be heard in the house.

Exhausted, Papyrus fell on his knees in the dust. It was covering everything in the room, from the floor to the ceiling. The main door was gone, like most of the windows. Thankfully, no monster tried to enter the balcony, too high. Papyrus crawled to pick up the door, still in one piece by some miracle, and put it in its place. The hinges were gone with a part of the wall, but he forced it to hold by nailing it with some planks that held the windows closed and was now on the floor.

He picked up his phone, hidden deep in his armor. His hands were still shaking with the adrenaline. Sans left about twenty messages, asking if he was fine, then warning him Frisk was gone, then asking him again if he was alright, more and more distressed as the hours went by.

Papyrus simply sent: "Alive. Frisk here." before walking to the kitchen to make sure the child was fine. Several bullets ricocheted against the closet door, but it faced the brunt efficiently. He cleared the chairs out of the way and opened the door, maybe too brutally.

Frisk screamed out of terror and threw themselves in the back of the cabinet. They curled up on themselves, hands on the head, sobbing uncontrollably. They were shaking as well.

Papyrus flinched. He saw himself at five years old, in the same position, as Sans was screaming and fighting for their lives in the living room. This was not a world to grow up. No child should ever be born in this hellish place. Bitter, he felt his soul squeezed painfully. It was his fault. He should have brought the child back to the Ruins. Frisk shouldn't have assisted to any of this.

The skeleton kneeled at their level. He never had been really talented to comfort people.

"Frisk? It's over, they're gone. You can come out."

He leaned a hand towards the human. Frisk kicked it away and tried to get as far as they could from him in the closet. Papyrus tried to stay neutral, but his face betrayed for a few seconds how much it hurt him. He didn't want Frisk to be scared of him. Not after everything they went through to protect them.

The skeleton looked around for a second and noticed a hole in the closet door. Small, but enough for a child to witness everything that happened outside. Frisk saw him slaughter attackers and end monsters on the floor without mercy. Papyrus felt guilty. He gave the child some space and sat in front of the closet, unsure what to do.

"Papyrus?"

The skeleton grabbed his sword with two hands and turned around, ready to protect the child with his life. He froze when he saw Sans. His big brother appeared in the living room, and was looking at the state of the place, in shock.

"I'm here, S…"

Frisk pushed him violently and ran to seek refuge in Sans' arms, far from him. Papyrus felt his throat squeeze. The small skeleton hugged Frisk, surprised, then met Papyrus' distressed eye sockets.

"You're okay?" He asked silently.

Papyrus nodded, looking away.

"I'm taking the kid back to his mother. We'll talk after, alright?"

The skeleton didn't answer and let him disappear with the child. He used the few minutes Sans took to come back to calm his shaking hands. Frisk didn't want to see him. They hated him. Maybe it was for the best. Now that he was a general, those he loved would be in danger around him. Maybe he should send Sans to live with Toriel for good as well. He would be happier, authorized to do nothing all day long and not fearing for his life every two seconds.

Papyrus was too dangerous for them.

The skeleton clenched his fists and took deep breaths to push the tears back from his eyes. He refused to cry. He did that to himself, he had no right to cry. Not anymore. He couldn't show any weakness. Not anymore.

Papyrus tried to stand up, but now that the adrenaline disappeared, he realized every movement cost him dear. His chest in particular made him suffer, and it was probably the fault of this broken rib pointing out. Stubborn, he pushed the pain away and tried to go back on his legs anyway. A hand on his shoulder stopped him and pushed him back on the floor.

"It looks painful. I'm goin' to fix it. Don't move." Sans growled next to him.

He appreciated Sans not trying to meet his eyes. He didn't have the strength to do it.

"They made a real mess of you. How many were they?"

"I lost the count. Fifty or so. Maybe more. Half of them got away, the others are on the carpet."

"Yeah, I notice. Quite a lot of dust. They deserved it though."

He felt his brother's hands unhook the straps of his armor. He slowly took it down, revealing his ribs. Sans palpated each of them to make sure only one was broken. Papyrus grimaced at some of them, but that was mostly contusions. Several days of rest would help to heal them.

"What happened with the kid?"

Papyrus tensed, and lowered the head, defeated.

"I think they saw everything. I didn't have enough time to hide them. They saw everything from the kitchen. When I freed them… They didn't want anything to do with me."

"Eh, don't blame yourself too much. They're in shock, sure, but it was important they witnessed this. You told it yourself, the kid needs to realize how it's working here. Better too early than too late."

"I hoped to preserve them from this a little longer."

"I know. I wanted the same for you, at that time. I felt like the worst shit on Earth when you witnessed your first slaughter. But was it really bad? Look at what you became. I don't know a lot of kids able to defend themselves with a dagger at eight years old. Don't regret what happened today. The kid needed to learn."

"Yes, but…"

"That's only temporary, Papyrus. They're in shock, not stupid. You saved their life. They're not hating you. They're just a kid, you know how it works. They'll forgive you in a few days."

"I don't know."

Papyrus tensed when Sans touched near the broken ribs.

"You got attached to them, uh?"

"Maybe I shouldn't have."

"Don't be stupid, you're their best chance of surviving. Frisk won't be upset for long. Trust me for once in your damn life."

Papyrus growled for all answers, before yelping when Sans brutally snapped his rib back in place, taking advantage of the diversion. He immediately applied healing magic to resold it. It would take several minutes since it was not exactly Sans' magic predilection.

Since they had a head-to-head kind of moment, Papyrus decided to confess to his brother what he witnessed the day before.

"I saw Undyne and Asgore kiss yesterday."

"The hell? That's ridiculous, Undyne hates that asshole's guts."

"I agree. And I don't think she was consenting either. But… She let him do it? She refused to talk to me or answer any of my texts. This, added to my appointment as general… Something serious is happening, Sans. I don't know what, but I have a bad feeling about all of this."

"You sure you just don't have some impostor syndrome? I mean, everyone thought Undyne would become general, but maybe you're just better than her and that's all. It will calm down her freakin' "savior of the Underground" bullshit at least."

"But she should have become general! She is more experimented, Asgore formed her personally for this task. If I got the post, it meant she refused. But if she refused it, she wouldn't be alive anymore. Asgore was far from angry with her. He had to force her to give up somehow, but why?"

Sans stayed silent for a few seconds.

"I don't know. Maybe because she's a girl? But it's not like we can do anything about it anyway. If she gets jiggy with the King, by will or by force, we can't do anything for her. I know what you're thinking, and I know you're frustrated, but if Asgore sees you're trying to intervene in something concerning him directly, you know what's going to happen. Stay away from that asshole, don't risk your life stupidly for a fish bitch that would never lift a finger if you were in her situation."

He winced, but nodded. Sans was right. Even if something bad was happening between Undyne and Asgore, his hands were tied. He would have to take Asgore's side or die.

His phone vibrated. Papyrus contorted himself to grab it, careful to not move so Sans wouldn't have to start the spell again. He had a message. He clicked it and quickly read the few lines, before widening the eye sockets. Sans felt him tensing up and looked up, alarmed.

"Somethin's wrong?"

"A sentry of Waterfall just asked me to be captain. Undyne resigned an hour ago."