A Good Friend (an Undertale short story)

A Good Friend

Papyrus knew this could go horribly wrong. That's what Sans would tell him, if Sans knew what he was doing. But Papyrus was certain all would be well and maybe, just maybe, he would have a new friend, when all this was over with.

So Papyrus waited on the outskirts of Snowdin, watching the distance. The human would be here soon. He silently prepared his speech. This had to work. He was the only one that saw good in the human, so he was the only one that could lead them off this dangerous path.

His hands shook, the bones clacking. No matter how much he told himself this would work, he was still scared.

When the human finally came, he smiled. He didn't see the horrible things at first--all Papyrus saw in the human was the determination to live and lots of loneliness.

This human needed a friend. And Papyrus was sure that the human wouldn't turn his offer down. Who would kill someone that offered to be your friend? And after the human agreed to be friends, Papyrus would teach them how to be nice to people. Then the human would be friends with Sans, and Undyne, and everybody! The Underground would be so much brighter!

Papyrus cleared his throat. "Human."

The human turned towards him, her hair, face, and hands messy with monster dust. She was holding a knife that was also coated in the stuff. She looked a little bit scary.... Maybe this hadn't been a good idea after all.

After a couple seconds, Papyrus realized he had been speaking his thoughts aloud. He snapped his jaw shut (literally--it made a snapping sound) and took a breath before continuing again. He focused on the loneliness and confusion deep in the human's eyes. He thought about how proud Sans would be when he saw that Papyrus had turned the human to good.

"I, the great Papyrus," he tried not to stumble on his words and smiled more, "will be your friend."

The human raised an eyebrow, her freckled nose scrunched in disgust. She moved her hair from her face with her free hand and sighed a little bit, like she was annoyed. "What do you want?"

Papyrus spoke, a new courage rising inside him. "I believe that there is good in everyone!" he exclaimed. "They just might need a friend to help them find that goodness. So, human, I will be your best friend and you won't have to kill anyone anymore!"

The human's eyes hardened, her hand clenched around her knife, but Papyrus hardly noticed. "And then," he continued, "you can meet my brother, Sans! He'll be friends with you too! And so will Undyne, and everyone else here! We'll welcome you into our big monster family with open arms and lots of spaghetti!" Papyrus laughed a little bit. This was going to turn out great and everyone would be happy, thanks to him. He was going to bathe in a shower of kisses every morning!

The human rolled her eyes. "I don't want to stay down here," she said, her voice hoarse, her face covered in shadow. "I want to go home."

Papyrus gasped. He didn't even know! If they had just said so to begin with, none of this would've happened! "I didn't realize that! I'll bring you to my house, fill you up with my famous spaghetti, then my brother Sans and I can help you to the barrier and you can go home! Doesn't that sound so much better and easier than killing everybody?"

"I don't need the help of two weirdo skeletons." Papyrus noticed a glint of light in the human's eye. A tear? "Trust me," she continued. "I have everything under control." Suddenly, she surged forward, holding the knife above her head. Papyrus blocked his face with his hands and braced himself for impact, but he refused to use his magic to fight. He wouldn't fight a potential friend.

"PAPYRUS, NO!"

Just when Papyrus should've felt a stabbing pain in his bones, there was a blur of blue tackling the human to the ground, pinning them, trying to wrestle the knife away. Papyrus realized that blur of blue was Sans. Papyrus shoved Sans away and grabbed the human's arms, trying to keep them away. "Don't hurt my brother! He's weak!" Papyrus ripped the knife from the human's hands. "Please don't fight us, we can all be friends."

For a moment, the human just stared at Papyrus. There were tears in her eyes. Papyrus thought maybe he had won. He felt Sans tugging on his scarf, whispering, "Papyrus, let's go, it's too dangerous," but Papyrus ignored him. These moments were critical.

The human kicked her foot out at Papyrus, grabbing the knife from him as he stumbled backwards. Then she threw the knife at Sans. He thrust out his hand and the knife stopped in midair, an aura of blue around it. Then it dropped to the ground. The human's mouth fell open a little bit. Sans smirked and winked in an obnoxious way, his left eye glowing blue. "What, you think I'm just going to stand around and take it?"

Papyrus sighed a little bit and stooped to pick up the knife. He felt a tugging in his chest and was suddenly being flung through the air. The knife dropped out of his hands. He started to yell at Sans, but his words caught in his throat when he saw what had been happening.

The human had been charging as Papyrus was bent over. Sans had moved Papyrus away so he wouldn't get hurt. And now....

Sans was lying on the ground, his eyes dark, a knife stuck in his shoulder blade. The white snow was stained a bright crimson around him. The human wiped at her forehead, released a breath, and looked at Papyrus, her eyes burning with emotion.

Papyrus looked as his brother's body turned to dust. It happened slowly at first, his fingers starting to disappear, and then, all the sudden, he was just...gone, nothing left but his blue hoodie.

Just then, Papyrus did something he didn't do often.

He cried.

He crawled over to Sans's dust and pulled the jacket close to him. It smelled of ketchup and Grillby's. Papyrus clenched it for what seemed like forever, soaking it with his tears. He felt like there was nothing left of his life, like his soul had vanished.

In a way, it had.

Eventually, he remembered the human was still there and looked up.

She was kneeling just a few feet from him, the knife on the ground, half buried in the snow. Her face was in her hands and her shoulders were shaking. She looked...sad. Guilty. She looked up at Papyrus and started mumbling, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Her cheeks were wet with tears and her lip was trembling. "I'm so horrible, I'm such a bad person."

Papyrus blinked, willing his eyes to stop glowing. "You're not a bad person. You just...make a bad choice."

"You hate me."

"I don't hate anyone. Everyone has good in them."

The human picked fingered the snow around her, clenched it in her fists. "Yeah, right. Didn't I just kill your brother? I didn't realize how much I was hurting everyone until now. Now I wish I could just go back and redo it all."

Papyrus felt a knot in his chest, but willed it away. "You can change your ways."

"I don't deserve a second chance. I'll never change."

"Everyone deserves a second chance!" Papyrus hugged Sans's jacket closer. "Everyone can change. Even killers. They just need a little help."

"Who's going to help me? You'd be better off if you killed me. Everyone would." The human started crying harder. "Kill me, please. I can't live with myself."

"I'm not going to kill you, human."

"Why?"

"Because I think you're already changing. I still see the good in you." That was true. Papyrus still saw within the human a potential to do amazing things. "I will help you back onto the right path."

"Why are you being so nice to me, even after this?"

Papyrus looked down at the blue jacket. It was covered in dust and tears. "I don't know. I guess because I still see good in you, human, I cannot be mean. Sans always te...." Papyrus stopped himself, took a breath, and started again. "Sans always told me that it's not in my nature to be mean to people."

"I don't deserve mercy."

"Everyone needs mercy sometimes." Papyrus scooted closer to the human and draped the jacket around their shoulders. "Come, human. I forgive you. I will take you to my home and you can rest while I make you spaghetti."

Papyrus picked up the human and started walking back home. The human fell asleep in his arms on the way, their fingers holding onto Papyrus's scarf.

As Papyrus walked, there were tears streaming down his face, but he could almost hear Sans's voice, telling him that he did good today.