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Kris wheezed softly as they kneeled down, letting a sleepy Frisk slide down to their feet. A waterfall rushed just a few feet away, so Kris made sure to keep Frisk's hand in theirs.
"you look beat, kid."
Kris glared up at Sans leaning against a sentry station with a grin. "What do you want now?"
"just working, you know how it is. why don't you rest for awhile? before getting impaled by undyne, of course."
Kris huffed, leaning their back against the cave wall as Frisk sleepily climbed into their lap and buried their face against Kris' chest.
Kris' eyes sank shut. They were just so tired. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. They could imagine their house, their warm bed, their mother baking pie that they'd inevitibly eat too much of. It felt millions of miles away.
"hot dog?"
Opening one eye lazily, Kris saw Sans offering a ketchup soaked hot dog. "I'm good."
"worth a shot." He shrugged. "so what's your plan?"
The waterfall rushing ahead of them was lulling white noise to Kris, calming their nerves and instinct to kick Sans' head off. "What do you mean?"
"well, you get the little kid home, and then what? do you even have a plan to get back to your home?" He pushed himself up to sit on the sentry station's small counter, looking at Kris expectantly.
"I don't know. I'll worry about it when they're safe. I magically ended up here, who's to say I won't magically go back?" Kris laughed humorlessly, closing their eyes again.
"suppose you never know. it's honorable of you, you know. i'm sure plenty of people would just leave the kid at the first place they could and continue on their way."
Kris sighed, brushing Frisk's hair out of their face. "I would've wanted someone to do this for me."
"like i said, honorable." Sans shrugged. "just take care of yourself too, y'know? would hate to tell your mom you died on my watch."
"Your watch?" Kris snorted.
He winked. "i've got eyes everywhere."
…
"Shit, fuck, run!" Kris pushed Frisk ahead, the floor slick and the ceiling dripping as the two ran from Undyne. Frisk slipped on a puddle, but Kris yanked them back to their feet before they even hit the ground. "Duck!"
The spear barely missed Frisk, the very edge of it slicing past Kris' face, just leaving a small but long cut down their cheekbone. Blood slid down their face as the two stepped onto a rickety rope bridge.
"Yo! Where are you guys going?"
Kris whipped around to see Monster Kid running after them, promptly tripping and falling on their face.
"We don't have time for this." Kris sighed, turning and finding a cave wall just in front of them. "Fuck. Fuck, it's a dead end." Kris' hands twitched at their sides as they turned back around to see Undyne approaching, her spear glinting dangerously in her hand.
"What? It's just Undyne." Monster Kid laughed, the bridge under them swaying as Kris pushed Frisk behind them.
"Scared." Frisk mumbled, peeking around Kris' waist.
The bridge lurched hard when Undyne stepped on, Monster Kid shrieking and almost slipping off the edge, hanging onto the wood of the bridge with nothing but their teeth. "Hey! Hey, help! I'm falling!"
Kris swayed hesitantly, knowing they were just putting themself even more in Undyne's line of fire, before scoffing at even considering letting the kid fall. "Stay here." Kris said sharply to Frisk as they ran to the middle of the bridge, dropping to their knees at the edge and grabbing the kid, grunting as they lifted them and placed them back down.
"Are you okay?" Kris asked breathlessly.
"Yo! That was so cool!" They turned back to face Undyne before turning back to Kris. "Wait… yo, is she chasing you?"
Swallowing hard, Kris nodded as Undyne raised her spear again.
"Step aside." Her voice was much, much more murderous than Kris had ever heard it.
"Yo, no way!" Monster Kid stood. "If-if you want-if you want to kill them—you've gotta go through me! Yeah!"
Undyne's helmeted head moved slightly as she looked between the two of them, Kris standing and placing their hand on their sword.
She just…
turned and left.
"Yo! I did it!"
…
Kris' head snapped up as thunder crashed, revealing Undyne's silhouette as lightning flashed.
"Gogogo—" Kris pushed Frisk forward and took off running behind them, magic spears whizzing by, cutting down Kris' arms and legs, the stinging sensation making their legs not want to listen.
Kris shrieked as they were yanked back and thrown to the ground, just barely rolling out of the way of Undyne stabbing their spear down. "FRISK, GO!" They scrambled to their feet.
"Get back here!" Kris only got a few feet before they were yanked by the shirt and thrown against the wall, just barely batting the spear away with their sword that threatened to slice them in half.
As they sharply turned the corner, dragging a shaking Frisk beside them, they saw a neon sign flashing "WELCOME TO THE HOTLANDS" before getting shoved down once again.
"GET OFF ME!" Kris swung, their sword just barely missing Undyne's face.
"Stop running!' She shrieked as they exited the cave, sprinting forward, Kris yanking Frisk up into their arms as they crossed another threatening rope bridge, this one semeingly teetering above lava as Kris bound across it.
They placed Frisk down at the other side gently, careful not to snag them with the sword still in their hands.
"S… so hot…" Undyne's voice was much weaker than before as she reached the end of the bridge, and immediately collapsed.
Kris panted sharply, starting to just pull Frisk along.
"No!"
Kris stared down at them in bewilderment. "What do you mean?"
Frisk pulled away and ran to a water cooler—of course there was a water cooler in the middle of a volcano—pouring a cup and returning to Undyne despite Kris' anxious warnings.
"Here you go!" They dumped the water over her head.
Slowly, very slowly, Undyne got to her feet. Her eyes darted back and forth between Kris and Frisk before giving Kris the slightest nod, and walking away.
"I did it!" Frisk clapped for themself as they returned to Kris' side.
"You did." Kris said, their heart still beating in their throat as they headed further into the volcano. "Don't run away from me again, okay?"
"But I did it!" They looked up at Kris with a pout.
Kris laughed gently. "You did. But… I don't want you to get hurt if someone isn't that nice next time."
Frisk huffed. "Oooookay."
"Let's go get you some water too." They guided Frisk gently up the hill.