Chapter 9- Rebellion

"Serif?" My only response was a sluggish groan. It hadn't even been a full day since my denied deadly nap. All I wanted to do was sleep. So I didn't reply. Maybe they'd go away. "Could you please wake up?" the voice persisted. "I need your help with… a problem."

"s'like midnight," I slurred, still trying to cling to peace. "can't it wait till—" I stopped. hold up… Was I dreaming? "ink?"

"Mmhm," the Artist affirmed. I sighed, trying to shake off the fog and figure out which way was up.

"why're you—? wait, the world's seal broke?!" I exclaimed, rolling over and opening my eyes to find Ink… and Papyrus. Around his neck— my hand went to my chest; the portal pendant was gone.

"Seal didn't break. He, ah, let me in," Ink explained. I gaped at Paps in disbelief.

"HI BROTHER…" he greeted, forcing a smile and hiding a cringe.

"So, uh… yeah. I'm gonna let you two sort this out."

And with that, Ink disappeared, leaving both of us staring at each other in total shock.

Breakfast the next morning was surprisingly quiet. Papyrus stared down at the marshmallows floating in his cereal, looking stressed as a wet cat. I was still too shocked to speak. Asgore glanced between us and the daily paper with raised eyebrows, looking curious, but kept silent. Toriel's gaze was fixed on the answer sheet before her, still as stone, save to straighten her reading glasses or mark answers on the tests. Lark and Asriel watched her every move with rapt attention, hoping for a good grade. Even Basil the hamster— who was thriving in his new home— was silent in his cozy box house, gazing at the squeaky wheel which he usually raced in each morning. But not today.

So everything was perfectly, awkwardly silent.

When I ended back upstairs, I found Ink. He risked the quick visit to assure me Papyrus was only in a universe for less than a minute; no harm done. He'd sensed someone go through a Window but hadn't seen who. He went over to investigate and Papyrus came tumbling back through before the portal could even close. Mere seconds. Something must have spooked him back to safety. Peculiar, really.

So, after scolding Paps and asking if he'd had his full of rebellion, I decided to drop the issue. He had promptly promised to not steal the pendant again and seemed quite sorry about the unpleasant wakeup call it caused me. Even so, I had a hard time shaking off my daze. In all my life, I had never considered Papyrus capable of rebellion. In all my life, I had never been so wrong.

"Is something amiss, Sans?" I turned a nervous, slightly forced smile on Grillby.

"pardon?" I asked, flat even to my ears.

Papyrus, who was just coming around the corner with a bucket-sized bowl of popcorn, evidently heard our fire friend's question and casually slid back out. A second later he thought better of it, darted in, dropped the snack on the side table, and darted back out again. Grillby watched this go down with a puzzled expression.

"What's going on?"

"what do you mean?" I asked, trying to seem like my usual relaxed self while thumbing the play button on the remote, hoping the movie would put an end to the conversation. "all's normal, far as i can tell."

Practically the whole block had ended up in our backyard that afternoon, but Alphys, Grillbz, Papyrus and I had opted for a movie indoors. Alphys was devoted to her computer, finishing filling out the last of her lab reports, headphones leaking faint K-Pop music, and of course, Paps had just made a break for it. Grillby's expression spoke volumes of "not buying it."

"For starters, you're avoiding my question. Second, you're acting tired and lazy, something that doesn't really describe you anymore. Papyrus is avoiding everyone and has the aura of a kicked puppy today. If I didn't know better I'd say you two had a falling out."

I dropped the act and let out a heavy sigh.

"you know me too well, grillbz. i can't… i don't even know. it's like one minute i thought i knew what i was doing, but am i even doing this right? you don't get taught this stuff. don' know whether to be mad or laugh. actually— i can't really do this right now, ya know?" Grillby had his amused grin fixed on the television, but he couldn't hide it. Flustered, I huffed, and he chuckled.

"You're an enigma," he said, shaking his head, "and currently making as much sense as a drunk. Whatever is going on, I'm sure you'll manage to figure it out. Don't worry so much. Also, you should know you're a terrible liar." A quick laugh slipped past my defense.

"yeah, sure, whatever you say." Gesturing to the screen, I asked— "now can we escape reality for a while, please?" while digging to the bottom of the popcorn and passing him a handful of kernels.

"Sure," he chuckled. "What are we watching?"

"no idea. some human classic. something about an evil magic ring and a hobbit, whatever that is."

"Sounds intriguing," Grillbz admitted, tossing one of the kernels in his mouth; it popped.

"yeah," I agreed. "humans sure have some wild ideas."

BANG! We three jumped as Undyne enthusiastically kicked the swinging backdoor nearly off its hinges.

"Hey, EVERYONE!" She yelled. "Guess what?!"

I heard Toriel hurry from the kitchen, murmuring "Undyne, please, the door…" Grillby and I gave her our attention. Alphys let her headphones, askew from her startled jump, slip off her head. From the yard, behind Undyne, I could see Fuku and Lark, pausing their playtime to listen; surely everyone else was frozen after that insane display. The fish warrior waved her phone in the air, an elated grin splitting her face as she announced—

"I just pulled some strings with a friend up in the mountains. Let's see how many people we can cram in the van, because we're going on a vacation!"