Against All Odds

Part 2: Chapter 2

Papyrus was anxious.

Undyne had texted him that she was coming home soon nearly half an hour ago. And she still hadn't come home. Papyrus knew that the drive home took between ten and fifteen minutes every single time. And she certainly didn't stop to chat with her fellow officers nowadays. So thirty minutes without a sign of her was certainly suspicious, given how dependable she was most of the time.

"I EVEN GOT SOME TEA READY..." he sighed, taking the kettle off the burner.

Maybe she had stopped to get gas on the way back. Maybe she had stopped to pick up some groceries. Or get something from a fast food place. Or anything. Papyrus didn't like to jump to conclusions. After his kidnapping, he was ready to expect anything. And that anything included a whole range of possibilities. He preferred to consider the positives.

"YES... SHE SHOULD BE HOME ANY MINUTE NOW!"

While he was expecting the door to open, his phone rang instead. It was a number he had never seen before. He hesitated for a moment before answering.

"HELLO?"

"Am I speaking to... Papyrus?" asked a woman's voice on the other end.

"YES," Papyrus replied. "WHO IS CALLING?"

"This is Morgan Sigmund at the Bayside Memorial Hospital. I'm calling on behalf of Undyne Asgoreman, as you are her emergency contact."

"EMERGENCY... WAIT, WHAT'S GOING ON? IS UNDYNE OKAY?"

"I'm afraid I have some bad news. Undyne was shot this evening outside the police station."

"...HOW BAD IS IT?"

"I cannot tell you much right now but she's currently in surgery and I think you should get here as soon as you can. If you check in through the south gate entrance they should let you in immediately... sir?"

Papyrus wasn't listening. Grabbing his keys from the key rack next to the door and pocketing his phone, he was out the door within seconds.

Xxx

A soft blue light appeared in a dark room as Sans opened his left eye. He'd thought his phone had run out of batteries and, as per usual, he'd forgotten to plug it into the wall to recharge. But there it sat nearby, buzzing up a storm. Sans reluctantly pulled himself out from under the covers and shuffled over to the low dresser, picking up his phone. "...papyrus?" he muttered as he read the caller ID. *Bip*"papyrus, it's 1 am; what's going o-"

"GET TO THE HOSPITAL NOW!"

Sans jumped. He was used to Papyrus' volume being at 11, but the tone this time was highly unusual. "papyrus, what's wrong?"

"IT'S UNDYNE! SHE'S BEEN WORKING REALLY HARD ON THIS ONE CASE AND I MADE SOME TEA WAITING FOR HER TO GET HOME TONIGHT BUT THEN I GOT THIS CALL AND-"

"whoa, buddy, slow down. breathe, okay? are you... talking while driving? hey, just take a moment to breathe. then tell me what happened."

Papyrus sounded close to tears. "PLEASE COME HERE NOW. AND CALL THE OTHERS. PLEASE?"

"yeah, of course." Sans quickly hung up and hurried to put on some proper clothes.

"What is going on?" Toriel asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes as she watched her frazzled husband get ready to go. "Is something wrong?"

"i don't know the whole story but that was papyrus. he wants us to meet him at the hospital. get dressed; i'll call alphys and asgore," he told her as he ran out the door, still pulling on a shirt.