Chapter 7 - Many Shocks

The forest was much darker now that Frisk was alone, he felt as if he were hunted, that at any second someone something, Papyrus or any other manor of monster could jump at the closest second and attack him. Almost every step was like walking into a close trap, but he had to move forward or end up lost or dead.

Maybe if I just find Sans again, he could help me... or just someone else... anyone else.

Then all of a sudden, a voice from behind him spoke, softly and almost transparent in the way it sounded, like it was going in and out of hearing, "Hellooooo theeeere."

Frisk screamed, "BY THE GOD'S!" and leaped forward. He span swiftly and drew his dagger, ready to face whatever monster had tried to jump him.

In front of him floated what he could only describe as a ghost, although it was only a half oval body with the bottom of its body in the shape of small triangles. It was translucent in its look but it's eyes were not, they were wide and white, dead but seeing.

Those eyes had an odd guilt though, "ooooh, diiid I sccare you? I'm sorry."

"Wh... what?"

"I should probably go now... I'm sorry... I'm Napstablook by the way..."

Then the ghost despaired with a echoing dry of "Gooooodbyyye"

Frisk was supremely confused, for a second he could only mutter, " What in the seven hells just happened," to himself.

Little did he know that Napstablook had been following all the way through the ruins, and only then had he gotten the courage to talk to the human.

The only thing that came from the strange encounter was making frisk's paranoia soar. Whitch was a rather good thing as the slightest noise made him dash into the forest, and Papyrus was marching to where he heard the shouting.

On the third dash Frisk saw the skeleton. He came down from a dirt trail the lead off of the main road that frisk had been following, with a grin on his face he stood in the center of the road, not even a metre from where Frisk was hiding behind an oak and watching from the side.

"Human, where are you human. There's some puzzles here, you like puzzles don't you. Everyone like's puzzles."

Sans then stepped out from the side of the tree neighbouring Frisk's, of which he could only hold his breath and hope papyrus didn't see him.

"Ya know bro-" Sans started, but he was stopped by Papyrus making a strange yelping sound and facing Sans with rage in his eye sockets.

"Stop doing that brother. It's really weird and lazy. Stop being lazy!"

Sans winked, something that felt off with frisk, most things felt off with the scenario, but Sans seemed to be the center of all the... offness, he'd put it.

"Sorry bro, but not everyone likes puzzles-"

"Like who?"

"Undyne."

"Undyne doesn't count. Everyone likes puzzles."

"True, true... but the human isn't a dog either, I think he might not be tempted by the lure of puzzles."

Papyrus sat himself on the ground and thought, he tried to devise all the puzzles to lure the human out of hiding, but he couldn't think of any of his own design. So he decided to use someone else's. It took about two seconds to think through all of that.

He jumped to his feet with such gusto that his armour clattered and banged against his ribcage. And began moving to Sans.

Frisk took the opportunity of Papyrus being distracted and moving passed his tree to go back down the way he came.

"Sans! Could you try to lure them out with the puzzle you made?"

"Eh... why not, I'll give it a go."

And like that Sans was in front of frisk, the mage didn't notice the skeleton in time and bumped into him. It was like hitting a brick wall, and he fell flat onto his buttocks, looking up at the skeleton, into eyes that held only a small white dot as an indication of life.

Sans reached down and grabbed onto frisk's shoulder, then the world became a strange swirling of colours. All except Sans who's eyes were no longer the small dots, but bright, powerful blue fire.

His body felt as if he had been hollowed out on the inside and he couldn't breath. Tears streamed down his cheeks but he couldn't feel the water, only cold, such horrible, horrible cold.

The swirling colours left, and the world became black for a second.

"Here you go papyru-"

"OH MY GODS SANS... WHAT IS THAT?"

Frisk was staring up at papyrus, who was leaning down, looking right at Frisk's face. He was very much confused.

Papyrus was very much less threatening when you looked at him up close, he almost glowed with naivety and his thin frame made him anything but scary.

"That's the human Bro."

Papyrus's jaw dropped, "That's the human? Oh MY GODS SANS... THAT'S THE HUMAN." In one motion the taller skeleton reached under Frisk's arms and rose the mage to his feet. He made sure that he was a good way away from Frisk before he introduced himself. He didn't see the sway and dizziness in Frisk.

"I am Papyrus, the greatest chef and soon to be soldier of the royal guard. HUMAN, I shall take you to the capital where... I don't know will happen. Then-"

He was interrupted by Frisk falling down flat on his face into the snow, completely unconscious.

"OH MY GODS SANS IS HE OK?I"

Sans chuckled, "Yeah... he's fine, a bit green is all."

"He's ill?"

"Yeah... yeah he's ill."

Frisk woke up on a feather stuffed bed, in a room decorated with reds and deep browns. His vision was blurred and he felt like all the bile was congregating to his throat, stuffing the muscles and trying to hold in his breathing.

He didn't even notice Sans sitting at his side, "Hey, man, you passed out on me,"

Frisk felt far to ill to be shocked by the skeleton, "What happened?" he weakly muttered, rubbing his eyes to try and see well. It didn't really work.

"You passed out when I used my magic; you're supposed to be a mage aren't you?"

Groggily, frisk sat up, "I am, although... I wouldn't say I'm the best."

The strange smug smile stayed on his face, and Frisk realised that in his moments of silence, Sans wasn't just thinking what to say. There was something in his look that told Frisk that he was analyzing, thinking what Frisk was going to respond with.

"And what can you do, man? I know my bits and pieces, what can you add to the dull puzzle that is magic?"

"Father only taught me two spells... Chara taught me one."

The smile seemed even more smug, "and was that spell... lets say, offensive in its' use? A spell to command fire or lightning, let's say. I'm betting on fire."

Frisk looked at him dumbfounded, "uh... yes... how did you know? How did you know he taught me fire?"

Sans rested his arms in the pockets of his coat, his eye sockets closed in sadness, but his grin did not falter, "A little birdie tells me that north Snowdin was burned by a human. A human in green." He sighed, "and then the exits were caked in snow, we are... snowed in you might say."

"That's not Chara but... but I could probably melt the exits, I know my way around fire, I could go on... I could make sure that everyone could leave the city."

"It's not that we can't leave the city man... it's that that human is here with us. And no matter who we throw at him, he won't go down. Even the leader of the royal guard couldn't kill him, and she only left with minor wounds."

Frisk subconsciously leaned further, close, like a child engrossed in a fantastical story, although this one was much more real.

Sans continued, lost in his own words, "Lost her eye... nothing too happy. But the human has died down now in his assaults, this is the first one in... months-"

From outside the room a door opened and slammed shut, "SANS! IS THE HUMAN AWAKE?" Papyrus all but screamed.

The plumper skeleton gave only a small, fed up whisper but when his eyes opened, happiness danced in them for a brief moment. He opend the door and leaned out, "yeah bro, he's awake."

"GREAT!" Papyrus responded, "TELL HIM THAT I'M AT THE BLOCKADE, I CAN'T WAIT TO FIGHT HIM!" The door slammed again, and Papyrus had gone.

Sans slowly turned back to Frisk and said, "Papyrus will meet you at the blockade, he can't wait to fight you-"

"I heard," Frisk interrupted, "But I can't fight him!"

Sans chuckled, "Trust me man, Papyrus can't hurt you... although, don't hurt him with that magic of yours... or else."He placed a gloved hand on frisks shoulder, each bone felt cold and unforgiving, "And I can do a lot more than move from place to place."

Then, all in one instant the white dots of life came back to the black of his eye sockets, "So wander about town, take in the local flavour. Just remember, don't hurt my brother."

Then in the blink of an eye, he was gone from sight.

Frisk felt as if the world had jumped down his throat, he couldn't breath even the slightest for some time./ Was Sans a danger, or just protective? He wondered, if he wronged him, would Sans actually kill him, like how Flowey had tried, like how the whole underground seemed to try.

Tears of pure stress fell down his cheeks, but he did not sob, he wiped them away. He had to just get through here, find someone else, maybe Papyrus, if he wasn't so dangerous as he had once thought, and find a way out of this hell.