The ground erupted before them in a spray of snow. Several bones shot out of the permafrost and began to move towards them, growing taller as they went. Rain stepped to the left, the bones stampeding past her and making deep troughs in the earth as they went.

A second set appeared. She stepped right, watching the bones rise higher and higher as they passed her by. “Papyrus, stop. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m sorry human, but I must do this! Undyne will be so proud of me when she sees you!” More bones passed her by in short rows, marching off to war like columns of solders.

“This guy has terrible aim. This should be easy.” She felt Chara reaching for control, straining to grip the spear a little tighter.

Rain snarled. She nearly got hit thanks to the distraction. “I’m not letting you lay a finger on him.” She shoved Chara away, teeth grinding together in anger. “Not after what you did to that dog!”

“Your persistence is admirable human, but if you will not fight then I shall be forced to use my fabled blue attack!” The world around her began to rumble in preparation as several more unintimidating columns of bone drifted by.

In the midst of her grapple with Chara, Rain had not stopped to think about where all of these bones were going once they dogged them. Now as the rumble grew louder, Rain turned around in hopes of fleeing only to come face to face with what had been going on behind them all along. The bones did not simply sink back into the ground as suddenly as they had appeared. Instead they had begun to pile up. Collecting against one another in a forest of ivory that stretched out around them on either side, cutting off the path the had come from and turning the narrow pathway into a half-moon arena.

“No. No, no, no, no!” Rain ran towards the barrier but the walls were already too high to jump over. Papyrus was boxing her in. Each bone began to grow little hooked barbs to deter her from climbing them as they settled into place; looming high above her head like a cold, uncaring fortress.

This couldn’t be happening. They had to escape! They had to get out! She didn’t want to do this! Why hadn’t she listened to Chara when she told her not to trust anyone?

She spun back around to face papyrus, trembling and eyes wide with fear. “You’re not a bad guy, Papyrus. Right? You don’t need to do this.” She pleaded.

His eyes held a dim amber glow now. His jaw was set tight, his resolve firm but solemn. “You seem really nice, human. But everyone keeps saying that letting you run around by yourself is well, rather dangerous. Besides, king Asgore needs your help to break the barrier! So, I know I’m not a bad guy! Because I’m helping the Underground!” The bones were coming in waves now, growing faster and faster. She had to jump over a few of them. “And I’m sure that after Asgore has broken the barrier and Undyne makes me the newest member of the Royal Guard, I will be allowed to come visit you in the castle and show everyone how nice you are! I’m sure they will let you go once I do that!” For a brief moment Papyrus practically beamed, pleased with his plan.The confidence soon melted into an annoyed frown as he watched Rain slip on the ice and get clocked in the jaw for her mistake. “Human, come on. I am trying to give you a fair fight. This is no time to slip up!”

“Fight back!”

She clenched her teeth when she slipped again and hit her kneecap against the tail end of the next wave. “No.” She grunted.

“Aren’t you going to fight back?” Papyrus prodded.

“No!” She roared, dodging again; coming so close to getting hit by the marching bones that she felt the air swirl around her. The shooting pain in her knee had almost cost her that time.

“Hm, very well! If you shall not fight me then I will use my fabled blue attack! Let’s see how you can handle this!”

The crescent moon arena lit up with an eerie blue light. The ongoing rumble reached its climax as several rows of glowing blue bones erupted from the ground. They tore after her at an intimidating speed, churning through the slush and tearing across the cold air just overhead.

Rain took a step back in alarm and a single blue bone grazed her arm. The sensation made her jolt in place. It felt like her blood had been set on fire. She opened her mouth to scream but in her moment of pain and fear Chara stepped forward to save them. She snapped her mouth shut, eased the pain and rooted her feet in place so that she couldn’t move. They squeezed their eyes shut against the stampede; several attacks passing through them like an eerie wind.

“That was rather disappointing.” Chara mocked.

When they opened their eyes again, their chest was glowing red. “Uh, Chara,” Rain batted at her clothes in panic. Just above her heart an unnatural light was starting to take shape and change color. “What the hell is this?”

The light became a heart, dark blue and wispy like a cloud drifting over the light of the moon. All at once her limbs felt incredibly heavy. She nearly doubled over, grunting under the strain of staying upright. It felt like her chest was full of lead and her legs were bags of sand.

Realization dawned on Chara. “Oh.”

“You’re blue now.” Papyrus smirked a little from across the arena, looking rather pleased with himself. “That’s my attack!”

“You cleaver little shit.” Chara was writhing now, angry and ready to pounce. But she barely had time to react before a fresh wave of bones came after them. The first one hit them in the side and knocked them off balance, sending them crashing face first into the snow.

“You have to let me help.”

“No.” Rain snarled, spittle flying from her lips. “I won’t let you hurt him like you hurt the-” She grunted in pain, a bone rising from the floor and hitting her in the gut. They rocked backwards and rolled out of the way of the next assault, clutching their stomach.

“Rain you have to let me help! He’s weighing down your soul. That’s what that light is. And if something hits it, you could die. If you don’t let me help you doge you won’t be able to do anything!”

Her body was so heavy now. She felt like someone was standing on her chest, pinning her in place and pressing the air from her lungs.

The bones were rising higher and higher. Coming faster and faster. Papyrus was getting into the rhythm of things now and Rain was lost in the chaos of her own panic.

She managed to pull herself into a kneeling position. A second later she ducked back down when a bone cut through the air and narrowly missed her head, cutting so close that it yanked her hood down.

Papyrus’s words echoed through the fog. “Human! I think it is only fair that I warn you that should you not consent to defeat and allow me to capture you, I will be forced to use my special attack!”

Rain was starting to pant, her breath spilling out in thick clouds of haze. It was so hard to breathe. “We should just surrender. The bars are too wide in the shed. We can just sneak back out once he’s gone.”

“The dogs will be looking for us. If we go back to Snowdin with him we will be trapped. Do you really think we can face all of them at once?”

Rain managed to pull herself to her feet just in time to gain enough air and momentum to dive over the next wall and come crashing down sideways on the other side. She looked up just in time to see a wall of blue coming for her. She shielded her face against the light and curled into a ball. She didn't get up fast enough when it passed. The next set of bones was upon her. Her only hope was to try and squeeze through the small gaps between each picket but she misjudged the gap. A bone hit her square in the back and snagged on her coat, dragging her back the way she had come.

In front of her another row of blue bones was rising up to meet her; cold and uncaring in their pursuit. She clawed desperately at the ice but continued to slide backwards, the blue attack gaining on her.

Feeble and perhaps pointless, she felt herself calling out to no one in particular. “No! Stop! Help!”

She felt her muscles all tense up at once. Her shoes dug deep into the ground with enough force to make her toes sting. She twisted around, arms slipping out of the coat and allowing it to be carried away. She skidded to a halt just as the blue attack raced through her. Her right side burned like fire but Chara bit back their screams and numbed the pain.

When the attack passed, Rain could feel Chara helping her to her feet. “I will take care of the legs. You control the arms.”

“Alright.” She panted, wiping a trickle of blood from her nose. “Alright. Together then.”

They stumbled onward against the impossible weight and the burn of their screaming muscles. They endured the blows that came when the ice made them slip and muffled their cries when jagged barbs nicked their flesh. They toiled away under the distant calls of Papyrus, who grew ever more distressed by their refusal to submit or even respond to him.

“Human, once again I deem it only fair that I warn you, I am nearly ready to preform my special attack! Surely you know that you could not ever hope to evade such a cunning and awe-inspiring move made by the Great Papyrus! I ask that you give up now, as I do not wish you hurt you if you are not entirely sure you are ready.”

“No, I’m not ready Papyrus! Please, just stop!” She panted, struggling to find her breath so she could make her reply anything more than a wheeze as she struggled to drag herself to her feet and force her heavy body over the next hurdle. Her glowing soul fluttered and pulsed against her, causing waves of warmth, cold, then warmth again to wash over her as little dark blue shadows and wisps of light blue light swirled around inside the heart.

They crashed over another hurtle, landing hard on an already injured shoulder. She squeezed the tears out of her eyes and kept going; keeping their head down as bones twirled by just a few inches overhead. Ever so slowly they were making progress. They were clawing their way towards Papyrus and away from the wall.

She could hear dogs howling in the distance now.

She could feel the cold steel in her hand.

It was a dull sort of realization that rocked her when she realized she had never let go of her weapon. Now her grip began to tighten around the feeble rod just a little. She was sent spiraling across the snow more than once as she tried to escape the arena, yet she and Chara worked together to get back up again and claw their way down the lane.

The howls grew louder.

The glow at the other end of the gauntlet grew stronger as Papyrus began to prepare his special attack. He did not seem to understand what he was doing to her. That or he forced himself to only see half-truths so he would not have to think about their fate.

His special attack would be ready soon. Any moment now he would unleash it.

There was a mad light of panic in her eyes. Surely if he used this attack it would be the end of her.

“You better make up your mind soon.” Chara warned, listening to the guard dogs closing in on them from somewhere farther back among the trees.

Rain’s jaw set. Her toes dug into the ground, cold and raw and wet. When had her shoes been knocked off?

She was close enough now that she did not have to shout over the growing wind that had started to pick up at the start of the fight. “Papyrus, please. This is the last time I can ask. Please… stop.”

She could see his hands falter in their summoning for just a moment. The amber light in his eyes dimmed and for a passing heartbeat he looked worried. Then he shook himself and pressed on.

She bowed her head. So that was how it would be. “Chara, get me close to him.”

She felt Chara smirk. The dark blue shadows drifting through her soul contorted into the vague shape of a smile.“As you wish.”

Chara drove all her willpower into her assigned task. Their legs felt lighter and her arms less sluggish. Her chest still felt like cold lead but the jumps were a little easier now. They inched closer and closer one ungraceful leap at a time.

Rain held her fire poker close. She wouldn’t hurt him. She would be gentle. She would be careful. She only needed to throw him off balance.

Closer, closer, yet closer still. Her body was becoming more accustomed to the weight. Her soul cast strange patterns of light and dark against her chest.

All she had to do was knock him over. He would have to stop summoning bones while he was falling. Then she would just take her chances and run past him while he was trying to recover. There were no walls of bone to entrap her on his side of the lane.

“I admire your determination human, but I must ask that you give up!”

“I’m sorry Papyrus, I can’t.” She said through grit teeth.

“Then you leave me no choice. Behold!”

“Almost there.”

“Just bring me a little closer.”

“My ultimate attack!”

She broke into a lopsided run, heart racing. “You don’t get it do you?” She growled in frustration. “If you capture me they will kill me!” Just like all the other humans. Just like Daniel!"

Papyrus blinked in surprise. His next wave faltered. He took a small step back.

“Now.” They both thought as one. She lifted her weapon, enduring a wave of blue that burned her legs when she refused to hold still. She brought her arm back, the iron’s tip gleaming in the dim light of Papyrus’s attack. For a moment her soul pulsed a bright blue, so bright that its after image blinded her to the brief moment where an all-consuming shadow fluttered across it.

Her aim was sent askew.

The blow hit him across the neck instead of the shoulder. The strike rung against his costume like a gong.

“I am sorry, Papyrus.” Rain wheezed, head down as she bolted past him.

He stumbled back in shock, eyes widening. “N-no…” He gasped, looking down at his hands. The wall of bones he had built up around them began to crumble.

Behind her Rain heard a strange sound. A sound like sand sliding against itself.

Papyrus's voice became worried and uneven. “Oh dear. I- I did not expect that.”

Chara urged her to keep running but something made Rain looked back anyway. All the bone walls were turning the dust behind them. And as Papyrus looked at his extended hand, he staggered backwards and held the other to his chest while it crumbled.

Rain’s pace slowed, her bare feed grinding raw skin against rough ice and she skidded to an uncertain stop.

“What are you doing? Run. Run!”

“…Papyrus?” Her voice sounded feeble and distant in her ears. She watched in mounting horror as the wind began to eat away at him, carry away little bits and pieces of his existence. He tried to hold himself together but couldn’t stand for long. He toppled over into the snow.

“Papyrus!” She limped back to him and dropped to her knees. She tried to help him up but as she did so his body started to turn to dust in her hands and her fingers passed right through him.

“No! No, no, no! This isn’t what I meant to do! Papyrus, hold on! I’m sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I only wanted to knock you off balance. I didn’t want to hurt you!”

“Human,” He stuttered, “I-it would seem that I have underestimated you. Or rather… I have overestimated you, in some aspects. Nyeh-heh.” His clothes went limp, a pile of dust left lying in the snow where bone had once been. His skull began to crack as she cradled him.

Her vision was a blur and her body shook with unexpected sobs as her tears splashed against his cheek. “You fool,” she sobbed, “why didn’t you just let us go? I didn’t think this would kill you. Why couldn’t you just sleep in and let me pass?”

“Human, p-please… don’t cry.” He put on a brave smile. “I can see now that you have something dark in you. Something… violent. It was wrong of me not to notice before. But surely, if you try, you will do better, next time!” The wind was eating away at his face now. “Don’t worry…I know you can do it.” The cracks connected and his skull began to crumble. His last whispered words carried out on the wings of escaping dust. “…I believe in you.”