Chapter Text
Undyne scowled. Far above her within the sapphire sky the burning heat of the sun beat down relentlessly. Not for the first time, she wished that the guard had a summer uniform. While she was grateful that she had been allowed to limit herself to half mail while on duty in the city, the latest heatwave made those areas not shrouded by the spires of buildings or the leaves of trees intolerably hot.
She was far from the only one suffering the heat, she reflected looking around the bustling market that had sprung up within the central park of Topside. Around her those monsters not disposed towards fire were doing what they could to cool off without retreating into the shade of the indoors, either through the use of various magics, or through the frozen foods being sold by numerous vendors.
Undyne drummed her fingers against her belt as she watched, making her rounds about the alabaster plaza that formed the nexus of winding paths and roads criss-crossing throughout the green. She took note of a small group of younger teens conspiring by the fountain, no doubt up to trouble from the way they kept peeking over at her. She put a little extra force into her footsteps as she walked past, just to help them think twice.
In truth her heart wasn’t in it, her gaze couldn’t help but be drawn to the pylon full of glowing magical energy towards the back of the plaza, and its reminder that as much as she enjoyed her job this was a waste of her time. She shook her head and did her best to push past the constant frustration, ripping down a flier that had been stuck to a lamppost as she walked past and dunking it into a trashcan.
Not a waste, she reprimanded herself. Never that. Doing her best to shake herself out of her funk, she set about doing what she could. As she made her rounds she spoke to the various merchants that had brought their stalls today, inquiring about their business, helping them with what time she could spare, asking about any trouble they had seen.
She reflected as she helped a blue fire elemental set out a few crates of magical ice, that at the very least she still had this. Asgore had been so proud of her when she had started squiring in earnest, the big pushover used to get dragged into all sorts of errands. At times he seemed less like a king and more like a janitor from how often she had to…
“Uhhhhgh” she growled to herself as soon as the merchant was out of earshot. There just wasn’t any escaping it. The monster closed her eyes and let out a sigh “This sucks” she muttered despite herself.
“Heh, work gettin to ya squirt?”
Undyne nearly jumped out of her armor as she whirled around “WHAT THE-!” She glared at the cantankerous old turtle monster that had somehow managed to sneak up on her. “How many times have I told you not to do that?”
“Wahahaha!” Gerson crowed, “Sorry, ya just looked so lost in thought there I couldn’t resist! What’s got you so down cap’n?”
Undyne let out a defeated noise and shook her head. “Just frustrated I guess… People are getting more and more upset and I can’t do anything about it. I mean, I get it, I really do, you think I don’t have reasons to want to go out there? But burning through our stockpile isn’t going to solve anything. More importantly, those punks in Underground are still scott free. Otu is still in recovery and I had to practically restrain Owun from going after them himself. ”
She scoffed, “If I were allowed to do my job this would all be over already. I’m here playing security guard instead of going after the punks who are attacking my men.”
The old turtle sighed, “Monsters hurtin monsters, been a very long time since I saw that happen. I hope Otu pulls through, those boys seem like good eggs.”
Undyne bared her teeth, “This never would have happened at all if we had moved out from the start. We could have left the mountain behind and made a bridgehead outside the valley, build the city there instead where we didn’t have to worry about the New Barrier. If the queen hadn’t…” She trailed off, she couldn’t say that, not here. People couldn’t be allowed to hear the captain of the guard call their ruler a coward.
Gerson smiled lopsidedly, “C’mon cap’n, it's not all so bad is it? I mean we got all this.” He looked animatedly at the beauty around them. Even years later Undyne couldn’t help the pang of shame that she felt at her own dissatisfaction.
She sighed, “Yeah, I know. I’m just worried about people, we were cooped up for so long, I can’t blame anyone for hating our own limits.” Undyne scowled and felt her hands unconsciously tighten into fists. “Those damn humans ” she spat, treating the word as the insult it was. “Even after everything they took from us they just couldn’t let it go, could they?”
Gerson sighed, tapping the ground with a gnarled stick that may at one stage of life have been a cane. “Yeah, well, like I’ve told ya before, it's best to leave the past where it is. Didn’t do em much good in the end either way.”
Undyne shook her head. “I just wish there was something more I could do. Alphys is working herself half to death to try and find a solution, and I can’t do anything about it. I asked her again yesterday, she just doesn’t have what she needs to make things work. If we could have captured…”
Gerson stared at the glowing pylon contemplatively. After a moment, he nodded to himself and looked up at her. “Well, if yer needin something to take your mind off things, I've noticed some of my goods have gone missing the last few days. Figure there's some no good whippersnapper helping themself. You could take a look into it for me?”
Undyne sighed and nodded.
Gerson smirked and nudged her arm, “Don’t worry squirt, I have a feeling you’ll figure things out.”
Undyne nodded politely and turned to resume her rounds when she was interrupted. “Captain Undyne.”
She turned to look as a familiar guard in far too much armor for how hot it was who jogged over and saluted stiffly as he came to a stop. “Captain, I’ve been looking for you.”
“What’s going on Owun?” Her expression darkened, “More trouble with Underground?”
The rabbit monster regarded her silently, and when he spoke it was oddly subdued. “She wants to talk to you.”
Undyne bared her teeth, “Of course she does. First she tells me to go on patrol on the other side of the city somewhere that doesn’t need it and now she needs to talk to me.” She sighed, “I'll head right up.”
The rabbit monster stayed silent, his hands curled into fists at his sides. Undyne sighed, “How’s your partner? Last I heard he was expected to pull through.”
“He’s… He’s ok, the doc says he’ll make a full recovery. I can’t believe-”
“We’ll catch them.” Undyne cut him off with a hand on his shoulder, “Owun I swear we’ll find whoever did this. Things are delicate right now but they won’t be able to hide forever.”
Owun nodded stiffly. “I know. None of this is your fault captain. You did the right thing stopping me from making it worse.”
Undyne smirked, “I’d have been right behind you if I could. I’ll go talk to her, if she’s sent you to get me maybe that means she’s finally seen sense.”
With that, the captain clapped her subordinate on the shoulder and began the long walk to the palace. As she left the park, she peered up at the looming shape of mount Ebbot, its rolling foothills nearly invisible under the staggered shapes of hundreds of buildings, their marbled facades colored by banners and murals and hanging planters and gardens.
She made a beeline for one of the main spires, great rectangular pillars that rose vertical for kilometers from the foothills up the mountain’s sheer sides, leading to terraced plazas and yet more city blocks that gave off the impression that they had erupted from the mountainside. Behind some of those blocks she knew, lay highways that tunneled back into the old prison that held them before it became the foundation of Topside.
Undyne passed through the archway into one of the pillars and stared upwards, the seemingly interminable height of the spire was capped in an enormous skylight, illuminating the interior. The rest of the gloom was dispersed by the glowing embellishments on the several express elevators that provided fast access to the upper reaches of the city, more pylons embedded into the sides.
She took the elevator as far as it would go, stepping out onto the wide bridge that connected the tower’s upper reaches with the mountain. As she crossed it, the captain couldn’t help but look off into the distance. The rolling greens of the valley spread out before her, just as beautiful as the first time she had seen them. The blued shapes of other mountains touched clouds in the distance.
Her view was spoiled somewhat, by the dead gray and brown expanse of the New Barrier, where it encircled the mountains and the valley, reaching from the edge of the valley to the limit of the horizon.
She knew, somewhere beyond that deadzone where all life had been scoured away, there was more green, more trees, more mountains. And somewhere beyond those green and mountains there was the sea, that magical place that even ten full years after reaching the surface she had yet to lay her eye on. And he was out there somewhere too. Even now she felt the need, she could go, climb aboard one of the next caravans bound for the colonies beyond the New Barrier and leave all of this behind. If she waited another decade that door would close forever, she and everyone around her would die no less trapped than they had been born.
She pointedly averted her eyes from the ruined shape of another city at the base of one of those distant mountains. The humans got what they deserved anyway.
The captain made her way up the narrowing roads that let up the remainder of the mountain. She was tempted to take one of the funiculars up to the summit, but decided against it. This was one meeting she wouldn’t mind putting off.
Eventually however, she came to the cliff edge that held the palace. The palace itself was modest by the standards of royalty, but for the majesty of their surroundings and the architecture of the rest of the city that it sat on top of. Even so it was by no means tiny, still easily large enough to play host to formal events.
A pair of guards lifted their axes to attention as she passed, Undyne recognized some of the dogi, and nodded at them on her way in. Undyne didn’t bother checking the residential wing, if she had bothered to send a guard to fetch her instead of just calling her phone number that she knew she had then it meant the queen would be holding court. Not for the first time Undyne wished despite herself that Asgore still sat the throne, he had never cared so much for decorum. The piscine monster did her best to burn that treasonous thought before it could take root.
Making her way through several hallways, Undyne came to a set of large doors. As she approached, another pair of guards opened them to her, allowing her to emerge into the open air pavilion that served as the throne room, perched on a cantilever overlooking the city. “Captain Undyne, your majesty” a voice announced from behind her. Undyne made her way before the throne and took a knee, raising her head to meet the gaze of her queen.
As usual, queen Toriel wore a set of simple purple robes with the deltarune emblazoned in silver thread across the breast. Unlike most of the times Undyne had spoken to her she wore her crown, a small golden circlet perched between her short horns.
“You summoned me, your majesty?”
“Captain Undyne, all goes well I take it?”
“The people are restless, your majesty. My guards are having difficulty keeping order, but things are remaining peaceful for the moment.”
“I see…” Toriel mused, “Tell me, has the royal scientist made any progress on her assignment recently?”
Undyne gritted her teeth, “I am told so, your majesty. She suffers from a lack of the necessary materials to find a solution to our ongoing energy crisis, if you would authorize-”
“I did not summon you here to listen to demands, captain . I asked if your friend had made progress.”
Undyne schooled her expression into one of careful neutrality, “I do not understand the specifics of her research. I only know that she has managed to increase the range of our transports recently.”
Toriel sighed and looked up at the other monsters in the room. “Leave us.”
As the other monsters filed out of the room, Toriel stood from her throne and relieved her head of the weight of the diadem, placing it on the plush cushion of her throne. “You may rise.”
Undyne did so, clasping her hands behind her back and standing at rest.
The queen stepped down from the raised platform that held her throne and gestured towards the rear of the pavilion, “Walk with me captain.”
Undyne followed a short distance to where the roof of the pavilion ended, the cantilever that held it stretched some distance further into a terrace that overlooked the entirety of Topside.
“I understand your frustration captain, truly I do.” Toriel said, coming to a stop and placing an enormous paw on the stone bannister. “It is tragic what happened to that young man, and I assure you that whoever harmed him will be punished in due time, but for now we must not show any concern or panic.”
Undyne swallowed, “You asked me if Alphys had made progress, doesn’t she send you reports?”
Toriel nodded, “She does, however I am not always certain if she is being truthful.”
Behind her back Undyne gripped her arm. “I do not believe that she is hiding anything your majesty, I would tell you if that were the case.”
Toriel sighed once more, “Very well.” The queen looked off into the distance over the city. Beyond the city limits, the flat expanse of the staging ground was bustling with activity. Countless monsters preparing a caravan that would carry supplies beyond the New Barrier to the colonies.
The queen spoke, “Mettaton has been stirring people up again. I do wish that he would stop inflaming peoples temper. We are forced to rely on the souls for the time being, but we must find an alternative. Our people are kindhearted, we would never have resorted to such means if we had any other option, now that we are on the surface we have the time we need to expand at our leisure.”
Undyne remained silent, the grip on her arm tightening.
“I have kept this a secret from the rest of the court, but I will need you to be on your guard in the coming months. I have… come to a realization, regarding the souls. I can no longer tolerate their use in such a capacity.”
Undyne’s eye widened, “We’re going to abandon the colonies?!” She asked, not able to hide her incredulity. “The people will never accept that!”
“We will not abandon the expansion completely. We will simply slow down and preserve the souls that we have for as long as possible. We have all the time in the world now, and the valley is more than enough to sustain us for quite a long time on its own. I won’t tolerate this, this perversion any longer.”
The queen turned haunted eyes onto her protector, and despite herself Undyne had a hard time meeting them. “I do not expect you of all people to understand, captain. What we are doing, no matter how important, or how good it is for our people. This is not right . People have hope, yes, but at what cost? This perverted expansion is corrupting the souls of our people.”
She gripped the bannister hard enough the stone threatened to crack, “I will never forgive him for what he did. For planting this poison in the hearts of our people. We were free !” Her voice cracked, “He… he didn’t need to kill them all.”
Coming back to herself, Toriel swiped at her eyes with the long sleeve of her robes. “If an alternative is not found, the colonies will wither and die regardless. We simply don’t have enough souls to expand indefinitely. If we preserve them, then at least there is a chance that some of those poor people will be able to find peace, they deserve better than to be used in this way.”
“As for this… this Underground. I understand people's frustration, but we can afford to show mercy now that we are here on the surface. There is no need to use them all up completely, and I have a hard time believing that our people would ever find such cruelty to be acceptable. You are not to speak of these… dissenters. As far as the kingdom is concerned, Underground does not exist . Is that clear?”
Undyne set her jaw, from behind her there was a creaking noise. “Yes your majesty.”
“Good. Then you are dismissed.”
Undyne saluted and took her leave. She brushed past the other guards without so much as a glance, and as soon as she had left the palace, slammed her fist into the nearest wall causing cracks to spiderweb throughout the stone. “You stuck up little…” She trailed off into incoherent grumbling as she pulled her arm back and inspected the indentations her fingers had left in her gauntlet.
Her mood did not improve as she began the long trek back to the lower city. At times like these, Undyne seriously considered resigning as captain of the guard. They didn’t have “all the time in the world” as that stuck up bitch she called her queen had put it. Toriel had all of the time in the world. It didn’t matter if she had to stay cooped up in this valley for the next few centuries because she would still be here. In five hundred years queen Toriel would be able to simply stride across the deadzone as though it wasn’t there, but that would be little comfort to her people, an entire generation of which would live and die in that time.
Undyne came to a stop on the bridge, and looked back over the horizon. Nine years, it had been nine years since she had last seen Asgore.
Twelve years since the king and queen’s children had died. Ten years since Asgore had struck down the next human to fall and absorbed their soul. Ten years since he had killed and absorbed the souls of six more humans on the surface, and used them to break the barrier that trapped his people under the earth. Ten years since, in his rage and need to protect his people, he had slaughtered every man, woman, and child for hundreds of miles, and given the power of their souls to his people so that they would never need to fear humanity again.
Nine years since, in retaliation for the millions he had slaughtered, the humans had unleashed their most powerful weapons upon her people. Nine years since they had trapped monsters within the mountains, surrounded by a ring of invisible death and cut off from most of the world they sought to explore and settle. Nine years, since she had lost her eye and been brought to the edge of death by their fury. Nine years since, in that moment, having nearly lost his student, her friend and mentor had finally realized that monsters and humans could never coexist, and had wiped humanity out completely. Nine years since he had used the power of the souls he had absorbed to scour every human beyond the limits of the region from the universe.
It had been ten years since Undyne had first seen the sun, and it wasn’t enough anymore.
The king had disappeared, and had abdicated the throne to his former wife, who while he had been fighting and killing and destroying his own soul with the LV he had gained, had sat in contemptful silence within the far reaches of the Underground.
In that time, monsters had begun to explore the surface, but they were still dependent on the souls that they had taken in that first slaughter. Souls their queen wouldn’t let them use to their fullest. And now her people, the same people who Undyne had trained her whole life to protect, were on the brink of tearing each other apart in their desperation to be free.
If they just had a live human, just one, maybe Alphys would be able to reverse engineer their soul, find a way to create that power artificially. If the queen had put less restrictions on soul energy to begin with, maybe every monster could have left this cursed mountain behind and built a home beyond the New Barrier. Maybe Undyne could be free as well. Maybe she could find her friend and tell him that he did the right thing, that the humans had deserved what they got, and she could forget the look on his face the last time she had seen him, drenched in red that she did not know the meaning of and cradling something small in his paws that wasn’t there .
Undyne shook her head to clear her thoughts and resumed the trek down the mountain.
What she wouldn’t give to get her hands on a human.