Chapter Text
Sans had vanished soon after Papyrus had managed to pull himself together. Papyrus had insisted he return to work as soon as possible. It was important for Sans to keep his momentum going, and Papyrus always tried to encourage his brother to keep him doing so.
Sans worried too much about him sometimes, but it seemed to keep him going some days. So Papyrus would usually let it slide.
But for once Papyrus really just wanted to be alone.
Once Sans was finally gone however, he just felt crushingly alone and useless.
He had to do something.
He logged onto the Undernet. Mettaton had been his hero, but Doctor Alphys had built him. He was sure she would be even more upset.
He sent her a message.
She always replied within five minutes.
She didn’t this time.
Well, she’d just had a friend die. She probably had better things to do than to talk to someone she’d never even met in person.
Papyrus didn’t know what else to do.
He started cleaning the house.
It was evening when the news broke across the Underground. Asgore was gone, and Queen Toriel had returned shortly after. No one seemed to know what had happened, just that a human may have been involved and that they had vanished through the barrier.
After he had cleaned the house from top to bottom, he had decided to walk to the shop and pick up a few things. People had been gossiping in the streets and were quick to tell him the news.
...And to talk about what had happened to Mettaton. It seemed like everyone had watched it happen.
There was a rumour the Souls were gone as well.
Papyrus felt his soul jerk slightly at the news. Did that mean Flowey had succeeded in his plan at least? Did that mean Flowey had a soul now?
Flowey had said he would be the one to meet back up with Papyrus when he was done. But he hadn't seen him.
He didn’t even know where to begin looking for his friend at this point. He could be anywhere.
Papyrus hoped he was okay.
Sans was nowhere to be found in town Papyrus noticed as he made his way back, not even at Grillby’s, which Papyrus found odd. His last shift had ended a while ago. But with everything happening it was possible Sans may have been finding out more about what was happening while he was close to the Capital.
That wouldn’t be surprising with the rumours he’d heard. Papyrus noticed he was shaking slightly. He took a breath and tried to force away the tendrils of dread that seemed to inch deeper into him.
He hoped Sans was okay too.
Papyrus was frazzled and exhausted, but the thought of sleep still filled him with too much unease for that to be a restful idea. He couldn’t rest until Sans got home anyway. So after putting away his purchases, Papyrus went upstairs to change into his running gear. He stared at the MTT brand clothing in silence for a moment before hollowly pulling them on.
He checked the Undernet to see if Doctor Alphys had replied yet.
She hadn’t.
He pushed down another small wave of nauseous dread that rose in his ribcage.
He took the tunnel to avoid the crowds still out, despite the growing lateness, and made his way to the western woods.
Once there, he started to run.
He ran until his bones ached and exhaustion consumed his every breath. And then he kept on running. Pushing himself further and further until all his emotions and stresses faded out under the increasing pressure on his body. His vision started to fade out.
He blinked away the black spots and kept going.
He was deep in the woods at this point. He hadn’t seen anyone in ages, not even the teens came out this far - there were not even distant campfires this deep in the woods.
Gasping slightly as he slowed down, he pushed his arms against his femurs and tried to catch his breath without lungs. Having stopped, his body started sending him all the pain signals he had blocked out while running.
He came to notice blood and dust dripping and flaking out from around his patellae, the friction from him running so forcefully for so long had caused the joints to scrape and bang together to the point of injury. Tiny cracks snaked over the bones.
Papyrus sighed. Or at least tried to, still trying to catch his breath. It would likely be the same around the rest of his joints.
This wasn’t the first time he’d run to the point of injury, but he couldn’t recall previous times looking quite this bad.
Well, it wasn’t like he could just stop here in the middle of the woods! He still had to get all the way back home!
Hands still shaking from exertion, Papyrus got to work healing the joints. He noticed a sharp pain flaring in his foot as he started to cool down while he worked, and pulled off his boot. He’d managed to crack a tarsal all the way through.
Sometimes, he thought, it would be really nice to have muscles, fat, tendons and the like. Things that could help cushion some of the direct impact on his bones. Oh well, it was easy enough to heal.
He was low on energy, but he still had enough to patch himself up until he got home and could eat something.
After a while, the bleeding ebed, and dust stopped flaking off the bones. He wiped away what he could with his glove (he’d have to wash it when he got home, it was kinda gross), and stood back up straight.
The bones still ached and the joins felt tender, but that was fine.
It was fine.
Everything was fine.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it.
It was very late.
There were no messages from Sans, so if he’d gotten home he must have found Papyrus’s note telling him he was out running and not to worry.
Putting his phone away again, Papyrus turned around and started running once more, following his footprints in the snow back.
About halfway back he couldn’t run anymore, no matter how much he forced himself. The tender, newly healed areas around his joints had started to crack and flake again, and this time he could feel the first drop of blood when it started running down his fibula. Slowing down, he stopped to heal them again, before proceeding to walk back stiffly.
His slower movements made the pain feel much more acute as he cooled again. At least it was distracting from his thoughts.
But, he admitted to himself, it was times like this that he wished he could just let himself take a shortcut. Oh well, it looked like he’d just have to take the pressure off his joints on the way home another way.
It was easier to do when he was happy or excited - or just feeling strong emotions in general really, but walking through the air would take some of the pressure away.
So he did.
When he finally got home, shaking from both physical and magical exertion, it was well past midnight. Almost the time he would usually be waking up by in fact!
He found Sans asleep on the couch. Papyrus wrapped a blanket around his sleeping brother with his shaking hands, who mumbled something in his sleep before falling silent again. Or well, slightly more silent. His snoring picked up fairly quickly.
After showering and changing, Papyrus didn’t have the heart to wake Sans up just to ask for a bedtime story. So instead, after double-checking on his brother and slipping an extra pillow under his skull, Papyrus grabbed one of the cinnamon bunnies he’d picked up while shopping earlier (it looked as if Sans had already helped himself to a few, which made Papyrus feel guilty that he hadn’t been home to make Sans dinner earlier), before he climbed up the stairs and entered his room. Moving towards his bed, he first stopped next to his bedside table and shifted his two Mettaton action figures to the very front.
If he had been less tired he may have had to blink back tears. As it was, it made him realise he had to check again before he went to bed. He walked over to his computer.
Still nothing from Doctor Alphys.
Shutting his computer back down, Papyrus stared at his reflection in the black screen for a minute before averting his gaze.
He climbed into bed and stared up at the ceiling.
Every part of him was tired.
Mind, body and soul.
He waited for sleep to claim him.
Papyrus woke up with a soft gasp, a feeling like ice water in his bones. He blinked rapidly to force the images away. His eyes darted to his action figures the moment his vision cleared.
The Mettaton figures were still at the front. Another new day.
He looked at the time on his phone.
What?!
How could that be?
Six whole hours gone!
He shot straight up and clambered out of his bed. It was past eight in the morning! How could he have wasted so much time? Standing on both feet a wave of pain flooded him.
Ooooh… He may have overdone it yesterday a bit.
But that wasn’t important.
Ignoring the pain he started getting dressed quickly while his computer booted up, he was able to log onto the Undernet once he was done. His feed was flooded with the rumours and news of the Queen’s return. As well as memorials for Mettaton.
There were no new posts from Doctor Alphys, and she still hadn’t replied to his message.
He was starting to get very worried. This wasn’t like her.
But he wasn’t a real friend to her yet, she could just not want to talk to him.
He fidgeted for a moment, debating to himself, before pulling out his phone and dialling Undyne.
“Hello?” Came a distracted voice after the fifth ring.
“Undyne, hi! Sorry to bother you, are you busy right now?” Papyrus said.
“Papyrus?” Undyne said sounding surprised, “I have a meeting with the Queen in a few minutes. Things are insane here. Why did you call?”
“I was just wondering if you’ve heard from Doctor Alphys since yesterday? I know you don’t check online often, but I was wondering if you might know anything?” Papyrus said quickly.
There was a pause.
“...I sent her a text message yesterday after what happened with Mettaton, and she told me not to worry. Why do you ask?” Undyne spoke.
“It’s just, she is yet to post anything online since... it happened. And she hasn’t replied to any of my messages since.” Papyrus said, hoping he wasn’t sounding too overbearing.
Undyne was quiet again.
“...Shit.” She muttered. The way she said it made ice flood his bones, “Okay, look - I’m sure everything’s fine. I’ll stop by her place on the way back after I’ve finished dealing with whatever it is the Queen wants to talk to me about.”
“Thank you!” Papyrus said, relieved.
“Look, I’ve got to go,” Undyne said distractedly, “But, oh yeah, I wanted to say sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have been so harsh on you. That human fooled almost everyone until what happened to Mettaton. It’s not your fault, okay?”
Undyne had hung up before Papyrus could say another word.
He took a shuddering breath. Undyne was a good person, trying to say it wasn’t his fault. He knew better, but he appreciated the thought.
But Undyne wasn’t mad at him anymore so that was something.
He went downstairs. Sans was still on the couch, although now he was awake - or at least upright - and had a cup of tea in his hands.
“hey bro. good sleep?” Sans asked, yawning slightly, “what time did you get in last night?”
“Pretty late. I didn’t want to wake you.” Papyrus admitted, “What about you? Where were you after your shift ended yesterday?”
“oh man, what a day. i met the queen you know? the capital is going crazy with asgore uh... gone. queen toriel is planning on making a lot of changes it looks like.”
“Wowie! You got to meet the queen??” Papyrus exclaimed, he hadn’t expected that! “What was she like?”
“she’s nice. she has a royal mess ahead of her though.” Sans said, his grin growing a sly edge.
“Sans! Not the time!” Papyrus groaned.
People were dead.
“yeah, you’re right. my puns should get me throne out.”
“I’m going to get breakfast started!” Papyrus said loudly while turning on his heel and walking away. Before reluctantly adding, “But I’m sure the Queen will have many crowning achievements ahead of her.”
Papyrus felt warmth flood him as he was rewarded with the sound of his brother laughing from the couch.
After a slow breakfast with his brother, they had just been about to head out when there was a knock on the door. The two brothers looked at each other in surprise.
Opening the door, Sans came face to snout with Doggo.
Papyrus started bouncing slightly on his feet and waved at his fellow sentry from behind Sans.
“doggo, hey. what’s up?” Sans asked.
Doggo’s gaze had focused on the lightly moving Papyrus, seemingly ignoring Sans, “Undyne asked me to get all the guards and sentries together. She has some kind of announcement to make. Everyone’s meeting at the Eastern edge of town. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t sound good.”
“Oh? We’ll be right there!” Papyrus spoke immediately.
He wondered what was going on. He looked at Sans, his brother didn’t look too surprised by Doggo’s statement, but he rarely looked surprised by anything.
Following Doggo out, the three walked towards the warmer breeze coming from Waterfall together. They were quickly joined by the Royal Guard dogs, who were walking around talking quietly to each other. The fog was light today, and they all fell into formation when they noticed Undyne standing ahead of them, her helmet held under one arm. Her face was obscured by the mist somewhat, making it difficult to see her expression.
“I have an unfortunate announcement to make,” Undyne spoke to the assembled guards and sentries. Something was wrong. Papyrus could tell immediately from her voice. It was as if all her passion and determination had been sucked out.
She cleared her throat, “Queen Toriel has made a decision in regards to the Royal Guard, to be implemented immediately. I have already made this announcement once today in Hotland, so some of you may have already heard the news.”
The gathered dogs and skeletons looked at each other in confusion. Well, one of the skeletons did. The other didn’t do much of anything. It didn’t seem like anyone had heard what the announcement could have been yet.
“As of today, the Royal Guard is no more.” Undyne said, her voice drained of any emotion, “We have been officially disbanded. There will be a severance package made available shortly according to the queen. I would still recommend searching for new employment as soon as possible, however.”
There was silence from those gathered, before voices and whining filled the area.
Undyne turned away from them, “Dismissed.”
Papyrus was devastated. Now he’d never get into the Royal Guard, he would never be able to follow his dream!
He would never become popular.
Make lots of friends...
He had always told himself he would never give up, but the thing he refused to give up working towards no longer existed.
He felt hollow.
Undyne must feel even worse.
Undyne!
How could he be so selfish as to think of himself at this point? He had just lost a dream, she had lost her entire livelihood!
As the crowd started to disperse, Papyrus made his way over to Undyne.
“Undyne are you-” Papyrus started to ask.
“She’s gone.”
Papyrus froze.
“I went to her lab after I spoke to the troops in Hotland. I found a note. She’s not coming back.”
“Wh- are you sure? Maybe we can still find her?” Papyrus spoke quickly, “Do you have any idea where she might have gone?!”
“Papyrus. Stop.” Undyne said emptily, “She’s not coming back.”
She turned away from him, dropping her helmet in the sludgy snow with no force. No anger in the motion, just gravity dragging the helmet down. She left it on the ground as she started to walk away.
“I’m going home.”
She trudged off, leaving Papyrus alone in the rolling fog.
A few minutes later, he heard footsteps behind him.
“hey, everything okay?” Sans asked in concern.
Papyrus felt tired.
He felt lost.
He felt useless.
He turned to face his brother, “Let’s go home.”
They didn’t spend much time at the house together before Sans decided to head out to Grillby’s. Apparently the dogs were all planning on heading there in mourning of their former employment and Sans had been invited along.
Sans had asked Papyrus if he wanted to join them, but after some thought Papyrus declined.
“don’t worry about things too much bro. you’re allowed to get pissed about losing your job and your dream. but you don’t need to wallow in it by yourself, come wallow in it with the rest of us.” Sans said, giving Papyrus a pat on the back.
“I’m not going to wallow!” Papyrus denied, “I’ve got something to do first.”
Hesitantly, he added, “If I get it done quickly I’ll come and join you.”
“okay bro. i’ll hold you to that.” Sans said with a grin, “i’ll give you a call later.”
Once Sans had left, Papyrus changed out of his Battle Body. It didn’t feel right wearing it now. Dressed more casually, he left the house. He walked slowly, his bones still aching, but he had something to do.
He had to try and find Flowey.
After a few hours of wandering around Snowdin and Waterfall, checking all the places he usually hung out with Flowey and finding nothing, Papyrus started getting anxious. He had been just about to stop looking for the day when he found Flowey near some echo flowers in a dark corner of Waterfall.
He was staring into a shallow pool of water, facing away from Papyrus.
“Flowey!” He called as he approached.
Flowey looked up at Papyrus in surprise, before vanishing underground without a word.
“Wait!” Papyrus called after him, running to the spot Flowey had vanished from.
“I needed to speak to you.” He said.
The echo flowers started to repeat it back to him.
“...I needed...”
“...To you...”
“...Flowey…”
“...Speak to..”
“...Wait..!”
“..Wait.. speak to… I needed…”
As they started to repeat themselves as well and distort his words, Papyrus shivered slightly before leaving quickly. At least Flowey was okay. He knew that now at least. He’d try to find him again later.
As he walked back through Waterfall, he realised he was near Undyne’s house. He decided to check up on her.
He would forever be glad he decided to when he felt a wave of heat hit him when he was a cavern away. Running towards it he was faced with a raging inferno engulfing the house.
Oh no!
Fires weren’t unusual at Undyne’s, he’d been around for more than a few of them. But nothing like this. He looked around for Undyne, hoping to spot her somewhere close. He couldn’t see her.
He pulled out his phone and tried to call her. She didn’t pick up, but he could just make out the distant sound of ringing over the roar of the fire.
It came from inside the house.
Oh no!
Keep calm, that didn’t mean she was still inside. She may have just left her phone.
He couldn’t take that risk.
Steeling himself, he tossed his still ringing phone on the floor before he ran back to the previous cavern and dove into the water there, making sure he was soaked through before running back.
Without stopping he climbed through one of the broken windows, rather than opening the door and letting more oxygen in. The inferno didn’t need any more feeding.
His eye sockets watered as they filled with smoke. Crouching down low, he made his way towards the ringing. It was coming from Undyne’s room.
He pressed his hand against the door when he reached it. It wasn’t hot. He opened it.
The room was filled with smoke, but no fire.
Undyne was lying on her bed, she wasn’t moving. Her phone was ringing uselessly on the bedside table.
“UNDYNE!” He yelled.
She didn’t react.
Papyrus moved.
Racing over to her, he ignored the smoke burning his eye sockets and filling his skull as he pulled off his still wet scarf and wrapped it around her face and hair. He had to get her out as fast as possible! Wrapping her up in her blanket to give her a barrier against the flames he lifted her up with some difficulty, she was really heavy, and his bones still ached with every movement.
He did it anyway.
Bracing himself he ran back through the living room, Undyne wrapped up in his arms. He needed to get her out as fast as possible, that meant the front door. He kicked it open, the fire roared at the new source of fuel, and Papyrus felt the flames scorching his back.
He raced to the pools, gently unwrapping Undyne from the smoking blanket. He threw it in the water while he unwrapped his scarf from around her face.
She wasn’t breathing.
Pressing his head against her chest he felt a shudder of relief when he heard a faint heartbeat.
With shaking hands he started trying to heal her. He didn’t know much about fleshy anatomy, but he knew he needed to fix her lungs, get them restarted. He didn’t know how long it took, but when Undyne took a gasping breath and started coughing horrible choking coughs it was a relief.
She was alive.
Thank goodness!
The blanket was thick but lacked the density to sink fully, still half floating in the pool when he went to re-wet the scarf. He wrapped it around her head to try and cool her down.
She still felt very hot, and her scales looked horribly dry, so he dragged the wet blanket out and covered her in the most heavily waterlogged part, still monitoring her breathing.
He needed to call for help, but his phone was still on the ground near her house. He couldn't leave her alone until he was sure she would keep breathing.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled off one of his gloves and put his hand over her lungs and focused on fixing the damage again.
He didn’t stop, even when Undyne finally opened her eyes.
“...yrus?” She croaked, throat sounding painfully raw.
“Undyne!” Papyrus said, “Are you able to talk? Do you hurt anywhere?”
“‘M fine.” she said blearily, trying to wave an arm and failing when it caught in the heavy blanket.
“No you’re not!” Papyrus shuddered, “You almost died! What happened?”
“...think I left the fridge open?” Undyne mumbled before fading out again.
Papyrus kept healing her until her breathing evened out and she no longer gurgled with each breath.
With a sigh of relief, he pulled his glove back on quickly and stood shakily. He walked back to the fire, which was still burning steadily. Picking up his phone, he walked back to Undyne.
The phone had disconnected from its earlier call.
There were several missed calls from Sans.
Reaching Undyne, he sat back down next to her and phoned Sans back. He picked up on the first ring.
“papyrus! are you okay? why weren’t you answering your phone?” Sans spoke immediately.
“I’m fine, I’m near Undyne’s house.” Papyrus said.
“i tried calling undyne when i couldn’t reach you, what’s going on?”
“Undyne is hurt. I think I’ve got it under control, but I don’t know, I’m not an expert at healing!”
The next few hours passed in a blur for Papyrus, although he remembered Sans scolding him for reckless behaviour and insisting that he get the burns covering his bones, especially on his back looked at.
Papyrus hadn’t even realised he had them.
He’d protested at first, but relented despite his discomfort in the face of his brother’s concern.
The healer at the clinic they went to had fixed him up quickly though. He had also fixed up the joint pain when he noticed the lingering microfractures around the joints. Papyrus was grateful the healer waited until Sans was out of the room before sternly giving him a talking to about taking better care of himself.
He was gladder still when he was no longer the centre of the healer's focus.
The brothers got back to Snowdin soon after they had finished at the clinic. Undyne had to stay overnight for observation, but the healer had said Papyrus had done excellent emergency work and had saved Undyne’s life with his quick treatment, and that she would have died if he’d been any slower.
Papyrus didn’t sleep that night, for a number of reasons.
The moment the clinic was open the next day, he was back through the front door to Undyne’s side in an instant.
She was staring at the ceiling, eyes hollow.
“How are you feeling?” Papyrus whispered.
She didn’t face him, still staring up.
“Like hell.” She rasped.
He winced at the sound. The healer had said it would take time for the rawness to go away.
Papyrus fidgeted, trying to think of something to say. Undyne broke the silence first.
“Thanks for saving me Papyrus,” she croaked, “You’re a good friend.”
Friend.
She had called him her friend.
The warmth he felt was quickly overtaken by the cold fact that Undyne had lost Doctor Alphys and King Asgore. She had lost almost everyone she had considered a friend before.
He was a poor replacement, but he would do his best to live up to the title!
“Sans is fixing up the couch for you back in Snowdin, you’ll be staying with us for a while - if you want to of course!” Papyrus said.
“Thanks, Papyrus. I appreciate that.”
After he got Undyne back to Snowdin and made her comfortable things didn’t change much for the next few weeks.
Undyne rarely left the couch, and only showered or ate when Papyrus pressured her to do so. Most of his time was spent trying to bring some life back into her eyes. It was a process he was sadly very familiar with already, and it didn’t really take much time for him to adjust to it.
Thankfully it seemed like Sans was doing somewhat okay lately, Papyrus didn’t know what he would do if he had to keep both of them going at the same time.
Sans was working really hard, as the only one of the three with a job now, he spent most of his time at his illegal hotdog stand while Papyrus tried to help Undyne recover from her depression.
Nothing seemed to get through to her, not even Papyrus’s desperate plan to inspire Undyne with the thought of revenge on the human. She didn’t care.
“It won’t bring them back.” She said hollowly.
Papyrus refused to give up hope. But if that was what she needed… if she needed them back alive in order to live again… He’d do his best! No matter the odds!
Once Sans offered Undyne a job at his hotdog stand, both to take some of the constant workload off himself, and to force Undyne to leave the house more (Sans admitted he got the idea from when Papyrus did the same thing to him, pressuring him to get his old sentry job to give him something to do and force him back into some kind of stability), he finally had the time.
With Undyne out of the house more, Papyrus could finally work on trying to get Undyne’s friends back!
Every moment Undyne was at the hotdog stand, Papyrus spent his time looking for Flowey. He made sure to always be back before she got back, so he could keep an eye on her.
Eventually, he found him.
This time Flowey didn’t run away.
“What do you want?” the flower asked, sounding lost and confused.
“Are you okay?” Papyrus asked, frowning.
“Peachy,” Flowey said scowling.
“I haven’t seen you since...” Papyrus trailed off.
“Yeah, well. With both our plans up in flames I didn’t really see the point.”
“So you didn’t get a soul? I heard they went missing?” Papyrus asked.
Flowey grimaced, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh, okay.”
“... Seriously, what do you want?”
Papyrus was quiet for a bit.
“I was wondering, if you could maybe… reset?”
There was a deathly silence.
“What.”
“I know it’s none of my business, and I wouldn’t ask if it was for me, but it’s the only way I can think to fix things and-”
“You know. You knew.”
Papyrus blinked in surprise, “Of course I know - you told me… Oh, wait, that didn’t happen during this latest run, did it? Sorry, it’s so hard to keep track sometimes!”
“You remember.”
“So could you do it, please?” Papyrus pushed, “Please reset?”
Flowey laughed brokenly.
“Sorry Papyrus, I’ve tried.” Flowey kept laughing, “The human took control of the resets, and even with them gone I still can’t do anything anymore.”
Flowey stopped laughing.
“I’m useless now.”
There was silence for a long time.
“Well!” Papyrus finally spoke, “Then I’ll just have to find a way to ask the human!”
Flowey snorted, "Yeah, good luck with that."
He vanished away again.
Papyrus didn't give up, and when he got home early that same day, not expecting Undyne back for a few hours still, he had his chance.
Entering the house he paused when he saw Sans on the phone…
"Sans! Who are you talking to?"
.
.
.
.
.
.
RESET.
