Undyne stood motionless for a while; she hadn't even noticed that others had entered behind her while the kidnapper was berating Papyrus. The poor skeleton's sniffling continued for a good long while after the kidnapper had left, but not everyone in the room decided to stick around for the entire duration.

Alphys, feeling the heavy tension in the room, cleared her throat. "I, uh... I-I think I'm going to go l-look for some more clues regarding where P-Papyrus could be..."

She quickly left the room, eager to find a place with a less tense atmosphere. Toriel, seeing the state Sans was in, put a hand on his shoulder.

"tori, i need a moment. would you and asgore mind stepping out?"

Toriel, still concerned, nodded understandingly. She reluctantly motioned for Asgore to follow her, and the two stepped out, closing the door behind them.

There was a long silence, punctuated only by the crackle of the recording and the occasional sniffs from Papyrus. Suddenly, Sans's raspy growl cut through the silence.

"this is your fault."

"You said that before," Undyne muttered.

"maybe I didn't make myself clear then." Sans took a few strides until he and Undyne were inches apart. "all those years ago, you promised you'd never put papyrus in harm's way."

"I never put him in harm's way. Why do you think I never let him into the Royal Guard?"

"no. you broke that promise the second you and he started... all this."

"What? You mean the moment we fell in love? We didn't really plan that!"

"yeah and you never really planned to make it your life's ambition to track down the most dangerous people on the surface. you never really planned to make papyrus the most important person in your life. right. my mistake."

Undyne clenched her fists. "Career aside, blaming me for what life decided to throw at us is real mature, Sans. You know I'm not happy about this kidnapping either. I'm devastated. Hearing him there, helpless and alone, you don't think it's tearing my heart out too?" She walked off to the corner of the room, giving the wall a frustrated kick. "Especially since I can't do a damn thing about it right now!"

Sans was silent for several seconds before speaking up again. "we both know that would be alphys on the other end if you'd just stuck with her instead of dragging my brother into this dangerous life of yours."

Undyne whipped around, fists clenched even tighter. "How dare you..."

"how dare i think about my brother's safety? how dare i prioritize my only family's life over your cute little squeeze for four months?"

"You're acting like I planned this whole thing, like I knew this was going to happen and I let it happen anyway!"

"well forgive me for overreacting. my brother might die but you know, that's no big deal in your line of work. you probably see people die every day."

Undyne was about ready to tear out her hair. "If I'd known being with Papyrus would lead to... to this-"

"you'd do it again because you don't think about anyone except yourself."

"That's not true!"

"you and alphys lasted four months. and before then it was cute little letter writing all while you didn't notice just how hung up he was on you."

"What?" Undyne was completely confused.

"god, you're thick, undyne. a complete idiot." Sans hissed. "this whole time, papyrus was completely in love with you. you were all he talked about. and you didn't give him a second glance until you and alphys were completely done. until you exhausted that option. how do i know this creep isn't right about you?"

"You really think I'd promise to be with Papyrus for the rest of my life if I didn't love him?" Undyne snapped, his words simultaneously stabbing her and fueling her anger.

"i don't know. first alphys can't stop talking about you and you give her a try. then papyrus does the same and you go ahead and try him on for size. just because it lasted longer-"

Undyne finally snapped and pitched spears at him, missing intentionally. It didn't surprise her that despite that, Sans still teleported to dodge.

"Why haven't you been using that little gift?" Undyne demanded, anger raging within her.

"our guy is thorough. put up some kind of magic barrier." Sans explained. "but never mind that. if i lose my brother to your stupid desire for superiority, that's it. we're done."

"I don't think I want to be associated with you anymore regardless of what happens." Undyne tagged. "If you're so keen on accusing me of dragging Papyrus along like some plaything."

"fine, whatever. then i'll just go associate with someone worth my time.."

"Good riddance!"

Sans yanked the door open and almost charged into Asgore as he stomped out and down the stairs. The surprised former king just watched as he left, then turned back to Undyne, still inside.

"I, um, heard an explosion," Asgore said. "Is... everything all right?"

Undyne threw her hands up in the air halfheartedly. "Oh yeah, sure... as all right as a house on fire."

"Oh." The large goat monster shuffled a bit, unsure of what to do next. He turned to leave, but paused when he and Undyne heard talking come over the speaker.

"MAYBE HE'S RIGHT, WHOEVER HE IS... IF I HADN'T BEEN KIDNAPPED, THEY WOULDN'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT ME. NO, WAIT, THEY'RE NOT WORRIED, ARE THEY? THEN WHY WOULD THEY LOOK FOR ME IN THE FIRST PLACE? OUT OF OBLIGATION? WHY DO THEY FEEL THEY NEED TO RESCUE ME?" Papyrus sighed. "I REALLY AM A BURDEN TO EVERYONE, AREN'T I?"

Undyne's eye went wide. "No..." She placed her hands on the sides of the speaker. "Papyrus, no..."

"I WISH YOU ALL WOULD COME LET ME OUT, THEN I COULD LEAVE YOU ALL SO YOU'D BE FREE OF ME. YOU WOULDN'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT ME ANYMORE. I CAN GO AND... MAKE SOME NEW FRIENDS, MAYBE? ...WOULD THOSE FRIENDS THINK I'M A BURDEN, TOO?"

"Papyrus, no, you're not a burden..."

The skeleton sighed. "UNDYNE, YOU ESPECIALLY... I'M SORRY I ASKED YOU TO MARRY ME IF IT'S JUST MAKING YOU UNHAPPY. I WAS SELFISHLY KEEPING YOU TO MYSELF WHEN YOU REALLY DIDN'T WANT IT. YOU SHOULD'VE JUST TOLD ME THAT YOU DIDN'T WANT TO GET MARRIED. I... I WOULD'VE UNDERSTOOD."

She gripped her fingers into the sides of the speaker until the casing started to indent under her fingertips. Shaking like an earthquake, she squeezed her eye tightly shut. "No, Papyrus, you adorable fool, don't be stupid! I DO want to marry you! I love you! I wouldn't have said yes if I wasn't sure!" She opened her eye and looked around, frustrated. "And damn it, I can't tell you how I feel because you can't even HEAR me!"

She thrust the speaker backwards into the wall, leaving a sizeable indent in the plaster. Papyrus' sniffling could still be heard, but it was covered by the agonized groan that escaped from Undyne's lips. She pulled her hands to her face, still shaking.

Asgore stepped carefully into the room, unsure of... anything at that point. Approaching Undyne, he said no words, but gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

In her mind's eye, it was like Undyne was a little girl again, a frustrated, upset child who just needed the comfort of a hug from her adoptive father. "I..." she grunted. "I-I'm just... so scared."

The large goat monster began lightly rocking back and forth, nodding.

"Like, wh-what if we do everything, follow every single one of this insane creep's demands, and still!" A large tear rolled down her cheek as she looked up at him.

"Shh shh..." Asgore rubbed her shoulder. "Do not talk like that."

"He c-can't die thinking we abandoned him." Undyne buried her face in Asgore's arm. "He can't die alone and scared because we didn't get to him in time. He can't."

Asgore was at a loss for words, but he knew that what Undyne needed right now was comfort and reassurance. That he could at least do.

Xxx

A number of hours later into the night found everyone regrouped and fast asleep, having returned from wherever they'd been a few hours after the argument between Sans and Undyne. Shortly after Undyne and Asgore had finished hugging, they overheard Toriel chastising Sans over his attitude toward his future sister-in-law. As he entered the room, Sans didn't say a word to Undyne, nor did she say a word to him; the two of them still needed some time to cool down.

For the night, Undyne naturally found herself most comfortable in the spot where Papyrus' racing car bed used to reside, and given this, Asgore had parked himself in the same spot, leaning up against the wall. Alphys joined them, cuddling up next to Asgore, who had an arm around both her and Undyne's shoulders. Sans had taken to lying across Toriel's lap in the corner where Papyrus' computer used to be, on the opposite side of the room. When she wasn't nodding off, the goat woman periodically glanced over at Asgore, Undyne, and Alphys.

Despite all the care and affection, though, Undyne didn't get a wink of sleep. Anxiety consumed her as the static over the speaker occasionally shared a blip of Papyrus sobbing or sighing.

The worst moments were when the kidnapper would return, sometimes to inform Papyrus emphatically that his friends still weren't there despite such simple instructions, other times to mock him for being useless. The last straw for Undyne was when Papyrus asked for something, anything to eat, and the kidnapper had merely laughed, refusing even that.

"What time is it?" Alphys asked, breaking a long silence that had made them wonder if Papyrus himself had dozed off.

Undyne checked her watch. "4:27 am."

"Twelve hours." Asgore muttered.

"What does he want us to hear?" Undyne asked darkly under her breath. "Aside from the torture he's putting Papyrus through?"

The clue to listen had been the only thing they could ascertain as of then. It had turned up in several places in the Underground when Sans, Toriel, Asgore, and Alphys had gone out searching. No one had found a sign of either Papyrus or the kidnapper at all. Ultimately, they had parked themselves in Papyrus' room and listened intently, wincing at the horrible events going on in a room they could not find.

"Resting comfortably, I hope?" came the electronic voice, loud enough that it awakened even Sans. "Good. I'm going to be leaving now. But I wanted to give you a little parting gift before I go."

"PLEASE LET ME GO, I WON'T TELL ANYONE-"

"Oh, but if I let you go, it won't be any fun, now will it?" The Starlight Killer let out a little laugh and undid something that sounded like Velcro. "Now don't move. I'm strapping it to you and it can be a little bit... sensitive."

There was a silence punctuated by the scraping of the chair and the sticky sounds of duct tape upon skeleton. After a few seconds, he had finished.

"I think you'll have a blast with this final gift." He said, sounding rather pleased with himself even through the voice changer. "Get it? Because it's a bomb."

Undyne nearly skidded over to the speaker. "What?"

"As soon as I press this button," there was a beeping sound, "the timer will start to count down. Giving your friends only 30 minutes to reach you before you're blown to smithereens."

"no!" Sans growled.

"Where the hell are you?" Undyne demanded into the speaker.

"The answer to where the hell I am..." the kidnapper said gleefully, sending a shiver down Undyne's spine; had he been able to hear everything? "...Is making a quick getaway. But your little friends will need to band together to disarm this bomb, assuming they find you in time. All five of them. Which means no one's going to have time to go after me. And there's no way your brother will be able to teleport himself here. I've sealed the place with magic. Meaning that if your friends want to find you, they'll have to get here on foot. They've got 29 minutes. I hope they book it. Alphys' lab is hard as hell to access."

"He's in the lab!" Undyne shouted, jumping to her feet.

"Tick tock," whispered the Starlight Killer before the audio feed was abruptly cut off.