Chapter 36: Cupcakes and Comrades
Sans didn't waste any time in catching up with the others. While Papyrus was distracted by the guards and the others congratulating him on his performance, he made his way to where Lou and Alphys were. Alphys was trying to speak in a more hushed tone while Lou's face had gone a little pale. must be talking about it. He came up quietly next to them.
"H-he read the c-code b-before I e-even p-pulled out your ch-cheat sheet! I-it was l-like he w-was just r-reading a r-r-regular p-paper!"
"R-really?" Lou seemed a bit concerned. "But...he said nobody..." Her face became suddenly very thoughtful, her hand coming up to place a finger to her lips while the rest wrapped around her chin. Sans recognized that look. She usually used it when trying to figure out what to draw or figure out a particularly tough issue. "Maybe...maybe that was what he meant when he said he-!"
"hey guys, mind if i butt in?" Sans gave them a light smirk, gently nudging Lou with his hip as he literally inserted himself into the conversation.
"Sans!" The human jumped, looking at him with wide eyes. She looked like she was going to jump out of her skin. It almost made him feel bad about freaking her out. Almost. The face she made was too cute. Man he loved her haircut too much. Without those overgrown bangs to hide behind he could see how those large round eyes of hers animated each expression she made. It was like watching one of Alphys' animes, but in real life and with a girl much cuter than any character on a TV screen.
"C-can we h-help you w-with something?" Alphys stuttered out. She was fiddling with her claws again, a sure sign she was nervous and possibly hiding something. Then again, she was almost always nervous, but she did have something to hide. The wingdings proved that much.
"maybe, maybe not. i'm just curious 'bout something. mind if i ask you two a few questions?" He leaned down, his grin becoming a little more ominous as his sockets darkened.
Alphys gulped. Lou glanced at her, but stood her ground. tough kid. She looked up at him and his harsh exterior faltered. Why was it always so hard to do this when she's there? Any other human, even Frisk, and he could get them feeling their sins crawling up their back. But with her? The most he could do was darken his sockets and add a little pressure before one little look, a sound, or a subtle movement had him back off. It used to worry him, but now it only succeeded in intriguing him and peaking his interest that much more. no, stop. Paps likes her. she deserves a guy like him, not me.
"Okay, what do you need to ask?"
"why'd ya pick wingdings? of all the codes, the different symbols or languages you could have picked, why did you pick wingding font?" He looked down at her. She was so small next to him. Both he and Paps picked her up so easily it would almost be sad if it wasn't so adorable.
He inwardly smiled as he remembered all the times Paps would pick her up and then forget he'd been holding her and look all over the house. Sometimes he'd tease him for the hell of it, saying he hadn't seen her. Lou was a good sport, usually keeping quiet and holding back her giggling until either Papyrus finally found her or he actually got worried, then she'd drop the game and give him a gentle pat on the arm or skull, whatever she could reach. She'd give him that sweet little smile that could melt the coldest soul and wipe any tears that might have sprung to his brother's sockets. "I'm right here, Paps. See? Please don't cry. I'm not going anywhere, okay?"
"Well, considering it's a font and not a code, I...uh...figured it would be good to use? Plus it looks pretty confusing to the naked eye, right?" Her voice snapped him from his memories, causing the lights in his sockets to flicker back to the surface. She was being casual, nonchalant, vague. "M-most people would think it's just weird scribbles."
"unless you know what the symbols stand for." His sockets went dark again.
"Speaking of, how did you know what they meant, Sans? Last time I checked you only write in Comic Sans font. Even your texts are in Comic Sans." She crossed her arms over her chest, the long sleeves hanging down from her elbows. The ribbon Papyrus got for her was tied for anyone to see around her right wrist. Seeing it sent a pang through Sans' soul. If he'd given her a ribbon would she wear it like she did his brothers? Would she leave it in her room to collect dust? Seeing it on her all the time like that always reminded him that she was Pap's. They may not be dating and he may not have claimed her openly, but it reminded him to keep his own feelings in check. His little brother loved her and if he was the one to take something like that from him, it'd tear his soul in two.
He sighed, shrugging his shoulders and brushing off the invasive thoughts. "what can i say? i enjoy the irony." The skeleton opened an eye socket to look back at her, the pin pricks of light having returned now. "and so what if i know wingdings?"
Lou paused, looking at Alphys. They seemed to be having a silent conversation amongst each other, somehow having no need to speak to get their feelings across. Was that a girl thing? Alphys fidgeted, getting a little more nervous before nodding. Lou sighed, looking back to Sans. "What does the name Gaster mean to you?"
"L-Lou!"
"What? We can't be subtle about this anymore, Alphys! And I'm tired of trying to keep a low profile! If I do much more of this I'm going to go insane!" The human groaned, running her hands through her hair and gripping at a few clumps of it.
"But..." Alphys looked over to Sans.
His expression had dropped, that perma-grin usually plastered to his face now gone. The lights in his eyes were gone too as sweat formed along the surface of his skull. "how...how do you know that name?"
Lou looked right at him, hands releasing her brunette locks and dropping to her sides in a set of fists. She brought up one hand and jabbed a finger in his direction as a warning. "Answer the damn question!" She snapped.
Sans flinched, holding up his hands in surrender, blinking at her. He'd never seen her like that before. Or at least not with him anyway. "i..." The large skeleton sighed, closing his eyes and running his metacarpals over the surface of his skull. "Gaster...was...is, my dad. us skeletons tend to have a certain font we write and often type with, kinda runs in the family. mine was comic sans, Paps had Papyrus," he chuckled, unable to get over the irony of their names, "and my dad was wingdings. what did you think the W.D. stood for?" He glanced up to look at her, gauging hers and Alphys' reaction. "when he fell into the core not long after he finished it he kinda got...erased."
"Erased?" Lou furrowed her brow as she looked up at him. Beside her, Alphys looked down guiltily. She only knew from the notes left behind in the lab, even though she'd once been his assistant.
"yeah...after he fell the core somehow erased his entire existence from the world. nobody remembered him, not even my little brother." Sans looked up, noticing everyone slowly filling out towards town. He motioned for the girls to walk with him so they could continue their conversation and not be left behind. The perma-grin that seemed to always be plastered to his face was gone, instead turned down in a sad frown. "i was visiting the lab when it happened so i guess that could explain why i remember, i dunno. his assistants all dissapeared too, 'cept Alphys."
"M-me?!" The yellow dino monster flinched.
"yeah, you were the new intern. probably why you were able to get the job as the new royal scientist so quickly. Asgore must have had some hint in the back of his mind that you were familiar. i noticed a few people remembered a few things, but it was always broken and missing a few pieces at most. they couldn't recall the name but might remember a moment or they would have an old photo and notice there was something missing or that a figure was blotchy or blurred so much it was unrecognizable." Sans then pulled an old piece of paper from his pocket, showing them a crudely drawn picture of three smiling people, one with cracks drawn on the face. "Paps drew this when he was little, but couldn't remember who the third person was...he drew dad and thought it was just an imaginary friend..." He looked at the paper for a few moments longer before stuffing it back into his pocket, cold gaze looking back at Lou. "so tell me, ?"
• • •
Lou flinched as Sans' voice took a sudden threatening undertone. His sockets were void black and the way he loomed over her much smaller form made her feel even tinier. A chill ran up her spine as she tried to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. "B-because we've seen him. O-or at least I've seen him. A-Alphys still j-just sees a blurry black blob..."
The skeleton in front of her stilled completely, the terrifying from loosing some of its intensity. He still had an uncharacteristic frown, but it was more out of shock than a threat now. The lights in his sockets didn't return. "y-you what?"
"Gaster? Y-your dad, I've seen him. Talked to him...kinda. We usually sign or he makes messages pop up on my phone in wingdings." She ran her tongue over her lips in hopes of getting rid of the dryness in her mouth, but it didn't help much. "H-he's really tall, n-not quite as tall as Paps but tall. There are holes in the palms of his hands and he's a skeleton...I think. His body is kinda goopy right now. There's a crack in his skull by his eye sockets and he has lights in them like you do!" The human ran her finger over where Gaster's cracks were on her own face. "His left eye socket is a little droopy though, but I think he said that's from being in the void."
As she continued to describe is father, Sans was silent and simply stared at her. Somewhere along the way the lights that she'd dubbed his pupils came back. They were small, which usually signified fear or shock, probably the later. His stance relaxed and all he could do was stare, pinpricks of light looking right at her face. They widened slightly as she traced the cracks on her own head, one stretching up from the left eye towards the back of her head while the other connected her right eye to her mouth.
"It took a while before he finally talked to me to be honest and he still won't tell me everything, but I trust that he's not a bad guy. He's stuck Sans, and he misses you and Papyrus. He feels bad about not being there for you growing up, that he couldn't teach you things or even just be there when things got tough. N-now I don't know how you feel about all of that but I promised him I'd help him get home." His eyes now looked right into hers. Those deep brown eyes suddenly burned with intense DETERMINATION and courage that he'd never seen in her. She was stubborn, unable to simply leave anything be, especially if someone asked her for help or heaven forbid...she made a promise. When this girl said she would do something, she did it.
"you plan on bringing Gaster back? how?"
"W-we're building a machine th-that should restore his old form. W-we may not be able t-to restore old memories, b-but we should a-at least be able to remve him from th-the void and back t-to our r-realm of existence." Alphys adjusted her glasses, looking up at Sans. "We have the basic schematics b-but we're having trouble with the design and how it works. I-if I can figure out the physics and operation behind it, I-I can build the device no p-problem."
Sans looked down, humming as he scratched his head. "i have some old blueprints and a broken machine back in Snowdin...think we could use that as a base?"
"We?" The two glanced at each other, then back to Sans.
"you really didn't think i'd let ya bring back my old man without help, did ya?" He grinned. "come on, we can talk more after the party."
Papyrus was overjoyed, more than happy to show off his new armor to the other monsters that gathered at Muffet's. Grillby had even closed up his bar for a little while to attend and help serve drinks. Everyone was smiling and laughing, talking about how much fun the quest had been and how great it had been to do all of that play fighting. Doggo made a comment about being a bit rusty while the Dogi were too busy petting each other and praising each other for their performances. Surprisingly enough, Muffet actually had a few things set out for a discount. The only free thing was Toriel's pies, which were eaten long before they had time to properly cool.
Lou sat with her boys in an attempt to hide from all of the compliments she got on her dress.
"You were the princess? Wow, you look amazing!"
"Haha, I should have known you'd be the princess, Lou." One monster commented with a wink and a sly smile. Sans had growled at them and they quickly left.
After a while of munching on spider cookies and drinking cider, Grillby finally came over to say his hellos. He complimented Lou on her dress, kissing her hand and bowing like the gentleman he was. His actions left her cheeks red and her voice in a stutter even after he left.
Not once did the boys ever leave her side.
"Looks like the knight is protecting his princess." Undyne gave Alphys a light jab, flashing a cocky sharp toothed grin. "Sweater Scarf 1."
"S-so is the Mage!" Her girlfriend huffed, glaring up at the fish woman. "P-punchline is m-much farther ahead than Sweater Scarf!" The two glared daggers at each other for a while, sizing up the other's competition.
"Well I say it's gonna be Papyrus."
"A-and I say it's Sans!" Alphys squeaked. Her confidence had been getting better and better every day.
"You realize this means war...shipping war..." Undyne squinted at her.
"M-may the best ship win..."
Author's Note: OMG I am so so sorry this took so damn long! I never meant for the hiatus to last this long! DX I can't promise to update every week, but I will say that I am working on getting the next arc set up! God, it's been so hard to get everything together. Like seriously, I suddenly got bombarded by ideas for a few other fits and I've been bouncing between those and this that whole time! - Hopefully I can start updating a little more regularly now. I won't promise that the hiatus is over, but I hope finally ending the little Knight!Papyrus mini-arc will be enough to tide you all over until next time. Up next: a shipping war between Undyne and Alphys, with Lou and the skelebros stuck in the middle!