Without magic crystals, the Underground would be in perpetual darkness, an echo of the grim conditions the monsters were condemned to (with the exception of Hotland). They acted as a source of light much like the sun on the Surface, dimming when night time arose, lulling monsters to sleep.

Unfortunately, this was not the case for Undyne, who had been working practically non-stop for several hours. She was preoccupied with reading through the reports that flooded in, telling of their failures to locate Flowey.

That flower is too sneaky... how is he escaping so easily?

She rubbed the side of her forehead, sighing. The Captain also had a report of her own to deliver, to King Asgore himself. The only problem was that he was nowhere to be found. In fact, rumours were already spreading that the king was slained, either by Flowey or the human.

Undyne made sure to shut them down before it spread like wildfire. Rumours were the last thing she wanted to deal with at the moment.

The people will eventually figure out that Asgore is missing from action. By now, he would have made a public announcement of Flowey's threat...

She felt like a lost child again. What was the fish monster supposed to do? Was she making the correct decisions?

"Ngaaaahhhhh!" Undyne yelled, probably startling awake half of the Royal Guards stationed in New Home with it.

Shouting always helped to ease some of her stress.

Taking a deep breath, she decided that she was exhausted and could not function properly. Compiling the reports in an untidy stack and chucking it at one corner, she got up and dragged herself back to Snowdin.

Ever since Undyne's house was burnt down, she ultimately settled on staying at the inn in Snowdin. Before, she spent one night at the skeleton brothers' house and immediately regretted it.

Kicking open the door of her room, she collapsed on the bed, with the burden of the Captain of the Royal Guard weighing on her shoulders.

~~~~

Undyne was not the only one having a late night.

Frisk found themselves still awake after a few hours, but it was not unusual for them now. They had been ridden with insomnia for the past three timelines, but they were not particularly affected due to the resets. Unfortunately, this was not the case in the current timeline.

It was only due to extreme exhaustion that they managed to sleep the previous time. Sure, they felt tired at the moment, but it was not enough to send the child into a deep slumber.

Every time Frisk attempted to sleep, visions of that day would flood in, the omen of nightmares to come.

If I don't sleep now... I will probably collapse again and...

Unwilling to complete that thought, they pulled the brown blanket to their neck and rolled to the opposite side.

"But no matter what you do, it doesn't change your fate, does it?"

Frisk turned to stare at the celing, tucking a pillow under their neck. No, it doesn't. It's just that...

It's the only thing I can do at this moment.

After a few more twists and turning, sleep finally came, but not without the horror of nightmares.

By the time the early morning arrived, Frisk woke up, drowsy and restless. The clock near the bedside table told them that they had only slept for four hours. They told themselves that it was better than nothing and pushed themselves up, yawning.

Evident that they were not able to get more rest, they got out of their room, nearly bumping into a taller figure wearing a simple black sleeveless shirt.

"Hey-" the tone of voice told them it was Undyne who they bumped into. "Oh, hi Frisk. I didn't expect to see you awake this early. Why are you awake this early anyway?"

Frisk looked up at Undyne. Her long, scarlet hair was frizzier than they remembered and while her voice covered it up, she seemed rather frazzled.

"Nightmares," they responded.

That's why I rather not sleep.

"Oh." Surprisingly, Undyne did not pry and sped up, as if she was in a rush.

"Where are you going?" Frisk called.

"I'm heading off to the capital," Undyne told them, slowing down her pace slightly, allowing them to catch up.

"I see... can I come along? I don't have anything to do."

She hesitated. "Sure, I guess...? Just stay close."

Their small conversation fell into silence as they made their way to their destination. Along the way, in front of Sans' and Papyrus' house, they met Papyrus, who seemed to be an early riser as well.

Undyne promptly gave him - and Sans - tasks situated in Waterfall, supervised by the old hero Gerson himself, sensing that he was eager to help. However, Frisk couldn't help but notice how Papyrus' voice faltered while accepting the task, and narrowed their eyes.

The Captain did not appear to notice, striding off immediately after giving orders.

The rest of journey went uninterrupted and was relatively smooth, reaching New Home in a few mintues through the Riverperson's ferry.

Upon their arrival, Frisk found themselves staring at the greyscale buildings, frowning at how monotonous they looked. It was their first time actually stepping into the Underground's capital; they never had access to it in the past.

Entering the city was a new experience altogether. It was as if the buildings grew in height as they went in, looming over them in an almost intimidating manner. From the bits of conversation Frisk caught, the capital was seperated into different areas, for housing and so on.

New Home is much bigger than the other regions, they concluded.

Meanwhile, Undyne had just recieved another report from a Royal Guard, sighing. "No luck yet again..." she muttered, frustrated.

Frisk glanced around. "Does Asgore know what is going on?"

She stopped abruptly and ushered them to a more secluded area.

"No idea..." Undyne spoke dejectedly, once she was sure no one else was around. "I couldn't contact him all day and he hasn't done anything... it's pretty much safe to say that he's missing, just like-"

Just like Alphys...

She closed her single, visible eye, gritting her sharp yellow teeth, before opening it again. "Sorry, let's keep going."

Turning around, she headed for the centre of the square. Frisk gazed at her solemnly, forlornly, only being able to imagine what their friend felt. They were not unable to do anything but staying by her side and saying words that could just be meaningless.

They had seen her grief with their own eyes, so powerful that it was like a miasma that no one dared to approach, or even knew how to deal with. Combined with her responsibilities as the Captain of the Royal Guard without support from her mentor... she must be under a lot of stress and misery.

Yet, Undyne still persisted in keeping up the image of a strong, unwavering Royal Guard, because the moment it drops, everything would fall apart.

I'm sorry I can't do anything.

Frisk glanced at their hands before running to catch up with her, who was already in the square bustling with activity.

Along with a stone fountain situated in the centre was a gigantic screen scanning the length of a building. It was playing an advertisement about Mettaton's upcoming live shows, blaring with bright colours that they had to shield their eyes from.

Other than that, everything was calm. Too calm, in fact, that it made their skin prickle with unease. They shook their head - they were just being paranoid over nothing.

Frisk switched their attention to Undyne, who was finishing up a set of orders to a pair of burly guards. They saluted and marched off to another area while she turned back to Frisk.

"I'm pretty much done here. Let's go-"

They did not catch the rest of her words as the screen died out abruptly. Everyone stopped what they were doing, looking at it in confusion.

That was when it sprang back to life, only that it was not playing one of Mettaton's advertisements.

No way...

It was Mettaton, in his normal box form, restrained by a single, red thorned vine. There was a laugh and the screen revealed Flowey looming over the robot star triumphantly.

Grinning, the flower spoke cheerfully. "Howdy! As you all can see, I'm keeping your wonderful star, Mettaton, as a hostage."

"That bastard..." Undyne was glaring daggers at him, clenching her fists tightly.

"Now, you must be wondering what is it that I want?" Flowey continued, keeping up his pretentious smile. "It's simple, really."

The edges of his grin grew wider as his demeanour changed completely. "Frisk."

At the mention of their name, Frisk froze, unable to look away or even hide.

"If you really value your so called 'friends'," he jeered, "come to the Core in 12 hours time. Alone. If you don't, I will kill him. I will kill him in front of everyone's faces. Then, if you still refuse, I will pick off each and one of your friends, the monsters, scatter their dust everywhere until you do it! You better hurry up, because the clock's ticking!"

He laughed maniacally, striking fear into every viewer's soul before he disappeared along with the image on the screen.

With that, the Underground fell into chaos.

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We are nearly half way through the book (I estimate that there will be about 30 chapters) and hopefully things are not going too fast because pacing is not one of my strong points. ^-^"

What's coming up next? Well, you might already guessed it, but I'm just going to say that there is going to be drama. I'm not very experienced at that either, so I hope to hear your inputs in future chapters.

If you enjoyed, votes and comments are always appreciated.