The town of Snowdin was a quaint little place. A short walk up the winding path overlooking the cliff after stepping under the sign led him to a wide, snow covered street flanked on both sides by wooden buildings. None were more than two stories high and none had the look of wear brought to wood by being exposed to the elements for long periods of time. In fact, all of the buildings looked as if they could have been built just that morning. And yet, despite that, the town had air of permanence to it, as if it had always been there and always would be.
The street was empty, the hour still early, but several of the buildings had smoke coming out of stone chimneys lending the impression of liveliness even in the silence of the night. Over the tops of the buildings, Ryan could see the edge of the forest hugging the town. A few trees were scattered amongst the buildings. In a way, it reminded Ryan of the ruins. It had that feeling of a place all monsters needed: a place to gather and share memories and make new ones. The snow of the street was hard packed and well-traveled, only adding to the feeling.
Ryan could see the other side of the town from where he stood. The street ran right through the middle of it, and though he could see the roofs of more buildings behind the ones closest to him, the majority of the town seemed to lie on this one road. Where the buildings ended, snowy trees took over once more, lining the road straight to the wall of the dome that rose high above him. sans was waiting for him somewhere over there, if he kept to his word. With his help, perhaps he could still make it to where he needed to be without doing any further damage.
As he walked down the empty street, he saw that many of the buildings had signs on them. There was a shop next to an inn, a library, a building that looked like a restaurant with the painted sign 'Grillby's' above the entrance, and more besides. The windows to all of them were dark. Many were also unmarked. Ryan guessed those were probably homes. In the center of the town was a square where the road branched off in both directions leading to more homes and buildings. In the center of the square was a lone tree. Around it was several boxes, some wrapped as presents and others bare cardboard, tapped closed and unlabeled. He briefly wondered what they could be for. Past the square, he went by several more homes until finally, with an equal measure of relief and reluctance, he reached the other side of the small village.
As the town shrunk from view behind him and the forest grew thick around him once more, a fog began to rise from a stream not far from the trail. By the time Snowdin had disappeared from sight, so had everything else. The fog grew thick enough that he could not see his hand in front of his face. And with the fog came a foreboding tension that seemed to push on Ryan harder than the fog. He realized he had slowed in his steps and picked up his pace again. The fog did not break as he walked further, he just tried to keep as straight as he possibly could and hope he did not run face first into a tree.
He paused as he thought he heard the sound of footsteps out of sync with his own. He listened intently for a long minute and was beginning to think it was his imagination again when he thought he saw a shadow in the fog. He squinted at the figure in vain, the fog had not yet thinned and he could not make out any more detail other than it looked humanoid. "Sans?" Ryan shouted into the fog, voicing his first thought.
"Human." It was Papyrus's voice that answered him. "Allow me to tell you about some complex feelings." The skeleton sounded grim, as if he were about to deliver bad news. "Feelings like the joy of finding another pasta lover, the admiration for another's puzzle-solving skills, the desire to have a cool, smart person think you are cool. These feelings…" The skeleton paused and his voice went back to its normal booming, confident tone. "They must be exactly what you're feeling right now!"
Ryan had actually bought it for a moment. He should have known the monster incapable of being humble. At least outwardly. He went on. "I can hardly imagine what it must be like to feel that way. After all, I am very great. I don't ever wonder what having lots of friends is like. I pity you, lonely human. Worry not; you shall be lonely no longer! I, The Great Papyrus, will be your…" He paused, trailing off at the end. Ryan could hear snow crunch underfoot. "No… No, this is all wrong! I can't be your friend. You are a human. I must capture you. Then, I can fulfill my lifelong dream. Powerful, popular, prestigious! That's Papyrus: the newest member of the Royal Guard!" The fog dissolved almost instantly, revealing Papyrus standing across from him in the middle of the path. Bones spun around the monster as if they had a mind of their own. The skeleton had a look of strong resolve as he looked Ryan in the eye. Before Ryan could say a word, Papyrus raised his arm and with the gesture the bones flew at him.
Whether by luck or something else, Ryan managed to duck under the bones that flew for his head. He shot back up and, with barely a thought, pulled the flame in his clothes to his will. He split the flame into eight and made them orbit around him as the skeleton had, ready to be used as the moment called. "I guess we will have to fight." Ryan said under his breath. He had never fought with magic before and had hoped he never would, but the look on the skeletons face told him it was unavoidable.
Papyrus shook his head. "That won't do." The monster made motions as if it was stretching, rotating his arm in his shoulder before pressing it across his chest, though why he did made no sense to Ryan. "It looks like I'll have to use my fabled blue attack already."
"Papyrus I'm sure we can talk about this." Ryan tried, but the monster did not answer him. Ryan took a step back and tried to make more flames in order to defend himself from whatever came next. He couldn't, he could barely focus.
The skeleton raised its hand into the air and a pale blue light appeared above it. It grew in intensity with every second. In fear more than anything else, Ryan hurled one of the fire balls at it, but it just went straight through. And still it grew brighter. Ryan covered his eyes with his arms to block out the light and tried to brace himself for the impending pain or death or whatever that would cause.
He was not expecting it to just go away.
Blinking away after images, Ryan dropped his arms to see that nothing happened. The forest was still intact and so was he. Papyrus still stood across from him, but instead of and arm towards the sky, the skeleton was pointing at him. "See? You're blue now. That's my attack."
The monster was pointing at his chest, he realized, and looked down. Even through the two thick shirts he was wearing, he could now see the glow of the soul embedded in his chest, and he could see that it was not red as it had been, but a dark blue. "What the?" Then, he noticed something else, something off. He had not felt it at first but it was quickly becoming and itch that demanded be scratched. His fire was gone. He tried to pull more, but nothing happened. Then the realization hit home. He had gotten used to the feeling of magic buzzing through the air across his skin that he stopped noticing it. But that feeling was gone now. How was that possible?
Papyrus laughed. It was a playful laugh, more than anything else, but to Ryan he heard a tinge of hysteria within it before he realized that he was laughing along as well and the hysteria was his. "As you can see, my magic changes the rules a bit." Papyrus explained. "Starting with the fact that you can't use magic." Ryan felt fear carry his feet away from the monster before he realized he even wanted to run away. His only defense gone, he knew he had no hope in this fight. He barely managed to turn in the opposite direction before he felt himself being tugged towards the monster. He slid backwards in the snow against his will and was turned to face the monster once more. "I also have some influence over your movements." Papyrus went on. "So running won't be an option for you."
Ryan felt his fear turn to anger and he charged at the monster faster than he thought himself capable. He raised his arm in an effort to swing at the skeleton, but his blow only bet a wall of bone. It barely registered to him that the bone cracked beneath his punch. The wall of bone spilt itself apart and shifted form to wrap it itself around Ryan's limbs, forcing him to his knees. Papyrus looked down at him frightened and confused as Ryan fought against his bonds. "What did you do to me?" Ryan practically screamed.
Papyrus raised his hands half in a gesture to defend himself and half in gesture to calm Ryan down. "Fear not, human." The quiver in his voice took away from the words. "It is not a permanent spell and will do you no harm in the long run." He motioned as if swallowing and started again with some measure of the confidence he had before. "Besides, it is merely the setup for the battle I have planned between us. You need not worry, human. As I have said, I am fair with my puzzles. You can expect no tricks or underhanded tactics from me.
For a long moment, the two simply started at each other. An hour ago, Ryan would have thought the skeleton incapable of doing anything close to the realm of dangerous or threatening, but now he was not so sure. Still, Ryan stopped struggling against the bones that held him and they faded away. Once he was sure Ryan would not try to attack him directly again, the fear melted from his face and he gestured around him. "What you are about to witness is my ultimate puzzle. I have spent years on its perfection. It is insurmountable, inescapable, in...! In…" The skeleton dropped his eyes as he lost where he was going.
"Inconceivable?" Ryan encouraged.
"That too! It's difficultly cannot be described. You will have no hope of being able to solve it! You will be captured, human. And then I will achieve all of my hopes and dreams." Arms still out stretched, the skeleton took a step towards him. "Are you ready?"
The ground shook. Bones the size of his finger to the height of buildings shot out of the ground collecting together to form tall walls that pressed in around them. More bones flew into the air and formed a roof that closed off the meager light of the snowy forest. Ryan heard in the darkness more walls slam into place both near and far. He stayed still, trying to not fall over, until the noise stopped and the ground stilled. Light filled the room once more, seeming to come from the bones themselves. It was not a large room, but Ryan doubted this was all there was to it. Once it was lit, Papyrus came into the room through one of the walls as if it were not there at all. "Welcome to Papyrus's Maze of… Well, I haven't really named it yet… Moving on! As you attempt to navigate this maze, you will be faced with increasingly difficult obstacles. You will try in vain to overcome these obstacles while you try to escape the maze until you inevitably except your defeat." With another wave of his hand, a section of the bones of one wall separated to form an opening just tall enough for Ryan to walk through. It led to a hallway made of the same walls of randomly assorted bones. The snow covered ground still made up the floor. When the bones were still once more Papyrus walked back toward the wall he came in by, saying over his shoulder, "You may begin," before disappearing to some other part of the maze.
Ryan hesitated, uncertain of what lay ahead for him. He was having flashbacks to his first night after falling down and not for the first time that night was he wishing he had reconsidered the choices that had let to this moment. But apparently the skeleton did not like him standing and doing nothing because the wall to his back slid towards him and pushed him through the opening which sealed itself back up once he was through. Figuring similar waited for him if he were to keep standing still, he began his way through the maze.
He started with a hand along the wall, remembering from somewhere that it, in some way, guaranteed finding the way out of a maze, but he quickly stopped. He could hear the walls shift as he moved, somewhere close or far off, he couldn't tell. But made him realize this would not be as simple as just finding a way out. Just what did the skeleton have in store for him?
The question was answered as he rounded the next corner. Across the length of the hallway, Ryan watched as a wall of bone sprung up from the snow about as high as his waist and come speeding towards him. It did not slow down as it got closer and Ryan jumped over the hurtle to prevent from being seriously hurt, reacting at the last second and almost lost his balance during the landing.
"Hmm… It seems you have good reflexes, human." Papyrus's voice echoed through the maze. "That is good. You will need them."
Another wall of bone materialized down the hall, this time on one of the walls. It came at him just as fast as the other one had, which was too fast for comfort and Ryan barely managed to dodge to the side as it flew passed him. The dodge allowed him to see that, from behind him, a third hurdle was coming at him along the other wall. He barely managed to spin out of the way as it went past.
He fought for breath, his heart raced. He looked back and forth, up and down the length of the hallway for anymore obstacles but everything was blessedly still. So it seemed the skeleton really was getting serious. And where exactly was sans?
He had to keep moving, he knew that. Standing still would just invite more of those walls to come. They went fast enough that he was certain he would be killed if one struck him, or it would at least break something. All he had to do was stay alive until Papyrus tired himself out. He knew enough about monsters and magic to know the skeleton could not keep this up forever.
Rounding another corner and trying not to run and crash into something on accident, he was just in time to see more hurtles rise from the ground. They followed each other back to back with just enough space to land and jump again in between them. A half a dozen in a row came at him before they started to come from behind him as well and he had to dodge those as well. Some were low to the ground and easy to avoid, others were not, barely providing Ryan with enough room to fit himself through the gaps.
It was not particularly difficult, but constant jumping and dodging coupled with the stress of the slightest mistake being potentially horrible made it very exhausting very quickly. When the wave of hurtles finally ended Ryan could feel sweat beading on his forehead and making his shirt cling to him. He was glad, at that point, that he was on the monster's good side. He would hate to see what he was capable of if he was angry.
"I see you are still a puzzle wiz." Papyrus's voice echoed once more. "So how about this!" More walls came, the pattern shifting this time. They came from all four of the walls now. He looked down at them in despair. He was already close to exhaustion, and the skeleton sounded nowhere near done with him. He almost groaned, too tired to care that the obstacles were already coming towards him. He half collapsed against the wall closest to him. Darkness crept in on his vision "Oh?" Papyrus's voice echoed. "Are you ready to accept defeat already?" He could not believe everything had gone so wrong so fast. How could he have thought this would be easy? He was a fool. He was not some hero from a story, he was just a screw-up. I'm going to save your son. He was going to die here. That was his destiny, his fate. I'm going to save Asriel. He must be hallucinating in some way. He could see Toriel standing in front of him as if they were both still beneath the house in the ruins. The look of pain and anger on her face after he had told her what he intended was there as he remembered it. But there was something else there too, something he did not notice at the time. Beneath the anger and the sadness was hope, hope that he really could do what he said he would. The image of Toriel's hope became fixed in his mind and a fire coursed through his veins.
No.
He was not sure if he had just thought the word or said it out loud. The air rung with the power of that refusal either way and with it, Ryan's exhaustion was burned from his bones. He clenched his fists as he turned back to the string of obstacles coming his way. He would not die. He would not be captured. He had made a promise and he would see it done. And not even death would stop him.
The walls suddenly seemed to be moving slower; the pattern easier to predict. Energy filled him and he jumped he first hurtle as if he weighed nothing. He jumped too high, he realized. The next wall came from the ceiling and he would not fall fast enough to be able to avoid it. Unsure as to how, he managed to spin his weight and kick off the wall, flipping to land on his feet on the ground. He straightened as another pair of walls from either side went past him simultaneously. This was becoming fun.
Nothing seemed to diminish the energy he felt. The more obstacles he dodged, the easier it became. Was the skeleton running out of steam? At this point, he hoped not. He spun out of the way of another that came from the side and ducked one more from above. He had his eyes closed, order memorized, and at this point was simply showing off. He dodged the next wall at his feet with a back handspring, timing it perfectly with the next wall that came from every side to make an opening just wide enough for him to squeeze though so that he slipped past to land on his feet. He spun and opened his eyes to see the Papyrus standing in the hallway with him.
The skeleton did not look tired. He merely looked skeptical. Ryan smiled. If that was the case, and if he saw the amount of ease he was having with what he threw at him now, maybe the monster would ramp things up a bit. Ryan pointed at the skeleton as if he were holding a pair of guns at him. "You're pretty good." He told the monster before Papyrus could say anything, goading him.
Papyrus's look of skepticism deepened. "Pretty… good?" And then something seemed to dawn on him. An instant later, the monster looked like he was ready to run away from Ryan. "What?" He exclaimed. "Fl-flirting? So you finally reveal your true feelings."
"No, I was just-"
"Well, I suppose this can only be expected. To fall for someone as great as I is all but an inevitability. But I'll have you know I'm a skeleton with very high standards." Papyrus waved his arms and more walls came at Ryan. He dodged them all with ease – was the skeleton even trying anymore? – and was practically by the monster's side before he realized it himself.
"I'm pretty okay at making pasta." He said jokingly. The monster's look of shock returned.
"Oh no! You're meeting all of my standards!" The skeleton regained himself quickly, though. He cleared his throat. "I guess this means I'll have to go on a date with you."
This time Ryan took a step back. "I think you're jumping a bit ahead of yourself there."
"You're right." The skeleton nodded. "I still need to capture you first." The wall behind Papyrus rushed up and he disappeared behind it. A moment later, the wall next Ryan opened up to allow him to move on.
Like the others, as he entered the attacks began to come in waves, but they were no harder than they had been before. The skeleton must be running out of ideas. He dodged them all with casual ease and when the final obstacle passed him by, he heard Papyrus's voice once more form everywhere at once. "It seems you're better than I thought. If you keep this up, I'll have to use my special attack. Trust me you don't want to see that, so you should just accept your inevitable defeat."
Ryan chuckled. He felt very far from defeat. If anything, he had the monster on the ropes in a way. And he was starting to get bored. Perhaps if he could find him, he could end this a bit sooner. As the attacks came this time he began to move forward with them as he dodged using the ones that came from behind him to propel him forward. He rounded the corner to the next hall and more attacks came. Where could the skeleton be hiding?
"I can almost taste my future popularity!" Papyrus was saying. "Papyrus: Head of the royal guard!" Ryan came to a branch in the maze, he went left. "Papyrus: unparalleled spaghettore! Undyne will be so proud of me!" He dodged more attacks as the skeleton went on. "The king will trim a hedge in the shape of my smile! My brother will… well, he won't change very much. I'll have lots of admirers, but… Will anyone like me as sincerely as you?" Ryan gave pause. Was the monster still on about that? He would have to be sure to correct that little misunderstanding. He stepped to the side of another wall. "Someone like you is really rare. And dating might be kind of fun… After you're captured and sent away…" The attacks stopped for a moment. "Argh, who cares? Give up! Give up or I'll use my special attack!" The attacks resumed, more ferociously this time, but still nowhere near anything that intimidated Ryan. "I'm not kidding. I will use it very soon!" He must be close, he realized. The skeleton was becoming desperate. "This is your last chance before I use my special attack."
As he dodged the last attack, Ryan came upon a doorway that led to a room much larger than those he had been in so far. The ceiling of bone was a good three stories above his head. Near the top, Papyrus stood on a balcony of sorts looking down at Ryan from his lofty perch. "Impressive, human, that you were able to make it this far." The skeleton told him; he sounded much more serious than he had a moment ago. "But you have only delayed the inevitable." He raised his arms dramatically once more. "Behold my special attack."
Like in the pit of a coliseum, a section of one of the walls rumbled open to reveal another room. Ryan readied himself for anything, still rational enough to be wary in his sense of invincibility. The rumbling came to a stop and in the side room was… nothing? No, not nothing. In the center of the room, practically blending into the snow and bone was a small, white dog nibbling on something between its paws. Ryan turned his head to the skeleton, eyebrow raised.
"What the heck? That's my special attack!" The balcony Papyrus was standing on floated down to the ground and he stepped off of it to confront the animal. The skeleton tried to grab the bone from the dog, but it dodged the monster's gloved hand with ease, scampering off to one of the corners of the room. "Hey, you stupid dog! Do you hear me? Stop munching on that bone!" Papyrus chased the dog for several laps around the room, but skeleton came no closer to his bone than he had the first try. The dog seemed to grow bored. Unperturbed by the laws of reality, the dog phased through the wall much the same way Papyrus did and was gone. "Hey what do you think you are doing? Come back here with my special attack!" Papyrus pounded on the wall in frustration. A moment later he turned back to Ryan as if he just remembered he was there. "Oh well. I'll just have to use a really cool regular attack."
The room shifted. The small offshoot they were in closed in on itself. Ryan jumped back; Papyrus casually walked back to his floating bone platform. The skeleton ascended back to his place at the top of the chamber and looked down at Ryan. Ryan stared back up at the monster in equal measure, certain he could handle whatever he threw at him.
The ground rumbled; the walls seemed to lose their definition for a moment. And then countless bones flew at him from all directions. Some were small and lone, spinning through the air like Frisbee. Others formed walls and hurdles as they had before, forcing him to move. In a room the size of nine others, the walls came at him in sets of six or more, funneling him down a path like some sort of platformer. Other bones were as thick as he was tall, shooting out of opposite sides of the room to collide with each other in the middle with a crash loud enough to make his ears ring.
Somehow, Ryan managed to avoid everything. Whenever anything came close the world seemed to slow to a crawl and he stepped aside from the bone with ease. He jumped into the air to avoid a wall rushing at him almost as tall as him. When it reached him, he kicked off of the top of it to avoid the crushing force to the giant bones. He looked back down at the ground and felt worry for the first time since this whole thing had begun. Since his jump, the ground had become a solid pit of bone spikes, sharp enough to kill even if he landed lightly, which he certainly would not from that height. He had gotten himself into quite the trap, hitting the ground was unavoidable, and he could not fly.
He was surprised by how calm he felt about it. There was no fear of death in his mind, just cold realization and calculated analysis of everything around him to try to find a way to avoid impalement. It seemed futile, though. There was nothing for him to land on but spikes.
Unless…
The massive columns of bone still collided with each other above his head and another began to sprout its way out of the wall near where he was falling. It was time to do something risky. He adjusted he weight so he would be in the direct line of the bone and as it came towards him, he braced himself. The impact hurt less than he expected, but he was still pinned to the bone with how fast it was moving and its other half was approaching fast. Gathering all of his strength, he kicked himself up and over the bones with barely a fraction of time left before they collided. He landed on top of them, the vibration of the impact threatening to throw him off before it settled.
Not wasting a moment, Ryan sprang into the air and landed on the next highest set of pillars just as they hit each other. He did this over and over, going higher and higher until he was just beneath Papyrus's platform. He smiled; the skeleton looked worried, and rightfully so. Papyrus seemed to redouble his efforts. More bones spun through the air, the columns stopped to be replaced by thinner spikes that tried to stab at him. Ryan still managed to dodge everything. He sprung off of one of the spikes and grabbed another as it went for his head. He threw his weight to spin around the bar of bone and propel himself the final distance to Papyrus's platform. He landed on his feet with a casualness that said he could do all of that a hundred times over if he wanted. And he still felt like he probably could.
For a moment the skeleton just looked at him in shock. And then it was gone, replaced by the mask of confidence he had had on the rest of night. "Well," he started. The room around them shattered like glass. The bones crumbled away and turned to mist before they hit the ground, revealing the twilight of the forest once more. The platform they stood on lowered itself slowly to the ground before shattering as well. "It's clear you can't defeat me!" The skeleton went on once they were on the ground again. "I can see you shaking in your boots." The monster's own knees did not look very sturdy at the moment.
Ryan almost laughed but managed to keep it behind a smile. "Yeah? Is that right?"
"Yes. Therefore I, The Great Papyrus, elect to grant you pity! I will spare you, human. Now is your chance to accept my mercy!"
The smile slipped from Ryan's face. And he stared at the skeleton with a grim seriousness. They were already close to one another, but Ryan closed the distance by another step. The skeleton seemed to take a step back without actually moving, shrinking away from Ryan as if he held some sort of magnetic repulsion. He took another step so he was face to face with the monster. The look of morose seriousness still lending to the air's chill. "So what you're saying is…" Ryan tapped something against Papyrus's chest. The skeleton looked down. It was a bone; one of the attacks he had just used. It shattered as the monster became aware of it again. "You're throwing me a bone?" Ryan smiled and winked and Papyrus who looked like he was about to cry.
"Nyoo ho ho…" He laughed sullenly. "I can't even stop someone as weak and not funny as you. Undyne's going to be so disappointed in me. I'll never join the Royal Guard and my friend quantity will remain stagnant."
Ryan sighed at put a hand on the skeleton's shoulder. "Listen," he started, "this has been one crazy night for me. And I'm probably dumb for saying this but, in hindsight, I had fun. And you got to tell me how you did all of that at some point." The skeleton looked up at him and he went on. "You and your brother seem like cool dudes, if a bit confusing. And you got your hearts in the right place, figuratively of course."
"What are you saying?" The skeleton interrupted.
"I'm saying," he was not sure what he was saying. He felt lightheaded and thought it had something to do with how energetic he had felt during that whole thing. He shook it off before continuing. "I'm saying that I would be honored to be your friend, Papyrus." This was going far from what he had originally intended, but the monster deserved something out of all of this. He was denying the skeleton his dream, and that was not fair. It was least he could do.
Papyrus's face lit up. "Really? You want to be friends with me? Well then, I guess… I guess I can make an allowance for you. Wowie! We haven't even had our first date and I've already managed to hit the friend zone!"
Ryan's seriousness returned for a moment. "Don't ever say that again."
The skeleton acknowledged him before going on. "Who knew that all I needed to make pals was to give them awful puzzles and then fight them? You taught me a lot, human. I hereby grant you permission to pass through. And I'll give you directions to the surface."
Ryan smiled. It looked like this whole thing was turning out for the best after all. "Thanks… that'd be…" Ryan suddenly felt exhausted. His vision blurred. He could not remember what he was going to say, nor did he remember lying down in the snow. Something told him he should be trying to get up while something else tried to tell him he should be worried. But he could not figure out why. He was so tired. Before he knew it, everything had gone black.