Chapter Text
Chapter 41: Undyne’s Request
Alphys’ laboratory didn’t have a mailbox, so when Frisk arrived, they slid the envelope under the door and knocked. This time, they could hear nervous muttering in response. “Oh n-no… not another one… can’t I just slide it back out? I don’t want to read it…”
They weren’t sure what she was talking about, until the stack of unopened letters came to mind. What made her so afraid of the mail? Frisk knew she was timid, but something about this struck them as suspicious.
“No… I can’t keep doing this. I’ll read this one.”
Frisk waited. She could be heard grunting in exertion. “Um… it’s sealed kind of strongly, isn’t it? Who even wrote…?”
Suddenly, the door opened. Frisk took a step back so she wouldn’t think they’d been listening while Alphys emerged, looking downcast. “Hey, if this is supposed to be some kinda joke, then-”
Their eyes met, and she blushed. “Oh… uh, hi, F-Frisk. Did you write this? It wasn’t signed… it’s kind of adorable, I had no idea you wrote so, um, forcefully!”
“Actually, I was just-”
“It’s surprising,” she cut them off, “that you think this even after I did all that bad stuff… I don’t really deserve to be forgiven… but you know what? I’ll accept! It’s the least I can do to make it up to you, right?”
They frowned. “What are you-”
“Yeah! Let’s go on a date!” Alphys declared. “I’ll go get changed, be right back!”
Frisk had just indirectly asked her out. They were too surprised to even appreciate the fact that Undyne had been the true sender. Just as they were about to call her and ask to clear up the situation, however, Alphys returned wearing a pink and red spotted dress. She looked excited, and Frisk didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth at that point.
“Y-you like the dress? My friend helped me pick it out, she has a really great sense of… a-anyway, let’s get started! Here, I’ve got some items that can raise your affection statistics… you know, to increase the chance of a successful outcome to the date.” Alphys began digging around through a small bag she carried while they just stared in bewilderment. “Let’s see, there’s metal armor polish… uh, maybe you can’t really use that. Oh, I also brought some waterproof cream for your scales! Your scales that… you don’t have… maybe this magical spear repair kit that… uh… f-forget about the gifts.” She hurriedly stashed away the bag. “We should go somewhere… I know, let’s visit the dump!”
“S-sure…?”
River Person was still nearby, and offered to bring the two back to Waterfall. “Tra la la, Doctor Alphys,” they greeted. “I have not seen you in a while. Where is Captain Undyne? She is normally with you.”
She blushed again, tapping her claws together. “Um… F-Frisk and I are on a date right now, so… she’s not here.”
“Is she cooking with Sans and his brother?”
Frisk perked up. “You know Sans?”
“Tra la la… of course I do… I helped transport supplies for the Core’s construction, and he took many rides with me.”
“Did you meet Doctor Gaster?” Frisk asked, perhaps too eagerly.
“Tra la la… here we are….”
The ride ended before they could ask anything else, and River Person drifted away. Frisk turned to Alphys for more answers, but she strangely wasn’t able to say much about her predecessor. In fact, she didn’t seem to remember any specifics at all, not even from her time spent as his assistant.
Things were quiet at the dump, and they were the only people around. They stood in place for a few wordless, awkward seconds, before Alphys pointed at the nearest garbage pile. “Let’s have a look! Undyne and I come here all the time, we find tons of great stuff. She’s really… uh oh….”
Alphys was looking over their shoulder, and clutched her face. “I-I think I hear her coming! I can’t let her see you on a date with me, I…!”
She scurried behind a garbage can, leaving Frisk alone in the middle of the dump as Undyne rushed in. She’d gotten changed too, wearing a black leather jacket with more stylish-looking jeans and boots. Her hair, once just a flowing red ponytail, now partly hung over her eyepatch and appeared to have been neatly combed. Frisk was surprised; she didn’t seem the type to dress up so much.
“Hey! There you are!” Undyne marched up to them with a hand out. “I, uh, just realized giving you the letter might’ve been a bad move, it could give the wrong idea… so I’m gonna deliver it personally! Let me have it back!”
They had to think quickly. “I, um, lost it before I could give it to Alphys….”
“You lost it?! NGAHHH! Well, have you at least seen her anywhere?!”
“Um… no, I haven’t. She wasn’t at the lab, and I can’t seem to find her here.”
“Ugh, where the heck could she be?!” Undyne groaned, stomping away.
Once she was out of sight, Alphys sheepishly came out from her hiding spot with a sad, weary look. “Heh… I guess it’s obvious now… I, um, really like her… s-sorry, I just figured it would be fun to go on a cute, uh, pretend date with you?”
Alphys looked at the ground again. “She’s the one I really want to go on a date with, but she’s way out of my league… confident, strong, and funny… I could never be worthy of her.”
Frisk couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Flowey had mentioned being better friends with Alphys; was this what he’d meant? They weren’t sure how helping her build the confidence to ask Undyne out would change their battle with Asgore, but they would at least do it for her as a friend.
“Well,” they said, “that letter I gave you was actually from Undyne. I guess she just didn’t sign her name. But Alphys, don’t you know what that means? She wants to date you too!”
To their surprise, her expression only became more depressed. “That’s… I-I could never go out with her, though… I’ve told her so many lies, at this point she thinks I’m a lot cooler than I really am. If she gets close to me… she’ll learn the truth.”
“Then just tell her the truth yourself!”
Alphys flinched. “What?! But then she’ll hate me! Isn’t it better this way, for two people to live a lie but be happy rather than know the truth and be miserable? Everyone always says to just be yourself, but… I don’t really like who ‘myself’ is. I prefer just being whatever makes people happy.”
A long silence passed between them before Alphys spoke again.
“…no, you know what? You’re right. I can’t keep doing this to her, or to myself. But how will I be able to tell her the truth? I don’t have the confidence, I’ll just mess it up….”
Frisk thought about it, and a solution came to them. “Why don’t we roleplay it? I’ll pretend to be Undyne, and you’ll tell me the truth. That way you can practice.”
She giggled. “Roleplay? That sounds… k-kinda fun! Okay, let’s try it… ahem… h-hi Undyne! Nice to see you today!”
“Hey, Alphys!” Frisk responded, straining their throat to emulate Undyne’s growly voice. “What’s up?”
“Wow, you’re good… I m-mean, I have to tell you something… I haven’t been, um… honest with you….”
“Oh yeah? You can tell me the truth, I won’t be mad.”
Alphys was sweating bullets, but she continued. “I… I want to tell you how I feel. You’re brave, and strong, and nice, and you always listen to me when I talk about nerdy stuff… you make me feel special, Undyne…”
All of a sudden, her composure seemed to evaporate. Alphys began to shout her response to the open air. “UNDYNE! I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANY LONGER! I’M MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOU! HOLD ME! HOLD ME IN YOUR STRONG, LOVING-”
“WHAT did you just say?!” a voice cried from behind her. Undyne had reappeared and was staring at Alphys with her mouth and eyes equally wide.
“Oh- um- Undyne, I-”
“Hey, your outfit’s really cute, Alphys! What’s the occasion?” She squinted and looked between the pair. “Wait a second… are you two on a date? ”
“Uh-” Frisk began.
“YES! I mean, NO! I mean, we were only romantically roleplaying as you and… I… I’ve been lying to you about…”
Undyne slipped her hands into her pockets, watching as Alphys came clean.
“…about EVERYTHING! I said seaweed was scientifically important, but really I just use it to make ice cream! Those human history books I have are nothing more than nerdy comics! And the movies are just… anime! They’re not real! Those sword-wielding robot princesses you like so much are all fake!”
“Alphys.”
She slumped and hung her head. “I just wanted to impress you… I really like you, Undyne, and I wanted you to think I was smart and cool, not just some nerdy loser….”
“Alphys,” she repeated, crouching slightly to rub her friend’s back. Then, without warning, Undyne lifted her clear off the ground and tossed her through the air, into the garbage can she’d just been hiding behind.
“Listen up!” she announced. “I, uh, really like you too! But you’ve gotta realize… most of what you said doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care if you’re watching kid cartoons or reading history books, to me that’s all just NERDY CRAP! What I like about you is that you’re super passionate and analytical! It doesn’t matter what you’re into, just that you’re INTO IT! ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT! AT MAXIMUM POWER!”
Frisk hadn’t seen Undyne so worked-up since their cooking lesson. They backed up, both to give the pair some space and to be ready in case she started throwing more things.
“So don’t lie to me or anyone anymore, got it? I like you too, and I’m always gonna trust you! I wanna help you become happy with who you are, and I know just the training for it!”
Alphys peeked out from under the trash can’s lid. “R-really? You want to train me?”
That got a laugh out of Undyne, while Frisk just silently watched the exchange. “What? ME? Nah, I’m gonna get someone else to do it. Hey Papyrus, come on out!”
He emerged from behind a pile of garbage, also wearing a new outfit. Rather than his “battle body” suit of armor, he was dressed in an exercise headband, shorts, and a t-shirt that read “Jogboy” on the front. He still had his signature cape, boots, and gloves. “GET THOSE BONES SHAKIN,’ DOCTOR ALPHYS! TIME TO JOG A HUNDRED LAPS, HOOTING ABOUT HOW GREAT WE ARE! THE TIMER STARTS IN A FEW SECONDS!”
She crawled out of the can and stood with him, preparing to run. “I’ll d-d-do my best, Undyne. Thank you.”
With that, Alphys and Papyrus began jogging off through the dump and into Waterfall. Frisk stood there quietly, taking in everything that had just happened. They wondered how it could potentially help them get a better ending, like Flowey had said.
Their reflection was disturbed within seconds, when Undyne suddenly grabbed them by the shoulders and began screeching. “OH MY GOD! She was kidding, right?! You’re a human, you came from the surface! All that cool flashy stuff in the cartoons and comics… that’s what life up there really IS like, isn’t it?! ANIME’S REAL, RIGHT FRISK?! ”
As excited as she seemed, they didn’t want to lie. Especially after convincing Alphys to tell the truth. “Um… no, it isn’t….”
Undyne backed away, looking like she’d just taken a punch to the stomach. “No… NO! I CAN FEEL MY HEART BREAKING INTO PIECES!”
Just as Frisk began to worry they’d need to stage an intervention for her , she took a deep breath. “Keep it together, damn it… I can get through this, I have to! For Alphys! Thanks for being honest, Frisk. Now then, I’m gonna go see if there’s anything left of my house.”
It had burned down, just like their own home. The thought pierced them like a dagger, reminding Frisk of the awful reality waiting on the surface. And still, there were no tears. They couldn’t figure out how they felt about their family’s loss, and the indecision made their soul- figuratively and literally- ache.
With Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus gone, they were alone once more, with even less idea of what to do next. Frisk almost wished to see Flowey again, so they could ask if the botched-yet-successful date was what he’d meant. They trudged back through the shallow water, toward the dump’s exit and no particular goal. Their phone rang along the way.
Frisk answered to the sound of Papyrus’ voice. “HOWDY, HUMAN! IF IT ISN’T MY GOOD FRIEND, WHO TRUSTS ME! THIS IS PAPYRUS, YOUR ALSO MUTUAL FRIEND. ALPHYS AND I FINISHED OUR TRAINING EARLY. VERY EARLY. SO I DECIDED TO SEND HER HOME. VERY HOME. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT YOU SHOULD GO THERE… ALSO. I HAVE ONLY GOOD FEELINGS ABOUT THIS. GOODBYE!”
He hung up as abruptly as he’d called, not letting them get a word in. Everything about that had sounded strange, and not at all like how Papyrus usually did. Still, with no clues on what else to do, they took a trip with River Person back to Hotland, then made their way to Alphys’ lab. It was unusually silent inside; nobody was around, and they couldn’t hear any whirring machinery. They found a handwritten note on the floor.
“To Undyne, Papyrus, and Frisk: Hey. Thanks for helping me, your support really means a lot. But… as difficult as it is to say this, you can’t magically make my problems go away by yourselves. I have to face my own mistakes now if I want to become a better person. Let me be clear, this isn’t anyone else’s problem. But… if you don’t ever hear from me again, or if you want to know ‘the truth…’ enter the elevator near this note. You all at least deserve to know what exactly I did. Sincerely, Alphys.”
Frisk didn’t remember seeing an elevator there on their first visit, but when they looked at the bathroom door, they understood what she’d been getting at. The way her note was worded left them concerned for her safety, so they opened the door and stepped inside without hesitation. There were only two floors it could travel between: the laboratory, and some kind of basement. Pushing the lower button, they waited.
An alarm blared as the power cut out, and Frisk plummeted down the shaft.