Chapter Text
Date: ????/9/7
Time: 9 AM.
Location: REDACTED's lab
Sans sighs, “I just... I’m not sure if it’s a good idea, Paps. We’re barely allowed outside our living quarters, let alone outside of the lab…” Papyrus stomps his foot angrily, “COME ON, Sans! I’m almost 11 now! I should be able to go outside! You’re 16 and you’re telling me you haven’t ever wanted to see beyond this cramped place? I just want to enjoy my birthday OUTSIDE of the lab! I don’t think it’s the crime you’re making it out to be.” Papyrus waves his hands around as he speaks, ever expressive. As cute as it is when Papyrus gets frustrated, he’s actually upset this time, which isn’t good. Sans is starting to regret even bringing up what Papyrus wants to do for his birthday. He hates seeing Papyrus upset over something he can’t fix! Well, he hates it when Papyrus is upset under any circumstance, but it’s ten times worse when Sans can’t help… “It’s just the same as inside here, I’m sure of it.” Sans tries to convince him, “But what if it ISN’T!? What if we’re missing out on something amazing?!” Sans fails, but he's still trying anyway. “It doesn’t really matter, though, does it?” Papyrus scoffs, “Maybe not to you, but it means a lot to me!”
“Papyrus…”
“Sans.”
…
“Ughh. Fine, fine. You win. I’ll ask him.”
.
.
.
"god, I can believe I'm doing this... the things I do for him..."
knock knock knock
"Dad? Papyrus wants to do something special for-"
.
"Sorry, I didn't know you were doing something important."
.
"Yes, I know all your work is important, but-"
.
"I'm sorry. I could ask you later if-"
.
"Oh! Papyrus wants to uhm... g-go on a walk for his birthday-"
.
"Yes, I know we aren't allowed outside, but-"
.
"Dad-"
THWACK
"STOP-"
CRACK
"PLEASE-"
SNAP.
...
Thud.
"... I'm sorry, sir."
.
.
.
Sans winces at the feeling of the cold ice pack being pressed against the right side of his ribcage, “Sans I’m so so so so sorry! I- I had no idea he would get so angry when you asked! I never would’ve even suggested the idea if I knew he would get so mad…” tears fall from Papyrus’ face, guilty. Papyrus tries to be as gentle as possible, pressing against Sans' half-broken ribcage as softly as possible. “Awh- gee Pap, it’s not your fault… you’re just a kid, you’re going to be- ow- curious about your surroundings.” Sans is trying his best to calm down Papyrus, but it’s hard to do when he’s fighting back his own tears of pain. He wishes they were both in a better situation. A sweet, perfect kid like Papyrus shouldn’t be worrying about the safety of his older brother; he should be playing with other monsters his age on a playground. “B-but it IS my fault! I should’ve asked myself instead of making you do it, then he wouldn’t have kicked you!” Papyrus snuggles up to Sans, attempting to make Sans feel better. “What? Papyrus, if you asked, you would’ve gotten hit instead! Is that really better?” A long pause happens between the two. Sans pets his skull, Papyrus looks deep in thought still. Sans tilts his head at Papyrus, “Are you ok, Paps?” "I'm sorry that I'm so selfish... why am I still thinking about it?" Sans huffs a slight laugh, "There's nothing selfish about it, so you still wanna go, huh?" Papyrus slightly nods his head. "Well then, what should we do about it? I honestly don't think there's much that can be done, Paps, he definitely has his mind set..." Papyrus sits up, "All we can do is try our best! It's better than doing nothing, isn't it? But where would we even start?" Sans hums in thought.
"I think I have an idea."
Date: ????/9/10 Papyrus' birthday
Time: 1 AM.
Location: REDACTED
"Sans, are you sure we won't get in trouble? What if he catches us?" Papyrus whispers, "he should be gone at this hour, or at least asleep. The coast should be completely clear." Papyrus whines(?), unconvinced, "And what about your injuries? As much as I want to go outside, your safety is worth more than seeing a different floor or wall…" Sans sighs, tying his sneakers. "Come on, Papyrus, I'm fine, I promise." Papyrus slips on his boots. "If you say so, brother…" Papyrus reaches for Sans to help him up. Sans takes his hand and hoists Papyrus to his feet. They don't let go of each other's hands, instead adjusting their hands to be more comfortable and start walking. The sound of footsteps on hard metal floors reverberates through the long halls. The two walk through the long, empty corridors, walking to the exit they've never stepped through before. "See? Like I said, no one is here!" Papyrus looks around, uneasy. "mmmh… But what if he's hiding?" Sans stifles a laugh. "Hiding? Papyrus, he's not a cartoon super villain." Papyrus stops walking and stares at Sans directly in the eyes, "Half of your ribs are broken. I think he might just be a cartoon super villain." … "touche…" they continue walking in silence.
"Welp, we're here!" Sans smiles. They stand together in front of the large door. Papyrus lets go of Sans' hand and approaches the door. "I think it's locked…" Papyrus inspects the touch pad used to open the door, and Sans looks over Papyrus' shoulder at the touch pad. "I dunno. It looks like it's turned off to me." Papyrus turns to Sans, "Why would he turn it off at night? Wouldn't he turn it to a higher security setting?" Sans shrugs, "Eh." Papyrus rolls his eyes and turns back to the door, and hovers his hand over the touch pad. "What do you think would happen if I put my hand on the lock? It opens when he does it-"
Sans pries open the door.
"Sans!" Papyrus stomps his foot and turns to his brother, "What? It opened, didn't it?" Papyrus huffs, "Sure, it opened, but that could've been really dangerous! What if it was a trap? You could've gotten shocked or something!" He picks up Sans and lightly shakes him, "You can't take a hit and still be fine like most other monsters, you need to be careful!". "Papyrus." "WHAT." Sans tilts his head towards the doorway. "The door is open." "Oh! Right, we should get going, huh? We need to be back by morning, and the clock is ticking!" he tucks Sans under his shoulder and marches through the doorway.
"Welp. It looks just like the inside of our living space, I told you it wouldn't be anything special." Papyrus frowns, "Maybe we just haven't gotten to the exciting part yet…"
Papyrus and Sans continue to wander around the lab for a good 30 minutes…
"UGH! THIS IS GOING NOWHERE! I think you where right Sans… There's nothing interesting here.." Papyrus sits down, putting Sans down in his lap. "Awh- Paps come on… It's your birthday, and we are outside of our usual living quarters so it's still somethin new right?" Sans points about 10 feet to their right, "Plus that door looks different from the rest, it has no window, maybe there's something cool back there?" Papyrus perks back up and springs to his feet, holding Sans under the arms like a cat "Ooooo! Good find, Sans!" Papyrus walks over to the door that stood out from the rest and attempts to open it, "Ouch!" he recoils and takes a step back. "You good, Paps? What's wrong? Did the door shock you like the one for the storage room in our area usually does?" Sans takes and inspects Papyrus' hand "No! It's just… Very hot for some reason?" Sans looks up at him "Hot?" "Yea! It burned me through my glove!" "Huh…" Sans glares at the door, "Well its a sliding door,. how about you use an attack to slide it open instead of your hand?" "Oh! Good idea Sans." Papyrus summons a bone and uses it to nudge the door open.
Papyrus gasps, Sans' eyes widen "Whoa…" In front of them was so different then inside… everything was, well, NEW! It's so bright and warm…. unlike the stale lukewarm slate of a lab they grew up in. "Is that lava?" Sans points at the lava surrounding the rock paths they are standing on. "I think so? It matches the description from those books he gave us about minerals, but if it's lava why is there no railing along the paths? Isn't lava dangerous?" Sans looks up at him "I mean, that was a human book, maybe it doesn't effect monsters? I uh, wouldn't try it though." Papyrus scoffs "I'm not dumb Sans, I'm not gonna hop into an ocean of molten rock just to test a theory about it not hurting me." "Didn't say you where, I was just makin sure." Papyrus ignores him and starts wandering around. "There isn't anyone out here, just a lot of rocks, lava and heat!" He kicks a rock into the lava, it burns up immediately. "well, that answers that question I guess…"
Papyrus backs away from the edge of the orange walkway and continues onward, rocks crunching under his boots. Quickly walking down the uneven pathways, trying to find somewhere cooler. Meanwhile, Sans is attempting not to fall asleep, being short sure has its own advantages. It means he doesn't have to walk anywhere; Papyrus just picks him up because he's too slow to get anywhere in a timely manner. Well, at least Sans is slow, Papyrus, who walks as fast as possible everywhere he goes, no matter what he's doing. Speaking of walking fast, Papyrus is basically zooming across the many long, twisting roads. Has he stopped complaining about the heat or lack of people or things to do? Nope! Is Sans listening? Yep, well kinda. He's listening as much as a person on the brink of sleep can. You'd think someone would get tired of listening to nonstop complaining, but that doesn't seem to be the case for these two. Sans is used to listening to Papyrus ramble on and on anyway. While Sans is halfway asleep and mostly lost in thought, Papyrus is trying to find somewhere cooler to sit down for a while. He may be full of energy all the time, but being in a scorching hot environment you're not used to would make anyone tired. The time isn't helping either, wait a moment…
"Sans I think I've found out why there's no one around…" Sans opens his eyes, huh… when did he even close them? Eh it doesn't really matter. "Really?" Papyrus stops walking for a second and turns Sans around to look at him "It's because it's two in the morning." They stand in silence for a second "Oh." … "How did neither of us realize that sooner?" Papyrus turns Sans back around in his arms and continues walking "No idea!". The two continue on wandering. The more they walk the more Papyrus solidifies how much he does not like this place, the heat is horrible, the roads are excruciatingly long, half of the paths are blocked by lasers, and there's absolutely nothing around! How do people live out here? Where do they even live? There's nothing here!
Then, Papyrus sees something… Different! The area he's walking up to has a purple floor and closer dark purple walls. While it's more cramped than the large open lava filled space he's currently walking through it at least seems nicer! Or just less bright, but even then this place is wayyy too bright so any amount of darkness would be nice. Papyrus' eyes where made to see in the dark after all, maybe that's why it seems excruciatingly bright out here, But enough of that! Something new to explore! Papyrus turns to the sign on the wall in the hallway, " 'Welcome to Hotland'. Sans do you think that's where were leaving?" Papyrus looks down into his arms to find Sans sleeping "SANS! WAKE UP!" Papyrus shakes him gently "Wha- oh, sorry bro what where you saying?" Papyrus rolls his eyes "Ugh... The sign! Do you think this is Hotland?" … "Sans?" Papyrus looks down to see sans has fallen back asleep "REALLY!?" Papyrus almost shakes Sans wake again, but pauses. "I mean, I guess its late… maybe he needs the sleep…" Papyrus smiles at his brother's soft snoring "Plus he doesn't usually sleep so peacefully…" Papyrus decides to continue on forward without waking Sans, silently stepping into the humidity of the next new area to explore.
It's cooler here, which Papyrus finds preferable, though he wishes it were colder… Everything is wet, which is also nice but maybe its a bit too wet… but the silence isn't as unbearable because the sound of water keeps it from being unbearably quiet, which is a plus. His footsteps don't make the same crunching sound as they did in Hotland; the floor is smoother and easier to walk on. Overall, much nicer than… Hotland was it? Yea Hotland. If that place was Hotland, what is this place? Papyrus starts theorizing to pass the time, but it really does get quite boring when Sans isn't awake after all.
There's more here than there was in Hotland; the flower field he's currently trudging through is quite pretty, but still nothing interesting. That is, until Sans makes a little purr-like noise in his sleep and Papyrus hears it reverberate around them! "What the… Sans, Sans, wake up!" Papyrus lightly shakes him a few times until he starts stirring. "Mmm, what do you need, Paps…" Sans' eyes immediately shoot open when he hears his word echo around. "The flowers! They seem to repeat every noise we make that's loud enough for them to hear!" Papyrus' idea is confirmed by the sound of his voice repeating from each and every flower close by. Sans giggles, eyelights growing large "Echo flowers! I had no idea they were real!" Papyrus crouches, letting Sans get closer to the cyan blooms, "Hello!" Sans says to the flower in front of him 'Hello! Hello! Hello!' his greeting is repeated until every flower is mirroring one another, an infinite loop of friendly hellos. "Are they… monsters?" Papyrus squints at the flowers, "Nope! Just special, no other flowers can do this! They're a magic mystery! No one knows where they came from, or why they repeat everything they hear, actually, no one knows how they hear in the first place!" "Huh, so everything about them is just… unknown?" Papyrus rests his head on top of Sans', waiting for him to continue talking about the flowers. As much as Papyrus LOVES talking, he loves listening to Sans ramble about something he likes more. "Yea! Apparently, they contain higher amounts of magic than other plants, which might be a part of the reason they glow, but besides that…"
The two sit there among the flowers, Papyrus asking questions and Sans answering as fast as possible. It's… relaxing. Calmer than any part of the lab they sit in. Sans seems so much less tense here in the damp fields than he's ever been at home. Sans said he would get Papyrus a birthday present when he could, but honestly? This was better than any material item Sans could buy. Eventually, papyrus runs out of questions, and in turn, Sans runs out of answers and therefore has no reason to talk. Eventually, Papyrus gets tired of sitting there in silence and stands up, continuing his adventure. Finally exiting the field of flowers, there seems to not be much more to see. Well, all the rocks on the roof are sparkly, and Sans seems to like them, so not a total loss.
It doesn't take very long for something interesting to happen, though… the air seems to be getting frigid, closer and closer to Papyrus' ideal temperature. He also feels Sans' body relax a bit more, once tense bones become slack. Sooner or later, they're at the entrance to a new area…
"Wowwie! Sans, look!" Papyrus rocks back and forth on his feet, looking at the snowy landscape in front of him. Sans huffs a soft laugh at Papyrus' excitement, "Yeah, everything's white, and cold. Pretty nice, huh? I think dad told us about this place at some point, Snowdin, I think?" Papyrus is basically bursting with excitement. "I wanna look around!" Papyrus sprints forward into the snowy wonderland. So much to do! So much to see! Papyrus has no idea of what to do first; there's just so much to do! He sets Sans down against a nearby tree and starts playing in the snow, making snow angels, snowmonsters, whatever snow-related activities he can think of. Sans is content watching Papyrus play, grinning ear to metaphorical ear. It's nice. Watching Papyrus be so relaxed and in his element, that is. Papyrus puts a final ball on his 3rd snowmonster before picking up Sans and continuing on down the snowy road, excited to see what else this place has to offer. As they start their way through Snowdin, they run into the first person they've seen all day (night? eh.), they're large and fluffy. "Hello!" Papyrus greats them with a wave and a smile, The gray wolf monster turns to the two. She smiles and gently waves back, "Why hello there, a bit late to be up exploring, ain't it? Well, I guess it really isn't my business." Papyrus tilts his head to the side as he usually does when confused. "What are you doing?" The wolf smiles, "I'm throwing ice down the river to the core." "Why?" she shrugs, "Gotta keep it cold somehow!" After a bit of talking, Papyrus kisses Sans on the top of the head, and the wolf monster looks at them weirdly… she clears her throat, "Well, I'd better get back to work! nice meeting you two, goodbye!" "oh, uhm, bye!" as Papyrus starts walking off, he swears he can hear her mutter something about the two of them being strange, he decides to ignore it. As they continue walking, they see quite a few interesting things: A tree covered in lights, snow poffs, weird-looking unmanned stands, broken down puzzles, fields of ice, and a little white dog sleeping in the snow. Papyrus decided not to bother them, much to Sans' disappointment. It's been a few hours by now, and while Papyrus is a fountain of energy, there's only so much he can take; his legs are getting tired, it's been a very long day… Without thinking, he takes a step forward and flops into the snow. "Whoa-" their sides hit the cold, soft snow.
"Hey Sans?" Papyrus says, quickly drifting off.
Sans yawns, "Yea?"
"I don't think I want to go back."
…
"That's alright with me."
Papyrus gives Sans a kiss on the forehead,
"Good, because we are never going back."
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
A loud knocking thumps against the door, "SAAANS! WAKE UP! WERE GOING TO BE LATE!"
Sans stretched, back popping as he sat up, "Comin', Paps!"
Date: Modern day.
Time: 7 AM.
Location:
The surface.