"I AM GOING, SANS, REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THE DOORWAY THIS INSTANCE!"

Sans stared down his brother, grin stretched in frustration. It was only ten minutes after Frisk had fallen asleep, during which Papyrus suited up for mysterious reasons he wouldn't share, not even with his brother. While Asgore, Toriel, and Asriel believed that he was going out to buy Frisk a cake or do something silly to cheer her up, Sans' observational skills screamed otherwise.

"goin' where?"

"WELL...I'M...GAH, WHY SHOULD I EVEN BOTHER TELLING YOU! SANS, IF YOU DO NOT MOVE, I WILL BE FORCED...TO...JUMP OUT THE WINDOW AND CONTINUE MY JOURNEY ANYWAY!"

Sans closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, smile slipping just slightly. When he reopened them, they were empty, deathly voids. Papyrus, flinching at his brother's cold gaze, stood strong despite his fear.

"you don't wanna do this, bro. think of how this would crush frisk if she knew you...y'know...look, you're not dumb. you're just wearing my patience thin right now."

"SANS, THIS IS JUSTICE! THIS IS PROTECTING THE INNOCENT, THE ABUSED! WHY DON'T YOU GET THIS?! Y-YOU'RE ALWAYS TOO BUSY...SLEEPING! OR MAKING AWFUL PUNS! OR-"

"Who are you to say I don't, Papyrus? I see a lot more than you could ever possibly know, so don't gimme that garbage."

There was a chilling hollowness to Sans' voice as stared right into his brother's SOUL, right eye flaring up in a flashing blue-and-yellow fire. Papyrus' own eyes flared up as well as he took a dangerous step forward, lighting the room with a blazing orange as flames licked his scarf. It seemed as though confrontation was inevitable.

"...SANS, YOU WERE CORRECT IN YOUR EARLIER ASSUMPTION THAT I'M NO FOOL. I'M SORRY FOR SAYING THAT YOU ARE LAZY AND YOUR PUNS ARE STUPID, BUT I STILL WON'T BACK DOWN. GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T DO THIS...

SHE HURT MY FAMILY, BROTHER."

Sans felt frustration and rage drain from his body after hearing Papyrus' pained tone. He was his brother, after all, and he understood Papyrus more than anyone else did. The fire in his eye fizzling out with a hiss, Sans took a step back and threw his hands up, keeping his brother back as he explained.

"paps, you know as well as i do that killing her won't do a damn thing. if anything, frisk'll get crushed if she finds out."

"...KILL HER?"

Blinking, Papyrus coughed into his mitt and stared at his brother, who was currently staring at him with a dumbstruck expression of his own, silently connecting the dots.

"SANS, HAVE YOU GONE LOCO FOR COCOA?! EVEN THOUGH FRISK'S MOTHER IS AN EVIL LADY, I DON'T WANT TO KILL ANYONE! I WAS GOING TO GIVE HER A VERY STERN, EMOTIONAL TALKING TO! I EVEN PACKED TISSUES IN CASE I ACCIDENTALLY MAKE HER CRY. OR I START CRYING. BUT FOR YOUR INFORMATION, THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOES NOT CRY."

only papyrus can say the stupidest of things in the most serious matters, Sans mused as he slowly collected himself. Taking out a small hanky and wiping his forehead with it, Sans looked back at his brother.

"that, uh, changes a lot. well, i'll leave you to it then, if it's just talking. i trust you, papyrus."

"THANK YOU, BROTHER. TELL FRISK I'LL BE BACK SOON, OK? IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT MAKES HER FEEL BETTER, IT'S SKELETON HUGS! NYEH HEH!"

Sans chuckled as his brother's antics, stepping to the side as Papyrus strode past him after a quick good-bye. Gently closing the door after his brother's figure disappeared over the horizon, Sans turned around to see Toriel softly running a paw through Frisk's hair. Humming an ancestral lullaby, Sans could tell from her wavering voice that she wouldn't last too long.

"tori," Sans made sure to level his voice to keep himself quiet and dignified. For Toriel or himself, he didn't actually know for certain. "i say this with respect, but i really don't think you'll last too long down here. let me watch frisk, nothing'll happen, not on my watch."

The tension was thick in the room as Sans watched Toriel slowly stand up and stiffly nod. Making her way over to the stairs, Toriel stopped, her reply coming out as a faint whisper.

"Thank you, Sans. I...will be retiring to the guest room."

"yep."

With that, Toriel left the room. Sans, turning his gaze over to Frisk, watched her toss and turn, quietly moaning.

"...damnit kid, how do you always leave me with the worst decisions?"

Bitterly chuckling to himself, the shorter skeleton sat down in an armchair opposite to the couch, mulling over his options. He could go ahead and do...it, but there's the real possibility that it'll look hella bad.

Heh, more like hella rad.

Sans slapped himself on the forehead a bit. Although he'd love for pun time to be all the time, the kid needed his help. Ruffling her hair, Sans was mildly pleased to hear a satisfied noise come out of Frisk. In any case, it was better than those heartbreaking groans and whimpers from before.

"well, we'll get through it. don't worry about it, kid, dunkle sans got it all under control."

well, Sans mused as he balled his hands several times, feeling powerful magic course through his bones.

i hope i do, anyway.


Papyrus trudged onwards, the sound of leaves crunching under his heavy combat boots. The sun was already setting, and although Papyrus was glad he didn't need to worry about things like hunger or weather, the journey was nevertheless long and boring. Sometimes he even wondered if he was headed in the wrong direction, but all it took was simply reminding himself that he was Papyrus, master of cardinal directions, to fill his determination meter to full.

"HUH," Papyrus looked towards an overflowing trash can, with several smelling bags and flies hanging around it. "I DIDN'T KNOW THAT HUMANS ERECTED MONUMENTS IN MY BROTHER'S VISAGE. NYEH HEH HEH HEH! I SHOULD TELL SANS THAT ONE...OH!"

At last, Papyrus gawked as the building came into view. The Hokkaido Shelter for the Homeless, a dingy little building that reeked of grime and alcohol, was standing ominously right in front of him.

Papyrus took in a breath as he strode past several hobos sitting around, who turned to look at him with mild interest. There was no fear in their jaded eyes, Papyrus noted, before he walked up to the reception desk. A bored young woman was idly tapping away on her phone before Papyrus cleared his throat, causing her to look up and jump back as she came face-to-face with a real skeleton.

So that monster thing wasn't a gag...

"UM, HELLO HUMAN. I WISH TO MEET A WOMAN CALLED ALICE. ALICE...SUNG? I COME BEARING IMPORTANT AND GRAVE NEWS. MOSTLY GRAVE."

"...Y-You wouldn't happen to be J-J-Jerry, would you?"

Resisting the urge to grimace in disgust, Papyrus shook his head.

"NO I AM NOT. I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HUMAN, A NOBLE SKELETON."

"...Uh, alright. I was just thinking that, well...Jerry came back from the dead, I dunno. Alice talks about it all the time, saying stuff like 'he's coming back, just you wait' and 'I'll strike it big someday'. It's kinda sad, but more unnerving. Lady is insane. But whatever, you wanna meet her, fine. She's out in the backyard, that door over there."

Grimly nodding, Papyrus followed her directions and pushed open the door.

The backyard, it seemed, wasn't quite better than the front yard. Discarded cigarette butts littered the concrete and grass, which was overgrown anyway. Trash was piled into a corner on the far right, left to fester and rot inside torn bags. And in the middle of the yard looked to be an old woman, skin sagging and brown hair frazzled and caked with grime.

"Come to torment me again, wretched judge? Have you not feasted upon my sins enough for one day...? Leave a broken woman to her broken life."

"I AM NO JUDGE, HUMAN. THAT IS NOT MY STATION, BUT YET HERE I AM."

Looking up in surprise, Alice stared at the tall, armored skeleton before her, letting out a hollow rattle of a laugh once the weight of the situation sank in.

"Death has finally come for this old crone, hmm?"

"DEATH? NO, I AM NOT DEATH. MY NAME IS PAPYRUS, AND I BRING NOT SILENCE, BUT NEWS."

"News...? What news could you, who don't even know me, bring to the table?"

"NEWS OF YOUR DAUGHTER, FRISK SUNG. SOUND FAMILIAR, ALICE? HMM, I SUPPOSE THAT'S A USELESS QUESTION. YOU DON'T."

Alice suddenly lurched forward into a coughing fit, taking a minute to compose herself before whipping her head around and looking at Papyrus with a peculiar expression mixed between shock and rage. Shakily getting up, Alice pointed a gnarled finger at him.

"W-What do you know?! TELL ME!"

"WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO FIND OUT, HUM- NO, NO, THAT'D BE WRONG. I'M AFRAID I CAN'T TELL WHAT MONSTER YOU ARE."

"Don't dodge my question, you prick! Where is she?!"

"OH, YOU REMEMBERED THAT FRISK WAS A 'SHE'? WELL DONE, ALICE, SIMPLY REMARKABLE. A MARGINAL IMPROVEMENT FROM TWO YEARS AGO. OR WAS THAT JUST A LUCKY GUESS? HELL IF I KNOW."

The scathing malice laced within Papyrus' tone was evident in even himself, and Papyrus was scared of his bubbling rage and disgust towards the woman. It was not as if she could hurt him.

But she hurt someone else. Someone close to him, someone he'd gladly give his life for besides his brother. And maybe for that reason, he'd let this happen. Just this once.

"You think you're some kind of...some kind of god for taking in a child? MY child? This is kidnapping."

A twisted grin set itself on Alice's face.

"This is kidnapping, and it's illegal. She is my child, and I will be getting her back even if it means using every rotted, sinful bone in my body to track her down and drag her kicking and screaming back. I've already lost everything, what more is there to lose at this point?! You monsters are nothing more than a mere obstacle in my way! You think I'm scared of you?!"

Maniacally cackling, Alice lurched forward and collapsed onto the grass as it devolved into another coughing fit, and Papyrus couldn't help but feel pity towards the demented woman. The coughing stopped, and Alice sat back up, letting out giggles.

"WELL, AT THIS POINT THERE TRULY IS NOTHING TO GAIN FROM WINNING, IS THERE? YOU'RE RIGHT, YOU TRULY HAVE LOST EVERYTHING, AND FOR THAT I PITY YOU. I SEE IT NOW CLEARLY.

I TRUTHFULLY DO NOT KNOW WHAT I WAS EXPECTING TO ACCOMPLISH HERE. TO BREAK YOU BY TALKING? PERHAPS. BUT IT SEEMS YOU'VE ALREADY DONE THAT YOURSELF. I HOPE YOU WERE HAPPY DURING THOSE TWO YEARS, ALICE."

Alice's face slowly twisted into one of indescribable rage. How dare this stranger, this monster barge into her personal space, tell her that he has her...what the hell Frisk was, and then taunt her?

"BECAUSE FOR AS MANY YEARS AS I STAND, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL MAKE SURE THAT A SMILE GRACES THAT CHILD'S LIPS EVERY DAY. THAT IS A PROMISE I CAN MAKE WITH ONLY THE MOST UTMOST OF CERTAINTY."

Closing his eye-sockets, Papyrus ignored Alice's frantic screams and channeled all his energy into something special. He had always heard of his brother's 'shortcuts', and eventually figured out that it was all magic into one enclosed space.

Well, why not? Papyrus did read his brother's notes, and if the coordinates were correct...

In a brief flicker of light, Papyrus was gone, leaving a dumbstruck and enraged Alice to stare at air. With no outlet for her anger in sight, Alice turned to an increasingly common activity.

Breaking everything and anything in the vicinity. And the screaming had only just begun.


The void wasn't nearly as empty as he thought it'd be. Mainly due to all the friendly skeletal dragon head...things that floated around, nuzzling Papyrus and letting out confused yet intrigued barks.

"YOU ARE THE CREATURES THAT MY BROTHER SUMMONS, HUH? NEATO. WELL, I SEE MY DESTINATION COMING, PERHAPS I'LL LEARN TO SUMMON YOU GUYS SO WE CAN GO ON WALKS!"

Waving, Papyrus started dropping at a quick rate until he felt his feet slam onto solid ground, making him stumble for a bit. It was late night now, longer than Papyrus had intended.

"TODAY WAS...NOT PLEASANT. HOPEFULLY, MAKING AN AWESOME SPAGHETTI DINNER WILL IMPROVE MY MOOD SUBSTANTIALLY! I WONDER IF FRISK WOULD LIKE ANYTHING SPECIAL TONIGHT...EVEN IF IT'S NOT PASTA...THE LINE STANDS AT GRILLBY'S, THOUGH."

Letting out a soft 'nyeh heh', Papyrus unlocked the door to find his brother in the most oddest of positions.

Currently cradling a now awake Frisk in his arms, Sans was pinching her chubby little cheek with one hand as she giggled in delight. Whispering some kind of joke in her ear, Frisk broke out into harder laughter which eventually spread to Sans.

"...SANS?"

Sans immediately stopped everything and went silent with a jolt, which shook even Frisk. Slowly turning his gaze towards Papyrus, the taller skeleton noted that his smile hadn't changed at all.

It was just that his pupils completely disappeared. Again.

"oh. hey."

"HELLO, BROTHER AND FRISK. I'M NOT GOING TO MAKE FUN OF YOU TWO. IF ANYTHING..."

Papyrus swan-dived onto the couch, making sure to do at least one flip as to not disappoint Undyne, and brought both of them into his arms, hugging them close to his chestplate.

"I'M OVERJOYED! SANS, NOT ONLY HAVE YOU MADE FRISK SMILE AGAIN, BUT YOU'RE OPENING UP! YOU NEVER DO THAT! WELL, SOMETIMES, BUT NOT OFTEN! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!"

"now that makes me feel kinda guilty."

Patting Sans on the side of the head, Frisk gave a reassuring smile. Sans returned it, although she could tell this one was a genuine smile.

"thanks kid. good to know my two hours of not sleeping and playing with ya paid off. but you remember what i said, right?"

Frisk nodded, and Papyrus set them both down onto the couch to go and quickly change into something that wasn't plate mail. He conveniently stayed close, however, to listen in on the pearl of wisdom his brother had dropped.

"we're a family. nobody gets left behind, nobody gets forgotten. heh, we're all real lucky to have ya, kid, so don't you ever go say you're not useful or that we're better off without you again, ok? you scared me. and it ain't easy to do that."

Frisk was feeling unwanted and useless.

Oh no.

Not on The Great Papyrus' watch.

Quickly thinking, Papyrus slinked into the kitchen to cook up master tasks that he needed help with. Snickering, he came up with a grand total of one. In hindsight, it wasn't that impressive, and Papyrus stopped snickering quickly, but it was the thought that counted.

"OH NO! I SEEM TO HAVE A PERPLEXING ISSUE THAT MUST BE SOLVED BY SOMEONE THAT IS NOT ME! OR SANS!"

Running out of the kitchen in a dramatic fashion, Papyrus stood in front of an amused Sans and an equally amused Frisk. The drawstrings on his sweatpants hung lazily undone, and blew in the breeze

"I SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO TIE A KNOT! THE TRAVESTY! THE HEARTACHE! HOW COULD I BE SUCH A FOOLISH FOOL? WHOEVER COULD HELP ME IN MY TIME OF NEED?!"

Snorting, Sans threw his hands up and subtly winked at his brother.

"aw geez paps, always bringin' your problems back home."

Frisk hopped off the couch and pulled a valiant pose, oozing determination.

"GASP! FRISK, DO YOU...KNOW HOW TO KNOT?!"

Nodding vigorously, Frisk began to tie the drawstrings together at a fast rate.

"AMAZING! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL! FRISK, YOU'RE SO SMART AND EXTREMELY CONFIDENT IN YOURSELF! COULD YOU BE A POTENTIAL RIVAL TO MY GREATNESS?!"

Finished, Frisk looked proudly up at Papyrus, who smiled back.

"...I get it. Thank you two so much...um...hug?"

Caught off guard by the sincerity of her question, Papyrus pretended to mull it over.

"WELL THEN...IF MY COOL FRIEND WAS THE ONE ASKING, THEN HOW COULD I SAY NO? COME HERE!"

Bending down, Papyrus wrapped his arms under Frisk's armpits and brought her close to his chest, his two t-shirts making sure his ribs didn't scrape her.

"don't mind me crashin' the party."

Sans wrapped his arms around his brother's waist, which Papyrus happily reciprocated.

"WOWIE...I FEEL LOVED! FRISK, I HOPE YOU'RE ABSORBING SOME OF THIS LOVE LIKE A RADICAL AND TOTALLY USEFUL SPONGE, BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT!"

Sans chuckled, overwhelmed at the innocent confidence radiating off the two.

"i have a feeling this'll only get better. so stick around for a while, will ya? favorite, follow, whatever floats your boat. author is too dense of a guy to ask anyway."

Winking towards...something, Papyrus and Frisk stared at him with odd expressions.

"SANS, ARE YOU TALKING TO THE 'AUDIENCE' AGAIN? EVEN WHEN THERE IS NOBODY HERE EXCEPT US?"

"maybe."

"YOU'RE WEIRD. TODAY IS WEIRD. LET'S MAKE SPAGHETTI."

"ok."


A/N: It was a pretty weird day, wasn't it?

I swear, I'll make a long arc some time!

not likely though, you're kinda shabby when it comes to elaboration

NO STOP EVERYONE DOES THIS NO

...

I read the reviews, and I gotta say, you guys are pretty cool for all the support you've given me. As always, I'll look forward to your reactions, advice, maybe even suggestions, the future is weird.

not for me

STOP JUST WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER BYE