Chapter 2

Everything was silent; she was cold and wet. Leah opened her eyes to gaze upon a vast ocean of light blues, with graceful clouds playing peek-a-boo with the rays of the sun. Streams of light glided to the body of water evolving her floating body just as it gently swayed over her frame, using her as a sort of coastline.

"Peace," she said softly closing her eyes for a moment, then reopened them. Shades of navy and dark purple replaced the light blues, and the clouds no longer existed, but instead stars danced and glimmered in their place. However, the moon didn't come out to greet her lonely self in the water. A sudden wave of exhaustion swept over Leah, and she yawned. Water drops formed on the corners of her eyes and flowed down the sides of her head. In the back of her mind, she felt as if she had been like this before. She yawned again. Leah's eyes slowly began to close. A quick nap never hurt anyone, right?

"Stay with me, kid," echoed through her ears, "You better not give up on me." Her eyes popped open. The pool of water around her was suddenly warm. She was warm. No, she was hot. The water began to shift and move. Small bubbles erupted up and bursted open. Leah shifted and flung her face over into the water. Beneath her, a bright red almost fire like substance surged it way through the waters up towards her. She jerked her face out of the water and frightfully tread herself around looking for somewhere safe to go. But there was nothing.

The bubbles grew larger and larger, and Leah was now sweating from how hot it was. The water had even begun to steam. She looked back down. The eruption was right at her feet.

Leah's body flung straight up into a perfect 90 degree angle. Her hand was clasped against her chest as she took in short, sharp breaths of air. Sweat dripped off her eyebrows and slathered her skin in a sweltering cocoon. Tears found their way out of her tear ducts and tenderly trickled down her face and onto her clothes.

She had almost died, or, at least, she thought she had almost died. She wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. But it felt real to her, and that was all that matter, because she was scared. She closed her eyes. Leah took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. She reopened her eyes and looked at her clammy hands. They were still shaking. She needed to relax.

'It was just a dream,' she repeated in her head many times, but her hands kept shaking. She frowned. 'It was all a dream. Stop shaking!'

Her hands stopped shaking. She sighed.

"Grams must have redecorated," she mumbled looking around. "This month must be, College Chic." The designer magazines she usually read, had ideas like that. A semi circle of heaters surrounded her.

The scent of pasta sauce wafted through the air. She placed a hand on her stomach, hoping she could silence the growls it began to make. Leah began to stand up when she suddenly became very dizzy and tumbled back over onto the couch with a loud thud. She pressed her hand against her head. The room was spinning, and her head had begun to hurt.

"Nyehhehheh," she heard a loud voice laugh from behind her, "The human has finally awoken! And just in time for dinner!" Leah swiftly twisted her body around to see a tall skeleton standing right behind her. The skeleton was almost face to face with her. He bore a huge grin across his face. "Nice, to meet you, strange human. My name is-" Leah screamed and thrust her fist into the side of the skeleton's head. He staggered backwards and fell to his butt. She fumbled around and tried to runaway, but she was tangled up in something soft. She floundered around trying to get her bearings, but it was no use. She was trapped; she fell on her face.

"Human," the skeleton called again, "Are you ok? Please, do not fear, for I, The Great Papyrus, will-" He had gotten up and was trying to help her free from the mess she had created with the blanket. He gently placed a hand on her and tried to pulled the blanket from her. Leah kicked her legs around inside her blanket wrap, until she eventually got one free.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed rearing the newly freed leg to kick the skeleton.

"That's enough," a stern voice called out of nowhere. Everything froze for a minute. Or at least, that was what she thought until she saw the skeleton stand up with ease. She tried to move her leg, but they wouldn't move. She tried her arms to receive the same results. She was fixed in a single position.

"Sans," the skeleton said, "The human girl is awake!"

"I can see that, Pap," She heard someone chuckling.

Behind her, she could hear footsteps softly walking down a flight of creaky stairs. The owner of the feet casually shuffled up behind her. Her eyeballs stretched as far as they could, only to be met with the grinning face of the skeleton she had called trash. He winked at her.

"Sup," he said. "Remember me? Leah, suddenly, no longer felt scared or frightened. She was just confused.

Papyrus, the tall skeleton Leah had punched, placed a plate of spaghetti in front of her.

"Oh, you're just going to love this, human," he said excited. "I made this batch extra special!" She looked down at the food. It looked normal enough, aside from the fact that it was covered in sparkles. "It's my own special recipe!"

"It's almost impastable to resist eating," Sans said winking at her. Leah's eye twitched.

"Agh! Sans!" Papyrus screamed. "That was horrible!"

"Awe, come on, Pap. You're getting angry fusilli reasons." The taller skeleton proceeded to scream again then look over at Leah. He was trying to hide his irritation behind an overly wide grin.

"Human, please, try the spaghetti-"

"You can call me Leah," she interrupted. They both stared at each other for a moment. Papyrus looked worried. She took a deep breath in. "I mean, I haven't properly introduced myself to you,"she stated. She didn't want to come off as too rude. "My friend's call me Leela sometimes, also." Papyrus got very quiet and his face turned to stone. He stretched himself across the table as if he was ready to pounce.

"Nice to meet you," he said, "Leela."

Papyrus burst from his seat and lunged across the table. Spaghetti noodles and pasta sauce were tossed in all kinds of directions. Leah struggled to get up and out of his way quickly, but was caught in his arms before she even had time to stand up. She yelped as his arms wrapped around her pulling her into a tight hug.

"Nyehhehheh!" he shouted basically in her ear. "I, The Great Papyrus, have seen through your tricky puzzle, human! I have called you Leela, now we are friends!" Leah blinked. What was wrong this guy? "Did you see that, Sans, I made just made a new friend!"

"I saw that, Pap," Sans cooed. The taller skeleton continued to gush over his new friend rambling on about himself. Leah looked over at Sans. He stared back with a huge cheeky smile spread across his face.

The house was dark now aside from the dim light coming from Leah's cell phone. Three missed calls from her grandmother and one from her grandfather. She sighed as she finished listening to the last voice message. The poor old woman is probably still awake, she thought.

"I should call her," she whispered to herself. Leah rolled herself up, from a lay position to her hands and knees, and looked up the flight of stairs behind the couch. Not a single glimpse of light. Someone's snores also echoed down the stairs. Still, Leah got off the couch ever so quietly and tip toed to the shoes by the front door and put her feet in them. They were still slightly wet from trudging in the snow the other day. She shivered a little and grabbed and jacket. She unlocked the door and softly closed the door behind her.

A light breeze ripped through her hair and tossed some snow around. Bit by bit, the melted snow that resided in her shoes began to turn into ice. Leah shivered promptly sliding her arms in the the jacket and zipping it up. Immediately she felt warmer; even her toes felt warmer. But it felt bulky. She peered down at San's jacket. She looked back at the house then shook her head.

"He won't mind," she murmured and dialed her grandmother's number. She pressed her back against the side of the house and slid down pulling her knees in to her.

"Hello! Leah! Is that you?" her grandmother practically shouted on the other line. Leah jerked the phone away from her ear for a moment then slowly brought it back.

"Yes, hello, Grams, it's me, your granddaughter," she said softly. A loud exasperated sigh of relief came through. Her grandma then began to yell at her grandfather to wake up and at least say hello to Leah. She could hear him grumbling. She giggled.

"Listen, Grams, I'm sorry I am just now returning your calls. I kind of…" Leah thought for a moment. "I kind of slept all day. The bus ride here must have more exhausting than I thought it was."

"That's no excuse to give your grandmother a heart attack!" Leah was scolded at. "I damn near had your grandfather phone over to the police captain of the area and have him send out a search team." Leah chuckled then yawned. Her grandmother echoed her.

"You don't have to do that, Grams," she said. There was serenity in her voice. "I'm a tough girl. I can take care of myself." There was some honestly in that statement. "Anyway, I'll let you go. You must be drained. Tell Grandpa Cadman I love him, and I love you, too." Her grandmother started to nag her husband and more grumbling ensued.

"Oh wait! Before you go, have you by chance talked to Dixon at all? He came by the house looking for you. He seemed a little worried and flustered. Is everything alright between you two?" The blood from Leah's face drained. She took a deep breath.

"No, I haven't talked to Dixon yet. I'll call him tomorrow though. Anyway, I'm letting you go now. Night and love you both." Leah hung up the phone before she could get pulled into another conversation. She loved her grandmother, but she had a habit of bring up all the problems Leah was trying to avoid in her life at the moment. It wasn't her fault thought. Bless the old woman's heart, she was just worried about her only living grandchild.

Leah sighed and dropped her phone in the snow. She didn't want to talk to Dixon, but she knew eventually she would have too. She buried her face in her knees.

"Who's Dixon?" The voice came out of nowhere. Leah's head shot up to see Sans standing over her. He was grinning.

"Is my jacket comfy?" he teased. Leah glared at him. The human stood up and ripped his coat off and threw it at him.

"Take it," she said, instantly regretting it. Winter blew its chilly breath against her bare skin causing goose pimples to rise up everywhere; her feet were also cold again. He laughed and leaned up against the house next to her. The two stood in an awkward silence. She glanced over at the skeleton. He wasn't wearing his jacket, but simple holding it. Why had he teased her about wanting it back? It hit her. He never asked for it back, she had just given it to him though.

Leah silently cursed herself for being so hotheaded while Sans pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one and took a puff. He looked over at her, noticing that she was staring at him, and grinned, slowly releasing the chemicals.

"Don't tell, Papyrus," he said winking. She frowned.

"If you don't want Papyrus to know, then why do it?" she said looking away from him. He shrugged.

"It's one of the most right things, you humans have created," he said. "We didn't have cigarettes like these in the Underground." She scoffed and shook her head.

"Such a nasty habit," she scolded softly. Sans chuckled and took another puff.

"Hey, listen, I didn't mean to act the way I did at the restaurant." Leah glanced back over at him a little confused, then it all came back.

"That explains why I keep smelling french fries," she said. Sans laughed and shook his head.

"I'm serious though, don't blame me, it was the drinks fault." Leah shrugged and stayed quiet.

"So you forgive me?" he asked.

"I mean, I guess," she said, "But to say blame the drinks, is such a piss poor excuse. You should know your limit. That's exactly why I don't drink." Sans practically choked on as he burst out laughing.

"So this whole poor and starving artist thing you've got going on, is all for show," he said. She blinked.

"What's that supposed to mean," Leah said, almost in a threatening way.

"Isn't that a human stereotype for artists? To be drinkers?"

"Is it a stereotype for all short skeletons to be jerks?" she retorted. He laughed. Leah blushed. He was teasing her again. "You don't believe me do you? Where's my guitar? I'll blow your stupid stereotype away." Leah stopped herself. She stared at him. He looked at her grinning. The white specks that made up his eyes were gone.

"Sans," Leah said soft and low, "Where are my belongings?"