VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 81

Alphys sat at her desk, typing away at her computer, doing . . . whatever it is she does on her computers all the time. Undyne never really bothered to ask. When it was work-related stuff that Alphys would try to talk to her about, the fish monster would typically stop listening about a minute in, although unintentionally. It just wasn't interesting enough to captivate her, not like anime, or 80's action movies, like Die Hard starring Bruce Willis. That stuff was great, even if it turned out to be fake (though she held onto the hope of otherwise).

So Undyne sat on Alphys' couch in her civilian clothes, consisting of her usual white tank top and blue jeans, though she wore a dark brown suede leather jacket with a fur collar over her shirt, and had a pair of white tennis shoes. She had her feet kicked up over the back as she laid there, picking at dirt under her nails and flicking the dirt she collected away.

After what felt like hours of silence, Alphys finally spoke up. "S-shouldn't you be . . . on patrol? Isn't it Homecoming night?"

Undyne let out a sigh, putting her arms behind her head and staring dully at the ceiling. "Prom night is the one to watch out for, but the boss man doesn't think I can handle patrols anymore. He's cutting my hours, cutting my work . . . whatever. I'm just gonna quit," she shrugged callously and continued picking at her nails once again.

Alphys blinked, staring at her screen for a moment longer, before turning in her swivel chair. "I-I know it's . . . hard right now, but you c-can't just give up!"

"I'm not 'giving up', Alphys," Undyne retorted, rolling her eye, "just looking for opportunities elsewhere."

"What would you do? N-not to sound . . . mean, but . . . being a cop was the only real job you could fit . . . into . . ."

"Right," Undyne scoffed, turning her gaze to look back at her girlfriend. "Not to sound 'mean', but you couldn't possibly understand where I'm coming from. You're constantly getting promoted, people are always praising you for your work, your colleagues actually invite you to lunch—"

"You know I don't attend those."

"Well why not?" Undyne quickly sat up. "I'd kill to have opportunities like that! But no, I have a racist boss and hateful coworkers. Nobody likes me, nobody wants me, they're all either intimidated or jealous—but like I said, I'm gonna quit. Enough of that crappy surface life."

Alphys was silent for several long moments, before clearing her throat. "S-sorry . . . I um . . . shouldn't have . . . y-y'know . . ."

At this, Undyne's expression softened, and she let out a sigh. ". . . Yeah, me too," she laid back down, looking back up at the ceiling, "I'm just . . . so frustrated all the time. This might sound crazy but I'm actually missing life underground. I miss being Captain of the Royal Guard. I miss cooking lessons with Papyrus. I miss . . ." Her voice trailed off. Alphys gave her a sympathetic look, before swiveling back to her computer. ". . . I miss it too, sometimes."

The surface was great, for the most part. At least, it had been at first, back when the barrier had first been broken. When the sun had felt so warm, the air was no longer stale, and the world around them was new and exciting.

Back then, Undyne had been so excited to live on the surface. She'd gotten herself a job as quickly as possible, but it hadn't taken long for Voxis City to prove itself to be less than ideal.

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but it hadn't been this messy excuse for a career. She was constantly facing setbacks at work, all thanks to her boss. At every opportunity, he would set some new obstacle in her way. She was positive she'd been forced to go through a month more of training than all the other officers, too.

"So . . . if you don't mind me asking . . . u-um . . . What other career are you t-thinking of pursuing?" Alphys asked.

Undyne bit her lip at this, before she answered, "Well, I mean, there's lots of things I could do. I could become a boxer or something. Do something with sports? Or construction. I'm more handy than I look!"

Alphys blinked, before she made a small smile. "I . . . hadn't considered sports. You'd be great at that!"

"Or I could become a vigilante and bring justice to the unlawful," added Undyne.

". . ."

"Still pondering on that one."

"Well, uh . . . I-I don't exactly think that becoming a v-vigilante would be the b-best idea, but if that's what you want . . ." Alphys pursed her lips.

"I mean, it'd be cool," Undyne grinned as if the idea lacked any flaws. "I'd get to clean up the streets without having to answer to some asshole who stuffs his throat with jelly-filled all day!"

"Y-Your boss really eats donuts . . . ? I-I thought that whole police and donuts thing was a cliché . . ."

"The station has a donut shop down the street," Undyne folded her arms, smile faltering as the intensity of the topic returned, "but yeah, the only problem with the vigilante thing would be . . . I could get arrested. And no paycheck. But it's not like I'm getting much pay with these new hours, anyway."

With that, Undyne sat up, swinging her legs off the couch before standing and stretching. "Anyway, you've got work to do, and I should . . . be doing something," she shrugged, walking over to where Alphys sat at her computer.

"O-oh, no, it's okay. I don't mind you staying around," she said, to which Undyne chuckled.

"Yeah? Too bad, if you wanna find me, you'll just have to come home." She bent over the chair to kiss the top of Alphys head, whose whole face went red as Undyne made her way toward the door.

Finding her voice, Alphys looked over toward her girlfriend. "Undyne?"

The fish monster turned once she reached the door, one hand on the handle. "Yeah?"

"I love you."

Undyne smiled, before winking at her. "I know."

With that, she walked outside.

Alphys stared at the door for a few moments, before her eyes widened. "Was- was that a Star Wars reference?"