Don't Forget

by The Lord of Silence

Asriel returns home to find that not everything is as it should be. His brother seems off; distant and unstable. Out of the blue Kris has made several new friends and is spending his time on mysterious things. But there is more at work than a young man going through a phase. Something has been forgotten. Something dangerously important. (Undertale-Deltarune connection)

2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day Asriel woke up to find that Kris was gone. That was surprising enough on its own, but on top of that his bed was made. The sheets and blankets were all tucked in neatly and stretched smooth. It looked like the bed hadn't been slept in at all last night. Wondering if he had massively overslept somehow, Asriel sat up and after a large yawn, reached over to the bedroom window. Pulling aside one of the curtains he saw that outside it was still a grey early morning. The sun couldn't have risen more than an hour ago at most.

Kris had gotten up that early and actually made his bed? He'd made it to a pristine standard as well. Frowning, Asriel decided that he should probably get up too. As tempting as it was to sleep in, he didn't want to risk building a bad habit. Setting his feet down on the soft carpeted floor, Asriel reached up to the ceiling in a long stretch.

In the middle of it he stopped. The birdcage was gone. The red wagon was still in the corner, but sometime last night the cage had been taken away. The grey blanket that had covered it lay in a crumpled heap in the bottom of the wagon. Asriel supposed that Kris must have taken the cage away, but why? Was it because Asriel had asked about it last night? Asriel was sure something had been inside of it. Perhaps Kris had been keeping a sparrow or something in secret and slipped out to release it. That would explain his getting up so early, though it wouldn't explain the neatly made bed.

Shrugging it off, Asriel gathered up some clothes. A rugged pair of jeans with large pockets and a loose black t-shirt with the words "Very Interesting" on it, over a man with glasses raising a curious eyebrow. He could come back and grab his dark purple hoodie if it turned out to be cold. He slipped downstairs, listening out for any signs of movement. No sound came from downstairs or from Toriel's room. She was presumably still asleep, while Kris was out of the house entirely.

Stepping into the bathroom, Asriel remembered his parents say how Kris had been disappearing early in the morning and staying out all day. He hoped that Kris would be back sooner rather than later. He'd told Asogre that he'd try to bring Kris with him to visit for lunch today. That and well, Asriel just wanted to spend some time with his brother. Even though he had been the one to spend months in a radically new and different environment, Kris seemed to be the one who had changed. That was, if Asriel hadn't somehow forgotten just how bad things had been with Kris when he left.

Sighing, he turned on the shower and let the hot water soak through his fur. The warmth and the steady sound of the shower were soothing. Asriel let his thoughts drift freely away from his worries about Kris. Straight away they went running to her, like a lost puppy to its owner. Asriel snickered as he realised how fast his mind had flown in that direction. Despite that he didn't try to resist. The pleasant thoughts seemed to wash out his mind like the soap and water washing his fur.

"I should probably talk to Dad about it," he mused as he scrubbed shampoo through the thick patch of hair on top of his head, "The longer I leave it the worse it'll be." Asriel snorted, "I shouldn't think of it like it's a bad thing," he told himself. "I'm sure it'll be alright."

Having fur certainly had a drawback or two when it came to keeping clean, especially when it was long like Asriel's. Usually when he showered, he'd just get it wet and then dry it with a hairdryer. That alone would take a while. But he hadn't washed himself thoroughly for several days now so-since he had nowhere he needed be this morning-he was giving himself the full treatment. It was quite the process, as most areas needed to be washed twice. In the end it took almost a full half hour for Asriel to be done. He had always envied how much faster Kris could be in the shower if he wanted. Not that he had a track record for that, often taking just as long as Asriel, if not longer. Goodness knows what he did for all that time.

Finally dried and dressed, Asriel stepped out into the kitchen. The time had been worth it, he decided. He felt unclogged and refreshed.

To his surprise Asriel discovered Kris sat at the kitchen table, eating cereal. He looked up at Asriel as he entered, nodding to him. "Good morning," Kris said, as soon as he'd finished his mouthful.

"Morning," replied Asriel. "You're up early," he remarked, moving around the table to reach the cupboards.

"I had some things to do," explained Kris. He hesitated, glancing down at his breakfast with a pained expression. "Sorry about last night," he said, not looking up. "I was, tired, I guess." The apology was clearly very reluctant, but it put a smile on Asriel's face regardless.

"That's ok," he said. "You had been out all day practicing mysterious things," he added with a chuckle.

Kris made a small, lopsided smile. "I wasn't doing anything bad," he said, watching as Asriel poured cereal into a bowl. "I'm just, not ready to show anyone yet."

"Oh yeah? You learning to dance or something?" asked Asriel.

"Or something," agreed Kris.

"I was thinking we could go see Dad," explained Asriel, not pressing Kris for any more info. If his brother wanted to keep a hobby of his secret that was ok. Asriel knew how embarrassed he could get about his personal things. When they were little kids Kris would make up different imaginary worlds and special games using rules only he knew. Asriel had tried to tell other kids about their games and get them involved, but Kris had always gotten so shy and flustered about it that he'd eventually given up.

Asriel doused the cereal with milk before he went on. "I told him yesterday that we'd go visit him," he explained.

"At what time?" asked Kris.

"Around lunch time," said Asriel, shutting the fridge and carrying his breakfast over to the table. "He thinks we should go to QC's Diner, like old times."

"I can do that," nodded Kris, "It could be nice."

"You have other stuff to do today?" wondered Asriel.

"A few things," agreed Kris. "I have some people I need to spend time with. But the first one's this morning and the other one I can do whenever."

"Is one of those people Susie?" asked Asriel. He was curious to meet the girl. Maybe she'd grown up a bit over the last year and become a bit more sociable. At any rate, if she had made friends with Kris, she was a rarer breed than most.

"No," said Kris, shaking his head. "Susie and I are going to meet together tomorrow."

"Then, who are you meeting?"

"He and his brother moved here a little while ago," said Kris. "You could come meet him if you want. He'd like you."

"Well, I'm not doing anything else this morning."

---

If he had to use one word to describe this place it would be damp. If he could use a few more he would have said damp, mouldy and creepy. He would have put creepy last because he'd been here enough times to get over that. The mist shrouded corridors were empty, the occasional rattles or distant footsteps amounted to nothing and the markings in the dust were left by rats. At least he was pretty sure it was rats. Ok, maybe this place was still a bit creepy.

Sans ignited his eye at a low intensity. Faint cyan light bathed the dingy room, reflecting off the lines of blank monitors on the far wall. The first time he had been here there had been power, but every time since the big overhead bar lights had remained off. Odds were that they wouldn't have worked anymore even with electricity.

The skeleton looked around, trying to find some element of this place that he recognised. There was a large table covered in plastic binders stuffed with stained papers. A bank of screens with a large complicated looking control panel was opposite him. Rust had begun to accumulate on parts of it. Not surprising given how damp the place was. Most noticeable was the large dark stain in the middle of the floor. It was in a splatter pattern and at the centre some of the tiles had cracked under the force of an impact.

Sans glanced back up at the ceiling, just to make sure he hadn't somehow missed a gaping hole. There were no signs of damage up there, apart from the kind caused by mildew and water. Sans bent over to examine the stain, increasing the intensity of his eye to try and get a better look. Though it had dried out a long time ago, a layer of black sludge was streaked out from the epicentre.

"yup," Sans grimaced, "that's dust all right." Some unlucky monster had been incinerated. The heat had been intense enough that it turned their dust into bubbling tar in a split second. That was what the stain was: a corpse. Dust that would never be scattered or sprinkled by that monster's loved ones. "who were you?" wondered Sans, "did i know you?" There was no way to know, and not just because of the state the monster's remains were in.

With a sigh, Sans figured he might as well take a look at the binders on the table. As usual with this place, most of the writing was indecipherable. Lines of crazy symbols or hands making gestures covered each sheet of paper. A few of them had diagrams though, mostly showing technical specs. Sans stared at them blankly. "geez," he muttered, "give me some statistics and calculations any day of the week. for all i know, this stuff could be blueprints for a special kind of microwave." He snorted. yeah, one that microwaves you soul.

The second binder proved a little more useful. It was also covered in the same odd symbols, albeit in much messier handwriting than the first. What was important was that this one had numbers. "6x is equal to 5D when divided by u," Sans read. "that's, actually not helpful at all. i can't read the freakin' notes to tell what the constants are." Again he was obliged to turn to the diagrams. Most were graphs showing the relationships between different pieces of data. Wave lines, curves and straight lines, all of which were meaningless without being able to read the strange code the notes used.

Sans was just about to give up and try looking in another room when he noticed a piece of card sticking out from between a few pages at the back. He turned to that page and hissed through his teeth. "this again." The card was a photograph off three people, though not the same people as before. The first photo he'd found had been two monsters Sans didn't recognise and himself. The next one was a small boss monster, a human he'd never seen and something that had had the shape of a human, but clearly wasn't one. This one was two monsters and a human. Sans had spotted the waterhorse girl around town a few times this past week, albeit she was purple rather than pink like she was in the photo. The other monster he'd never seen. And then there was the human. The human who had come over and started chatting to him the day after Sans had set up shop, as if they were old friends.

"It's great to see you," they had said, a huge smile on their face. And yet they had never met before.

"or have we?" mused Sans, looking down at the photograph. The words 'don't forget' had been scrawled on it in what was definitely his handwriting. "sorry me," grunted Sans, "seems like i did. assuming i wrote that for me, of course." His gaze flickered down to the page the photo had been tucked into. "well hello there, sweetheart," said Sans. On the page was a diagram of seven hearts, each filled in with a different colour. There were labels written in the strange symbols, but also translations into English.

Cyan Heart: Patience, Rate of Occurrence 12%

Purple Heart: Perseverance, Rate of Occurrence 12%

Green Heart: Kindness, Rate of Occurrence 20%

Blue Heart: Integrity, Rate of Occurrence 11%

Yellow Heart: Justice, Rate of Occurrence 8%

Orange Heart: Bravery, Rate of Occurrence 18%

Red Heat: Determination, Rate of Occurrence 0.01%

"only adds up to 81," Sans noted. The explanation was probably in the coded writing. There was however a very large note scrawled at the bottom of the page and underlined several times. "souls featuring a dominant concentration of DT are likely to be highly dangerous," Sans read. "such souls are unnatural, possibly the by-products of a fox. a fox? what, like the dog?" wondered Sans, looking up to ask the question of the dark room. The only response was that of water dripping from some broken pipe down the hall. "any human suspected of being a DT type carrier," continued Sans, "should be neutralised by whatever means seem most viable."

Below the warning note was Sans' own signature: s.s. Beneath that someone had written a short response in very neat handwriting, though they had used the weird hand symbols for it. Underneath they had signed W.D.G. Those initials meant nothing to Sans, but the words he saw when he turned the page did. A short memo, written in normal letters had been slipped in, seemingly a response to the previous one:

'To our most honourable Royal Scientist,

While we understand the reluctance this information has given you in regard to Project: Deliverance, we must urge you to continue. While such a creature could well pose a grave threat to us, we cannot overlook our royal duty to our people. Moreover, as you have stated the odds are stacked against one of these 'Player' events and we find the risks to be acceptable. Please, we have all placed our faith in you, and you have yet to disappoint us. I believe in you,

Asgore Dreemurr, King of all Monsters, Lord of New Home, Master of the Royal Guard, in the one hundred and twenty first year of his reign'

Sans whistled through his teeth. This was, big. Nah, scratch that: this was huge, colossal! And it made no sense at all. He had, of course, heard of the Dreemurrs and how they had once set themselves up as the Kings of all Monsters. But, the last of those kings had died over two hundred years ago. Asgore, the head of the Dreemurr family, had never been king. At least not yet. The possibility of time travel had not slipped by Sans when he had first started to investigate, but he had still always thought it unlikely. This changed things though. If this wasn't somehow from the future, then what could it be? Parallel universe/alternate timeline? Some sort of bizarre memory wiping spell or technology? "aliens, obviously," said Sans. Even without an audience the joke fell flat.

He looked back at the photo. Who was the third monster? Actually, now that he thought about it, was that a monster? Sans peered closer and tried to dilute the colour of his eye a little. He had never actually seen a creature like that before. He had assumed it was a monster because he could tell straight away that it wasn't human. But the more he looked, the more Sans realised that he had no idea what it was. His eyes flickered back to the human. The strange human who had seemed to know things that he couldn't have. What was his name again?

---

"KRIS! YOU HAVE ARRIVED!"

Asriel watched in stunned silence as Kris walked up to the 7-foot-tall skeleton and gave him a hug. The skeleton happily returned the gesture, briefly lifting the human off the ground. Kris smiled up at him. "Hello Papyrus," he said, his soft voice seemingly nigh on silent when put up against the skeleton's booming. "This is my brother, Asriel." Kris turned and gestured in Asriel's direction, prompting Papyrus to notice him for the first time.

"YOUR SIBLING? MARVELLOUS!" declared Papyrus. He crossed over to Asriel with two long strides and grasped his hand for a firm shake. "I AM PAPYRUS, PAPYRUS THE SKELETON. ASPIRING CHEF AND ASPIRING CHAMPION FIGHTER!"

Pushing through his bewilderment, Asriel shook back. "I'm Asriel, Asriel Dreemurr," he said, "aspiring physicist, I guess."

"PHYSICIS?" Papyrus wondered, a sceptical expression coming over his face. "HE DOES NOT TELL PUNS, DOES HE?" he asked, looking over at Kris.

"Not usually," Kris assured him. While to most people the smile Kris had on would have seemed downright subdued, to someone who knew him as well as Asriel his face was positively glowing.

"WELL THAT'S ALL RIGHT THEN," said Papyrus, letting go of Asriel's hand. "WELCOME, ASRIEL, TO THE SCENIC LOCATION OF: MY HOUSE!" Papyrus performed a grand gesture, throwing his right arm out wide towards the two-story wooden house behind him. It was a picturesque building made of neat wooden boards with a pristinely tiled roof. A small balcony jutted off one side and the windows had quaint wooden shutters on them. Though, now that Asriel thought about it, he didn't remember this house having been here when he left. There had been a house here, an empty one, but not this one. He guessed that the old one must have been knocked down and this one built over it while he was away.

"PLEASE, DO FEEL FREE TO ENTER," said Papyrus, motioning towards the front door. Not hesitating in the least, Kris sprung up the steps and swung the door open. Still smiling, he looked over his shoulder and nodded for Asriel to follow. Still feeling a bit bewildered, Asriel followed his brother inside.

Unlike the outside of the house, the inside was much more ordinary, and a bit run down. Weird, given that the house was fairly new. There was a wavy blue and purple carpet on the floor that was not soft to walk on at all. The only thing to sit on was a faded green sofa, set directly opposite a TV. Upstairs there were two doors that looked like they went to bedrooms and a third that presumably opened onto the balcony outside. Between the two bedroom doors hung a large painting of a bone. Asriel supposed that was appropriate, in a weird sort of way.

Papyrus entered the house behind the two brothers. "WELCOME TO THE SKELETON HOUSEHOLD!" he said. "I AM SORRY THAT MY BROTHER IS NOT HERE TO GREET YOU. SANS WENT OUT EARLY THIS MORNING FOR 'BUSINESS'." The quote marks were so audible Asriel half expected them to appear on either side of Papyrus' head. "BUT WORRY NOT," he blustered on, "I, PAPYRUS, SHALL BE SUCH A TERRIFIC HOST AS TO COMPENSATE FOR HIS ABSENCE!"

"What are we doing today, Papyrus?" asked Kris, wandering over to sit on the sofa.

"IN MY RESEARCH INTO FRIENDSHIP," began Papyrus, adopting a lecturing posture, "I HAVE DISCOVERED A FASCINTING ACTIVITY THAT FRIENDS ENGAGE IN, SAID TO INSPIRE COMRADERY AND PLATONIC AFFECTION. PLEASE, WAIT JUST ONE MOMENT AND I SHALL RETRIEVE WHAT IS NEEDED." Quick as a flash, Papyrus darted up the stairs and into the first bedroom.

Asriel stared blankly at where the skeleton had just been. "So, what do you think?" asked Kris.

"He's...energetic," said Asriel.

Kris chuckled. "I guess you could say that, yeah," he nodded. "I know he seems a bit, odd, but he's fun, I promise."

Before Asriel could say anything more, the whirlwind that was Papyrus had come darting back downstairs again. There was a decent sized box clutched in his hands. "BEHOLD!" he cried, "ONE OF THE FINEST FRIENDSHIP BUILDING EXERCISES: MONOPOLY!" Papyrus slammed the box down on the floor and sat crossed legged in front of it. Even sitting down he was almost as tall as Kris was standing up. "IT IS A SIMULATION OF ECONOMIC STRAGERY," explained Papyrus, "WHERE ONE'S ABILITY TO ENDURE AND MAKE THE MOST OF THE TURNS OF FATE IS PUT TO THE TEST. YOUR SKILL IN MANAGING FINANCES IS HIGHLY VALUABLE, MAKING IT A USEFUL TRAINING TOOL FOR REAL LIFE BUSINESS. ALL THIS, WHILST PROVIDING A FRIENDLY SPIRIT OF COMPETITION WITH ONE'S FRIENDS!"

Grinning proudly, Papyrus began to unpack the game. Looking at the skeleton, Asriel wondered for the first time just how old he actually was. He was talking about monopoly like it was some sort of new idea. Asriel knew that some monsters grew faster than others, and he'd never met a skeleton before. Was Papyrus actually a child? He might well be, given how he was behaving.

Unperturbed, Kris settled down on the floor across from Papyrus, who had already laid out the game board. The human patted the ground next to him, looking at Asriel expectantly. Giving an internal shrug, Asriel sat down and watched as Papyrus began to deal out money for the three of them. He picked out the hat, as Papyrus set about explaining the game's rules. Asriel would have interrupted and said that he already knew how to play, but Kris was remaining silent, giving Papyrus' explanation his undivided attention.

Kris took the dog and Papyrus the race car. At first Asriel had expected that he would have to take it easy on Papyrus, but the exuberant skeleton quickly proved him wrong. Papyrus-despite his strange, almost childlike behaviour-turned out to be extremely strategic and insightful. Asriel had always been good at more analytical games (games based around patterns and creativity were Kris' area), but somehow, he found his own supply of money remained stagnant while Papyrus' grew and grew.

They played for about two hours, around which time Kris went bankrupt and had to tap out. Asriel and Papyrus played on for a bit longer, Kris watching with interest. After another ten minutes though, it was clear that Asriel wasn't going to win. Papyrus had gotten hotels down on many of the best properties and had control of all four railways. Asriel actually had no idea how the skeleton had managed that. "I think I have to forfeit," he admitted, "You win, Papyrus."

"HUZZAH!" cried Papyrus, leaping to his feet and pumping his bony fist in the air. "YOU PERFORMED ADMIRABLY, FRIEND ASRIEL," he went on, "I FOUND THIS EXPERIENCE TRULY STIMULATING. I HOPE THAT THIS HAS DEEPENED OUR NEW FRIENDSHIP." He offered Asriel one of his hands.

"Yeah," agreed Asriel, nodding and taking the outstretched hand, a wide smile on his face. "It was a fun time."

"SPLENDID," said Papyrus, pulling Asriel to his feet. "YOU PLAYED WELL TOO, KRIS," he added, turning to smile at the human who had gotten to his feet, "WE SHALL HAVE TO HAVE THIS COMPETITION AGAIN SOME TIME!"

Kris nodded, smiling. "That'd be fun, Papyrus," he said. "Maybe Sans could play with us next time?"

"YEEEEES," agreed Papyrus, looking awkwardly away to one side. "IF HE COULD-UH, THAT IS IF HE..." he trailed off, his enthusiasm suddenly curbed. Asriel watched an annoyed frown creep over Papyrus' face. "I WILL HAVE TO TRY AND ASK HIM SOME TIME, I SUPPOSE," he said at last. "ANYHOW! IT DRAWS NEAR TO TWELVE O'CLOCK; CAN I OFFER THE TWO OF YOU SOME LUNCH?"

"Oh, uh," stammered Kris, suddenly uncomfortable.

"That'd be nice," cut in Asriel, "but we're already supposed to meet our Dad for lunch. Thanks for the invitation though."

"AH, I SEE," said Papyrus, not the least offended. "BONDING WITH FAMILY IS AN IMPORTANT SOCIAL EXERCISE," he declared. "WHY, I REMEMBER WHEN I SPENT TIME WITH MY FATHER I...UM...ACTUALLY, COME TO THINK OF IT I DON'T REMEMBER," he admitted, a confused expression on his face. "HOW PECULIAR. NO MATTER!" Papyrus dismissed the thoughts with a wave of his hand. "THE TWO OF YOU HAD BEST BE GOING," he went on, once again all smiles and vigour, "YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE LATE FOR YOU APPOINTMENT."

"Right," murmured Kris, eyes flicking down to stare at the blue and purple carpet.

"Thanks for your hospitality Papyrus," said Asriel, moving towards the door. "It was great meeting you."

"AND YOU AS WELL, BROTHER OF KRIS," smiled Papyrus. "A HAPPY LUNCHEON TO YOU!"

"Goodbye!" called Asriel, waving and stepping out the front door.

"Bye Papyrus," he heard Kris say. There was rustling of fabric as Kris gave the giant skeleton a goodbye hug before following Asriel out the door.

"GOODBYE, FRIENDS!" Papyrus called after them, continuing to wave as they walked down the street and eventually out of sight.