She collected a relieved Frisk and explained the situation – there was a second skeleton who was equally as stupid as, but far different from, the first, who demanded that they pass through his series of 'deadly' traps before facing him in a life or death battle. She debated taking the kids with her, through the likely dangerous traps and towards the murderous skeleton, or leaving them here in the woods, alone and defenceless without the protection of her scowl and gun. After relentless begging from Frisk, and despite countless pleas from Flowey, she decided on the former.

They set off through the snow filled woods, Anna dragging her feet as she carefully watched Frisk happily skip and take in the sights. Flowey smiled warily as he tried his best to go unnoticed while still encouraging Frisk's sunny disposition. They continued on in that fashion until they came across a small, shed-like sentry station.

They had passed others before, clearly the work of the two Skeletons. One was right after the bridge, and was a mess with empty ketchup, mustard and relish bottles along with various empty food wrappers. The second was a little further down the path. It was not well constructed, and even seemed made of cardboard. Other than that it was clean and well kept. The mess alone should be evidence enough the former belonged to nonchalant, uncaring Sans. The note across the later claiming to be the work of "THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS" and reminding all those who pass to "SHAKE IN TERROR AT IT'S EMINENCE" was a bigger clue though.

This third one was smaller than the last two. The wood was dark and scratched around the edges. The snow around the shack was darkened, either by ash or perhaps… dust. Anna furiously hoped it was ash, but was more inclined to believe it was dust.

Anna gulped, hoping to sneak by. She walked carefully, eyes on the post at all times. No risks where to be taken here.

Frisk apparently did not agree, as she continued to happily skip by Anna to lead once more. Anna's breath hitched. She reached out to stop her, but was stopped by a low growl.

In the blink of an eye, a large shadow leapt out from the shack and stood before them on all fours, growling furiously. It was a large dog. Its black and white fur was covered in parts by a spiked red collar, a black vest and camo shorts. Its coat seemed rugged and matted, and like most of the monsters so far, it was marked by scars and scratches from previous battles. It bared its teeth, but his claws were not ready for scratching. Instead, each of his front paws held a long, sharp dagger.

Anna moved again to reach out for Frisk, but the moment her hand shifted, the dog snapped, causing the girls to jump back. They stood, not daring to move again, chests heaving and hearts pounding. The dog sniffed before growling again.

"Where'd ya go?!" It barked.

Anna raised a brow. "You… you can't see us?" She asked, still trying to slowly edge towards Frisk.

It huffed. "I uh… can't see ya if ya don't move." It admitted quietly. "So just wave or somethin, will ya!"

Anna smirked. If she moved slowly enough, she could probably get by unnoticed. The hard part would be getting bouncy, happy-go-lucky Frisk out of there.

She took a tentative step, trying her best to silently signal Frisk to follow her. Frisk pondered. She had a decision to make.

Frisk had always been one to make friends wherever she went. If it were all up to her, she would do the same here. The monsters where not what they seemed in her experience. They were lost souls, simply looking for a way to make it in this tougher, harsher world. She deeply believed that there was good in every one of them that was just waiting to come out. She wanted to help them do so, but there was a problem.

Anna.

The biggest issue was that each and every monster was a risk. There was a chance with each one that they would reject her acts of kindness and attack her. Anna would never allow Frisk to try and talk them through their anger.

Whenever anyone hurt her in the past, Anna would lose her temper, often going far too far for some sort of payback. She once broke a teenage boy's arm for pushing Frisk into the mud.

She could either move on with her sister, leaving this dog miserable and stuck in his ways, or she could attempt to calm him, show him the good in her to encourage the good in him. She would be lying if she said the latter didn't sound good. Maybe she could even coax a smile from him.

The thought of the dog smiling and being happy filled her with determination.

Anna froze. She knew that look. The look on Frisk's face meant she was about to do something stupid. Silently, her eyes darted in an attempt to shake her head without moving. Frisk smiled and took a step towards the dog.

This movement earned a violent bark as the dog snapped its jaws in Frisk's direction. As the dog then lifted one of his daggers into the air Anna leapt forwards, pushing Frisk out of the way and to the floor.

"Fine." The dog growled, "You go first then."

The dog then began furiously swiping in Anna's direction as she fumbled for her gun while trying to dodge. Flowey shrieked as the second dagger swung left and across Anna's cheek. She hissed as the blade made contact, forcing her to pull her face away and leaving a deep cut.

The dog looked smug until Anna lifted her gun. "What did you pick up?!" it yelped, "Was that a weapon?! What kind of weapon?! What is that?!" Anna smirked, pulling down on the trigger.

Click.

'Click'? Not 'bang' or 'boom', but 'click'? Anna frowned as she quickly brought the gun to her face. Jammed. "Shit." She huffed as she began trying to force the gun to co-operate. However, slamming the gun against her palm was simply giving the dog a very clear target. He swung again, pushing Anna to pause briefly and jump back.

The constant slashing, dodging and slamming was becoming too much for Flowey. "F-Frisk!" He yelped quietly. "Do something!"

Frisk nodded. She thought hard. What would she normally do with a grumpy dog?

"Wouldn't you pet it?" She heard.

She glanced around. That voice certainly didn't belong to Anna, Flowey or the Dog. It was familiar, but she could not place it. She shook her head as she decided to linger on that later and follow the voice's advice.

Using Anna's frantic and now panicked movements as a distraction, Frisk carefully stepped up behind the dog. Once close enough she reached out her hand and patted the dog gently on the head.

His daggers dropped to the floor as he froze. Tail wagging ever so slightly. "W-What just pet me!?" He whispered. "I… I didn't see a-anything move b-but you! W-what… Who… Where…" His ears dropped as one of his paws flew into his pocket. "I-I'm gonna need some dog treats for this…" Shakily, he removed a treat from his pocket and placed it in his mouth. He then revealed a lighter and burned the end, proceeding to… smoke it? So it was ash around his station. That was a slight relief.

Anna wiped at her cheek while Frisk gently caressed the dog's head. "It's ok Mr. Dog." She spoke softly, "It was only me. The little human. I just thought you could do with a pet."

The dog took a deep breath of his treat. "Uh… Thank you, little human. It's uh… been a while…" He's lips curled slightly as he began to relax into her hand.

"My name's Frisk." She smiled as she watched his tail wag contently. "This is Flowey, and that's my sister, Anna. What's your name?"

"Doggo." He answered happily, eyes now closed and foot gently patting the ground

Flowey smiled. "Hey. He's just a lonely dog after all!"

Anna sighed, blood smeared across her face. "Yeah. He's real frickin' cute." She answered with a scowl.

Doggo's ears suddenly perked as his eyes shot open. He eyed Anna's face carefully before they dropped again with a sigh. "Ah. You're uh… you're hurt, huh?"

Anna's scowl deepened. "I am? Gee. How'd that happen?" She growled.

Doggo rubbed the back of his neck while he sheepishly spoke. "Yeah. Listen, I'm real sorry about that. I was jus' doin' my job, y'know? We're supposed to watch for humans. They tell us you guys are our ticket outta here. But, I kina like this little one. So I guess I'll let you guys pass." He gently brushed Frisk off, rubbing her head affectionately before stepping towards Anna, fishing through his pockets once again. "Here." He said, pulling a small piece of candy out of his pocket. "Eat this. It'll help."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. How exactly?"

"It's monster candy." He explained. "I dunno how your fancy surface food works, but ours is made with magic. Most food down here can heal minor injuries." He placed the sweet tentatively in her hand. "This is only a small one, so it won't fix you up completely, but it'll stop any bleeding."

Anna looked over the candy before shrugging and popping it in her mouth. It tasted like strawberries. Almost like a strawberry bonbon actually, but after one lick small zaps and pops where rolling across her tongue, like it had a pop-candy centre. It was pleasant to the taste, and sure enough stopped the bleeding quickly, leaving an impressive scar across her left cheek.

She ran her fingers curiously over the now closed wound. It was smooth and faint, like it had been there for months. Anna sighed. She could feel the disappointment of her new scar oozing out of every pore. However, when her eyes met with the worried eyes of Frisk and Flowey, she forced the best smile she could. "Well. At least I blend in a little more, huh?"

Frisk accepted her smile and returned one of her own. Flowey wasn't so sure, but he chose not to start an argument.

They waved goodbye to Doggo and continued onwards. They met several monsters on their way. First there was some sort of bird who grumpily told a snow pun – he earned a laugh from Anna, but it was Frisk's cheering to his humming (and eventually 'rocking out') that convinced him to back out. Then there was another dog – just as before, petting him seemed to calm him, if not break every bone in his neck as his head shot several feet into the air from excitement.

There was some sort of ice creature who was more concerned with possibly damaging his hat than actually capturing or killing anyone. After Anna took his hat – if only to shut him up for five minutes – and Frisk told him he looked better without it, he stepped aside too.

They also bumped into their new buddy, Sans. "heya kiddo. Plant. Buttercu-heh." He smirked as they approached, lazily watching from one eye. "that's a good look, princess."

Anna raised a brow. "What're you talking about bone-bag?" she snarled.

His smile, again, increased as he tapped just left of his teeth. "you uh… got somethin' on your face there, doll."

Anna gritted her teeth. "It's Anna. How many names could you possible go through before you get that right?"

Sans shrugged. "what can i say? guess it just so happens i got a ton of 'em saved up."

"A skeleton?" she grinned.

Anna was a fan of jokes. She had always used the worst ones she could find in books or online to make Frisk smile whenever she could. It had become force of habit to slip them in whenever possible. As such, her pun had escaped her lips before she could remember she would rather save them for a better audience than this jerk.

When she did release, her grin quickly dropped into a frown as she turned away. Frisk, on the other hand, laughed heartily.

"Anna…" Flowey sighed through a smile. "That was terrible."

Sans seemed to snort before he grew an intense scowl. "yeah, yeah, buttercup. must take a lot of brains to come up with a tricky joke like that one." he huffed.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Whatever. It was just a joke. I figured you of all people had some sort of sense of humour. But I guess it only applies to bad nick-names and hand buzzers, huh?"

Sans tutted against his teeth. "ya know, seems like every time i decide to help ya out, you make me wanna change my mind before i open my mouth."

Anna was about to stomp off, as per usual, but Frisk stopped her. "Anna. He's been nothing but helpful." She scolded. "Do you have any more advice, Mr Sans?" She asked politely as Anna remained mature and responsible – by folding her arms and refusing to look Sans in the eye.

Sans's smile returned as he addressed Frisk. "yeah, kiddo. i do, actually." Hands deep in his pockets, Sans looked towards the horizon. "my brother might not be as dangerous as he tries to be, but that don't mean he's harmless. his traps can be lethal, so take 'em seriously." He turned to face Frisk again. "if ya manage to get past those, you'll be facin' him in battle. his magic is red, which means his attacks are easy to dodge if ya stay still. think of it this way. human blood is red, right? well, if ya don't wanna be seeing blood everywhere, don't move on red. movin' on red equals seein' red, got it?" He asked, not waiting for a reply before walking back in the direction of his post.

Flowey hummed. "Hmm. Not that I don't appreciate it, but I wonder why he's giving us any advice at all." He pondered aloud.

Anna shrugged. "Just don't think about him, huh? Let's just move on."