Okay this idea has been in my head for nearly a month so I guess I'm writing it down now. Let's hope it doesn't blow up in my face~
Grace Harper lay sprawled on her bedroom floor, Tryhardninja's DETERMINATION streaming through her earbuds as she sang along softly, finishing her homework. Two pages of "How World War II effected the United States", due in a week, but she was determined to get it done tonight. (She laughed at that terrible pun to herself.)
"Refuse to let it take you, like it took all the rest. The nightmare too familiar, replays 'til nothing's left. Why wrap your heart in peril, when we can hide away? Refuse to let it take you, refuse to let it take you. So won't you stay? So won't you stay?" Grace sang softly as she finished, carefully scanning her essay for any distinct spelling errors.
A light flipped on in the hallway, catching Grace's eye. She pulled out one earbud in time to hear Zoã's voice.
"Grace, it's almost eleven, go to bed!" The woman said from the kitchen, the sound of water running from the faucet fading away as she turned the knob of the sink.
"In a second, Zoã, I'm almost done." Grace answered.
"Go to bed!"
Sighing, Grace picked herself off the floor and plopped herself onto her bed, pulling her laptop up with her. Maybe if she was quiet enough, Zoã would think she had gone to sleep...
"I mean it, young lady. I know your tricks." And the hall light went off.
Grace glanced at the clock on her bookshelf and sighed. It was getting late, and she had school the next day. She was going to regret staying up so late the next morning, that much she was sure of. With a grimace, she flicked off her bedside lamp and pulled her covers up to her chest. And lazily, her eyelids closed shut, dreams filling her vision.
"AHHH, SANS! THAT WAS PROBABLY THE WORST PUN YOU HAVE EVER COME UP WITH!"
Sans smirked as he approached his screaming brother. "i only said-"
"DON'T!"
"that fake spaghetti we saw on display at the store-"
"SANS, I'M WARNING YOU!"
"was an-"
"I SWEAR SANS, IF YOU SAY THAT TERRIBLE PUN ONE MORE TIME..."
"im-pasta!"
Papyrus threw himself onto the couch and screamed into a pillow. "EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE!"
"lighten up bro,-" Sans stopped, a cold feeling coming over him.
"R̸e.͢.̵.͜..͡..͜.fuse.͡..͏...̕.͠.̛t̢a̶k͢e.̀.͞..͠.͟.̀t̡ook̕.̀.͢."̕ A small, quiet voice whispered into his ear. "͠Ni͡g̶h͠t̷..̶.́.mar͘e͏...̵..̧..̶ļèft..̕.́...́sţa̵y...̕won't...̡"̕ The skeleton turned, and instead of seeing Snowdin out the front window, he saw a bright, swirly mass of blue and white. He felt Papyrus walk over to him and grip the back of his hoodie. Sans peered into the mass closer, something catching his eye. Was that a human?!—
And his vision went black.
Grace was woken up by a loud thud. Blinking owlishly, she sat up on her bed, peering around the dark room. Was Zoã trying to find something hidden under her desk again...
Grace stiffened when she saw a silhouette rub it's head. The silhouette did not belong to Zoã, nor her father. Leaning over as silently and inconcpicusiously as she possibly could toward the nightstand beside her bed, Grace was now aware that there were two silhouettes.
Doing her best to keep her erratic heartbeat under control, Grace got a firm grip on the barbecue skewer in the the top drawer, suddenly glad she kept the extras from her science experiment in her top drawer, even if it was only because she had no where else to put them.
The skewer in her hand made a small clink against something else in the drawer. Probably the—and Grace froze.
Several things happened at once.
The two intruders moved, as did Grace. She held out the barbecue skewer in front of her in a defensive position, ready to fight tooth and nail—
There was a bright blue flash, and Grace's eyes widened with shock upon seeing what was in front of her.
They were skeletons. Both of them. They looked...cartoonish. That was the only way to describe them; They didn't look like normal skeletons. One was short, wearing a blue hoodie. It was the one making the blue light (was the glow coming from floating bones!? Was his eye glowing!?). The other one was about a head or two taller, wearing a red scarf and gloves. The smaller one stood in front of the taller one, and the taller one looked down at Grace warily.
"who are you?" The smaller one growled, the permanent grin on his face was unnerving.
Realization struck Grace, and she swallowed thickly. She shakily stood up from her bed, placed the skewer on her nightstand, and pointed a quivering hand at the taller skeleton. "P-Papyrus?..." She pointed at the smaller one. "Sans?..." The taller one's -Papyrus's- eyes seemed to widen (he didn't even have eyes! How did-), and the smaller one -Sans- summoned more glowing bones and seemed to become even more on edge.
"how do you know us? where are we?"
"I-I...y-you're..." Grace pressed a hand against her forehead and leaned against the wall. She felt like she was going to throw up, like she was going to faint. What on earth- "W-what are you doing here?!" She managed to say.
"what are we doing here? where even are we? i want answers!" Yelled Sans. Grace pressed a finger to her lips and listened for any sign of Zoã. Hearing nothing, she turned her attention back to the pair.
"Quiet!" She hissed. "We can't risk waking up Zoã or my father...if my father is even home. Just-" she ran her hand along the lamp, searching for the switch. "-get rid of those bones."
The blue glow disappeared, and a warm yellow light from her lamp filled the room. Sans' blue-eye-glow-whatever-it-was faded, and two white dots appeared in his eye sockets. The magical equilivent of eyes, apparently.
"alright," he growled. " now where are we?"
Grace sighed. "I-I guess the most logical answer for you would be...the surface."
"WHAT?" Papyrus spoke, and Grace nearly covered her ears. Wow, he was loud. "THE SURFACE? WAS THE BARRIER BROKEN?"
"No, no!" Grace shook her head quickly. "You're...um...probably not going to believe me when I say this..."
"probably not."
"But...you're...uh..." She took a deep breath. "You're in another universe."
The pair stared at her, and Grace felt a trickle of sweat appear on her forehead. "I-uh don't expect you to believe me but—"
"yeah, we don't believe you."
"But I swear, I'm telling the truth!" Grace said quickly, rubbing her hands along her arms. "A-and I can prove it!" Oh gosh how was she going to prove it?
An idea coming to mind, she pointed at Sans. "You're the older brother, you've taken care of Papyrus for who knows how long, really. You like ketchup, you're a sentry for the king, and you would do anything to make your brother happy." Sans stared in shock, his grin nearly wiped from his face (Grace broke the game's coding, it seemed to her). She turned to Papyrus.
"You're Sans's younger brother, and are also a sentry for the king. You like puzzles, making spaghetti, and want to be in the royal guard someday. You also train under Undyne." Papyrus gave the girl a blank look, before turning to his brother.
"WOWIE, SANS. THIS HUMAN SEEMS TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT US!"
Sans stared. "who are you?"
"Grace Harper." Grace bit her lip. "And while part of me is thinking I've gone crazy and started hallucinating, the other part is wondering how the heck you two got here."
"OH, THAT'S EASY!" Papyrus nodded enthusiastically. "WE SAW A LOT OF BLUE AND WHITE OUT THE WINDOW, NOW WE'RE HERE!"
Grace blew a fly-away strand of hair from her face. "That wasn't very helpful..."
Sans glanced around the room, taking in her curtain-drawn-window, the painting of a castle hung on the wall, a glass mobile hanging from the ceiling, the floor-length mirror...
"do you think the mirrior could've had anything to do with it?"
Grace shook her head. "Unlikely. I've had that mirror for as long as I can remember, and it's never done, well...this before."
The three of them stood in silence, before Grace said, "Well, I guess we'll have to figure this mystery out tomorrow." She stole a glance at the clock and groaned. 3:00am. "It's way too late and I have to be up for school in four hours."
Mumbling under her breath, she pulled two spare blankets and pillows from her closet and laid them on the carpet next to her bed for the brothers too use as a makeshift bed. Then, leaving the pair to their own devices, she threw herself onto her own bed, pulling the comforter up to her chest and rubbing her face against the yellow pillowcase.
Papyrus was quick to fall asleep, and Grace soon after, while Sans merely lay awake and stared at the mobile. Watching the blue and green glass reflect off each other and make light shadows on the wall.
Something told him there was more than she was letting them know. Surely they had been sent there for a reason? And surely the girl knew more than she wanted Sans to know.
Before Sans allowed himself to fall into unconsciousness, he vowed he would find out what Grace knew.
One way or another.