Chapter 4: Ruins
The trapdoors opened in a gloomy creaking. Twenty bodies made the ropes shake for a few seconds in a chorus of painful pants and gurgling before dispersing in thin dust.
Papyrus did his best to stay neutral, holding the desperate urge to gag as what was left of the prisoners entered his mouth and nose. In front of him, families broke down. He couldn't meet Mrs. Pompom's eyes, full of distress and despair. It was the Snowdin's grocer, he had known her his whole life. That lady used to take care of him when he was a child. And here he was. Two of her kids just got executed. Five others perished in the attack on his home the day before. None of them were adults. He could never look her in the eyes ever again.
The skeleton let go of the handle he was still holding tightly in his hand. His eye sockets turned briefly towards the scaffold. There was nothing left of the twenty criminals he just killed, except the ropes and a huge cloud of dust.
Slowly, he walked to the front of the scaffold to face the king, sitting on the royal stage above the crowd. Papyrus hit his chest with his fist, then stood to attention. The monsters clapped shyly at first, before applauding more vigorously after a death glare from the monarch. Asgore simply nodded, then left to join his castle back before the dispersal of the crowd.
The general let out a deep sigh he was holding since the beginning of this new trial. He gave a sign to the sentries to open the doors. They jumped off the stage to obey his order, quickly making their way across the countless monsters gathered in the judgment hallway.
Papyrus briefly met Sans' eyes, sitting in the first row. The small skeleton quickly signed he was teleporting back home right away, probably to not worry him more. With all these strong monsters around, his brother was an easy target. He nodded discreetly, then redirected his attention to the crowd, his eyes searching for someone else.
She had to be there. Somewhere.
Undyne would have never missed this. Maybe she was not part of the royal guard anymore, yes… But she was still an important part of it. Her absence weighed upon Papyrus' shoulders. It was ridiculous. He should be proud, and brag about his victory instead. That was years he tried to be promoted to this position after all. But he couldn't celebrate. Not without his forever rival watching him.
Papyrus didn't stop trying to call her since he learned of her resignation, in vain. She left her place. He didn't find her even after breaking a window to come and get her himself. She was not at the lab either and Alphys didn't see her for a while. He struggled to not be too worried about her disappearance.
Undyne was clearly fleeing him.
He sighed, then took the stairs out of the stage to help the sentries. Fortunately, no incident happened on his watch, and he could take the boat to Snowdin barely an hour later. The Riverperson ignored his presence, except for a few weird words he didn't understand, as usual.
"Murky waters, troubled waters. Gloomy bride, fulfilled groom."
Papyrus rolled his eyes at them and got down as soon as the boat stopped. He hurried to cross Snowdin, trying to ignore admirative or heinous stares to reach his house as soon as possible.
The King sent some workers at dawn to repair the damages. It wasn't perfect yet, but most of the windows and the door had been fixed at least. He knocked two times to warn Sans he was there, then entered.
As soon as he closed the door, he let out a bitter sigh. He survived one more day it seemed. How many more?
His eye sockets scanned the room, searching for his brother. Kneeling in the living room, he was sitting on the floor, messing with what was left of the television. Papyrus pulled all the wires when he put it upstairs in safety, and maybe, just maybe, he used too much strength to do so. Sans didn't complain though. He loved mechanics and he would at least have his hands busy for a few hours for a change.
"Mraoo."
A big smile lightened Papyrus' face as he picked up his princess in his arms. Doomfanger purred, rubbing her head under his shin, happy to see him back home. The cat didn't like all the agitation downstairs either. Papyrus hadn't seen her since the attack. He supposed she stayed hidden in a corner of his wardrobe.
He carried her to the kitchen and put her down carefully on the counter so he could prepare her food. Once her dinner ready, he slipped her bowl in front of her and sat down to watch her eat. Sans hated it when she ate on the table, but Sans was too focused to notice. He smiled as Doomfanger's tail stroked his face a few times.
"We're missing a cable." Sans growled entering the kitchen. "I'll go see Alphys, she might have what I need."
He stopped, disapproving. "Come on Papyrus, she can't eat on the table. There will be hair everywhere in our food!"
Papyrus vaguely nodded, distracted and lost in thought. Sans hesitated for a second, before sitting on the opposite chair.
"You're holding on? The execution was something, but…"
"I'm fine. I think my level of violence is still too unstable to feel anything."
"I'm pretty sure it's called a state of shock though. You're not looking too good either. Did you even sleep? If your ribs are still hurting, maybe we could ask Toriel or…"
"I don't need anyone to come and heal me like a child!" Papyrus snapped.
"That's not what I meant."
"What are you still doing here? Don't you have a cable to pick or something?"
Sans sighed but stopped insisting. He stood up and left the room, grumbling.
"It's not going to get better by pushing everyone away. Go to sleep, you're such a pain in the ass when you're like this. And by the way, if you want to play it all evil and shit, you should stop the shaking of your hands."
"Leave already!"
The door slammed behind his older brother, immediately making Papyrus feel guilty. Sans was simply trying to help, but the habits were too strong. He still struggled to talk openly to his sibling. His daily troubles, he used to confess them to that small yellow flower that sometimes followed him on his patrols or… Well, Undyne.
The flower seemed to have disappeared since, probably dusted or something. As for Undyne, she was avoiding him. He felt lost, but above all as lonely as ever before.
He hesitated, then sent another text to Undyne. They were piling up by now.
Papyrus – Yesterday, 23:45
What the hell are you doing? You resigned?
Papyrus – 6:12
Fine, play dead if you want. When you're done sulking, contact me. We need to talk.
Papyrus – 07:35
Are you coming to the execution?
Papyrus – 08:24
I'm in front of the throne room if you want to talk.
Papyrus – 08:44
I must go on the scaffold. Text me when you're free.
Papyrus – 10:04
I'm coming home. Call me asap.
His fingers stayed left dangling above the answering zone, hesitating. Did she even read the last messages? Her silence was seriously worrying him now. Even if there was no reason she didn't feel good, no news down there often meant a premature death. Her disappearance, her lack of answers, her resignation… He saw these signs way too often. They were all matching with a potential suicide. With time, people lost hope.
But not Undyne. It made no sense.
Undyne was one of the pillars of Monsterkind. She was the bearer of everyone's hopes and dreams. All the children wanted to be like Undyne. She was invincible, immortal. She couldn't simply give up one morning and ruin everything she fought for. He refused it.
She had to hide somewhere to avoid justifying herself. But where?
He tried to remember all the places she liked to hang out usually. Papyrus knew most of her hiding places in Waterfall, he could eliminate them right away. Alphys might have hidden her, but the scientist was at the ceremony this morning. She was the reasonable one and would have forced Undyne to come to avoid troubles with the King. But where then? Undyne hated the Hotlands as much as him, and she couldn't bear Snowdin's harsh cold.
The Underground was not that big, she couldn't have just evaporated!
"Cave in!" suddenly screamed a voice outside.
It was immediately followed by a gigantic crash.
Papyrus grabbed Doomfanger under the paws and quickly found cover under the table, squeezing his cat against him. He closed his eyes as the rocks hit his roof and many others in the area, silently praying. Of all the dangers in the Underground, he could do nothing against this one. It seemed though that only a few bits fell on his house. The bigger part of the cave-in was elsewhere, obviously near since the whole floor was shaking.
At the second where it stopped, Papyrus left his improvised shelter. He took a few seconds to calm Doomfanger, distraught, before running to the door. He put on his armor as fast as he could as he ran to the place of the disaster.
Half of Grillby's disappeared under an impressive pile of dark rocks. Papyrus bypassed most of it to reach the entrance. The door didn't exist anymore, but the exploded windows led to the street. He carefully avoided the sharp pieces of glass everywhere and entered the building. He had to be quick, it might collapse for all he knew.
The poor souls on the right side of the bar were probably all dead. Even if he hoped monsters had enough time to escape, the gray spots of dust told him another story. Luckily, everyone was at the ceremony in the morning so Grillby's shouldn't have been too crowded.
As he bent over the counter, he noticed the dull purple flames of the bartender. Grillby was unconscious on the floor. Papyrus couldn't really tell where he got hurt. Elemental monsters didn't really have a physical body.
The building creaked dangerously.
Papyrus grabbed Grillby under the arm and dragged him to the window. Several sentries arrived already. Dogamy and Dogaressa spread out a big tarpaulin on the floor, a few meters away from the accident. The legs of the bartender steamed as he touched the snow. The dogs quickly helped the skeleton to carry him in safety to prevent more damage. Direct contact with snow could kill him if he stayed too long on it.
The general barely had time to let go of his legs that the building collapsed in a huge cloud of dust. The dogs' ears sadly plastered on their heads. Even if Papyrus hated that dirty hole full of grease and sugar, Grillby's was an important place in town.
"Who gave the alert?" He asked, catching his breath.
"Mr. Pebble." Dogaressa answered. "Mr. Wolf managed to put him and his family in safety inside of his house. Luckily, because the Pebble house collapsed soon after. Rocks are blocking the path to the north of Snowdin, but Waterfall sentries are already on their way to report the damages. The library has a few broken windows, but no big damages."
"An estimation of how many people were at Grillby's?"
"We just left the bar. Only three people, and Grillby. Fish, Bird and Sans."
"What?"
Papyrus froze. Panting, he frantically searched for his phone in his pockets. With shaking hands, he quickly typed his brother's number. It rang for interminable seconds before Sans' voice finally answered.
"I'm fine." The skeleton immediately said. "I managed to scram before everything fell apart. I'm on my way, I ended in Waterfall. I'm out of magic."
"Are you hurt?"
"Nah, just a little shaken. No worries."
"What the hell were you at Grillby's for?!" Papyrus yelled, frustrated. "You said you were going to Alphys' place! You could have died you fucking idiot!"
"I know, I know…"
"Hurry up and get your ass home!"
Papyrus hung up, relieved. It was at least one less thing he needed to think about. He took a deep breath, focusing back on the situation.
"Dogamy, gather the sentries and set a security perimeter up around the zone. Dogaressa, we need healers. We don't know yet how many people are injured. Grillby seems the only one badly hurt, but there will probably be light injuries to treat in the next minutes."
"Yes, general!" The two dogs approved. They immediately ran in two opposite directions.
His phone rang again. Papyrus picked up the call as soon as he saw who was calling him.
"General?" Asgore's voice boomed. "I heard the rumble from New Home."
"Minor cave-in in Snowdin, your Majesty. We have a seriously injured victim and at least two deaths to report. Two buildings collapsed. Most of the damages are material."
"Good. Keep me updated. Where were we Undyne?"
Before Papyrus could react, Asgore hung up. He stayed a long moment the phone in hand, like it burned him. Did he hear that well? It was so confusing. He misheard it, there was no way.
Undyne couldn't be at Asgore's place. She didn't have a job anymore. Showing up again after her resignation was a death wish.
Unless Asgore managed to find her before he did.
He shivered at the thought. If Undyne was in Asgore's hands, she was dead. There was nothing he could do to help her.
But still, something was not right. It was not how Asgore treated prisoners usually. He would never have missed an opportunity like the public execution in the morning to show everyone no one was above the law. Or maybe wasn't he aware that Undyne resigned? Then what game was she playing?
His mind simmered with thousands of questions, but he didn't have time to think further about this matter. First, he had to deal with the cave-in. He pushed back his urge to run to the castle to focus on Grillby, still inert.
The elemental monster was slowly regaining consciousness, disoriented. After a few minutes, he tried to stand up in a hurry. Survival instinct. Monsters with a small level of violence were always roaming the place to take advantage of injured civilians easy enough to take down. Even if Papyrus' presence was dissuading, the skeleton knew some of these cowards were probably around, hoping he would leave the bartender alone.
Not that Grillby needed to be defended. Fire magic was one of the strongest around, and the bartender knew how to fight. Papyrus saw it countless times.
The skeleton kneeled to support the fireman. Grillby frowned, not too happy to see him, then let out an exclamation when he noticed the ruins of his bar. The skeleton hesitated to invite him home, but his house was not in a better state at the moment with a lot of holes in the walls. He would have to do with the moldy inn of the rabbit sisters. At least, he wouldn't be too bothered by the changes, since his own building was moldy as well.
"Shit." He growled, mad.
"You have enough to reconstruct, right? Ask the drunkards of your grease hole to help. If they want to drink again soon, something tells me they'll volunteer. Cessation will be hard, they're going to need something to do. Well, talking about cessation…"
Sans finally reached his destination. The skeleton swore at the sight of his favorite place on Earth. Despite the tragedy, Papyrus couldn't help but think he finally had a great opportunity to put his brother's diet back in order. A few weeks without burgers or fries would certainly not hurt him. In an ideal world, Papyrus could even convince him to exercise again but… Well, one thing at a time.
"You're alright?" Sans asked the bartender after he joined them.
"What do you think?" Grillby growled, in a bad mood.
The two brothers shared a long stare. Grillby's bad-tempered personality was legendary in town. It seemed it would not get better during the renovation.
Papyrus waved at two sentries passing by to take care of the bartender, then he walked back home with his brother. Sans was strangely silent. The younger skeleton noticed he was covered in dust. His escape had to be at death's door.
"You want to talk about it?"
"Nah, I'm fine." Sans answered, shaking the subject off with a hand gesture.
Papyrus didn't insist. Cave-ins always awoke Sans' old demons. A few years ago, he was unlucky enough to stay prisoner under one of them, for almost an entire week. Because of a broken leg, he didn't have enough energy to use his magic to escape. He survived only thanks to Papyrus who, despite the countless people who encouraged him to let go and move on, refused to give up and kept searching.
Since then, Sans panicked at any loud sound, terrified to experience that horrible event again. Papyrus was usually there to calm him down, but it happened he had to face this on his own, like today.
"Sorry I screamed at the phone."
"It's fine. I'm fine. More scared than hurt, right?"
Papyrus didn't answer. Sans' voice was trembling, a clear sign he was not as fine as he said. A few days of rest would be enough to recover.
"I'm going to see Toriel." Sans finally announced. "Maybe there was some damage in the ruins, she's going to need help to clean the place. You're coming?"
The younger skeleton tensed. After what happened with Frisk, he was a bit scared to confront the mother. Or the child for all it matters.
"I can't. I need to stay and supervise the clearing." He quickly justified himself. "And fill the papers, and…"
"Fine, fine. I get it. But you can't avoid them eternally, Papyrus. Talk to the kid."
"I will. But… Not today."
Sans nodded, then walked out. Papyrus sat down in front of his house with a sigh. He needed some time to collect his thoughts. Undyne, Frisk, Sans, Asgore, the cave-in… It started to be a lot of things to deal with for one skeleton.
And it was only a day he was general.