Three days after the capture of the Starlight Killer found Papyrus waking up a little earlier than he had been during this whole event. It was still later than he usually woke, but considering that Undyne was by his side, he didn't let the details bother him. When you have as big a miracle as being with the one you love, none of the small stuff matters.

He smiled as he watched her sleep, a peaceful look about her face. Gently reaching over, he brushed her fiery hair away from her eye, leaning in to touch his forehead to hers. How could he be so lucky to be her husband?

Undyne opened her eye after receiving his version of a kiss. "Morning..." she mumbled, gently stretching with her good arm.

"GOOD MORNING," he cooed, gazing at her.

She was still just waking up, but she noticed. "What is it?"

"OH. UH..." He could tell her, right? Yes, he could. "I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT HOW ODDLY LUCKY I AM TO BE WITH YOU."

"Oddly lucky?" Undyne raised an eyebrow. "Not the adverb you expect."

"WELL," Papyrus rubbed the back of his neck, "HOW DO I PUT THIS? YOU'RE... A HEROINE. AND I'M... PAPYRUS. AND THOUGH I AM VERY GREAT, THAT IS ALL DUE TO YOU. SO, SINCE YOU ARE THE CAUSE OF MY GREATNESS, IT STANDS TO REASON THAT YOUR GREATNESS FAR OUTSTRIPS MY OWN. WHICH MAKES ME INCREDIBLY LUCKY TO BASK IN GREATNESS SUCH AS YOURS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE."

"Why are you so... I dunno, thoughtful this morning?" Undyne ran her fingers through her tangly hair. "You usually wake me up with a kiss and a 'GOOD MORNING' and spaghetti. Now you're waking me up with your inferiority complex."

"YOU JUST LOOKED SO BEAUTIFUL WHEN YOU WERE SLEEPING."

Undyne wiped flecks of dried drool off her cheek. "Yeah. Beautiful."

Papyrus grinned. "IT'S HEROIC DROOL."

"Oh hush." Undyne pitched a pillow at him. "And to respond to your ridiculous comments cleverly masking your belief that I'm way out of your league, shut your mouth. I'm the lucky one. You're more patient than Alphys ever was. Than anyone ever was. Why are you so patient? How are you so patient and so neurotic at the same time?"

"PRACTICE."

"That means Sans."

"YES, SANS HELPED A LOT." Papyrus nodded as he spoke, his mind heavy with memories.

Amused, Undyne snorted. "Remind me to thank him."

"YOU CAN GO HALFSIES ON THE XYLO-BONE I GOT HIM FOR HIS BIRTHDAY."

"Deal." She paused for a few moments. "Seriously, though, why do I get so much of your patience? I think most people would've been out the door by the end of the first suplex. You're still here after..." She started counting on her fingers, but soon lost track. "A lot."

"AHH ABOUT THAT." Papyrus' cheeks reddened a tiny bit. "I LIKE IT WHEN YOU SUPLEX ME. IT'S UNPREDICTABLE. AND IT MAKES YOU SMILE." He took a moment to give her a smile of his own. "YOU KNOW, I SCHEDULE EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY, ALWAYS HAVE. SANS EVEN HAS A ROUTINE. GRANTED, IT'S MOSTLY EATING AND SLEEPING AND ME CARRYING HIM UP TO HIS ROOM AT NIGHT, BUT IT'S PREDICTABLE. AND I THOUGHT MY LIFE WOULD BE LIKE THAT FOREVER. BUT YOU? I CAN NEVER PREDICT A THING. ONE SECOND YOU'RE FRYING POPSICLES, ANOTHER YOU COME UP BEHIND ME AND SUPLEX ME. I USED TO HATE IT BUT NOW? I RELISH EVERY SURPRISE."

"...Aww, Papyrus..."

"I LOVE YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE A WILD CARD, NOT IN SPITE OF IT."

Undyne chuckled a bit. "...No one's ever really complimented that side of me."

The skeleton's eyebrows rose. "ALPHYS?"

"I mean... she liked me. She just didn't... get me." Undyne furrowed her brow. "You really get me, Papyrus. We've been married for 2 weeks and I'm still finding new reasons it was a good idea."

"I DO HOPE YOU KEEP FINDING THEM FOR A LONG TIME; LIKEWISE, I WANT TO DO THE SAME WITH YOU. AND," he paused. "I WANT THEM ALL TO BE A SURPRISE."

Undyne smiled, her cheeks tinting violet.

Papyrus glanced over her shoulder, noticing the steady increase in beeps from the heart monitor. "DID YOU FIND THAT SEXY?"

"I find you sexy, Papyrus."

The skeleton blushed. "WOWIE..."

"Hey now, don't get too excited..." came the voice of the doctor who'd just walked in through the door. "You're still recovering, remember? Besides, the skips and flutters alter the readings."

Undyne facepalmed. "Uh... hi. Mind if I try going for a walk today?"

She nodded as she wrote some notes on her clipboard. "Seems like a good day to do it. Aside from the previously mentioned anomalies, you've been making excellent progress with your recovery, so we're taking you off the EKG today."

"Oh, thank GOD," Undyne huffed. The sooner she could go back to maintaining her heroic image, the better.

Xxx

"Finally good to get out of that room," Undyne muttered as she slowly walked down the hall, pulling an IV stand along with her left hand and being guided by Papyrus with her right. "Although..."

"YES, UNDYNE?"

"...It'd be nice if we could walk a little faster." Her face fell in frustration as it occurred to her just how slowly they were walking.

Papyrus looked taken aback. "BUT UNDYNE, THE DOCTOR SAID-"

"Yeah, but she also said I'm making excellent progress. I'm not gonna fall on my face, watch me."

"W-WELL..." He took a quick look behind and in front of them, hoping no one was coming. "ALL RIGHT."

"All right, let's do this!" Undyne let go of Papyrus and started walking a little quicker down the hallway. She barely even walked fifteen feet before she started slumping a bit.

"UNDYNE!" The skeleton dashed forward and caught the fish woman, keeping her from sliding down very far in his arms. "I'VE GOT YOU."

"Uggh..." she muttered, blushing. "I'm tiring out easier. This totally sucks!"

"I DID SAY THAT YOU-" He frowned. "WAIT, I NEVER DID GET TO SAY IT. WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY IS THAT THE DOCTOR SAID YOU'RE STILL GOING TO BE WEAK FOR A WHILE."

She growled a little. "Sorry, but could you not use the word 'weak', please?"

Papyrus frowned. "UH... I MEAN MUCH LESS STRONG. AVERAGE STRENGTH."

"...Thanks," she said, panting a bit. She looked up at him. "Well, to be fair, I didn't fall on my face."

"NO, YOU FELL ON MINE."

"Heh, sorry..." She smiled. "I was just excited to get out of that prison. I mean, it's a nice room, but lying there still for so long, I found myself ready to go crazy!" Leaning on her husband, she resumed a slow and steady stroll.

Papyrus may have kept walking with Undyne, but his mind came to a halt. 'Prison'? He'd been curious about what Loren was trying to accomplish... perhaps he'd go and pick her brain to find out what had been the method behind the madness that was her plans.

"UNDYNE," he began. "I... REALIZED SOMETHING."

"What's that?"

"WELL, ABOUT THIS 'LOREN' PERSON YOU MENTIONED..."

"Yeah?"

"WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT HER MOTIVATION WAS. WHY SHE DID ALL SHE DID. I WAS... JUST THINKING THAT IT WOULD BE CONVENIENT TO HEAD DOWN TO THE STATION AND ASK TO HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH HER."

Undyne was silent; but not for long. "...No."

"WHAT?"

"No, Papyrus. I don't want you to go there."

He was slowly feeling dejected. "BUT UNDYNE, YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY THIS HAPPENED, RIGHT?"

"Well, yeah, but..." She sighed. "Not at the expense of your joy."

"BUT I HAVE PLENTY OF JOY; IN FACT, IT IS ENOUGH TO SHARE WITH EVERY ONE OF MY FRIENDS AND THEN SOME!"

She stopped walking. "Papyrus, I..." With a little effort, she managed to slip her good arm in between his torso and arm. A few moments later found him in her embrace. "Please don't go. Don't give her another opportunity to hurt you."

Papyrus knew if he said another word on the matter, he'd promise her that he wouldn't go, and then his integrity would force him to keep that promise. All he did was gently return the hug, rubbing her back as he did.

The rest of the walk took all of two minutes, as Undyne's endurance had been greatly slashed. Papyrus eagerly agreed to train with her over the next several weeks to get her back to where she was. Smiling, Undyne told him that she'd hold him to this, not that she really needed to say anything about it. She knew he would.

Upon returning to the room, Undyne was helped back into bed. Tired out, she quickly drifted off, giving Papyrus the moment he needed. He left the hospital, hoping to have enough time to carry out his errand before she woke up again or started wondering where he was.

The time was right in the middle of visiting hours at the local prison, so Papyrus didn't need to worry about getting kicked out due to a time crunch. As the warden went to get the prisoner, Papyrus sat nervously in the meeting room chair, the dividing plexiglass the only thing between him and the soon-to-be-there perpetrator.

The door in the prisoner's area slammed shut as seemingly nothing approached, heralded by tiny footfalls. Soon, however, Papyrus found himself face-to-face with the onion-like monster he'd subdued the other night.

Loren wasn't very impressive-looking now, a small, round being compared to the hulking figure that he'd taken down. Her tiny eyes, heavy-lidded, practically bored a hole into Papyrus as he sat there, trying to think of the first thing to say.

But he didn't need to; Loren opened her invisible mouth before he opened his. "Well if it isn't the little ray of sunshine. I know you're not the gloating type, so you must have a different reason for being here. Spill."

Papyrus took a deep breath and exhaled. "SO YOU'RE THE STARLIGHT KILLER?"

Loren nodded. "Yes."

"AND YOU KIDNAPPED ME?"

"Yes."

"AND YOU... YOU SHOT UNDYNE?"

"Also yes."

"PARDON ME FOR ASKING BUT... HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO DO ALL THAT WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE ANY ARMS?" His eyebrows rose.

Loren snorted. "They're not really visible unless I make them that way. Regardless, it doesn't matter what your arms look like or where they are if you have shapeshifting powers.

"OH. I SUPPOSE YOU'RE RIGHT." He cleared his throat. "ANYWAY, THE MAIN REASON I CAME HERE TODAY WAS TO ASK YOU THIS: WHY?"

"...'why' what?"

"OF ALL THE THINGS YOU COULD BE DOING WITH YOUR LIFE-ESPECIALLY YOUR NEW LIFE UP HERE ON THE SURFACE-WHY CHOOSE THIS? WHY HURT INNOCENT PEOPLE? WHY KIDNAP ME AND HARM MY WIFE? WHY KILL ALL OF THOSE HUMANS? THEY HAD FAMILIES. ONE OF THEM HAD CHILDREN."

Loren clicked her tongue. "I feel so bad for you. You don't seem to get it, to understand the point I'm trying to make. You're familiar with the War of Humans and Monsters, right? Please tell me you are."

"WELL, OF COURSE I AM. WHO ISN'T?"

"A good deal of the people up here on the surface aren't, I can tell you that much. Do you know why they're treating us the way they are? It's a long-running inferiority complex humans have toward monsters. By forcing us underground, they were just able to conveniently 'sweep' their problem under the rug of reality. But now?"

"...YOU SOUND ANGRY," Papyrus commented, cautiously.

"I'm honestly surprised more monsters aren't!"

"BUT THAT ALL HAPPENED SO LONG AGO. NONE OF THESE HUMANS, THE ONES AROUND NOW, DID ANYTHING TO ANY OF US!"

"You're right," she said. "They didn't do anything for us either, like trying to break the barrier from the outside. It took a whole strange incident involving one kid to free us all from that living nightmare. On the whole, though, they realize it, and they're leaving us alone: we, monsters, are the superior beings here. And we should act that way. Working side by side with humans only tells them that we find ourselves on equal footing with them."

Papyrus was taken aback. "BUT WHAT DOES KIDNAPPING ME AND KILLING HUMANS HAVE TO DO WITH ANY OF THAT? AND... AND YOU ALMOST KILLED UNDYNE. TWICE! I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE NOTICED, BUT... UNDYNE AND I AREN'T HUMAN."

"I know that. But you're working with them." She shifted in her chair, her eyelids lowering. "I'm trying to send a message to everyone, that if you mess with the natural order, bad things happen. Working with these lesser beings can only bring about disaster. Consider my crimes just a taste of what could happen."

"I..." Papyrus said, shaking his head. "I DON'T UNDERSTAND."

Loren chuckled. "I wouldn't expect a lesser monster of the unenlightened variety to be able to, anyway."

The small monster went on for a while more, but none of it was making any sense to Papyrus. He left the prison, his head still swimming in all the strange ideas that Loren had been throwing at him. Whatever it all meant, though, he sensed it couldn't have been good. Monsters and people were beings on equal footing, weren't they?