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Pat, pat, pat...
The sound of the human's footsteps in the water is almost deafening amid the silence of the caverns. The knife in their hand seems to reflect a non-existent light. I follow close behind, careful not to make any noise in my Royal Guard armor. The human continues on their path, seemingly unaware of me, their pursuer. Seemingly, that is. Every so often, they would turn around, and I would have to teleport away as to avoid the inevitable knife slash.
A simple plan, really. Follow them without being noticed up until the moment their back is against the wall, and then ambush with a million spears. Reap their SOUL and send it to ASGORE to join the six others that he has collected. Use that power to break the barrier separating the monster world from the human world. At last, monsters would be freed and the deaths of countless others avenged.
Countless monsters, among which Papyrus was one...
Papyrus. That lovable goofball... In the time that I had known him, he had quickly become like a brother to me. Memories flash through my head like strips of old film fed through a projector. The sight of him knocking against my window with that ridiculously hopeful-looking smile after I had shut the door on him the previous midnight. The growth he displayed from naive guard hopeful to responsible guard-in-training after about two months of rigorous instruction. Our first cooking lesson, in which we attempted to make popsicles... and somehow managed to burn my house down (I've long since stopped questioning how exactly that happened). The painful realization that maybe Papyrus was never cut out to be a Royal Guard with his youthful optimism and innocence.
And as it turned out, my fears were completely founded.
I choke back a sob, attempting to reclaim my stoic facade. The warrior inside, however, is howling with rage. Damn you to hell, human. Damn. You. To. Hell.
My dominant hand starts to twitch erratically. God, I just want to pincushion that punk now and get it over with...
Calm down, Undyne, I reprimand myself. Wait for the right moment.
...
There. Right there.
The human is making their way across a bridge. I can easily block their path both forward and backward and impale them right then and there--
"YO!"
What? Is that... the kid? The kid I had warned earlier about the murderous human?
I attempt to get their attention, but the kid zips right past me toward the dust-covered human, apparently not noticing me there.
Oh god... oh god oh god oh god...
"So, um, Undyne and I have been talking... and... She told me to stay away from you."
Exactly! I want to scream. Stay! Away! From! Them!
"She said you... You hurt a lot of people."
And they're gonna hurt you too if you keep talking to them! Leave! Now!
"But... Yo, that's not true, right?"
Oh my god. No. No no no no no. This monster's just a kid. No.
"Yo..." Fear crosses the monster kid's features. "Why won't you answer me? A-a-and what's with that weird expression?"
With a jerk, the human turns around, knife at the ready --
KNIFE AT THE READY.
AGAINST A CHILD.
A FREAKING CHILD.
OH MY GOD. THIS IS NOT HAPPENING.
KID. RUN AWAY. NOW!
But the kid doesn't run away. They jump back in fear, expression laced with extreme horror.
"Oh..." they manage. "O-o-oh man..." Then, to themself, "Man... my heart is p-pounding right out of my chest... what would Undyne do?"
It doesn't matter right now what I'd do! I nearly scream. Just leave! Leave or they'll kill you!
"Yo... y-you'd better stop r-right where you are," they stammer at the approaching human, trying and failing to appear brave, "'cause if you w-wanna hurt anyone else... you're..."
Then they make their best attempt to steel themself over.
"You're gonna have to get through me, first."
No.
No.
Without a second thought, I take a running start and then leap right in between the human and the monster kid...
...
... just as the human's knife makes a wide slash.
Extreme pain. Complete and utter pain in my torso that radiates to every part of my body.
My entire self goes numb. My vision begins to swim. I almost fade out entirely when...
"Undyne... You're hurt..."
The kid.
"Hurt?" I cough out, my voice little more than a hoarse rasp. "It's... nothing." A blatant lie. The pain is damn near paralyzing. And judging by the worried look on their face, the monster kid isn't convinced, either.
My voice lowers to a strained growl. "Next time, listen when I tell you to leave, okay?"
"Undyne," stammers the kid, at a loss for words, "I..."
"I'll take care of this!" I bark out. "Get out of here!"
The monster kid flinches slightly, hesitating before running away. It pains me physically and emotionally to raise my voice like this to a kid, but seriously. I had taken this kid aside for a stern talking-to earlier, and they STILL chose to believe the human could be a friend...
But then again, so did Papyrus...
I return to the present. "Heh... 'it's nothing...'"
It's nothing. The two words people use when trying to protect the feelings of others. The most common and see-through lie of all. I look down. There is a wide gash across my torso -- no, not a gash. That punk had sliced me clean in half. It's not nothing.
"No, s-somehow, with j-just one hit..." I cough, "I'm already... a-already... Damn it..."
The pain flares up again, this time with renewed intensity. I start to go numb again. My vision blurs, and in front of me, I see...
Papyrus. ASGORE. Alphys. They are out of focus, their faces riddled with concern and fear.
The three people I held most dear to my life. Papyrus, the young skeleton I had taken under my wing and developed an almost sibling-like bond with, who had been cut down while still in the prime of his life. ASGORE, the king of the Underground, the one who had trained me to get where I am now, the figure who was more of a dad to me than my real dad ever was...
Alphys.
My best friend. The Royal Scientist who had introduced me to anime, robots, and other nerdy stuff. The... the love of my life.
She'll never know how much she meant to me.
I think of those three in my last moments, imagining how they'd feel knowing the strongest warrior was cut down by a child. They would be disappointed in me, surely.
"Papyrus... Alphys... ASGORE..." I gasp. "Just like that, I've... I've failed you."
And I truly feel like I have. The real Undyne would not have died resigned to her fate -- and most definitely not to a human child.
One thought consoles me in my dusting moments, however. At least I died doing my life's work: protecting all of monsterkind.
And with that, everything fades away.
...
...
"No."
Everything comes back into focus. My vision clears. The human is still standing in front of me, knife at their side.
"My body... It feels like it's splitting apart... Like any instant... I'll scatter into a million pieces."
A fire burns inside my soul, growing bigger, brighter...
"But... Deep in my soul... There's a burning feeling I can't describe. A burning feeling that WON'T let me die."
What was it I was thinking earlier? The real Undyne would not have died resigned to her fate --
And she WON'T.
"This isn't about monsters anymore, is it?" I heave, eyes trained on the human. "If you get past me, you'll... destroy them all, won't you? Humans, monsters, everyone... Everyone's hopes... Everyone's dreams... Vanquished in an instant."
For once, it doesn't matter to me what this child is. It certainly isn't a human; I'd known humans were capable of atrocities like sealing monsters underneath Mount Ebott and killing our beloved Prince Asriel... but murdering all of monsterkind? Humans are cruel, but somehow, I feel that they aren't this cruel. And if that's the case, then I must protect them from this demonic abomination as well.
This burning feeling -- I know what it is now. It's everyone's determination. Everyone's hopes and dreams. Humans and monsters alike are giving me this newfound power.
"... But I WON'T let you do that."
All the determination, all the hopes, dreams, smiles, and tears of the Underground and beyond... All this power I'm drawing in, it all coalesces together until three persistent words repeat themselves inside me like a mantra:
I won't die.
"Right now, everyone in the world... I can feel their hearts beating as one."
I. Won't. Die.
"And we all have one goal: to defeat YOU."
I won't die! I won't die! I WON'T DIE!
"Human... No! Whatever you are... For the sake of the whole world... I, UNDYNE, WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN!"
This overwhelming feeling of determination washes over my body at last. Everything becomes white.
...
And then everything reappears again, brighter and more distinct. I look down upon the stoic human, feeling reinvigorated and more determined and powerful than ever before.
My voice comes out as a sonorous alto that echoes against the cavern walls and throughout the entire Underground as I speak these words:
"You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT."