Undertale: Reason to Live

Chapter 26

Frisk, Papyrus, and Undyne finally entered the house after stopping at Grillby's to pick up some lunch.

Papyrus stomped into the kitchen and sat at his spot at the table like a frustrated child. He crossed his arms, laid his head on top of his arms, and sat in sullen silence.

"Papyrus," Undyne said pulling up a chair next to him while Frisk carried in the bags and set them on the table. "Will you stop being a baby already? Who stays mad because they weren't allowed to make lunch?!"

"I do," Papyrus whined. "I wanted Frisk to taste more of my cooking. I mean, I know he's allergic to artisan spaghetti, but he can't be allergic to everything I cook."

Frisk smiled, rolled his eyes, and walked into the bathroom under the stairs to use the bathroom. Papyrus had somehow managed to put the door back on its hinges using bones.

"Papyrus, you don't know how to cook anything else," Undyne said.

"That's not the point," Papyrus complained. "I'm supposed to be his big brother now. I have to be able to make him food."

"Come on. You don't have to be a good cook to be a good brother."

"But Sans always cooked for me! I want to prove to him that I can do it. He has always seen me as a little brother, but now, Frisk is the little brother so I have to step up. I want to prove to him that I can be as good at this as he is. I want him to know he can rely on me."

Undyne was thoughtful for a moment. That was when she noticed the water in the bathroom sink had been running for some time. She left her seat and carefully walked over to investigate.

"Undyne, what are you doing?" Papyrus asked getting up from his seat, too. "Is there something wrong?"

"Papyrus," Undyne said quietly stepping closer and closer to the bathroom. "If you want to raise Frisk, what's going to matter isn't your cooking skills but how much attention you give him. It's like what I've told you in training. You have to always pay attention when it comes to an opponent!"

"But Frisk isn't an enemy…"

"Pretend he is, except he's also your friend."

"Oh, okay…"

Undyne reached the door and pulled it off its hinges again. Surprisingly, Frisk wasn't startled. He stood there with his hands under the running water while he stared at himself in the broken mirror. His stare was blank as if he were in a trance.

Papyrus ran over and asked in a panic, "Undyne, what's wrong with him?"

Undyne turned off the water and said, "Gerson told me about something like this before. He said it's called PTSD. It causes people to have bad flashbacks sometimes. That might be what's happening now, but how do we stop it?"

"This book might help," Papyrus said dramatically pulling his psychology book out of nowhere. "It turns out this book has recommended cures, too."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Undyne asked. "Look it up!"

"Okay…okay…Here, we go! It says here that depressed people can be so occupied with their feelings that their attention, concentration, and memory can be impaired…"

"So, he's so occupied with his emotions that he's not paying attention to his surroundings. We knew that already! How do we stop it? We need results, Pap."

"I don't know let me keep reading."

Undyne suddenly had a revelation.

"Papyrus, this is the bathroom where he almost killed himself yesterday," Undyne said. "He's not ready to be at the scene of the crime yet! Gerson told me one time that being at certain places could cause flashbacks. We have to remove him from the traumatizing environment!"

Undyne picked up Frisk, tossed him over to the couch, and yelled, "WAKE UP, FRISK!"

Frisk broke his trance, yelled in surprise, and asked, "Hey?! What was that for?!"

"Uh…." Undyne said awkwardly searching for something to say. "I really have to use the bathroom!"

Undyne picked up the door and placed it over the doorway as she shut herself into the bathroom.

"You could have asked," Frisk said sitting up on the couch and rubbing his head.

"Frisk, are you feeling alright?" Papyrus asked. "You were just staring into space."

Frisk looked down and said, "I was just remembering some things…"

"Well, you can talk about all that at therapy," Papyrus said picking Frisk up and carrying him to his chair in the kitchen. "Now, Sans said you had to eat to gain weight."

"Okay."

Frisk allowed Papyrus to put him down in his chair and opened his to-go box of food for him to eat. He got another burger with fries since the one Sans got him the day before was never given the chance to properly digest.

"Thanks," Frisk said as he started eating again.

"No problem, Frisk," Papyrus said as he got Frisk a glass of water to drink out of. "Just enjoy that food as much as you can. You'll be eating better soon. Once Undyne gives me some more cooking classes, I'll be making your food!"

"Great," Frisk replied with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

The door to the bathroom slammed against the wall, and Undyne yelled, "My business is finished!"

"Oh, good," Papyrus said getting in his chair. "Come and join us, Undyne. The book said that if Frisk watched other people eat he'd be more inclined to eat himself."

"Papyrus, I'm right here," Frisk said.

"Yeah, so?" Papyrus asked innocently eating his club sandwich while flipping through his book.

Frisk sighed and said, "Never mind."

Undyne walked over carefully avoiding all the drawers she had pulled out earlier and sat at the table to join them.