Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“KEEP UP, RUNT,” Papyrus growls, tapping his foot impatiently. He’s waiting about ten feet away, at the sentry station nearest to the Ruins’ door.

Sans groans and drags his feet through the snow, probably ruining his shoes. Papyrus is going to be upset later. “‘m tired,” Sans whines.

He hates it when the electricity goes out. Snowdin is even more miserable when there’s no light or heat.

Not to mention that school always closes down when there’s no power, which means his older brother has to drag him around on patrols. Granted, Papyrus is probably just as displeased with having to carry a six year old around with him for the entire day when the school house is closed.

Especially since Sans has tiny legs and gets tired easily thanks to his dumb one Hp.

Papyrus’ patrols are about the least fun thing on this side of the Underground. All he does is walk around in the cold, reset traps, yell at the dogs, and do paperwork.

“POOR BABY,” Sans’ older brother replies sarcastically. “IF YOU GET TIRED THIS EASILY, I’LL HAVE TO HAVE UNDYNE GIVE YOU SOME ENDURANCE TRAINING.”

Sans’ little skull pops up immediately, a look of startled panic crossing his features. “no no no!” He cries, “don’t call ‘dyne. i’m good.” 

The kid picks up the pace, waddling through snow that is knee-high to him to get to the station. When Sans is a few feet away, Papyrus sits down behind the station and pulls some papers out from a drawer.

Sans huffs when he makes it over and climbs into Papyrus’ lap, settling down on one of the much larger skeleton’s femurs. Papyrus’ grin curls in amusement as he sets the paperwork down in front of him.

“I THOUGHT YOU LIKED UNDYNE.”

“mmm…” Sans mumbles, “... i like it when she sets things on fire.” Papyrus rolls his eye lights. 

“I DON’T SEE WHAT YOU FIND SO ENTERTAINING ABOUT ARSON.," he says mildly, looking over the daily task list. Station rotations and reports from yesterday that he needs to approve before they get sent out to his superior, the fish monster in question.

“it’s funny…” Sans throws both his arms into the air, nearly whacking Papyrus in the face. He makes an exaggerated explosion noise, “when the stove goes fifjsiofj !! and ‘dyne s’plexes me inta the lake! through th’ window!”

“SANS, YOU CAN’T SWIM,” Papyrus reminds him.

“yeh, but, um, it’s not deep.” Sans kicks his legs, “i saw a fishy last time.”

Sans sucks in his cheekbones and purses his bony lips to make a fish expression, then peers up at Papyrus. “fwwiiiiishhhhhyyyyyyy," he sings.

Papyrus has to keep himself from chuckling. Stars damnit, this child will be the end of him. He shouldn’t be laughing at a poor impression of a fish!

“IF UNDYNE CATCHES YOU DOING THAT, SHE’LL NOOGIE YOU, YOU KNOW," he tells the younger skeleton.

Sans pales considerably and looks around to make sure the Captain isn’t nearby. “scary fishy…” He mutters under his breath. Papyrus doesn’t think Sans intended for him to hear, but it’s just as hilarious either way.

For a few minutes, Sans sits quietly like a good child and lets Papyrus start filling out the work in front of him.

Sans, himself, feels the seconds ticking by slowly. He rests his skull on one of Papyrus’ arms and tries to fall asleep. Alas, even a master of napping can’t get properly comfortable in this position. So, he starts to wiggle, trying to find a position to sleep in.

After about thirty seconds of wiggling, Papyrus is fed up.

“SANS.”

“h-hm?”

“STOP YOUR INCESSANT MOVEMENT. I’M WORKING.”

Sans sticks his tongue out, “you’re bony.”

“WE’RE SKELETONS,” Papyrus replies dryly. “IF YOU DON’T STOP, YOU LOSE CHAIR PRIVILEGES.”

“chair,” Sans says softly.

“YES, THAT’S WHAT I SAID. YOU’LL HAVE TO SIT IN THE SNOW IF YOU DON’T STOP.”

“chaaaaaiiiirrrr," Sans says again, stretching out the word. “chair, chair, chair…”

“SANS …” Papyrus tells his brother warningly.

“chair…” Sans giggles, “now it sounds weird. chaiiiir.”

… 

… Sans is promptly placed on his bony little coccyx into the snow. He has instructions not to leave Papyrus’ sight.

Maybe he’d be more upset if he wasn’t used to it.

For another few minutes, things are peaceful again…  then, Papyrus begins to hear more giggling. Much louder than before. He shoots a deadpan look at his younger brother, who is piling up snow into one giant mound.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU INSUFFERABLE GREMLIN?” He asks with a sigh.

“shhhhhhh…” Sans laughs, patting down the snow into a semi-rectangular shape. He grabs a twig up off the path nearby and runs back to his abomination, writing his name in it. The ‘a’ is backwards and it’s in lowercase. “tada!”

Papyrus quirks a brow bone and gives the small skeleton an unimpressed look. “AND WHAT EXACTLY AM I LOOKING AT?”

“new bed!” Sans exclaims proudly. He climbs on top of the snow mound, having to fight his heavy snow-resistant clothing, and lays down. Papyrus watches as he pats some snow on top of him. “blanket!”

Papyrus would yell at Sans to get out of the snow before he catches his death, but the kid looks so pleased with himself that it would be a sin. So he only grunts and turns back to his work.

Just as he thinks he can continue on with his work in peace, a dull rumble echoes throughout the woods. Papyrus is instantly on guard. It sounds suspiciously close to a cave-in, and if that’s the case, he’ll need to get him and Sans to safety, then mobilize guards to help citizens…

Then, he spots a small figure in the distance. Papyrus squints when he notices it’s getting closer…

His sockets widen. It’s not a cave-in at all.

“NNNNNGGAHHHHHH!!” It’s Undyne barrelling towards the skeleton duo, kicking up a literal storm behind her.

“Fucking Asgore,” Papyrus curses quietly. Of course, the perfect way to start the day, having his crazy boss-friend visit.

Chapter Text

Undyne is a madwoman. In the best sense of the word, of course. She’s a red-haired hurricane waiting to cause destruction.

As the captain of the Royal Guard, Undyne has a reputation that allows her certain advantages over most monsters in the Underground. Some disadvantages, too. Like the constant attempts on her life.

By King Asgore’s own decree over three hundred years ago, murder is something not only that has been normalized, but encouraged. While it’s generally discouraged to murder guards, Undyne’s is a prized position.

Grow strong . Asgore said, So that when we’re free, we can take back what is ours.

Beyond her job, Undyne was practically raised by the old codger in Waterfall. Who just happened to be one of the most prominent generals of the last war between humans and monsters. She’d been handed off to the king at a young age to be trained.

This understandably makes Undyne a powerful and dangerous woman. Her connections and power level give her a rank that is just below royalty. Because of this Undyne lives in constant danger - but, she’s just the sort of monster that’s crazy enough to not care.

Undyne is perhaps the most brazen monster Papyrus has ever met. And his unfortunate luck landed him right in her direct line of vision when he joined the guard as a sentry. She’d taken him under her wing and personally trained him until he’d risen to the rank of Vice-Captain.

At times, she frustrates Papyrus. He’d had a short stint in the dumps much like her, but his sense of danger is much more acute than hers. Her displays often put him on edge.

… Like when she runs through Snowdin practically screaming.

Sans, on the other hand, is delighted by Undyne’s oddities. He sits up in his snow-bed and looks with awe at the approaching figure.

“GET YOUR BONY ASS OVER HERE, PAPYRUS!” She shouts when she makes it within twenty feet of where he’s stationed with Sans.

“WITH ALL DUE RESPECT...” Papyrus replies wryly while remaining seated, “CALM YOUR TITS, CAPTAIN.”

Sans giggles again and Papyrus belatedly realizes that the little shit is going to be spouting curses for the rest of the week.

Undyne skids to a stop in front of the station, kicking up enough snow to nearly bury Sans. The kid shakes it off and wades over to the station to climb onto Papyrus once more. “HELL NO, these tits are going on a twenty four hour rager, bitch, ‘sup?”

“THE CEILING, DIPSHIT.”

Undyne laughs at Papyrus’ joke, then seems to notice the gremlin that’s attached himself to the lanky skeleton’s side.

She grins, showing off her sharp teeth. Sans smiles similarly back.

“What’s this little punk doing out past his bedtime?” Undyne asks. Sans’ face wrinkles as he whines with indignance.

“WERE YOU NOT JUST TRYING TO TAKE A NAP IN THE SNOW?” Sans flushes and looks down. Papyrus faces Undyne again, “THE SCHOOL IS CLOSED, YET AGAIN. I’M WATCHING SANS FOR THE DAY.”

“‘s boring,” Sans adds glumly.

“I bet it is, this asshole’s got a stick up his pelvis,” Undyne guffaws. “Say, didja wanna patrol with me, squirt?”

Sans’ entire persona lights up as his eye lights sparkle. “really??”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT,” Papyrus inputs before it can get out of hand. “I’LL NOT HAVE SANS GETTING IN THE WAY OF WHATEVER CHEAP ASSASSIN ATTEMPTS TO DUST YOUR ASS TODAY.”

“You know, I could put you in jail for saying that,” Undyne muses jokingly.

“BUT YOU WON’T.”

“Damn. Anyways, you done with the reports from yesterday? It’s fuckin’ cold out here.” The fish monster leans on the sentry station, looking down at the papers Papyrus had been working on.

“ISN’T IT A BIT EARLY FOR THE REPORTS TO BE PICKED UP? BESIDES, USUALLY THE SCRAWNY SNOWDRAKE RUNS ERRANDS FOR YOU.”

Undyne’s sharp grin dulls as she leans closer to her vice captain and talks in a low voice, “I would’a sent him out, but he was picked off en transit yesterday.”

Papyrus frowns. “WHY WASN’T I INFORMED?”

The captain shrugs. “We got a mole, gotta keep things on the down-low right now. Plus, the perp was caught pretty fast. He’s in interrogation right now. You’ll get a debriefing soon.”

Dubiously, Papyrus’ brows furrow, “A MOLE?” 

Before the conversation could go any further, Papyrus turns to Sans, who’s still listening intently, and shoos him off. “GO PLAY FOR A LITTLE, I’M HAVING AN ADULT TALK.”

Sans pouts. “oookkaayyyy…”

__

Sans doesn’t like ‘adult-talks’. They’re not good. Usually.

Papyrus says a lot of things that scare Sans. Like when he talks about people dying. Sans knows that it has to happen, he was told about what the King said just like everybody else. He has to be strong, so one day he’ll probably have to kill people too.

He doesn’t want to, but his teacher said that’s what everybody thinks when they’re kids.

… Playing in the woods is much nicer. Papyrus usually doesn’t let Sans out of his sight, but right now, Sans doesn’t have to worry about Papyrus watching him.

Sans pretends he’s in the Royal Guard. He’s looking for a killer, a mole monster.

… He sees footprints. They look kinda new-ish. Sans follows them curiously, wandering further into the woods.

… 

They lead to a black spot on the ground. On his hands and knees, Sans inspects it. Touching the black stuff gets it on his hands. Like ink...

yuck.

Sans can’t resist trying to stick his arm in, though. Papyrus will be mad that he got dirty, but how often do you find a weird puddle in Snowdin forest?

He sticks his arm in and yelps in surprise when it sinks in completely. Sans tries to pull back, but the stuff pulls him in, sucking him into the hole. 

Sans wants to scream for Papyrus to come get him, but pretty soon, he’s fallen head first into the puddle.

… He doesn’t see it close up behind him, as if it was never there.

Chapter Text

Sans is falling.

Not like a monster falls before they die, but like how Papyrus had always warned Sans he would fall if he got too close to the edge of the ravine.

Is that what this is? Did Sans get too close to the edge?

He tries to remember what had happened only seconds ago, but his vision is foggy with panic. He remembers going into the woods, curiously following the footprints… getting stuck…

Where is Sans now? Will he ever stop falling?

Just as the thought that maybe he’ll be stuck forever crosses Sans’ mind, he’s abruptly dropped into a soft pillow of snow.

Well. Maybe ‘soft’ is too nice a description. Rather, Sans is wheezing on the ground after just having the wind knocked out of him. The small skeleton curls onto his side and gasps helplessly, unable to draw in air.

For what feels like even longer than the darkness, Sans lay shaking on the ground.

papy, he thinks desperately. He wants Papy to save him. Take the pain away.

Eventually Sans regains the ability to breathe again, and the hurt fades gradually.

He wants to sit there and wallow some more, wait for Papyrus to find him, but he knows that he’s too far into the woods for Papyrus to get him without help from the dogs. Sans needs to find his own way back.

The little skeleton pushes himself then brushes off the snow. He doesn’t know what the falling was all about, but he’s just glad that he’s back so he can find Papyrus and not leave his side for a good few hours. Sans will even be quiet and still.

It’s lightly snowing, so Sans knows there’s no possibility of finding the tracks he’d left. They’re all covered up by now; he’s surrounded by a perfect undisturbed blanket of snow.

For the first time in a long time Sans is afraid. Papyrus is supposed to protect him. That’s why he tells Sans not to go too far if he isn’t at school. The stripes can only keep him so safe.

E-everybody in Snowdin knows that Sans is Papyrus’ brother, though, right? They wouldn’t hurt him, right?

All of Papyrus’ warnings seem to ring in Sans’ skull and the little skeleton is suddenly much less certain.

Sans stumbles through the skull in the direction he thinks the sentry station is. He wants to call out for Papyrus, for Papy, but he’s too scared that someone else might find him. His mind conjures up the horrible image of a large, dirty mole monster just waiting to sink its sharp teeth into Sans’ bones.

The tiny steps he’s taking soon get larger and faster, until Sans is sprinting through the woods, trying to find the station. Tears threaten to fall, but Sans can’t cry because Papyrus taught him that tears make you weak.

You can’t let the other monsters see you cry. Especially not giant evil mole monsters.

After some time, the woods start to thin and Sans sees the top of the wooden station. He could cry with relief as he bounds towards it, just barely catching the top of his brother’s skull past some of the greenery.

“papy!” He calls out. “papy, papy, papy!”

Papyrus sits up straight in his chair and turns to look at the quickly approaching child. But… he’s not wearing the same thing that he was before… gone was the uniform, replaced with an orange hoodie and cargo pants.

Sans stops dead in his tracks five feet away from the strange skeleton. Flat teeth, round cheekbones.

that’s not papy.

The tiny skeleton stumbles back when the impostor looks at him fully.

“sans?”

Said monster turns to run away, away from the monster that looks like Papyrus but isn’t who knows Sans’ name - 

“h-hey, kid, wait!”

He doesn’t. He runs past trees, nearly tripping over several roots in his rush.

But Sans isn’t very fast or tall, while his assailant seems to be quite gifted in the height department. Before Sans can fully grasp what’s happening, he’s swept off of his feet under his arms as the taller monster picks him up easily.

Sans kicks. He screams.

“aw, jeeze, kid, calm down, would’ja?”

“papy!! papy!!! papy!!” One of the wild flails of Sans’ arms manages to catch the impostor right under the jaw and knocks his skull back.

“shit,” the orange toned skeleton groans. He wheezes not a second later when Sans manages to kick him in the chest, causing him to drop Sans. He scrambles up and makes another mad dash.

Before he can make it too far, however, his body suddenly feels heavy, and he falls to the ground. Sans makes a panicked squeaking noise as he hears the other skeleton pull himself together not too far away.

“sorry kid, didn’t wanna make ya blue and all, but you’re kinda a handful," he tells Sans. The tiny skeleton listens, terrified, as the snow crutches around him and he’s picked up once again. 

But this time he can’t move, only continue to listen and watch frantically as he’s taken to the sentry station where his brother should have been.

The orange-hoodied skeleton sits Sans down on the counter of the station and the strange heaviness disappears. “there, now don’t go running, okay?”

Sans nods mutely, looking down at his feet.

The impostor sighs in relief. “alright. now, where’d you come from, kid?”

“s-sentry station six,” Sans tells him quietly. That’s where Papyrus was supposed to be stationed, where he’d taken Sans.

“see, that’s the funny thing. this is sentry station six," the other hums thoughtfully.

Dread builds in Sans’ rib cage. That’s what he’d been afraid of.

“wh-where’s papy?” He asks, taking a quick glance up at his captor.

The Papyrus look-alike gestures to himself theatrically, “you’re lookin’ at him, kiddo.”

Sans stares in disbelief.

“lemme guess, your name is sans?”

Sans nods. Another tired sigh sigh. “i thought so. guess there’s no chance you know a way home?”

Chapter Text

Hoodie-Papyrus isn’t bad. Sans doesn’t know if he’s good, but at least he’s not bad. He gave Sans some candy to eat while he had a phone call.

It’s a long phone call, but Sans doesn’t leave the station. Not again. When he finishes the candy, he stays put and counts to one hundred.

Hoodie-Papyrus is done with the call by the time Sans is at the seventies. He’s got a tired looking face and a weird smell. The same kind of smell that Sans often catches when Papyrus checks up on Doggo.

Deplorable Habits, Papyrus always muttered.

“good news, kiddo, my bro’s heading over,” Hoodie-Papyrus tells Sans with as much enthusiasm as he can manage when he comes back, “he’s real cool. you’ll love him.”

Sans’ frown indicates that he’s not quite sure if that’s true.

Hoodie-Papyrus’ own confidence seems to falter at the look. “... there’s just one thing... his name is also sans. so i was thinking, hows’about a nickname? those’re fun, right?”

The tiny skeleton looks down at his feet again. He doesn’t want to admit to Hoodie-Papyrus that now doesn’t really sound like a good time for nicknames. He likes being Sans and he misses Papyrus.

“okay," he tells Hoodie-Papyrus anyways.

“okay," Hoodie-Papyrus echoes. “alright, then, how do you feel about cherry, huh?”

Sans doubtfully nods. “...okay.”

He doesn’t really know what a cherry is. But it sounds kind of cool. 

“good, that’s, that’s good,” Hoodie-Papyrus’ phalanges click along the wood of the post. He looks fidgety, like he’s holding himself back from something. Papyrus had always said that was bad.

“what about you?” Sans - Cherry asks.

“hm? what about me?” Hoodie-Papyrus blinks.

“my brother’s name ‘s papyrus… what should i call you?”

Hoodie-Papyrus blinks again, like he hadn’t even considered that maybe the little skeleton wouldn’t want to refer to him as just Papyrus. “... hm… just stretch, i guess.”

Cherry tilts his skull curiously.

Stretch scratches at the base of his skull nervously, “it’s what people call me anyways, kid.”

The little skeleton nods then looks down again. “m’kay.”

He’s a little shy and Stretch doesn’t seem to have a ton of conversation topics off the top of his head, so they sit in silence until a skeleton that looks like a bigger version of Cherry shows up. Except if Cherry had flat teeth and blue magic?

“WOWIE!” Cherry jumps in place when he hears the new skeleton speak. He’s loud, louder than Papyrus, even! “YOU WERE RIGHT! HE LOOKS LIKE A VERY TINY RED. HELLO, SMALL RED!” The blue Sans holds out a gloved hand for Cherry to take.

“cherry,” Stretch cuts in.

The small skeleton cringes. Papyrus had warned him of stranger danger.

But he has to be brave and strong without Papyrus here. And these two skeletons are probably his best bet of finding a way home.

Home. The thought of it makes Cherry’s chest ache. Can he even get back? Or will he be stuck here forever with a Not-Papyrus and some sort of weird Blue-Him? Just thinking about it makes Cherry want to cry. He wants Papyrus.

So Cherry sticks out his own, much smaller, hand and tentatively shakes the offered hand once.

The blue Sans’ smile widens.

“YOU CAN CALL ME BLUE. MY BROTHER AND I ARE GOING TO HELP YOU FIND A WAY HOME SOON, WE PROMISE!”

Cherry’s eye lights expand. They can do that? “r-really?”

“YUP! I’M GOOD FRIENDS SOME SKELETONS WHO ARE ADEPT AT MULTIVERSAL TRAVEL,” Blue tells him. Cherry has no idea what most of that means, but a promise is a promise.

“okay.”

“GREAT! I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS!”

“m...m’kay…”

Blue gives Cherry one of those adult It’ll be okay smiles. Those are the kind of smiles Grillby makes before he takes out the trash. Or at least that’s what he says, but mostly it’s just when he has to throw out some bad guys from the bar.

Cherry likes the bar. It’s warm and the food tastes good and if he’s really really good Papyrus takes him and Grillby gives him a glass of milk. Cherry doesn’t have money so Grillby says it’s on a tab. Not really, though. Grillby says it’s on the house.

“OKAY, DOES YOUR BROTHER HAVE A MACHINE?” Blue asks patiently.

Cherry thinks very long and hard about any machines in his house. Then, he remembers! Eagerly, Cherry nods. “yeah!” Hope soars in his rib cage as he elaborates, “papyrus has a fancy coffee machine!”

Blue looks disgruntled. “AH. NO," he sighs, “I MEANT LIKE… A BIGGER MACHINE, PERHAPS? IN A BASEMENT?”

“noooooo…?” Cherry says. He doesn’t know about any big machines besides the core, but that’s not Papyrus’. It’s the King’s. Did Cherry say something wrong? “is that bad?” He asks quietly.

Blue’s quick to placate. The smile is back, albeit forced. “NO NO! OF COURSE NOT! THAT JUST MAKES THINGS A LITTLE MORE… DIFFICULT. IF HE HAD A MACHINE THEN WE COULD TRACK RECENT ARRIVALS AND FIND THE, UH, COORDINATES OF YOUR UNIVERSE.”

This is all too much for Cherry. He can’t help the way tears start to form in his sockets - his head hurts from all of this adult-talk and he misses his brother and Blue promised that he could go home soon!

“aw, shit, don’t cry…” Stretch mutters from nearby, and suddenly, he’s patting Cherry’s head. “we’ll getcha home, squirt. we promised.”

Mollified, Cherry wipes at his eye sockets with his sleeves and nods. He almost chokes as he replies something affirmative.

“ALRIGHT… DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN TO OUR UNIVERSE?” 

That question confuses Cherry further.

“uni… universe?”

“YES… LIKE… UM… STRETCH?”

“nyeh, you think i know how to explain this to a kid?” Stretch turns to Cherry. “how did you get here?”

Cherry bobs his head up. He knows this one!

“um… there was a puddle… an… ink? puddle, um… i fell in…”

Blue’s eye socket twitches. “INK.”  

But when he says it, it sounds kinda like a bad word.

Chapter Text

The chat about the mole doesn’t last long. Undyne can’t tell him too much before the debriefing, lest the information somehow be leaked, but she thinks it was linked to Snowdrake.

“It sucks, but what can you do?” Undyne huffs, “There are so many monsters in the lower ranks that it’s hard to keep track of what shit gets passed around. We’re thinking of restricting access to certain locations.”

“PERHAPS WE NEED TO OFFER SOME MOTIVATION TO REMAIN CLEAN? A GOOD PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION GOES A LONG WAY.” Papyrus advises, only half-jokingly.

Undyne guffaws and pats him on the back roughly, “THAT’S why you’re cut out for this shit, Rus. You’re one heartless bastard.”

“ONE OF THESE DAYS I’M GOING TO REPORT YOUR TASTELESS JOKES TO MR.” Papyrus replies snarkily.

“Bitch, I AM MR.” The fish monster cackles. Papyrus even cracks a small smile. When Undyne is finished laughing at her own joke, she wipes a fake tear from her working eye. “Anywho, you can call the brat back.”

Papyrus pushes himself back in his seat and looks around. Except Sans is nowhere to be seen.

“WHERE’D THE RUNT GO NOW... ?” He groans.

… 

“... Hey, uh, Rus?” There’s something in Undyne’s tone that brings a strange bout of panic into Papyrus' SOUL. He’s quick to turn and see what she’s looking at.

… Tiny footprints in the snow. Leading into the forest.

Papyrus feels strange, looking at them.

“There’s… fu hu hu… there’s no way he could’ve gone THAT far, right?” She laughs nervously, looking past where they lead. They continue for quite some time.

“OF COURSE NOT…” Papyrus swallows, “THIS IS SANS WE’RE TALKING ABOUT.”

“Yeah… yeah… you want help looking?”

“IF YOU WOULD BE SO KIND, CAPTAIN.”

A numbness starts to grow the longer they follow the tracks, broken by a swift anger that falls over Papyrus when the footprints are joined by larger ones. Undyne is thankfully quiet as Papyrus stews, thinking of what he’ll do to whoever dared to lure his brother away…

... Until the tracks stop. There’s no indication of a struggle. Just two sets of footprints suddenly cutting off.

And one, small mitten laying in the pristine snow. 

… 

Papyrus would not show weakness... but it's hard to conceal....

“O-Oh fuck…” Undyne mutters. She sounds just as sick as Papyrus feels. But he will not break.

“HE’S NOT DEAD.” Papyrus says aloud.

“Rus, buddy,”

“HE’S. NOT. DEAD.” Papyrus tells the captain again, voice firm. “HE CAN’T BE. THERE’S NO DUST.”

“The wind - “

“FUCK THE WIND!” 

“Look, dude, I understand you’re fucked up right now, but I’m your captain, and you WON’T cut me off like that, capisce?” Undyne growls lowly.

Papyrus can barely contain himself. He wants to punch a tree. He wants to blast several trees. He wants to screech and scream at Undyne until his magic is run raw and ragged that Sans. Is. Not. Dead.

He can’t be. He simply cannot be dead.

“YES MA’AM.” Undyne mumbles something he can’t hear, then claps him on the shoulder.

“... Take the day off. I’m doing a performance review of the Snowdin Unit today anyways.” She advises coarsely. “...” She clears her throat, “If you, uh, if you bring by some of Sans’ things I can have the Canine Unit track his scent.”

“... Thank You…” Papyrus tells her softly.

“Yeah, yeah. Kid killing is still illegal, and… Sans w-is a good kid.” For a moment, the two stare at the mitten on the ground. It looks so innocent. Like Sans would come around any minute to grab it up and slip it back onto his equally tiny hand.

“... Stars dammit.” Undyne curses. “How the hell did it get to this, Rus?”

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN.” He replies curtly. Except he does. Undyne does this rant everytime she gets drunk.

“You DON’T, huh?” Undyne laughs, gesturing to the grim scene. “How the fuck did it come to killing KIDS? Monsters are made of love and compassion but we fucking ROT the culmination of our beings with LOVE!”

She rubs at her face roughly, “I wanted to be the savior of monsters, but all I do is save murderer’s asses. FUCK the law, FUCK Asgore.”

“UNDYNE.” Papyrus says quickly, quietly.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Can’t say shit like that or it’s off with my head.” She chuckles wetly. “Anyways, get the fuck out of here.”

Papyrus somehow manages to unstick his feet from the ground to walk home. The numb feeling doesn’t ever fully go away.

In fact, when Papyrus finds himself finally home, he slips off his boots and practically falls onto the couch. He stares at the ceiling for a long time. Papyrus has never been one for lounging around, but summoning the will to stand up isn’t something he can manage.

It feels like hours before clawing hunger in Papyrus’ imaginary gut forces him to sit up. Every part of him rebels as he goes about preparing himself some leftover lasagna. How dare he sit here and eat while Sans is out there, scared? Hurt?

How dare he mope about like a waste of space and magic?

Why is he not out in Snowdin, searching, interrogating?

… 

Why is he in Sans’ room?

It’s just as Papyrus remembers in here. Dirty. There’s tiny clothing strewn around the room, waiting for Papyrus to collect them on Monday like he always does.

The mattress is on the floor, with the sheets balled up to the side. Sans is too tiny for a proper bed frame. Papyrus feared he’d fall out and hurt himself with all of his wild movements.

Sans’ desk, the one Papyrus had built for his most recent birthday, has crumpled papers all over it. Drawings of bones and skulls that look familiar.

Cheesy, star shaped stickers on the ceiling. They glow in the dim lighting of the room. He remembers Sans eagerly watching as he stuck them to the ceiling.

The fake stars are unmoving, just like their counterparts above.

They watch silently as Papyrus weeps.

Chapter Text

Stretch feels his SOUL drop when Cherry admits that there’s no machine. The feeling compounds whenever the small skeleton describes the inky puddle he’d fallen into. 

He’s well-versed in multiversal happenings. Stretch is good friends with quite a few of his and his brother’s iterations from across dimensions. Blue… is on a whole different level, though. 

Star Sans. A funny name, but it’s well known. Blue’s close friends include none other than Dream, the guardian of positivity and Ink, the Creator. Blue hops across universes with the two to fight the evil forces of Nightmare and Error.

It sounds like a cheesy show that Undyne might like to watch. 

Even now Stretch is hesitant to accept that his brother has such a dangerous hobby. But Blue’s not only an adult, he’s Stretch’s older brother, so Stretch doesn’t really have any real authority when it comes to him.

Trouble always seems to follow the two outcodes. And now, trouble has visited in the form of a tiny Sans who bears a startling resemblance to one of Stretch’s friends, Red. But this Sans isn’t Red. 

He’s just a lost kid far, far away from home.

Blue pulls Stretch aside for a small chat when he’s done questioning Cherry.

“I HAVE A FEW CALLS TO MAKE.” Blue explains, “CAN YOU TAKE CHERRY HOME AND WATCH HIM?”

Attempting to make light of the situation, Stretch chuckles, “what? and abandon my post?”

“UNION MANDATED BREAK!” Blue corrects, because he’s always had that ironic sort of humor. None of Stretch’s ‘easy laughs’.

Stretch salutes his brother but it isn’t until Blue’s left that he realizes exactly what he’s gotten himself into. 

… 

There’s…. There’s a child. Sitting at his post. That he needs to take care of. 

Stretch’s ribs still kinda ache from where the little bugger had kicked him. He sighs. Welp. No use in avoiding it.

“hey, kiddo.” He calls. Cherry turns to look at the taller skeleton, little legs ceasing from kicking as the little monster tilts his skull. “you hungry?”

Cherry rubs at his ribs for a second with a thoughtful look and turns his little face upwards to give Stretch a wary nod. Phew.

“you ever been to a nifty joint called muffet’s?”

… Blue never said he couldn’t take a quick detour. Besides. Stretch’ll keep an eye socket on him, nyeh.

…

Cherry clings to Stretch as they walk. It’s sort of weird, but not wholly unpleasant. 

Kinda cute, really.

Stretch doesn’t really watch children too often. He’s the youngest in his family and he’s not super responsible, so it isn’t a huge surprise that he doesn’t get called up for babysitting gigs too often.

He’s not used to the way Cherry seems to shy away from strangers by tucking himself behind Stretch, or how Cherry’s hands are so tiny that instead of holding Stretch’s entire hand, he grabs onto his thumb tightly when they walk.

It sparks a kind of warm feeling in Stretch’s rib cage. Almost makes him want to stand up straight instead of lumbering around in his constant slouch. Almost.

Upon their arrival to Muffet’s, Cherry eyes the building curiously.

“what happ’ned to grillby?” He asks curiously.

Stretch hums and pushes the door open, Cherry following behind him like a little duck. “he’s out in hotland. muffet runs the shop here to be closer to the ruins, she’s got family over there.”

“Hey, Papyrus!” One of the bunny guards greets. The rest of the building erupts in greetings. Stretch chuckles and rubs his face to dispel the embarrassed blush that’s made itself right at home across his maxilla.

Cherry ‘eep!’s and holds onto Stretch’s thumb tightly, attaching himself to the taller skeleton’s back.

“nyeh heh heh… calm down, guys, i’ve got a guest today.” Stretch says.

Another guard, not the one who first greeted him, looks around Stretch to see Cherry. 

“Aw, and who’s this little cutie all bundled up?” She coos. Cherry nuzzles his face into Stretch’s hoodie, avoiding eye contact.

“nephew,” Stretch answers swiftly. “from a relative in the capital.”

“He does look like Sans. Hey, little buddy!” A hamster at the bar calls. Cherry makes a whimpering noise, but everyone seems to find it cute.

“He’s shy!” The original bunny guard exclaims.

But Stretch can tell from the slight trembling behind him that this is a little more than just being shy. Cherry’s starting to get scared. Considering his 'verse... yeah. So Stretch quietly takes him to a side booth after waving the other monsters off. They go back to their proceedings naturally.

Cherry chooses the seat closest to the wall beside Stretch, curling up so he can’t be seen. Shit. Now Stretch feels kind of bad.

Hesitantly, Stretch pats Cherry on the head. “... sorry, kid.” He says apologetically, “you don't have to talk to anyone, we can just get our food and leave. sound good?”

Cherry nods, then gives Stretch a shockingly forceful hug that nearly knocks the air out of the lungs he doesn’t have. 

“oof.”

Stretch doesn’t know what to do with the sudden affection and he isn’t sure what brought it on, so he continues to pat Cherry on the head until Muffet comes around to take their order.

“Hello, dearies ~” She greets, holding a pad and pencil in two of her hands and adjusting her glasses with another. Two hands rest on her waist while the remaining one idly taps on the table. “What can I get for you today?”

Stretch shoots her an apologetic grin as he gets squeezed even tighter by Cherry. Seems the kid really doesn’t like this place.

“just, ah,” Stretch tries his best not to sound like he’s being choked but damn this kid is strong, what the hell! “a box of calzones to go, muffy.”

Muffet giggles at the display and saunters off. “Of course ~ Cute kid!”

Stretch huffs and looks down at Cherry.

“you sure you aren’t part snake, kid?”

Maybe he’s imagining the tiny bouncing of Cherry’s shoulders that would indicate laughter.

Chapter Text

Cherry holds Stretch’s thumb tightly as they walk back towards his house. Not his house, Stretch’s house. Even though, it sort of is Cherry’s house. It looks almost the exact same as the one back in his uni-verse.

But… cooler.

He probably stands out front just looking up for a whole minute just watching the twinkling lights shift color. Which is fine because Stretch isn’t as good as using keys as Papyrus is. He fumbles with the lock for a really long time.

Cherry almost asks him if he needs help, because Cherry is very good with opening doors, but just as he gathers his courage, Stretch manages it.

The tall skeleton sighs and pushes the door open with his shoulder while he turns the knob hard. “sorry,” He tells Cherry, “sans pulled a ‘jape’ the other day and froze the lock. it still sticks.”

Cherry looks over the lock as he enters the house. It doesn’t look very sticky.

Stretch is quick to usher him in and close the door behind them. Awkwardly, Cherry stares at him as he collapses onto the couch with a huff.

After a minute, Stretch looks back over at Cherry and sighs again. “you can, uh, put your coat up by the door. do you like … mettaton?”

Cherry shrugs off his big coat, shoes, hat, and singular mitten (when did he lose the other?). He leaves them on the ground since the hook is too high to reach. Then, Cherry hesitantly stands in front of the couch. “papy said he wasn’t good for kids.”

But sometimes Cherry hears the sound of chainsaws on the TV downstairs when he’s supposed to be sleeping, accompanied by muffled laughter from his big brother.

Stretch’s brows furrow for a second as he mutters, “right…” He looks back up at Cherry. “well, uh, we have a celebrity a little bit like him, but kids can watch too.”

“really?”

The tall skeleton cracks a little grin and runs his hand over Cherry’s skull like you’d ruffle someone’s hair. Except Cherry has no hair. “yup. sit here and see. i’ll get you some new clothes then we can have an early dinner when blue gets back, eh? his shift’s almost over, anyways.”

Cherry nods and sits up on the couch while Stretch turns the TV on. Immediately, he’s met with bright colors and loud sounds. A robot dances around on a stage, making music with the various instruments on their body.

“naps-ta-ton.” Cherry whispers, reading the word lit up behind them.

“the underground’s very finest.” Stretch confirms, “have fun.”

Absently, Cherry nods. He hasn’t looked away from the television since it turned on, and Stretch can’t tell if he’s blinked even once either.

Stretch thinks he may have created a, heh, monster.

___

Stretch hears Sans jiggling the door open while he’s still buried in his closet, trying to find their stripes. Sans had donated most of them, besides some hand-made stuff that he wanted to pass down. A few sweaters and such.

His stuff might be just a tad bit too big for Cherry, but nothing ridiculous. Stretch pulls out a soft sweater and some loose sweatpants from his box of old stuff for the kid to wear.

Sans pops the door open just as Stretch is coming back down the stairs. He gives his brother an amused look.

Sans returns it sheepishly. “PERHAPS THE WATER BUCKET OVER THE DOORWAY TRICK ISN’T SUITED FOR SNOWDIN AFTER ALL.” He says.

“you think?” Stretch snorts, setting the clothes down on the back of the couch.

“WELL… IT NEVER GETS OLD.” The brothers share a short laugh, before Sans realizes that Cherry’s completely spaced, still staring blankly at the TV. “OH DEAR.”

“just let him, it’s one night.” Stretch persuades, “he’s never even seen mettaton.”

“HM.” Sans sighs shortly, “ALRIGHT BUT BEDTIME STILL APPLIES… It Will Keep Him Busy While I’m Making Dinner, Though…” He quietly mentions the last part as an afterthought.

“oh, don’t bother.” The younger brother grins. “i picked up some muffet’s.”

“PAPY…”

“come onnnn…” Stretch whines playfully, “he’s never had it before.”

“HONESTLY.” Sans waggles a finger at Stretch. “NEVER SAY I DON’T SPOIL YOU.”

Stretch mimes a salute and swears, “never.”

Sans sighs and rolls his eye lights in faux annoyance. He spots the bag that Stretch had brought from Muffet’s, starting to unload it swiftly.

__

“CHERRY! DINNER!” Blue calls patiently. Some life returns to Cherry’s eye sockets as he rubs them and looks over. 

“...m’kay…” He mumbles, pushing himself off the couch.

Stretch guides him over to the table and the three share a meal. Cherry kicks his legs under the table, but answers a few more of Blue’s questions about his universe. Then, Blue asks about his Papyrus… and Cherry just can’t help himself.

“he’s the tallest monster, like, ever.” Cherry gushes between bites of food. “and he’s vi-vice captain of the royal guard.”

“OH WOW.” Blue indulges him, “IMPRESSIVE.”

“he’s so cool.” Cherry returns. “he put stickers on my ceiling and made me a desk and….” All of the sudden, picturing Papyrus and his room, Cherry feels his sockets grow warm. “... i miss him.”

The two older monsters watch with dismay as Cherry sheds a few tears, wiping them away with his sleeves.

“hey, buddy…” Stretch speaks up. Cherry turns his round eye lights on the tall monster. He seems to wilt a bit before clearing his throat, “i have some clothes for you to change into, and you can take my room for the night.”

“NONSENSE, YOUR ROOM IS FILTHY. I’LL SLEEP ON THE COUCH.”

Cherry feels a bit better watching the two bicker. It’s still hard to fall asleep, even when Blue reads him a story and tucks him in, though.

But the spaceship bed is cool and the Blue even has star shaped stickers of his own on the ceiling. Cherry stares up at them. He tries pretending he’s still back in his own room, and Papyrus is watching Mettaton downstairs.

Chapter Text

It feels wrong to be home without Sans. It’s not just that the house feels empty to Papyrus, but it feels wrong. It’s unsettling in the worst of ways to sit at the table and force himself to eat while Sans is missing.

It feels wrong to wash one plate after he’s finished eating, and it feels wrong to leave the house without Sans trotting along behind him.

In fact, the entirety of Snowdin feels off knowing that Sans isn’t by Papyrus’ side. It almost doesn’t feel real. Like this is one terrible dream and Papyrus will wake up any time now and Sans will be loudly snoring only a room away. Safe.

Safe. The word is like a knife lodged into Papyrus’ rib cage. He’s Sans’ guardian. It’s his job to keep Sans safe.

Never before has Snowdin felt so cold. Never before has this empty cavern they all live in felt so dark and empty. Quiet.

… 

… Papyrus expects a lonely day at his post filling out paperwork.

What he sees is his Captain leaning against the sentry station on her phone. She seems to sense his gaze and looks up with a sharp grin. “‘Sup, punk?”

“CAPTAIN.” Papyrus greets neutrally. “SHOULDN’T YOU BE PATROLLING?”

The fishy monster rolls her eye. “Fuck that. Today is about you, fuckwad. Kidnapping is serious business.” 

The tall skeleton’s brows shoot up. “YOU’RE LETTING ME SEARCH TODAY?”

Undyne dodges the question. She pockets her phone and stands up straight, “You probably don’t want to hear it, but your bro’s chances aren’t good. Most, uh,” a short cough, “most kids that are taken don’t last the first twenty four hours.”

Papyrus’ jaw clenches. He knows. He was trained to know these things. Somehow it seems impossible. Far-off. Nightmarish. “... AND?”

“SO!” Undyne makes a fist and punches her open hand. “We can’t waste time! Gotta keep the investigation on the down low so no one freaks out and gets any ideas. Our little mole is being put on the backburner right now.”

Investigation. He knows Undyne’s doing her best but it’s still not satisfactory to Papyrus. “YOU SAID IT YOURSELF, CAPTAIN. WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR AN INVESTIGATION. WE NEED TO SEARCH NOW.” He stresses.

“Look, we don’t have any clues other than the mitten. No more prints. I had the Canine Unit try sniffing around all night, nada. We need to get some information otherwise we’re chasing our tails.” Undyne grouses. She crosses her arms over her chest and grumbles, “I don’t like it either, but you KNOW I wouldn’t jeopardize that little squirt, alright ?”

She’s telling the truth, however much Papyrus is loath to admit it. “WHERE?” He sighs, because Undyne better not be spouting shit without a plan again.

“Grillby’s.” She replies.

Papyrus hums. He has to admit that it’s a good idea The bartender has his hands in just about every illegal business in the Underground. Plus, talking in the woods with no way of knowing if anyone is listening… a small booth in the corner of a seedy bar is likely the best option.

But his bar is atrocious. The grease alone is enough to make Papyrus wary, even baring the less than pleasant company that tends to hang around.

Sans adores the place, though. Probably has something to do with the way Grillby’s taken a shine to him ever since the little skeleton declared him the bestest chef in the whole underground!

Papyrus disagrees: his lasagna is nothing to scoff at. But Sans for whatever reason prefers the charred lumps Grillby calls burgers and the grease-laden salt sticks called fries. If Sans behaves well, though, Papyrus will let him indulge in junk food.

....

Again, a feeling of wrongness settles in as Papyrus steps into the bar with Undyne. He never comes here without Sans. A few patrons look their way, as if to catch a glimpse of the little skeleton that usually holds onto Papyrus’ hand so tight, but he’s not there.

Perhaps Papyrus should be concerned about the way that the bar darkens when Grillby catches sight of them. He’s one of the main light sources for the building and the change shifts the previous lax atmosphere into something tense.

Either way, Undyne is quick to usher him into a booth for some privacy. Papyrus sits stiffly while Undyne stretches and leans back with a serious expression.

“So.” She starts.

“... SO?” Papyrus echoes almost sarcastically.

“I texted Alphys yesterday to ask if her cameras caught anything…” Undyne leans in. The cameras are somewhat of a secret. Most monsters out in Snowdin live as far from the crown as possible for a reason. They wouldn’t take kindly to the knowledge that the Royal Scientist keeps vigilant track of the going ons around the woods. “But they’d been deactivated. All of them in Snowdin. As far as she knows? Yesterday didn’t even happen here.”

Undyne leans back again after revealing this, looking uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable prickles of anger spread throughout Papyrus’ body. “You Think This Was Planned?” He grits out.

The fishy monster gives a tight nod and makes a noise in the back of her throat that sounds just as angry as Papyrus feels.

A sudden increase in lighting is all the warning the two get before Grillby is standing at their table, arms crossed. His purple flames dance wildly around him, more agitated than usual. Papyrus almost scoffs at his attire - the usual half-buttoned shirt and sleazy amounts of jewelry along with sunglasses. For stars’ sake he’s made of fire.

“CAN WE HELP YOU?” Papyrus asks rather loudly.

“.... i want in.” Grillby replies evenly.

One of Undyne’s brows rises. “On what?”

Grillby frowns. “... the dogs… they were talking yesterday.”

Both Papyrus and Undyne share upset looks. 

“i made sure… they knew to keep quiet from now on… but i heard. sans is… missing.”

“And you wanna help us find him?” Undyne asks incredulously. Papyrus shares the sentiment; he hadn't realized how much Grillby... cared.

Grillby sets his shoulders. “... yes.”

Chapter Text

Turns out, Grillby knows even less than Undyne and Papyrus combined. Which is frustrating for many reasons, but mainly because he’d been their biggest lead thus far.

After kicking everyone out of the bar, the flame elemental brought them into the back where he keeps his stock with a firm warning to not “fuck shit up”. Papyrus could only sniff at that, biting back a retort about how he’d rather chop off his own hands and eat the dust than willingly lay hand on Grillby’s product

Undyne does nearly kick over a crate when Grillby reveals that he’s got no information on what had happened to Sans. The information is only slightly mitigated when he lists several names of monsters who he has reason to believe might undertake the heinous act of harming a child.

The fishy captain takes notes, and not just for Sans’ case.

Both unfortunately and fortunately, Grillby doesn’t partake in the whole trafficking business. On one hand, it’s a relief to know Papyrus hasn’t been misplacing his trust in the monster, on the other… he doesn’t know a whole lot about the inner workings of the business like he might with drugs or weapons.

So, to summarize the entire affair, Papyrus and Undyne end up walking out with nothing but a list of names.

Undyne glares down at the paper like it’s just spit on her, tracing a claw over each name and growling. “Whichever of these bastards took Sans is gonna make what I do to humans look merciful.”

Papyrus shares much of the same sentiment, however, they haven’t found Sans yet, and that’s of the utmost priority before torture. But, yes. Torture shall come after.

First, finding Sans. 

Which unfortunately means more investigation. This little trip had shown him just how right Undyne had been. Without any information, Papyrus would be lost in Snowdin forest trying to look for clues that didn’t exist right about now.

( But doesn’t Sans deserve Papyrus, out there, looking for him?)

If this sort of thing could be brute forced, Papyrus would’ve already gotten to the very bottom of it by topping off his LV.

“DID ANY OTHER CHILDREN GO MISSING IN SNOWDIN YESTERDAY?” Papyrus asks, scouting out the edge of the treeline behind Grillby’s, making sure there aren’t any stray monsters who could be acting as spies of some kind or the other.

“Not as far as I know.” Undyne mumbles, “Usually these scumbags go for the kids in the dump or on the streets of New Home. Why?” 

Thoughtfully, Papyrus’ gaze drugs to where he knows one of Alphys’ cameras to be. “THE POWER WAS OUT YESTERDAY. CHILDREN WERE NOT IN SCHOOL… AND THE CAMERAS WERE ALL OUT. IF THIS WAS A PLANNED BY MONSTER TRAFFICKERS, WHY ONLY TAKE ONE CHILD?”

Undyne pauses and grunts. “... Think this was personal?” She ventures.

“IT COULD BE LIKELY.” Papyrus responds, feeling both hopeful and miserable at once. If this was an attack on Papyrus, there’s the chance that he might only have to meet the demands of some ransom before having his brother returned. But… if his position is what had caused Sans to be taken…

“Most of these guys have set ups in the rural regions of Waterfall,” Undyne tells him suddenly. “Secret pathways and dark rooms, evil shit. Orphans go missing all the time. Snowdin isn’t like that… it’s too cold for kids on their own, you know. Parents give a fuck. The Guard to citizen ratio is astronomical. No trafficker in their right mind targets a place like Snowdin.”

Undyne pockets the list with a heavy sigh. 

Papyrus’ fists clench at his sides. “SO WE’VE GOT NOTHING.”

“Not nothing.” Undyne says quietly, prompting Papyrus to give her an odd look. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a whole unit full of dogs who’d tear a kid-stealing bastard limb from limb and not a lot of patience.” She looks up at Papyrus with a sad sort of look, “And a bag of bones who won’t stop until justice is served.”

The tall skeleton feels his sockets widen. “YOU’RE LETTING ME SEARCH?”

“I’m letting you do more than SEARCH, Rus! I should’ve let you do this when I first saw that fucking mitten. We’re gonna find whoever took Sans and we’re gonna fuck ‘em up, alright?” Undyne claps Papyrus hard on the back, enough to leave a nasty bruise. But Papyrus doesn’t care.

Already, resolve is hardening in his chest, his mind slipping into the place it goes when he knows his LV is going to raise.

“I’ll get Alphys on the case, too. The cameras are back up. If those bastards are still in Snowdin… we’ll find them!”

“WHOEVER IT WAS WHO TOOK SANS WOULDN’T BE SAFE FROM ME EVEN IN THE KING’S DUNGEONS.” Papyrus confirms lowly.

Undyne’s never had a particularly nice grin, but the one that spreads over her face at that moment puts all the others to shame.

… The two are interrupted by the swinging of a door not even a second later. Grillby leers out at them. Maybe it shouldn’t be such a surprise since he’s already proved himself to be an insufferable snoop.

“i was going to ask you two to stop scaring away my customers…… but….. I want to help… find who did this.”

Papyrus is so properly shocked that all he can do is bluster for a minute, “YOU KICKED THEM OUT YOURSELF!”

“they’d be back by now if it wasn’t… for your asses loitering out front.”

A rough chuckle breaks loose from Undyne, who’s wiping at her good eye. “Eavesdrop one more time and you’re in for a visit to the dungeons yourself, punk. But yeah. Let’s find Sans.”

For just a minute, that numb feeling in Papyrus’ SOUL abates.

He’d finally be allowed to do what he’s wanted since a day ago. Wipe the helplessness away, replace it with the steely calm of a challenge. Papyrus has never backed down from a challenge. And...

Papyrus doesn’t lose.

Chapter Text

Blue wakes up probably just as early as Papyrus. Cherry knows this because the shower by his room makes a lot of noise and Blue apparently likes to sing while he washes himself. Cherry looks over at Blue’s clock to read the blurry numbers before falling back asleep.

The others actually let him sleep in, probably because Cherry doesn’t have to go to school here.

When Blue does eventually wake him up, it’s with a polite knock to the door. “CHERRY!” He calls, “TIME TO WAKE UP. MY FRIEND IS COMING OVER IN A FEW HOURS TO ASK YOU SOME MORE QUESTIONS.”

Still groggy, Cherry flops over. “c’n i go home after?” He whines.

“HOPEFULLY! I HAVE BREAKFAST DOWNSTAIRS, DO YOU WANT SOME?”

Slowly, slowly, Cherry pulls himself up and slouches out of bed. He doesn’t bother to fuss with the wrinkled blankets, only trudging over to the door to open it. Blue is standing right outside, smiling brightly.

“yes please.” He tells Blue. The older monster says something about manners and leads Cherry downstairs. It’s very nice. They’re very nice. He still wishes Papyrus were here, though.

…

Cherry sits in the same place as he had the night before. So do Stretch and Blue. Stretch doesn’t seem to be all that awake this early in the morning, either, so Blue carries most of the conversation.

He seems to want to make sure that Cherry is completely prepared to meet his ‘friend’. It actually ends up making Cherry a bit more nervous, but he repeats in his head that Blue will be there with him. And Blue has been really nice so far. And technically Blue is him, so he can’t really be bad. Probably.

“HIS NAME IS INK.” Blue explains. His plate is already clear of the scrambled eggs he’d served up, while Cherry still has a lot on his own dish. He pushes it around nervously with his fork as he listens. “AND HE HAS A RATHER UNIQUE WAY OF GETTING AROUND. YOU SAID YOU HAD FALLEN INTO A PUDDLE?”

Cherry nods.

“I BELIEVE THAT WAS ONE OF HIS… PORTALS, OF SORTS. HE CAN BE A BIT FORGETFUL, BUT HE CAN PROBABLY GET YOU HOME.”

Perhaps noticing Cherry’s quietness and interpreting it as nervousness, Blue softens a bit. “DON’T WORRY, HE’S VERY SERIOUS ABOUT HIS JOB PROTECTING EVERYONE. WELL. PERHAPS SERIOUS ISN’T THE RIGHT WORD. HE’S…

Stretch butts in, grinning at Blue’s difficulty finding a word. “dedicated?”

“EXACTLY!” Blue snaps his gloved fingers. “INK IS VERY DEDICATED.”

Cherry looks down at his eggs for a little. His feet kick a bit more purposefully. “.... is he nice?”

“well,” Stretch speaks up before Blue can, “he’s kind of a scatterbrain.”

“BROTHER.” Blue chides quickly. He’s quick to get back on topic, though. “... HE’S VERY NICE.”

Cherry nods. He shoves another forkful of eggs into his mouth and chews for a bit. Then, he asks another question. “will he like me?”

Blue stops to consider. “HE LOVES MEETING NEW PEOPLE. I’M SURE YOU'RE NO EXCEPTION.”

Finally, Cherry’s nerves somewhat abate, so he quickly eats up the rest of his breakfast. 

… 

Blue offers to let him use their shower, but it doesn’t feel right to Cherry to bathe in an unfamiliar place, so he turns the offer down. Thankfully neither of the older skeletons protest, so Cherry is allowed to watch more Napstaton until Ink comes over.

…

The sound of knocking instantly draws Cherry’s attention away from the TV. He looks over anxiously to see Blue check the peephole, then let in another skeleton that looks remarkably similar to him.

He’s got on some sort of overall outfit and strapped to his back as an absolutely massive paintbrush. Cherry’s a bit awed. How strong do you have to be to carry that thing?

“Hey, Blue!” The skeleton greets.

“HELLO, INK.” Blue returns easily. They share a short hug before Blue leads Ink to the living room, where Cherry is waiting with his hands gripping the fabric of his pants.

“Is this him?” Ink asks. He puts his hand to his chin like he’s studying an exhibit rather than a kid. It really doesn’t help with the way Cherry’s starting to sweat. “Wow, he really is like a little replica of an Underfell Sans!”

“YES, THIS IS CHERRY.” Blue says a little sternly. He sits by Cherry on the couch, and Cherry is quick to latch onto his side and hide his face a little. “HE NEEDS HELP GETTING BACK TO HIS UNIVERSE.”

“Oh, right, right.” Ink waves his hand lazily, “what universe are you from, buddy?” he leans down so he’s level with Cherry. Cherry notices that he’s got weird shapes in his sockets.

His breath gets caught up in his throat. Is he supposed to know that?

“... INK. HE’S SIX.”

“I knew that!” Ink exclaims, standing straight. “I was just joking… I think. Anyways, I have a list of all the universes I visited within the last week written down….” He fumbles through all the pockets on his clothes. Eventually, Ink starts to unwind his scarf to look over it like a scroll.

“Hmm…”

“IT’D BE AN UNDERFELL COPY.” Blue adds helpfully. “AND HIS BROTHER IS AN ADULT, SO IT’S NOT A LITTLETALE HYBRID.”

“Right…” Ink hums again before tapping on a section of the scarf, “Here! Underfell Copy 582d. I went there because a creator took a special interest in it. I don’t know why, though, it was pretty boring.”

Ugh… this is so complicated. Usually, when Papyrus talks with big letters and numbers, Cherry just tunes him out.

“NEXT TIME JUST REMEMBER TO CLOSE YOUR PORTALS BEHIND YOU.”

“Can do, Mr. Blue.” Ink sings, “Let’s get this party on the road.”

Cherry’s still a little confused, but he’s pretty sure the way Ink’s smiling means that he can really go home. A small little smile of his own grows over his face as Blue hugs him into his side.

“LET ME GET PAPY, HE’LL WANT TO COME, TOO.”

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for Undyne to round up all the dogs: she’d only needed to blow a sharp whistle through her even sharper teeth. A minute passed before half the canine unit was standing in a line, and only moments more before the rest had shown up.

Now they’re all out by Grillby’s. The snow crunches under their feet when they move.

The streetlights flicker some, threatening to go out for the second day in a row, but eventually hold steady.

“ALRIGHT!” Undyne calls quickly to grab everyone’s attention. “You guys remember that scent from yesterday?”

She gets a uniform nod from every dog there. Their eyes are wide and interested. “(Bone puppy?)” Dogaressa asks excitedly.

Lesser Dog gives a sharp boof at that, but settles down when Undyne shoots him a look. “Yeah, well, I’m giving you all free reign from your patrolls today. I don’t care WHAT you have to do as long as you bring that funky little skeleton back, Y’HEAR?”

A round of barks confirms it.

“I’m talkin’ Waterfall, Hotland, fuck, start looking at holes in the wall!”

The dogs are starting to grow restless now, shifting from foot to foot. The look in their eyes is growing wild. It’s been… quite awhile since they’ve been let loose. Papyrus almost shudders, remembering when he’d first joined the Snowdin unit and had faced the entire canine unit down, acutely aware that he was made of bones.

“Except you, Doggo.” Undyne singles the mostly blind dog out. 

He gives a short whine, “What for!?”

“No offense, but you can’t see shit unless it’s moving.” Undyne reasons dispassionately, rolling her good eye. “So you’re standing guard by the border of Snowdin and Waterfall. The fog’s too thick for anybody else to see through, but as long as it moves, I know you’ve got it. Got it?”

“Got it…” Doggo seems to be slightly comforted by her sureness in his ability as a look out, but still glum.

“... and what will…. we be doing…?” Grillby asks. He’s got his arms crossed over his chest, slouched like he doesn’t care. But Papyrus can see the tension in his shoulders.

“Trying not to die, first off.” Undyne snorts. “But for real, I’ve got like, a super warrant for breaking down doors. I can get into places you’ve only dreamed of.”

“UNSURPRISINGLY, I AM NOT COMFORTED BY THIS.” Papyrus notes. He’d been silent through the (brief) briefing, but now feels as though he should be giving some input. “ARE WE CHECKING OFF THE NAMES ON YOUR LIST?”

“Yup, those are still the biggest suspects since they’re practically pros at slinking around. From a business standpoint, it makes no sense, like you’d said. But I was thinking maybe a high profile case required more hijinks.” Undyne pulls the list out of the waist of her armor. 

“I SUPPOSE THERE’S A REASON YOU’RE CAPTAIN.” Papyrus says sarcastically. He’s glad, though, that someone like Undyne is in charge. She’s bullheaded, crass jokes too often, but she’s got a real motivation for justice.

“YEAH!” She exclaims good naturedly, “Because you loooove me too much to kill me already, wimp.”

Papyrus scrubs at a cheekbone with the back of his hand. This woman…! “SLANDER.”

“Well Sans already calls me aunty, so that basically means you’re both my bonehead nephews.” Undyne snickers. Papyrus knows, he knows, that if they weren’t in front of the entire unit, she’d be noogying him.

“MORE LIKE YOU’RE THE CRAZY WOMAN WHO BREAKS INTO OUR HOUSE AND SLEEPS ON OUR COUCH WHEN YOU BURN YOUR OWN DOWN.”

Undyne sobers up a little and scratches at the back of her head, “Heh… either way, family sticks together. We’re gonna get that funky little boy back, alright?”

Papyrus feels the same sort of creeping sentimentality growing. He quickly pushes it down, much like Undyne, to focus on the task at hand. Whether he and Undyne are family or not, Sans is Papyrus’ own bone and marrow. It’s his responsibility, his duty, his… his little babybones.

“preferably, today.” Grillby adds.

“WHATEVER.” Undyne turns to the dogs, “You all got your walkies?”

“Walkies?” Dogamy speaks up. Papyrus can practically hear his tail wagging - along with the rest of the unit, who have magically perked up.

Undyne unclips her handheld radio device from her belt then shows it off. “Walkie talkie. You all got one?”

The dogs grumble in disappointment and show theirs to her, except for Greater Dog, who seems to still be vibrating at the idea of a walk. Lesser Dog ends up confirming for him.

“Alright, then.” Undyne nods, “You guys go on. No mercy, okay?”

Another round of barking lets her know that they’re ready, so she gives the signal and they all race towards the area that separates Snowdin from Waterfall.

When they’re safely out of sight, she runs her fingers through a loose chunk of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. “Phew. Got that down, now it’s our turn. I’m thinking we pay a visit to Puffy’s place first. I’ve always wanted an excuse to knock down the door to his fancy ass house.”

“IS THERE REASONABLE SUSPICION SANS COULD BE THERE?” As petty as Papyrus is, he’s doing this for a reason.

“he was on the list… i provided.” Grillby tells him.

“And he got really pissy when I wouldn’t let his grankid in the guard.” Undyne scoffs, “I don’t take bribes.”

“APPARENTLY, HE TAKES CHILDREN.”

“Yeah, yeah. His house is near the divide between Hotland.” She explains, “He’s got a good tenth of Waterfall bought out and rented, though. There’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“WE BETTER GET TO IT THEN.” Papyrus feels it in his bones, as cliche as it sounds. This isn’t going to be easy.

Undyne straightens her hair up so it’s no longer in her face, “Hey! Flame-face!” She calls to Grillby. The elemental had zoned out at some point within the last minute, and is now staring towards the town entrance.

“... skeletons…?"

Chapter Text

Cherry holds onto both Stretch and Blue’s hand when they lead him through another inky portal. Ink had set it up right in their living room, although Blue had been annoyed about it initially. Something about stains.

It was still dark, but Cherry could feel the bones of the others’ hands in his. And, when they emerged, they were standing perfect upright instead of on their backs as had been the case with his first trip.

Instinctively, Cherry can already tell that this is his universe.

It feels… right. 

The other one had been happier, lighter - the lights hadn’t flickered even once, and children freely played - but it still had an unease that only Cherry could feel. Here, though, Cherry can breathe fully again.

And he could recognize the landmarks of his own Snowdin easily - sentry station six, just like it had been yesterday. With one loose nail and a small mark where Sans had clawed his own name into the desk in a fit of boredom one day.

“Good old 582d.” Ink sighs, “Can’t you feel it…? Something’s about to happen.” He looks around excitedly. Blue ends up having to use his free hand to grab one of Ink’s and lead him towards the town. 

“HOPEFULLY NOTHING TOO BIG. IT’S BEEN A LONG ENOUGH DAY FOR EVERYONE.” He sighs.

Hand in hand, the three of them march towards the buildings in the distance.

“don’t you guys you usually have a, uh, protocol for this sort of thing?” Stretch asks warily. “like, disguises?”

“USUALLY WE ATTEMPT NOT TO DRAW SUSPICION.” Blue confirms, sounding weary. “BUT I’M AFRAID IT’S TOO LATE FOR THAT, WHAT WITH THE ACCIDENTAL KIDNAPPING.”

“Hey! I disabled all the cameras like usual, I was super stealthy.” Ink interjects. 

“RIGHT UP UNTIL THE ACCIDENTAL KIDNAPPING.” Blue replies, using the exact same wording for emphasis.

Cherry just looks at his feet as they walk, counting the steps down until he gets to see his brother again.

“Well, they can’t all be winners.” Ink sighs with a snap of his fingers.

“THAT DOESN’T MEAN THE ALTERNATIVE IS DISPLACING A SIX YEAR OLD FROM HIS NATIVE UNIVERSE…”

“What do you want from me??”

“AN APOLOGY WOULD BE NICE.”

“That’s easy! Sorry, Blue!”

“I MEANT TO HIS FAMILY….!”

“Well, they’re not here, are they?”

Stretch clears his throat and points up. Cherry follows where he’s looking to see some figures in the distance. “we might be coming up on them real soon, though.”

Cherry gasps. He can clearly see the tall and thin silhouette of his brother, as well as the bulky armor of Undyne, and…. the purple flames of Grillby!

With a swiftness surprising for his stubby legs, Cherry pulls his hands out of Blue and Stretch’s to run forward towards his brother.

“papy!!” He yells, “papy!! papy!!”

The figure turns towards him, and he can see the exact moment Papyrus recognizes him as well. It’s also the moment he takes a few stuttering steps forward. It ignites an unfamiliar determination within Cherry, giving him the stamina to keep running until he collides with his brother’s skinny legs.

He hugs Papyrus’ kneecaps as best he can while breathing heavily from exertion.

“SANS…” Papyrus stutters slightly.

“Are you seeing this too…?” He briefly hears Undyne mutter, likely to Grillby.

“... yes….”

Cherry can hear the others coming up behind him, boots sinking into the firm snow.

“AHEM.” Blue is the first to speak. “SORRY ABOUT THE INCONVENIENCE MY FRIEND HAS CAUSED YOU.”

They all look to him and Ink, who’s grinning sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry. I’ll be careful next time.”

“Careful about WHAT?” Undyne exclaims, “Who the hell are you guys?”

“AH…” Blue rubs at the back of his skull nervously, “LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF, I’M SANS.”

The three universal natives blink at him, then look to Cherry, then back to Blue. Cherry situates himself behind Papyrus’ legs and watches the proceedings.

“BUT I GO BY BLUE. I’M FROM A DIFFERENT… PARALLEL UNIVERSE. MY FRIEND HERE CAN OPEN PORTALS BETWEEN THEM, AND IT SEEMS YOUR SANS ACCIDENTALLY FELL THROUGH ONE. MY APOLOGIES, TRULY.”

“You’re…” Undyne trails, still looking bewildered.

“INSANE, OBVIOUSLY.” Papyrus answers for her. “THEY’RE DERANGED AND THEY KIDNAPPED SANS.”

“... should we arrest them?”

“No!” Ink yelps, “I can prove it!” He reaches for his paintbrush, only for Papyrus to summon a bone and block his grip. Ink clutches his hand and hisses. “Aw, ow ow ow!” He whines, “A little warning, please?”

“I DON’T CARE WHAT TRICKS YOU’VE GOT, YOU NEED TO SURRENDER YOURSELF TO THE AUTHORITIES FOR YOUR CRIMES.”

Cherry gasps at the quick turn the interaction has taken, and tugs at Papyrus’ pants. “um, papy!” He squeaks. Papyrus turns his gaze down to his younger brother. Once Cherry sees that he’s got his brother’s full attention, he nervously speaks up. “they’re nice, not bad. i got lost an’ they brought me back.”

“For real?” Undyne snorts, “Let me get this straight, you really went to a different universe?”

Cherry scrunches up his face before nodding. “they had lots of lights.” He says eventually, “and no grillby’s.”

“.. that should be a crime on… it’s own.” Grillby comments dryly.

“TELL ME ABOUT IT. I WISH BURGERS WERE AS EASY TO GET THERE.” Blue laughs nervously.

“aw come on,” Stretch speaks up for the first time since arriving. His hands are in his pockets and his grin looks… forced. “muffy’s is a classy place.”

“YOU AND YOUR SUGAR ADDICTION…!”

The quick exchange of words relaxes everyone, and Grillby even manages to crack a grin. “well then… why don’t i make something and you can explain exactly… how you accidentally stole our kid.”

“Hehe… do I have to?” Ink asks.

“THERE’S ALWAYS PRISON.” Papyrus replies.

“Well it all started - “ Ink starts to ramble, which draws a laugh out of Undyne.

“Okay, you weenies don’t completely suck. But I’m gonna need to file a report so… let’s get inside before I freeze…” She grumbles, nodding to Grillby, who proceeds to lead them into the bar.

Chapter Text

Cherry wiggles in his seat, happy to be back at the familiar bar with familiar tastes. To his right sits Papyrus. Grillby stands behind the bar per usual, and Undyne stands around with the others.

Papyrus is… processing. After a full day of feeling so bizarrely out of place without Sans by his side, it feels even more strange to suddenly have him humming and kicking his feet not a foot away.

The adrenaline from preparing to search is still buzzing in his bones. It’s causing him some sort of anxiety and restlessness, which he can only solve by staring at the… other versions of Sans and himself. Studying them.

The other Papyrus, who had introduced himself as Stretch, looks to be slovenly and unmotivated. He’d almost balk at the indignity of it if he weren’t faced with two colorful, adult Sanses as well.

They are nothing like his brother. Hell, one of them even looks like a character from one of Alphys’ ridiculous cartoons!

“YOU TOOK CARE OF HIM?” Papyrus asks, just to be clear. It’s hard to imagine such kindness from a stranger. Even more perplexing that they’re not asking for any compensation.

Stretch shrugs, “he’s a sweet kid.”

“VERY POLITE!” Blue nods in agreement.

Papyrus nods along, not even fully realizing it himself. “WHEN HE’S NOT TRYING TO SLEEP IN THE SNOW. WHERE DID YOU FIND HIM?”

“he, uh, came running up to my station. thought i was you.” Stretch mumbles, “realized pretty quick that i wasn’t, nyeh.”

“HM.” Papyrus glances back over at his happily eating brother.

“The real question is what TOOK you so long?” Undyne grouses, slamming her fist down on the bar. Grillby shoots her a look that she ignores. “If you’ve got some fancy portal magic, why couldn’t you just bring him back right away?”

“AH, WELL, I CAN’T TRAVEL BETWEEN UNIVERSES ON MY OWN. I HAVE A MACHINE THAT CAN OPEN A PORTAL, BUT I DIDN’T HAVE COORDINATES FOR THIS UNIVERSE” Blue explains, “ONLY INK AND A SELECT FEW CAN OPEN PORTALS BY THEMSELVES. AND I NEEDED TO GET IN CONTACT WITH HIM SEEING AS HE IS… RATHER BUSY.”

“Yeah!” Ink says, “I check on universes all over to make sure they’re not being destroyed.”

Papyrus studies the skeleton for perhaps the tenth time in the past half hour. He doesn’t look  like he’s capable of opening a jar by himself. How could he be a supposed protector of the… multiverse, as they called it?

“... if you visited ours…. does that mean it was in danger?”

Papyrus hadn’t considered that. He listens closely, tense. Is there a possibility that a threat waits just out of sight…?

“Ah, no.” Ink snorts, waving his little gloved hand. “I just wanted to drop by. I got a feeling something was going to happen, but I was wrong.”

“Nice way of saying we’re boring.” Undyne notes with slight amusement.

“i’d take being boring over being dead.” Grillby adds.

“IT ISN’T NEARLY AS FUN AS IT SOUNDS.” Blue agrees. “BUT IF INK WAS DRAWN HERE IT MUST MEAN AT LEAST ONE CREATOR HAS TAKEN INTEREST IN THIS TIMELINE.”

“I don’t know why. Maybe for the babybones over there.” Ink hums.

“WHAT IS A CREATOR AND WHY DO THEY WANT MY BROTHER?” Papyrus just barely manages not to growl the words, but he feels even more anxious and protective at the insinuation that an… outside force… has taken interest in his younger brother.

“We all came from somewhere.” Ink explains, “Usually it was an idea or something else from a ‘creator’. You’ve got a pretty solid standing here, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did decide to take up this timeline in the future.”

That still doesn’t clear up what a creator is at all. Papyrus wants to mention that, but he’s afraid Ink will just twist around the answer further and confuse him even more.

“THINK OF THEM AS MOSTLY BENIGN GODS.” Blue shrugs, “I TRY NOT TO DWELL ON IT.”

“ditto…” Stretch murmurs.

“So now what? You guys go back to your freaky universes and we pretend none of this ever happened?” Undyne sneaks a fry from Sans, who whines a little but eventually concedes it. He’s got mustard stuck all up in his finger joints.

Papyrus will have to help him wash them later. Oh, the joys of guardianship.

“THAT’S ONE OPTION.” Blue admits, “BUT WE COULD ALSO COMMISSION A MACHINE FOR YOU.”

“LIKE THE ONE YOU HAVE?” Papyrus asks.

“yeah, i got a few buddies who’ve got more than enough experience with them. shouldn’t be too hard to work with if we get the right parts.” Stretch replies easily, “you could meet them. there’s a guy that looks just like you.”

“I’M LOOKING AT HIM.” Papyrus says dryly.

“nyeh heh,” Stretch laughs softly, “you guys would get along great. like a house on fire.”

“Please.” Undyne cuts in with a sharp grin, “This guy’s got a real stick up his pelvis about house fires.”

“IF I DIDN’T, WE’D HAVE A BIGGER HOMELESS POPULATION THAN HOTLAND AFTER THE DISTRICT NINE CAVE IN FOR ALL YOUR COOKING EFFORTS.” Papyrus snarks right back.

“Don’t remind me, I’ve been on Asgore’s ass about rerouting power supply but he’s being stubborn.” She sighs.

The sound of a snap draws their attention away from their worries and to Ink. Strangely, his eye lights have turned to a star and an exclamation point.

“I’ve got it!” He nearly shouts, “I know what’s going to happen!”

… They stare at him for a bit.

“... and…?” Grillby eventually pries, attempting to get the strange skeleton to elaborate.

“Well I can’t tell you.” Ink snorts, “That’d spoil it.”

… 

“... WE SHOULD GET GOING BEFORE HE STARTS RAMBLING AGAIN.” Blue says.

Stretch nods awkwardly.

They exchange parting words, and information. 

Cherry catches on and waves with his dirty little hands. “bye!”

… 

Before they’re all gone through the door, Ink looks back at Undyne one last time with a strange grin and a wink. “...Your majesty, heh.”