Chapter Text
Honestly, Frisk hadn’t known what to expect when they’d first summoned Papyrus. It was on accident actually, not that they were complaining, they just hadn’t expected him to be so… Lively. Or friendly, for that matter. From all the stories they’d heard about monsters shambling around, surrounding their masters and attacking anything that they saw, Papyrus was the last thing Frisk had expected to come out of this situation.
It hadn’t been a week since they’d left Toriel, their caretaker and adoptive mother, they were actually surprisingly ok with their new living arrangements with a friend of Toriel’s. Frisk had been taking a path near a little town called Snowdin when they’d found themself lost. The young child had stumbled through a thick mist, far off the road by now, calling out with an unused voice, until Frisk’s foot made contact with something.
They fell, air rushing past their face, the mist clearing, and the ground rapidly approaching. Just below them they heard something clatter to the floor, followed by a great crackling sound and a rush of energy. Frisk closed their eyes and prepared for the worst, but it never came. Instead, they landed on something, or rather, something caught them, Frisk looked up, trembling, and found themself staring into two black voids that served as eyes. As soon as the confusion wore off, Frisk realised they had been caught by a skeleton.
It’s permanent smile seemed to grow wider as it looked down at the stranger. “HELLO TINY HUMAN!”
Frisk stifled a scream as they found their way out of the skeleton’s grasp, scampering over rubble and debris toward the other side of the room. The skeleton’s grin somehow shifted into a frown, looking almost worried. It’s tattered red cape billowed out from behind as it took a few cautious steps forward.
“I APOLOGIZE TINY HUMAN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS DID NOT MEAN TO FRIGHTEN YOU!” Papyrus’ smile returned, even wider than before. “I INSTEAD WISH TO THANK YOU! YOU HAVE GIVEN ME A SECOND CHANCE! NOW, WHAT IS YOUR NAME TINY HUMAN?”
Silence filled the cavern, save for Frisk’s heavy and still somewhat panicked breathing.
“NOT ONE FOR CONVERSATION I SEE? THAT’S OK, NEITHER I NOR SA-”
Papyrus trailed off, looking down at the rubble beneath his boots, “SANS? SANS? SANS WHERE ARE YOU?”
Frisk stood, gathering all their courage and DETERMINATION to approach Papyrus. They took a step forward, then another, and another until they reached the tall skeleton’s side. Although Frisk was not fond of talking, it seemed they would have to speak for now until some other form of communication could be worked out.
“What is it, Papyrus?” They asked, their voice was cracked from underuse.
“WELL HUMAN, YOU WISH FOR ME TO COME WITH YOU, CORRECT?”
Frisk was quiet, did they really want Papyrus to come with them? It seemed he could be nice company, but they weren’t so sure what Alphys would say if they came back with a new companion. But Papyrus seemed so excited to be alive again, and they couldn’t just let him down…
Frisk nodded, smiling.
“WELL, IF I AM TO GO WITH YOU, I HAVE ONE REQUEST.”
Frisk signaled for Papyrus to keep going,
“YOU WILL HELP ME FIND MY BROTHER, AND BRING HIM BACK TOO. I CAN’T JUST LEAVE SANS, HE’S IN HERE SOMEWHERE! IS THAT OK?”
Frisk thought for a moment and nodded again.
“THANK YOU HUMAN!” Papyrus knelt down so he was somewhere near Frisk’s height, “MAY I HUG YOU?”
Another nod, and Frisk found themself wrapped up in a surprisingly warm embrace, they had to admit, they were excited, but also a bit nervous. They’d never done any actual magic before, or now at least intentionally. Papyrus had been brought back by the fear and panic Frisk had felt while falling, it must have resonated with an emotion from Papyrus’ final living moments and brought him back, with a little help from Frisk’s little training staff somehow hitting the ground before they did.
Papyrus stood, “WELL, I SUPPOSE IF YOU ARE TO BRING HIM BACK YOU ARE GOING TO NEED YOUR TOOLS. YOUR STAFF FELL OVER THERE, HOPEFULLY IT IS NOT TOO DAMAGED.”
Frisk made their way to the spot that Papyrus had pointed to, sure enough, there sat their staff. Thankfully, it was undamaged, save for a small crack in the blood red orb that sat atop the twisted bit of wood that made up the majority of the object. They could ask Alphys about that, she seemed to know a lot about fixing things.
Frisk picked up the staff, preparing for what they were to do if this failed. They sighed, and reached out into the void between worlds like they had been taught. Two presences remained in this place, one the moment Frisk felt it they immediately turned away, instead rushing towards the second presence. This one, unlike the other, was warm and open, a feeling of safety and happiness, but with a layer of something else that Frisk couldn’t quite place underneath. It felt like sadness, but then again it could have also been fear. It all felt natural, the way everything worked, the movement of their hand to call forth the presence Frisk desired. Now all they needed was an emotion, one that would have been strong in the final moments of Papyrus’ brother. For this, they chose love, the kind that came with a burning desire to protect. Frisk didn’t know why, it just felt right.
Frisk moved the staff, almost automatically, and with a final thought slammed it into the ground. The ruins shook, energy crackling in the air, the strongest surge coming from towards the back of the room. The earth shifted, a hand emerged from beneath some debris, ever so slowly pulling another skeletal figure from the earth. After a short while, it finally managed to escape the rubble, and promptly sat on the ground, looking lost.
Then suddenly, the emptiness of the skull was filled with blackness, two pinpricks of light forming within the empty sockets. they flickered for a moment, one eye glowing a dull blue before sputtering out and returning to normal. He looked down at his hand, a sort of unintelligible stammering rising from his throat, or lack thereof, only to be cut off by Papyrus slamming into him at top speed, wrapping his arms around his brother.
“SANS!”
Sans sat for a moment, confused, then did something that Frisk figured was supposed to be a gasp. (Now that they’d looked closer it looked as if both brothers were breathing, it must have been some sort of habit.)
“p- papyrus? you’re a- al-”
“ALL SKELETON? YES! AND SO ARE YOU! BUT DO NOT BE AFRAID, THE TINY HUMAN HAS GIVEN US A NEW LIFE! I MISSED YOU, AND KNEW I COULD NOT GO ON WITHOUT YOU HERE!”
Frisk was pretty sure Sans was going to say something else, but that worked too.
The shorter skeleton was quiet for a second, taking in his new reality, a grin slowly grew as something opened up to him, a whole new world… full of puns.
“so what you’re saying is that you didn’t want to be SANS a brother?”
“STOP.”
“nope, i’ve got a skeleTON of skelePUNS and i’ll never be skeleDONE, I’m going to have lots of skeleFUN.”
Frisk couldn’t help but giggle as Papyrus scolded his brother. “HUMAN, PERHAPS THIS WASN’T SUCH A GOOD IDEA.”
“what is it bro? am i just too PUNNY for you?”
“SANS!”
“ok, i’ll stop. for now.”
Then, for the first time, Sans seemed to notice there was someone else in the room, an expression of horror crossing his face.
He took a step forward, “you.”
Before Sans could do anything, Papyrus placed a gloved hand upon his brother’s shoulder. “WAIT. SANS IT’S NOT THEM IT’S A FRIENDLY HUMAN! SURE THEY LOOK A LOT ALIKE, BUT THEY BROUGHT US BACK!”
Sans’ expression softened. “are you sure?”
“VERY.” Papyrus said,
“ok. i trust ya pap. what’s your name kiddo?”
“F- Frisk.” They whispered.
“well, f- frisk, i think that we should get out of here, i’m DYING for some fresh air.”
Papyrus groaned, “THAT ONE ISN’T EVEN TECHNICALLY RELEVANT ANYMORE!”
“i know.”
“But how are we supposed to get out?” Frisk asked,
“don’t worry kid, I know a shortcut. take my hand.”
Frisk did so, and a loud sound echoed throughout the room, causing Sans to burst into a fit of laughter. He fell backward onto the floor and lay there for a minute, giggling uncontrollably.
“sorry kid,” Sans said, trying to hold back more laughter. “forgot about that thing. i’ll put it away, i’m a bit of an inventor see, and this one has to be my favorite, so there’s no sense risking anything happening to it.”
“WHY DON’T YOU INVENT SOMETHING USEFUL AND NOT SOME DEVICE TO AID YOU IN YOUR SILLY PRANKS?” Papyrus asked,
Sans simply shrugged and unwrapped some cloth from his hand, it seemed to have something inside, then rewrapped it and stuffed it in one of his pockets. “ok, seriously this time, take my hands.”
Frisk reached out, their fingers intertwining with Sans’, they looked over and noticed Papyrus had done the same, and within an instant, everything had gone black. Frisk felt as if they were being thrown sideways through a snowbank, a rush of wind and cold and then it was over.
Frisk looked up to find that both they and the two skeletons had found themselves only a few yards from where Frisk had strayed off from the path. Relieved, Frisk let out a sigh, lying back upon the damp grass, breathing in the cool morning air, but Frisk suddenly remembered something they’d all too quickly forgot.
“F- F- Frisk? F- Frisk w- wh- where are you?” A voice called.
How were they going to explain this one?