"Thanks." She avoided his gaze and touched the necklace instead. She wasn't sure why it felt so important, but Toriel had given it to her. There had to be some reason. "You said you knew a shortcut?"
"uh, yeah." Sans held out his hand again, his eyes searching her own. Alanna took his hand without hesitation or complaint. "it's just this way." He tugged lightly on her hand walking toward the densely packed trees.
Alanna's legs wouldn't quite work as she stumbled along behind Sans. He kept glancing back to her as they began to weave their way through the trunks. Alanna suddenly lost her breath and stumbled forwards, the world spinning around her wildly. She hardly had the time to realize she was falling before Alanna was being cradled in Sans' arms.
"woah," Sans himself looked surprised that he had caught her. "don't worry, kid, it's only a bit further." He said gently as he put her back on her feet. Whatever had caused the dizziness had passed, and Alanna steadied.
"I'm fine."
Alanna took Sans' outstretched hand once more and they continued moving through the trees. It was only a few moments more until they broke out into the open again. Alanna stopped almost instantly as she recognized the outskirts of Snowdin.
"How?"
"it's called a shortcut for a reason." Sans said with a wink. She dropped his hand. Alanna wanted nothing more than to wipe that perpetual grin off of his face. She, instead, trudged past him moving through the town as quickly as she dared.
The door was unlocked and swung open easily, revealing Frisk and Papyrus already getting up from the couch smiles on their faces. The heat was almost unbearable, but she couldn't let them think anything was wrong.
"Hey guys!" Alanna called cheerily.
"ALANNA HUMAN, YOU HAVE RETURNED!" Papyrus said bounding to her. She was pulled up and smothered in a hug before she could blink. "HOW WAS YOUR WALK?"
"Good!" Alanna said attempting not to yelp at the burning sensation that everything caused. Papyrus, seemingly satisfied with his hug, gently placed her back on the ground. Alanna smiled and turned towards the couch just to have a small force slam into her stomach. Her smile grew as she crouched to hug Frisk.
"I played with Monster Kid today!" They signed as they tugged her over to the couch. "You're really cold." Frisk said pushing her into the cushions.
"Oh, I'm fine." She said/signed, but Frisk was having none of it. Blankets were dumped on her in a fashion that could only be described as Papyrus' doing.
"YOU SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL. THE FRISK HUMAN TOLD ME THAT THE COLD CAN HURT HUMANS."
"Yeah, it's called hypothermia." Alanna said not bothering to cover her shivers now. "You can also get frost-bite."
"FROST BITE?"
Alanna laughed. "Yeah, if my fingers or toes start looking funny colored…..they might die because of the cold."
That was, in fact, the wrong thing to say to Papyrus.
The next few minutes consisted of Alanna trying to console a frantic Papyrus as he ripped off her gloves and shoes looking for anything abnormal. Alanna decided to simply let him inspect every finger and toe as she sat laughing.
"Paps, I'm fine." She said soothingly. He seemed to relax at that as if finally hearing her. It was then Alanna realized she had used Sans' pet name for him.
"ARE YOU SURE?"
Alanna smiled and took his hand, which instantly created an orange glow in his cheeks. Was Papyrus….blushing? "Yes, I promise that I'm fine. Just a little cold nothing more."
"WHAT ABOUT YOUR HANDS?" He asked holding it up to show the bloodied knuckles of her dominant hand.
"Oh, that." She said flexing her injured hand. "I fell when walking on the ice." The lie fell naturally and Papyrus was instantly lecturing on the proper precautions when around ice. Alanna was hardly surprised when Frisk climbed into her lap to watch the latest Mettaton movie. Papyrus planted himself next to the two of them, making sure that Alanna's covers didn't slip from her shoulders. Sans, who had come in amongst Papyrus freaking out about frost-bite sat on the opposite side of the couch from Alanna, watching the show and elbowing his brother every time he made some sort of pun.
Alanna was asleep before Mettaton met his monster love-interest.