Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They were free. They were finally free. After countless years of being under that mountain, his friend finally went and freed them all. Papyrus stood and looked out into the distance. Never had the world seemed this... beautiful. He looked over and smiled at someone he had bonded close to over the past few days. That friend’s name was Steven Universe, an odd human with some weird rock stuck in his belly.

“Welcome to the surface, guys!” The youthful kid cried out to the monsters he grew close to during his journey. That group consisted of Queen Toriel, Asgore, Alphys, Undyne, Sans, and last but definitely most importantly, Papyrus himself.

“...I suppose soon we will need to select someone to help smooth things over with humans, once our presence becomes known,” Toriel said.

“Yeah, we need to choose someone who will give those punks a great taste of what monsters are like!” Undyne cried out.

“W-well, we should um… p-probably have a vote? To see who’s most qualified?” Alphys then responded. The group was discussing among themselves what they should do, and while Papyrus wanted to say that he’d do it, after growing so close to Steven, and learning about his family, he kind of wanted to just stay beside him. That’s when three figures rose into the air and came crashing down right in front of the group. One of which was tall, had square hair, and shades covering their eyes. The second, dressed close to that of a ballerina, with a large stone on her forehead. The third of which, short, with purple skin and white hair, which covered one of her eyes. The one with the stone on her head was the first to speak, and yelled in a frantic voice.

“Steven! Oh thank goodness you’re alright! We were looking EVERYWHERE for you! Who are these people? What have they done to you? They don’t even look human!”

“Pearl!” Steven cried out. “Don’t worry, they only hurt me a little, but that’s only because they needed my SOUL to escape imprisonment, but they managed to find another way out instead!”

“Your WHAT?!?” Pearl retorted, reaching towards the stone on her forehead, looking like she was about to draw a weapon.

“Wait, wait, it's okay! Not all of them hurt me! In fact they’re my friends now!” Steven then rushed the trio over to the whole group of monsters, as Pearl put whatever she was about to bring out away.

“Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, meet Papyrus! Papyrus, meet Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.”

Papyrus shook off the small amount of shock and responded with a smile. “AH, HELLO! I’M PAPYRUS, AS STEVEN SAID! STEVEN TOLD ME A LOT ABOUT YOU THREE!” Steven wasted no time in dragging the gems over to Sans, and introduced each other.

“heya. name’s sans. sans the skeleton.” Sans offered his hand out to Amethyst, and when she inevitably shook his hand, a whoopee cushion sounded. Steven and Amethyst chuckled “heheh, the ol’ whoopee cushion in the hand trick always works.” Sans then glanced down at the giant purple stone on Amethyst’s chest.

“Man, that’s quite the trick you’ve got there! I’ve never even THOUGHT about doing that! I’ll have to try it with Greg sometime.” Amethyst said, before noticing where Sans was staring. “Uh… Why are ya looking at my gem like that?”

“huh. according to all the records of humans that fell underground, having giant gemstones glued onto ya wasn’t normal. new style trend going around?” Sans kept a friendly smile, but looked slightly curious.

“Nah, it’s just our thing. We ain’t no humans! Well, except Steven.” Amethyst gestured to the young boy.

“Hey! I’m just half human and half gem!” Steven corrected. Sans then turned to Garnet, giving a thoughtful look. Man, Sans really was feeling social today.

“hmm… that expression you’re wearing there, pal…” Sans paused for a moment, before his smile grew slightly.

“proud of ya. hope that you’ll keep it going.” Garnet responded with a small smile. What did Sans even know just by looking at her? What could be so obvious to him but nobody else...? Sans then turned to Pearl. “and i take it you’re confused as hell about who we are,” Sans started.

She nodded. “Well, yes, I suppose we are rather-”

“i can explain it officially soon enough. with the queen’s permission, i volunteer myself as monster ambassador.” Sans turned to Toriel, who gave a small nod.

“I… suppose if you keep yourself more formal, I’ll permit it,” Toriel said with a smile. Papyrus simply looked over at Steven, and gave a small sigh. He remembered all the good times the two had together, and realized being with Steven was far more enjoyable than his whole acting career. After some hesitation, he decided to take a chance and ask the young boy something.

“STEVEN… DO YOU THINK IT’D BE FINE IF… I CAME WITH YOU BACK TO YOUR HOME? YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY YES, YOU’VE ALREADY DONE SO MUCH, IT’S JUST… BEING WITH YOU WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE CAREER I ALREADY HAD,” Papyrus said quietly.

Steven gasped. “Aw come on! Acting sounds far more enjoyable!!!”

The skeleton shook his head. “STEVEN, ACTING ISN’T NEARLY AS FUN AS IT’S MADE OUT TO BE! YOU HAVE TO DO RETAKES OF THE SAME THING, OVER AND OVER! IT GETS DULL SO QUICKLY... PLUS, I WANT TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH YOU!"

Steven’s eyes widened. So… you’re saying… that you wanna be a Crystal Gem?!?” He bounced a little in excitement.

“I SUPPOSE IF IT CAME DOWN TO IT? I WILL! BECAUSE I WANT TO BE ALONGSIDE YOU!”

“I’ll… okay! I’ll talk to the gems!” Steven said, with a determined look in his eyes. He grabbed Papyrus’s jacket sleeve and brought him over to the trio of gems, conversing with Queen Toriel at this point.

“Well, I mean, it’s quite a shock that we didn’t even HEAR that your people existed. Or even anything like your kind!” Pearl said to the queen.

“Ahaha, well, I suppose it’s only natural for us to be unnoticed,” Toriel responded, before Steven came up to them.

“Um… guys? So Papyrus and I were talking, and… I think he’d be a great addition to the group!” Steven said nervously, but with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“S-Steven! We can’t just go and let people into the Crystal Gems just because they feel like joining! Our work is dangerous! These people could get KILLED!” Pearl retorted.

“B-But… He has unique abilities! He’s super cool! And he could even watch over me while you’re all off on missions!” He insisted heavily.

Amethyst nodded. “He’s got a point, 'P. Lil’ man needs a good fella to watch over him, and I KNOW you don’t wanna be anywhere near Greg.” She nudged Pearl, who flinched. Why does she not want Steven’s dad there? Steven said he was a good person, so why?

“W-Well! Steven’s perfectly fine on his own, right? We leave him by himself all the time and he does just fine!” Pearl said.

Steven looked down a bit sadly. “But... it gets lonely at the house. Dad’s always at his carwash, and you’re off on your missions, and I can only sit around and play games by myself!”

“Let’s test him.” Garnet said. The three simple words filled Steven with hope.

“Woot woot! Monster pal on the team!” Amethyst cheered.

“We don’t know anything about this group of people. Plus, these ‘unique abilities’ Steven speaks of could bring an important edge, should they be useful.” Garnet reasoned. Pearl paused for a moment, clear anger and frustration in her eyes.

“Gh... Fine. But I won’t be holding anything back.” Pearl said. Steven looked over at Sans, with a bit of nervousness. Would Papyrus be able to even hold up?

“relax, steve-o. paps’ll do just fine.” Sans patted him on the back reassuringly.

“Yeah! If that bonehead’s as good in an actual fight as he is in one just for a show, he’ll get outta this without a scratch!” Undyne pumped a fist in the air, with an excited look.

Everyone backed away, as Pearl summoned a spear from her gemstone, and pointed it at Papyrus. Papyrus summoned two bones in retaliation, taking a few steps away. The first test was about to begin.

Chapter Text

Papyrus and Pearl both readied themselves. Pearl sure as heck wouldn’t be holding back, but Papyrus knew that if he was smart, he’d come out on top. He began to think about possible strategies, as silence filled the air between them. The sunset was, funnily enough, a great setting for this test. They stood still for what seemed like countless minutes, but it was just meager seconds. Papyrus already devised a strategic approach. He decided to play this round defensively, and only throw in a hit when it was safe to. He waited.

Suddenly, Pearl leaped high up into the air and prepared the opening attack. She held tightly the spear she pulled out of her gem before the duel and lunged at Papyrus. Papyrus saw her coming down, spear in her hand, preparing to stab. Papyrus strafed quickly to the left, getting out of the attack’s way completely. The dodge put Papyrus in the perfect position for a counterattack. He summoned a single bone and threw it at Pearl’s backside. The attack was stronger than she anticipated, and when it hit, her eyes went wide, and her legs bent a little from the sudden pain. She froze for a moment, trying to comprehend how an attack could hurt so much. She glanced back over at Papyrus, who now had a worried expression on his face. He REALLY didn’t mean to hurt her that much.

“...Interesting,” Pearl said, before unleashing more attacks directed at Papyrus. He dodged and weaved through the stabs and swipes, sidestepping out of the way of the beams of light that shot from the spear’s tip. All the while Papyrus waited for Pearl to present an opening. The group of monsters looked on in awe as Papyrus danced gracefully between each attack. Steven did the same, but he sweated a little from nervousness, and tried to calm himself while the two of them fought.

Pearl swiped at the ground where Papyrus was, but she was a second too late. Suddenly, another attack swept across her face, and she lost balance for a split second, before making a quick recovery, spinning around to add some style. She knows what to expect now.

“Uh… should we step in? I think this match is starting to look pretty one-sided,” Amethyst asked Garnet, with concern in her voice.

“They’ll be fine,” Garnet simply replied, with a cocky smile on her face.

Pearl backed up a little and began to use more energy blasts from the spear. She was catching on to Papyrus’s fighting style in this round, so he had to close the gap quickly. With each blast, he managed to take a couple steps forward, before Pearl made a sideswipe that would’ve gotten Papyrus, if it weren’t for him ducking just beforehand. He had another chance to get her on the ground, and take control of the battle.  He summoned yet another bone in his hand, rolled to the side of Pearl, and attempted to sweep her out from under her own feet. While she did take the damage, she managed to turn what was supposed to be a fall onto the floor into a stylish cartwheel. After sticking the landing, she lunged forward with her spear once more, which Papyrus retaliated with by smacking her arm lightly with the same bone he held before.

“Ugh, why can’t I land a single hit on you!?” Pearl growled as she jumped back, and prepared to throw her spear. Papyrus knew that this could be a massive opening, and he could bring in real pain if he wanted to. However, since it was just a test, he’d stick to a more stylish choice. He braced himself for the big, flashy finale of this duel.

Pearl threw her spear towards Papyrus at a high speed. Steven, clearly panicked over its trajectory, cried out. “Don’t hurt him!!!”

Perfect aim, just as he hoped. Papyrus simply stepped to the side as it approached. But before it passed him, Papyrus spun around several times. When he came back to a standstill, Papyrus was holding the spear. Pearl was speechless.

“I… I yield. You managed to beat me, and I couldn’t even touch you at all.” Pearl said, looking down and away in humiliation, with a clear amount of upset and defeat in her voice.

“HEY! IF IT’S ANY CONSOLATION, YOUR ATTACKS WERE VERY TOUGH TO DODGE! ONE MISTAKE, AND I COULD’VE NEEDED A LOT OF HEALING LATER!” Papyrus said, as Pearl turned to see Papyrus offering the spear back.

“...Thank you,” Pearl whispered, as she put the Spear back in her gemstone.

“All right,  you passed the first test. Next, you’re up against Amethyst.” Garnet said, standing up with a stoic face as Pearl walked over to the group. She sat down facing away from everyone, and kept to herself.

“Aw heck yeah! Guy mighta been able to handle Pearl’s attacks, but I’m gonna wipe the floor with him!” Amethyst said in excitement, pumping herself up.

“You won’t know that until you go against him.” Garnet said in response, with a small smile reappearing.

“You sure you wanna do this, Boneman? Rather not crack your skull open or somethin’ like that,” Amethyst asked Papyrus as she prepared to bring her weapon out, giving a cocky wink at the same time.

“I’M CERTAIN I’LL BE FINE. BRING IT!” Papyrus said, with a confident face.

“H-hey, Amethyst, be careful!” Steven said as Amethyst pulled out her weapon, which was a long whip with gems attached to it. The gems ding a little against the rocky ground as they land.

“Alrighty then! Don’t go crying when I mop the floor with ya then, bud.” Amethyst said as she prepared the opening move. Without hesitation, she threw the whip like a lasso, and wrapped it tightly around Papyrus. She then tugged down, which sent Papyrus to the floor as the whip came back in.

Papyrus was NOT expecting an opening strike like that. It barely hurt, but the move was humiliating. This definitely wasn’t going to be the same as round one. Amethyst then rolled herself up into a ball, and charged directly at Papyrus at shocking speeds. Papyrus saw her coming, and as he got to his feet he attempted to dive to the side, expecting to be able to throw a counter immediately. Instead, Amethyst quickly stopped, and swung her whip at Papyrus’s legs, sending him to the floor. He felt pain run through his legs as the whip cracked against his bones. He landed on his lack of a stomach, reeling from the sudden pain as it went from his legs to the rest of his body.

“Nuh-uh, pal!” Amethyst simply said with a childish, taunting tone in her voice.

“Papyrus!!!” Steven cried out.

“O-o-oh no…” Alphys said under her breath. Papyrus focused himself, and shook off the pain. He stood himself up, summoned bones from the ground, and used them as walls to block Amethyst’s next slice of the whip. While they didn’t hold, the whip’s swing slowed, allowing Papyrus to summon a sharper bone, which cut the whip, stopping it from hitting him. Papyrus grunts in pain at the same time.

“Wow man, I’m impressed! Nice lil’ defensive trick you’ve got there. Shame it won’t protect ya against this!” Amethyst said tauntingly as she brought a new whip out, and swung it down towards Papyrus directly. Papyrus summoned a bone above him, and let the whip hit, then wrap around said bone. He then grabbed onto it and proceeded to pull.

“Hey! What the heck? You can’t just do that!” Amethyst detested in disbelief. Papyrus hung on with a confident smile. He had his OTHER party tricks, but he wants to save all his energy for what he expects to be round three. Papyrus yanked hard on the bone, sending Amethyst tumbling to the floor as the whip handle is yanked from her hands. While she’s stunned, Papyrus puts a cage of blue bones around her.

“NYEH HEH HEH! UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU, BLUE BONES HAVE SURROUNDED YOU! BUT AS LONG AS YOU STAY STILL, YOU’LL BE JUST FINE!” Papyrus said, as he coiled up the whip and tossed it to the side. He winced slightly from the hit before.

“Huh, as long as I stay still then, huh?” Amethyst said, reaching for her gemstone yet again. Before Papyrus had a chance to process Amethyst’s actions, she had summoned a new whip and sliced through the cage, breaking the blue bones apart. As the cage broke, Amethyst grabbed a small rock and sent it Papyrus’s way, hitting his shoulder and causing him to reel in pain once more.

“GH… W-WHAT?” Papyrus said, shocked. Amethyst jumped out of the now open cage, quickly curled back into a ball, and charged directly at Papyrus once more. He didn’t have time to dodge, but he did have time for a cheap hit. As Amethyst prepared one more crack of the whip, Papyrus summoned a bone and fired it towards her stomach. She’s sent tumbling over to Pearl and Garnet, and lands with her back facing the sky. Papyrus bent over slightly in pain.

“Amethyst?!? Are you okay?!?” Steven dashed to her side, brows furrowed in anxiety. Amethyst simply gives a thumbs up in response.

“Ow… You win,” Her arm lands on the ground with a thud. Garnet began to walk towards Papyrus, looking calm and completely in control.

“Now, your final test. Unlike the last two you faced, I believe you’ve shown your ability in combat perfectly well. However, one other attribute of yours has yet to be tested.” Garnet said, as she looked down slightly at Papyrus.

“AND THAT IS...?” Papyrus responded, groaning in pain shortly after his response.

“I want to know why you want to join us. Be honest. If you lie, the test will be over and you will fail,” Garnet said, with interest in her voice.

Papyrus sighed. “... I WANT TO BE THERE FOR STEVEN. SOMEONE TO HELP PROTECT HIM FROM NOT JUST PHYSICAL THREATS, BUT EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL CHALLENGES. I WISH TO JOIN YOU, BECAUSE I BELIEVE BY BEING AROUND ALL OF YOU, I CAN DO THE RIGHT THING FOR STEVEN. I FEEL LIKE I KNOW HIM WELL, SO...” Papyrus placed his hand on Garnet’s shoulder. “I WANT TO ASSIST HIM AND HIS OTHER FRIENDS, NO MATTER WHAT. NO MATTER THE DANGER, I WANT TO FIND A WAY TO PROTECT HIM AND WHATEVER THREATENS HIM.”

Garnet nods. “...I see. Excuse me for one moment.” Garnet walks over to Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven, and they converse among themselves for a few minutes. Papyrus overhears small bits of the conversation, as he sits down and looks out to the horizon, while the sun slowly sets.

“I’m worried that he’ll get hurt!” He listened in as Steven spoke up.

“...But they aren’t as durable as us!” He heard Pearl speak clearly after some murmuring.

“We’d have to protect him, too,” Garnet said another minute or so down the line.

“I mean, he’s got the skills, though… kicked both our butts!” He also heard Amethyst throw comments in. Afterwards, Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst walk over to the group of monsters, and talk to them. Steven shoots a nervous smile at Papyrus. Papyrus notices, and smiles back. He then goes back to staring at the sun and admiring the newfound freedom. He failed to notice Alphys, Queen Toriel, and now Ambassador Sans approaching.

Alphys was the first to speak. “W-Well, I think we’re all g-g-gonna head down and introduce humans to monsterkind, Papyrus. G-Good luck!”

“Papyrus, monsterkind wishes you the best of luck on your path, whatever it might be,” Toriel then said. “Until we run into each other once more, I suppose this is farewell.” There was then a bit of silence.

“heya, bro,” Sans was the last to speak. “i’mma head on with the rest of em. catch ya soon.”

“GOOD LUCK ON YOUR JOB, BROTHER! YOU GET TO DEBATE WITH PEOPLE FOR A LIVING!” Papyrus said as they walked off with the rest of the group, as they began to descend the mountain. “...WHAT’S WITH THIS FINAL GOODBYE STUFF? IT SHOULD JUST BE A SEE-YOU-LATER…”

“Papyrus.” Garnet said.

“YES?” Papyrus jumped a little, turning around, and facing Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven. “D-DID I FAIL? IF SO THAT’S OKAY, RIGHT? I CAN STILL BE AROUND STEVEN?”

“We’ve decided to let you into the Crystal Gems. This is no easy job, so I hope you’re ready for challenges ahead.” Garnet then announced.

“Welcome to the team, Skele-skull!” Amethyst then said, with excitement in her face as she slapped Papyrus on the back.

“Yeah, welcome!” Steven said, hugging Papyrus out of joy.

“Now, we’re going to have to do a couple things before you can go out on your first mission, but I’m sure it’s no big deal for you!” Pearl then told Papyrus.

“Right. First thing is for us to get home. And your new home. Come with us.” Garnet said, as she began to walk off. Papyrus stood up, and began walking with the group. He waved goodbye to his old life as they descended the mountain.

Chapter Text

Papyrus and the Crystal Gems made their way down the mountainside, conversing on the way down.

“So, your name is ‘Papyrus,’ right? That’s quite an odd name… and why do you not look like any humans?” Pearl had her fair share of questions. Papyrus supposed that the curiosity couldn’t be helped. An unknown number of years in imprisonment can cause some information to get lost, after all.

“WELL, FOR STARTERS, YES. MY NAME IS INDEED PAPYRUS! AND IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, YOUR NAME IS PEARL,” Papyrus began.

“That’s correct, yes,” Pearl responded calmly. She awaited the second half of Papyrus’s answer.

“AND TO ANSWER YOUR OTHER QUESTION, I’M A SKELETON MONSTER! SKELETONS AND HUMANS ARE SOMEWHAT SIMILAR, AS IN BOTH SPECIES HAVE SKELETONS! WE ARE ALSO MADE OF MAGIC!” Papyrus responded confidently, lifting a finger as he explained himself.

“Oh MAN! So that’s why you were able to do all those cool moves! Like summon those bones from the ground, and make them appear out of thin air!” Amethyst chimed in. Despite her butt getting whooped half an hour ago, Amethyst was stoked to have Papyrus on the team.

“Yeah! He showed off some really cool tricks when we had our own mock battle in the Underground! Like, he turned me blue and I had to try and jump through attacks, and it was super-fun!” Steven grinned, thinking of the battle with his friend.

“Wait… ‘turned you blue?’” Pearl tilted her head, looking at Steven with confusion.

“I’LL EXPLAIN TOMORROW, AFTER WE ALL GET SOME REST!” Papyrus then said, as they continued their descent. “SO, WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU ALL DO AS CRYSTAL GEMS?” Papyrus started.

“Oh! Oh! We save the world and stop bad guys!” Steven answered, excited to quell Papyrus’s curiosity.

“While we do ‘save the world’ according to Steven, it’s a bit more complicated than that.” Pearl then began.

“Yeah! We get to fight and beat up monsters!” Papyrus looked at Amethyst with a slightly concerned look. “Sorry, mindless beasts. You guys are monsters,” Amethyst closed with. They once again continued downwards.

“SO… WHAT ABOUT HUMAN CIVILIZATION?” Papyrus questioned, wondering if humans ruled the planet just as they did right after the whole human-monster war.

“They still run things!” Steven just commented, turning around quickly to give Papyrus a small shrug. As they made their way down, the area got darker and darker, as the sun set more and more, and the daylight slowly began to turn into moonlight.

“Oh finally! The warp pad. Now we can finally get home!” Pearl exclaimed excitingly.

“Hang on, who’s that in front of the pad?” Amethyst then said, taking note of a small shadow standing in front of the group, separating them from the warp pad. The figure then stepped forward, revealing it to be…

“...heya,” Sans announced, revealing himself. “bro, i think ya forgot something before you left the underground.”

“O-OH. I SUPPOSE SO. I SHOULD RUN BACK AND-” Papyrus took a few steps before Sans stopped him.

“no need. took care of it myself.” Sans leaned to the side to reveal a heap of suitcases and boxes sitting right on the warp pad. “...so. this is it then, huh? in a few moments, you’ll be stepping into a new life. one i won’t be able to get involved with all that much.”

“...YES. I SUPPOSE THAT MAY BE THE CASE.” Papyrus then responded, saddened by the gravity of this situation.

Sans sighed. “it’s funny. i honestly expected that, once we got to the surface, you’d continue to pursue your goals. you’d go on to be world-famous, or something like that. you’d become a household name.” Papyrus looked toward the ground, feeling a twinge of guilt. Steven also twiddled his thumbs in nervousness. Was it really right of him to encourage Papyrus to join him? He hid himself behind Garnet.

“but honestly? i think this is a far better outcome. you get to be with someone you care about, and be with them for a living. and… while i might not be able to see you often, i’m happy knowing that you’re around people who care,” Sans said, nostalgia reflecting within his eyes.

“SANS… I-”

“hey. in my opinion? don’t EVER question a decision that you made from your heart. you made the choice to follow steven, and i’ll honor that.” Sans then said. “...kinda sad to see ya go though, bro.”

“...YEAH. ME TOO.” Papyrus approached his brother, the two giving each other a soft brotherly hug. “...KEEP IN TOUCH?”

“yeah. keep in touch,” Sans patted his sibling’s back, gentle and assuring. Like all things, good moments have their end. The two pulled back, ending the embrace. “...welp. i gotta get back to the group. they’re uh… probably wondering where i ran off to.” Parting ways with the group, he waved before practically disappearing.

“WAIT, SANS!” Papyrus turned and reached out to him, but…  Sans was already gone. “...I LOVE YOU,” Papyrus whispered to himself as an odd, skeletal tear appeared on his face.

A child-sized hand patted Papyrus’ arm. “...Papyrus, are you alright?”

Papyrus wiped away the tear. “...I’M OKAY. LET’S HEAD HOME.” Walking onto the warp pad, he picked up a couple of his cases. Pearl followed suit, though she didn't pick up the baggage.

“Now Papyrus, it’s very important to remain calm and still while the warp pad takes us to the temple. Please don’t be like Steven, floating and playing around through the warp.” She gave a subtle glare towards Steven as the rest joined her and Papyrus onto the pad.

“Ready?” Garnet asked.

“...YEAH. LET’S GO.” Papyrus responded, with a determined tone. He made his choice, and he’s going to follow through with it. Suddenly, a beam of light surrounded the group, as they flew off into the sky.

“Yeah-hah! Woo!!!” Steven cheered, as the boy spun around in the middle of the air.

“STEVEN! What did I say about doing that?!?” Pearl scolded. As she tried to get him to stop, Papyrus looked around in awe as they traveled through the massive beam of light. Suddenly, something nudged roughly into his side and he started spinning around as well.

“WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH, HEY!!! A LITTLE HELP?” He called, trying to balance himself and stop.

“Awww, but it’s fun!” Steven giggled, doing flips in the air.

“LISTEN, STEVEN! I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I-” Before he could finish, Papyrus came in direct contact with the harsh, smooth surface of the warp pad. Laying there for a moment before attempting to get up, he struggled to stand thanks to the rough landing. “...I’M VERY NOT USED TO THAT.”

“Hello, house! We’re back!!!” Steven called out, somehow sticking the landing. Papyrus dragged his feet to some couch cushions, faceplanting into them.

“...THAT’LL DO FOR NOW. OW.”

“Oh, Papyrus? Are you okay?” The young boy quickly made his way over to his skeletal friend with worry.

“MAYBE. CAN YOU BRING ME SOME FOOD? I’M A LITTLE HUNGRY.” Papyrus shifted his position to lay on his side rather than on his chest. He wouldn’t admit it quite yet, but he really took a beating back on the mountainside, and the rough landing was just the cherry of pain on top of the pain cake.

“Oh! Sure! Let me go get something!” Steven ran over and opened the fridge, but immediately closed it after a foul smell hit. “Whups… food’s gone bad. Guess that’s what happens when you’re gone for a while..." He leaned on the fridge, humming in thought. “Oh, I know! I’ll run out and get some pizzas!” Steven rushed out of the door and hastily shut it roughly behind him in hopes that he’d make it to the local pizza joint before closing time. Papyrus groaned as he sank into the couch trying to relax, despite his body and bones aching. Back near the warp pad, Garnet went through a magically opening door, revealing a room Papyrus couldn’t quite make out. Pearl carefully sat at the kitchen barstool, while Amethyst leaped into a seat next to Papyrus on the couch.

“You look like you took a pretty rough landing there, Paper. At least you look p’ dang comfy on the couch,” Amethyst started.

“I ALSO HAD A ROCK THROWN AT MY SHOULDER, AND I MY ENTIRE BODY IS ACHING WITH PAIN FROM YOU NEARLY BEATING ME,” Papyrus commented.

“Wait, I almost gotcha? I thought you got out of that fight perfectly fine!” She practically spittaked, stunned that she nearly won. “If you’re in pain, can’t you just like, shake it off?”

“I NEED TO EAT, THEN I NEED REST. IF I CAN GET THOSE TWO THINGS, I’LL BE GOOD AS NEW TOMORROW.”

Amethyst put a finger up in the air. “Ohh… Okay, I getcha.” Papyrus closed his eyes, trying to distract himself from the far less powerful yet still lingering pain. Amethyst in the meantime proceeded to dump the fridge of all the bad food. And by dump, Amethyst meant eating all the bad food. The house was pretty quiet, as there was no conversing going on between the trio. They were just left with the calming sounds of the ocean, with the occasional cricket sounding out, up until…

“I’m back with pizzas!!!” Steven hollered, closing the door behind him gently. He got two full pizzas: one for Amethyst, the other for Papyrus and himself.

“Awww sweet! Chow time!” Amethyst nabbed the top box, flipping it open and proceeding to start devouring the pizza. Steven carried his box to Papyrus and placed it on the coffee table as Papyrus sat upright.

“Uh… I dunno how you’re supposed to eat this, since...” Steven trailed off, scratching his head as he carefully handed Papyrus a slice.

“DON’T WORRY, I KNOW HOW.” Papyrus proceeded to use a small bit of magic on his slice of pizza, before taking a bite. As he ate the slice, he could feel a surge of energy flowing from the food to his body. “MM, INTERESTING TASTE! HAD NO IDEA SURFACE FOOD COULD BE LIKE THIS.”

“Wait, you’ve never had pizza before? It’s the best!” Steven cried out, surprised by the development.

“WHAT? NO! I’VE TRIED PIZZA IN THE UNDERGROUND! THIS IS JUST A LOT BETTER!” Papyrus replied, signalling towards the half-eaten slice.

“Oh man! I just realized! I’ve gotta introduce you to everyone! There’s Lars, Sadie, Mr. Smiley, Pee Dee…” Steven hummed in thought of other people to introduce Papyrus to. “Oh! And my dad! Definitely my dad!!!”

Papyrus couldn’t help but smile a bit at his excitement, despite the saddening goodbye not too long ago. A whole new world meant a whole new group of friends to be with, he figured. “YEAH, THAT’D BE GREAT! BUT... NOT TONIGHT.”

“Awwww, but why?”

“AS MUCH AS I’D HATE TO ADMIT IT, AMETHYST NEARLY BEAT ME BACK THERE, AND I FEEL AWFULLY TIRED. BUT, TOMORROW WE CAN GO OUT AND I CAN GET TO INTRODUCE MYSELF TO THE CITY!” Papyrus ruffled with Steven’s hair, practically giving him a noogie.

“Heheheh, okay, okay!” The two resumed consuming the pizza, still hot and fresh from the oven. Steven hadn’t had any real, not-magic food in a long time, and Papyrus needed to get his energy back for tomorrow. He expects it to be a long day. During this time, he overheard Pearl and Amethyst converse a little bit.

“Does this mean we’ll have to expand the house?” Pearl suggested, concerned.

“I dunno. Probably?” Amethyst shrugged. “Who knows how he’s gonna decorate the room, given all the bags Smallbones packed for him.” She nodded and pointed towards the heap of bags still sitting on the warp. Oh drats, Papyrus totally forgot!

“AH, JEEZ, WE STILL HAVE TO UNPACK EVERYTHING! MY CLOTHES, DVDS, THE FLUFFY BUNNY SERIES…” Papyrus started.

“Oh, don’t worry! You rest, I’ll get your stuff,” Steven dashed over to the pad, picking up some of the suitcases.

“Yo, Steven, lemme give ya a hand!” Amethyst ran over and picked up some of the biggest stuff, with one labeled “quantum physics practical joke.” She set the boxes, alongside the one with the label next to Papyrus on the floor. He glanced at the label...

“I WOULD REALLY SUGGEST NOT OPENING THAT IN HERE. KNOWING SANS, HE PROBABLY PACKED SOMETHING ABSURD IN THERE,” Papyrus warned. “FOR ALL WE KNOW, THAT’S ALL OF HIS DIRTY SOCKS! THERE COULD BE AN ENTIRE MOUNTAIN OF THEM IN THERE!”

“Oh, yeah, that’s true! Best to wait until tomorrow then,” Steven concluded, recalling the quantum physics book back at the old skeletal residence.

“Aw c’mon! A little peek never hurt anyone, right?” Amethyst questioned.

“TRUST ME, YOU DO NOT WANT TO OPEN THAT INDOORS.”

“Fine... but we’re DEFINITELY opening this later,” she groaned, quickly losing the battle of reasoning. She didn’t know what Papyrus’s sibling was capable of, anyways. As the night ticked onwards, they managed to unpack the stuff Papyrus would need for now. Some clothes, a blanket, and even Fluffy Bunny Vol. 5! Papyrus started reading it as soon as it was handed to him. Pearl couldn’t help but notice the literary piece that seemed to grab almost all of his attention.

“So… what are you reading?” She asked, curiosity striking her.

“I’M READING FLUFFY BUNNY VOLUME 5! IT’S A SAD TALE AS FLUFFY BUNNY, WHO USED TO GO AROUND CATCHING CRIMINALS, IS SUDDENLY FORCED TO ADAPT TO A NEW LIFE, AND HE HAS TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO TACKLE NEW CHALLENGES!” Thinking about the synopsis, Papyrus burst into laughter as he realized the irony of the situation.

“Uh… what’s so funny?” Pearl held a puzzled glance.

“NYEH HEH… OH, SORRY. I WAS LAUGHING AT THE IRONY OF THE SITUATION, SEEING HOW I’M ABOUT TO HAVE TO ADAPT TO A NEW LIFE,” Papyrus explained, bookmarking the page and closing the book.

“Oh ho… I suppose that is the truth. Well, you’ll probably be busy tomorrow but I’ll want to meet with you so I can get you situated with some proper armor,” Pearl then started. “Then we can focus on educating you about fighting corrupted gems, and all the other things that we have to do once every thousand years or so…” Pearl continued on. But the words “corrupted gems” caught his attention. What exactly did that mean? His mind was running through a lot already, and he’d get his answers tomorrow. He pulled out his phone, and the time read 9 PM.

“HUH. 9 PM. IT’S GETTING A BIT LATE…” Papyrus said out loud.

Steven yawned before speaking. “Oh man… yeah, I need to go to bed…” Things had quieted down, and as soon as Papyrus announced the time it felt like everything had gotten even quieter.

“Oh my! If it’s already Steven’s bedtime, I suppose we’ll be heading off.” Lifting herself from the barstool, Pearl headed towards the magical door in the back of the home. “Goodnight, Steven!”

“Yeah, night, lil’ dude! Night, Skullman!” Amethyst ran in afterwards soon after the door closed behind Pearl, but when it opened for Amethyst, the room looked… different. Papyrus decided not to question it. He managed to stand up, and walked over to the sink.

“W-Wait, Papyrus, are you sure you should be moving around?” Steven reached to grab his jacket sleeve, but missed and instead decided to rush over to him.

“HEH, I’LL BE OKAY. THE PIZZA REALLY HELPED GET ENERGY BACK INTO MY SYSTEM,” Papyrus replied with a reassuring look. He poured himself a cup of water, did that odd magic trick again, and sipped it. He let his gaze wander around and noticed an odd painting above the screen door of a woman with large pink, curly hair and a gem similar to Steven’s in location and size. “HEY… WHO’S THAT?”

Following his look, Steven looked at the picture indifferently. “Oh, that’s my mom. She’s kinda… not around anymore,” His tone partially faltered into a more somber one, lacking the upbeat attitude he donned before. Steven stepped upstairs and pulled his pajamas from the dresser.

“OH… I SEE…” Papyrus said solemnly, as he reached into a suitcase and lifted out his own pair of pajamas. “DO YOU HAVE A ROOM WHERE I CAN GO CHANGE?”

“You can use the bathroom! It’s in that area next to the couch,” Steven said, poking his head over the edge of the floor to face Papyrus.

“OH, OKAY! THANKS!” He walked into the bathroom and got himself in his sleeping attire. When he stepped back out, he noted that most of the lights were turned off, save for a small desk lamp next to the couch that was plugged in earlier, alongside a light coming from upstairs. “ARE THERE ANY OTHER BEDS IN THE HOUSE?”

“No… sorry.” As quickly as he apologized, an idea sparked into Steven’s mind. “Oh, But you could sleep on the couch! You looked comfortable on it earlier!” Steven noted. Papyrus accepted the fact that he’d have to sleep on the couch that night, but he DID agree that the couch was comfortable.

“ALRIGHT, THEN. I SUPPOSE I’LL SLEEP DOWN HERE TONIGHT.” Laying himself on the couch and grabbing a blanket, Papyrus made himself comfortable. “GOOD NIGHT, STEVEN!”

“Good night!” Steven called down, with the light upstairs quickly vanishing. Papyrus dimmed the light on the lamp, which had a control knob. A soft, warm light radiated from the lamp as Papyrus adjusted. After finishing his drink of water, he turned the lamp off completely so he could finally get to sleep. Though, he couldn’t help but  notice the pale moonlight shining into the room from the windows. He smiled as he came to completely agree with a single, undeniable fact.

He was free.

He stood back up, and began walking towards the window.

“I’M FREE… WE’VE ALL GONE AND BEEN FREED…”

“AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF ISOLATION,”

“WE’RE FREE TO MAKE THE CHOICE WE CHOOSE TO MAKE…”

“BUT WAS MY CHOICE TRULY THE RIGHT ONE?”

Papyrus sat himself down near the window, looking out solemnly.

“MY CHOICE… THE CHOICE TO LEAVE ALL I HAD KNOWN BEHIND…”

“WAS IT RIGHT OF ME TO ABANDON MY OLD WAY OF LIFE?”

“WAS I CORRECT IN MY JUDGEMENT TO BE WITH STEVEN’S FRIENDS?”

“ARE THEY OKAY WITH BEING WITH SOMEONE THEY HAD NEVER EVEN MET…?”

Papyrus stood himself back up, placing himself closer to the center of the room.

“BUT… I… AM… FREE!”

“FREE TO MAKE THE CHOICE THAT DEFINES ME!”

“FREE TO DECIDE WHAT LIFE I SHALL LEAD!”

“I’M FREE TO BE WHO I WANT TO BE, FREE TO BE THE TRUE ME, FREE TO BE!!!”

Papyrus looked over at Steven’s bed, which carried a peacefully sleeping Steven.

“I’M FREE TO BE THE ONE I CHOOSE TO BE.”

The door past the pad suddenly slipped open, as Garnet stepped out. Papyrus heard the noise, and turned around suddenly.

“OH! HELLO!” Papyrus stammered nervously, hoping that Garnet didn’t listen in on his musical number.

“Papyrus. There’s been a sudden development, and I have to step out. I’ll be back by tomorrow,” she said, as she stepped on the warp pad.

“OH… OKAY! WELL, BYE!” Papyrus nodded, watching Garnet leave. He settled back down on the couch, finally beginning dozing off. He had a long day tomorrow, but starting now, he was going to be who he wanted to be.

Chapter Text

Beep, beep, beep. Papyrus slowly awoke, looked over, noticing that his 7 AM alarm was going off. Usually, he wakes up to his 5 AM alarm, which had clearly already passed. He shrugged to himself, reasoning that the fighting from yesterday caused him to sleep extra. He stood up off of the couch, approaching the window. Turning around to the counter, he noticed a small note that was seemingly written by a certain child accompanied by a small drawing of himself and Steven. Starting from the top, he read over each word...

“Papyrus, I’m going to go get some food to fill the fridge back up. Hope you slept well! I’ll be back soon!! Love, Steven.” Papyrus smiled at the doodle and closed part of the letter.  He also noted a streak of maturity to willingly do a chore instead of asking Garnet or Pearl to do it instead. Heading into the bathroom to wash up, he swapped into proper day attire: blue shorts, orange jacket, coming with the classy red sleeves, and red gloves, with a different, slightly darker shade, with cuffs. As he stepped out to find his boots, he saw Pearl sitting on the couch where Papyrus had slept previously.

“Oh, good, you’re awake! Ready to get started with business?” Pearl stood up with a smile.

“I SUPPOSE I AM. LET ME JUST SLIP INTO MY BOOTS…” Picking up the footwear from the side of the sofa and stepping in, Papyrus couldn’t help but feel like he was missing something…

“Excellent! Come with me,” she gestured calmly, leading him to the big mysterious door past the pad. The gem on her forehead glimmered, causing the door to split in the middle and part. Within, it revealed a large array of waterfalls. As the two entered the serene room, the door closed gently behind Papyrus and vanished. Pearl’s arm suddenly wrapped around his waist and lifted him up from the ground.  Holding him tightly, Pearl leapt above to a floating platform with water softly pouring over its sides.

“WOAH, HEY! A LITTLE WARNING BEFOREHAND WOULD HAVE SUFFICED!” Papyrus criticized, as he was set down. When he looked down at the ground, he realized that he was standing on… water? “WAIT, HOW ARE WE STANDING ON WATER RIGHT NOW? ISN’T THAT NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN?”

Pearl chuckled to herself and rolled her eyes. “No need to worry, it’s just a very thin layer of water.” She glanced around in search of something... “While I only usually keep my swords and other weapons in here, I do have some spare sets of armor lying around from an old friend…” Pearl performed a leap to another floating platform, twirling while in the air. As she landed, stands showcasing various old armor rose from the floor beneath her. Humming in thought, she picked a smaller set and hopped back over, comparing the armor to Papyrus’ build. “Let’s see here… Yes, I think this will fit! Let’s get it put on you. In the meantime I can tell you about some of the important things we do,” Papyrus observed the armor, which was grey scale, save for the stars on the shoulder plates and main chest piece, which were a light yellow. Pearl began assisting Papyrus put on the armor.

“SO, LAST NIGHT, YOU MENTIONED SOMETHING ABOUT ‘CORRUPTED GEMS...’ CARE TO EXPLAIN WHAT EXACTLY THAT MEANS?” Papyrus asked as he struggled to adjust an arm piece on the armor.

Pearl paused for a moment to recall. “Oh, yes, I suppose that is a good question. These… corrupt gems, they used to be people. Some, even friends. But they eventually became monsters, and now we have to stop them, contain them. For not just the safety of humans, and now your kind, but for their own safety.” Pearl explained, as Pearl helped to finish equipping Papyrus’s leg with the armor. Most of the armor had been equipped, but there were still bits that needed adjustment.

“ERM… SORRY, PEARL, BUT IS ALL THIS ARMOR REALLY NECESSARY? IT’S SORT OF HEAVY…” Papyrus inquired. He was completely capable on his own as proven last night, so the extra protection, while appreciated, felt a bit overboard.

She scoffed. “Nonsense! Given how weak and frail other species on earth are-”

“HEY!”

“...Your… lesser durability, it’s my duty to make sure you’re safe out in the field, considering you and Steven are close,” Pearl corrected, finishing adjustments on  the last bits of armor. “There! All finished. Try moving around.” Papyrus attempted to walk in a circle around Pearl. While janky, he was still mobile. Taking it a step further, he picked up the pace and tried to run. Much to his dismay, he tripped and face planted right onto the floor. Pearl stifled a laugh.

“NYEH HEH… WELL, I GUESS THAT’S THE DOWNSIDE. HINDERED MOVEMENT DOES MAKE SENSE,” Papyrus noted, standing back up. And then the realization hit him about why he felt odd this entire morning. He never put his scarf on. How could he be so forgetful! He needs his scarf! “OH NO, MY SCARF! THAT’S WHAT I WAS FORGETTING!” Papyrus cried out. “PEARL, COULD YOU PLEASE GO GET MY SCARF? I WOULD MYSELF, BUT I’M WEARING THIS ARMOR AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE THAT DOOR,” Papyrus asked.

“Why would a scarf be so important that you need it just for trying on armor?” Pearl asked, as she looked directly at Papyrus. He scrunched up in nervousness and embarrassment.

“I FEEL EXTREMELY EXPOSED AND NAKED WITHOUT IT IN PUBLIC,” Papyrus responded. He can’t wear the scarf while sleeping, it would be a nightmare to get ready when he woke up, but he wears it at any other moment in the day. This is the ONE time he forgot, and boy howdy, does he feel embarrassed.

“...Fine. I suppose I will go and fetch your scarf. I’ll be right back,” Pearl responded with, begrudgingly. She leapt back over to the door, and walked through it, with the door closing shortly after. Papyrus, in the meantime, tried to get used to movement in the armor. It was REALLY odd to move, but he at least figured out how to run in the thing. After giving a triumphant jump, nearly falling when he landed, at the realization that he at least had SOME movement in the armor, the door opened back up and Pearl stepped through. She leapt back up onto the platform and handed Papyrus his scarf. He quickly threw it around his head, letting it rest on the armor. “Alright, there you go,” Pearl said, as she noticed the now completed look. “Huh, the scarf DOES actually look decent with that armor on,” she then added. The two of them then heard someone call out to them.

“Hey Pearl! Hey Papyrus!!!” The two of them quickly turned to see Steven standing at the water’s edge, holding a plate with a stack of waffles, popcorn, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a strawberry on top. That is… quite the absurd meal.

“OH, HELLO STEVEN-”

“Steven! What are you doing in here! You know that it’s dangerous for you inside the temple!” Papyrus was quickly interrupted by Pearl, who was clearly not pleased with Steven’s sudden appearance. She walked around Papyrus while speaking. As she did, she caused the door to open by lifting a finger. Papyrus also questioned why it was dangerous. But before he could ask, Steven started talking again.

“We’re going to have a nice together breakfast! Even if I have to get my shoes wet!” The boy said, as he stepped into a lake of water that was deeper than what it appeared to be.

“WHAT?!? Get OUT of there!” Pearl then retorted, as Steven sat in the water.

“UMM… STEVEN?” Papyrus merely said, before realizing he should probably stay silent. Best let Pearl sort this out.

“Don’t worry! I’ll swim it over to you guys!” Steven began swimming over with one arm, holding the plate high in the other. “See? Doggy paddle forward!” He, alongside Papyrus, then noticed the giant, seemingly bottomless waterfall. “Oh gosh.”

“STEVEN?!?” Papyrus tried to run over to the edge of the platform, but tripped in his panic. Stupid janky armor, why won’t you just let Papyrus move normally? In his haste, Papyrus started crawling towards the edge, not thinking to pick himself back up.

“W-Wait! Uh… Doggy paddle reverse?!?” Steven said, panicked as he went over the edge. “REVERSE!!!” Papyrus finally crawled to the edge of the platform, only to see the boy going over the edge, and JUST out of reach of blue magic.

“STEVEN!!!” The both of them cried out as the boy kept going down. They both then looked up at each other.

“Quickly, with me. We might be able to catch him before he gets hurt!” Pearl said as she helped Papyrus up.

“RIGHT, LET’S MOVE!” Papyrus and Pearl ran off into a hallway at the side of the room, which led down further into the temple. They ran through a couple of rooms and a lot of long, winding, twisting hallways, desperately trying to catch the boy, who was CLEARLY in over his head. They eventually came to a stop in a circular room, where Amethyst was, alongside Steven, who was hanging onto a large pole, over a pit, breakfast somehow still intact. At least he’s okay, right?

“Hey! Wait a second,” Amethyst said just as they entered the room.

“Steven! There you are!” Pearl then cried out, as Papyrus followed her in.

“Pearl! Papyrus! Sweet! Three out of four!” The naive boy said, still clinging onto the pole.

“Oh! Oh!!! Steven! Be careful!!!” Pearl said.

“W-Why?” He responded calmly, yet with confusion. He then looked up, and Papyrus did the same. “W-Wha…?” The two of them saw a giant crystalline object, with several poles coming out of it, one of which, Steven was clinging onto.

“You REALLY shouldn’t be in here! This is the crystal heart!” Pearl said, with a very worried voice. Papyrus took a bet that he shouldn’t be in here, either. “It’s connected to the most dangerous places of the temple! Hold on tight, and DON’T LOOK DOWN.” Pearl just HAD to say that. As she started over, Papyrus following shortly after, Steven looked down. Amethyst then rushed over, but it was too late for all of them, as Steven began sliding on down, crying out as he descended even further.

“TWICE IN A SINGLE DAY! OH, THAT’S IT, I’M GOING AFTER HIM, BECAUSE HE CLEARLY NEEDS TO NOT GET INTO ANY MORE DANGEROUS SITUATIONS!” Papyrus said, upset that Steven seems to be getting himself deeper and deeper into trouble.

“Me too,” Pearl then commented.

“Same,” Amethyst added on. The three of them then jumped into the hole, following Steven. Papyrus had to do some extra hops and grabs onto the pole to slow his descent, but otherwise, he was free falling. He came to a quick halt as he finished sliding down the giant pole, where he saw Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven looking at Garnet, who was standing in front of a pool of lava, hands stretched out.

Pearl whispered to Steven and Papyrus. “Steven. Papyrus. We’re getting both of you out of here.”

Amethyst did the same. “C’mon!”

“Ah! This is great! We’re finally all together!” Steven yelled out, not understanding the gravity of the situation at hand. Garnet looked over in shock, which distracted her from what she was doing. “We can finally eat! I mean, we don’t have any forks, but we can use our hands! I’m not gonna judge!” As Steven said that, Amethyst and Pearl ran over to Garnet.

“Steven! Papyrus! Go!” Garnet yelled out, as she struggled to hold… something in some sort of sphere.

“Okay! Wanna meet in the kitchen?” Steven then asked. As Garnet turned around, whatever was in the bubble broke free, and expanded outwards around the room. It quickly struck down where the trio of gems were, which they all jumped out of the way of. It then hovered over Steven and Papyrus.

All the gems summoned their weapons, ready to fight. Papyrus saw that Garnet's weapons of choice were giant gauntlets. “It’s trying to escape! Force it back!” Garnet called out, as the gems started attacking. A giant, cloudy hand attempted to attack Steven, but missed as he ran out of the way. A blob of the cloud attempted to strike Papyrus, but he barely dodged it, and made a mental note that he’d have to block attacks in the armor more often.

“Get! Back!” He heard Amethyst yell out, as he saw Pearl and her strike at the cloud, sending it away from Steven. Garnet threw a couple of punches, but then the cloud made a fast lunge at Steven, which the boy failed to dodge. He was sent flying back, and landed with the still intact plate of together breakfast sitting on him.

“STEVEN!!!” The four of them cried out, as Steven leaned upwards. The cloud had vanished, letting the group get a view of him.

“Ugh…” Steven groaned, before noticing that the breakfast was… moving. “...Together breakfast?” The food swelled in size massively, much to Papyrus’s and Steven’s dismay, as they both screamed a bit. Pearl threw her spear at it, and while it did hit, it was unfazed.

“It’s taken refuge in organic matter!” Pearl yelled, just before she was hit and pinned up against the wall.

“Now it has all the power of a breakfast. We have to destroy it!” Garnet said, as she prepared to fight.

“AAAGH!!! IT’S HORRIBLE!!!” Pearl yelled out, still pinned against the wall thanks to the power of a balanced breakfast. The breakfast monster broke Pearl’s spear in two, and it dissipated. Papyrus tried to use blue magic to try and stop it, but he himself stopped and shuddered when he realized that this… thing didn’t have a soul. No soul, no blue magic. The breakfast then hit Papyrus, now leaving him stuck on the floor.

“NO, NO, NO!!! A LITTLE HELP HERE?!? I’M STUCK!” Papyrus cried out, struggling to break free. Garnet attempted to punch it, but only got her hand stuck on the goopy food. Amethyst tried to help pull her out, as they all noted how dire this fight had become.

“I didn’t want this! I just wanted for us to eat together! Like-like best buds!” Steven yelled out, now understanding that this was an awful situation.

“Steven! You’ve got to get away!” Garnet told Steven, as the boy struggled to hold the plate up, it attempted to force him down and use his body as leverage for it’s attacks as well. Suddenly, the monster launched a giant waffle at Garnet and Amethyst, which got them stuck on the wall. Everyone was in a bad spot, and Papyrus shut his eyes, trying to regain his focus as he remained pinned down.

“That’s… ENOUGH!” Papyrus opened his eye sockets and looked around, before his sight focused on Steven. The boy, as he managed to begin lifting himself up, started pushing. “I don’t CARE… if you’re the most… important meal of the day!” Steven stepped closer to the pool of lava. Steven grunted in his efforts, finally pushing it into the lava a little. “I made you to bring us together!!! Not to tear us apart!!!” As he said that, the entire beast went up in flames and dissipated, save for a ton of goop around the room. As everyone rose out of what used to be their entrapment, they all walked over to the pit. Everyone else looked fine, but Papyrus was covered in the now late together breakfast goop. Everyone surrounded Steven. “...I’m sorry, guys. I guess I dreamed too big.”

“THAT’S OKAY. TELL YOU WHAT, LET’S HEAD BACK UP AND MAKE A NEW BREAKFAST!” Papyrus then commented, trying to ignore the fact that he could’ve died at any point in that ordeal.

“Yeah! Great idea!” Steven pointed out, as they all left the room and went back to the house.

“LET ME JUST TAKE OFF THIS ARMOR BEFORE WE GET STARTED…” Papyrus ripped the armor off piece by piece, trying to get the heavy, breakfast-tainted metal off. After he finished, they finally started cooking. Garnet made the waffles, Amethyst popped the popcorn, Pearl added the chocolate syrup, Papyrus added on the whipped cream, and Steven added on that one perfect strawberry.

“It looks great! It looks even more together and even more breakfast!” Steven commented happily, before looking down at the reminder of today’s events. The five of them all shared a discomforted look as they stared at the together-er breakfast. “I don’t think I can eat this,” Steven said, realizing that maybe this wasn’t the best idea.

“Let’s just order pizza.” Amethyst suggested. Garnet, Pearl, and Steven all agreed with that idea.

“YES, I THINK THAT EVEN GREASY PIZZA IS A BETTER IDEA THAN THIS.” Papyrus tacked on last.

Chapter Text

Papyrus, Amethyst, and Steven all stepped out of the house, and began walking on the beach. The trio just got out of a very nasty breakfast situation, and they were going to go get what would be brunch at this point. Garnet and Pearl opted to stay back at the house, knowing that they had a massive mess to clean up. Papyrus just wanted out of the house, so he could finally see more of the surface. He changed out of his normal jacket, instead wearing a hawiian-style shirt, with a flame pattern at the bottom of the torso. As he thought more about the upcoming meal, he made an interesting observation that he decided to ask Amethyst about.

“SO, IF I GET THIS WRONG PLEASE CORRECT ME, BUT I HAVEN’T SEEN PEARL OR GARNET EAT EVER SINCE WE GOT TO THE HOUSE LAST NIGHT, YET YOU ATE AN ENTIRE BOX OF PIZZA WITHIN MINUTES! DON’T THEY NEED TO EAT, OR SOMETHING?” Papyrus asked, as they continued the stroll.

“Pssh, nah! Us gems don’t need to eat! I just do it ‘cuz it feels funny.” Amethyst responded, patting her stomach and chuckling at the end.

“O-OH, I SEE.” Papyrus was still trying to shake himself off after the fight in the basement. The three of them chose to take the walk slow, Amethyst and Steven mainly wanting Papyrus to admire the ocean. While Papyrus did see the beautiful aquatic view, he couldn’t help but feel nervousness. How was everyone going to even comprehend the fact that he was a walking, talking skeleton? His anxiousness made him doubt the idea of going into the city. Before Papyrus could think further, Steven spoke up.

“Oh! We should run by the Big Donut! That way I can introduce you to Lars and Sadie!” Steven said to Papyrus, with an excited smile on his face. Papyrus couldn’t deny the fact that Steven’s happiness was contagious, and his eagerness helped calm Papyrus a little.

“Uh, aren’t the townsfolk gonna be a little freaked out, given that he’s a skeleton, Steven?” Amethyst commented, understanding the absurdity that is a skeleton monster.

“Nope! Everyone got an announcement on their phones this morning! Apparently Sans managed to get a meeting and establish monster presence overnight!” Steven responded, reassuring both Papyrus and Amethyst. But when did Sans, of all people, become so quick to get something done? He’s always been one to procrastinate. Maybe Toriel got him to do it as quickly as possible? Whatever got Sans to do his job this quickly, he was kind of grateful for it.

“ALRIGHT, IF EVERYONE GOT THE NOTICE, I SUPPOSE IT WILL BE FINE IF I JUST WALK INTO TOWN!” Papyrus responded, hopeful that not many people will be shocked by his presence. The trio of human, monster, and gem stepped into a small shop with a giant donut attached to the top. Papyrus assumed the building to be the Big Donut as they walked inside to see two people behind the counter. One, short and friendly with blonde hair, and the other tall, lanky, with an odd haircut, and seemingly enjoying a break, in the form of a nap.

“Hi Lars! Hi Sadie!” Steven called out as he dashed up to the counter. Papyrus decided to keep closer to the front of the store with Amethyst, part of him still unsure of how these people would react.

“Oh… hey Steven. Here for another-” the tall one opened his eyes and noticed Papyrus, letting out a small yelp. “Gyah! Steven! What is THAT?!?” Lars questioned, ducking behind the counter a little. Before Steven could answer, the other person behind the counter spoke up.

“Oh, you must be one of those monster people that got announced on the news this morning, right?” The other one spoke up in a far friendlier tone, which invited Papyrus to get closer to the counter. Amethyst continued to hang out at the front, remaining quiet. Meanwhile, the less-friendly cashier and Steven conversed, which Papyrus overheard bits of.

“Didn’t you see the news, Lars? There was this whole group of people trapped underground!”

“What if they were put there for a reason! This one looks like he’s gonna steal my eyes or something!”

Papyrus turned back to face the cashier that Steven wasn’t conversing with. “ERM, YES. I’M PAPYRUS.” Papyrus tried to relax, but he was out of his depth interacting with other humans.

“Sadie. Sadie Miller.” Sadie reached her hand out, offering a handshake. Papyrus reached his own hand out and shook, completing the timely tradition of meeting new people.

“AND I SUPPOSE THE OTHER PERSON IS…”

“Yeah, that’s Lars.” The two of them looked over to Steven and Lars conversing. “Don’t mind him, he probably just didn’t read the news this morning.” Sadie commented. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to be related to Ambassador Sans, would you?” Papyrus paused for a second.

“YES. HE’S MY OLDER BROTHER, ACTUALLY.” Papyrus responded. He decides he might as well get used to it, given how monsters are the big media topic as of this morning. “SO… I’M GUESSING THIS SHOP SELLS…”

“Donuts? Yep. Also Lion Lickers, sodas, and, up until recently, Cookie Cats. Steven got pretty upset that they discontinued them.” Sadie commented, looking over at Steven.

“Lion Lickers are terrible! Cookie Cats were better!” Steven yelled out, having overheard Sadie mention both the true good and true evil of all frozen treats for Steven.

“Yo, Skullman, why not try the donuts here? They’re great!” Amethyst said as she finally walked up to the counter.

“NYEH HEH, I SUPPOSE IT WOULDN’T HURT. I’VE NEVER EVEN TRIED ONE OF THESE DONUTS BEFORE.” Papyrus reached into his shorts pocket to produce his wallet. “HOW MUCH IS IT?”

“It’s a dollar per donut, or seven for a dozen.” Sadie said, as Papyrus opened up his wallet before coming to a shocking realization.

He doesn’t know what a ‘dollar’ is. Only G. “ERM… DO YOU GUYS TAKE G? IT’S THE MONSTER CURRENCY.” Papyrus rubbed the back of his skull nervously.

“Hmm, tell ya what. We don’t normally do this, but have one on the house. Given you’re, y’know, Ambassador Sans’s brother n’ such.” Sadie grabbed a donut and put it in a small bag.

“O-OH! YOU DON’T HAVE TO!” Papyrus nervously replied as the bag was placed against the counter.

“No, it’s fine! Really, I insist.” Sadie shrugged.

“...ALRIGHT. BUT NEXT TIME I’M PAYING DOUBLE!” Papyrus said, making the note to himself that he owes the store a dollar. Whatever that means here. It seems to be their currency, and if G can convert into whatever this ‘dollar’ is, he’ll make sure to pay it back. If not, he’ll find another way.

“No way! You got it for free?!?” Steven commented, having finished his debate with Lars.

“I SUPPOSE A PERK OF BEING THE BROTHER OF SOMEONE WHO’S CURRENTLY WORLD-FAMOUS?” Papyrus commented. “ANYWAYS, THANKS, SADIE. I’LL BE BACK!” The trio took their leave, and began walking. Papyrus dug the donut out of the bag. It was a chocolate flavored one. Not his preferred flavor of anything else, but he wouldn’t judge. He did the magic trick to make it consumable for him, and took a large bite. He paused in his tracks after a second.

“Um… Papyrus?” Steven asked, confused why he paused.

“Yo, did death finally catch ya, Parchment?”

“THIS FLAVOR… IT’S SO SWEET, SO CHOCOLATEY… YET SO LIGHT AND FLUFFY! IT’S… INCREDIBLE!!!” Papyrus quickly downed the rest of the donut. He was DEFINITELY coming back once he got cash. Something that good ought to have filled him up, yet he’s still famished. Fighting this morning must’ve really made him hungry. As they walked, Papyrus looked up and noticed a restaurant with a large pizza and a fish as the sign. “STEVEN, IS THIS THE PLACE WHERE YOU GOT THE PIZZAS LAST NIGHT?” Papyrus asked as they stopped in front of the building. This was their stop.

“Yup! This is Fish Stew Pizza!” Steven said, as he opened the door. Papyrus and Amethyst followed him in.

“Oh hey Steven!” A voice hollered out from behind the counter near the front. “Thought you came here last night, not this mornin’.” Papyrus looked over to see a teenage girl with curly, dark brown hair, covered with a scarf.

“OH… HELLO!” Papyrus said as he approached the counter.

“You look new! Welcome to Fish Stew pizza! I’m Kiki.” Kiki put an arm on the counter. “So, what can I do for the three of you?”

“Two pizzas please!” Steven said, digging into his pocket and placing money on the counter.

“Alright! You want your usual?” Kiki said, as she opened up the cash register, placing the money inside, making sure to dig out the correct amount of change.

“Sure deal!” Steven said, grabbing the leftover money from his purchase.

“STEVEN!” Papyrus jumped as a man with an odd, pizza-slice-shaped haircut seemingly materialized at the counter. “You brought us a new customer!” The man seemed unfazed by the appearance of a skeleton in his establishment. Papyrus couldn’t help but feel like he was back in his little frozen town, where everyone looked so vastly different and yet no one batted an eye. “So! Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”

“OH! OF COURSE! I’M PAPYRUS!”

“Papyrus? Well, as owner of Fish Stew pizza, I am pleased to welcome you to our establishment! Please! Have a seat!” The trio of gem, human, and monster took their seats. Papyrus whipped out his cellular device for the first time since he arrived at the surface.

“NO SIGNAL. OF COURSE! WE AREN’T UNDERGROUND.” Papyrus groaned. No wonder his phone never received that “official” announcement. He’ll have to figure out a solution soon.

“Oh! The pizza place has free wifi! Try connecting to that!” Steven said, pulling out his own phone and showing that he had a connection. Papyrus opened his phone’s settings and went to the wifi connections. From there, he managed to connect to the pizza shop’s wifi. As soon as the connection was established, a flood of notifications came flooding through. Texts, emails, Undernet notifications, phone calls, and voicemails. Coming in with the flood of alerts was the official announcement that the presence of monsterkind was made known.

“OH MAN, I’LL HAVE TO SIFT THROUGH ALL OF THIS…” Papyrus began looking through all his notifications. Most of his emails were goodbyes from several different monsters, sent to his public email address. The phone calls were mostly from Alphys, with a couple of voicemails thrown into the mix as well. He’d listen to those later, when he got back to the house. His texts, however, were far more interesting. The ones from Undyne and Alphys were pictures taken from when he was brawling Pearl and Amethyst. There was even a video of the moment when Papyrus did his fancy trick with Pearl’s spear. The photos from Undyne were a bit blurry, with the exception of the video, which had some pretty good camera work. The ones from Alphys, though, looked like they were taken by a professional. Good dynamic lighting, excellent use of cropping and rotation, it really felt like a moment taken from a show. Papyrus picked out one of the best ones, and showed it to Amethyst. It was the moment just after Pearl recovered from when Papyrus tried to throw her off of her feet.

“Oh man! You really showed her!” Amethyst said after Papyrus showed it to her.

“YOU NEARLY SHOWED ME!” Papyrus quickly responded. “I MEAN, I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE BE ABLE TO BREAK THROUGH BLUE ATTACKS LIKE THAT!”

“Dude, I don’t even KNOW what that was! But it was AWESOME!” Amethyst said, praising Papyrus’s unique skills.

“Oh! The pizza’s here!” Steven butted in, noticing Kiki bringing the pizzas out.

“Alright! Been looking forward to this!” Amethyst said, as the pizzas were placed on the table.

“Here you go!” Kiki hurried back off into the kitchen, presumably to work on more pizzas. The trio began to eat the pizzas, and since they were all starving from this morning’s battle, save for Amethyst, focused more on satisfying the requirement of sustenance than chat.

“So? How is it?!?” Papyrus jumped once again. It felt like the owner of this establishment could just appear at any moment. Papyrus finished his bite.

“IT’S REALLY GOOD!” Papyrus gave a smile, trying to ignore the fact that the owner constantly getting the jump on Papyrus discomforted him. The owner smiled and walked back off. The trio finished eating the pizzas, and began to head on out.

“Thank you for coming! We hope to see you again!” The owner called out to the group, but mainly Papyrus. The three of them stepped out, where Steven then had a sudden realization.

“Oh man! Now’s the perfect time for you to meet my dad!” Steven grabbed Papyrus’s bony arm and began to drag him along, as excitement filled the young lad. Amethyst followed behind pretty quickly.

“WOAH, WOAH! OKAY!” The three of them ran down the sidewalk until they came to a building with a sign on top saying “It’s A Wash!” In front of it was a colorful van, the side saying “Mr. Universe,” and a guy with an odd suntan and long hair.

“Dad!!!” Steven cried out as they made their approach. The man quickly turned around as Steven let go of Papyrus, running to him for a hug.

“Oh heya, schtu-ball! Long time no see!” The two of them hugged tightly, Steven clearly happy to see his Dad.

“Dad! You gotta meet someone!” Steven let go of his dad and turned around, facing Papyrus. “Dad, this is Papyrus!” Greg looked at Papyrus, and his smile turned into pure confusion.

“ERM… HELLO! YOU MUST BE GREG.”

“Sup.” Amethyst chimed in.

“I’m… Not even going to question this one, son. I’m just going to tell myself that you ran into a skeleton during your magical adventures.” Greg scratched the back of his head.

“Actually, that’s close to what happened! I wanna tell you about it!” Steven bounced a little. He was excited to talk about his adventure!

“Alright then, bud.” Greg threw open the back of the van, and sat down at the edge. Steven was quick to join him. “But I dunno if I’ll be able to follow along all that much.” Papyrus sat himself down on the pavement, Amethyst doing the same.

“Yeah! I wanna hear this as well!” Amethyst seemed excited to finally hear the story of how Steven managed to tackle the underground. The three of them listened intently to Steven’s story, with Papyrus chiming it at certain bits.

“...And then, Papyrus pretended to get me in front of a ton of people! And I was like ‘Oh no! You killed me!’” Steven said, raising his hands as he quoted himself.

“AND AFTERWARDS I GAVE A SPEECH TO THE AUDIENCE ABOUT HOW THEY CAN DO ANYTHING IF THEY JUST BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES!”

“Man, that’s SO cliched!” Amethyst butted in.

“I KNOW, RIGHT?” The four of them proceeded to laugh a little before Steven continued the story. It went on for a while, as mid-morning began to turn to noon. Steven spoke of his adventures from a frozen forest, through a calming cavern, and through the raging inferno of magma. And at the end of it all, he helped to set monsters free from centuries of imprisonment.

“...Well, jeez, son. I knew that your magical adventures would have you going off doing some odd things, but I didn’t know that included freeing a completely new group of people!” Greg rubbed the back of his head.

“Yeah! It was super cool! And then Papyrus wanted to join us, so now he’s living here in Beach City!”

“OH RIGHT! I WANTED TO COME ALONG WITH STEVEN, SO I JOINED THE CRYSTAL GEMS.”

“He kicked our butts when we tested him!” Amethyst noted, remembering how Papyrus managed to outmatch both Pearl and herself.

“And he’s gonna help look after me whenever the other gems are out on a mission!” Steven quickly hopped down and ran over to Papyrus, turning back to face Greg. Greg took a small second to process everything.

“Well, it’s good that you’ve got a friend watching over ya, schtu-ball!” Greg put a hand on Steven’s shoulder. Papyrus smiled knowing that Steven’s dad was okay with him. “Is he gonna live with ya in the beach house, or…?” Greg questioned where exactly Papyrus was going to be. Suddenly the realization that there was work to be done smacked him in the face.

“OH NO! WE NEED TO START UNPACKING!”

“And open up that funnily-labeled box!” Amethyst very quickly added on.

“SO SORRY, MR. UNIVERSE, BUT WE NEED TO HEAD OFF! THERE’S IMPORTANT WORK TO BE DONE!”

“Nah, no worries! You three go do your thing!” Greg said, understanding that Papyrus needs to get himself situated in that house.

“Cya, Dad!” Steven called out, as the three then hurried back off towards the temple. Amethyst outran both Steven and Papyrus, excited to see what was in that box. By the time they had caught up with her, she was already outside, and the box from yesterday was already sitting on the sand.

“Alright! Ready to see what’s in this thing?” Amethyst called out, as the duo approached.

“Yep! I’m excited to see what’s in it!” Steven called out as the two of them reached the mystery box.

“ALTHOUGH, YOU REALLY SHOULD LET ME OPEN IT.”

“Sure deal, it’s your junk, after all.” Amethyst commented. Steven and Amethyst stood back as Papyrus opened the box. In it contained…

“WOOD?” Papyrus said as he tossed the lid of the box onto the sand next to him. Steven looked over at it, noticing something.

“Hey, there’s a note!” Steven handed it over to Papyrus, and he started reading.

“paps, garnet told me you’re gonna need a new room in that house, wherever you’re off to. so i quickly got this little box constructed, and had it filled with enough wood to supply whatever room you’re gonna build. it should be handy, and will cut back on the costs of the renovations. anyways, you should probably get to work. hopefully soon i’ll get to a point where i can come visit ya, so be ready for that day. catch ya on the flipside. - sans.” Papyrus looked at the very bottom of the note, where there was one last line. “p.s.: love ya too.”

“HEH, HE’S STILL KEEPING AN EYESOCKET OUT FOR ME.” Papyrus smiled sadly. He stood himself back up, and looked at the house, with a determined look on his face. “RIGHT. LET’S GET TO WORK.”

Chapter Text

ENTRY #8

HELLO, JOURNAL! IT’S PAPYRUS AGAIN. THINGS HAVE BEEN GOING WELL, BUT SOMETHING INTERESTING HAPPENED RECENTLY! APPARENTLY, ALL GEMS, INCLUDING STEVEN, HAVE THE POWER TO SHAPESHIFT. THIS HONESTLY RAISES… SEVERAL QUESTIONS, BUT IT’S A VERY COOL ABILITY THAT I, UNFORTUNATELY, DO NOT HAVE! YOU SEE, IT ALL STARTED WHEN AMETHYST SHOWED UP WITH STEVEN, AND STARTED TURNING INTO A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS! NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WAS FLABBERGASTED AT SUCH A PERFORMANCE! PEARL GOT ONTO HER ABOUT TURNING INTO A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS, HOWEVER. BUT! BOTH STEVEN AND I WERE CURIOUS, SO PEARL EDUCATED US ON HOW SHAPESHIFTING WORKS, BEFORE SHE HEADED OFF TO DO HER OWN THING. STEVEN, HOWEVER, WANTED TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT TO SHAPESHIFT! AMETHYST ATTEMPTED TO SHOW HIM HOW, BUT HE ONLY PARTIALLY SUCCEEDED. HE MANAGED TO TURN HIS FINGER INTO A CAT! WHILE IT WASN’T AS IMPRESSIVE AS, SAY, TURNING YOUR WHOLE BODY INTO A CAT, WE WERE BOTH PROUD OF HIM! HE THEN RAN OFF TO SHOW THE TOWN THAT HE TURNED HIS FINGER INTO A CAT. I ASKED AMETHYST IF IT REALLY WAS OKAY FOR HIM TO RUN OFF AND SHOW OFF SUCH AN… ODD POWER, TO WHICH SHE SAID THAT SHE HERSELF DIDN’T KNOW! HOW ABSURD!

ANYWAYS, IT WAS A WHILE BEFORE STEVEN CAME BACK. BUT WHEN HE DID, ALL HIS OTHER FINGERS GOT TURNED INTO CATS! HE ASKED ME IF I KNEW HOW TO MAKE THEM GO AWAY, AND, BEING AS CLUELESS AS HE IS ABOUT THAT SORT OF DEAL, TOLD HIM THAT I’M UNSURE! AMETHYST THEN CAME TO THE WINDOW, TELLING STEVEN THAT THE THREE GEMS HAD TO RUN OFF ON AN EMERGENCY, AND THAT I WAS IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE STEVEN WAS OKAY. AS AMETHYST HEADED OFF, STEVEN FOLLOWED! I, BEING THE GREAT CARETAKER THAT I AM, ALSO FOLLOWED, AS STEVEN ASKED GARNET AND PEARL IF THEY KNEW WHAT TO DO. UNFORTUNATELY, THEY WERE UNABLE TO HELP, AS IT WAS AN EMERGENCY! WHILE THEY WERE GONE, THE SITUATION BECAME QUITE DIRE, AS STEVEN TRIED TO FORCE HIMSELF TO REMAIN CALM, BUT TO NO AVAIL. HIS ENTIRE ARM TURNED INTO A CAT! THE BOTH OF US PANICKED AS THE SITUATION BECAME WORSE AND WORSE. STEVEN ASKED ME WHAT WE SHOULD DO, TO WHICH I ELECTED TO GO SEE GREG, AS MAYBE HE HAD A BETTER IDEA.

AS WE HURRIED OFF IN THE NIGHT, STEVEN CONTINUED TO CAT-IFY! BY THE TIME WE ARRIVED AT THE CAR WASH, HE WAS AN AMALGAMATION OF CAT FACES. GREG, NOT RECOGNIZING STEVEN, SPRAYED HIM OUT OF FEAR AS WE APPEARED! STEVEN CALLED OUT TO GREG, CLEARLY SCARED OUT OF HIS MIND. I WAS SCARED TOO. HOWEVER, STEVEN THEN NOTICED SOMETHING, AND ORDERED HIS DAD TO SPRAY HIM MORE WITH THE WATER! AS HE DID, THE CAT HEADS ON HIS BODY ATTEMPTED TO ATTACK GREG, BUT I HELD THEM AT BAY AS I GRABBED ONTO HIS HAND AND HELD ON! WE BOTH KNEW THAT A SIMPLE WATER HOSE WOULDN’T BE ENOUGH, SO WE TOLD GREG TO START UP THE SUPER WASH! WHILE GREG WAS HESITANT AT FIRST, HE EVENTUALLY OBLIGED. I HELPED FORCE THE MOSTLY-CATIFIED STEVEN INTO THE WASH, AND THE WASH TOOK IT FROM THERE. WE WATCHED AS SEVERAL MACHINES PROCEEDED TO DOUSE STEVEN WITH MANY GALLONS OF WATER. AS WE HURRIED TO THE EXIT OF THE MACHINE, IN HOPES THAT OUR IDEA HAD WORKED, WE FOUND STEVEN LAYING ON THE GROUND, HIS SHIRT AND PANTS IN TATTERS. GREG HAD HIS HOSE AT THE READY, JUST IN CASE. AS STEVEN STOOD UP, WE MANAGED TO TAKE OUT THE LAST OF THOSE ACCURSED FELINE FINGERS! WE WERE ALL GRATEFUL THAT WE MANAGED TO DIFFUSE THE SITUATION. WHO KNOWS WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF HE HAD CATIFIED COMPLETELY! THE NEXT MORNING, WHEN THE GEMS RETURNED, THEY WERE HAPPY THAT WE MANAGED TO GET THE CATS TO GO AWAY, BUT NOT BEFORE PEARL GOT ONTO AMETHYST.

IN OTHER NEWS, WE’VE MANAGED TO WORK OUT BLUEPRINTS TO MY NEW ROOM! WE’RE GOING TO BE BUILDING IT RIGHT NEXT TO THE BATHROOM ON THE FIRST FLOOR. WE’LL NEED TO START BY TEARING OUT THAT WALL FIRST, BUT THEN WE CAN REALLY GET TO WORK! IN THE MEANTIME, SANS HAS BEEN WORKING HARD ON ESTABLISHING HUMAN-MONSTER RELATIONS, AND SO FAR, THEY HAVE GONE WELL! HE CALLED ME YESTERDAY TO CHECK IN ON ME, TO WHICH WE TALKED TO EACH OTHER FOR A WHILE, UNTIL THE WHOLE THING WITH STEVEN OCCURRED! HE’S BEEN TALKING WITH MANY IMPORTANT WORLD LEADERS, TRYING TO HELP THEM TO UNDERSTAND MONSTERS. AND IN THAT DEPARTMENT, IT HAS, SO FAR, BEEN A SUCCESS!

THE ONLY OTHER NOTABLE DEVELOPMENT IS THAT PEARL SEEMS TO ALWAYS TRY TO OUT-DO ME IN SOME SITUATIONS, SUCH AS CLEANING! I LIKE TO THINK THAT I KEEP THINGS CLEAN AND ORGANIZED ALL THE TIME, BUT I FEEL AS IF PEARL’S STANDARDS OF CLEAN ARE TOO HIGH, EVEN FOR MY STANDARDS! I’M HONESTLY QUESTIONING IF SHE’S GOT SOMETHING GOING ON, BUT I WON’T JUDGE.

ENTRY #12

HELLO ONCE AGAIN, JOURNAL OF MINE! THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREDIBLE OCCURRENCE AS OF THE TIME OF ME WRITING THIS! STEVEN MADE A NEW FRIEND TODAY! HER NAME IS CONNIE. WHILE WE WERE UNABLE TO INTERACT FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME, I DO KNOW CERTAIN THINGS! YOU SEE, IT ALL STARTED WHEN STEVEN WENT OUTSIDE TO RIDE HIS BIKE IN THE SAND. QUITE AN… UNORTHODOX WAY OF TRAVELING ON THE BEACH, BUT I WON’T JUDGE! HOWEVER, THE GEMS CAME INSIDE AND STARTED LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW. I, OUT OF CURIOSITY AND CONFUSION, JOINED THEM IN THEIR OBSERVATION, WHERE WE WITNESSED STEVEN ATTEMPTING TO INTERACT WITH CONNIE! WHILE WE DIDN’T HEAR WHAT HE TRIED TO SAY TO HER, I DO KNOW THAT HE VERY QUICKLY RAN BACK INSIDE! AMETHYST TAUNTED STEVEN, WHICH IS SOMETHING I NOTE THAT SHE DOES OFTEN. PEARL SUGGESTED SETTING UP A PLAY-DATE, AND WHILE I WAS AGAINST THAT TERM IN PARTICULAR, I DID SUGGEST THAT HE SHOULD JUST TRY TO HANG OUT! HOWEVER, GARNET JUST SAID TO LET STEVEN TALK TO HER. HE TOLD US THAT HE WOULD, BUT WE CAN’T WATCH. WE ALL OBLIGED, AND WENT TO GO DO WHATEVER WE DECIDED TO DO TODAY. FOR ME, IT WAS READING A BOOK AND RELAXING! THE SURFACE HAS BEEN GREAT.

HOWEVER, AFTER A COUPLE OF HOURS, WE BEGAN TO GET CONCERNED, AS IT WAS GETTING DARK AND STEVEN WAS YET TO RETURN! THAT’S WHEN WE STARTED HEARING A LOT OF ROARING AND CRASHING NOISES! THE FOUR OF US QUICKLY HURRIED OUT TO FIND STEVEN AND CONNIE STANDING IN FRONT OF A LARGE AMOUNT OF WOODEN RUBBLE! WHILE WE WERE WORRIED FOR THE CHILDREN’S SAFETY, OUR FEARS WERE RELIEVED WHEN CONNIE POINTED OUT THAT HE WAS AMAZING! WHILE WE WERE ALL CURIOUS AS TO WHO THIS MYSTERY PERSON WAS, GARNET VERY QUICKLY DRAGGED US BACK INSIDE, CLAIMING THAT WE WERE RUINING STEVEN’S “FUNKY FLOW.” AFTER THEY CHATTED OUTSIDE FOR A BIT, THEY CAME INSIDE AND CONNIE INTRODUCED HERSELF TO US, BEFORE HAVING TO HURRY OFF, SINCE SHE NEEDED TO BE BACK AT HER OWN HOME.

IN TERMS OF OTHER DEVELOPMENTS, WE’VE BEGUN SETTING UP THE SUPPORTS FOR THE NEW ROOM. THE SUPPLIES SANS PROVIDED IN HIS QUANTUM PHYSICS BOX HAVE BEEN OF GREAT ASSISTANCE! THE RANDOMLY APPEARING SOCKS, HOWEVER, HAVE NOT BEEN. HE COULDN’T HELP BUT PLACE SOME SOCKS IN THE BOX, AND WHENEVER ONE APPEARS, IT IS AGGRAVATING! I SUPPOSE THAT IS THE DOWNSIDE OF SUCH A GREAT TOOL FOR BUILDING. BESIDES THOSE TWO THINGS, HOWEVER, NOT MUCH HAS OCCURRED.

ENTRY #14

WELL, TODAY SURE WAS… INTERESTING. IT WAS ALL FUN AND GAMES UP UNTIL A SERIOUS ACCIDENT OCCURRED! YOU SEE, STEVEN DECIDED TO TAKE US ALL TO FUNLAND FOR A DAY OF ENTERTAINMENT! IT WAS A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE AT THE BEGINNING. SO MANY RIDES AND SOUNDS AND HAPPINESS WAS GOING AROUND! WE HAD FIRST RIDDEN THE ROLLER COASTER, AND IT WAS SUCH A THRILLING EXPERIENCE! WE RACED AROUND THE TRACK AT AN INCREDIBLE SPEED, GOING UP AND DOWN MANY A TIME! WHILE I WAS ORIGINALLY FILLED WITH COMPLETE TERROR AS WE RODE AROUND, I QUICKLY CAME TO ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE! AFTERWARDS, WE TOOK A NICE RIDE ON WHAT STEVEN REFERRED TO AS THE “FERRIS WHEEL.” IT WAS DEFINITELY FAR CALMER AND MORE RELAXING THAN THE COASTER. I RODE IN A “GONDOLA” ALONGSIDE STEVEN, AND WE GOT A GREAT VIEW OF THE CITY AND THE OCEAN! NEVER HAS THE SURFACE LOOKED SO BEAUTIFUL. AFTERWARDS, WE ALL DECIDED TO RIDE THE TEACUPS. WHICH, UNFORTUNATELY, WERE OUR LAST STOP FOR THE DAY. I SAT IN A TEACUP ALONGSIDE PEARL AND AMETHYST, WHILE STEVEN AND GARNET SAT IN THEIR OWN TEACUP. APPARENTLY PEARL MISUNDERSTOOD THE CONCEPT OF THE RIDE, AS SHE HAD BROUGHT OUT A TEA KETTLE! ANYWAYS, THE TEACUPS WERE LIFTED OFF THE GROUND, AND THEY BEGAN TO SPIN! I, BEING A GREAT SKELETON WITH A NON-EXISTENT STOMACH OF IRON, HANDLED THE SPINNING CUPS PERFECTLY FINE! PEARL SEEMED SOMEWHAT CALM, AND AMETHYST HAD FALLEN ASLEEP. HOWEVER, SUDDENLY, THE CUPS STARTED SPINNING AT A VERY RAPID RATE! APPARENTLY STEVEN WANTED OFF THE RIDE, AND JUMPED OFF, LANDING RIGHT ON MR. SMILEY, WHO RUNS THE FUNLAND! HIS ACTIONS CAUSED THE RIDE TO RUN HAYWIRE, AND SENT THE TEACUPS FLYING OFF THE RIDE! WHILE MOST OF THE OCCUPANTS LANDED SAFELY IN THE WATER, THE FOUR OF US WERE NOT SO LUCKY, AS WE FLEW INTO SOME OF THE BUILDINGS! I ONLY SUFFERED MILD INJURIES, THANK GOODNESS, AND THE OTHER GEMS GOT OUT WITHOUT A SCRATCH. HOWEVER, MR. SMILEY WAS VERY UPSET AT STEVEN, AND NOW HE’S BANNED FROM ALL ATTRACTIONS AT FUNLAND!!! QUITE A SAD DAY, AFTER THAT LITTLE INCIDENT. WHILE THE GEMS ARE WORKING OUTSIDE ON THE HOUSE EXPANSION, I’M IN HERE, TRYING TO RECOVER AFTER THE ACCIDENT. STEVEN’S HERE TOO, BUT HE’S UPSTAIRS, PLAYING VIDEO GAMES. WHILE I QUESTION STEVEN’S ACTIONS ON THAT RIDE, I WILL FORGIVE HIM FOR CAUSING SUCH AN UNFORTUNATE EVENT. LAST THING HE NEEDS AT THIS IMMEDIATE MOMENT IS FOR HIS CLOSE FRIEND TO BE UPSET AT HIM.

SANS CALLED YESTERDAY. SAID THAT YESTERDAY MARKED TWO WEEKS SINCE MONSTERS GOT TO THE SURFACE. STEVEN WAS GLAD TO HEAR FROM SANS, SINCE HIS OLD PHONE WAS, APPARENTLY, DESTROYED. I DON’T KNOW HOW OR WHY HIS PHONE WAS DESTROYED, BUT IT HAPPENED. ANYWAYS! WE CHATTED FOR A BIT, SANS CHECKED IN ON HOW I WAS DOING, I CHECKED IN ON HOW HE, AND MANY OLD FRIENDS, WERE DOING, AND OVERALL IT WAS A NICE CONVERSATION! HE’S BEEN VERY BUSY, SO IT’S ODDLY NICE WHEN I GET A PHONE CALL FROM HIM. ...I STILL MISS HIM DEARLY. I HOPE HE FINDS TIME TO VISIT SOON. IN THE MEANTIME, I MIGHT AS WELL TRY TO REST.

Chapter Text

The five of them were warping away already. Papyrus had barely any time to put on all the janky armor he had to wear today, let alone eat breakfast. Where they were going, and why they were going there was beyond him. All he knew was that this was both his & Steven’s first mission.

“Both of you. Pay attention. This is going to be your first serious mission. You both need to be ready.” Garnet stoically said as they flew through the warp. Steven, just like any other time Papyrus has gone with him through the warp, was goofing off. At least this time he didn’t bump into Papyrus. Instead, he was just floating upside-down.

“YES! I’m ready! I’m so ready!” Steven announced, looking as childish as ever. He brought an instrument along with him, and Papyrus chose not to question why.

“I’M ALSO READY! BUT NEXT TIME, CAN WE HAVE A BIT LONGER TO GET OURSELVES READY? WE WERE IN A RUSH OUT THE DOOR!” Papyrus knew that what they were doing was serious, but kids like Steven and skeletons like himself needed their time in the morning to get ready to roll.

“Sometimes there is no time, Papyrus. When it’s an emergency, you’ll need to be out in the field in seconds!” Pearl replied, giving reason to the rush. “And Steven, stop floating around like that! You’ll make yourself sick!” Pearl quickly flipped Steven right-side up. “Did you REALLY have to bring the ukulele?” She, unlike Papyrus, questioned Steven’s choice of accessories.

“I dunno! I was excited, and it’s mine, and I like it too much to not take it along!” The ukulele began to float up into the air. Steven, noticing his prized item, flew upwards to retrieve it. Pearl hollered at him from below.

“Steven get down here! You could get seriously-”

And they arrived at the destination. The skeleton had barely a moment to take in the surroundings before he heard the sound of Steven landing in the distance. Papyrus, Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet all rushed over to where he landed, and noticed that the kid was covered in goop. Pearl asked if he was okay.

“Steven! Are you okay-”

“I’m fine! It’s okay! I’m just… gooey!” Steven alleviated the group of their fears that he was injured, as he licked the goop on his arm. Although that goop came with the hazard of butterflies, as they swarmed him, trying to also get a taste of the delicious goop. Steven cried out in panic, to which Papyrus responded by grabbing him, and waving the butterflies away.

“They’re just butterflies, Steven.” Garnet said, as Papyrus turned back to face her.

“Ehehe… Well, they looked a lot bigger when they were on my eyes.” Steven said, causing Amethyst to laugh a little.

“Oh Steven, you’re a RIOT.”

“I’m suddenly having second thoughts on bringing Steven with us.” Pearl said, mostly to herself.

“HEY! WHAT’S THE POINT OF BEING A CRYSTAL GEM IF YOU CAN’T EVEN DO THE THINGS NORMAL CRYSTAL GEMS DO? LIKE GO ON MISSIONS SUCH AS THIS ONE!” Papyrus spoke up. “PLUS, IF HE COULD HANDLE THE UNDERGROUND, I’M CERTAIN THAT STEVEN WILL BE FINE ON THIS ADVENTURE!” He wiped a small amount of goop off of Steven, giving him a soft smile. Steven could do this!

"Come on. Let’s get to work.” Garnet began to lead the group to what their goal was. As they began to walk, Papyrus was able to take in the surroundings. It was a giant field of massive strawberries, and old, giant weapons. Ones that, if he stood right next to them, he’d look like a miniature skeleton figurine.

“SO, ERM, GARNET. YOU NEVER TOLD STEVEN AND I WHAT THIS MISSION WAS GOING TO BE ABOUT.” Papyrus spoke, near the end of the line as they walked.

“This is a simple gem recovery mission.” Garnet always delivered as much information using the fewest words possible.

“And in such a lovely place too!” Pearl gushed in how beautiful the field was. “This place used to be an old gem battlefield, but now it’s just wild strawberries as far as the eye can see! That’s what I love about the earth! Maybe this WILL be a light mission after all.” The group came to a sudden stop when they were standing in front of a giant structure. Papyrus looked up, and it was a giant, upside-down pyramid.

“...OR NOT?”

“Or not.” Garnet affirmed. She summoned a similarly-shaped pyramid keystone and slid it into a slot. A door opened, and the group saw themselves in, with Steven in awe at the mystery of this place. Papyrus noticed several different murals on the walls, and took to admiring them.

“INTERESTING…” The room’s emptiness caused his voice to echo across the room and back.

“Hey! What’s this? It’s like a cool… floaty triangle thing!” Papyrus looked over to see Steven looking at what was, indeed, a floating triangle.

“Well whatever it is, you probably shouldn’t touch it-” And Steven just HAD to go and touch it. The pyramid flipped over, and the whole room began to shake. Everyone ran over to the child, Papyrus included.

“Steven! What have we told you about touching magical things!” Pearl scolded Steven. Papyrus felt like something very odd was going on, and he began to feel like his body was going to fly off the floor.

“NEVER MIND THAT! SOMETHING WEIRD IS GOING ON!” Papyrus felt even lighter, until suddenly… off they went, flying through a hole in the ceiling of the room, down a large shaft. Papyrus focused himself on slowing his fall, grabbing onto what thin ledges there were, even if it only slowed his descent by a fraction of a second. He somehow managed to land on the floor without breaking a bone, but, despite nearly sticking the landing, he stumbled and fell over. Accursed armor and it’s jankiness! As he stood himself back up, he noted many different doorways, with fire for lighting between each one.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to split up.” Amethyst said.

“Right. Steven and I will stay right here where it’s safe, while you three go and solve the mystery of this place.” Pearl said, patting Steven’s shoulders.

“OH NO WAY. IF THIS IS A SERIOUS MISSION, I’D AT LEAST PREFER COMPANY WHEN I WALK INTO WHATEVER THOSE ROOMS MIGHT HOLD!” Papyrus intruded. He was NOT going this alone, even if it’s serious.

“I also wanna help solve the mystery!” Steven called out, readying himself for this challenge.

“Yeah, c’mon Steven! Let’s go solve the mystery.” Amethyst announced, picking up and beginning to carry him away, before Pearl stopped her by grabbing Steven herself.

“Nope! No, no, no, no, no. You aren’t going ANYWHERE. ESPECIALLY with her. You two are a disaster waiting to happen.” Pearl argued.

“Steven goes with me. Papyrus, you go with Pearl.” Garnet simply said. Pearl gave a shocked look, accidentally dropping Steven to the floor.

“Wh-wha? Why are you sending the two of US in a group?!?”

“Who cares!” Steven blurted out.

“But remember, Steven. This is a serious mission.” Garnet reminded Steven.

“Right. Serious Steven… activate!” Steven then proceeded to walk off, arms outstretched like that of a robot. Garnet followed.

“But this could be the teacups all over again!” Pearl thought out loud. Papyrus quickly recalled that incident, and how it all ended.

“Hey! I’ve put that behind me.” Steven and Garnet vanished into a hallway. Amethyst rushed off to another door, while Papyrus and Pearl chose a room and walked into it. When they walked in, they were greeted by a small peninsula of floor, which its cliff was accompanied by spikes. On the walls were spike traps, designed to activate at any moment. The door slammed behind them, leaving them stuck in what appeared to be an empty room, with a spike pit to throw themselves into.

“WELL… THIS IS QUITE THE PREDICAMENT.”

“Nonsense! All we have to do is walk across those small ledges and get to the exit!” Pearl pointed out the small ledges on the walls, clearly designed to have people shimmy across them. Papyrus suddenly put everything together.

“OH! IT’S A PUZZLE! THE UNDERGROUND WAS FULL OF THESE! EXCEPT THEY WERE A LOT LESS… DEADLY.” Papyrus got on one ledge and started shimmying across, while Pearl did the same. When they came close to one of the many plates of spikes, a couple of spikes shot out as a warning. Papyrus took a guess at this being a “dodge the randomly emerging spikes” game. “WELL, WE’D BETTER NOT MESS UP.”

“I suppose we shouldn’t.” Pearl quickly began to move across the first of the three spike plates on her side. Every time it looked like a spike was about to emerge, she gracefully weaved to the side, dodging the spike perfectly. She reached the end of the first plate and moved onwards.

“RIGHT, HERE GOES NOTHING…” Papyrus began moving along his edge. He slowly worked his way across, his armor not helping him all that much. About halfway through the first set of spikes, he heard a sound coming from the spike plate. He quickly realized the warning sound, and frantically slipped over to one side. As the spike shot out, he began to hear another warning sound, this time near his leg. Papyrus raised his leg up, hoping that he didn’t lose his balance and fall. After the spikes retracted, he quickly hurried to the area in between his first and second spike plates.

“THAT WAS CLOSE.” Papyrus took a deep breath, reminding himself to not look down. He decided to not focus on watching Pearl, instead focusing on getting himself to the end. He began to work his way forward again, entering the second field of wall spikes. He heard a warning, one that, if he didn’t react quickly, would send a spike straight into his skull. Papyrus squatted down, and kept moving forward. Another spike, another close dodge. He reached the area between the second and last plates.

“TWO OUT OF THREE! I CAN DO THIS.”

“Alright, Papyrus. Let’s hurry it up so we can get to the next room.” Papyrus glanced over at the end of the room, and saw that Pearl was already there. He focused himself before making the final approach. He entered the final field, but stopped when something odd happened. It looked like the entire plate of spikes was going to shoot out at him at once in a few seconds. He didn’t have much time, so he hurriedly shimmied on, and when he was close enough to the platform, he leaped, just barely landing on the platform as the spikes shot out.

“...WAY TOO CLOSE. AT LEAST WE MADE IT!” Papyrus congratulated himself for surpassing the very deadly puzzle.

“Yes, we did. Anyways, let’s continue onwards!” Pearl shot off down the hall, with Papyrus following suit. They entered a new room, this time it was a large hallway, with no pitfalls this time. The door, like the previous room, slammed shut. He began by noting that, starting after the second row of tiles, the tile colors were different.

“HMM… ANOTHER PUZZLE?” Pearl joined Papyrus in examining what this deathtrap had in store.

“Yes, I suppose these are all puzzles. Why are these tiles a different color?” Pearl questioned what the different-colored tiles meant. Papyrus looked around, hoping to find a clue. He noticed that the tiles on the ceiling formed a path with lighter-colored tiles. He put the entire puzzle together.

“OH! I KNOW THE SOLUTION!” Papyrus looked up and started walking the path.

“Wait, Papyrus, we don’t know if…” Pearl looked up, wondering why the skeleton was looking at the ceiling. “...Oh.” Pearl started following the path as well. The two of them marched to the exit, completing the second room.

“NYEH HEH HEH! ANOTHER PUZZLE SOLVED BY ME!” Pearl groaned in response to Papyrus once again applauding himself.

“Let’s just get going.” Pearl walked onwards. Papyrus’s smile faded slightly, but he still smiled.

“OH, RIGHT! I SUPPOSE WE SHOULD CONTINUE.” The two of them marched into puzzle number three. It was another large hallway, except all the tiles were normal this time around. The door closed itself. “RIGHTY-O! PUZZLE NUMBER THREE!” Papyrus took to looking at some murals on the walls, hoping for a hint to this room. Pearl did the same.

“These are quite old. I wonder if they hold any hint as to how this room can be solved…” Pearl pondered. As Papyrus examined the wall, he heard movement coming from the roof. He looked up to see… a lot of spikes. Before he could warn Pearl, a group of spikes began to descend upon her. Papyrus quickly used blue magic, and yanked her out of the way of the spikes before they could harm her, much to both Pearl and Papyrus’s surprise. He had never attempted blue magic on a gem before, and didn’t know if it would even work.

“SORRY! ARE YOU OKAY? IT LOOKED LIKE THOSE SPIKES WERE ABOUT TO CRUSH YOU AND I DIDN’T KNOW THAT MY BLUE MAGIC WOULD WORK-”

“Nevermind that! We have to get out of this room!” Pearl snapped. Papyrus shook off his worry about her being fine as he quickly realized that another spike plate was approaching. He quickly jumped to the side, and the duo started hurrying towards the exit. As Pearl danced gracefully, dodging each possibility of a very painful death, Papyrus was not-so-graceful in his dodging. There were SEVERAL close calls for the skeleton, having to constantly stop and move while in hopes of the clunky armor not failing him now. He managed to bolt to the end of the room, where he stopped and caught his breath just after passing the doorway.

“NOW I DEFINITELY SEE WHY YOU WERE HESITANT ON BRINGING STEVEN ALONG.” Papyrus commented, as he leaned on the side of the wall.

“Oh so NOW you do?”

“I DIDN’T EXPECT ALL OF THESE DEATH TRAPS!” Papyrus stood himself back up and started walking with Pearl down the hallway. “AT LEAST GARNET IS KEEPING AN EYE ON STEVEN. MAYBE SHE’S KEPT HIM SAFE THIS ENTIRE TIME!”

“I hope so, this place is dangerous!” Pearl scoffed as they began to walk down the hall.

“LET’S JUST HOPE THAT WE CAN GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE ONE OF US DOES GET SERIOUSLY HURT.” Papyrus said, still trying to keep an optimistic look about this. The two of them walked down the hall, and emerged… wait a second.

“ISN’T THIS THE ROOM WE STARTED IN?”

“Wait… no! It can’t be! Papyrus, wait here.” Pearl rushed off into another corridor. While she was gone, He heard someone screaming, and turned to see Amethyst enter the circular room.

“Agh! It’s HOPELESS!!!” She barked in rage.

“AMETHYST! WHAT’S GOING ON HERE? PEARL AND I WENT THROUGH SOME ROOMS AND THEN WE-”

“Ended up back here?!? Yeah! Me too!” Amethyst was clearly upset over this predicament. “There’s gotta be a way out!” She dashed back off into yet another corridor. Who knows what’s waiting behind THAT door. Soon after Amethyst vanished, Papyrus heard a familiar voice speak up.

“We’re back where we started.” He looked over to see Garnet and Steven standing there.

“STEVEN! OH THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE OKAY! WITH WHAT PEARL AND I WENT THROUGH I CAN’T EVEN IMAGINE WHAT PERILS YOU TWO FACED!!!” Papyrus gave Steven a quick hug, whose hair was burnt and shirt torn from a clearly nasty encounter beforehand.

“This doesn’t make sense!” The trio turned around to see Pearl standing outside one of the many doorways, with a baffled expression on her face. “Garnet! There you are! The rooms… every single door we take just leads us back to here!” They all heard Amethyst re-emerge from a hallway, with the most amount of frustration Papyrus has ever seen from the gem.

“Get me OUT OF THIS HORRIBLE PLACE!” She ran down yet another hallway.

“There are sixteen doors and with each door we traveled through three rooms in a straight line, and yet ended up back here, but through a different door! What this means is, well… I don’t know what this means!” Amethyst re-emerged from a different door, this time entrapped within ice. “THIS IS A DEATH TRAP!!!” Pearl began to bash at the frozen block of ice, trying to get her out.

“THEN WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?” Papyrus looked back over at Garnet, as Pearl continued to chip away at the ice block.

“We go back in again. And again. And again.” Garnet responded, much to Steven’s dismay. He cried out in upset.

“I can’t!” Everyone else in the room turned to face the young boy.

“Steven!” Pearl called out, preparing to comfort the kid.

“It’s okay.” Garnet said.

“No! It’s not okay! You were all right about me! I wanted to do this so bad, but now I feel like I’m gonna throw up!” Papyrus noticed that he was looking rather sweaty and nauseous. “This is just like the teacups!”

“STEVEN! WE’LL FIND A WAY OUT!”

“No! Like I actually feel sick! What if it is just like the teacups? And it’s why we’re getting so lost?!” At that comment, Garnet summoned two giant gauntlets and began to punch a hole in the floor. Soon enough, the entire floor in the room gave way, and they all fell into a large room with a large amount of floating, rotating platforms, which all circulated a single pillar in the center. Papyrus managed to grab onto the ledge of a platform, and pulled himself up. When he looked around for the others, they all appeared to be fine. He was slightly worried when he saw Garnet holding Steven by his shirt.

“This is unbelievable!” He looked over to see Pearl, who was projecting a hologram from her gem. “This gem powered mechanism! It’s manipulating the rooms above! Every room we entered spun us around until we came back to the central chamber! This is just like the teacup ride back at Funland!” Steven: one; gem dungeon: zero.

“Steven already figured that out.” Garnet commented, causing Pearl to become embarrassed. Pearl quickly turned off the hologram from her gem. Papyrus was glad that skeletons can’t get dizzy, otherwise it would be a terrible time for him at this moment.

“Garnet! I need to get off the ride now!” Papyrus looked back over at Steven and Garnet, and noticed that she was aiming to throw Steven at the central pillar.

“Serious Steven… go!” Garnet threw him at the pillar. When he landed, Papyrus watched as he began to pull the gem out. A large triangular face rotated, and all of the platforms suddenly stopped. Steven fell to the floor below the platforms, and stood up as the gem began to glow. All of the platforms began to glow as well, and it looked like bits of them began to get sucked into the gem itself. The gem was glowing brighter, and brighter. As bright as a star. Papyrus began to hear a noise radiate from the gem, and as the light became too powerful for him to deal with, he threw his arms up in front of his face to guard himself from the blinding aura. His entire vision went white, and the deafening sound of an explosion also reached Papyrus. Despite him closing his eyes, all he could see for a bit was pure white. But as his vision returned to normalcy, he was looking up and saw the sky. Did they make it out?

“Steven? STEVEN!?” Papyrus heard Pearl calling out for the boy. He attempted to lift himself back up, but he clearly wasn’t quite ready to be walking. Whatever happened really did a number on him, even with the armor. “Where is he?!”

“He’s over here!” He heard Amethyst comment. “Speaking of where people are, where’s the Pap-skelion?”

“I’M… RIGHT HERE.” Papyrus said, groaning. He looked up as the rest of the group looked over him.

“Papyrus! Are you okay?” Steven asked, helping Papyrus to his feet.

“I’M… I’LL BE FINE. I SAY WE DID WELL FOR OUR FIRST MISSION!”

“I’ll agree with that.” Papyrus watched as Pearl took the gem from Steven’s other hand, put it in a bubble, and sent it away. He watched it happen back when Steven first met Connie, and Garnet explained the basics of it to him. He won’t ever learn how to do things like that, but he’s still a crystal gem nonetheless.

“Yeah, nice job, ‘serious Steven’!” Amethyst congratulated Steven. Papyrus looked over to see Garnet picking up Steven’s ukulele from the rubble.

“I prefer… regular Steven.” Garnet handed the ukulele back to the kid, which he gladly took.

“...I’M JUST IMPRESSED THAT I SURVIVED THAT EXPLOSION.”

“Heheh, me too.” Steven simply responded.

Chapter Text

Papyrus had just arrived back home. The group had just finished up a successful mission, with Amethyst adding a little bit of fun on top of everything. Pearl, however, was clearly not amused by Amethyst’s idea of fun. As the two gems bickered, Papyrus began to remove his armor, covered in goop from what Amethyst did beforehand. Papyrus, too busy getting his clunky, stained armor off, failed to notice Steven calling out to the group. He did overhear the temple door opening, shortly followed by the house door opening and closing. Papyrus smiled, noting that every day that passes the more progress is done on building his new room. There were still a ton of boxes, most of them placed in areas near the temple door so they wouldn’t get in the way.

“Papyrus! A little help?” He heard Steven call out to him.

“JUST A SECOND, STEVEN. I NEED TO GET THIS ARMOR OFF!” Papyrus ripped off the last bit of the janky armor. He’s been learning how to deal with it, but he can’t feel like Pearl got some sort of enjoyment from seeing him walk around weirdly, and not be as agile. He noted that whenever he did something clumsily on their mission, Pearl either smiled or laughed. Amethyst would do the same, but it felt in-character for her to poke a little fun at another’s clumsiness. She does it all the time. Papyrus looked over and saw Steven, who was covered in the previously mentioned goop, frozen in place in the middle of the room. He stood himself up and walked over. “SO! WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE SITUATION?”

“Well, um… I can’t move! This goop stuff got super solid! And now I’m stuck!” Steven attempted to wiggle, but nothing happened. Papyrus sighed.

“ALRIGHTY. I’LL HELP YOU OUT! BUT I’M GOING TO NEED A TOOL FOR CHIPPING THIS STUFF OFF.” Papyrus opened some drawers, but couldn’t find anything good for this job in particular. He had to run with a very risky item this time around. He pulled a knife from a drawer. “OKAY STEVEN. NOW YOU’RE GOING TO NEED TO REMAIN ABSOLUTELY STILL! OTHERWISE THIS WILL END VERY BADLY.”

“W-Wait! Are you sure I’ll be fine?!”

“RELAX! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE THE HANDS OF A SURGEON!” Papyrus, in his haste to get something close to a makeshift chisel, grabbed a hammer that they had been using for construction. He began to slowly chip away, starting around Steven’s neck, or lack thereof. Afternoon turned to dusk, and dusk turned to night. The progress the two of them made wasn’t what Papyrus hoped to reach, but he decided they could pick things up tomorrow.

“DRATS. I WAS HOPING WE’D BE ABLE TO GET YOU OUT OF THERE BEFORE BED, BUT IT’S SO LATE! I SUPPOSE WE WILL HAVE TO CONTINUE IN THE MORNING.” Papyrus grabbed Steven’s blanket and threw it over him. “THAT OUGHT TO AT LEAST KEEP YOU WARM. WE’RE DEFINITELY GETTING PIZZAS ONCE YOU GET OUT OF THAT THING!” Papyrus prepared himself for bed, turned off the lights, and settled himself down on the couch. “GOOD NIGHT, STEVEN!”

“Night, Papyrus!” Papyrus closed his eyes and dozed off. Tomorrow, he’ll need to get Steven out of that gunk.

...

Papyrus opened his eyes calmly at the sound of his alarm going off. 7 AM, which is now his first alarm. He lifted himself out of bed and stretched, looking over where Steven was the night before. However, he was surprised to see that he wasn’t there anymore. Perhaps he managed to break free? Papyrus peeked upstairs and saw the boy fast asleep and resting. He sighed, before speaking to himself.

“GOOD. HE’S RESTING IN HIS BED FOR NOW. I SUPPOSE I SHOULD RUN OUT TO TOWN…” Papyrus got himself ready for the day, and headed off. A nice, morning constitutional that he hasn’t been able to get in for the past couple of days. Papyrus recently discovered the greatest trick, which had increased his enjoyment of many surface foods significantly: Either use a napkin to remove grease, or ask for no grease. It allowed him to enjoy a more savory flavor of pizza, in his opinion. But he was getting rather bored of just… getting pizza when eating in town. He wanted a new experience! One more unique! He spied with his skeletal eye socket a different food joint this time, this one resembling that of a bunch of fries. With his newest epiphany, Papyrus decides to try out the place.

“HELLO!” Papyrus greeted a small boy, no bigger than Steven, with hair resembling that of small french fries.

“Oh, hey! You must be that ‘Papyrus’ guy Steven spoke about. Welcome to Fryman’s Fries, how can I help ya?” It felt nice to be talked about. Guess the people of this town are used to such strange sights.

“A MEDIUM FRY, PLEASE! NO GREASE, THOUGH.”

“Huh. Never got an order like that before. But sure thing, one medium fry, coming right up.” The young kid headed over to the back to start prepping the fries. Papyrus grabbed his wallet and opened it up. Steven gave him some surface currency for the time being, and Papyrus has been keeping track of how much he’ll need to pay Steven back once monster currency can be transferred for dollars.

“Woah! No way!” Papyrus’s vision jumped from his wallet to a new guy at the counter, this time wearing a fiery shirt. His hair was similar to that of the young boy’s, but curlier. Not to mention the ice pack on his head. “I gotta get this for my blog!”

“OH, HELLO THERE! I’M PAPYRUS.” Papyrus decided to ask why this guy wanted a picture of him for his blog after the photo. Was it fame? Social status? Some other thing? Whatever it was, Papyrus did a quick pose for the picture.

“Oh man! I gotta put this on my blog right now!” The guy began typing on his phone, staring intensely at the screen.

“SO, WHY DID YOU WANT A PICTURE OF ME? AND WHAT’S WITH THE ICE PACK?”

“You’d know about it if you followed my blog, ‘Keep Beach City Weird!’ It’s where I post about all the weird things that happen in Beach City.” He turned his phone around to show his blog. Papyrus really needs to start working with human apps if he wants to keep up-to-date. “And as for the ice pack, it, well…”

“OH! IF IT IS A MATTER OF YOU WISH FOR SOME SORT OF PAIN TO DISAPPEAR, I CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!” Papyrus caused a simple, green bone to materialize from the palm of his hand, and shot it at the procurer of weirdness. Almost immediately, he perked up.

“Dude what the heck was that! That was so cool!” Papyrus's face beamed up. Green magic never fails!

"GREEN MAGIC! IT CAN LESSEN PAIN AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE!" The skeleton smiled confidently, lifting a finger as he gave the brief explanation.

“Here are your fries, sir.” The younger of what Papyrus now assumed to be brothers set a basket of fries on the counter. He handed the young boy the money needed and got his change, and fries, in return. He thanked him before heading off. Papyrus sat himself down on the boardwalk’s edge, and began chewing down on the fries. As he ate fries, like any normal magical skeleton would, he thought about how interesting his life has become recently. The surface, being so distant from people he used to know, the gems, it all shook things up. But the buzzing of his phone snapped him back to the present. It was a text from Steven, asking if he could grab some donuts while he was out! Today WAS going to be a productive day of building his room. They had made a lot of progress recently, and everyone, possibly including Steven, would need to chime in today. He finished his fries and walked into the Big Donut. It'd been a minute since he paid a visit to the procurer of tasty sweets. As he entered, he saw Sadie and Lars conversing.

“I’m tellin’ ya, Sadie, that Purple Puma guy is the-”

“HELLO, SADIE! HELLO, LARS!” Papyrus approached the counter in the middle of Lars’s sentence. He jumped in surprise. Everyone in this town sure isn’t used to seeing a skeleton roaming the streets yet.

“Gyah! Uh, hi! W-Welcome to the Big Donut! How can I help you?” Lars quickly attempted to regain his composure, but to no avail.

“Oh, hey Papyrus! How are you doing?” Sadie perked up, not even close to being as shocked as Lars in the presence of the skeleton.

“TWO OF STEVEN’S USUALS, AND ONE CHOCOLATE DONUT!” Why Papyrus enjoyed the chocolate donuts was beyond him. All he knew was that they tasted good. “AND TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, I’M DOING QUITE WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!” Papyrus had already produced his wallet and handed Sadie the money required. “SO, ANYTHING INTERESTING OCCUR RECENTLY?” Papyrus hoped to make small talk while Lars filled the bag with the order.

“Eh, nothing much, besides-”

“Besides that stupid Purple Puma winning in the ring again. Ugh.” Lars cut Sadie off. Who, or what, was this “Purple Puma” character? Papyrus gave a puzzled look.

“PURPLE… PUMA?”

“Oh, you don’t know? Beach City Underground Wrestling?” Sadie asked in return.

“DOESN’T RING A BELL.” That seemed to catch Lars’s attention.

“What?! You don’t know?! How could you not? There’s, like, an entire massive week-long event going on right now!” Lars’s face was a mix of shock, surprise, and confusion.

“If ya want, you could tag with us to the matches tonight.” Papyrus perked up at that opportunity. But at the same time he quickly weighed his options. On one end, he has a lot of work to do today with the gems. On the other hand, it’s time with acquaintances and possibly a good way to unwind. He’s just been so BUSY recently. Why not set some time aside to enjoy himself?

“...OKAY! I SHALL TAG ALONG FOR THE EVENING! WHERE, AND WHEN, AM I SUPPOSED TO BE AT THIS EVENT?”

“It’s in an abandoned warehouse on the hilltop. Can’t really miss it. And 10 PM! It’s going to be great.” Sadie gave an enthusiastic look. Papyrus collected the donuts from the countertop and made his way off, waving goodbye as he did so. As he arrived on the beach, to his home, he saw that Garnet and Pearl had already gotten to work. Papyrus made his way inside, and spotted Amethyst and Steven, with Steven holding a pre-tied tie.

“HELLO, STEVEN! TWO OF YOUR USUAL, LIKE YOU REQUESTED!” Papyrus dug Steven's donuts out of the bag and handed them to him.

"Yay! Thanks, Papyrus!" Steven quickly scarfed down one of the donuts as Papyrus put his in the fridge.

"SO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Papyrus directed the question towards Steven, but Amethyst answered instead.

"We're just playin' dress-up. Want in?" Papyrus just shook his head.

“SORRY, AMETHYST. I’LL BE WORKING ON MY ROOM ALL DAY!” Amethyst gave a… less than pleased look.

“Pssh, whatever, Papy. Have fun.” Papyrus made his way out the door, met up with Garnet and Pearl, and got to work. There was relatively no chatter between the trio as they worked, with the exception of a lunch break they took. Morning changed to afternoon, and afternoon shifted to evening. How time flies.

“PHEW. I THINK THAT’S ENOUGH WORK FOR TODAY. THIS PART OF THE ROOF IS COMPLETE!” Papyrus did a quick victory pose to celebrate the progress made. Garnet remained stoic, while Pearl just gave a confused look. “WHAT? HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF A VICTORY POSE?”

“O-Oh! Yes, I have. I was just… confused.” Well now Papyrus just feels awkward. He decided to head back inside and cool off after spending so much energy.

“WELL, I’M GOING TO GO BACK INSIDE AND EAT DINNER. NOTHING LIKE PRODUCTIVITY TO WORK UP AN APPETITE!” Papyrus marched himself indoors and cooked himself a nice meal: spaghetti. Which, thanks to instruction from Steven, was actually enjoyable. Never got it quite right with Undyne. After the matter of dinner was the usual daily ritual of writing a journal entry. As time passed, Papyrus messed around with his phone. Steven helped him pick out some good applications for connecting with humans. And watching videos.

“And this is TubeTube! It has a bunch of super-cool videos you can watch!” Steven announced. The video Steven showed Papyrus was that of some guy entertaining a cat.

“HOW INTRIGUING! THIS IS QUITE THE UNIQUE VIDEO!” Since he just got his account, he’d have to filter through all the not-so-interesting videos. Papyrus took out his phone and checked the time. 9:30 PM. Nearly time for the show! But why was Steven still awake? Papyrus shrugged it off, and announced his leave. “I SHALL BE OFF! I AM GOING TO HANG OUT WITH PEOPLE!”

“Okay! Bye, Papyrus!” Steven saw the skeleton off. Papyrus equipped himself with his jacket, as the nights have been getting slightly chillier recently. He stopped by a store to get drinks and snacks, and hurried to the abandoned warehouse. Lars and Sadie were waiting outside.

"I HAVE ARRIVED! AND I BRING SNACKS FOR OUR ENJOYMENT!" Papyrus lifted up his arms, showing off the drinks and a couple bags of chaps.

"Papyrus! You're just in time. They're about to begin. We didn't think you'd show up." Sadie chuckled slightly.

"HOW ABSURD! I WOULD NEVER DITCH A HANGOUT! THAT IS VERY UNFRIENDLY OF ME!" The three of them walked into the building and took their seats. The back wall was completely blown out, but a wrestling ring still stood in the center of the damaged building. As they waited for the matches to begin, Papyrus caught out of the corner of his eye socket a couple of people enter the building and approach the ring.

“Welcome, all of you! To Beach City Underground Wrestling! Tonight’s matches are bound to be interestin’! This is day four of our week-long wrestling extravaganza, so make sure to come back every night from now on to see how it ends!” Was that… Mr. Smiley? He sure does run a ton of things around here in town. “Now, for our first match, we’ve got two local heroes in the ring! They build hospitals for the sick, and build muscles that look slick! Give it up for Concrete Heat, and Chuck Truck!” Papyrus’s vision jumped over to one corner of the ring to see two guys dressed up as construction workers.

“Those guys are great! It’s always a good match when they fight,” Papyrus heard Lars whisper.

“And in the other corner, now attemptin’ to grab the tag-team belt, we’ve got the Purple Puma and our newest, mew-est competitor, Tiiiiiger Millionaire!!!” Papyrus’s vision shifted yet again, and it took him a split second to take in what he saw. Large. Purple skin. White hair. And was… was that a gem on their chest? And the other one. Small, wearing a button-up shirt & overalls. A pink briefcase? And a cat nose? Steven was also wearing the same tie from earlier that day! They couldn’t be… could they?

“That lil’ guy’s gonna get creamed.” Lars commented.

“From here, he kinda looks like Steven.” Sadie was munching on some popcorn she brought.

“WHAT? THAT’S ABSURD! THAT COULDN’T POSSIBLY BE STEVEN! HE WOULD NEVER HURT ANYONE!” Then again, the resemblance was… uncanny. The bell rang, and the match began. The opening move was thrown out by Puma, charging at Chuck. A lot of boos were given by the crowd, Lars included.

“Oh! A devastating move by Purple Puma!” Smiley commented. Papyrus leaned over to Sadie.

“WHY ARE THEY BOOING? ISN’T THERE SUCH A THING AS GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP?”

“Eh, it’s all part of the fun. No one really cares whether you’re cheered or booed for.” Sadie seemed indifferent about this match. And suddenly…

“What an incredible misuse of traffic safety equipment, and your tax dollars!” The announcement rang through the building. Papyrus looked back and saw that Puma now has a cone stuck on their head.

“WAIT! THAT ISN’T FAIR!”

“It may not seem fair, but hey, anything goes in wrestling.” Was that a response from Smiley, or just commentary? “Oh yes it does!” Apparently that gave Tiger an idea.
“Hey! Chuck Truck! I’ll give you a million Jungle Bucks to throw the match!” Tiger raised the pink suitcase, tempting Chuck.

“What’s this? It looks like Tiger Millionaire is offering… a bribe!” Smiley continued his commentary. Chuck went over to the suitcase, which suddenly opened, knocking him back. It threw the trio of spectators for a shock.

“Oh, snap! Did you see that?!” Lars shouted. Now THIS was a match. Apparently the false bribe gave Purple Puma enough time to get the cone off of their head, and then body-slammed Chuck, leaving him down for the count. He yelped in defeat.

“Oh! I mean just… wow.” Smiley tried to contain the excitement himself, as Tiger gave an awkward wave to the crowd, and then froze completely.  He was looking… directly at Papyrus. Something’s up. Puma grabbed his hand, and then looked over at the skeleton. They froze up as well. Something is CLEARLY wrong here. The bell rang, announcing the end of the match. “Well, what an incredible move by Tiger Millionaire! We’re gonna take a 15 minute break before the next match begins, so stick around!”

“...SOMETHING'S… FISHY AROUND HERE.” Papyrus watched as Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire left through the hole in the wall. “I’LL… BE RIGHT BACK. I NEED TO CHECK SOMETHING.”

“O...kay?” Sadie responded, as Papyrus lifted himself up and hurried out the doors. He quickly ran around back, and saw the duo from the match.

“Oh gosh, man! I didn’t think Papyrus would be here!” Puma worried.

“What are we going to do?!” Tiger cried out. Papyrus watched as Purple Puma enveloped themselves in light, and shrunk down, revealing… Amethyst.

“Okay. Okay. If we can just play it cool, and pretend we don’t know him for every night we do this, we might just get away with this wrestling thing.”

“AMETHYST…?” The duo jumped in fear, both screaming out.

“Papyrus, what- I-I mean, do I know you?” Tiger was covering something.

“Ugh, it’s no use, Steven. He already knows I’m Puma, and it wouldn’t take him long to find out that you’re Tiger.” Amethyst slouched over, and Tiger, now revealed to be Steven, took off the small cat nose mask. “...Guess that’s the end of my wrestling career. Next thing I know, Pearl and Garnet are gonna come along because you told them.”

“WHAT?! AMETHYST, I-"

"Go ahead. Go tell them. Go get the fun police." Amethyst looked away from Papyrus. He saw that the two of them were enjoying themselves back there, and while it WAS dangerous, no one was getting seriously hurt. And if they did, his healing magic is always on standby…

"...NO. IT’S CLEAR TO ME THAT YOU TWO WERE ENJOYING YOURSELVES, AND I’M NOT GOING TO HAVE THAT FUN RUINED!”

“You’re not?!” Steven seemed pleased at that. Amethyst stopped looking defeated as well.

“Yeah, what? You aren’t mad?” Apparently they both thought that really was the end of Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire. Papyrus rubbed the back of his skull.

“YOU THINK I’D BE MAD ABOUT SOME FRIENDLY FIGHTING? OF COURSE NOT! IN FACT, THE TWO OF YOU DID GREAT OUT THERE!” Papyrus threw his hands on both of their shoulders, a smile beaming on his face. Steven suddenly realized why.

“Oh, that’s because you-”

“YEP! I SPARRED WITH UNDYNE ALL THE TIME! AND WHILE YOU BOTH HAVE STAGE PRESENCE, THE TWO OF YOU NEED TO WORK ON YOUR ROUTINES! I’M TALKING COMBO MOVES!” Papyrus was already dishing out advice like it was candy. Suddenly, the gears in his head started turning. What if he helped out?

“Combo moves…” The two wrestlers pondered.

“STEVEN! AMETHYST! I HAVE MADE A DECISION!” Papyrus announced. The two of them looked at him in wonder of what he was about to say. “I SHALL BE YOU TWO’S WRESTLING MANAGER!”

“Really?!” Steven couldn’t believe it! Papyrus, Amethyst, and himself all teaming up to nab that Tag Team belt! His face beamed with excitement.

“YES! ...GRANTED AMETHYST IS ALSO OKAY WITH IT.” Papyrus looked over at Amethyst, who looked like she was trying to process the idea.

“Eh, I don’t see why not, as long as ya don’t tell Garnet and P.” Amethyst shrugged. Couldn’t tell them, eh? It would be like… keeping superhero identities! But then again, they could get in big trouble if they found out…

“...WHAT’S A GOOD SHOW WITHOUT A COUPLE OF RISKS? I AGREE WITH YOUR TERMS!” Papyrus made the guess that Garnet and Pearl would be okay with it.

“Wait, how are you gonna be our ‘manager?’” Amethyst brought up the elephant in the room. Or outside the room, in this case.

“WE CAN DISCUSS THAT LATER! IN THE MEANTIME, YOU TWO HAVE SOME ‘FIGHTS’ TO WIN! I WOULD GET READY TO RUMBLE, IF I WERE YOU.” Papyrus gave a quick glance around, making sure that no one else was in earshot. Not another soul around. “JUST PLAY ALONG AND DO SOME COOL MOVES. TOMORROW WE CAN WORK ON SOME ROUTINES.” Papyrus put his hand up next to his mouth, just in case. It was the trio’s secret, after all. Papyrus turned around and began walking back inside. "YOU TWO HAVE THIS! I BELIEVE IN YOU!" He turned his face back around and gave the two a beaming smile. He re-entered the building and sat himself down.

"So what did you need to do?" Sadie asked as he returned.

"OH, ERM… I NEEDED TO USE THE RESTROOM." Sadie gave a confused look for a couple of seconds.

"Eh, okay." Papyrus swept away the worry. Sure, it was lying, but that’s the downside of keeping a secret like that. Papyrus sat in on some more matches the duo did that evening, before they wrapped everything up and everyone left to head home. Papyrus rushed off back to the temple, catching up with Steven and Amethyst. While they conversed for a bit, it was mostly just a lot of praise coming from Papyrus.

“YOU TWO DID GREAT! YOUR TEAMWORK REALLY IS SOMETHING TO BE COMMENDED!”

“Woah, really?!” Steven was really happy to receive appraisal from the skeleton. When the trio arrived home, they all got themselves to sleep for tomorrow’s business. They were gonna win the tag team belt, and they were going to do it together.

...

“Yo, Papskellion. You dead?” Papyrus’s eyes shot open, and the first thing he saw for the day was Amethyst staring at him. And it was made extra awkward with how close up Amethyst was. Did she not know what personal space was? Then again, Papyrus was sometimes not the best with personal space, either. Either way, it wasn’t the most pleasant wake-up call, but who is he to argue? He’s woken up in nastier scenarios. Papyrus groaned as he sat up from the couch, still serving as his bed. Amethyst hopped back as he leaned upwards.

“FORTUNATELY, NO. IT’D BE TERRIBLE IF I WAS.”

“Yeah, I bet. Anyways, morning, ya walking dead. You remember what we were gonna do today, right?” Amethyst began to walk over to the fridge, most likely to raid it for an odd combination of food.

"WE WERE…" Papyrus stretched out, pausing in the middle of his sentence. "...GOING TO WIN THE TAG TEAM BELT."

“That’s right, ya skele-head.” Amethyst called out to Steven. “Yo Steven! Get down here!” Papyrus’s vision jumped as Steven jumped from the upper floor down, landing face-first onto the sofa, right next to Papyrus. He quickly lifted his face from the cushion.

“Hi Papyrus!” Steven adjusted himself on the couch so he was now sitting down.

“OH, GOOD MORNING STEVEN!” Papyrus’s tiredness faded away. He lifted himself off the couch, now awake and alert. He took a small look out the window before going to get himself into his day clothes. It was a beautiful day outside, after all. The waves were crashing onto the shore, the sound of seagulls flying through the air, while barely reaching Papyrus’s lack of ears, were nice to listen to. As he stepped out of the bathroom, he saw Pearl and Garnet talking as they walked out the door. “HELLO GARNET! HELLO PEARL!” He threw up a small wave as he spoke. Garnet looked over and threw up a hand in response. Meanwhile, Pearl just… grumbled?

“Eh, don’t worry ‘bout her. She’s probably upset over something real minor.” Papyrus’s vision jumped over to see Amethyst and Steven sitting upstairs. He walked up the stairs and joined the duo, who were sitting on the edge of the bed. “So, what’s on the bracket for today, Papy?”

Papyrus gave a quick glance around, making sure that Garnet and Pearl weren’t in earshot. “WELL, WE’RE GOING TO WORK OUT WHAT MOVES YOU TWO CAN PULL OFF IN THE RING. AND FOR THAT, WE’RE GOING TO NEED TO HEAD OUT TO SAID RING TO PRACTICE.”

“Oh, I see what you’re getting at.” Amethyst hopped off the bed. “Aight, well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s get to it!” Amethyst hoisted Steven off of the bed as they ran downstairs.

“NOT BEFORE I GET BREAKFAST!!!” Papyrus cried out.

The three of them hurried out the door and rushed down the stairs onto the beach. “Yo, Garnet, we’re heading out!” Amethyst hollered to the roof of the new room, where both Garnet and Pearl were sitting.

“Okay!” Garnet hollered back. After getting the okay from Garnet, the trio rushed off towards the abandoned building. When they reached their destination, Amethyst shapeshifted into Purple Puma and hopped into the vacant ring.

“Alrighty, Stee-man! Let’s do it!” Amethyst sounded excited to do this.

“Um… should I have brought some stuff for the moves…? Or dressed up?” Steven questioned.

“NOPE! WE’RE JUST PRACTICING HERE! I WANT TO GET THE TWO OF YOU IN TIP-TOP SHAPE TO PULL OFF FLAWLESS COMBOS!” Papyrus did some extra stretching, and then lifted himself into the ring. “NOW, THE GOAL THAT YOU TWO HAVE DURING THESE FIGHTS IS NOT TO HURT YOUR FOE, BUT TO PACIFY THEM!” Papyrus stepped closer to the center of the ring as Steven himself hopped in, taking his spot next to Amethyst. “ALTHOUGH, PACIFYING SAID ENEMY MAY REQUIRE A SLIGHT ROUGHING UP.”

“Or a lotta roughing up, heh. Gotta make sure they stay down, y’know?” Amethyst shrugged.

“YES, YOU WANT THEM TO STAY DOWN. BUT! WE DON’T WANT TO HURT THEM TOO BAD. IT’S ABOUT TAKING THEM OUT IN THE FLASHIEST, YET LEAST DAMAGING WAY.”

“Oh, I get it!” Steven threw a fist into one of his hands, understanding what Papyrus was getting at. “So, uh, how are you going to teach us all these cool moves?”

“AH, YES. YOU SEE, THE REASON I BROUGHT US OUT FOR THE RING IS BECAUSE I KNOW OF ONE PLACE WHERE LEARNING NEW COMBOS COME NATURALLY.”

“Is he hinting at what I think he’s hinting at?” Papyrus heard Amethyst speak under her breath.

“RIGHT YOU ARE! COMBAT IS THE BEST PLACE TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW! SO, WE’RE GOING TO SPAR! ER, WRESTLE. SPAR WRESTLE? WHATEVER! IT’S A PRACTICE MATCH! TO SEE HOW THE TWO OF YOU CAN WORK TOGETHER!” Papyrus took a lighthearted battle stance, preparing himself for the thrill of combat.

“You sure ‘bout this, Papster? Last time the two of us went at it, you came out a good bit hurt.” Amethyst, in turn, took a stance, ready to throw down.

“I’LL BE A-OKAY! WE AREN’T OUT TO HURT EACH OTHER HERE! WE’RE HERE TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW AND HAVE FUN!”

“And everyone will be fine?” Steven was hesitant, but eventually took a more passive battle stance.

“NO MAGIC, NO TRICKS! JUST SOME GOOD OLD HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT!”

“Okay… I’m ready, then!” Steven puffed his chest up a little, confident that this is just for fun.

“Alright, Steven! That’s the spirit!” Amethyst was already proud of Steven for showing that confidence. They all stood just a little bit still.

The match had Amethyst decided to unleash the opening She let out battle cry and charged at All too easy to dodge with the right Papyrus lowered his body as he getting right out of the way of Now Papyrus was in the center of the with Amethyst on one end of the and Steven on the The although the match was just for was still shook his head before looking at Steven with confident smile and giving can do Steven told He ran at with his fist ready to To increase the Papyrus decided to take the It be anything He gave quick glance over to who was also cheering Steven Papyrus felt small hit on his It even but he as dramatically and over-the-top as that he took lot of Spinning and he threw counterattack at the and when it looked like it was going to he intentionally Steven stepped back see what Amethyst realized that Papyrus was letting Steven have bit of Even he was enjoying this “NYEH HEH! THAT’S THE SPIRIT, STEVEN! A LITTLE SPARRING NEVER HURT ANYONE!” Steven beamed at the compliment.

“Aight, enough fooling around! Let’s charge him!” Amethyst yelled at Steven. He gave a quick nod in response, and the two of them started to charge at Papyrus. In response, Papyrus leapt up into the air, and kicked his legs around to keep himself airborne for longer. The duo skidded to a halt before they could collide with each other. “...Dude. COULD YOU ALWAYS DO THAT?!?” Amethyst was shocked at Papyrus’s ability to consistently defy physics.

“Er, yeah! I think he did it when he ran off after our battle underground…” Steven recalled past events, giving reason to Papyrus’s absurdity. Papyrus landed on the ground, and struck a pose.

“NYEH HEH HEH! COME AND GET ME, YOU TWO!” Papyrus taunted. He really wanted to see what they could do when they collaborated!

“Alright then, it’s on, Papyrus!” Amethyst rushed at Papyrus at an absurd speed, and grabbed his arm. Finally! They were about to pull off a combo! Amethyst shoved Papyrus towards Steven, making sure he spun around as he made his way to the destination. When he finally stopped spinning, Steven threw an arm over Papyrus’s neck, and brought him downwards, so that when Steven let go, he’d fall.

“Now lemme tell you about this new partnership I’m gonna offer ya. All you gotta do is lose this match, and all the Jungle Bucks in my suitcase will be yours!” Steven released Papyrus from his grasp as he fell to the floor. He quickly threw himself back onto his feet.

“IMPRESSIVE! YOU TWO ARE GETTING THE HANG OF IT! LET’S GO A COUPLE MORE ROUNDS, SHALL WE?” Papyrus was persistent in making sure the two had good teamwork going on. The trio went a few more rounds, before Papyrus announced the end of the workout. “WHEW! THAT WAS QUITE THE EXERCISE, WOULDN’T THE TWO OF YOU AGREE?” Papyrus wiped a small bead of sweat off of his head, before patting his hands together. Papyrus watched as Amethyst finally shapeshifted back into her normal form.

“Heh, I’ll admit, Paper, you sure know how to throw down in the ring! C’mere!” Amethyst leapt up a bit towards Papyrus, and began to-

“NO! I THOUGHT I ESCAPED THE ACCURSED NOOGIES!!!” Papyrus should have anticipated this. It was only a matter of time before someone attempted to noogie the skeleton. Papyrus heard Steven laugh a little as he was attacked by Amethyst’s noogies.

“Heh, what? Did your brother used to do that to ya?” Amethyst chucked, as she released Papyrus from her grasp, hopping back onto the floor.

“NO, IT WAS UNDYNE WHO USED TO BARRAGE MY SKULL WITH NOOGIES.” The memory of Undyne’s constant noogies when they sparred came back to him, and it made him feel like the noogie was… oddly nice, given he hadn’t received one in a while.

“Oh, you mean fish lady?”

“YES. FISH LADY. ALTHOUGH I MUCH PREFER TO REFER TO HER AS CAPTAIN OF THE NOW-DISBANDED ROYAL GUARD.” He shook off the nostalgia and began to think about what else may need to be done before tonight’s matches. He should probably work on the house, get some more food in his system, and write a journal entry. ...Actually, the last of those can wait until after the matches. “WELL, RIGHT! YOU TWO SEEM LIKE YOU’LL DO JUST FINE OUT THERE TONIGHT! I’LL BE WATCHING YOU FROM THE AUDIENCE AND CHEERING YOU ON!”

“What, you really think we can kick all their butts that easily?” Amethyst asked as Papyrus hopped out of the ring and began to walk back to the main part of town.

He turned back, giving a big thumbs up and a wink. “DO NOT FRET, AMETHYST! I BELIEVE IN YOU BOTH! BE PROUD OF THAT!”

…

A couple of nights had gone by since that last exchange. It was the last night of the week, and, coincidentally, the night where Steven and Amethyst were challenging the champions for the tag team belt, which were the Good Looking Gang. Unfortunately, The night beforehand was a night where Tiger Millionaire managed to sully his image. Papyrus sat near the back of the audience, and looked as Steven and Amethyst got ready to jump into the ring. He watched as the crowd booed the two, while they cheered for the champions. As he waited for the match to begin, he felt terribly saddened by how upset Steven looked. He tried to give him a pep talk this morning about it, but to no avail. Amethyst had jumped into the ring, but as she did so a flash of light flooded the arena.

“OH NO.” It was Garnet and Pearl. They’d been found out.

“What are you doing?!?” Amethyst cried out. Who… HOW did they find out about this? Papyrus never told them! He kept it a secret! Papyrus stood up from his seat and rushed forward.

“What are WE doing? What is this?!?” Pearl pulled out a poster that Steven drew, and it instantly clicked for Papyrus.

“...I thought we could use some promotion…” Steven explained, with a guilt-ridden voice. Just… Why? They were barging in on Amethyst and Steven’s thing.

Smiley hopped up into the ring, and brought the mic to his face. “Looks like we have some new opponents!-”

“No you don’t! This match is CANCELLED.” Pearl interrupted, which shocked the whole audience. Papyrus took a step back. Why would they do this? Sure, it’s a rougher sport, people SOMETIMES get injured, but he’s always on standby to help!

“Wha- Why?” Steven managed to ask Pearl, despite the crowd bursting into conversation.

Pearl gave a shocked look. “WHY?!? I can’t believe you’ve been sneaking off to this- this, circus of violence!” Pearl started. That was… a crude name for wrestling. “And YOU. Using your gem powers on humans!” Amethyst did NOT take that comment well. She immediately started walking up and loomed over Pearl.

“It’s not enough that you get on my case all the time? You have to ruin this for me too?” Amethyst was getting… very upset. More upset than Papyrus has ever seen.

“We’re not here to fight!” Pearl tried to say, before the crowd began to chant for the three to do battle. Pearl looked around as they chanted on. Papyrus didn’t chant, though. He tried to hide himself behind some of the other crowdsfolk, so Pearl didn’t get any angrier.

“Steven… Amethyst…” Garnet started speaking. Amethyst quickly shouted back.

“WHAT?!?”

“Go back to the temple.”

“I don’t WANNA!” Oh boy. Amethyst shoved Garnet back, and Papyrus, along with the rest of the crowd, gasped. Too late to stop this now, won’t it.

“Don’t do this.” Amethyst threw a punch, Which Garnet grabbed swiftly, before summoning a gauntlet and pushing Amethyst with it into the wall. Debris went everywhere, and Papyrus quickly summoned bones to try and shield people. Steven and Pearl got out of the way fast enough, and Papyrus let his bones dissipate while Pearl was occupied. Didn’t want to make this worse by letting himself be known.

Amethyst started jumping around, attempting to get grabs and punches in on Garnet. Steven yelled at them to stop, but it didn’t do anything. Another punch. One side of the ring went into the air. Everyone struggled to stay on the floor. Papyrus attempted to jump into the ring to try and help Steven stay grounded, until the mic rolled over to them.

He had an idea. Both of them did. Steven grabbed the mic and shouted into it. “WAIT!!!” Everyone turned to him. Everyone turned to Tiger Millionaire. Pearl and Garnet gave a shocked expression at the two. Pearl moreso at Papyrus than Steven. “We want to tell you all… Purple Puma’s backstory.” Steven let Papyrus speak into the mic. His voice echoed across the arena.

“PURPLE PUMA WAS SOMEONE WHO LOVED TO FIGHT. MORE THAN THE REST OF THOSE AROUND HIM! HE LOVED TO DO BATTLE, WHETHER IT BE SPARRING, OR FOR KEEPS.” Papyrus let Steven have the mic. They were doing this story together, after all.

“But the other cats… couldn’t take it. So she- I mean, he went to look for somewhere he fit in. Somewhere with other people who felt misunderstood.” Steven continued their impromptu backstory. “That’s why we’re all here! To be wild and free! To bodyslam each other!” Papyrus leaned into the mic to add a comment.

“AND WEAR SUPER COOL COSTUMES! WITH NICKNAMES!” Garnet let her gauntlet dissipate. Was it working? Were they getting through? “AND EVERYONE NEEDS A PLACE TO LET SOME STEAM BLOW OFF! SO CAN THEY NOT HAVE THIS?” Papyrus let Steven add one last question.

“...Can’t we just… wrestle?” Garnet took the mic from Steven.

“No.” Everyone… even Pearl, gasped at that. “Because… we are. The notorious… Order of Wrestling Haters.” Garnet motioned at Pearl to join in. It… worked. And Garnet was trying to interweave the scuffle into tonight’s entertainment!

“That’s right! Um… We want to stop ALL wrestling everywhere!” Pearl did a pose for dramatic effect. “Now are you going to let us destroy all wrestling?” Pearl asked, probably rhetorically.

“You gotta save wrestling!” Papyrus heard Lars call out, as he held up a cardboard sign, with the words ‘TIGER IS NOT A JERK’ written. Lars started chanting for Tiger and Puma.

Tiger Millionaire ran into the spotlight, holding a mic. “We’ll stop you!” The rest of the crowd started to chant with Lars.

“YOU CAN DO IT YOU TWO! SAVE WRESTLING! REMEMBER WHAT WE PRACTICED!!!” Papyrus yelled, as he jumped down from the ring. Steven gave a nod, as he leapt up and grabbed Pearl’s neck, bringing her down to the floor.

“Now let me tell YOU about my NEWEST offer! Just throw this match and you’ll get a million Jungle Bucks for your troubles!” Pearl let herself fall to the ground, admitting defeat. Amethyst then picked up him by his back, and swung him past Garnet, who proceeded to fall over onto her back.

“And they’ve taken down Captain Square!” Mr. Smiley announced. “But- But wait! It’s the Good Lookin’ Gang with a ladder! Are they planning to steal the belt?” He asked, as the ladder slammed on the ground, and the duo let Steven start climbing it. Smiley began to commentate as Amethyst and Papyrus went over to Garnet, who was still on the floor.

“I’M… SORRY ABOUT ALL OF THIS. I JUST WANTED TO HELP STEVEN AND AMETHYST HAVE SOME FUN, YOU KNOW?”

“Same. Sorry about… Sorry.” Both Amethyst and Papyrus leaned over, to be more on level with Garnet.

Garnet gave one of her signature, minimum-words-required responses. “Same here.”

“And Tiger Millionaire has claimed the Tag Team Belt!” Mr. Smiley announced, as the trio turned to face Steven, who was holding up the belts with a massive smile on his face. Papyrus ran over to him and lifted him into the air, not using blue magic, but his arms instead, and celebrated. They had done it. They had won.

…

The five of them walked back home after their massive victory, Amethyst holding both of the belts on her shoulders. Pearl had stayed at the back of the group, which Papyrus had noticed. He had never apologized to her about this whole wrestling thing, so he decided to try and talk to her about it. He slowed his pace so he could let Pearl catch up to him.

“PEARL.” Papyrus began to speak, and Pearl quickly gave a glare at him. “LOOK, ABOUT THIS WHOLE WRESTLING THING, I’M SORRY.” Apparently whatever he said, or done, had made her upset, as she immediately began to go off.

“NOW you’re sorry?!? Didn’t you think to, I don’t know, ACTUALLY think the whole ‘wrestling thing’ through before you started helping them?!?” Pearl raised her voice, which caused him to tense slightly. The rest of the group looked back at them. Which he commented on.

“...YOU THREE GO ON. WE JUST NEED A SECOND!” Papyrus smiled. A fake smile, sure, but it fooled Steven, at least. The three of them began walking back to the temple, leaving the two of them to talk to each other.

“You should know that being a Crystal Gem means you can’t go all battle mode on whoever you PLEASE, Papyrus.” Pearl started.

“I DIDN’T FIGHT ANYONE IN THAT RING, PEARL!”

“But you ENCOURAGED it. This isn’t even the FIRST time you-” Pearl paused, as she tried to regain her composure.

“THE FIRST TIME I WHAT?”

“The first time you’ve taken Amethyst’s side! You should know! She’s vulgar, reckless, has NO self-preservation, there are multiple times where she’s probably nearly gotten Steven KILLED. And you’re ENCOURAGING it!” She yelled. Papyrus remained silent. He was trying to think about what she was saying. Pearl tried to keep talking, but instead of words, she just angrily grunted at him and to the space around them. “That’s IT. I’VE HAD IT WITH YOU.” She ran off, leaving him confused, and asking himself one question.

“...DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG…?”

Chapter Text

ENTRY 35

HELLO JOURNAL! TODAY HAS… NOT BEEN THE GREATEST, BUT IT HAS BEEN INTERESTING! APPARENTLY WE HAVE A PET LION NOW. I SUPPOSE IT IS BETTER THAN THE CANINE THAT HARASSED ME THROUGH THE UNDERGROUND, BUT IT’S A HUGE PET! ARE LIONS ALWAYS THIS BIG? ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO COME IN A PINK TINT? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

…PEARL KEEPS GIVING ME VERY UPSET GLARES. DOES THIS STILL HAVE TO DO WITH THE WRESTLING THING? I TOLD HER I WAS SORRY, BUT SHE RAN OFF AFTER TELLING ME THAT I SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT AMETHYST AND STEVEN’S WRESTLING CAREERS A BIT MORE.

ENTRY 36

PEARL GOT ANGRY AT ME TODAY. THAT’S FOUR DAYS IN A ROW SHE’S SEEMED TO BE DISPLEASED WITH ME. I… DON’T QUITE KNOW WHAT I’VE DONE TO ANGER HER. AMETHYST SAYS THAT SHE DOES THIS SOMETIMES, BUT IT STILL DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT. I WAS JUST TRYING TO SEE IF SHE WAS PLAYING THE ARCADE GAME AS THE DEVELOPERS INTENDED! LIKE DOING A PUZZLE HOW THE PUZZLE DESIGNER INTENDED IT TO BE DONE.

ENTRY 37

…PEARL DOESN’T EVEN WANT TO TALK TO ME. WHAT DID I DO? SHOULD I CALL SANS? SHOULD I ASK AMETHYST OR GARNET FOR ADVICE? I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO DO IN THIS SITUATION. I’VE NEVER MADE A FRIEND ANGRY.

Papyrus walked down the beach after having a chat with Greg about how Steven is doing with the gems, alongside just getting to know him better. The chats they had every now and then were nice, and it helped them both vent out their worries.

But Papyrus never told him about how Pearl’s gotten upset with him. As he walked towards the house, he saw Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven playing some water balloon-checkers hybrid. Or just finished playing, it seemed, as Amethyst was showered with water balloons.

As he headed over, he watched the two gems bicker over something. Papyrus heard Pearl explaining something he had never heard before. “Look here, Steven. When we synchronize our forms, we can combine into a powerful fusion gem named Opal.” Papyrus looked as Pearl displayed an example of what she meant through a projection from her gem.

“OPAL…?”

“Yeah, Opal, Papster. Except I don’t dance like that.” Amethyst added, referring to the example dance shown in the hologram.

“Wow! That’s so cool!” Steven started to wonder about this mystery. Papyrus couldn’t help but wonder as well. “But tell me more about Opal!” He jumped over to Amethyst, as Papyrus looked over as well, much to Pearl’s discontent.

“Well Steven, she’s an ultra-powerful stone-cold Betty. That part’s me.” She began. “And she’s like, kinda tall? That part’s Pearl.” Amethyst put her hand to the side of her mouth like she was whispering, but didn’t bother to hide what she said at all.

“What Amethyst is attempting to say is, Opal is an amalgam of our combined magical and physical attributes fused into a single entity.” Pearl added. This sort of fusion stuff sounded extremely weird, but stars seemed to sparkle in Steven’s eyes.

“Wow can you do it right now? Come on, form Opal!” Both Amethyst and Pearl’s eyes went wide as they tried to make a decision on what they should do, until Pearl said something for them both.

“We only form Opal when it’s ABSOLUTELY necessary.” Suddenly, the four of them heard the warp pad, signaling Garnet’s return. Steven ran to the house while the three of them walked at a decent pace. Papyrus wanted to ask a question about this whole fusion thing, but Pearl must have seen that he wanted to know more, as she said something. “I am not telling you anything else about fusion.” Papyrus tensed up. He didn’t even SAY anything this time, and she’s upset.

“Woah! A rock! Thanks, Garnet!” Papyrus overheard Steven as he walked off. Amethyst, Pearl, and Papyrus walked up to Garnet, who started talking.

“I’ve located the geode beetles of Heaven and Earth. We should split up to retrieve them.”

“Well I’m NOT going with Amethyst or Papyrus.” Pearl immediately spoke, like she had already made up her mind.

“Well, fine by me. I didn’t want to go with you anyways. Papyrus is cooler.” Amethyst rebutted. Papyrus appreciated the comment, but he didn’t like his current standing with Pearl. Even Steven noticed that something was up, but didn’t comment on it.

“You three go together. I go with Papyrus.” Amethyst, Pearl, and Papyrus all spoke up in reaction to that.

“What? Why?”

“The Earth Beetle is at the bottom of the Boiling Lava Lake, and only Papyrus and I can swim in lava.”

“WAIT. HOW COME I CAN SWIM IN LAVA? I HATED HOTLAND. AND LAVA BATHS AREN’T COOL.”

“Your melting point is decently above the temperature of lava, and your armor will provide extra protection. You will be fine. Get ready, we’re leaving soon.” Garnet summoned goggles to go over her visor, which wrapped around her head. “You’ll find the Heaven Beetle at the top of the Sky Spire. It’s safer.” Papyrus began to walk over to where his armor was temporarily stored until his room was completed. Progress on that is going nicely, but it isn’t quite ready for him to make his residence in. He suited up and walked over to Garnet, but not before watching the trio warp off.

“OKAY, I’M READY. LET’S GO.”

“Don’t bring your scarf.” Papyrus jumped a little at that.

“WHAT?!? I NEED THIS SCARF!”

“You either leave it here in the house, where it is safe, or you can risk it catching on fire. We’re going to be walking through lava.” Papyrus begrudgingly took off his scarf, and folded it neatly, before leaving it on the couch.

“(…PLEASE BE HERE WHEN I GET BACK…)” Papyrus and Garnet warped off, and when they arrived, started walking. For a couple of minutes, they were both pretty silent, until they started passing some small patches of lava.

“Pearl is very upset with you, Papyrus.” Garnet started, jumping straight into business. Papyrus opened his mouth, as if to say something, but the words failed to form. “I know you did not mean to upset her, but you need to be careful about what you say or do and how it will affect her.”

“WELL… WHAT ALL DID I DO WRONG…?” He started to wonder, as the two of them approached a small pool of lava. Garnet stepped into it.

“This way. The lava isn’t deep.” Papyrus stepped in as they continued their talk. The lava was… well, really hot, but for some reason Papyrus didn’t feel any unbearable pain. Just a mild discomfort. “Pearl does not handle defeat all that well, and losing to someone she’s never met before probably did not sit well with her.” Garnet continued. “I know you didn’t mean to upset Pearl, but the problem seems to have grown into something that affects the team entirely.” He started to think about everything he’s done with the gems, and how anything could have upset Pearl. He began to think back, pulling memories from his past experiences.

“...I ALSO OUT-WITTED THE PUZZLES IN THE GIANT PYRAMID BEFORE PEARL. DID SHE ALSO GET MAD ABOUT THAT?” Garnet nodded.

“Probably. Pearl likes to formulate plans before making any sort of attempt at something. You doing those puzzles before she could create a plan, or failing to communicate your plan with her, most likely caused her to be displeased with you.” She continued. “...Especially in such a dangerous situation.” Papyrus started to feel guilty, mistakes piling up in his mind. The two of them finished wading through the pool of lava and stepped out of it, continuing their tread.

“A-AND THE WRESTLING THING, TOO…”

“I won’t lie, Papyrus. I wasn’t too pleased about it myself. But you were right in the end. Amethyst and Steven need a place to do things on their own, and relax. You made the correct call in supporting them.” Garnet reassured. At least Papyrus hasn’t only made mistakes. But still…

He had messed up so many times. “BUT THAT WAS JUST-”

“No, it wasn’t the only right call you’ve made. You’ve also been very caring about Steven and his wellbeing. And when he’s in danger, you take it on yourself to make sure that he’s safe again.” He was a bit shocked at that.

“REALLY?” Papyrus perked up. Garnet smiled a little in response.

“Don’t think I haven’t been keeping track of what you’ve done for the team. You helped Steven solve that shapeshifting problem, for one. You also tried your hardest to keep him safe when he snuck into the temple.” Oh. Yeah, that didn’t go so well. “Not to mention that you probably saved Pearl's life in the inverted pyramid. The problem isn’t that you’re causing more bad than good, it’s that you’re doing good in a different way than Pearl is expecting of you.” And suddenly, just like that, it all clicked together for Papyrus.

“SO, YOU AREN’T UPSET WITH ME AS WELL?” He wanted to double-check that at least.

“Nah. You’re definitely different, but I appreciate that.” Well, that’s good to know. At least he knows that he’s on good terms with Garnet.

“RIGHT. SO I JUST NEED TO FIX THINGS UP WITH PEARL.” Yet saying is easier than doing. “BUT HOW…?”

“That, you’ll have to figure out yourself. You’ll need to come to a solution on your own.” As if on cue, they had finally reached their destination. A massive pool of magma that they had to travel to the bottom of. “This is where the Earth Beetle is. You stay here on the surface, while I go retrieve it.” With that, Garnet stepped into the lake, leaving Papyrus behind to think to himself.

He sat himself down, dipping his armored boots into the magma. Despite the reassurance, he still felt… bad. “...WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?” He covered his face with his hands, thinking about what he did in the past. Papyrus had messed up. He made mistakes, even when he tried not to.

…And now Pearl’s angry at him. Really, what was he going to do? He needed a solution, and he wanted to patch things up as fast as he could. He tried to think of how he could make this right… A gift? No, that wouldn’t help. A hangout? Might not be the right mood. Maybe they should just. Talk about it. Alone. But how should he even word what he wanted to say? That he messed up? That he hurt her, even if he didn’t mean to? Papyrus tried to formulate how he was going to say what he wanted to express…

“Papyrus.” He jolted and looked up. Garnet was back. “I’ve acquired the Earth Beetle. We should head back to the temple.” She hoisted herself out of the lake and started to walk back to the warp.

“OH! OKAY. WAIT FOR ME.” He quickly stood himself up and followed suit. Papyrus wanted to talk about something, but he didn’t have many conversation topics… but he did have one. “SO! PEARL AND AMETHYST WERE TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING CALLED ‘FUSION’ EARLIER. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS?” Apparently that immediately got Garnet’s attention.

“So you know about it. Fusion is when two gems sync up physically, mentally, and emotionally, to make something bigger than the sum of its parts.” Garnet started. She seemed… oddly eager to divulge his curiosity.

“SOMETHING BIGGER?”

“Yes. And fusion is not something that is only done out of necessity. Some gems choose to fuse for other reasons, instead.” She continued. “It could be because they are friends or they wish to protect someone. Some gems even fuse for love, and fusions like those can be… wonderful.” Garnet paused for a second, smiling at what she said.

“AND I’M GOING TO TAKE A GUESS THAT A GEM BEING ABLE TO FUSE WITH ME IS… VERY HIGHLY UNLIKELY?” Papyrus pondered. She nodded in response.

“Yes. Unless there is something I don’t know about, a gem and a monster fusing would be impossible.” Garnet confirmed. Well, it didn’t really bother Papyrus, anyways. He can’t bubble, he can’t fuse, he can’t use the warp, or access the temple by himself… But he’s still a Crystal Gem! He can still do cool and awesome things!

It took them a while to arrive back at the warp, but when they did, they were pretty quick to hurry off back home. When they arrived, Papyrus saw his scarf, right where he left it. He quickly threw off his armor, wrapping the accessory around his neck. “THANK GOODNESS IT’S STILL HERE! I WAS GETTING VERY UNCOMFORTABLE WITHOUT IT OUT THERE!” He looked over to Garnet, who was cleaning up after the mission.

“I’ll clean up your armor, Papyrus. You just take it easy for now.” She shifted her glasses slightly. Papyrus nodded in compliance. He sat down on the couch, thinking of what he should do.

…Papyrus opened his journal, and started writing an entry. It was a bit early in the day to do so, but he’d rather do it now while what he was thinking of was still fresh on his mind.

ENTRY 38

I KNOW WHAT I DID WRONG NOW. I’VE UPSET PEARL, EVEN IF I DIDN’T MEAN TO. AND I WOULD MUCH RATHER NOT HAVE PEARL UPSET AT ME, BECAUSE I DON’T LIKE TO UPSET PEOPLE. …I’M GOING TO TRY TALKING TO HER LATER TODAY, ONCE SHE GETS BACK FROM HER MISSION WITH STEVEN AND AMETHYST. I’M GOING TO TELL HER THAT I’M SORRY.

Papyrus sat there for a while, just… thinking. About what he wanted to say. What he wanted to do. He needed to, no, he had to make this right. He had to fix this rift between the two of them.

“We’re back!” Papyrus heard Steven call, as he jolted upright as the warp sound faded away. He saw Garnet walk over to where the warp was, and quickly followed towards her.

“The Heaven Beetle.” Garnet stated. As Papyrus got within range of the conversation, he saw an unfamiliar person on the warp alongside Steven. Was that… Opal?

“...I don’t have it!” Suddenly, the figure shone brightly, and Pearl and Amethyst fell out from the mass of light as it dissipated. Guess that really was Opal.

“Amethyst! YOU got distracted!”

“Hey, you were the one getting carried away with all those fancy backflips!” And the bickering immediately began.

“Wait a sec!” The boy immediately dug into his pocket, and presented a beetle similar to that of the one Papyrus and Garnet collected earlier. “I got the beetle!”

“Good job, Steven.” Garnet collected the beetle and dropped it into a container with its earthly counterpart, before bubbling and sending it away. “I also see that you helped your teammates fuse.” Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other, flabbergasted.

“And all I had to do was get eaten by a bird!” Wait, he got WHAT?

“STEVEN! YOU GOT WHAT NOW? ISN’T THAT, LIKE… NOT A PERFECTLY SAFE THING FOR HUMANS?” Papyrus was relatively certain that being eaten by a bird is not perfectly fine.

“Er… proooobably not?” The child shrugged, giving some sort of smile while he was at it.

Papyrus sighed. “...WELL. AT LEAST YOU’RE SAFE! GOOD JOB, STEVEN!” Papyrus messed with Steven’s hair a little, which caused both of them to smile.

“Yes, good job, Steven. One day, you’ll be great at fusing.” All of them stopped at what Garnet said.

“I can WHAT?!?” Steven blurted out, before running after Garnet, who decided to step outside. Papyrus and the remaining gems all looked at each other, before Amethyst stood herself up.

“Welp! I’m going to my room. Cya.” She walked through the temple door into her own room. Pearl then stood up afterwards, intended to take the door to her room as well.

“WAIT, PEARL!” Papyrus blurted out, before the opportunity passed itself. She looked back at him, with a… clearly irritated look.

“What is it, skeleton.”

“...CAN WE TALK?”

Chapter Text

Ah, a simple three-word question, that carried so much weight. Papyrus had shot out the question asking if he and Pearl could talk. Pearl tensed up. A small wave of anger coursed through her face, before returning to a more neutral, albeit negative expression.

“...Let’s take this somewhere where Steven cannot see us.” She stepped up onto the warp. “Follow me.” Papyrus quickly got onto the warp, and the two of them warped away. The ride to whatever destination they were going to was… eerily quiet. When they arrived, they were on a large platform over the clouds.

“WHERE DID YOU TAKE US…?” He stepped forward, looking over the edge. It was… an awfully long way down from here.

“It is an old gem arena, where warriors would fight, or courts would gather.” Pearl started walking up a large flight of stairs, with Papyrus following closely behind. He observed the walls. White. Yellow, Blue, Pink. Four diamonds aligned to form a bigger one. Papyrus wanted to ask, but no use dwelling on the past for right now. He’s here for the present issue.

“WOWIE…” The skeleton muttered, as they reached the top of the staircase, staring through an archway which led to the arena. It was… not in great shape, but it was still an interesting sight to behold. A dense fog covered the floor, rendering it impossible to see. As Papyrus took in the sight in front of him, Pearl descended down the stairs, vanishing into the fog. He wondered… What all happened here? Who built this place? Were there any other reasons why it was built? But most importantly… Why did Pearl bring him HERE?

“So.” Papyrus’s mind suddenly snapped back to reality. He quickly hurried down the steps, into the mist, his quickened movements clearing away the clouds. He could just barely see Pearl, only being a silhouette in his vision. Papyrus took a deep breath.

“PEARL. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS.” He started. “FEELINGS LIKE… NOT BEING ABLE TO UNDERSTAND SOMEONE. LIKE YOU’VE MADE SO MANY MISTAKES. THAT YOU JUST CAN’T MEET WHAT SOMEONE EXPECTS OF YOU.” The skeleton continued. Pearl’s shadow shifted, her head lowering slightly. “THESE FEELINGS… THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW.” His expression saddened. “I WANT YOU TO KNOW… THAT I’M SORRY.”

“...You’re sorry.” Pearl uttered, with an almost empty tone. The tone caused Papyrus to become tense. “A sorry will not fix all that you have done, Papyrus.”

His arms slouched. His head fell. “I KNOW, PEARL. BUT I WANT TO DO WHAT’S RIGHT. I NEVER MEANT TO-”

“Never meant to what, skeleton?!?” Pearl yelled. The fog was clearing… Papyrus could just barely make out her expression. She was… angry. “Papyrus. You don’t know just what I’ve gone through. You don’t know me!” She was right. He didn’t know her. He didn’t know what she’s been through. But that shouldn’t… “You should not have joined up with us, skeleton.” Papyrus shuddered. “You haven’t protected the Earth like we have. You don’t know what we’ve been through. You’re not even a gem!” He couldn’t believe what Pearl was saying. Garnet said he could join! But Pearl, she…

“P-PEARL…-”

“No. I’ve TOLERATED your company, skeleton. Steven and Amethyst may enjoy being around you, but I don’t.” The fog was thickening once more, and Pearl’s forehead began to shine, standing out from her being but a shadow once more. Papyrus was shaking… “And there’s something I want from you. If you want to make it up to me, you’d best oblige.”

Papyrus started to get scared. “PEARL, PLEASE…”

Her forehead was shining brighter. “I want a rematch. I want to defeat you, and prove that you are not ready to be with us.” She raised her arm up to her gem.

“PLEASE! CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT THIS? THAT’S ALL I WANTED US TO DO…-”

“ENOUGH!!!” She yelled, causing Papyrus to freeze. “If you want to be on our team so badly, prove it to me.” She started to pull something out from her gem… “Prove to me that you deserve the title of ‘Crystal Gem’!” Pearl announced. She tore a spear out from her gem, cutting away all the fog in the arena, revealing herself, ready for combat. She immediately dashed towards Papyrus at an inhuman speed.

Papyrus gasped, and summoned a bone in his hand as fast as he could to shield himself. He heard a loud clang, as the spear collided with his defense, causing it to barely miss his head. He wanted to scream out that it didn’t have to be this way, but it was too late. The clash between gem and monster had already begun.

Papyrus ducked and rolled away from the spear, leaping upwards and as far away as possible when Pearl struck the ground with it in his direction. He ran a check spell.

“(PEARL… ATTACK 60, DEFENSE 40, LOVE 1, EXP 0. WHY...?)”

Papyrus really did not want to have to fight Pearl. He’d rather handle this in a more peaceful manner! No one needed to get hurt. So instead of fighting… The skeleton decided to just defend, and use his words instead. Papyrus summoned as many bones as possible in a defensive formation around himself. He needed to buy himself time. Let Pearl wear herself out. “PEARL, PLEASE! WHAT IS FIGHTING ME GOING TO ACCOMPLISH?!?” He yelled, as Pearl began to cut down the bones surrounding him.

She didn’t respond. Instead, she just started to cut through the bones at a faster pace. Papyrus quickly let some of the bones dissipate, enough to let him slip away from the makeshift shell. He hurried out, to see Pearl leaping up into the air, planning a strike from above. He quickly summoned a wall of bones to block the attack, which caused the spear to get caught in a wedge. She used the wall as a platform, however, to leap into the air once more, landing behind Papyrus.

The skeleton raised up yet another bone wall, only for it to be cut apart by a slash from Pearl’s spear. He fell to the floor from the shock of her attack, his back making contact with the previous wall of bones he brought up to stop her initial strike. The gem towered over Papyrus, ready to land a blow. His mind told him that he had only one choice of action if he didn’t want to hurt her.

“SORRY ABOUT THIS.” Pearl’s gem suddenly shone with a blue aura, and Papyrus threw his hand out. She went flying away, towards an edge he just realized was there. The gem was on one knee, slowing Papyrus’s push until it stopped. Pearl sneered as both parties stood themselves up. He needed a new strategy, so Papyrus summoned walls of bones riding towards Pearl’s way, with bones flying overhead so she couldn’t jump over. He made sure that his attack wouldn’t deal any damage, however. She ended up getting hit by one of the walls, and a wave of shock rolled across her face when she realized that it didn’t hurt in the slightest.

“...Why are you not fighting me?” Papyrus heard Pearl question. She began to dodge and weave, slowly getting closer to him, despite his best defense.

“PEARL! IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY! PLEASE!” His voice hollered out. The gem began to slice through the walls of bones, and when closer to Papyrus, fired a blast of light from the tip of her spear. He quickly slid to the side, and when Pearl started to fire more and more blasts, began to dash away from them, doing his best to avoid getting blasted. He summoned bones, and used them as steps to skip upwards to a higher elevation.

But Pearl saw what he was doing. She fired a beam of light just as a bone rose up, breaking it as Papyrus leapt. His eyes went wide when he realized he was going to end up falling, and started to kick his legs to slow the descent. “Why do you refuse to attack, skeleton?!?” He heard her yell to him, as she charged forward, using the spear more like a sword, swinging rapidly with one hand.

Papyrus summoned bones in both of his hands, and started blocking the attacks. “LOOK! I’M SORRY! I SHOULD’VE KNOWN THAT I WAS DOING THINGS THAT WOULD HURT YOU DEEP DOWN!” He screamed, hoping that any sort of admittance to his mistakes would make her stop attacking. Pearl took out another spear from her gem, and, holding spears in both of her hands, aimed right at both sides of his neck.

He threw the bones he was using to block up in a cross formation, saving him from a very nasty hit. He looked at Pearl’s eyes. Pure anger. Purely focused on the battle. He was scared. Papyrus was so scared right now. “Then either fight me or walk away, Papyrus!”

“NO!!!” He cried out, uncrossing his arms at such a fast pace, and slamming into the spears so hard that they recoiled backwards, flying out of Pearl’s hands. She retaliated by running into him, and when Papyrus tried to resist, she lifted him off the ground, and…

He was flying through the air, his body spinning around as he was airborne. His vision focused on a pillar that he was going to whiz right by, and summoned a bone out of it. He had one shot to pull off this stunt, and if he missed, he’s probably going over the ledge. Papyrus was upside down, flying just above what he needed to grab. He reached out, his hands colliding with the attack at a massive speed. He felt like he was going to go flying as his body spun rightside up, centrifugal force trying to send him away. But he held on as he flipped around, letting go and leaping right back towards Pearl.

She jumped into the air as Papyrus slammed onto the ground in a slide. He skidded to a stop soon after the skeleton slid underneath Pearl. He quickly threw himself up onto his feet, and looked back at the gem, standing several paces away from him with her back turned. “...If you will not fight by your own choice…” Pearl’s gem began to project several holograms around her, creating four holographic clones of herself, but all holding very real spears. “Then I will MAKE YOU.” She swiped a spear up near her gem, which caused all the holograms to immediately rush towards him.

Papyrus shuddered as the clones circled around him. Each of them held a spear, while Pearl held two, but stood at a distance. He tried to calm himself. “(THEY’RE JUST HOLOGRAMS. THEY AREN’T REAL. I DON’T HAVE TO HURT PEARL. HURTING THE HOLOGRAMS WON’T HURT HER. EVEN IF I DON’T WANT TO…)” All the holograms pointed spears at him, ready to shoot beams of light. “(...I HAVE TO.)”

Bones shot up from the floor under the feet of the holograms, sending them flying into the air. The holo-Pearls grouped together from the launch, and as they fell back towards the floor, Papyrus leapt backwards, and fired a bone directly at the group, sending them all back towards Pearl. He felt a bead of sweat on his skull. Was he… getting tired? Then again, her attacks are definitely far harsher than Undyne’s, and she can be pretty unfair…

The holograms all landed with a thud, but immediately got back up. Two of them began to approach, so Papyrus summoned another pair of bones in his hands, and began to parry and block more attacks. One from right. One from the left. Then both attacking, one a slash downwards from the front and the other being a strike up from the back. Each a close call, but he blocked them, nonetheless. The skeleton leapt up, kicking both holo-Pearls in their faces, forcing them back slightly. He then summoned a protective ring of bones from the floor that spun around him at a fast rate. “PEARL… PLEASE STOP THIS…”

“NO!” Pearl pointed a spear at Papyrus, and the other two holograms immediately charged him. He had no choice in the matter. Papyrus took a deep breath… And sharp, jagged bones came flying out of the ground, hitting the holo-Pearls, and forcing them all to dissipate into the air, the spears dropping to the ground.

Papyrus let down his barrier and the walls of bones and grabbed one spear with his right hand, while summoning a long bone in his left. He looked over at Pearl, standing closer to the center of the arena, while Papyrus stood near the stairs. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS…?” He asked, with a saddened expression over his face.

“I trained for hundreds of years to be able to fight, Papyrus.” Pearl coldly explained. “Do you know how hard it was to learn how to use a sword properly? To be able to battle with confidence?!?” She raised her voice, shooting a beam of light from one of her spears. He quickly raised the spear he picked up to block it, but it flew out of his hand after it absorbed the impact. As soon as it was out of his vision, he saw Pearl rushing him once more. He quickly brought up his bone to block the flurry of strikes. “Do you know how it felt to lose to you on the mountain, Papyrus?!?” He pushed her back with blue magic, and summoned a single bone from the ground which sent the spear in her right hand flying away.

“I TOLD YOU, I’M SORRY!!!” The skeleton screamed out. But she just rushed back at him again, forcing him to block once more.

Pearl yelled out between strikes, which were growing stronger in force but were not as rapid. “You HUMILIATED me! Beat me down like it was NOTHING!” The gem cried out. “THE OTHERS DIDN’T EVEN FIGHT YOU LIKE I DID!!!” She slammed down so hard that the bone cracked. “YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO CALL YOURSELF A CRYSTAL GEM, SKELETON!!!” Another slam, another crack. It was going to give way.

Papyrus shuddered. “PEARL…”

“AND NOW YOU REFUSE TO FIGHT ME?!? WHAT KIND OF GEM DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?!?” Pearl slammed her spear down once again, and the bone let out a sharp crack as it broke. The skeleton immediately used blue magic once again, forcing Pearl back as far as possible. She stood near the center, with pure rage and upset in her eyes. She raised her arm up, holding the spear in a position to throw it. It felt awfully familiar to the original fight the two of them had… “JUST FIGHT ME, PAPYRUS!!!” The gem screamed out loudly, throwing the spear at an immensely fast rate towards Papyrus.

Time seemed to slow down. He saw it coming. He needed to block this attack. There was no dodging it. He raised his arm up as quickly as he could to summon a wall, and…

Papyrus heard the tearing of fabric. He felt wind blowing past his… his ribs? He looked down with a terrified expression… and saw the large hole in his jacket. Just barely missing his ribcage and spine. He shuddered. Papyrus shook with fear…

Pearl’s expression of rage quickly turned into that of sudden realization when she saw just how scared the skeleton was. “P-Papyrus…?” He fell to his knees. “Papyrus!” Pearl quickly ran over to him, only now realizing the weight of her actions.

“I… I’M OKAY.” He shakily said. “BUT… I GUESS YOU’RE RIGHT. I’M JUST NOT READY.” Pearl’s eyes widened.

“...No. I-I was wrong. I’m so sorry. What was I thinking, attacking you like this? You just wanted to talk about the issue…” She turned away, walking towards the edge of the arena. “You’re a Crystal Gem. The others already accepted that. I was just… slow to come to terms with it…” Papyrus stood up and followed her. She sat down on the edge of the arena, looking over the clouds.

“PEARL…”

“Look, you seem so… young, and yet you can best me in combat. You constantly look out for Steven, making sure that he’s safe… Heck, you even saved me back in the pyramid.” Papyrus heard a sniffle. “I guess I’m just jealous of you.” Pearl’s voice was shaky.

The skeleton sat himself down on the ledge next to her. “...I’M NOT EXACTLY PERFECT MYSELF. I MEAN, THERE ARE TIMES WHERE YOU CAN OUTCLASS ME, OR COMPETE VERY WELL!” Papyrus tried to look on the bright side of this. “THINK ABOUT IT, REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE AFTER WE FOUGHT?”

Pearl slowly opened her mouth to speak. “...’One mistake, and I could’ve needed a lot of healing later’.”

He raised an arm. “YOU’RE AN AMAZING FIGHTER, PEARL! YOU COULD EVEN RIVAL UNDYNE WITH YOUR ABILITY WITH A SPEAR, AND SHE’S QUITE THE TOUGH OPPONENT. AND THOSE HOLOGRAMS? I CAN’T DO THAT! THAT’S A YOU THING, PEARL!” She began to tear up. “PLUS, YOU’RE ALSO PRETTY INTELLIGENT! THAT TYPE OF BRAINPOWER IS GREAT IN COMBAT! AND YOU’RE ALSO VERY PROTECTIVE OF STEVEN! WHICH IS A GREAT AND IMPORTANT THING!” He put his hand on Pearl’s shoulder. “AND AS MUNDANE AS IT IS, YOU’RE EVEN BETTER AT CLEANING UP THE HOUSE THAN I AM! THAT TAKES TALENT, PEARL!” She began to cry, but also a small smile from the praise was showing. “...I KNOW I UPSET YOU TIME AND TIME AGAIN. AND I DIDN’T MEAN TO DO THAT, PEARL. LIKE WITH STEVEN AND AMETHYST WRESTLING! I KNOW I SHOULD’VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT MORE! WEIGHED THE RISKS BETTER. BUT THEY NEED A PLACE TO BLOW OFF STEAM AFTER A HARD DAY, AND I WANTED TO SUPPORT THAT. STEVEN IS JUST A KID, AND AMETHYST CAN GET A LITTLE… IMPETUOUS.”

She stifled a laugh. “Yes, I suppose she can act very irresponsibly at times. I was just worried that she was hurting people...”

“A LIGHT ROUGHING UP NEVER KILLED ANYONE! PLUS, IT’S MOSTLY FOR SHOW. IF ANYONE DID GET HURT, I’D BE ON STANDBY TO HEAL THEM IMMEDIATELY!” Pearl raised a brow.

“Heal them?”

“YEAH! I HAVE GREEN MAGIC! IT’S VERY USEFUL FOR WHEN SOMEONE GETS INJURED!” Papyrus excitedly told her, before pausing, unsure what to say next. “...ONCE AGAIN, I REALLY SHOULD’VE BEEN MORE CAREFUL TO NOT UPSET YOU. IT GAVE US BOTH A LOT OF TROUBLE, DIDN’T IT?” The skeleton gave a relieved smile when Pearl nodded.

“Yes, I suppose you did. But I’m to blame as well, so don’t-”

“HEY! DON’T GO BEATING YOURSELF DOWN.” He interrupted.

“No, please listen to me. I didn’t really completely understand you before. I suppose that led us to fighting like that…” She sighed. “And I didn’t even open myself up to understanding who you are…” Again, a small chuckle. “Yet… you may be very weird, Papyrus, but you’re okay. Something I didn’t even think could exist, and someone I’m trying to adjust to having around, but you’re okay.”

He gave a small laugh. “NYEH HEH, TO BE HONEST, I’VE BEEN HAVING A HARD TIME ADJUSTING TO ALL OF THIS MYSELF, SO I CAN RELATE TO THAT FEELING OF UNEASE.” Papyrus looked down. “I MEAN, I MISS A LOT OF PEOPLE. MY BROTHER, UNDYNE, THEY’RE ALL SO FAR AWAY NOW.” Pearl looked at him as he placed his hands on the floor. “BUT THERE USED TO BE A SONG THAT MONSTERS WOULD SING WHEN THEY FIRST GOT SEALED UNDERGROUND, AND IT’S LIKE IT RADIATES WITH ME NOW MORE THAN IT HAS BEFORE.”

She looked at him with a confused look. “What might that song be?”

Papyrus sighed, before he began to sing.

“WHEN THE
LIGHT IS RUNNING LOW,
AND THE SHADOWS START TO GROW,
AND THE PLACES THAT YOU KNOW,
SEEM LIKE FANTASY…”

“THERE’S A
LIGHT INSIDE YOUR SOUL,
THAT’S STILL SHINING IN THE COLD,
WITH THE TRUTH,
THE PROMISE IN OUR HEARTS…”

“DON’T FORGET,
I’M WITH YOU IN THE DARK…”

“...SO, I GUESS… WE CAN PUT THIS WHOLE SCUFFLE BEHIND US?” Papyrus asked. “BEING FRENEMIES ISN’T FUN.” Pearl laughed.

“Yes, I suppose we can.”

Papyrus and Pearl sat there, watching the sun set. He never really had a moment to take in just how beautiful the view is from up here. “...THE SURFACE REALLY IS AMAZING, DON’T YOU THINK, PEARL?”

Pearl smiled. “Yes… I suppose the Earth really is such an amazing place.”