The Tables Have Turned - Undertale Fanfiction

15 - Reunion

~ Austin's P.O.V. ~

During Frisk's little conversation with Papyrus, I wandered around a little. Every monster was in the castle. Every. Single. Monster. The Barrier had taken up quite some space, and the room it was in, was now filled with monsters. Monsters I had never seen before, monsters I had befriended. My thought bubble was popped by Papyrus.

"OH MY GOD, FRISK!" Papyrus turned to Frisk, "IS THAT A HUMAN?"

She nodded. All the eyes in the room turned to me for a moment. Some monsters shot me dirty looks, others looked at me in fascination, others in fear. Frisk seemingly enjoyed my temporary attention. I was a wall flower, I hated attention. She probably knew already.

"HELLO, HUMAN! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD! ARE YOU FRISK'S NEW FRIEND?"

I wanted to open my mouth to reply, but Papyrus spoke so fast, I didn't get a chance.

"FRISK! WHY DOES YOUR HUMAN NOT SPEAK? DO THEY NOT HAVE VOCAL CARDS?"

Who was I for expecting Papyrus to remember the term "vocal chords" correctly. Papyrus turned to me again and announced he was going to communicate in sign language.

"HUMAN! SINCE YOU DO NOT SPEAK, I SHALL SPEAK IN HANDS!"

Papyrus signed several things.
"Hello, human. What is your name? Can you talk?"

I decided to sign back, just because I could. Though it had been a while since I last communicated in sign language. There were some pauses between my signs and I couldn't make any proper sentences anymore, but Papyrus seemed to understand.

I didn't know if there was a sign for "Austin" so I spelled out my name. I then signed "I can talk."

"AUSTRIA? IS THAT YOUR NAME?"

Was I unclear or had I made a mistake?

"Erm, no," I said, to Papyrus' surprise, "I'm Austin."

"HELLO AUSTIN! ARE YOU FRISK'S FRIEND?

"Frisk, am I a friend?" I said, looking at her. She nodded. "Looks like I am."

"A FRIEND OF FRISK IS A FRIEND OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" He hestitated a bit while he spoke, "WAIT. DO YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS?"

We used to be something else than friends. Family. He didn't seem to know though. I was planning to keep it that way.

"Sure."

"THEN YOU HAD BETTER BE PREPARED FOR IMMENSE AMOUNTS OF FUN!"

Frisk laughed and I couldn't help but smile, too. Papyrus picked me up and hugged me. Oh, I had missed that. I didn't protest although I almost suffocated. Papyrus let go of me again.

"I SHALL NOW INTRODUCE YOU TO MY OTHER FRIENDS!"

He took me by the hand and walked to Frisk, whose hand he also grabbed, and dragged us everywhere and nowhere. Dear Lord, he still walked that fast. He was walking. Not even running.

"Heya, punk!" Undyne greeted Frisk and Papyrus. "And Papyrus!" She looked at me. "Did Frisk finally get a boyfriend? How cute!" She laughed.

Frisk pouted and crossed her arms.

"I'm here for a different reason," I said. I pointed at Papyrus and slightly shook my head to explain Papyrus wasn't aware.

"Oh, for the surprise party then? I'm Undyne, I don't think we've seen each other before."

She shook my free hand and I'm pretty sure all the bones were pulverised by her grip as we shook hands. Papyrus wandered off to somewhere else with Frisk - he nearly pulled me along with me - but let go of my right hand before all the muscles in that arm would've been stretched out by a few inches.

"I'm Austin."

"Austin.. Alphys knows you!"

"Oh erm, yes. She does."

"Well, nice to meet ya, punk," she stepped a little closer to me and whispered, "Tell Papyrus anythinng about this and you'll be toast."

I couldn't help but shiver a little bit. I was terrified of Undyne, I always had been. I nodded to let her know I understood, then turned to Papyrus.

"Any other friends you wanted to introduce me to?"

"I KNOW YOU KNOW ALPHYS AND ALPHYS KNOWS YOU AND METTATON KNOWS YOU BUT YOU ALSO KNOW METTATON AND YOU KNOW FRISK AND FRISK KNOWS YOU. BUT YOU HAVEN'T MET MY BROTHER YET!"

What? How? Sans was supposed to be dead, right? I looked at Frisk, who frowned and shrugged. She knew just as much as me, then.

Papyrus let go of our hands and took off his left glove. In it, was a picture of Sans. The picture had been taken in Papyrus' and Sans' house back in Snowdin, I could tell from the green couch on which Sans was sitting. He was wearing his classic hoodie and shorts. On his lap was a plate of spaghetti.

"LOOK! THIS IS MY BROTHER SANS," Papyrus explained, holding the picture in front of me, "HE IS ON A REAL LONG VACATION RIGHT NOW, BUT I HAVE THIS PICTURE OF HIM WITH ME SO HE DOESN'T HAVE TO MISS ME!"

Little did he know.

"He seems like a cool dude," I said.

"He really is," Frisk said, "A true comedian."

"HIS JOKES GET VERY ANNOYING WHEN YOU LIVE WITH HIM." Papyrus stated.

Frisk and I laughed. "Well," I said, "maybe he's taking a super-secret comedian course? And when he comes back, he'll have better jokes."

"DO THOSE COURSES REALLY EXIST?"

"Course they do!" I said, laughing at my own joke.

"OH NO. NOT YOU TOO!"

Frisk laughed too. Thank God, she could still laugh at my jokes. At least she didn't hate me. Not entirely.

Monster Kid coughed softly and walked to the centre of the room. Papyrus hugged me and Frisk again, this time out of excitement.

"SSSH!" Papyrus attemped to whisper, "IT'S ABOUT TO START!"

Not knowing what to do, I looked at Frisk. She was just as clueless as I was. Luckily, Undyne walked up to us.

"Hey, Papyrus!"

"UNDYNE, SSSH!"

"Oh, right. Whispers only. Papyrus, Monster Kid said Chara really likes spaghetti. How about you go cook her some?"

"BUT I WANT TO HEAR THE SPEECH! WHAT IF I MISS IMPORTANT INFORMATION?"

"We'll tell you later. Let's go, alright?"

"IF YOU SAY SO! BYE FRISK, BYE AUSTRIA!"

Papyrus walked away, thank God. Undyne approached us.

"Close catch," she whispered, "I'll keep Paps busy," Undyne shot me a death glare,  "Remember. Tell and you're toast." and with those words, she ran after Papyrus.

I hated being around Papyrus, Undyne, Frisk, Alphys, just.. everyone. Not because I hated them, it was just so hard to act.. distant. It's like you break up with someone, and years later you run into each other in a crowded train and are forced to sit next to them. That kind of feeling. Forgetting about someone and then seeing them again but not being able, or "allowed", to talk to them like you used to although you kind of missed them. Let me tell you, it sucks. A lot. At least Papyrus hadn't changed one bit. I'm glad he always treated strangers like they were a life-long friend of his. It'd gotten him in trouble several times, but he obviously didn't remember those times and continued to be as kind as ever. Bless him and his soul.

My mind wandered during Monster Kid's little speech and I zoned out, until Frisk popped my thought bubble.