I swear the writer's block on this was insane. It took FOREVER to write this chapter.
Anyway, I hope to keep up with this story as well as SeasonTale as they might cross paths...
Masterpost
Here we go!
~o0o~
“Stop!”
Papyrus laid down his bone weapons, breathing heavily. Iro couldn’t stop her momentum in time as her swords ran right through the dummy, shredding it.
“Is that all you got?” Undye shook her head, grabbing the bone from Papyrus’ hands and throwing it at a nearby dummy. “You’re too slow, you’re knees aren’t far enough apart, and your stance is horrible,” she added, shoving Papyrus’ shoulder, making him fall over.
Iro brushed her face, setting her swords down. She watched her brother get up and brush his jacket off, sighing. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?” He asked.
“I needed to see where you were first,” Undye shrugged. “It’s a waste of time to teach you something you’re already good at.”
“But-”
“You’re not here to question me; you’re here to learn!” Undye snapped, grabbing Papyrus’ spear and shoving it into his hands once more. “Get up.”
Iro narrowed her eyes. She was only three, but Gaster had developed her consciousness enough to know she shouldn’t just stand by and let her brother be pushed around. “Undye!” She snapped.
Undye glared in her direction. “As for you, you think you’re all in a bag of chips with your abilities! Your pride will lead to your downfall!”
Iro rotated her katanas around, pointing them at Undye. “So then work that pride out of me, fish.”
Undye sneered, lunging for Iro. Her spears collided with Iro’s katanas as Iro barely blocked the attack. Iro skidded to a halt from the momentum before commanding bones to fly up at Undye, blocking her path. Iro had just enough time to recalibrate before she fired up her gaster blasters, like Papyrus taught her to.
Undye sliced the bones in half before running at Iro, hurling a spear toward her. But the spear was melted by the two blaster shots. Undye barely ducked in time, saving her life.
Iro stopped her attacks as she felt the black spots on her head grow. She rubbed her head, groaning. It was painful whenever the spots grew; Gaster told her that they grew whenever she did something she would regret later on, if not at that moment. She did remember what he said about them being permanent unless she forgave herself.
But she never did.
“You’re going to get someone killed! You proud of yourself?!” Undye shouted, throwing two spears at Iro, and pinning her to a wall. “You make me sick, you arrogant child!”
Iro made a sour face. “Why train to fight if you can’t kill?! What’s the point?! Why be unnecessarily mean to Papyrus if there’s no intention of harming him?!”
Undye spat in Iro’s face. “It’s learning to control your power! Do you want to kill everyone you fight?! Huh?!”
Deep down, Iro knew Undye was right, but she didn’t want to submit to someone cruel for no reason. I’ll never become like that. Like you.
“That’s what I thought, moron.” Undye slammed Iro harder into the wall before turning to Papyrus. “Both of you, out of my sight! You’ll never amount to anything with attitudes like that, you annoying brats!”
Papyrus tried to stop her, but Undye stormed off with her helmet, cursing with every step.
Iro took a step forward before falling face-first on the ground. It felt like Undye had snapped her back in two. When she tried to get up, she collapsed on her face once more, crying out in pain.
Papyrus bent down and pulled her onto her feet, causing her to cry out in pain once more. “Why did you test her?” Papyrus sighed. “Did you not know she would snap?”
“She was hurting you-” Iro coughed, trying not to wince as Papyrus carried her on his back. “I couldn’t just… let that happen.”
“I didn’t want you to intervene; I can fight too, you know,” Papyrus flattened his face. “We screwed up our first impressions.”
“Who cares what she thinks? She was a jerk.”
Papyrus nodded silently as they walked along the paths of Snowdin. Iro tilted her head to watch the frozen river float with large ice cubes. Snowdin was supposed to get incredibly cold this time of year. But for some reason, all seemed normal.
The inhabitants made sure to stay far away from Undye as she stormed through all the way to Hotland. It was expected, of course. Everything seemed to tick her off. She never had the decency to be kind to anyone. The only person she sort of sucked up to was King Asgore himself.
When Iro thought about it, everyone loved the king. He was gentle, kind, and a great leader to his people. He was flawless in the eyes of many.
Iro didn’t see him as that. Why was there a rebellion against him if he was this great king? His own ex-wife, Iro!Toriel was leading it. More monsters were joining it by the day. Even Iro’s own father wasn’t entirely on the king’s side. He always made sure she and Papyrus were wary of what the King asked and what he did. He never fully trusted the king; Iro wondered if that was due to their disagreements on how she and her brother were being raised.
“I don’t think we are going to get any more training from Undye,” Paps sighed as he sat Iro down near the front door of their house.
“What? Because I beat her a-”
“Manners.”
“Sorry…” Iro winced at every step she took. She opened the oval door and collapsed on the nearest couch, her swords falling to her side. A loud groan escaped her bones as tears of pain fell out of her eyes.
Papyrus also limped into the house, rubbing his head and sitting in a chair. He looked at his shoulders and hands and didn’t hesitate to wrap them in his scarf until he could get bandages on them. “How are we going to learn how to fight without her?” The spots on his head crawled up his skull. “She was supposed to help us…”
“She tried to kill us,” Iro rolled her eyes. “We can learn on our own. Let’s learn from the books and practice it ourselves. We don’t need Undye.”
Papyrus sighed and sunk into the chair. “I suppose that could work…” He tried to sit up and look around. “Where is Gaster?”
“Maybe he’s at the lab with Iro!Alphys,” Iro sighed. “I thought I heard something about Alphys wanting to know what the gems on Dad’s neck were.”
“Oh, those,” Pap’s eyebrows furrowed. “They looked very similar to the gems that activated the power buttons that the humans have. Supposedly, they don’t come off until the host is dead.”
“Like a frickin parasite,” Iro’s face read disgust all over it.
“I’ll go grab the bandages,” Papyrus offered. “Let’s patch up those broken bones. Maybe we can go to the lab and help Dad. I’m sure there’s something there we can do.”
Iro nodded as she watched her brother go off. She sighed; the pain in her bones slowly grew numb with her frustration toward Undye. That fish had no right to mess with her and Papyrus like that! They were supposed to come help make her job easier! Iro couldn’t find an excuse in her right mind to forgive Undye for her cruel actions. Who cares if that was just ‘her?’ It irritated Iro, and she refused to stand down and succumb to that kind of vile behavior. Why, if she could, she would-
“Here,” Papyrus broke her train of thought, holding a roll of bandages before her. “Let me know if you need help wrapping anything. I’m sure we can take the boat to the lab.
She concluded there really wasn’t any use to sit in anger about what happened. Iro recalled how Gaster told her to move forward, even when it was hard. She thanked her brother and started to wrap the cracks around her bones. Occasionally, Papyrus helped her wrap bandages around her back or neck. They both wondered how they would explain what had happened to their dad. Although, both of them knew nothing bad would happen. Gaster was a loving father, and if there were any issues that they were having, he would encourage them to learn from them and take care of it himself.
Iro!Papyrus was able to lead Iro!Sans to the boat. The ride on the river was very quiet, with the infrequent “Toodaloo” from the anonymous captain. Paps told Iro to be quiet and to not speak about many things. When they got off, he explained that it was best not to discuss too many things publicly. No one really knew which side the other was on. Although Iro wanted to object, the seriousness of the rebellion kept her mouth shut. Maybe there’s a reason why it’s grown so big…
Iro didn’t remember much of the walk after that. She was lost in her own thoughts, imagining a world without rebellion and everyone was living in peace. How special, she sighed. But… how long does peace really last?
Alphys’ greeting snapped her back into reality. Papyrus made sure to walk behind Iro as they trailed down the stairs. Iro always took the damp, dusty lab to be an interesting place. The walls were made of large, smooth stones and eerie sound echoed across the caverns as they continued in a downward spiral to the workplace. It was specially designed to test the patience of whoever came. Only the patient would receive the reward for the discoveries in the lab.
“Iro! Papyrus!” Iro!Gaster exclaimed, setting down the vials in his hands as he ran up to hug his children. “It’s so good to see you!” He took a moment to look at them.
Papyrus couldn’t contain his smile. “Hi, dad!” He smirked. “Whatcha working on-”
“What happened to you?” Gaster cupped Iro’s face and observed the bandage on her neck. The smile fled as if it was smacked off. “Who did this?”
“Undye,” Iro blatantly stated. “She was unfair to us.”
“It… truly wasn’t best case scenario,” Papyrus added. “I don’t understand why she had to go so far.”
Gaster stood up and sighed, asking Alphys to grab something for their bones. “It was only your first day…” He adjusted his glasses and set down his notebook. “Though, on the bright side, real battles won’t give you a break.”
“They won’t try to spare you either,” Paps recalled. “It wasn’t all bad.”
Iro lifted her eyebrows. She couldn’t quite grasp how Papyrus stayed so positive. No matter how horrible a situation got, he always turned it around. Must be a gift. She sighed. I can’t seem to do that.
“Ah, well enough on that manner,” Gaster shrugged. “Would you guys want to help me work on a cure for bone flu?”
The kids jumped in excitement. They scrambled to the station and put on the safety equipment. Gaster chuckled and followed behind, leaving poor Alphys to run after them the moment she got back.
Iro and Paps were always excited to learn. Gaster made learning fun, and they advanced way faster than other students her age. This led them to help Gaster in his actual studies and be enrolled in training at such a young age. It was one of the ways they made their father proud.
The session was full of laughter and puns, to Papyrus’ dismay. Hours felt like minutes as they tested various materials. Alphys led most of the research after she applied a secret cream to the kid’s bones. Iro didn’t feel much pain after it dried, which was nice.
The lizard was certain the answer to the bone flu was in the gems around Gaster’s neck. He only shook his head and told her no, because they were used for something else. Although Iro had more questions, Papyrus’ ramble about how gems were made put her questions to sleep.
They would never be answered.
“What have you found, Iro?” Gaster walked over to her and tilted his head.
“Not much,” Iro sighed. “I’ve only seen bone flu react to three chemicals, all in a negative way.”
“Hey, that’s still research and progress!” Gaster smiled. “This will help us know what not to take if we catch bone flu.” He rubbed Iro’s head gently and glanced toward his son. “Papy?”
“I’ve one found positive reaction, Dad!” His face beamed with joy. “Bone flu pauses when it comes in contact with lemons!”
Even Gaster seemed surprised by the result. “Where did you get lemons?”
“At the store, I was hungry and wanted to make some lemonade for me and Iro, but never got the chance to after the session.”
“G-Got any other f-food in there?” Alphys anxiously asked, twirling her fingers.
“I do! Would you like some?”
Iro didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. Her brother found something positive and she didn’t. How could this be? She worked really hard, and she didn’t find anything good…
“Hey,” Gaster had come around the table and knelt beside her. “Why the long face?”
“I…” Iro paused, holding her arms together. “I just wish I found something like Paps did, instead of negative things.”
“Hey don’t think that way,” Gaster smiled sweetly. “You still discovered something! That’s progress, and if you continue to search for answers, they come your way. Don’t compare to others, just look at the progress you made.”
Iro nodded, glancing at the ground. She didn’t know how to process what her dad was saying. But I still didn’t find anything.
“Y’know what?” Gaster nudged her shoulder with one of his hands. “Sometimes the negative findings helps us a little bit more than the positive,” he winked. “You will always succeed, my daughter. Don’t ever give up, and you will accomplish what you set out to do. For the opposite of success isn’t failure, it’s giving up. Take that from papa, okay?”
A tear left Iro’s eye as she walked up to her dad and swung her arms around it. “Thank you daddy.”
Gaster didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her in a tight embrace. “I love you, Iro.”
The peace that Iro felt in her father’s arms was indescribable. She wished she would hug him more often, as it felt really nice. Her dad always knew what to say, and he always made her feel better. One day, she vowed to repay him for all the help he gave her.
