Drabbles 1-6: Didn't Reach Her Eye

-DRHE-

Description: Drabbles regarding Undyne's remaining eye. Avoids any headcanon about how she lost her other one. Where canon extends, canon compliant.

-DRHE-

Drabble 1:

Alphys hit the ESC key, as the latest torrent English dub of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie: Continuum ended. The next episode was out in a week and Mew Mew was planning to take all her friends to the beach again and this time, she actually noted down her friends' preferred ice cream flavors so she wouldn't mess anything up and it was so exciting and OHMYGOD when did it get to be three AM?!

She squeaked, shutting down her computer with a few deft keystrokes. Undyne had to have gone to bed hours ago! How could she have left her Undyne all alone like that for so long?!

Stumbling a little from exhaustion, Alphys hurried down the hallway to the bedroom she shared with Undyne. The two of them had moved into the same house on the surface. In fact, all the monsters moving to the surface lived on the same street - a new street that the city had approved, nearer Mt. Ebott. It had taken a few months to build the houses, but it was better for relations. Humans were still getting used to not being the only sentient species.

Alphys opened the door to the bedroom as quietly as she could. She saw Undyne, sitting up, staring out the window at the moon and the stars. "U- Undyne? Y- You're still up?"

Undyne spun around in bed, twisting the covers. "Alphy! Yeah. Just… had to wait for YOU! Finished up with all the science stuff yet?"

"Oh… I- Um…" Not trusting her voice, Alphys nodded. Sometime she should actually get some work done, rather than watch anime all the time. It was hard to consider her work, though, after what had happened… happened to…

Undyne grinned widely. "C'mon then! Night's wasting away!"

The grin didn't reach her eye.

-DRHE-

Alphys nodded, mutely. Undyne grinned. "C'mon then! Night's wasting away!"

Alphys crawled up into bed, snuggling up against Undyne. Ever protective, Undyne draped an arm over her, holding her like a shield against the thoughts that had been keeping the warrior up.

As Alphys' breathing evened out, Undyne's mind unwittingly returned to those thoughts. Her gaze drifted back to the window, her grin fading.

Frisk had just been a little kid. A little kid. That was it. And Undyne tried to kill them. It had been months ago, sure, and the little punk had seemed to recover fully in an emotional sense. They never flinched away from monsters. They never seemed afraid of the species that had once tried to murder them when they were a defenseless little child.

"... Hey, Alphys… Do you think they're upset that we tried to kill them? Frisk?"

Alphys snorted in her sleep, clearly completely unaware of Undyne's words.

Undyne grinned down at the love of her life, running a finger up the ridges on her head.

The smile didn't reach her eye.

-DRHE-

Drabble 2:

Undyne glared down at the young monster, who was still grinning like an idiot. He was still enamored with the idea that "Undyne" was even talking to him. He didn't seem to hear anything she said.

"They're a HUMAN, kid. They might be a child, but they're still one of that awful species that TRAPPED us DOWN HERE!"

MK stared up at her in wonder, only slightly tinged with confusion.

"Look. Run STRAIGHT home and I'll CONSIDER not telling your parents you were here, alright?"

"B- But-"

"It's dangerous around a human. I can't risk you getting hurt. Go home."

Finally, MK began to actually recognize the words coming from her mouth and applied them to the context. "Yo, w- wait, that other kid was a human? Yo… How-"

Undyne glared at the kid. "Go. Home."

Monster Kid ran off. Undyne let her face relax into a more normal expression, before realizing she'd had her helmet on through the whole conversation.

And her glare hadn't reached her eye.

-DRHE-

Undyne stepped onto the far end of the bridge. Monster Kid was running away from the human! Was the kid hurt? What had that human done to him?!

Suddenly, MK caught a claw between two boards and tripped. He fell onto his face, rolled, then caught himself on a ledge with his chin.

"W-w-wait! Help! I tripped!"

Undyne stormed onto the bridge, then paused. She considered summoning a spear, but she'd be making the area MK had to climb to safety into an area that was unsafe. The human was still standing right there, close to him.

She took a threatening step forward, trying to frighten the human off. The human ran forward, right over to MK.

Undyne tensed to jump after the kid. The fall might hurt her and the human might get away, but there was zero chance of Monster Kid surviving on his own.

Instead of pushing, as Undyne expected them to do, the human grabbed MK and pulled, lifting him back onto the bridge. She paused as MK got to his feet, looking at her with mixed emotions.

"Y… Y… yo… Undyne. If… if y- you wanna hurt my friend, you're gonna have to get through me, first."

Undyne bared her teeth at MK and the cowering human behind him. She had a job to do: killing human scum. She couldn't let them get away just because some kid said so! Even if both of them were just kids!

She sneered through her helmet at the two…

But her anger didn't reach her eye.

-DRHE-

Drabble 3:

Undyne leaped over MK, putting herself between the child and the human. She took the full brunt of the human's blow, armor cracking and falling apart under the force of pure, evil intent that the human mustered.

Almost immediately, she felt a shifting across the lower edge of the cut crossing her chest, like sand was sliding out of a pocket of her armor… or what it would feel like if she had a pocket there.

She clamped a hand there to hold the dust in - to protect MK from the sight.

"Undyne…" MK's voice cracked. When he paid attention he was a smart kid. She should have guessed he'd notice. "You're… You're hurt…"

"Hurt?" Undyne disguised her cough as a single, wry chuckle. It came out painfully dry. "It's nothing."

She spared MK a glance, smiling to hide her pain. She could tell he could see that the smile didn't reach her eye.

"Next time, listen when I tell you to leave, okay?"

MK's lip trembled. The human stood, impassive to Undyne's suffering and MK's terror.

"I'll take care of this! Get out of here!"

Reluctantly, MK ran away. Undyne let her hand fall, the dust pooling in her side cascading down her leg.

"... heh… 'it's nothing'..." She grimaced. "No… s- somehow, with just one hit… I'm already… Already…"

The human's expression didn't change.

"D… Damn it… Papyrus… Alphys… Asgore…"

Undyne's legs felt weak. Was her foot buried in dust? Or had it already…

"Just like that, I… I've failed you…"

Undyne's face fell, her eye falling closed. That was it. She saved a single child, and couldn't even avenge Papyrus, or any other Snowdin guard. Or Shyren. Or…

"No…"

Undyne forced her eye open, forced herself to stand tall even against the pain. In her SOUL, something began to burn.

"My body… It feels like it's splitting apart. Like at any instant… I'll scatter into a million pieces. But…"

Undyne glared at the human, grinning a malicious smile that lit her eye aflame, in a figurative sense.

"Deep, deep in my SOUL, there's a burning feeling I can't describe. A burning feeling that WON'T let me die!"

The human remained entirely impassive. They didn't even care that she'd just defied death to face them!

"This isn't just about monsters anymore, is it? If you get past me you'll… You'll destroy them all, won't you? Monsters… Humans… Everyone… Everyone's hopes. Everyone's dreams. Vanquished in an instant."

Undyne could feel her eye shining with emotion. The world was clear, everything she needed to do laid out before her.

"But I WON'T let you do that. Right now, everyone in the world… I can feel their hearts beating as one. And we all have one goal: To defeat YOU."

The human cocked its head ever so slightly. Undyne growled.

"Human. No, WHATEVER you are. For the sake of the whole world…"

Undyne felt the burning in her SOUL rising with her words. She let it grow, consuming her.

"I, UNDYNE, will strike you down!"

She felt her armor reforging itself around her. The dust spilled at her feet sucked itself back into her, and she felt her injuries healing themselves.

She grinned down at the human, a violent smile made wholly of teeth.

And the rise in the corner of her eye told her she meant it.

"You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT."

-DRHE-

Drabble 4:

"Are you prepared for PERSONAL warrior training from UNDYNE, human?!"

Frisk nodded vehemently, taking up a ready position with their tiny stick.

Undyne looked down at the human skeptically. They looked like Papyrus first had, except even tinier. And they were just a kid - their striped sweater shone in the sunlight.

Undyne sighed, holding off on initiating the fight.

"I mean it, Frisk. Are you ready for this kind of thing? I mean, it isn't monsters you have to be worried about up here."

Frisk made a number of signs with their hands, dropping the stick. Undyne smoothed down her gills, trying to remember the few ASL lessons she'd taken since moving to the surface.

Frisk giggled, retrieving a Torn Notebook and a pencil from a pocket and writing out their answer.

"I want to know this to help other humans be less afraid."

Undyne read it twice to be sure, then laughed. "Fuhuhu! Sure thing kiddo." She started the fight, tossing a spear to the kid so they could defend themselves.

Frisk failed utterly to block the spears, catching them in the meaty parts of arms and legs. Undyne gaped like a fish out of water.

"FRISK!"

Frisk pulled an item from another pocket - a bar of monster chocolate. She shoved the whole thing into her mouth, the magic closing up a few of her injuries. That wouldn't be good enough to continue the fight, though.

"No, kid, quit it. This training was a bad idea." Undyne spared the human, not wanting to injure them further.

The human got up, preparing to accept her spare. They-

Undyne's eye nearly bulged out of her head as the edge of the kid's notebook cut right through her exercise outfit, and her scales. She dropped to her knees, too surprised by the injury to stay on her feet.

Frisk stared, her expression unreadable.

"F… Frisk? That was very… very strong for a first…"

Undyne pitched from kneeling onto her hands and knees. That wasn't just strong… that had to… oh God, she wasn't going to make it.

She looked up at the human. "Hey… Don't worry about it." Undyne grinned, the smile not reaching her eye. "This… this isn't your fault, okay? You didn't… didn't know defense dropped when someone spared..."

Undyne's head dropped as she struggled to keep herself up. The dirt was stained gray with dust. Her eye began to water.

"Tell Alphys… tell her I-"

Something slammed into Undyne's head, and her eye saw no more.

-DRHE-

Drabble 5:

Undyne sat on the retainer wall, looking out over the high tide surf. The water roiled against the concrete, bashing and smashing and entirely unable to move the human-built structure. The moonlight and starlight glistened off the surf.

"heya."

She nearly jumped off in surprise as Sans suddenly sat down next to her. She settled for snorting in annoyance. "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

"couldn't sleep, like you."

"How did you know I-" Undyne shut her mouth, glaring at Sans.

"well, it was more of a guess until that moment."

Undyne turned back to glaring at the water.

"something bothering you?"

"No," Undyne snapped.

"uh huh. says the person who's been avoiding frisk for a week."

Undyne rolled her eye. "It hasn't been a WEEK. I saw them last…" She struggled to remember. "Thursday, at the supermarket."

"and, as i recall, you immediately turned and started walking the other direction, slamming right into papyrus and a cartload of pasta."

Undyne's face reddened. "AND?! I can choose where I walk and who I hang out with, can't I?"

"geez, undyne, don't go blowing any bubbles. i'm just stating facts."

"That isn't fact and you know it."

Sans shrugged, then waited. He smiled his age-old smile, which at first led to slightly annoyed silence. As time went on, though, the smile got slightly creepy.

Eventually, Undyne grasped at something to say to break the silence. "I can't even swim in this."

"huh?"

"While we were trapped in the Underground, humans went and messed with the planet." Undyne waved an arm at the ocean. "The water here has too much pollution for me to swim underwater in safely with my gills, says Alphys, anyway."

"some humans being idiots is what has you down? that's it?"

Undyne looked at Sans out of the corner of her eye, then huffed. "No."

Sans lowered an "eyelid" over one socket, giving Undyne a "look." She ignored it for as long as she could, but Sans was far better than his brother at being pushy.

"FINE! It's not whatever humans that messed with the ocean that have me annoyed."

"so it is a group of humans?"

"N… No. Just… one."

Sans paused for a moment, as if startled. Given he was always smiling, it was impossible to tell. "frisk?"

"Well, not ANNOYED, but…" She struggled to find a way to put it. "NGAAAAH!" She threw up her arms, unintentionally summoning a spear that spun off into the night, landing somewhere far off in the ocean. "I don't even think there's a word for this!"

"guilty."

Undyne wilted. That was EXACTLY it, but she really didn't want to put it that way.

"hey, it's what you get for being proactive." He elbowed her in the side. "guess lazy was the right way to go. i never tried to kill the kiddo."

Undyne shoved him off the retainer wall and onto the street behind. "You have sharp elbows, punk."

"so you're saying my funny bone is jabbing you pretty-"

Undyne flopped backward on top of him, staring up at the stars. "Don't you DARE start any of that."

She felt Sans shrug. "gotta make sure my skills are still-"

Undyne put a hand over his mouth. "Nope. NOT happening."

Something slid out of her pocket, then Undyne yelped as she felt herself launch over the retainer wall and out over the water.

"HEY! WHADDYA THINK YOU'RE DOING, PUNK?!"

"catch and release," Sans said, winking.

He released his magic, sending Undyne plunging three meters into the ocean waters. She spluttered, returning to the surface immediately. "HEY! You owe me a NEW PHONE now!"

Sans leaned over the wall. "how about this one?" he said, waving HER cell phone over her.

She narrowed her eye, giving him a glare.

He winked. "geeettttttt dunked in."

"Sans!"

"Undyne."

"SANS!"

"Undyne."

Undyne crossed her arms, her legs more than enough to keep her mouth and gills above water.

"y'know, funny story, the kiddo actually put me up to this."

She snorted. "Right. Like I'd believe that."

"oh, c'mon, you think i came to pick on you for fun? i'm a lazy guy. frisk had to bribe me with a whole bottle of ketchup."

"Bribe you to show up in the middle of the night and antagonize me? Fuhuhu! You're a terrible liar, Sans!"

Sans' grin became a little less happy. "frisk was worried about you, when you started avoiding them."

That gave Undyne pause. Sans seemed rather… sincere about this.

"they don't blame any of us for trying to kill them, you know. from froggits to asgore."

Undyne tread water, mulling Sans' words.

"you can't blame yourself for not realizing a kid's just a kid."

"I tried to kill them!" Undyne snapped, "I was supposed to protect innocent people like them, and I tried to kill them!"

"we can't change the past. at least, you and i can't… but that's a long story."

"Are you going to get me out of here or what?!"

Sans looked around. "whoops, thought there was a ladder or a staircase somewhere around here."

Undyne's glare intensified.

"hey, give me a moment. i'm not too good at actually doing things."

Undyne flew out of the water with frightening speed, then dropped onto the retainer wall with a wet flop.

"better?"

Undyne groaned. "You're a pain in the neck, Sans."

He shrugged. "comes with being vertebrate, i think."

Undyne clambered to a sitting position, facing Sans.

"'course, if you really want, i could be a little more spiney."

"God, STOP! I'll call Toriel, I swear."

"with what?" Sans asked, dangling Undyne's phone just out of reach.

Undyne growled. "What is it that you even WANT?"

Sans knelt down in front of Undyne, pressing her phone into one of her dripping hands. "frisk wanted to make sure you were okay, okay?"

She didn't look him in the eye sockets. That didn't change the fact that she'd tried to kill Frisk. Even if everyone else had too, out of everyone, she was the one who was supposed to protect the innocent…

"quit picking on yourself, or i'll have a bone to pick with you."

Undyne laughed dryly. "Do you ever give up the puns?"

Sans was silent for a long moment, then sat down on the wall next to Undyne. "frisk's time in the underground could have gone a number of different ways. one of those paths, i might have given up the puns."

"... Past tense? Like that path happened?"

He shrugged. "i don't know. like i said, we can't change the past. or see it. often, we'll just forget it all."

Undyne shook her head, laughing dryly. "You and your being cryptic."

"can't get too predictable." He winked. "so anyway, you need a ride home?"

"My car's just around the-"

"oh, okay, i'll let you drive the fishbowl on wheels, then."

"HEY!"

"i'm just sayin', you're still dripping wet."

Undyne glared at him. "And who's fault is THAT?"

"not yours. so, wanna borrow my moped or not? i have a leather seat, so it shouldn't mind the water so much." In one hand, he held up his own keychain.

"What about my car?"

Sans held up her car key. "i'm sure it'll find its way home… somehow."

"Fine. But don't start thinking it's okay to just go tossing me in the ocean whenever you feel like it!"

"okay."

She swiped the moped key out of his hand, and his smile grew a little wider.

"see you tomorrow."

He keeled backward off the wall, but Undyne never heard him hit the water. When she looked, he wasn't there. She snorted at his weird antics, getting up from the wall and walking a block to where her car had been parked.

The car was gone, a moped (very illegally) taking up the entire spot in its place.

She sat down on the seat, preparing to put the key in the-

FFFFFPLPLPLPLPLBTTTTTTTTTTT!

"NGAAAAAAAAAH! SANS!"

Sans stuck his head out from behind the car in front of her, his phone in hand. He winked, then disappeared again.

Undyne grinned maliciously, thinking of ways to get that squat little skeleton back. Maybe she could fill a ketchup bottle with Papyrus' next spaghetti fiasco. Or… she heard Grillby made a pretty good elemental hot sauce…

It was only after she actually started the moped and got on the road that she realized the smile was reaching her eye.

-DRHE-

Drabble 6:

Undyne dialed Papyrus a fourth time. This wasn't right; Papyrus ALWAYS picked up in the first two rings, and Alphys had upgraded the monster cell network to cover the surface around Mt Ebott. Why wasn't he here for their morning run? Why wasn't he picking up?!

Alone at the trailhead at the base of Mt Ebott, she decided to call Alphys.

"H- Hey Undyne! What's up? Er… happening? Is something going on?"

"Papyrus isn't picking up his phone!"

"R- Really? Odd. Frisk just came over from his house. They said he left for his run. Is he not there yet?"

Undyne looked around. "NOPE! Why else would I be calling?"

"W- Well I d- don't know I g- guess…" Alphys trailed off. On the other end of the line there was a muted snick, then the line went dead.

"Guess WHAT? Alphys?"

The line remained dead.

"ALPHYS?!"

Undyne spotted a figure wearing a white lab coat come out of Alphys' house. They waved.

She jogged down the hill toward the monster housing. It must be some kind of issue with the network. Maybe Papyrus was already on the mountain, trying to call her.

The figure disappeared back inside the house. Alphys must've been going to babysit Frisk.

Undyne pushed the door open at a run. "Alphys! What's going on with the-"

Her momentum carried her past the swinging knife blade. It swept just in front of Undyne's face, but it didn't reach her eye.

"WHAT THE F-" Undyne stopped herself before she said something salty. The figure was Frisk, wearing one of Alphy's old lab coats.

An old… dust covered lab coat.

"FRISK!? Punk! You gotta be more careful with knives! You could have hit me there! Where's Alphys?"

Frisk shot forward, taking another swing. Undyne stumbled backward, using up almost half the hallway.

"H- HEY! What are you doing? Where is Alphys?!"

The knife came down again, knicking Undyne's left arm.

She expected a tiny hit to her HP, something to show Frisk that this was dangerous; this kind of play could hurt someone.

She didn't expect the emotion - the hate and indifference behind the blow. Her arm came clean off below the elbow, turning to dust.

"NGAAAAH! K- Kid!" Undyne looked up, praying to see shock and horror at the injury she'd just given one of her friends.

Frisk was smiling, thin-lipped, from ear to ear.

Undyne rolled away from the next blow, her back wedging up against the end of the hallway. As the human stepped past two opposing doorways, Undyne grabbed their SOUL with green magic.

The human froze, forced to stand and defend against whatever attacks Undyne summoned. Undyne gasped for air as a little bit more of her arm turned to dust.

The hu- No… the THING using Frisk's body cocked Frisk's head.

Undyne felt something she'd never felt before leeching onto her face.

The thing's smile grew as Undyne's eye betrayed her terror.

-DRHE-

A/N:

Wow. I'm as obsessed with Undyne as Alphys is, no matter the timeline.

Anyway, y'all have fun, y' hear?