Sorry this update has taken so long! I ran out of motivation for this story for a long time, forgot about it, rediscovered it but lost the notes of what I was going to do again, and now I'm going to continue it! Some of the stylistic things might change, but the story goes on!

Undyne

"FRED! GET ME THAT 603B FORM RIGHT NOW OR I- Oh, wait. Here it is."

Undyne pulled the sheet out from underneath the latest incoming basket of mail, dropping the entire load onto the floor in the process. Envelopes and folders scattered everywhere.

Mary's wheelchair bumped into the half-full box, and there went the rest. She stuttered out an apology, but Undyne waved it away. They didn't have time to deal with this, any of this. Her goons were exhausted, and so was she. Her teeth were aching with the force she needed to keep herself from snapping at them.

It wasn't their fault all this had gotten dumped on them. They were still clearing up the last of the paperwork from the compound. Then there was a string of missing persons turned dustings and murders in Lower Ebott. Normally Fedsy and his lot would take a few of those, but some idiot in the government had decided to hit his department with an audit, so the whole business had been sloughed off onto her. Not to mention all the paperwork coming in on those kids.

It had turned the office into a desk-jockey's nightmare, towering stacks of paper and evidence boxes on every flat surface. Every hour another heap of paper got dropped on her desk, and she just couldn't handle it. None of them had slept in days, and she'd had to cancel her plans with Sean and Papyrus. Again, in Pap's case.

She felt like a horrible boss, with all the time she'd taken off to help at the house yesterday, and a horrible friend because she hadn't had a day with Pap in weeks - no, months. Something was going to give, and she was ignoring the very real possibility that it would be her.

She scooped up as much of the latest paperwork as she could, dropping it onto a pile and grabbing another evidence box to evaluate. She stomped over to the whiteboard, narrowly missing Fred's tail.

Her boot landed instead on plain folder, sending it skidding under the copy machine and out of sight. On the front was stamped the words 'TRANSFER' in bright red ink. Inside was an image of a soldier in muddy fatigues, helping Aaron to rescue a human child from under a fallen tree. He looked short, especially with Aaron next to him, but he was the one holding the giant tree, and Aaron the one reaching for the kid. His face was blurry, but the name underneath was Cork Smith.

The transfer had been 'in the works' for two years. The Royal Guard routinely worked with law enforcement and military units in multiple capacities. It was common sense that they have a human liaison with combat experience, if only to talk shop with the sometimes skeptical soldiers they encountered. Finding a soldier with the experience, personality, and skills in both combat and diplomacy was tricky. Finding one willing to give up their current job and move to Ebott was difficult. Getting someone from that list to stay working their dangerous, overworked, underpaid beat for more than a few weeks was impossible...until Asgore had run into Cork at a holiday party at the UN. The topic had come up in conversation, and the opportunity to work near Frisk, with a Captain he admired, doing the job of his dreams, had made Cork's day.

The transfer to her department had been approved two weeks ago, and the paperwork was a copy of his recent history and itinerary. On it was his arrival date at Ebott International Airport: February 29th, AR 13.


Silver

Consolas was sitting and staring blearily at the memory screen when I walked up and sat next to him. He reached over absentmindedly and ruffled my hair.

-Oh, hey, kiddo. What's got you up so early?-

I kicked my feet for a bit before admitting, -There's whispers.-

Consolas suddenly looked more awake.

-What kind of whispers?-

I kicked my feet some more. -I'm...not sure. Usik says it's just a dream, but…-

Consolas snorted. -Just because Usik says something doesn't mean it's true. What sort of things did these whispers say?-

I wrapped my arms around me, and I wrapped my arms in and around one another. Then I squeezed for a bit before I said quietly, -Stuff like this isn't real, that people hate me, that I'm a murderer, that they'd abandon me if they could.-

Consolas sighed,half standing up. -Aw, kid…-

I gulped. -The whispers sounded like The Keepers.-

Consolas froze. Then he slowly sat back down. His jaw worked for a minute. Two. Then the skeleton grabbed my hand and led me quietly into the main room.

-Look at the whole room, alright? But do it slowly.-

I slowly swiveled my head, letting Consolas scan the room around us for any threats. He makes me stop at the window and sends a tendril of magic out to feel around. I don't feel anything, but his face hardens.

-Someone was there not too long ago. Someone with DT. It might have been Frisk or Chara, but...we'll tell the Queen in the morning. No, don't argue. Time to get some sleep.-

As I climb back into bed and get settled down, I catch sight of my phone. It's lit up; I must have bumped it. It's just showing the date and time. My eyes close as the time flickers to February 28, 21:11.


Chara

The whetstone sang against my blade as I sharpened the weapon I had secreted away from Mom. It was a good stout blade that would hold up to any amount of sharpening. Mom had clearly forgotten about it for it to end up in such a bad state as it was in when I found it. Mom was usually much more careful about her knives. Of course, if she knew I had this one she would flip out. It wasn't like I was planning to use it on anyone! Well, not without provocation. Mostly I just wanted it to be a comfort. I have a huge amount of fear around being attacked and not being able to defend myself. This helps calm that.

My mind can't help but wander while I work away at the chipped edge of the blade. It wanders to the locket around my neck, the one thing I couldn't live without. Inside of it is a picture, now old and curled from over a hundred years of passed time. I can't help but cling to that photo until a new one can be made. I want this one to be more than just Azzy and me, though. My family is bigger than that.

Family means a lot to me, but not everything. There are some things I would trade them away for. There was one thing I had, but now I regretted it. I should have thought more before accepting that Bargain. Stupid!

But it was too late for that now. Now I had to live with the consequences of my actions. Now I had to live with the plan I had sold that other Trickster. Now I had to sneak my way around the promise of silence he had drawn from me in order to stop it. I had to. I had too much to lose, now more than ever. But if I got it right? Then I could finally put a new picture into that locket of mine.