6:15 AM – SANS, YOU'RE NOT AT YOUR POST! WHERE ARE YOU?!
6:16 AM – YOU'RE NOT STILL IN BED, ARE YOU?! YOU WEREN'T THERE WHEN I CHECKED AN HOUR AGO!
8:23 AM – DOGARESSA SAYS THAT YOU STILL HAVEN'T SHOWED UP TO YOUR POST?
3:03 PM – SANS, RINKO SAID HE'LL FIRE YOU IF YOU KEEP SHOWING UP LATE
3:03 PM – OR NOT AT ALL IN THIS CASE
3:03 PM – HOW DO YOU EVEN SPELL HIS NAME?
Papyrus threw his phone down on the couch after he was done with it, only to realize that that was something his lazybones brother would do, and instead opted to pick it back up and set it on the kitchen counter. He paced back and forth from the kitchen to the living room for a short amount of time, trying to think everything over. Where the heck was Sans? His brother was usually late to his post out in Snowdin Forest, sure, but today he never even showed up. He only had a nine hour shift today too, which really wasn't so bad compared to the usual shifts Rhyncho gave them.
He frowned slightly, or at least to the best of his ability, considering his lack of lips. After the Royal Guard had disbanded, the scaly bird-monster had shown up and taken over command of the sentry posts in the Snowdin area. He was huge and strong (though Papyrus would never admit that he was stronger than Undyne), and the dogs all seemed to like him for whatever reason, so no one ever complained about his little take over.
Unfortunately, he was kind of a jerk. At least to Papyrus and Sans he was. Sans because he was Sans, meaning that he never showed up to work (or actually did any work for that matter), and Papyrus because, well, he wasn't too sure. He tried his hardest, he really did, but nothing he did ever seemed to satisfy their new commander. Sans told him to just ignore it, saying that Rhyncho was just a really strict guy (some terrible bird or reptile pun usually following this explanation, of course). Still, Papyrus just didn't get it. What was he doing wrong? He definitely did more work than his brother did, yet he was certain that their new commander liked Sans more than he liked him.
He glanced back at his phone, checking to see if his brother had finally responded to him, but no luck. Getting increasingly irritated and upset, he plopped himself down onto the couch, turning on the TV. One of Mettaton's shows was playing, as was expected, though it was just a rerun of one of his older game shows. Figuring that there was nothing better for him to do until Sans decided to show his face, he curled up on the couch, accepting that he would be forced to watch this rerun. Not that he really minded; Mettaton was a great host after all. It was just that he'd much rather see something new at the moment. It would certainly help lift his spirits.
It was times like these that he really wished Undyne would hurry up and come back. Lots of monsters kept telling him that she had gone missing, but when he asked Sans about it, he told him that Undyne was just on vacation. He trusted his brother (most of the time), and was certain that all of those other monsters were just misinformed. His brother would know better than any of them anyways. Sans had followed the human around to watch over them the whole time they were there, and Papyrus knew for a fact that Undyne and the human had fought; the human had told him themself. Why Undyne decided to go on vacation after fighting the human was beyond him, but he was kind of hoping she'd at least send him a postcard or something soon. While she was at it, maybe she could come back and take over for Rhyncho.
Undyne might have been a little brash, but at least she didn't make Papyrus feel like he was doing everything wrong all the time. She would always help him train to get better and prepare him for being a member of the Royal Guard, but Rhyncho? No way. If Papyrus did something even mildly "out of line" (according to Rhyncho), he got a massive scolding. Wasn't he the one who always had to scold Sans and the other sentries to keep them all from slacking off? So why would their new commander go specifically after him? He didn't understand it. If that reptilian-bird monster wanted him to change something, the least he could do would be to help him out.
He sighed, realizing that he wasn't even paying attention to the show that was on. He really missed Undyne. Sure, he had a whole ton of other friends he could talk to, like Sans… He frowned.
There was no need to wallow like this! If he wasn't careful, he was going to end up like his lazybones brother! Springing to his feet, Papyrus flipped off the television, running upstairs to check Sans' room. The room was locked as always, and knocking got him nowhere, as Sans was either asleep as always or not even there. Still, none of this was an issue. He ran back across the hall to his own room, grabbing the extra key in his drawers that Sans let him keep. He headed back and made his way into his brother's room, finding that Sans was not in there. Of course, Papyrus wasn't even all that surprised about that.
So Sans had to be at Grillby's, right? Or perhaps at the Ruins with Toriel? Those were the only two places his brother ever went nowadays. It was unusual for him to spend all morning at his favorite restaurant, missing an entire shift, but stranger things have happened. Either way, Papyrus was not going to just sit and complain to himself about Snowdin's new commander when he could be out doing something better with his brother. Maybe if he was lucky, he'd catch Sans at Toriel's and they could spend the rest of the day tending to the flowers in the Ruins.
His mind set, Papyrus fixed his scarf and threw his boots back on. Why he had taken them off in the first place was beyond him, since he should have figured that he'd end up leaving the house to go find his brother. Making sure to turn off the downstairs lights and lock the front door, Papyrus headed out into the bustling streets of Snowdin. It was snowing lightly out, though when he looked further out, there appeared to be a much heavier snowfall heading their way. Perhaps this would be the first snowstorm of the year, who knew? Either way, he had a brother to find, so off he went.
His first destination would be the obvious Grillby's, seeing as Sans was almost always there in the first place. Even if he wasn't there, he'd at least have the regular patrons there to confirm that yes, Sans was hanging out with Toriel that day.
He waved hi to a few residents of Snowdin as he walked his way down the road, though a majority of the monsters simply ignored him. They had busy lives they needed to attend to, he was sure of that, and they had no time to be waving back to any friendly skeletons they happened to pass by on their way. Perhaps he could take a note from them in order to finish his own tasks faster, but it felt wrong walking past anyone and not giving them at least a quick wave. He wasn't even in that big of a hurry to find Sans anyways, seeing as he had all day and nothing better to do.
Seeing the giant grease-hole coming up, Papyrus couldn't decide if he wanted to smile or frown. For one, he'd be one step closer to finding Sans and figuring out why he was deciding to be lazier than usual that day, but on the other hand, it was the ever despised Grillby's. He could say that he liked a good portion of Grillby's regulars, and he'd for sure get to talk to some of them by being there, so there was another reason to smile he supposed. Slapping the usual grin on his face, he jogged the rest of the distance to the restaurant and strolled right on through the entranceway.
Some heads turned as he came through the door, though the patrons lost interest in him fairly quickly, the only monster greeting him being Lesser Dog. He gave a wave at the smallest of the dog guards as it turned back to its never-ending game of poker. With that accomplished, he gave a good look around the rest of the bar, finding a surprising lack of Sans hanging around there. Huh, he was sure that his brother would have been here. That only meant that Sans was at the much more preferred Ruins with Toriel, but it wouldn't hurt to ask around, as he had originally planned. He began by walking down to the back where Grillby was with a couple of regulars.
"So what are you doing here?" sneered the sleazy bird monster that always accompanied Grillby at the bar top, "translating" whatever the flame monster had to say.
"Oh, well, I'm looking for Sans!" he answered, fully ignoring the bird's tone of voice. "Have you seen him around here recently?"
To his ever growing surprise, the bird scoffed, giving him an incredulous look. "You're kidding me, right?"
Wait, so was that a good reaction? "So, Sans was here?"
"No, he hasn't been here all day!" the bird gave him a dirty look. "Everyone's been waiting for him to show up, and instead we get you. It's quite the," it paused, apparently looking for the right word, "surprise, I guess."
"Oh," Papyrus deflated. Sans hadn't shown up at Grillby's even once today? Why? When he looked towards Grillby for confirmation of this, the flame monster merely nodded in agreement. So it was true then; Sans had miraculously not shown up there even once that day.
Becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation, he glanced back over to Lesser Dog, wondering if perhaps it had caught sight of his wayward brother during its shift earlier that day. Their shifts had overlapped that morning, so it was more than possible that the dog could have seen his brother. Then again, perhaps not, considering Sans' tendency to just teleport everywhere he went. It really did cause Papyrus more than his fair share of issues when he needed to find the guy.
He gave the bird monster a wave goodbye, though it had already gone back to the drink Grillby had handed to it. Walking by Lesser Dog, he contemplated questioning it about Sans, but considering that he wouldn't understand a word it said to him, he continued on.
Leaving the bar, he sighed in relief. He didn't enjoy being there more than he had to be. Yes, it was incredibly greasy, and he felt filthy just stepping into the place, but that wasn't the only issue he had. He always had the impression that he didn't particularly fit in there. Last time Sans had dragged him to Grillby's, the stocky skeleton had gotten a round of greetings, everyone glad to see the return of their favorite regular. It did not pass Papyrus' notice that not a single monster in that establishment aside from Lesser Dog had greeted him just a few moments ago. It could just be attributed to the fact that Papyrus was not a regular like Sans was, but he knew that the patrons of Grillby's at least knew of him. He went there to drag his brother away more times than he could count, Grillby thanking him for not letting Sans pass out at the bar top as had been known to happen on numerous occasions.
Well, he wasn't going to let that get him down. There was no need to associate with any of those monsters anyways. He had plenty of friends and acquaintances that he could hang out and talk with any time he wanted to, like Toriel! It was obvious that Sans had decided to spend his entire day hanging out with the former queen, and he doubted they would mind if his younger brother decided to come join them. Yes, it was odd that Sans would neglect to inform him of any of this, or just outright avoid making it to his shift for sentry duty, but perhaps his laziness was just reaching an all-time low.
He frowned, stopping in his tracks halfway across the bridge leading out of Snowdin. At this rate, Rhyncho really was going to fire his brother. There was no way Papyrus could allow that to happen, remembering just how bad Sans' laziness had gotten before he convinced him to get the sentry job in the first place. The thought of his brother getting that bad once again sent shivers down his spine. Sans needed to be happy, and he definitely wasn't happy when left to laze around in a depressed stupor. Once he reached the Ruins, he'd have to talk with his brother about keeping his job. Nagging him would get them nowhere; experience told him that, but perhaps Toriel could help with talking some sense into his brother.
With that in mind, he continued on. It was quite the walk from Snowdin to the Ruins, so it was best to keep moving. Honestly, while he believed Sans' teleporting to be the laziest ability he could possibly have, it would come in handy for situations where he was impatient like this. A long walk would likely do him some good though, considering how quickly he was finding himself falling into depressed stupors not unlike his brother's. As he told Sans time and time again, keeping himself busy was a good way to stop himself from thinking like that, so yes, a walk would do him good.
Plastering a grin back on his face, he leaped over one of the spike puzzles found just after Lesser Dog's sentry post. So far none of the puzzles appeared to be needing recalibrating, so no one had come through this area recently. Perhaps that was good, though? After everything that had happened, Papyrus didn't know if he wanted another human to come through the area. Rhyncho had informed him in a not-so-friendly manner that it was expected for the sentries to kill any human on sight and take their soul to the barrier in New Home. While initially he hadn't believed such a thing, he found from the Dogi couple and a few other residents of Snowdin that this was, in fact, what was expected from all monsters in the Underground now.
He didn't think he could kill a human. He didn't even know if he could bring himself to hurt a human let alone kill one. The one that had made friends with him and left recently had been so nice, and he knew that all of the other humans above ground had the potential to be just as nice. They all had the right to leave and go back to their homes, just as the last human did, didn't they? While he had the slight suspicion that things had always been this way, he didn't think that they had always been this bad. Maybe everyone was confused without King Asgore being around to lead them. This was another issue he supposed he wanted to talk with Sans and Toriel about. If anyone would know anything about this, it would certainly be them.
Snow was beginning to fall in thick patches as he neared Snowdin Forest, though it wouldn't be much of a bother to him with the trees to block most of it. If he had to head back home anytime soon he might have a problem, but he was sure Toriel would be fine with letting him and Sans stay over in the Ruins with her. Otherwise, with the snow falling as it was, most of the icy patches on the way back would be covered up, and Papyrus knew he had a bad history with slipping and falling over on them (much to Sans' amusement).
Considering he had nothing to worry about for today, he moved on his way through the forest, ignoring the patches of snow that fell through regardless of the trees above. Many thoughts went through his head as he neared the door leading to the Ruins. Would Toriel bake another one of those pies that Sans loved so much? Would she continue helping him learn to cook? Would he get to see Flowey?
His grin ever widening, he found himself becoming increasingly excited to visit the former queen. Since Rhyncho had begun handing out longer shifts to each of the sentries in Snowdin, neither Papyrus nor Sans had been able to find time to visit Toriel. Though, if he was being honest with himself, Sans probably found time during one of his many "breaks". So it was more likely that only Papyrus hadn't had the time to visit her. That thought only caused his grin to grow even further. It would be fun seeing her again.
The door came into sight within no time, snow already piling up against the base of it. He reached down to grab his phone so he could check to see if he had made good time, but it then occurred to him that he had left it back home on the kitchen counter. Of all things not to grab on the way out, he had to forget his phone. Of course, it wasn't like anyone was going to call or text him anytime soon. No one had bothered with contacting him since the human had left a little over a year ago. Sans always just appeared when he needed to speak with him, even if Papyrus texted him in the first place. Who else would bother contacting him?
Snapping himself out of that train of thought—for what, the third, fourth time that day?—he reminded himself that he knew plenty of monsters who wanted to talk with him; monsters who never had any need nor want to use their phones to do so, obviously. Before he could fall back into that ever dreaded line of misery, he rapped a few times on the door before him. Either Toriel or Sans would answer in no time, and then they could all have a good time hanging out with each other.
It took a few moments longer than Papyrus had expected, but before he knew it someone was calling from the other side.
"Hello?" questioned the feminine voice, muffled from the stone doorway that remained firmly shut. Strange; why didn't she just open the door like usual?
"Hi Toriel!" he responded. "It's me!"
Her voice became clearer as the door opened ever so slightly.
"Oh, hello Papyrus, dear," Toriel greeted, peeking out from the crack in the doorway she made. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that her voice sounded almost timid, but Toriel was never like that around him, was she?
"Is Sans here? I've been looking everywhere for him!" Papyrus continued, deciding to ignore her tone of voice, just as he had done not too long ago with the bird monster from Grillby's.
"Sans? No, I haven't seen him since the last time you two came to visit.
Papyrus felt his grin falter. Sans wasn't here either?
"Oh," was his only response, as lame as it sounded. "Are…are you sure?"
The former queen gave a hurried glance behind her, checking on something Papyrus could not see from beyond her place in the Ruins. As her attention returned to him, her face took on a saddened look.
"No, I'm sorry. Listen, I should probably go. Have you tried checking Grillby's? You know how much he loves going there."
He sighed, his grin gone once more. "That was the first place I checked. I—"
"I'm sorry Papyrus, but I've got some work I need to do. I hope you find Sans."
Did Toriel just interrupt him? His eye sockets widened in shock. Now that he thought about it, her tone was getting increasingly rushed, as if she was eager to get back to whatever it was she had been doing earlier.
"Toriel, wait. Can I come in? Maybe I can help!" he tried to stop her as the door began to close once more.
"No, dear. I'm sorry. I have to go. It was nice seeing you! I hope we can talk longer next time!" she spouted out, shutting and presumably locking the door behind her.
Papyrus felt his jaw hang open. That was…bizarre. Not once had he ever seen Toriel act in such a way. Every time he and Sans had come to visit, the former queen would welcome them both with open arms. Outright rejecting them? Certainly not. Realizing that he was still staring at the door, he slowly turned around, facing the forest pathway he and his brother had made to help with traversing between Snowdin and the Ruins. What was going on that day?
After some time, he found himself walking back out of the forest. He didn't remember when he even began walking, but he found himself nearing Doggo's sentry post on the edge of the woods nevertheless. The dog in question was sitting behind his post, readying a new dog treat. As Papyrus walked by, stuck in the equivalent of a dazed stupor, the dog gave him a glance, but turned back to his treat after seeing who had been walking by.
After fully exiting the forest, he put a gloved hand to his skull. He supposed he could worry about Toriel later. If she was busy, then that was her business. Papyrus could relate to her situation if he was understanding it properly, and knew what it was like to have so much work to do in so little time. Right now, he was more worried about his brother. Just where was Sans? This was too unusual a situation for him, considering Sans could only ever be found in his room, at Grillby's, or at Toriel's. Where could he possibly be if not at those three places? His lab in the basement, perhaps?
The thought held promise, considering there was nowhere else he could think of, but since when had his brother actually gone down there in recent times? Sighing, he resigned himself to heading all the way back home to check the basement. If he was lucky, his brother would either have returned home by then or responded to his phone. Not that he ever responded to his texts, but at that point Papyrus was hanging on by a thread idea-wise.
So lost in thought, he paid no attention to where he was stepping, feeling his foot slip out from beneath him as he took his next step. Training with Undyne had at least prepared him for something like this, as his reflexes allowed him to catch himself before fully slamming onto the ice below. Sitting in the ever growing amount of snow on the ground, he could at least take peace in that fact that no one was around to see him slip like that. Leaning back on his forearms, he gazed up at the snowfall, unrelenting as it continued its way down in large clumps. It was going to be a long way back if he couldn't keep his mind on not slipping every five seconds. It was difficult when he was so desperate to figure out where his brother was.
What did it matter anyways? The thought came to him as he attempted to climb his way back to his feet. It was at most four or five in the afternoon, and Sans was allowed to do whatever he wanted with his life. It's not like he needed his younger brother hunting him down just because, what? He was feeling lonely? That was ridiculous and he knew it. His routine had been disturbed and he wanted to fix it and make sure Sans actually went to work the next day, that was all.
With that settled, he walked the rest of the way home, minding the hidden ice patches beneath the new snow accumulating around him. It was rather uneventful, with most monsters likely having decided to remain in their homes rather than brave the oncoming snowstorm. He found himself back in town in no time, entering his house and running back up to Sans' room. He knew that his brother kept the basement key in his top dresser drawer. If his brother was in his lab, then the key would be gone.
Opening the drawer, Papyrus had to admit that he wasn't very surprised to see the key still in its place. Sans hadn't been anywhere else that day, so why should he be in his lab? He supposed he should check, just in case his brother had teleported his way into the basement, but even then he had very little hope of actually locating him at this point. Snatching the key out of the drawer, he headed back downstairs, stopping to check his phone as he passed the kitchen. Nope, no missed calls or texts. Not much of a shock either.
Heading outside and moving to the back of the house, he unlocked the basement door and made his way down. Upon first opening the door, he found the room to be in a dark, murky state, giving off the obvious impression that his brother probably wasn't there. Still, he turned the lights on and took a look around. The weird machine was still sitting in the corner, covered by the worn blanket that looked like it hadn't been removed in years. He never questioned it before, and he wasn't going to begin questioning it now.
While Papyrus very rarely came down to his brother's lab, he at least had a general idea of what was located down there and what everything looked like, even if he had next to no idea of what any of it did. The first thing he noticed was that Sans' files were all gone; those weird ones with all the symbols that he couldn't understand on them. The device usually connected to the computer monitor was also missing. Of course, none of this actually meant a thing to him, as Sans could have simply removed all of those things ages ago. Papyrus couldn't actually remember the last time he had come down to this place, so who knew what Sans had done down there since then.
Ten minutes later found Papyrus sitting back on the couch finishing a rerun of the same game show as earlier. The lab had been locked back up, the key returned to Sans' room, and the room itself relocked. His little adventure that day had gained him nothing. He still knew not of Sans' whereabouts, and all he actually knew about anything was that Toriel was acting strangely. That left him with more questions than answers, much to his chagrin.
Well, Sans would show up eventually; he always did. Papyrus would make dinner, Sans would tell him that he already ate at Grillby's, Papyrus would scold him for missing work, and then everything would go back to normal. He kept telling himself this, yet he still felt as though he couldn't find a reason to grin once more. Sans never deviated from the norm after all, which made Papyrus uneasy. He brought his attention back to the television as another rerun began to play. After everything, he knew that he could trust Sans. There was nothing to worry about. His brother was just being extra odd today. All he had to do was keep himself busy for a few more hours and his brother would be back. No big deal.
A/N: A very slow chapter, here. I realize that I have problems pacing things, which is actually one of the issues I try to address in the other Undertale fic I wrote that I'll be posting soon. I tried to hasten the pace in that one so it doesn't feel like it's crawling along, but it feels kinda fast anyways. I'll see what happens once I actually post it. It's very experimental for me, and hopefully people like it.