Against All Odds

Part 1: Chapter 5

Undyne stood motionless for a while; she hadn't even noticed that others had entered behind her while the kidnapper was berating Papyrus. The poor skeleton's sniffling continued for a good long while after the kidnapper had left, but not everyone in the room decided to stick around for the entire duration.

Alphys, feeling the heavy tension in the room, cleared her throat. "I, uh... I-I think I'm going to go l-look for some more clues regarding where P-Papyrus could be..."

She quickly left the room, eager to find a place with a less tense atmosphere. Toriel, seeing the state Sans was in, put a hand on his shoulder.

"tori, i need a moment. would you and asgore mind stepping out?"

Toriel, still concerned, nodded understandingly. She reluctantly motioned for Asgore to follow her, and the two stepped out, closing the door behind them.

There was a long silence, punctuated only by the crackle of the recording and the occasional sniffs from Papyrus. Suddenly, Sans's raspy growl cut through the silence.

"this is your fault."

"You said that before," Undyne muttered.

"maybe I didn't make myself clear then." Sans took a few strides until he and Undyne were inches apart. "all those years ago, you promised you'd never put papyrus in harm's way."

"I never put him in harm's way. Why do you think I never let him into the Royal Guard?"

"no. you broke that promise the second you and he started... all this."

"What? You mean the moment we fell in love? We didn't really plan that!"

"yeah and you never really planned to make it your life's ambition to track down the most dangerous people on the surface. you never really planned to make papyrus the most important person in your life. right. my mistake."

Undyne clenched her fists. "Career aside, blaming me for what life decided to throw at us is real mature, Sans. You know I'm not happy about this kidnapping either. I'm devastated. Hearing him there, helpless and alone, you don't think it's tearing my heart out too?" She walked off to the corner of the room, giving the wall a frustrated kick. "Especially since I can't do a damn thing about it right now!"

Sans was silent for several seconds before speaking up again. "we both know that would be alphys on the other end if you'd just stuck with her instead of dragging my brother into this dangerous life of yours."

Undyne whipped around, fists clenched even tighter. "How dare you..."

"how dare i think about my brother's safety? how dare i prioritize my only family's life over your cute little squeeze for four months?"

"You're acting like I planned this whole thing, like I knew this was going to happen and I let it happen anyway!"

"well forgive me for overreacting. my brother might die but you know, that's no big deal in your line of work. you probably see people die every day."

Undyne was about ready to tear out her hair. "If I'd known being with Papyrus would lead to... to this-"

"you'd do it again because you don't think about anyone except yourself."

"That's not true!"

"you and alphys lasted four months. and before then it was cute little letter writing all while you didn't notice just how hung up he was on you."

"What?" Undyne was completely confused.

"god, you're thick, undyne. a complete idiot." Sans hissed. "this whole time, papyrus was completely in love with you. you were all he talked about. and you didn't give him a second glance until you and alphys were completely done. until you exhausted that option. how do i know this creep isn't right about you?"