It was the coming of morn. The crisp, air swept the snow from side to side, leaving perfect knolls all over the wintry landscape. The people that reside in this locality of the Underground slept soundly in their households, the warmth of their beds keeping them from getting up. There was but two mysterious natives - or rather, visitors, their original whereabouts forever an enigma - who stood out amongst the rest. One of them was a scrawny, eccentric skeleton, with unsurpassed verve. Papyrus the Skeleton was up at the crack of dawn, hard at work in his favorite past-time. He laid out plans for puzzles to the west of town, building intricate mounts of snow, as he tested them out for their difficulty levels. If one was not to his liking, he persevered and re-built them again and again, with no intent to quit. He often spoke to himself when elaborating his next steps in his projects. Every now and then, he returned home to study on puzzle-building, whenever he hit a wall in his progress. With every try, he expanded on his multiple developments scattered throughout the area.
The Canine Unit of the Royal Guard, which guarded the general populace of Snowdin, didn't seem to mind. In fact, they found the skeleton's hard work a sight to behold. They admired, yet were quite puzzled, at the extend of the lively skeleton's endeavors. However, as impressive as he was, they couldn't find it in them to make acquaintances with him. He was callow, weird - wearing an outfit from a costume party spoke for itself - and too obnoxiously loud for many. It was still a poor excuse for not liking somebody different than the rest. As much as it internally bothered the skeleton that he was not generally accepted, he pushed forward, hoping to one day become a Royal Guard. In his mind, the prestigious title would finally earn him friends, and a new-found popularity from respect.
Papyrus's first step was to get Undyne, the Head of the Royal Guard, to acknowledge his reliance, trust, and fortitude. One day, he went to Undyne's house in Waterfall, begging to become a Royal Guard. After slamming the door on him, Papyrus stood by patiently waiting on her doorstep for her approval. He stayed locked in place all through the night. Once Undyne woke up and saw him waiting outside for her, even after the brute rejection, she was astounded, impressed with his devotion and resolve. After a brief test of his skills shortly after their first meeting, her suspicions after his first impression were confirmed: Undyne could not admit him to be a full-pledged guard; Papyrus was far too virtuous for battle. His innocence rendered him, in Undyne's eyes, unable to defend the people of the Underground under any circumstance. However, Undyne was too enticed by his tenacity. Instead, she decided to give him cooking lessons, coining them 'special warrior training'. It didn't take long for the scaled, intimidating warrior to warm up to the proud, vivacious skeleton, developing a genuine friendship with him. Papyrus looked up to Undyne for guidance, with a variety of fun times that came with the unconventional lessons she taught him. It was the perfect opportunity to relieve him of his loneliness, and made his days all the more fulfilling.
As if one skeleton wasn't already enough, there was an older brother, who was completely unlike the persistent, animated brother. He was roused from his slumber by the loud knocking on his door, as his polar opposite did every morning, to remind him of his sentry duty job. If Papyrus didn't do this, he knew that the older brother wouldn't get up for another hour or two. Half-asleep as usual, he put on his slippers, put on the same blue hoodie as always, and took a shortcut to the sentry station near the Ruins. As soon as he arrived, he closed his eyes, putting his arms on the counter and fell asleep.
Sans the Skeleton was short in stature, with an easygoing, passive demeanor, accompanied by his well-known witty humor and immature prankster habits. He was easy to talk to, cracked a few bad jokes in almost every conversation, and was surprisingly clever and knowledgeable. It was without a shadow of a doubt that the monsters of the Underground preferred him over the other brother; it was easy to see who was under the other's shadow, sadly enough for Papyrus, who seeks to be popular. However, with the personality traits that Sans possessed came the negative that irritated Papyrus to not end; he was a sloth. A sloppy one, at that. Sans would rarely ever take care of his belongings at their house. Papyrus usually did the chores, although he couldn't be bothered with Sans' messy room, which even had a trash tornado.
Per usual, the least Papyrus could do that actually made a difference for his lazy brother was to wake him up, then head out of Snowdin to work on his puzzles. Papyrus always preferred being up early to get as much time for work as possible. Meanwhile, Sans took his time, since he didn't have to walk to his station. His ability to take shortcuts complimented his slack, and also was his biggest convenience for his job. Every hour or so, Sans teleported to the other sentry stations he manned throughout the Underground. Once it got to be around his break time, he teleported near the Ruins to see how Papyrus was holding up, then headed back home to take a brief nap. Soon, it would be lunch time and he'd head to Grillby's.
It was another day.
Undyne's shoes plodded on the deep, frozen tundra, her footsteps leaving a trail on the ivory, cloudless snow. The mystical grotto's sodden weather drifted as she continued onwards to Papyrus' house in the chilly, homely little town of Snowdin. She yearned for the fresh mist on her gills already. Undyne would have to settle for the snowflakes melting on her scales, causing shivers to crawl down her spine from every drop. How the Underground managed to gather snowfall was unknown to the locals, but couldn't be bothered to find out why. All they yearned for was life on the surface, and at the same time, living their lives as comfortably as they could in their charming community, waiting for that fateful day. The day they are set free from their confinement from the outside world.
As Undyne made it to her destination, she took a deep breath, trying to plan out how to tell Sans about her concern for Papyrus. However the delivery of the subject went, Papyrus's safety was of the utmost importance, and no amount of sugar-coating was going to get the meeting anywhere. With that, Undyne rapped at the door, exhaling her held breath. The door opened. For once, she was relieved to see Papyrus's older brother.
"Sans, I need to talk to you for a moment. It's important," Undyne said solemnly, keeping herself succinct, as she stood on the house's snow-covered doorstep.
"interesting." It's about my brother, is it not, Sans inquired to himself. He read her like a book. Sans winked his left eye, giving Undyne a warm welcome, despite her troubled expression. "come on in."
"Thanks. I expected you to be a little less lenient with me after..." Undyne slowly pulled the knob of the door behind her carefully, the wind chill slamming the door shut. "You know."
"oh. that." Sans briefly remembered what happened in the Throne Room. "is uh, the garden better now? i haven't been there for a while to see for myself."
"Yes," Undyne replied tersely.
There was an uneasy silence, the room slightly cold from the chilling gale from outside. Sans then spoke up, curious about her unforeseen presence.
"papyrus is over by the ruins preparing his puzzles for the time being. just so you know. "
Undyne looked at him dumbly. Come on just say it! He is already onto you! It's not that difficult, Undyne scolded herself. "Sans," Undyne walked on over towards the kitchen, spotting the pet rock. She smiled at the thought of Papyrus' tender care for the rock, covered in colorful sprinkles. Papyrus, you are too good for him, she thought about Sans with disapproval. Then, she frowned, as she started.
"I think it's time for your brother to have actual warrior training." Sans winced at her words. He calmly moved from his position to save face, pacing pensively in the living room. "Now, I know that Papyrus is an absolutely lovable dork, who I can't even begin to imagine hurting someone. But I need to see if he can fight. Papyrus needs to learn now, rather than later, god forbid that happens."
Sans stayed silent. Sans had already stopped his roaming. He vacantly stared at the blank screen of the TV.
"Sans, did you hear me at all?"
"yes." Sans looked down at his pink, fluffy slippers, tapping his right foot on the hardwood floor.
"Look. Papyrus... may be the nicest, most amiable trusting monster in the whole Underground. And I realized recently that it's a weakness he can't afford to have. He is fearless, and would welcome ANYBODY with open arms. He doesn't know about the humans like we do. We get to them before anybody else gets to actually interact with them. We do our jobs, and nobody gets to see what transpired. But what if a human comes through here and tries to get all friendly? And what if they decide to attack out of self-defense?" Sans blinked once, shutting his eyes as he turned away at the unwelcome mental image. "don't remind me."
Undyne moved towards Sans, trying to get him to face her. He needed to see how severe the reality of the situation is; that her words were serious and sincere about the matter. "What if it happened to Papyrus? What will happen if he approaches them, expecting nothing less than good in them? What then?"
"stop. i don't want to know," Sans whispered, unable to look at her.
"Then let's do it! Let's make it so he won't have to go through what you did, being held at knife-point! We need to teach him that holding back his attacks isn't safe in the long-run! That way, he will know what to do when the time comes. We both know all too well it is bound to happen. You don't want to know about the worst case scenario, right? Let's help him so he can help himself when he comes face-to-face with a human!" Undyne finished what she had to say, waiting with bated breath for the older brother's approval. His face said it all; his closed eyes were tightly shut, with a a despondent expression, as his perpetual grin quivered. Sans did not want to hear any of this, yet with a heavy heart, he knew he had to. The room was fit for a funeral house gathering. Finally, he turned to face her.
"... ok," Sans agreed with reluctance. I hope he can forgive me. Wait. No. I know he will. He's so cool, Sans thought in adoration at his younger brother's moral standing. Papyrus, if only I could have the heart you have.
"Thank you, Sans."
"no undyne. thank you for looking out for my brother. i wanted, and still do, want to decline on this whole warrior training thing. but... he means the world to me. as much as i love his attempts at cooking spaghetti, denying him the chance to fight for himself, for the sake of keeping him free of worry and complacent, will do him more harm than good in the future. i was being selfish and too focused on his happiness. so uh," Sans muttered, feeling awkward, "yeah. sorry about that."
"It's all good! I guess I underestimated you. I didn't think you'd handle this so maturely," Undyne replied, trying to find a way to ease the tension. "Err, no offense, but sleeping at your sentry stations is something that I have known you for before you got the job you have now. And well," Undyne lit up brightly, "I guess it kinda got ingrained in my mind!" Undyne joked, a razor grin spread over her face, contented and satisfied with how the conversation turned out. Sans grinned back cordially, his doubts melting away. "heh. yup."
"Well, let's get to work! First, we have to figure out how to we can get him to come to the warrior training. That will be our priority. I have a good idea already! Your brother will take the bait, but err, I have a feeling he will feel betrayed over not getting to cook spaghetti as always."
"that's fine. i prank him often anyway. he's used to little bouts of trickery."
"You're unbelievable."
"unbelievably awesome." Sans wisecracked with a wink. Undyne groaned. "Ugh god, no wonder your brother reacts the way he does whenever you make a terrible joke."
"i don't know what you're talking about. my jokes are sansational."
"Wow, a bit full of yourself, are you?"
"i haven't gotten to eat lunch just yet."
Undyne face-palmed in defeat. There was no winning a battle of wits against this skeleton. "Fine! At this point, I think I'm just giving you more material to work with."
"hey uh, you haven't told me your plan yet," Sans reminded her, as he plopped himself on the couch, his arms stretched out behind his neck, relaxing as he closed his eyes. "i'm all ears."
Undyne stepped towards Papyrus' laid-back brother on the couch, cocking her head as she analyzed the skeleton's facial features. "Sans, you have no ears!"
"so how is it that i could hear what you had to say this whole time?"
Undyne was perplexed by this question. She looked dumbfounded, unable to find a comeback.
"Let's leave it at magic!"
"sound like a perfectly logical answer," Sans agreed, at the same time musing at the subject matter. Huh. I don't know either. That answer is as good any.
"Alright! Sans! Are you ready to help Papyrus?"
"sure am."
The success of their discussion about Papyrus' security filled them with Determination.
Undyne and Sans told Papyrus that they had a surprise for him over in Waterfall. As part of their plan, they decided to lead Papyrus towards the limits of the humid cavern. If they immediately told Papyrus what their actual intent was, Papyrus would have never tagged along. So far, the skeleton was more than happy to oblige, and followed them. Papyrus eagerly talked about his day, and the new puzzles he has come up with in the case that a human falls. He mentioned how he would befriend them after a series of his great japes. Ironically, Papyrus had no idea that he was alongside child murderers. He was not allowed to know. It would break his spirit to learn that the two people he loved most in the world would go as far as commit such atrocities. Or maybe his spirit would remain as intact as ever; he can't help but see the good in everybody.
Papyrus ran straight ahead of Undyne and Sans, paying no mind to the narrow stalagmite path, where one could easily fall. Either Papyrus isn't afraid of heights, or he was too exuberant about the surprise he had in store for him. As soon as he beat them to the obscure location, he giddily ran in circles, waiting for Undyne and Sans to meet him. However, as he began to settle down, Papyrus stopped dead in his tracks, pausing to warily look around his environment. Why a surprise would be near a stupendous, drab mountain startled Papyrus. Then, he came to realize that this sort of surprise was not a present of any sort. Papyrus was no longer looking forward to the surprise. He wanted to go home.
"... UNDYNE. SANS... WHERE'S THE SURPRISE? IS IT..." Papyrus' vibrant expression fell.
"IS IT NOT AN ACTUAL GIFT-WRAPPED PRESENT?"
"heh. no papyrus. in fact, we never even told you what it was. you have quite an active imagination though. maybe after this surprise we can give you an actual gift-wrapped present."
Papyrus gasped, his eyes shining brighter than ever.
"WOWIE! I CAN'T WAIT! WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? SHOW ME THE SURPRISE ALREADY!"
Sans looked at Undyne, as she nodded back at him. "alright papyrus, ready?"
"READY AS I'LL EVER BE!"
"heh ok, close your eyes. and no peeking. take my hand."
"I DON'T SEE WHAT'S THE POINT IN THAT, BUT OKAY!" Papyrus was absolutely trusting. This pained his older brother. He couldn't help but feel disappointed with himself. Sans held his hand, leading him towards the entrance of the ominous crag. Undyne was quick to set up for the dire occasion.
"ok papyrus... open your eyes."
"OHHH, THIS IS TOO MUCH FOR..." Papyrus saw Undyne with her Royal Guard equipment on. She stood on top of the crag, with a doleful look on her face. "... SANS, WHAT IS GOING ON? WHY IS UNDYNE DRESSED FOR WORK...?"
"i'm sorry papyrus. see, the surprise is..." Sans couldn't bring himself to say it. Undyne felt for him, deciding to follow through with the plan.
"Papyrus... you will be fighting me today. There are no if's or but's about it. So, LET'S GO PAPYRUS! GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU GOT!" Undyne yelled, already charging at him with her azure spear on hand, clad in shining steel. Papyrus's lively attitude changed, horrified by this sudden development. Despite being in a state of panic, he refused to defend himself. He quickly raised his trembling hands, indicating for Undyne to stop.
"BUT I DON'T WANT TO!" Undyne veered her aim away from Papyrus at the last second, landing clumsily on the ground. I thought this would WORK! This was what she was afraid of. Sans interfered to try to talk sense into his terrified brother.
"papyrus, please fight undyne."
"ACCEPTING TO BATTLE MY BEST FRIEND? MY MENTOR? HMPH! I CAN'T FORCE MYSELF TO DO SOMETHING THAT IS COMPLETELY AGAINST MY MORAL STANDING." Papyrus then set his right hand to his chest, resolved to reach an understanding with the two, and uphold his principles. "I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! HURTING OTHERS IS WRONG. I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT I CAN TEACH ANY ADVERSARY THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS! THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO DIFFUSE A SITUATION RATHER THAN TO RESORT TO VIOLENCE, EVEN IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE SO, SANS," Papyrus stared at his older brother in disbelief. Welp, that hurt more than it should have, Sans reflected, but didn't dare give up on the plan.
"which is what makes you so cool. the world, however, would be a much less cool place if we were to lose you. please. do it once. battle undyne. give it all you got. just..." In desperation, Sans would say anything to get his stubborn brother to agree, "if you try just once, i promise you... that i will never force you to do something that is against your standards. papyrus, this is my ultimate promise. no matter what, i will abide by it, even if i disagree with you."
"SANS... DO YOU REALLY MEAN THAT, BROTHER?"
"absolutely. one-hundred percent mean it. i promise." Please accept. I already have said more than I should have, Sans anticipated anxiously. And I can't trust myself to keep my promise.
"... FINE. BUT I WON'T LIKE DOING THIS."
"i'm sorry papyrus, but i understa-"
"NO SANS. YOU DON'T," Papyrus cut him short of his attempt to empathize with him. He would have none of it, yet it didn't sit right with him to completely dismiss his efforts. Papyrus looked down at the ground, turning to face his brother again. "I HAVE TO ADMIT, I CAN'T HELP BUT FEEL DISTURBED BY HOW DETERMINED YOU BOTH ARE TO MAKE ME FIGHT." Papyrus approached his downcast brother, feeling the need to lift his spirits. Instinctively, he continued on to do what he always does best.
"BUT FEAR NOT, SANS, FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM NOT PETTY. I AM MORE THAN HAPPY TO FORGIVE YOU AND UNDYNE, ESPECIALLY WITH THE COMPASSION AND GENUINE CONCERN YOU ALL HAVE FOR ME. FOR THAT, I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL!"
Sans' SOUL shook, pained from the shock from such kind words. If kindness could kill, Sans would have fallen down long ago. What compassion? His SOUL was overcome with remorse, yet Sans fought to detach himself from his guilt. He is going about this too graciously. Why did we agree to this again, Undyne? Sans felt like a disgrace of an older brother, like he had committed the greatest sin of his life, for trying to force his merciful brother into combat.
"BROTHER, JUST FOR YOU, I WILL DO THIS. FOR SHOWING ME YOU CARE DEEPLY FOR ME. YOU MEAN A LOT TO ME, AND TO HEAR YOU TELLING ME SOMETHING MEANINGFUL MEANS A LOT. YOU BETTER NOT MAKE A JOKE OUT OF THIS PREDICAMENT YOU HAVE PUT ME IN!"
"heh. don't worry bro. this time, i won't. i'm already taking this very seriously."
"SO I SEE YOU ARE! WELL THEN. UNDYNE? ARE YOU READY?"
Undyne grinned avidly, itching for a fight. "Papyrus, I was BORN ready!"