Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Undyne arrived at Alphys’s late in the evening. She was exhausted from the long day at work and the dinner she had had with a couple of her sergeants. Her mind was still buzzing with all the ideas they had brought up on how to combat the growing drug ring in the City, and how pretty much all of them had sucked. There was too much to focus on.

Even though Undyne and Alphys were engaged, they hadn’t completely moved in with each other yet. Alphys typically stayed at Undyne’s, and her place was big enough to house both of them, but Alphys still needed her own personal lab outside of the one she worked at, and so some nights she would stay there, working on whatever she needed to get done.

Undyne knew that right now she was working on some big paper. Something to do with new medical technology, Undyne didn’t fully understand it when it was explained to her. All she knew was that it worked and helped people and that her fiancée was incredible. Alphys needed the funding for it to be approved, but she couldn’t get that until she published her findings on the basis of the tech that made it all work. Or something like that. She was always writing and publishing big papers, so Undyne didn’t think much about it. Alphys would do well like she always did, despite the engineer’s anxiety.

Undyne loved her and knew she worked incredibly hard. It was one of the reasons why she had been so upset that Alphys had been demoted when Dr. Gaster showed back up out of nowhere. Alphys said she had never wanted the position in the first place, but Undyne still saw it as an injustice. Alphys had thrived in the role as Royal Scientist, and even though she had been demoted, she was still doing some of the work she had been doing then. She deserved to be recognized when she was still doing things that apparently only the Royal Scientist could do.

It was quiet in the lab when Undyne entered and threw down her things. The TV was running, but it was on low volume, likely being used as background noise. She recognized the anime, and knew that it was just a rewatch, so Alphys didn’t need to pay attention to it.

“Babe, are you still working?” Undyne called out, filling a glass with water from the faucet. It was pretty late. She knew Alphys could work much later in the night, but she had been trying to work with her on setting boundaries and fixing her sleep schedule.

“Uh, actually, I’m getting my work checked over right, um, now,” Alphys called out. “I’ll be done for the night after that I, I think.”

Undyne made an affirmative noise and headed into the small living-room-esque area of Alphys’s lab. She froze when she saw Alphys sitting nervously next to a tall, dark figure silently reading over a stack of pages with a red pen between his fingers.

Undyne recognized him right away. Dr. Gaster was hard to forget, even though he had apparently been erased temporarily from everyone’s memory once. She had seen him in the hallways of the lab, or with the King during ceremonies. He stood tall, silent and stiff. Even when working in the lab, he wore black instead of the traditional white lab coat, and at any given point, he had a couple of scientists trembling at his feet. Undyne knew that often, Alphys was one of them.

He had a set of headphones on, likely to block out the noise of the TV. Undyne couldn’t see the page he was working on, but the ones in Alphys’s hands were heavily marked in red.

“This is my fifth draft,” Alphys chuckled a little in exasperation. Her feet were swinging with anxious energy.

“Dr. Gaster,” Undyne said in greeting, but the Royal Scientist didn’t look up until she sat down in the chair to the side of the couch. He gave Undyne a nod and made a hand signal she couldn’t decipher before returning to the butchering of Alphys’s work.

“How was dinner?” Alphys asked.

“Fine,” Undyne said stiffly, not taking her eyes off Dr. Gaster for a long while. “We’ve mostly talked about work, but I was able to get Lionel to loosen up a little after a while.”

“That’s…that’s good,” Alphys smiled, fidgeting with her ring. Undyne’s heart did a couple of backflips. “Nothing crazy happening at work?”

“Nothing crazier than any other day,” Undyne said. Dr. Gaster handed Alphys another marked up page. Undyne watched her eyes travel across it and her shoulders dropped a little when she added it to the pile.

They sat in relative silence as Dr. Gaster finished the final page. The tension was thick, not just because Undyne definitively didn’t like the scientist, but also due to the instinctual distant mask that came on whenever she was with her partner around strangers. Not everyone was happy about their partnership, and it was often impossible to tell where a person stood until it was too late. Undyne wasn’t eager to test the waters with Dr. Gaster, especially right now. Both of them had been avoiding wearing their engagement rings at work.

He turned the page over on its back, and filled it with comments before handing it to Alphys and removing his headphones. He signed something to Alphys, and she nodded. He stood up, signing a couple more things that Alphys listened to intently. She straightened the pages and stood up to walk him out. He turned to Undyne. “It was good to see you, Captain Undyne,” he whispered.

Undyne tried to act relaxed. “Always a pleasure, Dr. Gaster.”

He nodded again and followed Alphys out.

When the door closed, Undyne immediately groaned, letting the mask drop. “I don’t know if I hate anyone more.” She said, bending her head back over the chair to look at Alphys. “Well, I can think of a few, but not many,” she said after a moment.

“What? Who?” Alphys quickly returned to her spot on the couch after setting down her paper.

“Dr. Gaster,” Undyne said, motioning to the door.

“Why on earth would you hate him?” Alphys exclaimed.

“He’s an asshole.” Undyne said. “He acts all intimidating like he owns the world, and steps over anyone in his way. He had the nerve to take a position you rightfully earned, and then comes in here and marks up your entire paper like you're not the best scientist in your field. You’ve done more for the underground than he ever has.”

Alphys shook her head. “He built the CORE. The entire thing, in just five years. He’s the only reason we have power. And I’m not the best scientist in my field, he is. That’s why I asked him to look over my paper. And yes, he can be a harsh editor, but—”

“He needs to get his ego in check.” Undyne said. “Just because he’s the Royal Scientist doesn’t mean he can intimidate everyone and pretend he’s better than everyone else—even if he is. He thinks he’s so above everyone that he doesn’t even talk to people.”

Alphys laughed out loud. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a wrong claim about Dr. Gaster. I know you don’t believe me, but he’s nothing like how you describe him.”

“Others are scared of him, too,” she said. “A lot of your coworkers have said they are.”

“Because he’s their boss. Everyone is scared of their boss. You get nervous whenever you have to report to Asgore, and you love him.”

“Well Asgore doesn't loom over people silently dressed in all black.”

Alphys shook her head. “I think if you properly met him, you’d see he’s completely different. Before the accident, he was my teacher and we’ve always been friends. He’s never done anything to upset me.”

“And all the edits on your paper?”

Alphys waved it off. “A lot of them were comments, not edits. And if my work is going to be at the level it needs to be, it needs all these edits. You should’ve seen what he did to my 2nd draft. I think you would have killed him right then and there.”

“I don’t like him,” Undyne said. “He just gives me a bad feeling.”

“I think you're taking the whole position thing a little too seriously. Neither of us really care about that title,” Alphys beckoned Undyne to the couch and she obliged. “I promise if something felt wrong or if he was awful, I’d tell you.”

Undyne pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I just want to make sure you’re happy.”

Alphys took her hand and smiled up at her. “I assure you, I couldn’t be any happier.”

Chapter Text

Undyne woke up at five in the morning like clockwork. She had always been a creature of routine and had at this point trained her body to unconsciously follow the rhythm of the day before it had even truly awoken. It was only after she had dressed, walked downstairs, chugged a glass of water and started cooking eggs that her brain registered she was awake. Then, all of her energy flooded back into her.

She greeted each day with the excitement of new opportunities. Undyne was an eager student, and having now surpassed the skill of any conscious mentors, she now saw life as her ultimate mentor. Was it a kind of obnoxious worldview? Yeah, but Undyne had found it impossible to kill the enthusiasm inside her, so she had learned to harness it instead.

She wasn’t the only one who worked in routine though, and so when she stood up to head outside, she knew that after her third step to the door, three short and fast knocks would rap on her door.

5:30 exactly. Papyrus had never been late unless there was some kind of emergency, in which Undyne was always notified beforehand despite her telling him countless times that she couldn’t care less about if he showed up on time or not because he was the one begging her to train him. She always thanked him for the heads up though.

She still didn’t know what made her accept his request when he showed up at her door. He had been scrawny, not yet grown into his height, and Undyne had no business teaching a kid that young combat skills. She didn’t actually know anything about kids, but she figured 12 was still an age where handling long sharp pointy things was still a no-no.

Maybe it had been all that enthusiasm, that Undyne had seen a part of herself in him. Maybe she had just been bored and lonely. Maybe she had recognized his name when he told it to her from a letter read to her years ago, when she had just been learning herself, or the blood-red scarf around his neck.

She had figured that, by now, five years later, he would have tired of her and her harsh training routines, or she would have found it in herself to drive him away, but he was still here, and she was starting to worry that she had nothing left to teach him.

When he had first asked for the Guard Test, Undyne had told him he wasn’t ready and tried to stall the best she could. She offered to teach Papyrus how to cook, and Papyrus, eager to take a responsibility off of his brother’s plate, agreed. It had worked, with the sacrifice of Undyne’s emotional barriers and a couple of dishes. She actually got to know Papyrus, and got confirmation on her suspicions of his heritage. After that, everything changed. It was no longer trying to humor this enthusiastic kid on her doorstep. She had to protect Papyrus by any means necessary.

And if that meant failing him every time he took the test, she would.

There were four other officers Papyrus could have gone to if he wanted a Guard Test. Hell, he could have even gone to the King himself and asked for one if he wanted to. But he never did. He wanted one from Undyne, and so every time he went to her and she administered the test, holding nothing back. And every time, even his first, when he was only fourteen, he passed with flying colors. Undyne only knew of two people, including herself, who had been able to do that. And every time, she retreated into her home, left Papyrus waiting nervously on the training grounds, took a deep breath and then came out to tell him that she was sorry, but he had failed.

She tried to keep him away from the test as much as possible, though. Cooking lessons, fake Royal Guard tasks that Undyne told him were kind of like an internship. She had even invited him over for a couple of sleepovers.

And after everything, Papyrus still remained motivated. He didn’t seem down at all after each rejection, just filled with the determination to get better.

His brother, Sans, had caught on fast. The first time Undyne had met him, she was actually afraid, something that she didn’t feel often. She had known just from the look in his eyes that he knew his brother had the skill to be declared a member of the guard then and there, and in a panic, Undyne broke and told him everything.

Afterwards, she had watched him weigh the options. The possibility of his brother losing confidence and becoming disheartened (impossible) versus the possibility of being a guard and being killed in the line of duty. In the end, he thanked Undyne and told her to keep doing what she was doing to keep his brother safe. They never spoke about it after that.

Papyrus had to have taken and failed the guard test at least forty times. Undyne knew from past behavior patterns that he’d ask for another one this morning, and she would push him just as hard, if not harder, than the past forty in the hopes that maybe, he would finally give up.

She opened the door to find him in his training gear, a bright smile across his face.

Undyne’s heart ached with guilt.

“Good morning, Captain!” Papyrus said. “I am formally requesting the administration of a Guard Test!”

“Yeah?” Undyne faked a smile, though Papyrus’s excitement was always a little contagious. She walked out the door to head slowly over to the training grounds. “Think today’s the day, huh?”

“Yup! Rest assured, Captain, this will be the last time you will ever have to administer the test to the Great Papyrus!”

“I believe you,” Undyne laughed, marking a border in the sand with her spear. “Alright, let's get this started then.”

—

Somehow, in the past month, he had gotten even better. Undyne didn’t know if someone else was training him, or if the kid was just a military genius, but she had been actually worried that he would take her out, and then she would have to pass him. It would be difficult to convince Papyrus that defeating the Captain in combat didn’t immediately mean a spot in the Guard. She had fought with him almost every day for five years and yet today, he had genuinely surprised her. She was drenched in sweat when the test ended, and Papyrus, though significantly winded, was just smiling.

Undyne stood up completely, trying to not show her fatigue. “I’m…I’m going to get us some water and deliberate your performance. I’ll…I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

She didn’t know how or when this was going to end. She just knew that she had to protect him, and this was the only way she could. She filled two glasses with water and stepped out.

Papyrus had been looking out in the distance, a strange look on his face, but he perked up when he saw Undyne. “So?” he asked hopefully.

“You did very well,” She said with a genuine smile. “Not good enough to pass, but you’re so close, I know it.”

Papyrus remained smiling, but Undyne could see a little bit of disappointment in his eyes. “I understand. Thank you for the training, Captain. I really appreciate it.” He stood up, as if to leave.

Undyne felt horrible all of a sudden. “Wait,” she called out and Papyrus stopped. “Do you want to stay? We could cook, or…hang out?”

Papyrus paused for a moment and then shook his head. “I’m sorry, Captain. I…Aeon wanted me to be home as soon as I could. I don’t want to leave him waiting.”

Undyne nodded quietly when he told her to have a good day and watched as he walked off. There was a bit of relief as he left. The lie was told. It was over, and things would continue on as normal, and hopefully it would be at least a month before Papyrus requested the test again. She wasn’t sure what she’d do, but she’d find a way, she’d find something that could keep Papyrus safe at home.

At 5:30 the next morning, there was no knock on her front door. Undyne waited, seated at her dining table for over an hour. She checked her phone constantly. Nothing. Papyrus never texted her saying that he’d be late. When she called, he didn’t pick up.

A horrible feeling welled up in her stomach, but she had work and people relied on her and she was sure Papyrus would text her when he wasn’t busy.

He didn’t come the next day, though, or the day after that. On the third day, after Undyne blew up his phone, he did send her a text, probably in order to stop the flood of calls.

* Sorry for not letting you know earlier, but I won’t be coming for training. I appreciate all your help and the lessons you’ve given me, but I think it's time for me to move on and find something more realistic for me. Thank you for your support Captain.

Undyne sat there for a while, trying to figure out what to do. She wanted to call him again. Let him know that he was so close to becoming a Royal Guard, that he just had to wait a little longer, but she would just be lying to him and she knew it. Had she ever really planned on letting him join the guard? How many tests would she have him take, and what good would they do if Undyne had already decided he would never be ready?

This is what she had wanted, right? Papyrus, at home, safe, with no dangerous dreams of being a Guard?

She needed to talk to Alphys, but right now she had to get ready for work. Her schedule would need to be modified with the absence of Papyrus, but she’d get used to it, like she had gotten used to him showing up at her door. The train could not stop, her schedule could not break.

After a moment, she sent a pathetic text back.

* We can still hang out sometime?

Three minutes before she started work, she got a: * Of course! The Great Papyrus would love to have you as a friend. And that made her feel better, if only a little.

Chapter Text

Sans knew something was terribly wrong when he was up before his brother. Up up at least. He didn’t count the times where he woke up at three in the morning from a nightmare and worked on something until he fell back asleep or Papyrus knocked on his door to wake him up. He had woken up early that day, which led him to realizing that he had never heard Papyrus leave the house at five to go see Undyne. He wasn’t even sure if Papyrus had left the past couple of days. He had seemed a little off in the mornings, but Sans hadn’t wanted to press, lest he be accused of being overprotective. It was now 7:30, meaning Papyrus should have been heading back from training to wake him up, but the door to his bedroom had yet to open. With a sigh, Sans swung his legs off the bed, threw something acceptable on, and knocked on Papyrus’s door.

“Bro?” He called out. “You up?”

“Of course, Sans,” Papyrus responded back and there was some movement behind the door. “It is far too late in the morning to be sleeping.”

“Then what are you doing in your room?” he asked.

There was a moment of silence. “...Not sleeping?”

Sans let out a little laugh, though his concern still weighed heavy on his chest. “Can I come in, Paps?” he asked, voice serious.

“Yeah,” Papyrus said quietly and Sans opened the door.

He was seated on his bed, legs folded into his chest. His scarf was in his hands, rather than on his neck, and he was looking at it in a strange way that made the metaphorical hair on Sans’s neck rise. Papyrus, in general, seemed smaller, compressed, like he was trying to pull himself in entirety into a tiny ball that was so compounded it winked out of existence.

He closed the door behind him and slowly made his way to sit next to Papyrus. “What’s wrong?” he asked, getting straight to the point. There was no reason to pretend like everything was okay. Papyrus never went out of routine unless it was something bad, and they both knew that. The last time it had happened, Sans hadn’t felt comfortable leaving his brother’s side for days, and while some of that had been in part due to guilt, most of it had just been out of the anxiety that maybe Papyrus would never return to his normal self.

“I’m never going to be a Royal Guard,” Papyrus said quietly, still playing with the fabric in his hands.

Sans looked up with a start. “What are you talking about? Of course you are. You’re the strongest person I know. Undyne’s just going hard on you because she wants you to be ready. When you join the Guard, you’ll already be better than like, half of them.” He gestured with his hands out wide. Sans knew that originally Undyne had originally intended for Papyrus to never join, but that had been years ago, and Papyrus had grown since then. She had surely changed her mind.

“You don’t have to lie, Sans,” Papyrus said, with a little bit of bitterness, and Sans had to admit that not only did the comment hurt, but it had been deserved. He was working on being more honest with his brother, but it was clear that trust was still weak. “I’ve taken the test almost fifty times. I’ve trained with you, dad, even the Captain of the Guard herself practically daily and I’m still not good enough. If I was capable of being a guard, I’d be one already. There’s no reason to keep wasting the Captain’s time, or mine. I’ll find something else to do, something I’m better at, I just have to figure out what.”

“So you’re giving up, just like that?” Sans asked.

“Even I have limits, Sans.” Papyrus set the scarf aside. “I gave it my all forty-six times, I don’t have it in my anymore.”

“But…” Sans didn’t have the words, because in the end, Papyrus was right. Sans would have given up long before his brother did. He had tried as hard as he could, and stars, 46 times really was a lot. His heart broke for his brother, to see Papyrus so upset, so quiet. He had never seen him give up. He hadn’t even thought it was possible.

He had to figure out how to bring that hope—that optimism—back, but he wasn’t sure if it was even possible. And he was not the person to instill optimism in others.

“Alright,” he sighed. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

Papyrus nodded, but didn’t say anything. He just kept staring off somewhere, and Sans couldn’t help but feel a little sick to his stomach. He got up and went to the door. “I love you, Paps.”

Papyrus looked up at him for a moment. “I…I love you too.”

He closed the door and headed downstairs. His father was on the couch, reading some science thing that even Sans thought looked boring. “Alright,” Sans said when he got to the bottom of the stairs. “You have to talk to Papyrus. I did my best, but this is above my pay grade.”

Gaster looked up briefly. “Is he sick again?”

“He’s given up on becoming a Royal Guard.”

The book closed immediately and Gaster took his glasses off to look at Sans. “He what?”

“Yeah. I guess he took the test a couple of days ago and failed it again, so now he's decided he’s just going to stop trying.” Sans sighed, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the other room.

“He failed the test? That’s practically impossible.” Gaster said. “I’ve seen what he can do, he’s better trained than most Guards I know.”

Sans shrugged. “Undyne still doesn’t think he’s ready, I guess. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

Gaster shook his head and stood up. “That isn’t right.”

“Well it doesn’t really matter anyway because he’s not going to try again.” Sans said.

He frowned. “I’ll talk to the Captain and get this sorted out. He’ll try again then.”

“Undyne’s pretty strong-willed. You sure you want to try and sway her?”

Gaster waved him off. “She’ll listen.”

Sans looked at him for a moment. “You know, you’re pretty scary when you say stuff like that. Y' get all menacing and stuff.”

Gaster ignored him and headed upstairs. He knocked on Papyrus’s door.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be down in a moment, Sans,” Papyrus called out.

“It’s me, Papyrus. Sans told me what happened. Can we talk?” he asked.

It was quiet for a moment. “I guess,” Papyrus said, and Gaster came in.

“I think it’s a mistake to stop trying for the Guard,” he said immediately upon entry. He probably could have been more tactful, but Gaster had always been the kind of man to call things as he saw them.

“I’m sorry,” Papyrus said, “but I can’t do it anymore, and I won’t. You can’t change my mind on this. I’ve thought about it for a while, dad.”

“Papyrus, I know you. I’ve seen what you’re capable of. There is no reason that you cannot be in the Guard, and I know that you can do this.” he said. “You have wanted this your entire life, you can’t just give up now.”

“If I’m everything that you say I am, then how come after forty-six tries, I’m still failing the test?” Papyrus snapped.

“Forty-six?” Gaster took a step back and shook his head. He hadn’t known the number was so high. “I…I don’t know.”

“I’m tired, Dad. I’ve tried so hard for years and I just can’t do it.” Papyrus slid onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. There were still glow-in-the-dark stars from when Sans put them in his room over ten years ago. Some of them were starting to peel off.

“Let me talk to the Captain,” Gaster said. “We’ll figure this out, Papyrus. Just please, don’t give up on this.”

“I’m not getting the Guard position because you intimidated the Captain into giving it to me.” Papyrus said. “This is supposed to be earned.”

“I am not going to intimidate her. I…I would never, but unless the standards have changed, there should be no reason you aren’t on the guard yet, and I just want to know her reasoning for keeping you off of it.” he said. “Just…Just try one more time? I won’t ask you to again. Please?”

Papyrus shrugged and then bit his lip. Gaster could tell he was about to cry. “I…I don’t know, dad. I’m sorry, I just…I don’t know.”

“Alright,” he said. He knew he had a tendency to push his sons too far, focused too much on the end goal than the journey. He was trying to work on it, so he let up even though every bone in his body was screaming to push. “Please remember to come downstairs and eat something. I’ll…I’ll let you rest. I love you, Papyrus.”

“Love you too,” Papyrus said, and then turned his back to the door.

Chapter Text

Because Undyne was a creature of routine, she was easy to predict. Gaster knew roughly when she would be arriving home from her shift, and so he was wandering the training grounds around the time she got back. She had a decent set up, lots of room to work on magic without setting fire to everything in the vicinity. His family hadn’t been quite as lucky on that front, and he was beginning to wonder if the Gasters were the leading cause of forest fires in their area.

It wasn’t dark yet, but nightfall was creeping in through expanding shadows. Gaster avoided going out in the dark, it made him nervous now—more than he’d like to admit. Even the evening light set him on the slightest edge. Sometimes the shadows would look too much like shapes he had seen in the Void.

Undyne stopped in her tracks when she saw Dr. Gaster. He was kicking the sand around absentmindedly, and didn’t catch her arrival until she stopped a couple of feet away from the grounds herself.

“Captain Undyne,” Gaster gave her a warm smile, but it didn’t put her at ease. He had been waiting for her, and that could not be good. “I’m glad I managed to catch you before it got dark. I wanted to have a word with you about my son.”

Undyne looked confused and a little taken aback. “You have a son?”

Gaster cocked his head a little and gave her a strange look. “Papyrus?”

“Papyrus’s your—?” Papyrus had never talked about his father, and Sans had bristled every time the topic of parents were brought up, so Undyne had assumed the piece of shit had left them a long time ago. And Dr. Gaster had never seemed like the ‘nurturing father type’. “You’re Papyrus’s father?” She had a lot more questions, but that one made it out of her mouth first.

“Yes,” he smiled, a little disoriented by the fact that this was news to the Captain. “Though I am afraid I spoke inaccurately. I’m more here to talk to you about my wife than Papyrus.”

Arial. He wanted to talk about Arial. He was Papyrus' father, which made him Arial’s husband.

Undyne’s voice caught in her throat.

Gaster paced a little. “You see, when my son told me that he was giving up on being a Royal Guard because he had failed the test so many times, which is virtually impossible unless he has performance anxiety that’s so horrendous it renders him practically useless, I had to wonder why the Captain of the Guard would be trying to hold him back. And then I remembered why your name sounded so familiar to me." Gaster looked back to her. There was something calculated about the look he gave her, like he was still testing her to prove a hypothesis he already knew was right. “You traveled with her troop. You were the girl she rescued and was training.”

Shame darkened her cheeks and Undyne nodded slowly. “I…I am. I’m sorry,” she cleared her throat. “For your loss, and, and everything.”

Gaster shook his head. “Arial was a martyr, and nothing could change that. I knew that before I even knew I was going to marry her.”

“But I was the reason—” Undyne’s voice caught. “She died saving me. When the ambush happened. If I hadn’t…”

He raised a scarred hand to stop her. “If it hadn’t been you, it would have been someone else.” He looked off to where the sun was lowering. “She spoke very fondly of you in her letters. I was sure that if she were to come back home, she’d have taken you with her to be a part of our family.”

She looked up. “She, she wrote about me?”

“Of course,” Gaster smiled. “I regret not making the connection to you sooner with the descriptions she gave me, but I admit I’ve been a little too preoccupied with other things to focus on the past. And you’ve changed significantly. We all have, I suppose.”

“She was the closest thing I had to a mother,” Undyne admitted, almost in a whisper. She thought she might be crying, but she wasn’t sure.

“She knew,” he said. “She loved you.”

Undyne felt like she needed to sit down. She wobbled a little and didn’t steady until Gaster placed his hand on her shoulder. For a moment, she stayed there, leaning her weight into him before he spoke again. “You’re trying to protect Papyrus because you couldn’t protect her then. You won’t allow yourself to lose them both, and you feel like you owe it to her to keep her son safe.”

He nailed it on the head. And he had every right to be upset with her. She had hurt Papyrus, badly, if Gaster was taking the time out of his day to confront her about it. She would have been pissed herself if she had found out that someone had been lying to Papyrus for years.

She nodded weakly, but was still desperate to explain herself. “It’s too dangerous for him. Especially because…”

He was too nice. Undyne knew he didn’t have an untrusting bone in his body. She could picture him all too easily letting his guard down because he believed something he was told and getting himself killed. Undyne could teach him the skills to protect himself, strategy, and law, but she could not teach Papyrus to not be optimistic.

“Captain, I do not need to be reminded of the dangers of being a Guard. I worried over them every day that my wife left for work or spent serving in the Royal troop. I am intimately familiar with what it can do to a person, what can happen. What it can do to a family.”

“Right,” she said hoarsely.

“But I also know there was something inside Arial that would have died if she couldn’t serve. The Guard was her life. It always had been, and nothing could change that. I thought that after we had children, after we started a family, something would switch on inside her, that she would want to be home instead of out risking her life. I even offered to take her place when the war started. They would have let me, I had the training, but she couldn't give the Guard up, no matter what she would be leaving behind at home.

“That same thing, that drive, is in Papyrus. I knew it from the first day he put on her scarf and stated that he was going to be a Guard like his mother. It wasn’t a question or a dream, it was a truth, because for him to not was for him to not be alive.” He sighed. “And I can mourn and fret, but it won’t change him. And I won’t stop him, just like I didn’t stop Arial, because to deny him from this would be to deny a part of him, and I simply cannot make myself do that. All I can do is give him the tools to succeed, and you know just as much as I do that he is more than well equipped.”

“He’s so much kinder than Arial,” Undyne said, tearing up once again. “And he’s so young—”

“He has far more allies than she ever did,” Gaster raised her head so she’d look at him. “Friends that he can fall back on. And I know you were much younger when you were given the Sword.”

Undyne was quiet for a moment. She returned her gaze to the ground and Gaster stepped back.

“Captain, your fear of him dying is killing him. He spent the last three days locked up in his room. He’ll barely talk to me or his brother. That’s not the Papyrus you and I know.”

“He passed the very first time he took it, y’know?” she said. “He was just barely fourteen, I didn’t know what to do, I…”

“I’m not upset with you, Undyne," he shook his head. “I know that panic. I am simply asking you to fight that fear. Don’t let it hold him back. Not for me, but for my son.”

Undyne nodded. “Next time he takes the Guard Test, I’ll, I’ll pass him.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you for telling me about Arial. I…I miss her.”

A sad look crossed Gaster’s face for a moment. “I…I do too. You know, I have all her letters still with me. If you ever wanted to read them, I have no qualms about lending some to you. They’re just sitting in storage right now.”

“Really?” Undyne perked up a little and wiped her eye. “I…I would love that.”

“Of course,” he smiled at her. “If Asgore hadn’t gotten to you first, well…you’ll always be welcome in our home.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll be seeing Papyrus soon?”

Gaster looked off behind him. It was getting darker. “I made him promise to consider trying again, though he wasn’t very happy about it. I imagine you’ll see him in a couple of days,” he said. “Oh! And please be sure to tell him that I didn’t scare you into giving him the position or anything like that. He’s convinced that I’m blackmailing you right now or something. I’m not sure what goes on in that boy’s head.”

Undyne laughed. “I’ll do my best.” She paused for a moment, looking him over. “Did you really almost serve in Arial’s place? I thought you were a scientist, not a soldier.”

He gave her a sly look. “Who do you think has been training Papyrus?”

She recalled the sudden change in Papyrus’s skill and tactic and re-evaluated the man in front of her. “I take it back, you are scary.”

Gaster laughed and waved her off. “I’ll see you, Captain. Have a nice night.”

“It’s Undyne, doctor," she called out and waved back. When she entered her home afterwards, she felt something lift off her chest that she hadn’t even known she was carrying.

Chapter Text

Undyne walked out onto her porch with two glasses of ice water and a new bandage on her arm. “The results are in.”

Papyrus, whose self-doubt had washed away the second there was a prospect of him being a guard, was where he stood. Undyne had been relieved to see his enthusiasm when he had shown up this morning. She had feared that it would take Papyrus a while to bounce back, but he seemed relatively unscathed, despite what Dr. Gaster had said. “And…?” he asked, a little unnerved by Undyne’s brief moment of silence.

“Well, Papyrus Gaster,” Undyne grinned. “I am happy to announce that you will be joining me on the Guard.”

“YES!” Papyrus jumped up and pulled her into a hug. He pulled away quickly, partially because he knew that Undyne was still getting used to that kind of contact, but also because a million questions were forming in his mind. “Was it my new flanking tactic? Bet it was that! How did I do in comparison to the others that have passed? When do I start? Did you go hard on me like I asked? I don’t want to be behind everyone else, I—”

“Woah, slow down,” she laughed. “You did amazing. Better than anyone I’ve seen.”

“Really?!” Undyne swore his eyes turned to stars before an expression of suspicion crossed his face. “Really? Even after how bad I did the other times? My dad didn’t make you do this, did he? He promised he wouldn’t.”

Undyne shook his head. “He didn’t set me up to do this or blackmail me, I swear. We just…talked.”

Papyrus sat back down. “About what?”

Undyne took in a deep breath. “About your mother. I was with her when she served on the Royal Troop. I…Her, her death really messed with me, y’know?”

Papyrus grew serious immediately, and for a moment she worried she had really upset him. He nodded. “I think it messed with all of us—my family, I mean. I know Sans didn’t really want me to join the guard,” He looked up at her with a smile that made all of his others seem disingenuous. “I’ll do everything I can to stay safe.”

“I know,” Undyne said and found herself pulling him into a hug. “I’m proud of you Papyrus. You’ve done really well.”

He nodded, and they didn’t pull away for a while. When they did, his hands came up to fidget with his scarf. “I don’t want to today, but maybe sometime, you could, maybe, tell me more about her? I don’t really remember much, she left when I was two, and dad only has so many stories. It’d be nice to hear about the kind of Captain she was.”

She looked at him, a little sad. “Yeah, of course we can. My memory’s a little bit spotty, but I have a couple of good stories in me.”

“Thank you,” he said. “For everything, for the training, the test, being my friend, just…thank you.”

Undyne put her hand on his shoulder. “Of course, kid.” She smiled at him. “Now, I know you’re literally dying to go home and tell your brother, so you should probably head out.”

Papyrus perked up at that. “Of course! Thank you, Captain, I’ll see you soon?”

She nodded. “You’ll get a letter regarding the date of the ceremony. It should be in a week or two. I’ll see you there, Papyrus.”

Papyrus grinned and then took off running for home.

—

“Saaaaaaaaaaaannssssss! Sans! Sans!” Papyrus shouted, bursting through the front door.

Sans reeled for a moment, trying to process the sudden new auditory information through the cloud of his rather rough hangover. He had barely gotten to his coffee yet. He blinked a couple of times, waiting for Papyrus to tear his way through the home until he found him.

On the third blink, he appeared. “I’m going to be a Royal Guard!” Papyrus squealed.

Yes, the Guard Test. That was this morning. He set his coffee down. “You passed the test?”

Papyrus nodded frantically. “Yes! The Captain didn’t say what it was that made me basal, but I think it was that move you taught me, but I passed and Undyne said I was going to get my acceptance letter soon for the ceremony and oh my stars, Sans, it's finally happening!”

Sans smiled softly at him. “Slow down a little, Paps. Have you taken a single breath in the last thirty minutes?”

“I can’t breathe, Sans, I’m going to be on the Guard! I can’t believe that it's actually happening, just, stars, everything I’ve ever wanted and—”

“Well, I, for one, can absolutely believe it.” Sans said. “You’re good, bro, the Guard would be lucky to have you, is lucky to have you. You’ll do good work there.” He did his best to hide his nerves with that last statement. He wasn’t exactly excited about all the things his brother would have to do as a Guard.

Gaster wandered into the living room, eyes still a little bleary.

“Dad, I passed the test! Undyne’s accepting me into the Guard!” Papyrus said, a little quieter but with just as much enthusiasm.

“So I heard,” Gaster laughed a little. “I’m glad to hear it, but you should sit down and eat something. The ceremony won’t be for at least a week. Take the time to rest. You’ll want it. You’re going to have a lot of work on your hands pretty soon.”

He obeyed and sat down, but he was still jittering with excitement and couldn’t stomach much. Sans left the table shortly after to watch something on the TV and Gaster stopped Papyrus when he got up to join him.

“I’m very proud of you, Papyrus,” he said. “And I know your mother would be too. You have always been a source of good in this world, and you’re going to do incredible things in this position.”

Papyrus hugged him and did his best to hide the tears in his eyes, ignoring Sans' comment about them when he sat down next to him.

His smile didn’t leave his face for the rest of the day, even after he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Papyrus was not immune to nerves, and he had to constantly remind himself to not fidget as he stood for the ceremony. It wasn’t necessarily a long one, but it did have a lot of talking and formality and Papyrus was bursting with so much excitement without a single good outlet for any of it.

King Asgore was going through the history of the Guard, its purpose and how it has kept the kingdom safe for years. Papyrus stood among a ring of Guards, already seamless within their ranks. Across from him was the King, the Royal Scientist, and the Captain respectively, along with a couple of other important figures. It wasn’t a large gathering, but almost the entirety of the Guard was there, which did nothing to help Papyrus' nerves. He was surrounded by the people he would be working with for hopefully most of his life.

“With the successful completion of the Guard Test, administered by the Captain herself, I welcome Papyrus Gaster to my Royal Guard,” Asgore said. “Papyrus, you may step forward.”

Papyrus stepped into the center of the ring, legs a little wobbly. He immediately slid into a kneeling bow in front of the King, keeping his head low. His heart echoed in his ears. He couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Do you, Papyrus Gaster, swear nothing less than your heart, your strength, and your life to the Crown and the serving of its kingdom? Do you promise to do everything in your power to protect the peace and welfare of this kingdom, no matter the cost?”

“I do, my King,” he said, unable to process anything but the words being said to him. He wasn’t even sure if he saw the dirt in front of him. “I am ready to give my life and soul for this kingdom, and I swear to serve it until my final breath.”

“Then rise not as yourself, but as a Royal Guardsman.”

Papyrus rose, and the first thing he noticed was how warm Asgore’s smile was. And then, Undyne was approaching him with something in her hands.

“I, Captain Undyne of the Royal Guard, present you with this sword and helmet. May you use them to help instill peace and justice across the Kingdom.” The words were rehearsed, and spoken as such, but there was something behind them that Papyrus picked up on. Pride, maybe. Or just the joy of seeing a friend get closer.

Papyrus took them with trembling hands. They felt heavy, but as he adjusted his grip, he knew they had been weighted just for him. Goosebumps formed on the back of his neck.

Undyne stepped back and his father stepped forward. He held a pin in his scarred hands. “And I, Doctor W. D. Gaster, present you with your Royal Badge, so that your status may be visible to all who lay eyes on you.”

Gaster was a man of subtle emotions, almost overwhelmingly so, but right now, Papyrus could see he was brimming with pride. Enough that he almost started crying from seeing his father like this. The badge was pinned to his chest, and when Papyrus looked down at it, he noticed the metal was worn, with his last name on it. The design was slightly different from the ones he had seen on other guards as well. After a moment, he realized it was his mother’s old badge, from before she became Captain, and then he did start to cry a little. Undyne seemed to notice it as well.

Papyrus didn’t really hear what Asgore said after that, but then the ceremony was over and he was surrounded by friends congratulating him and hugging him and Guards around him were asking him questions and he was overwhelmed by a sudden realization that all of this was for him. His heart swelled with sudden pride and he was definitely crying and being awkward and bouncing around between people like a pinball, but none of that mattered because he had finally done it and was actually a royal guard.

He had done it.