Royal Blue

Those Who Return, Wish They Hadn't (Chapter Fourteen)

Ever since that... thing, had appeared, and Zero had pulled Papyrus back from the edge... It was hard for anyone to talk. The words caught in their throats when they tried.

What was that thing? What were it's goals? And moreover, how did it know Papyrus well enough that it knew that... taking that form, falling off the edge, would lure Papyrus so effectively?

It was... unnerving. It was manipulative. And it was so... so wildly, horribly frustrating.

Yet another puzzle without an answer.

But the only one who seemed to know much of anything had fallen silent again. The near monosyllabic monster growing totally silent, barely responding even when directly spoken too. Only watching Papyrus, who refused to do anything other than curl in on himself.

Undyne had stopped trying to start a conversation a while ago.

She could... somewhat understand both monster's silent plights.

Papyrus... he'd nearly been manipulated into leaping into icy water for a... a figment of a friend that may or may not have even existed.

And Zero.

Zero and she had faced this kind of thing before; once...

But Undyne was beginning to think that Zero may have seen these more than she had first thought.

How else would he have known what to do in the face of both of these... strange circumstances?

Maybe they were a fluke.
Maybe it had happened those two times; a coincidence, and would never happen again.
But maybe... this was going to become a pattern.

These... creatures, had the power to paralyze anyone they deemed fit, horrifying them into stillness.

Undyne idly wondered if a weaker monster could be killed by such a thing.

Startled to silence until their soul just... gave up.

Undyne tightened her grip on the edge of the Riverperson's boat.

That wasn't the kind of thing she was willing to wait and find out.

It was like Russian roulette with an unknown number of bullets, and an unknown amount of time until the trigger is pulled.
Too many unknowns. Too much fear.

So, Undyne did the only thing she could think to do.
She called Alphys.

Her girlfriend picked up on the first ring.

"U-Undyne?! D-Did you f-find S-Sans al-already?" Alphys asked quickly.

Undyne sighed, her breath lingering in the air.

Right- that.

Stars, today just got worse and worse, didn't it?

"We're still on our way to Snowdin," Undyne confessed, her voice quiet, though the rush of water beneath and the occasional creak of the Riverperson's boat as it ferry'd them along likely gave that much away.

"O-Oh," Alphys said, her voice edging on defeated, "t-then.... uh... What's g-going on?"

"I-Is everyone okay?" Alphys asked finally.

Papyrus had pressed himself firmly into the wedge of the back of the ever size-accommodating boat. He seemed to be doing his best to think things over. His posture was closed off, knees pressed together and arms crossed around himself.

He looked... honestly, he looked scared, but also like he was denying that fear very harshly. His shoulders down and back, but chin low.

As if waiting for that... thing, to come back and go for his throat.