PATCHWORK SOUL - NEW MEDIUM

a real heroic spearpoint wedding chapter 71

"Don't you dare," she growled at him. "Do you hear me?! Don't. You. Dare."

The distant ding of the elevator was the sweetest sound in the world. Undyne's shoulders sagged as another monster rushed in. She could tell from the heaviness of the footfalls that it wasn't Gaster, but Toriel was more than welcome, too. She checked back over her shoulder in time to see the huge, white monster rush into the room. Toriel put her hand to her mouth, eyes wide, and raced to Undyne's side. She reached down for Sans, putting her huge paw against his frosty forehead.

"What on earth happened?" she asked.

"I dunno, he was like this when I got to him," Undyne said. "Where's Papyrus, is he okay?"

"He's... acting very unlike himself. But he's on his way." Toriel grimaced. Her fingers glowed with lavender, her magic seeping gentle healing across the skeleton's bones. "Oh dear..." Her ears pinned back and she turned sympathetic eyes on Undyne. "You can take a break if you need to. I have him."

Undyne gulped. She unhooked her fingers from their stiff, vice grip around Sans's wrist. He stayed right where he was. A small sigh slipped from her and her shoulders sagged.

"Sans? Honey?" Toriel leaned close to the skeleton. "Can you hear me? It's mom. Stay with me, alright? Papyrus will be here soon."

At the sound of his brother's name, the glow in Sans's chest brightened just a tiny bit. Toriel's eyes widened and Undyne's ears perked up.

"That's gotta be better than nothing, right?" the fish monster said. "He's not totally gone, right?!"

Toriel looked up at her. "Do you know where his father is?"

"That cat was gonna get him." Undyne folded her arms tight and growled, pacing the length of the bed quickly. "Shit. Shit shit shit."

"Deep breaths, hun."

Undyne stomped to a halt. "How are you so calm?!"

"I'm not." Toriel smiled ruefully. "But if I do not keep everything stable..."

"Right." Undyne ran her fingers through her hair. "Right. Yeah. Shit." She drew in a long, deep breath. "You're right. Sorry, I—"

"Set up a second one of these, will you?" Toriel nodded her head at the magic drip. "Just in case."

Undyne swallowed her words and got to work as fast as she could. She had just barely finished by the time the elevator chimed again. Papyrus came in, walking with stiff legs; Suzy hanging onto his arm. His gaze was distant and hollow.

"Paps," Undyne said worriedly. She shook her head and stormed up to him; Suzy slipped out of the way. "Paps, snap outta it, okay?! You alright?!"

"I... I just can't believe... I didn't notice," he said softly.

"I can!" Undyne grabbed his shoulder. "Look at you, you're outta your head." She pointed towards Toriel and Sans. "Go see him, okay?"

Papyrus perked. "Is he up?"

"Uh. Not exactly, but—"

The skeleton wilted so dramatically Undyne thought he might fall over. She grabbed him and hugged him tight. His soul warbled against her; it didn't feel good at all.

Suzy, standing alone in the middle of the room, was a bristling little mess. She snuck over to the bedside and sunk her claws into the blankets. She cautiously stood on her toes to look over at the heap of skeleton. Toriel placed a gentle hand on her head and rubbed her hair. Suzy looked up at her, then back at Sans. She gritted her teeth and carefully reached out and touched his hand. A chill rippled all through her scales, from snout to tail. Her lip curled and she let out a loud growl, whipping around and racing from the room.