**Yes I realize. It's long compared to a lot of stories I see on here. I thought about splitting it up, but I like longer chapters ~('v')~**

*Undertale and all of the characters original to the game belong to Toby Fox, but Fox and Mina belong to me!*

* 'Italics' is though. "Italics" is a flashback. Bold Italics is usually a pun.*

-Chapter One-

It had been a few years since Frisk left the underground, and for most of the residents, life had returned to normal. As per usual, Sans was napping at home on the couch, having returned from another patrol run, or walk in his case. That was probably the one thing that had been the biggest change for him, voluntarily going on patrols to the ruins to see if anyone had fallen down. Of course, he knew who he wanted to find there, but every day since he had started these patrols had been the same. There was never anyone in the ruins, aside from the monsters that still lived there.

Since he had to pass through the ruins daily, and since he literally had to walk through Toriel's former house there, he'd gotten accustomed to taking a lunch break there. The only real reason for the lunch break, lunch aside, was that he would make the same patrol up to three times a day. If the slightest thing seemed off in the ruins, he'd head home, leave a note for Paps and head back out to the ruins. That had been his plan today, as well, before he had tripped over something and landed on the couch.

It wasn't that their house was messy, Papyrus made sure to clean almost daily since it was now three of them living there. The little white dog that seemed to plague Papyrus's life before had grown on them both, Frisk having given it the nickname of 'Toby' when she first encountered it. Toby, the little devil, had taken it upon himself to make sure Sans kept his sock collection out of reach...Though now the dog had started leaving Pap's action figures around the house, in more or less the same condition he found them in. It was one of those action figures that Sans had tripped over today, but rather than getting upset, Sans took it as a sign to nap.

"SANS!" Sans awoke with a start, groaning ever so quietly as he realized why his brother was shouting louder than usual. "THAT ANNOYING DOG STOLE ONE OF MY ACTION FIGURES AGAIN, HAVE YOU SEEN IT?"

"Sticking out from under the couch, bro." Sans sighed, pushing himself up to sit and looking at his phone for the time. "Well, that nap lasted longer than...Huh?" He tilted his head, noticing a small blinking envelope on the screen. Realizing he had a message, he sighed and decided to listen to it, knowing it was probably another message from Alphys or Undyne. With Papyrus yelling at the dog a few feet away, and he himself barely being awake, it was hard for him to hear anything from his phone... But as soon as he heard the voice on the other end, his free hand snapped up and separated his brother and Toby. "CHILL PAPS!"

"...BROTHER WHY-" Paps stopped himself when he saw the intense look on Sans' face, blinking a few times and realizing that something was different. Why was Sans' left eye glowing, why was his hand glowing, and more importantly, Paps wondered...Why was he floating in the air with Toby?

Meanwhile, Sans was doing his best to replay the message, using only his right hand to operate his phone. Having missed most of it due to all the shouting and barking, he had only caught the very end of the message, but he was sure of what he had heard. Finally, the message started playing again, Sans listening intently as Papyrus 'quietly' started to freak out over his current situation.

'Hey Sans! Uhm...It's me, Frisk! I know I sound older, but it's been...Oh wow...Four years...It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry I haven't been able to call anyone in so long, I had a bit of...Well, a bit of a bad time, I guess you could say. I'll tell you all about it when I get back to the Underground, I should be there in a few days, a week at most. Oh, don't tell anyone okay? I want to surprise them, especially Papyrus and Toriel! Told you I'd be coming home again, can't wait to see everyone! I've got to go now, the bus is here. Talk to you soon, Sans!'

"Heh...Heheh." Sans chuckled a bit, letting his magic fade and letting a somewhat terrified Papyrus and Toby back down to the floor. It took him a moment to realize the room was still silent, turning his head and spotting Paps with a blank look on his face. "Oh, eheh...Sorry, Pap. You okay? You're so quiet over there." He paused, realizing Pap had never seen his magic before and deciding to try to difuse the tension in his usual way. "One could even say that you're being-"

"SANS DO NOT FINISH THAT-"

"Dead Quiet." Sans snickered, Papyrus's teeth grinding together as he glared at his brother. "OH MY GOD SANS WHY!? NO, FORGET IT, TELL ME WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! WHO WAS ON THE PHONE?"

"Just a message, Pap." Sans smiled, quickly deleting the message just before Pap could grab his phone to inspect the number, or possibly hear the message. "Sorry bro, but this is top secret."

"...FINE, BUT WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! I WAS ABOUT TO CHASTISE THAT ANNOYING DOG AND YOU." Papyrus paused, handing the phone back to his brother and crossing his arms. He was going to get one answer at least, Sans couldn't sneak out of this. "...I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU DID, BUT YOU DID IT!"

"I just used some magic, it's not a big deal. Anyway, did your action figure survive Toby's jaws of destruction?" Sans asked, glancing past his brother and trying not to laugh as he spotted said dog gnawing on the stolen action figure. "Uh, Pap..."

"SANS, YOU'VE NEVER USED...WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING A-" Papyrus started to ask, turning as he did and almost instantly changing his focus back to Toby."A-...OH MY GOD NOT AGAIN! UNHAND THAT ACTION FIGURE!"

While Papyrus was distracted, Sans took the opportunity to teleport out of the house, taking his phone with him. He knew Frisk had said not to tell anyone, but he felt like he had to at least let one person know. If he told Paps, the entire Underground would know by morning. Alphys was out of the question, as Undyne would find out and the same thing would happen. That left very few people he could tell. Grillbys was too crowded for him to tell the fiery bartender, Mettaton...Well, Mettaton would tell Paps or Alphys, or announce it on his evening broadcast.

He thought for a moment about telling Toriel, since in so many timelines, this one included, she had always been a mother to Frisk. She had been so busy recently, though, and he knew she would worry herself sick if she knew Frisk was coming home within the next week, chuckling a bit to himself as he imagined her trying to clean the entire castle and baking pie after pie trying to create a perfect 'welcome home' pie. Honestly, he didn't want to bother her, rather he'd let her be surprised and overjoyed at the return of her child.

Since he couldn't find anyone to tell, or really think of anyone off the top of his head, he decided to go on what was now a useless patrol to the ruins. On the way out of Snowdin he spotted Monster Kid, though he could hardly be called a kid anymore. Sans thought back to the sound of Frisk's voice in the message, shaking his head a bit and chuckling. "Well, I guess I should have expected her to sound different, humans age too...Huh...I can't remember how old she was, I don't think any of us asked back then. She can't be older than him though, right?" He asked himself, stopping for a moment and shouting to get Kid's attention. "Hey, Kid! How old are you now, my memory is kinda fuzzy."

"Oh, hey Sans!" Kid yelled, almost losing his balance as he used his tail as a chair. "Uhh..I turned 16 this year, why?" He asked, grinning a bit in an attempt to imitate his eternal idol, Undyne. "Where are you going anyway, another patrol?"

"Ehh, just curious. Later." Sans said, waving back as he started back on his path towards the ruins. It didn't take him long to realize he wasn't alone. "..Need something, Kid?"

"Dude, you said I could come next time, and it's next time now." Kid chuckled, running a few steps ahead of the now sighing skeleton and turning to face him, walking backwards with very few issues. "So what's so special about the ruins anyway?"

"Some people I know used to live there, so I keep an eye on the house for them. And , y'know. Check for any humans who might have fallen down here, like Frisk." Sans stated, smiling a bit at the end. He thought about telling Kid, but decided not to when he saw the kid slip and fall backwards at the mention of Frisk. "So, how's the weather down there?"

"DUDE, DO NOT TELL UNDYNE I TRIPPED ALRIGHT?! She'll make me repeat all that balance training for a FIFTH TIME!" Kid shouted as he righted himself, shaking some snow from his head and tail. "a-Anyway, sounds boring...You're basically just going to sit there and wait, or what?"

"Ehh, maybe. I might take another nap, who knows." Sans shrugged, deciding to test his hunch. "That reminds me...You started all that training right after Frisk left, didn't you?"

"..s-So what if I did?" Kid replied nervously, not making eye contact with the skeleton. He had heard plenty of times about Sans making sure some other monsters had a 'bad time' if they mocked or said anything off-color about his friends, he had even heard Undyne say she wouldn't want to fight him once.

"Trying to impress her when she comes back, eh?" And right on cue, Kid tripped again. "Thought so. You're a good guy though, Kid, so I'm going to trust you."

Kid let out a muffled 'thanks' and righted himself again tilting his head as he and Sans caught sight of the door to the ruins. "Do you think she'll ever come back? It's been a long time..." He sighed, noticing Sans had stopped a few feet behind him. "Sans?"

"Huh...I don't remember leaving the door to the ruins open." Sans scratched the back of his skull, closing his eyes for a moment. "I was really tired though, so I probably did leave it open. Here's the deal, Kid. I won't tell Undyne about your little slip-ups, if you don't tell her or Paps about mine, alright?"

"Uh..Sure, dude." Kid chuckled, lolling his head to one side as he closed his eyes. "Your bro would get mad if he knew you left Toby out here anyway, right?"

"...What?"

"There's paw prints leading all the way there, on the side of the path." Kid pointed out, motioning with his tail. "Right behind the tree line."

"Kid, Toby is back at my house with Paps, he's on his lunch break fighting with the little furball." Sans stated, glancing at the prints in the snow. They certainly looked like Toby's paw prints, but they were fresh. So unless Paps had thrown the dog out and he had ran ahead of them, these didn't belong to Toby.

"Didn't he just run inside the door?" Kid asked, becoming a bit wary as Sans walked ahead of him. "Hey, don't leave me back here!" He shouted, surprised when Sans started to actually run. "Dude where's the fire?!"

Something wasn't right here, something felt off about the whole place as soon as Sans stepped into the ruins. Kid had been right, there had been paw prints outside, but there had also been a few small spots where the snow had been muddy. Muddy paw prints lined the floor of the hallway as well, and that was what Sans didn't understand. While Toby did like to dig, he never dug all the way down to the ground. The paw prints continued throughout the hallway, all the way up the stairs leading into Toriel's former house. Once inside the house, a quick look around brought a thought to Sans. If Toby wasn't here, then something else had dug down through the snow and hit dirt...Or something had tunneled up through the dirt, and Sans could only think of one creature that could do that.

"Sans wait up already!" Kid was panting as he finally caught up to the skeleton, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to catch his breath. "Jeez, I didn't know you could actually-" He paused, opening an eye, then the other eye and blinking as he looked around the now empty room. "...SAAAAANS! WHAT THE HELL MAN DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

Now it was Sans's turn to be out of breath, having teleported almost to the final room in the ruins. He remembered Frisk mentioning that this was the room where she first started out in the underground, and also where she had met her first monster. While he was used to it being cold outside the ruins, it wasn't normal for it to be this cold so deep in the ruins. Peering around the corner into the final room, Sans froze for a moment. When he had been here this morning, there had been golden flowers everywhere, just as there always had been. Now, though, the flowers had all but wilted, and a heavy blanket of snow covered the ground beneath the hole that lead to the surface. There was some mud around the edges of the room, but it had all but frozen solid at this point.

Looking around the room, he felt his heart stop, spotting what looked to be a backpack half buried in the muddy snow. A little ways away, he could just barely make out a figure hidden in the snow, the only reason he had spotted it to begin with was because it made a faint groaning sound. Instantly, the tired skeleton made a mad dash over and started shoving the snow aside. "Frisk!? Hang on, Frisk!" In his frantic state, he hadn't heard Kid shouting as he finally reached the same room, but he was definitely glad when Kid suddenly started brushing snow away with his tail. "Took you long enough!"

"I heard you yelling for Frisk, i-is this her?! What happened?!" Kid was on the verge of having a panic attack, a sudden sound causing him to freeze in place as Sans finally uncovered the snow-covered figure. "Sanssomethingis-"

"Frisk?" Sans let out a relieved sigh, seeing the human was still breathing. "Must be winter up there for you to be wearing a coat like this, buddy." He chuckled nervously, carefully rolling the human over. He fully expected it to be Frisk, finding himself speechless as a face he didn't recognize at all was revealed. It was definitely a human, and it was definitely a girl, but it wasn't Frisk.

Until that point, Sans hadn't heard the growling, glancing up and suddenly finding a ball of brown and white fur flying towards his face from behind the human. Thinking fast, he ducked his head, almost dropping the girl as he did. Sure enough, the furball flew past him and turned its attention on Kid, who was looking a bit dumbfounded. "...Dude you're afraid of this yappy little thing?" He chuckled, the creature, he guessed it was a dog of some sort, running in circles between him and Sans, barking incessantly. "It's all muddy...Well, I guess that answers one thing...So uh...Who's this?"

"Your guess is as good as...Mine..." Sans trailed off, blinking slowly and noticing something as he sat up. When he had ducked, his head had quite literally pressed against the human's neck. Whoever she was, he had thought she was asleep, but here she was looking right back at him with an obviously fearful look in her eyes. "Uh...Hey there, buddy, you alri-" Before he could continue, he could feel the girl trying to push herself away from him, tears in her eyes hitting him like a knife, as they reminded him of the times Frisk had cried when they had fought in the judgement hall. "h-Hey, you're alright, we're not-"

"s-Stay away...Please, not again." The girl spoke, if you could call it that. Her voice was so quiet that both monsters could barely hear her. She winced as Sans helped her sit up, managing to scoot back a mere few inches to try to get away from the both of them. "n-Not again, please...f-Fox, Fox where are you?"

"Again?" Sans repeated, frowning a bit as he started to guess at what had happened. Hearing the girl asking for Fox, he could only assume she meant the little dog, scooping up the angry little thing in one hand and holding it out towards her. "This thing yours?"

"p-Please don't hurt her, she...She didn't mean to scare your friend." The girl pleaded, blinking slowly as the yapping down slowly settled down and wagged her tail, despite being held by a she reached out to take her, though, Sans promptly pulled the pup away. "p-Please..."

"What friend are you talking about, first. 'cause judging by Kid's reaction, I don't think she scared him." Sans frowned, noticing something and reaching towards the girl with his free hand. Her coat was similar to his, though it was definitely a few sized too big for her. That wasn't a bad thing though, since it meant it was looser and the hood didn't fit snugly, which also meant it was harder to miss little things like a scratch on the cheek. He thought the girl would recoil or try to bat his hand away, seeing as he was one of the first monsters she'd seen, and a skeleton at that. When she didn't, he pushed her hood back, very carefully turning her head to look at the scratch. "Let me guess. Little yellow flower, really bad attitude?"

"y-Yes. i-I..." The girl whined, her voice fading as she simply sat there and shook. it was hard to tell if it was from the cold, or just from the sheer terror she felt.

"...No offense, sweetheart, but that little bastard is the farthest thing from a friend to anyone here. Don't believe a word it says." Sans sighed, blinking as the little dog...Fox, wasn't that what the human called it? Started growling quietly. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Here, go see your human." He chuckled, carefully dropping the pup and smiling a bit as it lept onto the girl's chest. "That's a ferocious little beast you've got there."

"Pffft..." Kid chimed in, crouching next to Sans and the human. "Dude, that thing is the furthest possible from ferocious." He said jokingly, jumping back when the pup turned and snapped at him. "Hey watch it you litt-oOH!" Kid tripped, once again, only this time he tripped over Sans' outstretched leg. "OH COME ON SANS!"

"That's what you get for tagging along on a winter Trip. Maybe you should have just gone...In Fall." Sans grinned, turning to look at Kid but keeping the girl in the corner of his eye. It was a lame set of puns, but at least a few people he knew would have laughed. That wasn't the case with this stranger though, all she did was cling to that little dog and hide her face, the shaking a clear indicator that she was either too terrified to look, or half frozen. "Uh...So, like this guy here already announced, I'm Sans. Sans the Skeleton. He's Kid, by the way."

Even with the introduction, the girl didn't seem willing to look at them, or move at all. Furrowing his brow a bit, Sans sighed, deciding to try something that may or may not result in him getting mauled by a small dog or laughed at by a teenager. Nodding to himself, he quickly reached out and grabbed Fox away from the girl, elicting a surprised gasp from her and gaining her full attention. "p-Please now, I-" The girl started to speak blinking when Sans turned the dog around to face her and held it up in front of his face.

"I don't think these guys are all that bad." Sans said in the girliest voice he could muster, his cheeks flushing a bit as Kid snickered at him. "Come on, throw them a bone, they're being nice!" He said, using his fingers to wave Fox's front paws around while the little dog yawned. She wasn't amused, but she wasn't biting him at least.

The girl obviously didn't know how to react, blinking slowly as she spotted a bit of color on the skeleton's face when she looked past her dog. "...a-Are...You two really...n-Not friends of that flower?"

"Dude, the only flowers I ever see are the Echo flowers, and they're kinda rooted in place." Kid huffed, glancing around the room as Sans continued trying to make the little dog dance. "I mean, I've heard about the ones in here, but...They all kinda look like they're on their way out. Never heard of one talking."

"It's okay, I don't think that flower will come back here any time soon. If he does..." Sans paused, grinning a little behind his furry face-shield. "He's gonna have...A Ruff time." He chuckled, blinking as he felt something touch one of his fingers. Realizing the girl was trying to take Fox back, he simply smiled and let her take the dog, placing his hands in his jacket pockets.

"...f-Fox...Did not like that flower. She was growling when it appeared, and she attacked it after..." The girl hung her head a little, holding Fox against her chest with one arm and placing a few fingers against her cheek. "...i-It said it wanted to help me..."

"Like I said, don't believe a word that prickly little bastard says. He tried this on a friend of mine a long time ago." Sans muttered, glancing up through the hole in the ceiling. "...How did you even survive a fall like that...Hell, is that how Frisk got here, too?"

"Uhm...You...Keep saying that name...Is this Frisk person your...Friend?"

"Oh dude, that's right. Sans, why were you calling for Frisk when we were digging this girl out?" Kid chimed in, staring expectantly at the back of Sans' head. "Why would you think this girl was Frisk?"

"Uhh..." Sans blinked. Well. He couldn't exactly lie about it right now, not after the scene he'd made. "Look, it's supposed to be a secret, alright? Frisk called while I was napping earlier an-"

"d-DID YOU TALK TO HER? HOW IS SHE?" Kid literally exploded with excitement at the news of Frisk calling Before he could shout another question though, he caught a flicker of blue in his vision. His face went blank as a wall of snow slammed into his face, knocking him down once more.

"Calm down Kid, you're scaring...Uh, right, we don't know your name yet...Heh." Sans chuckled, turning his attention back to their nameless guest. Noticing she was still shaking and had closed her eyes, he sighed and stood up, using his magic once again. This time though, he picked up the girl and the backpack, proceeding to walk back through the ruins while the somewhat confused girl curled up nervously in the air. "It's just magic, don't let it scare you too much. The cold doesn't bother me or Kid that much, we're used to it...You though, look like you're going to become an ice sculpture at any moment, so we're gonna head someplace a bit warmer."

"...a-About this...Frisk person..." The girl started to speak having to stop as she started sneezing. "s-Sorry..."

"It's fine. I'll explain when we get to Tori's place." Sans waved his free hand back towards the girl closing his eyes as he walked. "Go ahead and rest a bit."

It wasn't too long before the three of them, four if you count Fox, arrived at Toriel's old home, the mystery girl having fallen asleep on the way there. Sans figured she was probably too cold to stay awake, or was exhausted by whatever she had endured before he and Kid had arrived. He had noted that her jacket was covered in small rips and tears, the padding and lining had started to become drenched in melting snow. After getting her jacket off, he had made sure to check her over quicky for any injuries aside from the one on her cheek, having sent Kid to get some blankets for her before hand. She was bruised on her arms and legs, but only around her wrists and ankles, so Sans didn't see any reason to check the rest of her body. It would have been way too hard for him to explain if she had woken up, anyway.

Half an hour passed, the girl wrapped up in blankets and still sleeping in Toriel's old chair by the fireplace. Once they had gotten inside and turned the lights on, Sans and Kid were able to see this girl's features much better. At first Sans had thought she just had very light hair, blonde maybe, but oh how wrong he was. Rather than blonde her hair was a pale silver color, and it was much longer than he had first though, reaching almost down to her hips. Her skin was a bit lighter than Frisk's skin tone had been, and from what he had seen her eyes were a dark shade of blue. She almost reminded him of one of those magical girls from one of Alphys' 'Human History' videos.

As he pondered about the curious newcomer, he heard Kid clear his throat, glancing over to see a somewhat annoyed look on the younger monster's face. "...What?"

"So...Aren't you gonna like...Call someone and tell them we found a human?" Kid asked, quirking a brow when Sans shook his head. "Dude why not?"

"You saw how she reacted to us, Kid, she's petrified right now. You think bringing even more monsters to stare at her is the smart thing to do right now?" Sans sighed, glancing down at the furry creature in his lap for a moment. "...So this little runt actually went after the prickly bastard. I'm impressed." He grinned, petting the sleeping pooch and chuckling as she growled in her sleep before rolling onto her back. "You must have one hell of a bite to have scared him off..."

"She...Can be scary when she's upset." The girl yawned, stretching a bit and slowly opening her eyes, jumping a bit as she caught sight of the two monsters sitting on the floor across form her. "o-Oh...s-Sorry..."

"It's fine, this is all new to you." Sans chuckled, Fox yawning and sitting up in his lap as she heard the human's voice. "If I hadn't fallen asleep earlier, I might've been there instead of the flower...But I guess you can blame Toby for that."

"...Toby?"

"His dog, the little guy runs the house when Sans and Pap aren't around." Kid laughed, shaking his head a bit as Sans sighed. "Alright, dude, she's awake now, so can we get some answers?"

"u-Uhm...w-Where is my coat?" The girl chirped, suddenly pulling the blankets tighter around herself. "...a-And where..."

"Ehh...The coat is kind of a lost cause, it's all torn up from that damn flower." Sans explained, scratching the back of his skull for a moment. "That and it was starting to get waterlogged, so uh...Yeah, it's gone."

"o-Oh...Uhm. t-Thank you...Sans, is that what you...Said your name was?" The girl asked, fidgeting a bit in the chair and half hiding her face in the blankets. "...My...My name...Is Mina." She sighed, completely hiding her face now. "I'm sorry, I...I've never been good at talking to...Anyone. Except for Fox..."

"Ehh, don't sweat it. I know a few people who won't even say half as much as you have in one sitting." Sans reassured her, smiling a bit as she peeked out from behind the blankets. "It's true, a friend of mine, Alphys, she gets so nervous that she just completely avoids talking to anyone, even her best friends. Unless they get her started on a rant about her anime, then she'll never stop talking."

"Is...She another monster?" Mina asked, seeming a bit nervous as she asked. Seeing Sans nod, she worked up her courage to ask another question. "Are...Are there any humans at all?"

"There was before, and there will be again soon." Sans nodded, not even bothering to look at Kid as the younger monster's stare bore into his skull. "Like I was trying to say earlier, Frisk, she's a human. She lived here for a while a few years ago, and she's supposed to be back sometime this next week."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS SANS?!" Kid screamed, acting much more like a child than a teenager for a moment, his face turning beet red when he realized Mina was giving him a curious look. "i-I mean, uh...Dude, why wouldn't you tell anyone that?!"

"Well 'dude', I only got the message earlier today, and Frisky wants it to be a surprise." Sans chuckled. "But yeah...I was expecting to find her there, not you. So how'd you end up down here, Mina?"

"...i-I...t-That is..." That one question seemed to shake Mina up quite a bit, her grip on the blankets tightening as she stared down at the floor. She must have spaced out, because the next thing she knew there was a boney hand on her shoulder, Sans giving her an odd look and looking her straight in the eye. "i-I'm sorry...i-It's just been a long day, I..."

"That bad eh? Well.." Sans sighed, Kid grumbling something about food and deciding to hit up the kitchen when the human had spaced out. "Look, you don't have to tell us right away. Hell, you don't have to tell us anything, it's your choice. It hasn't exactly been a great first day in the Underground for you, so...It was probably kind of stupid for me to ask that anyway. So...Don't cry alright? I'm sorry for being a numbskull."

"..a-Am I crying?" Mina asked, blinking and realizing that she was indeed crying. "i-I'm so sorry, I just..." She paused, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. "...I'm not used to talking to people, or dealing with...So much stress all at once. Usually, I'd just drown everything out with my...Music..." She frowned, opening her eyes. "...My MP3 player was in my backpack..."

"That backpack?" Sans asked, motioning towards a bag sitting against the wall. "Found that before we found you, actually. It's not as torn up as the coat was, but the one strap is all torn up."

"Oh, it's...It's always been like that, my brother did something stupid...And it broke when he grabbed it." Mina sighed, standing and more or less speaking like a normal person for the first time since she had woken up. While she spoke she folded up the blankets and went to retrieve her backpack. "When we were little, some bullies dared him to climb this one tree that was half fallen over a river...They dared both of us, and my brother went first." She chuckled a little, shaking her head as she moved to sit back down, picking through her backpack and making sure everything was still intact. "Julian, my brother...He's fearless, he'd never back down from any challenge. He held my hand while I followed him...He's fearless, but...He was a bit of a klutz back then."

"Oh yeah?" Sans inquired, crossing his arms and deciding to just listen as Mina nodded.

"Well, we got over the middle of the river, then those kids...Started shaking the tree. The branch was damp where we were, and Julian slipped." Mina closed her eyes for a moment, biting her lip a bit. "When he fell, the others panicked and dragged me back off the tree. I was screaming louder than I ever had, and yelling at them...Crying, too. One of them shoved me and told me to shut up, then the next thing I knew..." She paused again, actually smiling and laughing a bit. "Julian came charging out of the river and just started beating that kid up for touching me. Same for the others when they jumped in to help their friend."

"Heheh...Yeah, that's kind of what older brothers are supposed to do, trust me I know." Sans chuckled, remembering a few times he had gone after some kids who bullied Paps when they were boys. Hearing Mina laugh a bit, he tilted his head and looked over at her. "What's funny now?"

"He's not older than me, we're twins. If he is older, it's only by a few minutes." Mina smiled, seeming to suddenly remember where she was and exactly who she was talking to. "i-I'm...I'm sorry, I'm rambling..."

"Nah, you're fine. It's more fun when people actually talk back." Sans reassured her, closing his eyes for a moment. "Besides, listening gives you a better idea of what kind of person you're dealing with." Before Sans could say another word, Kid walked back into the room, seeming annoyed at the lack of food other than leftover pie dough and baking supplies. "...Is that you growling or that bottemless pit you call a stomach, Kid?"

"...I'm going back to Snowdin. There's nothing edible here." Kid groaned, pausing as he reached the doorway that lead towards the tunnel. "So...Are you gonna leave her here or something? You know Paps is gonna be worried if you're not home soon."

"Well..." Sans sighed, standing and crossing his arms. As he went to speak again, his cellphone rang. "...And there's Paps now." He chuckled, answering the phone and almost immediately regretting it. "Paps, stop shouting, I can't under stand a word."

"BROTHER! THE DOG HAS DECLARED WAR AGAINST MY ACTION FIGURES AND YOU LEFT ME HERE ALONE TO DEAL WITH IT!" Papyrus was shouting, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear him, even crying a little bit from what they could tell. "SAAAAANS HE CHEWED THE ARMS OFF OF CAPTAIN-"

"Okay, Okay. Papyrus, calm down." Sans sighed, covering his face with his free hand. "I'll be home soon and I'll see if I can't fix Captain whatever...Did you start dinner yet?"

"I WAS JUST ABOUT TO START, WHY?"

"Well...I'm probably just gonna grab something at Grillbys on my way home, so..." Sans trailed off, noticing Kid was already leaving. Hearing something break on the other end of the line, he quickly moved the phone away from his skull, already wincing as Paps started to yell even louder.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST SANS THE DOG IS ON THE MOVE ALREADY! HE HAS A LEG AND HE KNOCKED OVER THE LAMP!" Paps screeched, just now processing what Sans had said before Toby started his counterstrike. "...SANS WHY ARE YOU EATING AT GRILLBYS AGAIN!? HOW CAN YOU STAND ALL THE GREASE!"

"Grease doesn't bug me bro, after all..."

"...SANS I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU EVEN THINK OF SAYING IT I WILL-"

"What's a bit of grease...To a small fry like me?" Sans grinned, laughing as Papyrus began screaming something no one could possibly understand. He had to motion at Mina to keep quiet, the poor girl doing her best not to laugh at the pun and Papyrus's screaming. "Look, I'll stop in at home first and see about fixing your action figure, alright? Just move them out of Toby's reach."

"I DID THAT ALREADY BUT...OH MY GOD SAAAAANS HE'S ON TOP OF THE REFRIDGERA-"

"Be home soon, bye Paps." Sans quickly said, hanging up and closing his phone before looking over at a giggling Mina. "Can you just imagine if I told him Frisk was on her way back here? There's already enough chaos in our normal life." Sans chuckled, glancing away and scratching the back of his skull. "Well, as Kid was saying, there's no food here...Besides, I'm pretty sure if I left you alone, you'd be on the watch for that damn flower until you drop."

"I'd almost forgotten about that...Thing..." Mina sighed, smiling a little as she saw Foxy jump into her backpack. "It doesn't...Look like she wants to stay here either." She bit her lip a bit, picking up her backpack and zipping it mostly shut, leaving a hole large enough for Fox to stick her head out of. "s-So...Snowdin, that's where you're going?..Ah...Are there...A lot of other monsters there?"

"It's not too crowded, and if I'm sneaky enough, I can probably drop you off at my house without Paps realizing we have company." Sans thought for a moment, nodding to himself. "Uh...Hope you don't mind walking this time, I've used a bit more magic than usual today. " He chuckled a bit, rolling his neck as he started down the hallway. "It's not hard to use it just...Kinda takes a lot out of you when you don't use it very often."

"Oh, i-I...I'm fine with walking, but uhm...Is it very far?" Mina asked, cautiously following after Sans. She was looking around as she followed, not paying attention for a few moment and suddenly bumping into him. "i-I'm sorry! i-I was-" She was stopped however, something being tossed over her head and covering her face. It took her a moment to realize what it was, raising her hand and blinking at Sans from under the fabric of his hoodie. "..u-Uhm..."

"It's cold out there, and like I said...Doesn't bother me. It'll make it easier to get you through town without a fuss, just keep the hood up." Sans said, already walking on ahead. Honestly the cold really didn't bother him that much anymore, he'd gotten used to it over the years. Besides, it wasn't that long of a walk to Snowdin, he'd be fine in his T-shirt. "I'm actually kinda of shocked, you're barely taller than I am."

"u-Uhm...Part of that might...Be my boots." Mina muttered, sighing a little. "They have an elevated heel so uhm...I may actually be shorter than you." Hearing Sans snicker a bit, she puffed out her cheeks. "Please don't laugh..."

"Well, if you're shorter than me, it should fit pretty well." Sans chuckled anyway, grinning widely as he continued to the end of the tunnel. Once he was a few steps outside he turned to wait for Mina, glancing around for a moment to make sure nothing seemed off. There was still traces of mud in the snow, as well as on the doors to the ruins, but nothing that looked recent. Looking back to the doorway he sighed, knowing it had already started to get dark out. "Come on sweetheart, it's safe out...Here." He trailed off, blinking a few times as Mina timidly walked out into the snow. Her face was just barely visibly through the fluff of his hoodie, Fox's head also sticking out of hoodie. His hoodie was almost as baggy as her coat had been, but somehow, just just seemed to suit her more.

Realizing he was staring at her, Sans blinked and chuckled nervously, turning away and giving her a sideways glance for a moment. "Well, looks like someone doesn't want to turn into a...Chili Dog." He grinned, turning away and walking on ahead as Fox growled lightly. Hearing Mina giggle a bit, he grinned with satisfaction. Once he could hear the snow crunching under her feet, he decided to try to get her talking again. "So..You said you're not that great at talking to people before, right? You seemed fine unless Kid was around."

"i-I...Do a bit better when it's only one person." Mina nodded, quickly following behind Sans as the sun started to disappear behind the trees. She was still on high alert, not wanting to take her chances in this strange place if she were to fall behind. "...s-So...i-It's likely obvious, but...I'm more than a little scared..."

"Sweetheart, no one in the Underground, especially anyone in Snowdin, would even think about hurting you. They might have a few years ago, if you were alone, but..." He paused a moment, smirking a bit as they continued on. "I don't think anyone opposing the Queen's policies would even think about trying anything with me here, then or now."

"t-There's...There's a Queen?" Mina blinked in surprise, quickening her steps until she was walking next to Sans. "Uhm...Why wouldn't they try anything?"

"Let's just say I can be really scary when I want to be. Speaking of." He paused a moment, glancing over at her a moment. "You're not acting like you're scared of me now...Any reason?"

"w-Well...Fox seems to trust you, and she never takes to anyone that quickly..." Mina trailed off, shifting her gaze elsewhere. "..Besides, you can't be a bad person after helping me so much..."

"Heh...Well let's hope Fox likes Pap at least, he'll probably be yelling for the rest of the night, 'least until he gets his bedtime story and is sure Toby isn't hiding under his bed." Hearing her giggle a bit, he continued. "He's not really scary, he's...Well, he's loud, but he literally couldn't hurt a fly even if he tried. Don't get me wrong, he's strong, but...He can't even think of hurting anyone."

"w-Well...If he's as nice as you, i-I think Fox will like him..." Mina smiled, stopping as she caught sight of the little town ahead of them. It had already gotten quite dark out, so she wasn't surprised to see so few people out and around. Sans must have notice she stopped, since he stopped and turned to look at her. "Uhm..So..."

"There's a key in one of the inner pockets of the hoodie, so here's what you'll have to do." Sans grinned mischeviously, closing his eyes a moment. "The house you're looking for has two mailboxes in front of it, it's at the end of the road. Go in, don't say anything to Paps, run up the stairs and use the key on the far right room at the top of the stairs." Opening an eye, he saw Mina giving him a look of disbelief. "You'll be fine, Paps is probably still cooking, or cleaning up after himself in the kitchen."

"I take it all back, you're a terrible person." Mina whined, watching him wave and start to walk towards a building with a large sign outside. "...Grillbys?"

"I'll be at the house in a few minutes, don't worry. Hell, I'll even bring you a burger and fries, how's that?" His answer came rather quickly, Mina's stomach rumbling loudly and the hood of the hoodie being pulled down over the rest of her face. "Better hurry then, people might suspect something if they see two of me out here."

One quick nod was all Mina gave before slowly starting down the road. She glanced back for a moment to see if Sans was still there, not that she was surprised when he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Although she was trying not to look at anyone, she couldn't help but be curious. To her surprise, most of the people she passed looked like animals. Dogs, Rabbits, Bears, just standing upright and wearing clothes. They didn't look frightening at all, some even waving as they headed to their homes.

Once she got to the end of the road, she stopped to gawk at the mailboxes. One was completely empty, while the one next to it was literally overflowing with letters, even the ground around it was covered with envelopes. "...w-Well...Fox, this is it." She whispered, deciding to peek through a window next to the front door. Just like Sans had predicted, someone was moving around in the kitchen, the sound of running water audible from the window. Taking a deep breath, she carefully grabbed the doorknob, opening it as quietly as she could. Cracking the door and peering inside, she spotted a creature she could only assume was Toby, trapped under a laundry basket with a stack of books on top of it. He seemed to be napping, so she took her chance.

Once she got in the door, she realized she had made one fatal mistake. Fox was peeking out from under the hoodie, and upon seeing Toby, the little brown dog promptly began to growl. This, of course woke Toby up just as she had managed to close the door. As soon as the two dogs saw each other, all hell broke loose. Toby was the first to start barking, this drawing Papyrus's attention away from his dishes. "DOG I AM IN NO MOOD TO DEAL WIT-...OH SANS! YOU'RE BACK! I WAS BEGINNING TO W-...WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"

It was all Mina could do to keep Fox from jumping out of the hoodie, the once again frightened girl making a mad dash up the stairs. She could see the safe room Sans had told her to get to, if she could just get in! When she reached the top of the stairs, she pulled out the key the skeleton had mentioned, the tip just barely sticking out of the jacket sleeves as she moved to bolt for the door. She was almost...

"SAAAAAAANNNSSSSS YOU CAN'T GO BACK ON YOUR WORD!" Papyrus roared, easily catching up and throwing his arms around his 'brother' and picking him up. He paused for a moment, noticing something didn't feel right. "...BROTHER WHY ARE YOU COVERED IN MUD, AND WHY DON'T YOU SMELL LIKE GREASE...OH MY GOD SANS?! DID SOMEONE STEAL YOUR FOOD AND BEAT YOU UP!? SANS WHY ARE YOUR RIBS SMALLER AND OUT OF PLACE OH MY GOD?!" He paused yet again, blinking and listening to the odd, high pitched squealing sound that was coming from his 'brother' "..SANS. SANS WHAT'S WRONG PLEASE TELL ME! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

At this point, Mina was in full frozen panic mode, her delusions of safety shattering before her eyes as Papyrus carried her downstairs and set her on the couch. The best she could do was keep the hood pulled over her face, and over the still growling and whimpering Fox. Her hands were still hidden by the hoodie sleeves, and for the moment the only thing she could think of was to completely hide herself in the oversized hoodie. This meant tucking her legs and feet in as quickly as she could, causing Papyrus to freak out even more.

"SANS WHERE DID YOUR LEGS GO?! OH MY GOD SHOULD I CALL SOMEONE?! SANS PLEASE SPEAK TO ME!"

"...Well that didn't go as planned." Sans deadpanned, closing the front door after walking in with a pair of bags from Grillbys. "Pap, please calm down."

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN WH-..." Paps froze, looking from the Sans in the doorway to the Sans on the couch several times. "...SANS WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?...AND WHY IS YOUR HOODIE GROWLING AT ME?"

"Pap, you're scaring our house guest." Sans chuckled, gently shoving Pap put of the way and pulling the hoodie up a bit, just enough to reveal an angry brown dog. "Look what I found, bro. She was lost and all alone at the ruins, so I brought her home."

"...SANS WE'VE HAD THIS CONVERSATION BEFORE! ONE DOG IS TOO MUCH ALREADY!" Papyrus started to yell, glaring at Toby as he tried to escape his makeshift prison. "WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK OF BRINGING ANOTHER ONE HOME, AND LETTING IT WEAR YOUR FAVORITE HOODIE?!"

"Well, when you put it that way..." Sans trailed off, grinning a bit as he patted the hoodie behind Fox, realizing Mina was holding the dog in front of her face. "I mean, I could throw her back out if you want, Pap."

"PLEASE DO!" Papyrus exclaimed, blinking as his brother started unzipping the coat. "...SANS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Just let me get her out of my hoodie, alright? You want me to throw her out, out she goes...Oh by the way, there's a human attached to her so, are you sure you wanna throw her out?" Sans chuckled, hearing an annoyed groan from his brother and simply waiting. As Paps started to speak again, Sans moved and pulled his hoodie away from the couch, revealing poor Mina as she tried to hide behind the little brown dog.

"SANS IF THIS IS ANOTHER JOKE I...I..." Papyrus simply froze, tilting his head to one side ever so slowly as he examined the thing that had been hiding in his brother's hoodie. He wasn't sure what he was looking at, until a pair of deep blue eyes peered out from behind the growling little dog. "...SAAAAAANS OH MY GOD IT'S REALLY A HUMAN?! HOW?! WHY WOULD YOU EVEN?! WHERE?!"

"Still scaring her, Pap." Sans chuckled once again picking up one of the bags from Grillbys and setting it on the couch next to Mina. "Eat up, it's still pretty hot."

"...HOW AM I SCARING...WAIT, HER?"

"...Pap I swear to god, don't-" Sans protested, but it was already too late Paps had a look on his face that made it seem like he had just seen the most sickeningly sweet, adorable thing in his entire life. "Paps do not-"

"OH MY GOOOOOOOD SAAAAAAAANS! YOU BROUGHT A GIRL HOME?!" Paps shrieked, Mina almost choking on her burger as she took a bite. This caught Papyrus's attention, his gaze quickly shifting from is brother to his new human friend. "SHE'S SO CUTE SANS HOW DID YOU EVEN...AH WAIT I'M BEING RUDE!" Paps yelled as he crouched down, the same creepy look on his face as he reached to place his hands on Mina's shoulders. "HUMAN I AM SO SORRY, I FAILED TO INTRODUCE MYSELF AND MISTOOK YOU FOR MY BROTHER! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

"..c-Could...u-Uhm...y-You m-maybe...l-Let go..." Mina stuttered, more than a bit overwhelmed and confused by what the much taller skeleton was ranting about. She was about to say something else, but before she could Papyrus let out a shriek and jumped away from her, Fox dangling from his backside as he screamed.

"BROTHER I TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN!" Papyrus wailed, knocking over the basket that had been containing Toby. That was when hell -really- broke loose. Both dogs had now latched on to Pap somehow, and were pawing at each other as best they could.

All Sans could do was place a hand over his face, letting out the most annoyed groan he could muster amidst all the barking and yelling, all while dodging random flying bones and making sure none hit his guest. He could hear Mina whining quietly as she reached out to try to call Fox back, but there was no way anyone else in the room could hear her.

As he went to speak, he was struck in the head by a small flying bone, that causing the rest of his patience to vanish quicker than he could snap. "Would you three..." Of course, they couldn't hear him, bu this only made him chuckle as his left eye lit up with magic. "FUCKING KNOCK IT OFF FOR A MOMENT?!" He shouted, sweeping his left hand towards the three ringed circus that had sprung to life in front of the couch. His magic covered his hand, as well as the three offenders, effectively lifting them into the air and separating them.

Not only that, but Sans' sudden outburst had one more effect. Mina hadn't been expecting the outburst at all, much less the show of magic, the combination of these things and the stress from the previous commotion causing her to jump a bit. She didn't just jump, though, a strangely adorable sound resembling a small child squeaking or a kitten meowing errupting from her not even a second after Sans started shouting. Having placed her burger down earlier, she quickly covered her mouth, slowly looking at the now silent dogs before glancing at both skeletons. Papyrus was covering his own mouth and squealing at the cuteness he had just witnessed, while Sans...

"..w..What...The hell was THAT?" Sans managed to ask, trying his damndest not to laugh as he looked at her. Glancing to Pap, he quickly recognized the look his brother was giving him. "...I can't deal with this right now. I'm going to go upstairs, eat my burger, and frickin' sleep." He dropped his hand, quickly covering his face with his now free hand while grabbing his hoodie and bag of food with the other. Hearing Paps start to speak, he quickly cut him off. "One damn word and I'll kill you."

The next sound was that of Sans's bedroom door slamming shut, Papyrus and both dogs not daring to move after being freed from the angry skeleton's magic. Letting out a sigh, Mina reached up and brushed her hair out of her face. "...u-Uhm...I...Think you might...Have gotten the wrong idea..." She paused, holding up a finger as Papyrus started to speak. "...p-Please let me eat first, then I...I'll explain..." She didn't need to say anything else, Pap just sitting there quietly in between the two small dogs...Who were now more focused on Mina's fries more than anything else.

Up in his room, Sans was slumped against his bed, staring up at the ceiling and hoping to hell Pap had been the only one to notice the look that had been on his face. "...Why the hell..." He started, covering half of his face with one hand, a bit of color still on his cheeks. "...Couldn't today have just been the same old thing." Sighing quietly, he opened the bag and took out his burger, as well as an entire bottle of ketchup. Before he started in on his food, he glanced at the door, a bit amused at the lack of sound coming from downstairs. "..Ehh, she'll be fine. It's just Pap, after all."

Back downstairs, an uneasy peace had settled in. Mina was just finishing the last of her fries, breaking one in half and giving each dog one half. Pap was sitting on the floor still, eagerly awaiting to hear everything the human was going to say to him. A thought occurred to him as Mina was cleaning up, placing all her trash back into the Grillbys bag. "HUMAN...WAS...WAS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, REALLY SCARING YOU BEFORE?"

"o-Oh, u-Uhm..." Mina bit her lip a bit, picking up Fox as the little dog started to growl at an approaching Toby. "w-Well, a little...I don't..." She sighed, seeing the hurt, almost shameful look washing over Pap's face. "I mean, you're not scaring me now...I just have...A really hard time dealing with people in general. I get spooked over the smallest things, really...i-I'm sorry, it's not your fault at all."

"REALLY? YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY SURE I'M NOT SCARING YOU?" Papyrus asked, smiling cheerfully as the girl nodded. "WONDERFUL! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER WANT TO SCARE A POTENTIAL FRIEND! ESPECIALLY A FRIEND OF MY BROTHER! OH, HOW LONG HAVE YOU TWO KNOWN EACHOTHER?!"

"I..." Mina paused, sighing and givng a nervous smile as she continued. "I'm sorry, I've not been here for very long at all...A few hours, actually. Your brother and...Kid, I think his name was?...They...They found me after I..."

"FOUND YOU? WERE YOU LOST?...OH WAIT, BROTHER SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THE RUINS, DIDN'T HE?" Papyrus interrupted, crossing his arms and leaning closer to Mina. He hadn't noticed the scratch on her face until then, a concerned look coming to his face. "HUMAN HOW DID YOU GET INJURED? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

"i-I...When I woke up, I was surrounded by flowers." Mina started, closing her eyes and trying to remember everything that had happened after she awoke in the ruins. "Fox was licking my face to wake me, like she always does. I sat up and tried to focus, my head hurt so much...I looked around and heard a voice coming from the flowers around me."

"Howdy, Human! Boy, you're lucky you landed where you did, if you hadn't landed in the flowers you'd probably be dead." A small voice echoed throughout the room, Fox blinking and starting to growl lowly as something moved through the flowerbed.

"Hello?...Is...Is someone there?" Mina asked shyly, wincing and holding her head with one hand. "I...I don't remember how I got here...Did I fall?" She asked, looking up and seeing a few snowflakes falling towards her through a massive hole in the cavernous ceiling. "Why..Why can't I remember how I got here?"

"Gee, you sure do ask a lot of questions...But you know what, I bet I can help you remember." The voice said, a small yellow flower suddenly popping out of the ground a few feet from the now sitting girl. This caused Fox to growl even louder, the flower's eyes darting to the little dog and a nervous look coming to its face. "Aww gee, I don't think your friend likes me very much...I just want to help, maybe you could ask it to stop?"

"A...A talking flower?" Mina blinked as she spotted the flower, holding Fox tightly against her chest and trying to calm the upset little dog. "i-I'm sorry...She's never seen a talking flower, maybe she's...j-Just scared, is all. h-How are you talking, to begin with?"

"Golly, I can talk because I'm a monster of course! You're in the Underground now, so it's not that strange." The flower smiled, something seeming a bit off about him though. "Humans who fall down here...I've seen others, but I never helped any of them. They all died, I was so sad because I couldn't help any of them. I tried, really I did, but they all ran away from me. They ran away and other monsters killed them."

"o-Other monsters?" Mina asked, shaking a bit as the flower nodded. "..i-I...I don't want...m-Maybe you can help me, then?" She asked, blinking as the flower smiled and Fox began snarling. "..f-Fox, please, he's just a little flo-" Before she could continue speaking, something wrapped around her ankles and hoisted her into the air, a pair of thorny vines shooting out of the ground and encircling her wrists as she shrieked and dropped Fox. "w-What's happening!?"

"Heheh...You idiot. I'll help alright...Help myself to your SOUL!" The flower laughed maniacally, more vines shooting out from around him and lashing out at the girl. It didn't matter to him if her body got ripped apart, honestly, her soul was all he was after.

"s-Stop, please!" Mina screamed, the sound of the flower's laughter and Fox's frantic barking echoing in her ears. She remembered there being a flash of light, then the sounds all fading as she blacked out. "s-Somone...Please..."

"...When I woke up, someone was pulling me up off the ground. I was still so scared, but..." Mina sighed, opening her eyes and managing a small smile, seeing the obviously upset and worried look on Papyrus's face. "I opened my eyes, and I met your brother and Kid..."

"HOW HORRIBLE! HUMAN I AM SO SORRY YOU HAD TO GO THROUGH SOMETHING LIKE THAT! " Papyrus exclaimed and moved closer, grabbing one of Mina's hands with both of his. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SWEAR TO YOU! IF I EVER HAPPEN TO MEET THIS HORRIBLE LITTLE FLOWER, I SHALL GIVE HIM A STERN TALKING TO!"

"e-Erm...t-Thank you..." Mina smiled and chuckled nervously, glancing away for a moment. She was about to say something else, but she spotted Toby sitting a few feet away with something odd sticking out of his mouth. "...u-Uhm, is he supposed to have that?"

"...HAVE WH-...NO! DOG WHY MUST YOU KEEP DOING THIS?!" Papyrus shouted, quickly springing to his feet and trying to take one of his action figures away from Toby. He succeeded, but not before the dog managed to break off one of the figure's arms. "NOT ANOTHER ONE! WAIT THAT REMINDS ME...SAAAAANS!"

"I'm right here, bro." Sans sighed, walking down the stairs and plucking the action figure from Pap's hands. "...Yeah, I can fix that."

"Toby really doesn't like your action figures, does he?" Mina asked, a thought coming to her mind as she watched Sans look over the figure. "Since you mentioned this was a war between you and the dog, maybe he..."

Sans's face lit up as he realized what was about to happen, Papyrus's face going blank as he slowly turned his head to look at Mina. "...HUMAN PLEASE DO NOT FINISH THAT-"

"...Decided to 'Disarm' your troops." Mina giggled, Papyrus erupting into a screaming fit as he fell to his knees, tossing his hands into the air dramatically. All Sans could do was chuckle and shake his head, walking across the room and grabbing the other broken figures from a small table. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist it." Mina smiled, looking to Pap as he stood back up.

"BROTHER YOU ARE A TERRIBLE INFLUENCE! THE HUMAN WAS FINE BEFORE YOU CAME BACK DOWNSTAIRS!" Papyrus pointed an accusing finger at his brother grinding his teeth as Sans just shrugged at him. "BY THE WAY, HOW DID YOU RESPOND SO QUICKLY?..."

"Ehh...I was coming down to check on you two anyway." Sans stated, taking a seat on the floor with his back against the couch. "Besides, I needed to tell you to remind me to do something tomorrow, Pap."

"...WHAT?" Pap asked, plopping onto the couch next to Mina and blinking as a little brown dog jumped into his lap and laid down. "...HUMAN WHAT IS THIS ANIMAL DOING?" He asked, looking to Mina and seeing her smiling at him.

"She must like you, it's alright." Mina said, shifting her gaze from Papyrus to Sans for a moment. She hadn't heard the door open upstairs, wondering if he had used his magic or something to leave his room. "Uhm...What do you need to be reminded of, Sans?"

"Nothing big, I just need someone to remind me to call Tori and explain what's going on." Sans said, focusing on fixing Pap's action figures as best he could. "I probably should have called her when we found you, but...I figured it'd be better to wait until you had calmed down a bit."

"a-Ah...t-Thank you...I'm sorry..." Mina sighed, smiling sadly and looking at the floor. She reached one of her hands up after a moment, rubbing her eyes a bit. "...i-I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm a bit tired..."

"Paps, think you could camp out on the couch for the night?" Sans asked, glancing over at his brother for a moment. "I'm sure Mina would feel safer there instead of the couch, or my room."

"o-Oh, no I-" Mina started, being interrupted as Pap sprang to his feet and scooped her up like a child. "w-Wait!"

"NEVER FEAR, HU-...MINA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE NO QUALMS ABOUT SLEEPING ON THE COUCH! BESIDES, MY BROTHER'S ROOM IS FAR TOO DANGEROUS FOR ANY LIVING THING TO SLEEP IN..." Papyrus muttered, swiftly carrying Mina and her backpack up to his room.

Once he was alone again, save for the company of Fox, Sans sighed and glared at the action figure he was repairing. "...So the prickly little bastard did all that, eh?" He frowned, closing his eyes for a moment. Truthfully, he had head everything Mina had said, having snuck out of his room and taken a seat at the top of the stairs. Opening his eyes after a while, Sans blinked when he felt something on his left shoulder, glancing over to see Fox's head resting on him. "Heh...Hey pup. Mind telling me how you managed to chase him off anyway?" He asked jokingly, blinking as the little dog stared him straight in the eye and growled slightly. "Uhh..Okay then, forget I asked." He said, turning his focus back to repairing the action figures.

It wasn't long before Pap came back downstairs, carrying an extra pillow and blanket under one of his arms, his pjs already on. "WOWIE, SHE FELL ASLEEP FAST." Paps stated, setting his bedding on the couch. "I ONLY WENT TO THE BATHROOM TO CHANGE AND WHEN I WENT BACK, SHE WAS ALREADY ASLEEP."

"Can't blame her, she's had one hell of a day from the sound of it." Sans said, holding up one repaired figure. "Sorry, Pap, I'm gonna need some things to fix this other one...Where's Toby anyway?"

"OH, RIGHT, HE WAS CURLED UP NEXT TO...MINA IS THE HUMAN'S NAME?" Pap asked, seeing his brother nod he continued. "WELL, HE'S ASLEEP NEXT TO HER. I LEFT THE DOOR CRACKED SO HER DOG COUD FIND HER..."

"Ehh...I'll put him in my room later, I don't think Fox here would be too happy with him snuggling her human." Sans chuckled, the now sleeping brown dog letting out a sigh and nuzzling his shoulder. "...I should have called Tori, shouldn't I?"

"WELL...YES, BUT YOU'RE STILL DOING WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT, AREN'T YOU? " Papyrus asked, smiling a bit at his brother. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME THING. YOU KNOW, SANS, THIS REMINDS ME OF WHEN FRISK FIRST STARTED STAYING WITH US!"

"Only instead of a kid, we've got ourselves an older houseguest...Huh, I wonder how old she is, actually." Sans thought for a moment, one thought quickly being dismissed. 'Jeez Sans, get your mind out of there...' He mentally berated himself, shaking his head and trying to figure out why his mind had been drifting to the gutter since he had met Mina.

'Never had any weird thoughts like that about the kid...Well, maybe it's because Mina...Isn't a kid. Still, you hardly know her, so knock it off.' Sighing to himself, Sans opened his eyes and reached a hand up, pulling a sleeping Fox into his arms as he stood. "You alright without a story tonight, Paps?"

"...I SUPPOSE I CAN DO WITHOUT A STORY FOR ONE NIGHT." Papyrus sighed, stretching out on the couch and tossing the blanket over himself. "GOODNIGHT, BROTHER. I'LL PROBABLY BE UP BEFORE YOU TOMORROW, AS USUAL. I PLAN ON MAKING THE GREATEST SPAGHETTI BREAKFAST IMAGINABLE FOR OUR GUEST, AFTER ALL! " He exclaimed, causing Sans to chuckle as he headed up the stairs.

As quietly as he could, Sans crept into his brother's room, easily spotting Toby's white fur against the red blanket. Fox stirred a bit in his arms, yawning quietly and glancing around. He could feel her little tail wagging as she caught sight of her human, but this stopped as soon as he set her on the bed. When she began growling at Toby, he sighed and quickly picked the sleeping white dog up. "Shh...Go back to sleep." He whispered to the smaller dog, keeping his voice as low as he could, not wanting to wake Mina.

As he mad his way out of the room, Sans heard movement, glancing over his shoulder at Mina as she turned in the bed. Her head had been covered up before, her face now visible due to the pale light from Pap's nightlight. She looked so peaceful at that moment, a few strands of her long hair laying over her eyes, a slight blush on her cheeks, her lips being slightly parted. '...Damn she's beautiful like this...Wait what am I thinking?' Snapping back to his senses, Sans quietly exited the room, closing the door behind him so Toby didn't sneak in and cause an uproar with Fox. Setting Toby on the floor, he quickly made his way to his room, closing the door as usual.

"Get it together, Sans." He sighed to himself, slumping down next to his bed and glancing at his hoodie. He hadn't put it back on since taking it back from Mina earlier that evening, remembering the look she had on her face when he'd first seen it on her. "...It's going to be a damn long night." He sighed again, a bit of color in his cheeks as he closed his eyes. It took him a little longer than normal to fall asleep, his mind being far too busy trying to figure out what would happen in the next week. Not only did he need to keep Frisk's return a secret from everyone, but now he had to figure out what to do about a certain impossible to find flower, and keep his usually non-existent dirty thoughts from spiraling out of control...Forget a long night, it was going to be a long week.