For the first time, Papyrus was going against Undyne. Clenching his gloved hands as if clutching onto his beliefs, he gave her a level gaze, trying to ignore the throbing shred of guilt in his soul.

The Captain of the Royal Guard was taken aback, speechless just like Sans and Frisk. Glancing around, she spoke quietly. "Let's take this somewhere else."

Undyne led them to the empty armoury, more specifically, her office. Papyrus noticed the messy stack of papers - most likely reports - scattered on the work table, majority of which was untouched.

The four grey walls of the room seemed to close in on the tall skeleton as she turned back to him. "Papyrus... I understand that you want to save Flowey. There's nothing wrong with it; he's your friend after all, but don't you see? If you go to him, he will kill you."

Undyne was determined to stop him, but so was he. He had seen for himself, how Flowey hesitated when he was about to deal the killing blow, the despair and helplessness in his voice that was unnoticed by many, stroking the fires of his own determination.

"You're right," Papyrus said. "Flowey is my friend; that's why I have to do this. He's doing all this because he is hurting! I don't know why, so I want to go to him and try to understand! I know I'll get hurt, but if it's the only way-"

"Flowey never saw you as a friend!" Undyne interrupted. She sounded so desperate, so emotional, that he was left dumbfounded. "He only ever saw you as a tool to cause suffering to everyone else. He doesn't have mercy, heck, you told me, he doesn't even have a soul! That's why I didn't want you near him..."

She muttered the last part of her argument, trailing off as she realised that she had done. The look of dismay that Papyrus gave her was all that she needed to know that he knew full well what it implied.

"You never believed in me, did you?"
The normally cheerful, optimistic skeleton actually sounded... dejected. "The reason you sent me to Snowdin... then to Waterfall is to keep me away from places where Flowey would probably appear, right?"

For the longest time, Papyrus was encased in an inescapable column of terrible feelings that he always tried to push away for the sake of others. With the recent events, the column only became smaller, stronger, threatening to reach him. It became harder to push them all away, which made him afraid.

If it finally reaches him, what would happen? Papyrus did not want to hurt his friends - anyone - but those feelings threatened to wreck havoc on those valued relationships and swallow them up in a matter of minutes.

That day had finally came. Everyone had a limit after all, and it was simply a matter of time. Even so, Papyrus was hoping with all the magic in his soul that what he had realised was not true.

Undyne looked at him, her single visible eye glittering with guilt, and that gave him all the answers.

"... yes."

What came next was a maelstrom of churning emotions that swarmed Papyrus almost instantaneously. Confusion, frustration and dejection made up the core of it, overwhelming him by the second.

Why?

"Papyrus, please understand that I did all this for your own good."

Why?

With a pang of horror, Papyrus realised that he could not understand or even come to terms with it like he always did. He was so ashamed of himself that he could not face any one of his friends.

"I was only trying to-" Undyne's statement was cut short.

"I'm... sorry," was all he said before he took off.

I can't face them anymore.

Papyrus ran. The dominant thought in his mind was to get away from them as far as possible. His soul throbbed, making him run even faster.

How will his friends see him now? Papyrus, the greatest pillar of support among the group of friends, crumbling after finding out the truth. It made him so ashamed, distraught that he did such a thing to them. The skeleton was supposed to be strong, but it became clear today that he was weak.

The scarf wearing monster had no idea how long he ran, but by the time he was too tired to run anymore, he was at the corridor to Undyne's former home. Somehow, he was pulled to this place.

Collapsing, Papyrus brought his knees closer to his chest, hugging them as he faced towards the direction of Undyne's ruined house. It was charred and had fallen into a state of disrepair. Unsurprisingly, he remembered the day he first went up to Undyne to become a Royal Guard.

She was intimidating even in causal clothes and as she was eyeing him down, he could almost feel the powerful aura radiating off her. Three seconds later, the door was slammed shut, with her answer as a "no".

Papyrus persisted, doing what he did nearly every single day until Undyne agreed to train him. She taught him so many things, ranging from her explosive cooking and some combat skills. It hurt, thinking about it.

If she decided to train me, she must have seen my potential and believed in it, but now...

"Was it all a lie?" he muttered.

"What's a lie?"

Papyrus almost jumped to his feet as another person made their presence known. "Wha- Frisk? How did you get here so fast? And how did you know where I am?"

Frisk did not answer right away, taking a moment to catch their breath, presumably from running. Plopping down beside him, they spoke. "I ran. Guessed that the furthest you could go was Waterfall, so I took the ferry to this region. Gerson told me you were around here and I found you muttering to yourself."

"By the way, I called Undyne, so she should be coming here soon with Sans."

This time, Papyrus leapt to his feet. He couldn't face them so soon after what he did, and-

"That's the look of someone who wants to run away."

He stiffened.

Frisk was hugging their legs like he did, though they were not quite looking at him. Noticing that he was frozen, they looked up.

"You'll have to face them eventually, so there's no point in running. I... can't stop you if that's what you really want." When they spoke, there were traces of despondency in their words, making the skeleton uneasy. "But I was hoping that you would at least answer my question."

Slowly, Papyrus sat down, returning to his previous position. Once again, he faced what was left of Undyne's former home.

"When Undyne took me in as her apprentice, I thought, finally, she saw something in me. I thought," he clenched a fist, "she believed in me. Hearing what she said... shattered it. Was that all a lie? Was everything I worked towards all for nothing?"

He felt Frisk stiffen beside him, but other than that, they gave no response.

"Before that, I already had doubts. What Flowey said, what Undyne did, I... couldn't help but think more about it! It's... eating me up inside. I felt so guilty that I even thought of it, because I shouldn't be even thinking like that about my friend! Then this happened." Unable to stop the words flying out of his mouth, he kept going.

"Undyne... she's trying so hard for the Underground. She's trying so hard to make it seem like she's okay, but she's not and I-" Papyrus nearly choked on his own words, "I only made it worse! I'm supposed to be there for her, because I know she's still upset about Dr. Alphys and stressed without Asgore around, but I wasn't. I tried to put away those horrible feelings to not let her worry, but I couldn't! Instead, I made everything worse!"

By the time he finished that sentence, tears were leaking out of his eyes and he was on the verge of sobbing.

"I'm sorry."

"W-what?" That was not the response he was expecting.

"I've noticed from the beginning... but I did nothing. I realised I- nevermind. It's not important." Hesitantly, they placed their hand on his shoulder, taking a deep breath.

"I'll let you in on a secret that Undyne told me when we hung out the other day," Frisk said. "She acknowledged that you were pretty tough, but she was worried that you would get injuried in a fight because you did not want to hurt others. She didn't want you to know because it would crush your dream. In the end, she wanted to protect you."

They paused, their gaze directed at somewhere far away. "About what you feel... maybe you should accept them. Your feelings."

"How?" His voice sounded small and uncertain.

"I don't know."

Catching Papyrus' look of dismay, Frisk looked away. "I'm sorry... you did so much for me, but I couldn't do anything."

Something they said struck him. Sitting up, he stared at them as memories began to resurface.

I had forgotten...

Papyrus gave no verbal response, only sweeping them up in a tight hug, feeling a melancholic coldness in their heart. "It just means I have to try harder. I'll try harder to understand. I'll try harder to accept my emotions," he declared.

... that you also need to be saved.

For a while, Frisk returned it. Then, they pushed him away gently and glanced at the path leading up to Undyne's house. "Strange... they should have been here by now."

Instead of following their gaze, Papyrus found himself studying their expression. Something, perhaps supposedly forgotten, came to mind, leaving a pang of dread in his soul. "Frisk... I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Why... is that I see no life in you at all?"

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Many hide the truth from Papyrus, even in Undertale, but is it the best option in the long run?

Here's a teaser of sorts for the next chapter: "Even as the storm clouds are swept away, a storm will still rage elsewhere."

I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and if you do, do vote and comment! They are always appreciated.