please give me prompts and i may write them (OPEN)

{abyss (alphys/undyne)}As a concept, Undyne doesn’t know much about the abyss.

The abyss, taken literally, was something she was taught to avoid. Trash that drifted downstream in Waterfall never returned. She had tried to get Aaron to climb down on a dare once, but even he had been too afraid. Napstablook had said, in a roundabout way indicating that they would deserve such a fate, that the abyss is bottomless-- they could float down forever and never land. 

Alphys is the first person she sees standing at its precipice, staring straight down.

By her nature, Undyne isn’t the most patient monster in the Underground. She can’t help that her undying passion flows into everything she does, from cooking to playing piano to fighting (especially to fighting). But on that day, she found herself sitting next to this woman she never spoke to before, and they spoke for hours about where the abyss could lead. For once, Undyne very much did not want to learn the definite answer.

Their conversation had flowed like a river, winding in ways that Undyne couldn’t predict. Alphys likes humans, or at least their weird history, depicted in the cartoons with swords and mechas and destiny. And at first Undyne is like, sure, she doesn’t want Alphys to end up back near that abyss. She’ll come over and watch the human stuff with her. Maybe it will help her find a weakness for when a human inevitably falls down again.

She hadn’t realized how much she had come to look forward to the time they share until she brought over a gift. Spaghetti, she explained; her friend helped her cook it and you don’t have to eat any if you don’t want to nerd! But Alphys ate it all without complaint, even the parts that Papyrus had described as ‘al dente’. Undyne couldn’t help but worry, okay? She saw Alphys eat plain ramen at most. She wasn’t sure Alphys ate regularly at all.

(Probably because of how busy she was as the royal scientist. Undyne knew that wasn’t the reason.)

One day, when Undyne is performing maintenance on her armor, she stares at her reflection in the metal and thinks: if Alphys doesn’t cook for herself, why does she go out of her way to make that seagrass ice cream for me?

The next time they hang out, Undyne has a little trouble looking her in the eye.

And it’s more than just human history. Alphys helps her set up puzzles in Waterfall, from the rocks in the water to the piano puzzle that she wanted to make. Alphys watches her train sometimes and Undyne listens to all her science-y stuff that she can’t make heads nor tails of. She just likes hearing her talk.

Which is why she calls to ask about the weather, even though there is no weather down here. Or why she writes these strange letters and marches over to the lab and then changes her mind and walks back to write a better one. Or why she can push through her challenges when she imagines the little snort Alphys makes when she laughs.

At some point, Undyne realizes, she fell over the brink into the abyss. Not literally, but in a way she can’t describe. She had once thought it would be an end- how could she focus on her duties to the Royal Guard if she was doing those dumb ‘nose nuzzle’ competitions?- but she finds it’s a beginning, instead. She fights with more purpose. She has something to look forward to. She realized it multiple times- watching Alphys as she watches anime, or wondering if she’s eaten well, or savoring the sweetness of the ice cream on her tongue. But she didn’t put together the puzzle until now.

Oh.

And it’s not about what’s at the bottom of the abyss, she realizes. It’s about the fall. It’s about being willing to brave the unknown. She hopes it won’t hurt if she lands, but it will be worth it even if it does. And she will reach out and see if Alphys has fallen in the same way-- one of these days.

Undyne is brave. If someone had to describe her in one word, it would be that (or maybe ‘badass’). It’s not that she’s afraid. There’s been no foe she can’t conquer.

It just has to be the right time. Maybe on the day that Asgore delivers her award for capturing the final human, she’ll say Alphys is a greater treasure (NO NO no that’s so cheesy, she punches the wall she’s facing so hard it crumbles). Or they’ll watch the sunrise together for the first time on the surface. Or maybe sooner, she’ll look over and watch Alphys while she’s watching anime and Alphys will look at her, too. Undyne will know it when it happens.