Fight for Friendship (Undertale Contest FanFic)

        Note: Reader is in love with Sans and is Papyrus' friend.


  'Why?' I thought to myself. I heard the constant repeating crunch of my boots against the snow as I walked through the cheerful town of Snowdin. It had been nice visiting with the locals and hearing their stories. I remembered the rabbit lady talking about the two skeleton brothers and how I'd chuckled at the image of them bursting into that peaceful town and 'asserting themselves' as the clerk had put it. I would have smiled again at the memory as I clutched my arms tighter against the chill, or I might have stopped to consider different explanations as to how there could be snow underground if it weren't magic, but right now, nothing could distract me from my solemn mood as I passed the outskirts of Snowdin. 'Why? Why do we have to do this?'

    After the heartbreak of leaving Toriel and the Ruins, I was absolutely delighted to find another friend in Sans soon after, even if he did try to scare me in the beginning. I automatically took a liking to him and quickly did the same with Papyrus after meeting the extravagantly passionate skeleton. Despite Papyrus trying to capture me, I began to feel like I was a part of their family, like the puzzles and traps were just a game that a family would play for fun. Unfortunately, that didn't omit the need for a human soul for the monsters' escape. It didn't solve the problem of me getting home. I knew there would come a time where we would have to stop running from the facts, but it still felt like it was happening too fast. I wasn't exactly sure how I figured that I would have to face Papyrus once I left Snowdin. It may have been Sans' ominous warning after the bridge incident, I couldn't be sure. Whatever the case, I tightened the grip om my arms as I shivered at both the cold and the uncertainty of what the future would hold.

    As I walked farther from Snowdin, the air started to turn thick with an icy fog that made it difficult to see. I stumbled forward until I saw a tall figure not too far in front of me. I was about to call out and ask if they could help me through the fog, until I got close enough to see their outline more clearly and caught my breath. It was Papyrus. And he didn't look quite as happy as he had been this entire time. Instead, he seemed to be thinking seriously about something. That made me very uneasy and I quickly went over the information Sans had given me. Blue stop signs? His attacks are blue, which meant I needed to stay still like with Doggo, right?. But, was it really that simple? Something in the back of my mind told me the answer, but I tried not to listen. My attention snapped back to the current situation as Papyrus cleared his throat and I came to a stop still several feet away from him. 'This is it.' I thought worriedly. 'God, please let this go well!' I stood motionless and stared at the skeleton as he began to speak.

    "HUMAN." He started. His voice no longer cheerful and excited. 'Oh no..' I waited nervously.
 
     "ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS."

   . . . 'Wait. What? Complex feelings? Wha-' My thoughts were interrupted as Papyrus continued.
   
    "FEELINGS LIKE... THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER." 'What is-'

    "THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS." I stopped feeling nervous and was even a little hopeful, yet confused as he continued. 
   
    "THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL." 'What?! Is he-? Oh no. He really is, isn't he?!' I wasn't entirely sure at that moment, but every story and experience I had ever encountered pointed to the idea that this was a confession. 

    "THESE FEELINGS..." Papyrus trailed off for a moment and I began panicking inside my head for an entirely new reason than before. 'Oh Crap! He's in love with me! Oh no! What am I gonna do?! I like SANS!!!' I almost choked as the realization hit me that I had, indeed, fallen for his brother amidst the craziness and puzzles. 'Oh crap! Crap! CRAP! That'll break his heart! His brother already gets all the attention, and now this! Oh no-' I closed my eyes and began raking my brain for the best and least painful way to deny his offer until-
 
    "THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW!!!"

    ". . . ." 'Hold up-WHAT?!?!' My jaw dropped as confusion started to take over my fears. Papyrus didn't seem to notice and continued. "I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE FEELING THIS WAY."

    'You've GOT to be kidding me! Is this some joke Sans came up with?'

    "AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT." 'No, Papyrus is acting serious. Plus he hates Sans' jokes.'

    "I DON'T EVER WANDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE." His voice wavered slightly at this and I flinched, remembering the mailboxes and how his was empty while San's was overflowing. "I PITY YOU... LONELY HUMAN..." I started to feel hopeful at that statement. If he pitied me (even it was more for himself), then maybe we wouldn't have to fight after all! "WORRY NOT!!! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER!" I waited patiently, now with more confidence since the mood felt a bit more peaceful. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR...."

    Papyrus stopped suddenly, catching me off-guard. I had started to smile, but it faded once Papyrus went silent. ''Friend', right?' I thought. 'He wants to be my friend? But...why did he sto-'

    "NO..."

    'No?'

    "NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG!" He turned away as he said this. My heart dropped again, all hope of not having to fight Papyrus fading. "I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND!!!" Turning back around to face me again, he continued. "YOU ARE A HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU!!! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM!!! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS!!! THAT'S PAPYRUS!!!" I knew then that there was no stopping the inevitable. Papyrus lived and breathed dreaming of being in the Royal Guard. If fighting and capturing me guaranteed his success, then he would stop at nothing to do so.  "THE NEWEST MEMBER..." I waited with dread. "OF THE ROYAL GUARD!" Almost immediately, the environment around us went black and my glowing red soul was brought out and hovered in front of me. Papyrus blocked my way. The battle had begun. The words "FIGHT", "ACT", "ITEM", and "MERCY" appeared before me (It was still odd to me how a random selection of "options" just appeared out of thin air, but it made it easier to choose at least). I regained a small bit of hope as I glanced at the "MERCY" button  I was never worried about hurting Papyrus or him severely hurting me. I decided from the moment Toriel taught me about "MERCY" that I would never touch "FIGHT", and I knew Papyrus far too well to believe he would ever kill me.

     What I was worried about was losing my new friend.

    Papyrus was waiting for me to make my first move, so I looked over my ACT options. I saw right away that the three options were to check Papyrus' stats, flirt with him, or insult him. I checked first to see if there was any info I could use. The only useful info was that he had 8 ATK and 2 Def. Other than that it just stated the obvious; that Papyrus liked to say "Nyeh heh heh!" and, as if on cue, he did just that before I saw a bone about my height sliding towards me. I moved my soul quickly, it bringing my body with it so that I was hovering with my soul in air, and prepared myself to dodge again. However, looking up, I realized that the bone, as well as two more following it, were actually very slow and did nothing but slide idly by below me. Papyrus started cackling for some reason, and I couldn't figure out why when he'd missed completely. My next turn came and I hesitated before deciding to use the "flirt" option since I no longer needed to see his stats and I could never bring myself to insult the normally bubbly skeleton. 

    With the button pressed, an old, corny pick-up line I'd once heard came flashing to the forefront of my mind to be used.

    "H-hey Papyrus! A-are you a camera? Cause, every time I look at you, I smile." I said in a forced-flirty tone. 'God, this is awkward!' Papyrus looked surprised.

    "WHAT?! FL- FLIRTING?! SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS!" I cringed. 'Yeah, if "ultimate feelings" means I'm lying to keep from making you cry.' I felt bad for faking, but what else could I do? Papyrus continued. "W- WELL! I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!!!" 'How should I respond? I guess I'll have to keep "flirting" for now.'

    "Um... I can make spaghetti..." At least that wasn't a lie.

    "OH NO!!! YOU'RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS!!!" '. . . Well that was easy.' "I GUESS THIS MEANS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU. . .?" As soon as I heard "date", I panicked.

    "NO! No! Th-That's Ok-" But he interrupted me.

    "LET'S DATE L-LATER! AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!" I couldn't believe what was happening, but I shook my head and got ready for his next turn. SURELY it would be more challenging. . .

    Nope.

    Pretty much the same as the first, if not easier since the bones seemed smaller. I looked at Papyrus again. He was mumbling to himself about what to wear on the date. 'Oh. He's distracted. Maybe this will be easier than Sans said?' It was my turn again and I tried flirting once more, but Papyrus just said: "OH NO!" Before repeating himself about dating later. 'Well there's a wasted turn.' I thought dully. I stayed floating in place and watched the even smaller bones pass below just as the first two sets had done. I heard Papyrus mumbling again, this time about what to cook for the date. 'Oh dear. He's really serious about this, isn't he?' 

    Seeing as the options in the ACT tab were no longer useful, I switched over to MERCY and selected "Spare."

    "SO YOU WON'T FIGHT. . ." I shook my head. "THEN, LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED BLUE ATTACK!" 'It can't be too bad, right? I'll just stay here in case any normal bones pass underneath and stay still for blue ones like I did Doggo's sword!' I almost smiled at the idea that this might actually be pretty easy, but still felt a little nervous somehow.

    No normal bones came, but a plethora of blue ones did. If they'd been normal, it would have been very difficult to dodge them, but, since they were blue, they did nothing but faze right through me, causing the wind to stir beside my ears and no more. Suddenly, though, everything went dead quiet and I fell hard onto the ground with a thud. I grabbed my head where it had hit and sat up quickly in shock. Looking down at my soul, I immediately noticed the dark blue color that had once been red. Before I could even begin forming questions, though, a small, normal bone smacked into my back and and knocked out my breath again as well as took away a few HP. I panicked and tried my best to float again, but to no avail. All I could do was jump. I stared, shocked, at Papyrus. I should have listened to Sans. His brother was far more cunning then I'd given him credit for.

    "YOU'RE BLUE NOW. THAT'S MY ATTACK! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!"

    "Oh crap. . ."

    My turn. Nothing I could do but "Spare" again.

    "HMM. . . I WONDER WHAT I SHOULD WEAR. . ." There I was panicking and Papyrus was still thinking about the date like nothing was happening. A few small bones came and I jumped over them. Not bad, but If he was able to surprise me once. . .

    My turn again. Spare.

    For some odd reason, Papyrus dabbed marinara sauce behind his... ears? Well, where they should have been, at least.

    My turn. Spare.

    "WHAT? I'M NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT DATE THING!" He must have noticed the look on my face.

    The bones were harder to dodge this time. Larger and larger ones sailed towards me and I had to jump extra high for the last few.

    Papyrus took out an odd, rectangular bottle (was that a wheel on the bottom?) that was labeled "MTT-Brand Bishie Cream". he poured some of the bottle's contents on his mitted hand and rubbed it in the same spot as the marinara on his skull.

    My turn. Spare. 'This is getting old fast.'

    "YEAH! DON'T MAKE ME USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" 'Oh no.'

    I noticed the bones coming from the other direction this time and turned around to face them. My heart dropped as I noted the tall one in front to start now instead of a short one. I jumped high, even higher then I needed to in order to miss it completely. 
 
    That was a mistake.

    The next bone came from above with no warning and hit me right in the face. I barely got to shake it off before several small bones followed, the first one tripping me. I saw another tall bone coming closer behind the last small one and got ready. I jumped just high enough to miss it, but I still didn't make it back down quick enough to avoid the hanging one.

    Papyrus now had a bottle labeled "MTT-Brand Anime Powder" and was using that behind where his ears should be. 'What the heck is 'Anime Powder? Whatever. Gotta get up.'

    Groaning, I picked myself up and rubbed my side where I had fallen on it.

    'Here we go again.' Spare.

    "I CAN ALMOST TASTE MY FUTURE POPULARITY!!! Papyrus grinned brightly as he finally seemed to notice me beginning to struggle.

    Three tall bones. I dodged them all and almost missed the blue color of the fourth one, but still stopped just in time. I smiled, thinking I was starting to understand his attacks, but then got knocked sideways by a small bone that had sneaked up on me. 

    "Ugh!" I was frustrated now.

    The tall skeleton merely dabbed yet another type of substance behind his ears from a "MTT-Brand Cute Juice" bottle. 'MTT? No. No more distractions.'

    Spare.

    "PAPYRUS, HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"

    The incoming bones now came from above and below at once, leaving only a small gap for me to jump through, which I missed. I tripped on the bottom one and hit the ground, almost got hit in the face by another hanging bone, and jumped over a group of bones that were clumped together, but catching my foot on the last and falling yet again on my face. My nose was starting to bleed a little, but I still had enough health for another attack, so I held off on eating a CinnaBunny.

    Another bottle, "MTT-Brand Attraction Slime", was used. I felt no more attracted to Papyrus after that was used than before the fight began, so it obviously had no magical effects or anything.

    Another spare. 

    "PAPYRUS, UNPARALLELED SPAGHETTORE!" 'Ok, I almost chuckled that time.'

    Another even more taxing attack. 10 HP gone.

    Papyrus dabbed "MTT-Brand Beauty Yogart" behind where his ears would be. 'Where does he keep all those bottles?'

    Another spare.

    "UNDYNE WILL BE REALLY PROUD OF ME!!!

    BANG! Dodge. Dodge. SMACK! I used one of the CinnaBunnys and got my HP back. unfortunately, that meant I only had another one and a leftover Nicecream left.

    Papyrus felt the sides of his skull with his hands and seemed to realize only just then that he didn't have ears.

    I smacked the spare button.

    "THE KING WILL TRIM A HEDGE IN THE SHAPE OF MY SMILE!!!" 'That. . . would be kind of weird, I think.'

    He used an easier attack again, to my relief, and I took no damage.

    The future "Spaghettore" was trying his best to act cool, but he wasn't very convincing.

    Spare.

    "MY BROTHER WILL. . . WELL, HE WON'T CHANGE VERY MUCH." 

    His brother. I wished that his brother had been there then to distract him or something. My heart also beat a little faster thinking about Sans, but I smacked my forehead quickly.

    "No! Focus! Bad _____!"


     Another tricky attack. I could only dodge half of it. I had to eat the Nicecream.

    Papyrus was rattling his bones. . . what?

    I didn't even have to look to know where the spare button was before pressing it now.

    "I'LL HAVE LOTS OF ADMIRERS!! BUT. . ." 

    ". . .?" 'Is he starting to question this?'

    I missed all but the last two bones on the next attack. Papyrus was muttering again and it sounded like he was going over what options he had. 

    The turn went back to me. Spare. Then to Papyrus again.

    "WILL ANYONE LIKE ME AS SINCERELY AS YOU?" He sounded sad and I felt sorry for him.

    "Papyrus. . ." He didn't answer. I did fine on the first part of his next attack, but when the last bones with gaps between them started moving up and down rather than being still, I knew I'd miss before they even hit me.

    "Nyeh heh heh!" Papyrus was whispering now, which was odd to experience for once.

    I tried "Spare" again.

    "SOMEONE LIKE YOU IS REALLY RARE. . ."

    The moving bones caught me off-guard again and I realized I was now at one-third of my health, once more covered with bruises and smudges of blood where I had wiped my dripping nose on my arms and hands. I was tempted to use my last item, but was afraid I'd need it more desperately later.

    Papyrus was fidgeting, but still trying to pull an "Everything's cool" face nonetheless.

    My turn came and went.

    "AND DATING MIGHT BE KIND OF HARD. . ."

    The next attack. Blue bone, white bone. Blue, white, blue, white, blue, white, WHAM! The last two came too quickly. Another bruise.

    Spare.

    "AFTER YOU'RE CAPTURED AND SENT AWAY." He completed his last sentence. 'Again with the dating.' 

    The attack tricked me yet again and I had barely enough health to survive the next if I were careful. I decided to use my last item. 'I hope this is over soon.' 

    Papyrus started cackling and I hit "Spare" yet again.

    "URGH. . . WHO CARES! GIVE UP!" He was the one who sounded frustrated now.

    I got hit several more times.

    Papyrus was now only thinking of his attacks.

    For what seemed like the hundredth time, I hit "Spare".

    Another blue-white attack. I managed to dodge them all that time.

    More cackling from Papyrus. Another spare from me.

    "YEAH!!! VERY SOON I WILL USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" 'Oh God, please help me!' With no more healing items, I was doomed if his special attack was even a little worse than the normal ones.

    2 hits and spare.

    "NOT TOO LONG AND I WILL USE THAT SPECIAL ATTACK!!!"

    Ow. Ow. Ow. Spare. Papyrus claimed this was my last chance before his special attack.

    I dodged the attack for once.

    "BEHOLD! MY SPECIAL ATTACK!!!" 

    . . .

    A dog was chewing on the bone Papyrus was going to use and ran off when Papyrus shouted and tried to get it back. It was pretty humerus. . . (Definitely been around Sans too long).

    Papyrus went with a normal but complex attack instead that was fairly ridiculous and even included the dog he just chased and a series of bones arranged to spell "Cool Dude" fallowed by a forest of bones. but I managed somehow to survive, thankful that my soul was able to almost fly again when the bone forest appeared, and Papyrus stood there huffing and puffing.

    "YEAH!!! I CAN SEE YOU SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS!!! THEREFORE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITTY!! I WILL SPARE YOU HUMAN!! NOW'S YOUR CHANGE TO EXCEPT MY MERCY!"

    "I accept!" I practically pounced the "Spare" option and breathed a heavy sigh.

    I was on my last few points of health and I had to comfort Papyrus and ensure him he hadn't failed by sparing me, but I was incredibly happy.



    I was happy I got to keep my friend

    . . .and my life.





    It was going to be insane going on a date with Paps and having to explain everything to his brother/ my new crush though. . .