"Hey- BACK OFF!"

The cyan spear materialized in her hand, which was swung rapidly about to thwack the bear monster on his paw. He grunted, reeling back from her strike, a frown besetting his face. He glared back at her for several moments before he used his other arm to wipe across his tear-stained eyes. "The King should never have set this up. We deserve to see our families," he growled, "this isn't right." He turned, and lumbered off, sniffling.

Undyne watched him go, feeling a pang of guilt. She'd been trying to keep these folks at bay, but they were growing desperate. She understood their desperation. She shared in it. Her family was in there too, dying on those beds, unable to wake from their comas—Fallen Down, seemingly never to rise.

She was scared, but she also had a job. The alligator monster to her left, Alistair, gave her an approving nod. Like her, he was a member of the Royal Guard. They, alongside an unconventional monster in the shape of an anatomically accurate heart, complete with a rhythmic beating named Joe, had been stationed here by King Asgore himself to guard the Royal Scientist's lab as the scientist worked on curing those afflicted with the Fallen Down plague. It had been months since monsters began to drop, unable to wake. Nearly a year by now, and still no progress had seemingly been made.

Undyne was the only member of her family who hadn't been afflicted with the plague, if that was even that right term for it. Eight months ago, her brother Ravin had collapsed for no apparent reason. He'd been in the middle of building a contraption, a strange three-dimensional puzzle in the shape of a diamond, when he'd slumped over in his seat. She'd had to run out and find her father, Jariah, who'd been training new recruits in Snowdin. A month later, it was he who fell while they'd been out on patrol at the entrance to the Ruins. She'd caught him in her arms to find he was unresponsive to her.

Her great-grandfather, Grandpa Flouis, or "Gumpy Fiss" as she'd called him as a child when she couldn't pronounce his name through her large fangs that had grown in too quickly (the similarity to "fish" did not escape anyone), was her only family member still standing, but he had grown old. He barely came out of his house anymore, and when he did, he didn't do anything. He was sad and tired. Undyne was aware that her Gumpy Fiss had lived through the great war that had sealed monsterkind underground. She knew how much he'd been through. She didn't blame him. She was just glad he was around.

Several more monsters shouted at her from the small crowd gathering at the lab entrance. If that wasn't stressful enough, Undyne was beginning to overheat in her armor. She couldn't keep up this position long-term, but fortunately for her, Alistair seemed to notice her beginning to sweat. "Jariah hates being out here, too," he told her. "He'd be proud of you, y'know."

She looked back toward the alligator monster, his green scales appearing faded, like the color had been washed out and eroded, his skin swollen and sagging. He was old for a regular monster, probably lived at least a hundred years, maybe. He'd always been around in some form or fashion, being one of her father's top guards. She gave him a brief nod. "He can tell me when he's back on his feet."

Alistair continued to stare at her for a few moments, even as she looked back at the scared monsters begging for their families. She had no idea if her father would be fine, of course, but telling herself he would, and Ravin too, gave her some hope. Hope had always seemed fleeting in the underground, but now, with hundreds, near a thousand monsters afflicted with the Fallen Down plague... hope was in grossly short supply. Half of those affected had long since turned to dust before the royal scientist got involved. Nobody knew if any had since perished under her care. Undyne just had to tell herself that her father and brother had the determination to push through this and survive.

Undyne's actions in smacking the bear monster away had deterred the crowd. Before, they'd been trying to shove their way in, take their families by force—for all they knew, they could be taking back their loved ones just as the royal scientist was on the verge of a cure, there had to be NO interruptions.

Day by day, it went like this. Undyne kept her armor minimal, elsewise she'd just wind up cooking inside. She'd been captain in-training for nearly two years, but with the Fallen Down disease, that was all put on hold. The days ticked by, turning into weeks, and then months... and still nothing.

Nothing until—

"Undyne!"

Her golden-sheened eyes went wide as she leapt out of bed, spear materializing in her hands, landing on the ground at the foot of her bed in a battle-ready stance. Somebody was banging on her front door.

"Undyne!"

The fish monster blinked, letting out a mild sigh as she dissipated her spear with a grumble and she reached her hands up to pull her medium-length crimson hair back into a short ponytail. "Gimme a sec," she grumbled back from her room, rubbing some sleep from her eyes after her hair was haphazardly put up. Once presentable enough, she walked from her room to the front door, opening it to reveal Joe, whose entire form was beating rapidly. He was bent over and huffing, quite obviously having sprinted his way to the Dhelaron province.

"Undyne!" he gasped out.

"Everything okay?"

"E-everyone—they're - they're awake!"

Her fins flattened along her head as her eyes widened. Had she heard that right? Joe continued as she processed this information. "We just got word, whatever the doc did, it worked! Everyone's up! They're going through one last test before they're being sent home. It's over!"

She let out a small chuckle, staring in disbelief at Joe. Her chuckle turned into a laugh, and she stood there, laughing and laughing. Joyous laughs. The relief she'd felt in that moment was like nothing she'd ever experienced. It was like the entire universe had just been lifted from her shoulders. It was like she could breathe, as though her chest had been constantly constricted before. Euphoria had overcome her.

Joe was too slow for her. She'd raced her way back to the lab, disregarding getting out of her night garbs, or even putting on shoes. In less than a minute, she'd reached the entrance to find a much larger crowd was now gathering, all clamoring excitedly. Being slim and sneaky, Undyne began to snake her way through the various monsters, careful not to step on any toes as she went. Without any bulky battle armor, it wasn't a complex task, and she'd quickly reached the front of the group to find Alistair, alongside a suit of armor that was possessed by a quiet ghost monster named Durstablook, both trying to keep the crowd back. "They'll be let out shortly, we don't want to overwhelm them, they've been through a great ordeal!" Alistair was calling as he kept his large and stubby arms up, before he caught sight of Undyne. "About time—where's your armor? Where's Joe?"

"I need in," Undyne replied, attempting to move past him, but Alistair stood in her way.

"Whoa- hang on. I need you to stay focused. My daughter's in there, too. We don't want to ruin whatever the doc's doing. Uphold the King's Decree, remember? His word is our law, and this is our station."

Undyne grit her fangs—to hell with all of that, she HAD to see her father and her brother! Yet, before she could retort in any fashion, the hissing of the lab doors opening sounded behind Alistair, and the crowd quieted down, all eyes now on the doorway. The first to step out was a short lizard monster, colored in yellow scales. That must be the royal scientist - Undyne had never met her before.

"E-Everything's okay, t-they're ready t-to go h-h-home n-now!"

An eruption of cheering followed these words. The scientist shied from the uproar, blushing as she moved aside, and monsters began to file out of the lab, one after the other. Many faces she didn't recognize, but a few she did. Undyne could feel her breath beginning to catch in her throat. Her father and brother still hadn't appeared.

"Doctor," Undyne was quick to make her way toward the royal scientist. "Is Jariah and Ravin Dhelaron okay?"

The shorter reptilian monster wrung her hands, unable to make eye contact. "T-the cap... captain, r-r-right? A-and his s-s-son...?"

Undyne nodded eagerly.

The doctor was silent for a moment, seemingly trying to recall. "U-um... I uh, I t-think—"

Before she could give her response however, a voice called out; "Undyne!"

The fish monster turned, her gaze landing on another of her kind, blue scales with red hair and all. She could recognize him anywhere.

In seconds, Undyne found her arms wrapped around her father's neck, her face buried into his chest as he held her tightly back. "Dad," she muttered into him, and felt her tears dampening his shirt. She usually never liked to cry, even hated it, but it felt appropriate right now, like she was dispelling all of that stress and worry she'd held for a year.

As Ravin approached, she pulled her older brother into the hug, their father's arms around them. "Brother," Undyne smiled a big smile as she held her family close.

"Not so tight... heh..." Ravin chuckled, sounding like his usual, anxious self.

"I never lost hope," Undyne said when she pulled away. "I never gave up. Like you always said, dad. I knew you guys would pull through."

Jariah smiled back. "A Dhelaron never quits." He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I'm ready to go home. I feel like a noodle... look at me! My muscles!"

"What muscles?" Undyne joked.

"Exactly my point!" Her father replied.

"Mine are gone too. Muscle degeneration. We were on those beds a long time," Ravin replied, and he got a bump on his shoulder from Undyne's fist, which caused him to hiss and rub at where she'd hit. "Hey, come on, not so hard."

"You never had any muscles to begin with, punk," she teased lovingly.

To home they returned. The idea of life returning to normal had seemed like a distant dream not long ago, but now, it was reality. Life stabilizing. They would mourn those they'd lost from the plague, but would celebrate those who had survived, and the royal scientist, who had turned the tide and brought so many people back from the brink.

However, not everything was well. Some monsters had given up during the period of darkness. Some had simply disappeared. Others had... taken a drastic escape and opted out.

Jariah brought up his concerns of his grandfather, Flouis, during breakfast a week later. He hadn't seen Gumpy Fiss since he'd awoken. Undyne had detailed his reclusiveness, which had seemingly scared her father. The way his blue scales seemed to pale, his fins flattening, his eyes widening as his pupils dilated. He raced off, shouting something about getting King Asgore.

"What was that about?" Undyne frowned, looking toward Ravin, who was in the process of eating a vurstar.

"I dunno," he replied, staring out of the open door. "We should check on Gumpy Fiss. Make sure he's okay."

A part of Undyne wanted to say no, as though this were some horrible idea, but she agreed with her brother. Family came first, after all.

When Undyne and Ravin arrived at the edge of the Dhelaron province, where Flouis lived, they found no light coming from within. In his old age, Grumpy Fiss' night vision had deteriorated, so he'd started to rely on firelight to see in the darkness of the underground. He outright refused to have wiring installed to give him lightbulbs. Typically, no light meant he was asleep, but his great grandkids were worried. Ravin's fist rapped on the door, and they heard a loud thud from within—then silence.

"That didn't sound good," Undyne muttered, and shared a look with her brother, who gulped. A silent moment passed, before Undyne summoned a spear in-hand, her gut wrenching with bad vibes. Another loud thump from inside, and she shook her head. "Open the door," she told her brother. He sucked in his cheeks, eyes wide, before he reached for the handle—

"WAIT!"

Undyne nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to see her father racing toward her in the distance, King Asgore's massive form following behind. A sudden crashing, the sound of wood splintering, and a great roaring filled Undyne's head as she felt something barrel into her, blasting her off her feet as the wind was knocked out of her, and a great pain erupted from the entire left side of her face. The young monster grunted as she hit the ground, rolling to a stop. People were yelling all around her, but her head was ringing like alarm bells. Undyne struggled to get up, looking toward Flouis' house, only to see a great hulking form bearing down on her brother, snarling as blades of cyan slashed against it from her father, Asgore quickly coming up with his trident...

And then nothing.

When Undyne finally came to, she found herself somewhere completely different and feeling light-headed. An ache was felt in her left eye, and she found a large bandage had covered it. A blue gown had replaced her attire. She was in the hospital. It had felt like no time at all had passed between now and when... Well, whatever had happened. Nobody greeted her, the room entirely empty.

Uncertainty crept through her as sat there on the bed, waiting in the dark silence, still feeling that twisting of her gut. She knew something was horribly wrong. She just didn't know what. After some time, maybe hours, the door opened, and in strode a nurse; a plump rodent monster she didn't know. He noticed her staring back, and almost dropped his clipboard. "Oh! You're awake!" he announced. "I- I didn't realize you were!"

"What happened?" Undyne led with, her voice quiet and strained.

"Oh, well, um," the monster wiggled his nose, his whiskers twitching as he straightened his glasses. "There was an... incident. You were brought here in critical condition, we... there was no saving the eye. It was gone when you got here."

A lump formed in her throat as her hand pressed against the bandage of her eye, but the twisting of her gut only seemed to intensify. There was more. Something else had happened. When she asked the nurse about it, he got flustered and excused himself to get the doctor.

For several more moments, she was left to herself on the bed, feeling worse and worse by the minute before the doctor came in, a tall and thin dog monster with black fur, save for features of white on her face and neck. "Undyne Dhelaron," she greeted, her face grim. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there's a lot of it."

"Skip what's wrong with me, I can handle it," Undyne replied, feeling a lump in her throat. "My dad, my brother, Grandpa Flouis..."

The doctor pursed her lips. "Are you familiar with the term 'feral' in relation to monsters?"

Undyne blinked, frowned, then looked down, searching her mind for anything on the matter. She felt she'd heard the term before, but had never figured out what it meant. After a moment, the doctor continued.

"It's what happens to a monster when any semblance of hope is gone for an extended period of time. Their... SOUL fades away, but the body remains. Rather than turn to dust, it becomes a violent husk. It's extremely rare, but..."

"Gumpy Fiss...?" Undyne cut in, her voice cracking. The doctor gave a nod. Undyne stared down, and closed her eye, trying to process this.

"King Asgore and your father stopped him. They put him out of his misery," the doctor tried to assure. Undyne gave her no response, but her heart dropped when the doctor kept going. "That's... unfortunately not all. Every monster previously afflicted with the Fallen Down pandemic has suffered it again. Those that remained were sent back to the lab. The royal scientist is doing everything she can to revive them... again... but we've been told it's... not likely..."

It took a couple minutes of silence for the doctor to excuse herself. When she was gone, Undyne balled her blanket into her face and sobbed, like she never had before. Just when she'd gotten them back... just when hope had been restored...

She wiped the tears from her face when she heard the knock at her door. Despite giving no response, it still opened, and the large form of King Asgore stepped inside. A part of Undyne wanted to leap out of the bed and snap to the attention of her king, but the stronger side of her just felt an overwhelming exhaustion. To hell with traditions. Asgore didn't seem to mind as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him. He made slow progress to her bedside, and glanced around for a chair big enough that could seat him. When he couldn't find one, he instead took a seat on the floor, crossing his legs. She'd seen him sit in his garden before, and when he'd been training her a few years ago, but it was weird to see him do it in a hospital. "How's the eye?" he asked.

"Gone," Undyne replied, her voice cold as she turned her head away, wishing he'd leave so she could get back to crying.

"Oh," was his response. More silence followed. "Did I ever tell you about the time Gerson threatened to stop training your father?"

Undyne held her legs to her chest, before she gave a slight shake of her head, and Asgore continued.

"It was a couple years before your brother was born. Flouis was desperate to get Jariah trained as quickly as possible, and kept applying pressure on Gerson. You know Gerson, he was having none of that, the stubborn old turtle. He and Flouis got into a big argument. "You have to train him quickly and harshly! It's how I was trained!" he'd argue. "Yer a git if ya think I'm gonna do that, lubber lips!" Gerson would retort. It was a whole ordeal that went on for weeks and got more and more heated, there were members of the Royal Guard threatening to quit and join Gerson. It would have been some kind of silly civil war, but a peaceful resolution was reached, as it always should be. But your father," Asgore chuckled warmly. "Oh, your father was one of the best monsters I've ever known at screwing stuff up. After all of that, this entire conflict, do you know what Jariah did?"

Slowly, Undyne had turned her gaze upon Asgore as he spoke. His gaze was toward the ceiling, reminiscing on the story he was telling. "No..." she muttered to him.

"Not even two days later, Jariah struts up to Gerson's hut. You know the walk, all proud and confident in himself. And he says; "I have some notes about your training regiment." Asgore shook his head, chortling. "After everything, Gerson was fed up with it. Challenged Jariah to a duel, kicked his rear royally, then threatened to ditch his training if he so much as made another comment about Gerson's training. Needless to say, Jariah was a lot more disciplined when it came time for me to train him. You, however, hmph," Asgore scoffed. "There's no taming you, Undyne. You were wild in the beginning, and you're wild now—you're just smarter about it these days." He smiled warmly at her.

She was quiet for several long moments, before she swallowed, her throat dry. "Why'd you tell me that story?"

Asgore's gaze dropped, before he let out a sigh. "Things are looking bad, Undyne. Worse than ever since we were cast down here. I can't imagine what you must be feeling..."

Undyne got the feeling Asgore knew exactly what she was feeling. He'd lost two children and his wife. She knew he was being modest.

"But if there's one thing I've learned about dealing with grief, with loss... it's to remember the good. Remember to laugh. Remember to love. When all hope seems vanquished, there's always something worth fighting for, and there's always something worth remembering. Don't let this make you angry. Don't let it make you bitter..." His voice broke at that last word, and she could see tears welling in his eyes. She got the feeling he was telling her advice he wished he'd heard in his time of need. "Please, keep this between us for now Undyne, but I've received word from the royal scientist: she can't revive them. She's hoping they can pass away peacefully, in their sleep..."

Undyne swallowed, still staring at Asgore. "I... had a feeling..." she admitted. "Part of me knew there wouldn't be a second reunion. Ever since I woke up..." her lip quivered.

"Remember the good times," Asgore replied, his voice soft. "It's all we can really keep."

Several more moments of that same, sad silence sat between them. Undyne remained where she was, half-sitting half-laying on the hospital bed. Asgore's presence was comforting, even if he fell silent and said nothing more.

Remember the good times... she supposed that really was all she could do. Like she did with her mother. All those piano lessons... now those memories had more with them. Memories of training with her father, of snowball fights with her brother.

A small smile pulled at her lips. A sad smile. Remember the good times.

It's all they could really keep.