If it doesn't hurt you, then it's not bad.

It was a silly thing to go by, but the way their father kept telling them that same metaphor over and over again and again, it was kinda hard to forget it. Papyrus believed it enough. Himself on the other hand? Nah, too much work. But, it was okay to go by it once in a while right?

If it hurts you a little, then you should give them a second chance.

Another metaphor that their dad told them when Pap has his arm stolen by a dog and dad had to chase it down to get it back. Man, he couldn't stop grinning that day. Or any other day as a matter of fact. He did feel a bit bad for Papyrus when he developed a fear of dogs and clung to him or dad whenever he saw one, but he quickly got over with dad's help. He still hates dogs though.

But if it keeps hurting you and won't stop, then it's bad.

Wise words from a brilliant minded man… who just so happened to be tending to his brother's wounds right now.

He flinched as Papyrus cried out in pain as their dad finally managed to pull out the rock that was lodged deep in his brother's hand. He never liked it when his brother was hurt. He was a crybaby at times and yelled all the time, but he was his brother, and brothers had to stick together no matter what. Even being there holding their hand as dad carefully picked out the tiny stones that were lodged deep in their other arm, no matter how much it was uncomfortable to watch. Knowing it was his fault in the first place that his brother wounded up like this.

{Shh, shh, it's alright Papyrus. Just a few more and it will be over.} Their dad said through his sign language, carefully grabbing another small stone with the pliers in one of his many hands as the others held his brother still.

At other times, when their dad wasn't busy with work and hung out with them, he would be finding himself sometimes staring at his father's hands. How they moved and how they float around their dad like second nature. How he had so many yet his arms already had a hand connected at each end. How they moved on their own while their dad was focused on something else entirely.

But now, his focus was more on his twin, Papyrus. Yeah, twin. They may not look like it, but he and his brother were twins, both born on the same day and such. It was funny to see other monsters reactions when they figured out that he and his brother were twins.

He flinched again as Papyrus let out a small shriek of pain, rubbing his brother's back slowly. It hurt. It hurt to see his brother like this, seeing him in pain and scream out and such. He didn't like it one bit. Neither did dad.

He could still remember the shock on his face when he saw the state his brother was in when he came to check up on them. If it wasn't for the fact that his brother was hurt, he would've been laughing so hard at that face. But right now, he was more concern for his sibling than finding their dad's face amusing.

{And, there we go.} The hand holding the pliers pulled the last small stone out, dropping it in a small pile of stones on the table. {All done. Now, I just need to wrap your arm.}

"W-WHY?" Pap asked in his small high squeaky voice, rubbing his face clear of tears with the sleeve of his red turtle neck.

{Because your arm has bad wounds Papyrus, and we don't want them getting any worse than they are right now.} Dad signed, one of his many hands brought over a long thin cloth and started to wrap the arm up.

"OH." Pap nodded his head slowly, blinked, and then turned to look at him.

"he says that it will help your arm feel better." He explained like it was a job that he took on when Pap couldn't read their dad's signs fast enough.

"OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He rolled his eyes, spotting their dad doing the same as he finished tying up the cloth. {Alright Papyrus, why don't you go watch some TV while your brother and I have a little talk.}

Uh oh. He shrunk a little under their dad's gaze.

"TALK ABOUT WHAT?" Pap curiously asked, jumping off the couch.

"eh, just some boring since stuff pap. you know, geek stuff." Man, did he love it when his brother made his eyes scrunch up a little. It was adorably funny.

"UGH! FINE! HAVE FUN!" And with that, he ran as fast as his yellow boots could carry him, shutting the door behind him.

Now it was only him and dad in the room. He held his gaze on the door, wringing his thick white turtleneck in his tiny hands. He could feel the glare that dad was giving him right now, seeing a bit of movement at the corner of his eye, knowing that dad was probably crossing one leg over the other and crossing his arms against his chest. Something tapped against his skull lightly. He reluctantly looked up, shrinking more into the couch.

Dad was glaring at him, but not a mean angry glare that he saw him use on others. No this glare was demanding for the truth, the whole truth. {Alright Sans, it's just you and me now.}

He shifted in his place, kicking his yellow rubber boots and gazed down at his deep blue shorts. Blue, heh. What a funny color. It wasn't his favorite, but it sort of fit him in some way. Kind of fitting, but at the same time not fitting, like his magic… like his… magic…

A sigh left his grinning mouth, looking back up at the older skeleton, taking a moment to look at him. His dad was a rather tall skeleton, taller than any other he had seen, if there were any other skeletons to compare him to. But there really wasn't that many skeletons out there, so he only had to assume that he was taller than them. He was rather thin as well. Thin enough that he could probably fit into an air vent in and out no problem. His skull was slim and smooth, two big dark eye sockets with little white dots looking right at him. What struck him strange though was his right eye. While the left was full and circular, the right was a crescent shape, making it look like a smile with a small crack going up slightly to the top of his head. What was even more eye catching was his mouth.

While he and his brother had… somewhat normal looking mouths, their dad's mouth was a strange one. It was like it was made from a crack along the mouth line, able to move it and make faces with it like a monster with flesh could. He never once saw his teeth or heard anything come out of that mouth. He was probably mute, which could be the reason why he was only able to communicate through hands signals. It took him and Pap a while when they were three to learn what each sign was for which letter. He had to slow down with his signs so that Pap could read them at a better pace.

But what was the signature look of their dad was his clothing. Black. Black pants, black shoes, black overcoat that he hardly took off with a white shirt underneath. Everything he wore was black. He never really questioned why his dad wore black all the time. Maybe it was to reflect his personality or something? Like how he wore blue while Pap wore red? He didn't know. Possibly just a skeleton thing he didn't get yet.

{Sans, what exactly happened?}

His eyes turned their gaze to his boots, kicking one leg and the other limp. "n-nothing."

Two floating hands went in front of him, making some sign language. {Don't lie to me Sans. You know how I feel when I'm lied to. You and I know fully well that these rocks hadn't lodged themselves into Papyrus's arm.}

Did he really want him to feel worse than what he felt right now? "… we were just playing."

{Playing? Or roughhousing?}

His head turned sharply, glaring at the older skeleton. "we weren't roughhousing!"

{Then how did your brother end up having stone lodged in his arm?} Two floating hands signed as dad kept his arms crossed against his chest.

"…" He looked down at the ground, shoulders sagging. "… i was just…"

{… Just what?}

"…"

{Sans.} He felt something under his chin, lifting his head up slowly to look at the older skeleton. His face had changed, softened yet still held that authority in his eyes. {What really happened?}

"… i… i… i just… wanted to help him." He sniffed, feel tears beginning to form in his eyes.

{Help him with what?}

He mumbled under his breath, looking away slightly. A lone tear trailed down his face before being wiped away by a thumb.

{Sans, what were you trying to help him with?}

"… his magic…" He finally said, sighing in defeat, looking back up at his father, seeing the older skeleton flinch. "i-i-i just wanted to help him get his magic, dad. i-i-i-i didn't want to hurt him, honest. it's just… so hard to see him without it." More tears flowed free from his sockets, blurring his vision. "… i-i-i-i-it's hard… for m-me… to s-s-see my b-bro w-without a tr-trace of m-m-magic, while i-i-i'm the o-o-only one t-t-t-t-to have it. it-it's not fair!" He wailed, letting the tears fall.

It just wasn't fair. He was the only one with magic within him while his brother didn't even have a drop of it in him. It wasn't right! No way! His bro deserved to have some magic too! Why was it so hard to see?

He hardly noticed that he was being picked up and held close, wrapped around in thin but strong secure arms while his back was rubbed slowly. His cries were muffled in to the over coat, grasping the fabric tightly. After a few minutes, he calmed down enough to speak again. "i-i-i-i-it's not f-f-f-f-f-fair." He mumbled, looking up at dad slightly so that only his eyes were shown. "i-i-i-i-it's just not fair."

{No, it's not fair.} His father shook his head, adjusting him in his hold. {But that is the way of life Sans. Not everything can go someone's way all the time… no matter how badly you want it to.}

"j-j-just like… mom?" He asked innocently, wiping the snot away with his sleeve.

{…} A low sigh left the older skeleton. {Yes, just like your mother.} He set him by his side, leaning against him. {Now, are you going to tell me what happened?}

He nuzzled himself closer to dad, holding on to whatever he could grab, taking in the odd scent that the overcoat had. It was odd, skeletons had no real scents, rarely believed that it was thanks to their lack of natural body flesh to produce such odor. But when you spend so much time in one place, and visit it regularly, its odor tended to stick on the clothing like glue. Somewhat of it smelled of odd scents and reeked of dried ink that probably accidentally got spilt on the fabric, and stayed there long after it had dried up. It was a good thing the whole overcoat was black otherwise the stains would be quite visible. Other mixed scents that he could pick up filled his senses, not knowing what scent was what. But it wasn't the scent that made it so acceptable; it was the monster wearing it that mattered. The monster who he knew his whole young life with, comforting and protective, kind most of the time yet still firm and strict when he needed to be, guiding and supportive, ready to step in and help. His eyes went up, looking at that same monster.

His father.

His and Pap's dad.

Their caretaker and mentor.

Wing Ding Gaster.

Or as preferred to be called, W.D. Gaster.

Or just Gaster for short.

The Head Royal Scientist.

Well, that was what he was told by him. But, it must be true. How else would it explain how he obtained the money to pay for their home? Or the odd smells he would have sometimes when he came home? Or the long hours he spent away? Or even the strange sounds he would hear at night in the basement that he and Pap were not allowed in cause it was too dangerous and could get hurt if they weren't careful?

"… well…" He started, rubbing half his face into his dad's side. "it started off as a normal day ya' know? pap woke me up, you were making breakfast, we played a bit with blaster, then you went to your lab to work… you took blaster with you, so me and pap decided to do some puzzles. it got boring really really fast. so i, uh, decided to practice a bit with my magic, just moving some stuff here and there, big stuff that were bigger than me and…"

{… And… Papyrus wanted to help, I assume?}

"… not… exactly… he was… watching me… or… more at my magic… i didn't like him staring at me so i asked him to stop and, well, he asked me if i could teach him some magic." He looked down, clutching the fabric tightly. "… so… i agreed. we went outside to practice and stuff… and… i… i… i got carried away a bit."

{And by accident you hurt your brother.}

"i didn't mean to!" He gripped the fabric tightly, looking back up at his dad.

{Calm down, I know you didn't. But Sans, what you did, it's risky, and might as well be futile. Papyrus hasn't shown any indication or signs that he has any ability to magic like you did when you were just a toddler.}

He huffed, laying his upper half on top the older skeleton's lap. "but that was years ago."

{Six and a half years ago to be precise.}

A soft groan left his mouth, burying his face against the fabric. For a moment, he stayed like that, till he felt something brush against the sides of his head, lifting it up so that he could see the pair of floating hands before him.

{Sans, magic doesn't work that way. You can't just train someone to gain magic. It has to appear on its own in its own time. No matter how much you could train Papyrus to help him gain some magic, it would not work.}

He was silent, letting the words seep into his mind.

{… It might be a possibility that he is a late bloomer.}

Now that got his attention. "late bloomer?"

{It means that his magic still maybe just dormant, or sleeping in a way, that it's not ready to come out just yet.}

Hope flicker in his eyes, gazing up at his father's face. "so, like, his magic just needs some time to wake up?"

{Yes.} The skeleton smiled. {It just takes its own pace to wake up. So.} He found himself being lifted up to his eye level. {Can you promise me not to train your brother? Until after he shows some signs of magic?}

He narrowed his eyes smugly, wrapping his arms behind his head. "i make no promises."

{Oh I think you will once I bring out—} He was pulled close to his dad's face. {My special attack.}

He only had a moment to gasp before he was suddenly laughing as his sides were poked and probed. "n-n-n-nooo! hahaha! s-s-s-s-stop! hehehehehehehehehehe!"

If his dad could only speak, he was sure to hear the old man laugh along as he poked him.

It came to a stop however when there came a knock on the door, and Pap's voice on the other side.

"UM, DADDY? THERE'S SOMEONE AT THE DOOR. I THINK IT'S FOR YOU."

Oh boy, he didn't need to guess what it was for.

Dad stood up, holding him in his arms as he walked towards the door as one of his floating his turned the knob and opened it. Pap stood there, looking utterly worried and scared, holding his hands together loosely.

{Were they wearing a white coat?}

Pap nodded his head, reaching out and grasped their dad's pant leg. Dad sighed, shaking his head. Out of the corner of his eye socket, he could see a lone hand off to the side making signs that spelled what do they need me for now? It was probably his way of mumbling to himself.

{Alright.} He placed him down on the ground. {You two know the drill. Snacks are in the cupboard if you get hungry, remote is in the living room, my rooms door is always open, and don't go outside.}

"YES DADDY." Pap huffed. "WE PROMISE."

{Good.} He walked off and they followed him. They've done this so many times it was their routine now. They would walk down the hall, down the stairs of their three stories high home, occasionally racing his bro once in a while, he never won, but that was okay. On the last step they would watch their father walk towards the high tech door, punching in the code that only he knew and watched as it slid into the ground.

{Oh!} He stopped, turning around, looking like he had just remembered something. {And I almost forgot.} He brought two fingers up to his mouth, and let out a high key whistle.

His eyes widen, looking at Pap quickly. His brother looked at him with wide eyes. Quickly, both he and his brother jumped off the step, making a quick dash to the center of the room before stopping and stay still, hearing something approaching.

In a split second, something bounded into the room, sliding slightly to the side before breaking into a run and jumping high. He let out a small gasp as it landed on him and Pap, sending both he and his brother to the ground. In a split second that they hit the ground, eruptions of laughter left their mouths as their faces were getting coated sloppy wet licks from a glowing light blue tongue.

"BLASTER!" Pap cried out happily, managing to grasp the snout of their pet and hug it tightly.

Blaster, a creation made by their very dad, made a sound that sounded of a mix of purrs and growls, nuzzling Pap affectingly as his bro laughed madly from the attention. Giggling, he managed to roll out from under Blaster, sitting up and took a moment to look at him.

Blaster was, by a unique sense, a very peculiar creature. He was a skeleton, just like them, only he was an animal. He up little bit past their dad's waist line in height when he stood on all legs, and reached his shoulder line when he sat. Arched back and special made back legs that could lift and pounce at extreme functions, four armed with a separate shoulder blade bone for each one, three spine sails one along his slim neck, another going along his back, and one along the top of the bass of the long rope tail. His rib cage thick in bone and had claws at the end of each toe. His head was shaped like an animal, long snout, five bones stuck out to point in the back sides of his head like horns, deep eye sockets with glowing blue orbs, and quite surprisingly only had eight teeth that were far spread from each other.

He felt something tap on top his skull lightly and looked up at his father.

{Make sure that you and your brother don't get into any trouble while I'm gone.}

"okay."

{I mean it Sans. That means no rough playing.}

"okay."

{No climbing on book forts.}

"okay."

{And no riding on Blaster.}

"WHAT?!" Pap screeched out, hugging Blaster's head closely. "WHY NOT?!"

Even he had to question this. Riding on Blaster was the best, if not coolest thing ever! It was like riding the fastest, coolest, most agile ride ever! Riding on him was the only fun thing to do around here!

{Because you and your brother are getting too big to be riding on him. You could easily fall off him and get hurt, or you could break his back by your growing weight. I don't want you two or Blaster getting hurt, understood?}

"BUT-!"

{Understood?}

"… YES DADDY."

{Good. Sans?}

He didn't say anything, lowering his head so that a shadow cast over it. Slowly he lifted one hand, giving the thumbs up sign.

{Good. I'll be back later. Goodbye.} With that he step outside and the door came out from the ground, locking in place.

"… BYE DADDY." Pap waved one hand.

A few steady minutes of silence passed. It wasn't until Pap decided to break it. "SANS? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?"

He looked at his bro. "don't know. dad took away the only fun thing to do around here." Blaster whined, almost like he was agreeing with him there.

"…" Pap gripped Blaster's head closer to him. "I WANTED TO RIDE BLASTER TODAY."

"so did i bro. but then again, dad was right. we were gonna have to stop riding him sooner or later." He shrugged, getting off the floor and cross his arms. "now, the main question is, what are we gonna do now?"

"… THERE'S… ALWAYS DADDY'S BOOKS."

Dad's books. Huh, that hadn't really crossed his mind. "… alright, i guess that's one way to pass the time." He huffed and started to walk towards the stairs. He paused however when Blaster gave a sad low whine. "sorry bud. but you know dad won't like it if he catches us riding on ya." A snort was what he got for an answer. "yeah, me too bud. me too." He sighed, continuing his walk, ascending the first few steps before he felt himself being lifted off the ground by the back collar of his shirt. "whoa! hey!" He snapped head around, finding himself being carried in one of Blaster's arms. Pap was being carried in another arm on the other side.

"DADDY NEVER SAID THAT BLASTER COULD CARRY US!" He giggled gleefully.

"… no… he didn't… did he?" His grin grew, kicking his legs lazily as Blaster carried them up to the second floor, abet slowly to savor the time.

Once they were on the second floor, Blaster, reluctantly, set them down. He gave their pet a small smile, patting him a couple times on top the head, turning to look at the many books that their dad had collected over the years. Library? Ha! Why need one when their pop had a collection of books that even put the biggest library to shame? There were dozens of books here! And only one fourth of it hadn't been read yet by their dad. Heh, had to fuel that big brain of his with something.

His eyes traveled the shelves, skimming past each thick or thin book, tall or short, or even the strange looking books. He hadn't read much of these books like their dad had, but he never once thought of them special. These books were just that, books. They weren't anything special, they were just bunches of pages with fancy words written in ink sandwiched between two covers with less than interesting titles.

"HEY SANS?"

He stopped, twisting around to see his brother and Blaster stare at something. "what's up bro?"

Pap pointed at something. "DID WE ORIGINALLY HAVE A BOOK WITH DADDY'S NAME ON IT?" He looked at him, eye sockets will with confusion.

If he had brows, one would certainly be up right now. Heading over to his bro, he looked to where he was pointing at. Sure enough, there among the other books, one that looked worn down by the years and use, thick with pages and marked by countless bookmarks, was a book with their dad's name in gold. His eyes widened, recognizing this particular book instantly. With a sharp whistle and a point of his finger, he looked at the family pet. "blaster." His grin was growing by the millisecond. "fetch."

At the command, Blaster lifted himself up with his back set of arms, grabbing the edges of the shelves for support as he carefully took hold of the book in his mouth, dropping to the ground once he got what his master's pup asked him.

"thanks bud." He patted Blaster on the head, taking the book from him. "extra treats tonight." He giggled as Blaster shook his body with delight at the mention of treats. His focus went back on the book in his hands, grinning big time like he had hit the jackpot.

"SANS? WHY ARE YOU GRINNING LIKE THAT?" Pap asked, looking over his shoulder to stare at the book in his hands.

"cause this ain't no book bro." He slung an arm around his brother's shoulder. "this is pop's diary."

"… DIARY?"

He restrained himself from rolling his eyes at his bro. "yeah, it's a book which dad wrote down his thoughts in that he didn't want anyone else knowing about. it's… kinda like a book but better."

"OH, WELL, SHOULDN'T WE PUT IT BACK THEN?" He blinked in surprise, looking at his brother questionably. "I DON'T FEEL RIGHT LOOKING THROUGH DADDY'S STUFF WITHOUT HIM KNOWING."

Ah, that explained it. Good nature bro. "if dad didn't want us looking in it, then why is it here where we can see it?"

Pap opened his mouth to say something, and then slowly closed it, scrunching his eyes a little. "I… MAYBE HE FORGOT THAT HE PUT IT HERE BY MISTAKE?"

"whatever." He pulled his brother along to the back of the room. "but it's his fault for not putting somewhere better." He winked.

The back of the room was considered the reading area for the whole family. It had a big enough space for all of them to move around and about with little difficulty. They spent so much time in that area, their dad had put a comfy chair there so they would all read together on slow days. Climbing up on the chair, and helping his bro get on it, they made themselves comfortable as Blaster curled around the chair, placing his head on the armrest.

"alright, let's see what our old man wrote down in here." He jittered in excitement. Their dad was strange monster, no one really knew much about him or his past. There were no real clues or hints about him that were easy to crack open and solve. But with this, he could only imagine what their dad was like in the past.

"BROTHER? ARE YOU SURE DADDY ISN'T GOING TO GET MAD AT US FOR READING HIS DAIRY?"

"relax pap. it's safe as long as we put it back where we found it." Picking a random marked page, he opened the book, setting himself against the chair so that Pap could read along with him. Not even a few sentences in, and yet he and Pap looked at each other with confusion for a brief moment before looking back at the page filled with wing dings.

Entire number ***,

This marks as the eighth year since we all have been forced here to the underground, there has been some progress in living status as some monster have adjusted their lives here properly enough to have families. Though some of us try to strive forward and hope for freedom one day to go back to the surface, I myself hope that it will never come true. I still remember that day clearly, like it was just moments ago and everything. The fire, that horrible fire. I shudder whenever I even remember a glimpse of it. What I have seen many years ago, I never forget. Or forgive. Still, I can see the hope in other monsters eyes, and with great pity, I vow to find a way to help in any case that I can.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN BROTHER? WHAT DOES DADDY MEAN BY THIS?"

"… i… i don't know pap." It was confusing. Fire? Freedom? Underground? What did it all mean? And why had their dad put it down like he and the other monsters were imprisoned? Flipping a few pages ahead, he stopped on a random page that seemed interesting enough.

Entire number ***,

My name and status has grown quickly throughout the underground. Fast enough that monsters that I pass by in the street often greet me by my name and ask me some questions that they hope I can answer for them. I am… flattered, if not unsteady for this amount of attention. I often have to hide my face in a book so none can see my face and recognize me, which proves to be a slim success as there aren't very many skeletons out there to blend in with. I knew I was getting myself into something that would be well over my probabilities, but I never expected this! In a crazy event, I knew I shouldn't have stepped in when things were going bad, and yet I did. Lives were spared yes, but it has consequently gained the attention of others. And my mind has been pushing itself to the limits of ideas and plans to help others, but so far I can think of none.

So far though, one of my inventions has proved to be a useful help for energy, making geothermal energy into magical electricity. It's a small prototype that has proven efficiency and great outcomes. Energy has to ways, the sun and our home the earth. If we can no longer use the sun for out power source, then maybe the earth can provide better?

He blinked, casting a glance at Pap. His eyes were glued to the pages, studying the words carefully. "IS… IS THIS TALKING ABOUT THE TIME DADDY SAVED PEOPLE WHEN ONE OF THE INVENTIONS WENT BAD?"

"…" He glanced at the pages, running a hand over the wing ding words. Their dad had told them the story of one inventor's machine going haywire and how he had rushed in to stop it. He didn't actually believe their old man, but Papyrus was so engulfed by the story he didn't want to shatter his brother's view of their dad. But now, reading this page, maybe their dad was telling the truth? Flipping more pages, he stopped on one page that was marked with a violet bookmark.

Entire number ***,

Today marks a big day for me. Our king Asgore has offered me a position to work as his head scientist. Of course I could not refuse such an offer, no matter how skeptical I feel about this. I find it some miracle that my actions have caught the king's attention. With new material to work with, this may be a new chance for my studies. Even for my main task. But for now, it shall wait. Others needs come before my own before I can even set to work on finding a way to free us all. Little steps, as my father had said to me. Right now, I need to work with finding a way to make my greatest invention… bigger. Its small size will not work for all of the monster kind, and I have decided that for it to work, it needs to be bigger, stronger, to last longer. There for, I have decided to give my project a name. The CORE. It will take some time before it will be fully complete, but it will be done.

His eyes stopped on that one particular word. CORE. He had heard of it, their dad would talk about it for hours on end about it. It was his main project and high focus. But it required so much studying and calculations to get it right that other scientists were brought in so it would work properly. For now though, they were just running on smaller counterparts for the time being. Pap shifted in his place, reaching over and flipped a couple pages, landing on one page.

Entire number ***,

The king has graciously given me permission to study a HUMAN soul. Though this is a great achievement for science, I must be careful with the approach of this study. There is no telling what I will find in this, but I will find out what there is with a human soul.

XXX

Incredible! A human soul, there are no words or scientific analyses that could comprehend to what I discovered! Even without the magic ability that we monsters have, they seem powerful enough to take down armies with little effort! Powerful enough that a simple human child could take down a full grown monster! … That… is a scary thought. Humans, they are not like us monsters. They feel and thrive just like us all… but they only care for their own kind. They can be cruel and malicious, yet kind and generous as well. Their souls are made up of so many things, so many powerful things!

… Could just a few more finally free us?

"there it is again." He mumbled. "free… what does that mean?"

"IS… IS IT SAYING THAT DADDY WAS IN PRISON? AND WHAT IS A HUMAN?"

He shrugged, not taking his eyes off the pages.

"… WERE YOU IN PRISON DADDY?"

His eyes snapped off the page, looking over at Pap then over the armrest, flinching. There standing beside them petting Blaster on top the head was their dad. His face was unreadable, but he could see that he wasn't angry with them.

{Well, not exactly Papyrus.} Their dad signed, rubbing the top of Blaster's head affectionately. {It's not so much as I was imprisoned, but…} He looked at them, flashing them a small smile. {Then again, I'm not the only one to be imprisoned.}

"THERE'S MORE?"

{Much more my young one.} He went over to them, lifting them up and set himself on the chair. {So much more that you do not know yet.}

"…" He glanced at the dairy, eyes falling on one word that snagged at his attention. "hey, pop? what's a human?"

He watched as their dad's face made a shocked look before glancing at his hands, sighing. {I knew I forgot it here somewhere.} A hand grabbed the book away from him, shutting it and placing it on the very top of the book shelves.

"DADDY?"

{Yes Papyrus? What is it?}

"WHAT IS A HUMAN?" Pap asked innocently, clinging to the fabric and looking at their dad with big eyes. "ARE THEY MONSTERS LIKE US?"

He could see that their pop was struggling to find an answer in his eyes that were darting left or right, trying hard not to look at Pap before giving up and looking at him and his bro. {Humans.} He signed with a floating hand, very slowly. {Are beasts.} He hugged them close, looking at them with… was… was that… fear? {They are… not like us, my little one. They do not feel, they do not care, and they do not show any compassion. They are heartless beings with dark black minds… They enjoy making others suffer in pain and misery, and are filled to the brim with hate and greed. They take what you love the most and destroy it… they take the things you hold dear to you, and tear them away from you forever…} Slowly, he lifted their chins so they would look him straight into his eyes. {If you ever see a human, my sons… run. Do not fight them. Do not stand up against them, just turn and run. They will kill you, and you cannot beat them… even if you tried.}

His eyes were lock on his dad's eyes. Never in his life had he seen his dad's eyes filled with fear. He always thought that he was fearless and strong, yet when he talked about these… humans, he was scared enough to tell them to run if they ever saw one.

"… WHAT IF… WHAT IF YOU'RE WRONG?"

Their eyes snapped over to Pap.

"WHAT IF… WHAT IF THEY AREN'T ALL THAT? WHAT IF THEY'RE JUST SCARED? OR CONFUSED? WHAT IF THEY HADN'T HAD ANYONE TO GUIDE THEM AND ALL THEY NEED IS… SOMEONE TO SHOW THEM A BETTER PATH?" He snuggled against their dad, gripping the fabric in one hand. "NOT ALL HUMANS CAN BAD. MAYBE, WITH A LITTLE HELP, THEY COULD BE GOOD." His eyes looked up at their pop, filled with hope and innocence. "JUST LIKE US?"

Silence hung over them as they stared at Pap in shock. "… well, uh, i think that's, uh, possible. right pop?" He glanced up at their dad, seeing the surprised and awed look on his face. Their dad gave him a small glance, then at his brother, slowly forming a smile on his face.

{Yes, I think it is possible Papyrus.}

"…" His body was stiff and cold, snow building on his body. A light gust of wind brushed past him, picking up the end of a bright red scarf half buried in the snow. It fluttered and twisted in the wind, waving like a small flag. Carefully, he bent down on one knee, scooping up the scarf in both hands and clutched it tightly in his bony hands. Small dust particles were still attached to the bright fabric, clinging to it like they wanted to hold on so desperately.

"…" He stood up, holding the fabric close to him. This was that was left of him. This small piece of fabric in his hands.

"…" Carefully, he wrapped it around his neck, tying it securely. It felt warm against his bones.

"…" He looked out in the direction of Waterfall, spotting the gleam of the toy knife in the darkness.

"… heh." He tucked his hands in his pockets, casting a small glance at the scarf. "pop was right papyrus… humans really are beasts." He mumbled lowly, burying his face in the woven fabric. "… sorry dad…" He looked up, feeling the cold burn in his left eye. "but i ain't gonna run… not till i deal with this DIRTY BROTHER KILLER."

Blasters design was inspired by Zyhe on DeviantArt.