Here's the next chapter!
Have a Happy Halloween!
XXX
Blue was cooking again, though this time, Papyrus had managed to convince him to try to make something other than tacos, hoping that his brother's cooking skills might be better in a different area. Unfortunately, Blue decided to attempt burritos, which weren't really very different at all.
Oh well, it was worth a shot.
Papyrus was in the kitchen with him so they could talk while Red was sitting outside, having wanted to spend more time alone.
"So, Alphys has been asking when we're going to bring Red to meet her. I tried telling her that sparring with him might not be the best idea, but she keeps insisting," spoke Blue. "I don't know if I should suggest it to Red or not. I feel like we might finally be convincing him that no one's going to hurt him here, and I don't want to ruin that by, well, someone sort-of trying to hurt him. I mean, Alphys doesn't really want to hurt him, but you get what I mean."
"Yeah, probably not a good idea for Alphys to attack him. Don't think that would go over very well," Papyrus replied to Blue's rambling. "But if she wants to meet him that badly, ya could just, like, invite her over, ya know?"
"Oh, that's a great idea!" Blue exclaimed. "I could ask her to do our cooking lessons here! Maybe Red will want to join in too!"
"Maybe."
Despite what he said, however, Papyrus was pretty certain that Red wouldn't be so keen on joining the lesson. He himself wasn't so keen on the idea of Alphys holding cooking lessons in their kitchen, considering the destruction she usually caused her own kitchen.
"It'll be so much fun! We can show Red how to make tacos!"
Blue opened up the drawer where they kept the knives, went to grab a knife, and paused.
"Hm. One of the knives is missing," he mused. "I wonder where it could have ended up."
One of the knives was missing? A thought suddenly popped into his head, and he had a feeling that he might know exactly where it had gone.
"Hold on, bro, I might know where it is."
Papyrus told him before teleporting away.
XXX
Red was sitting alone outside, watching the snow fall gently around him. It was hard to believe that he had been in an entirely different universe for two weeks now. It was hard to believe that he had almost died two weeks ago.
As he sat there in the cold, he wondered how Boss was reacting to this whole thing. As far as he knew, Red had, at the least, run away, or at worst, died. Was Boss angry with him? Sad he was gone? Did his brother miss him at all? If he were to return then and there, would Papyrus be glad he was back, or would he beat the crap out of him?
Did he miss Papyrus? After all the other skeleton had done to him, did he really miss his messed up brother and his messed up world? It wasn't as though he didn't prefer the lack of abuse, but he had never been away from his older brother for so long. And maybe it was just the fact that he was currently removed from the situation, but part of him wondered if there might still be hope that Papyrus would go back to the way he used to be one day. Some stupid part of him that should have died long ago hoped that maybe, just maybe, Sans disappearing would snap Papyrus out of his violent mindset. Maybe he would realize what he had done and how he could have lost Sans forever. Maybe he would be so relieved that he had come back alive that he would stop hurting him, possibly even be nice to him for once. He'd had a dream- an actual dream rather than a nightmare- like that a few nights ago. And when he woke up, still in this other universe and unsure of what would truly happen if he went home, he'd cried and stolen the knife again to chip at his bones.
He still had the knife, hidden in the deep pocket of his hoodie. Red knew he should have returned it, especially by now, as he had done after the first time he took it. With the way Blue was and how much time the other skeleton spent cooking, he was sure to notice its absence eventually.
And yet, he hadn't returned the knife to the drawer.
Beyond Papyrus, Red sort-of missed his own universe as well, despite how absolutely terrible it was. He knew what to expect there, and even if the expected was a pile of shit, it was familiar and he knew how to interact with that world.
This world, for all its sugar and rainbows and whatever, was hard. He never knew what these monsters were going to do or how they wanted him to respond. Red found himself constantly misinterpreting body language, misinterpreting words. It put him on edge in a whole new way, and he didn't like it. And, well, maybe that shouldn't be such a heavy weight pushing against escaping his abusive brother and terrible world, but it was.
Red wasn't sure how long he had been sitting outside, but eventually, this universe's Papyrus teleported next to him and took a seat.
"Hiya."
Red turned his head a bit to see him better, since Papyrus had appeared on the side where his skull was cracked and it was a bit harder to see from that eye.
"Hey," he returned the greeting.
"I see you've been chilling out here," Papyrus joked.
Red shrugged.
"I guess."
Papyrus lit up a cigarette he pulled from his pocket, taking a lazy drag from it before continuing the conversation.
"Apparently Alphys has been wanting to meet ya," he says.
"Hm," Red hums vaguely.
"She'll probably come over soon," continued the taller skeleton. "Either that or we'll end up bringing ya to meet her."
He took another drag from the cigarette, blowing the thick smoke into the cold air around them.
"Why exactly does she want to meet me?" Red questioned, his tone guarded.
"She has a secret ranking list of how strong all the different Sanses from the universes we contact are."
Red stared at him, trying to determine if he was kidding or not. Papyrus shrugged.
"Not my idea of fun, but whatever," he said. "Just figured I'd warn ya since she's probably gonna want to fight ya. She doesn't want to hurt ya, though. She's just determined and, well, really into axes."
"Wow, you make her sound like a fuckin' angel," Red replied sarcastically.
He wasn't sure if he wanted to meet this world's Alphys or not, but she did seem to be a more familiar type of person, at least. She was someone who wanted to fight and made her intentions clear. He'd take that over hidden agendas and fake attitudes any day.
Again, Papyrus breathed in a drag of smoke and puffed it out.
"I mean it though when I say she doesn't want to hurt ya," continued Papyrus. "Even when she [FIGHT]s an actual enemy, she gives them an axe to defend themselves with."
"That's pretty dumb," Red scoffed.
In his universe, such a [MERCY] would make you a laughingstock.
"I don't think it's dumb as much as not wanting to dust people," Papyrus disagreed. "And ya can relate to that, right? Ya said ya refuse to kill anyone, even though you're apparently expected to."
Red tensed, his hands gripping the cloth of his shorts. What was he supposed to say to that?
"Aw, don't look at me like that. Not wanting to go around murdering people's a good thing."
He rolled his eyelights.
"Not where I'm from, remember?"
Papyrus blew out some more smoke.
"Well, it's a good thing here, at least," Papyrus half-conceded. "People usually aren't too keen on killing their neighbors. And even when there's a few bad eggs, they get captured and held so they can't keep hurting people."
Red knew that Papyrus was going somewhere with this.
"Ya don't really need much else except some magic to keep yourself safe, and even that's not really necessary most of the time," he kept going, giving Red a pointed look. "Ya don't need weapons like knives or anything, at least."
Ah. There it was. This Papyrus knew he took the knife from the kitchen. He might have made the same misunderstanding that he assumed his own Papyrus made, but he still knew. He just wasn't directly calling Red out on it.
"Anyway, point is that everyday life here usually isn't dangerous, and when it is, ya can just use some magic," Papyrus told him. "And I know ya can summon a skele-ton of bone attacks, so ya don't need to worry so much, 'kay?"
And with that, Papyrus gave him a firm pat on the back and teleported away.
Red found himself blinking outwards at the snowy ground. Well, this Papyrus didn't seem to be upset with him for stealing the knife. It actually seemed like he was trying to reassure him.
Red sighed.
He'd return the knife later, once the two brothers were asleep. He could just take it again when he needed it, after all.
XXX
It turned out that Alphys absolutely hated going to Snowdin. Apparently, the cold weather had a bad effect on the cold-blooded monster. So, Blue had decided that they would go to meet Alphys at her house. Red, honestly, was kind of annoyed about being forced into a plan without his own input and then being dragged into attending that plan, but Blue had looked so excited that he hadn't been able to respond in any way other than a begrudging 'fine.'
And so, the three of them teleported to Hotland, with Blue hitching a ride with his brother. The sudden shift from freezing cold to flaming hot was a shock, but it not like it wasn't one he'd felt before.
"HEY, SANS!" a rough voice called out.
Red turned around to see a short but muscular lizard approaching them. He was surprised to see that she looked like Undyne rather than the Alphys he knew, though perhaps he shouldn't be. She had a large scar over one eye and wore a metallic suit of armor. When she laid eyes on him, her face shifted into a toothy smile that sent pangs of nostalgia through his soul.
"Nice ta meet'cha, other Sans!" she greeted him as well.
"Uh, yeah."
"HI, ALPHYS! This is Red!" Blue told her, though she already knew.
As Blue began his chattering, Red mentally cursed the heat of Hotland. As a skeleton, he wouldn't get heat stroke from it, but it was far from pleasant, and he couldn't remove his hoodie. Both Blue and Papyrus had opted for lighter clothing than usual, with Blue in a T-shirt, Papyrus in a tank top, and both in shorts.
"ARE YOU READY FOR SOME TRAINING THAT'LL KICK BUTT?!" Alphys bellowed.
"YES, MA'AM!" Blue responded eagerly.
"GREAT!" yelled Alphys. "YOU WANNA JOIN US, OTHER SANS?!"
"Nope."
"SUIT YOURSELF!"
As she said this, Alphys suplexed a boulder, and Red silently wondered how watching that would make him want to train with or fight her. Actually, he wondered why Papyrus would even let his brother train with someone like that, especially considering their shared stats. He couldn't imagine having that much faith in someone like Alphys.
For the time being, Red settled on the warm earth to watch the two rowdy monsters train, and Papyrus sat down next to him. It reminded Red of when they'd talked outside the other day.
"Ya can remove your hoodie, ya know," Papyrus suggested. "This'll probably take a while."
"I'm good."
Papyrus shrugged.
"Okay, then," he said, continuing after a moment. "So, wanna tell me what Alphys is like in your world?"
Red raised a brow bone. Figuring he might as well pass the time with conversation, he decided to answer.
"Mad scientist."
"Ah."
In front of them, there seemed to have been a small explosion followed by a pair of voices laughing.
"Did ya used to work with her?" Papyrus asked.
Red turned toward him.
"How'd you know that?"
"'Cuz I used to work with Undyne," the skeleton replied. "Ended up quitting when we moved to Snowdin. More nap time as a sentry, ya know?"
Red stared at him like he had three heads.
"Why'd you quit?"
"Bitch tried to kill me," Red growled.
"'Geez," Papyrus spoke, his voice suddenly sounding more serious. "Ya really weren't kidding about the whole 'Kill or Be Killed' thing, were ya?"
"Why would I be kidding about that?!" Red snarled.
Papyrus put up his hands in a placating gesture.
"Whoops, sorry. I should have worded that better," he told him. "It's not like I don't believe ya or something. It's just… I feel like everything you've told us about your universe involves death."
Red shrugged, glaring at the air in front of him.
"Is that really all there is where you're from?"
"...Hah?"
"No, really, there's gotta be more to your universe, right?" Papyrus clarified. "If there wasn't, wouldn't everyone be dead?"
Red found himself seriously considering the question. Was 'Kill or Be Killed' really all there was to his world?
"... It's a big part of it," he answered eventually, his voice low. "I mean, of course other shit happens, though. People have jobs and families and all that shit too. It's just that you don't really know when someone you care about will get killed or even when you'll get killed. The murder rates are pretty high, and they just get higher the longer we're trapped underground. And even when people aren't killin' each other, they're fightin' each other or just bein' assholes. The weak die. And the stronger you are, the less you have to worry about someone dusting you."
He was picking at his fingers again. He didn't know why he was saying so much. Papyrus's face was serious when he went to talk.
"... Have ya thought about my offer? About staying here, I mean?"
Red didn't answer.
"Like, I don't want to assume that a whole universe is all bad all the time, but ya haven't said anything to suggest that there are good parts," Papyrus continued. "But I get the sense that ya still want to go back."
"... There are some good parts… Just… a lot of them get destroyed and even when they don't…," Red spoke wistfully before trailing off.
"Is there a reason ya want to go back? One of the good parts?"
Red shrugged.
"Someone ya miss?"
Red turned his glare toward the taller skeleton.
"Okay, I get it," he told him. "I'll drop it. For now, at least."
They sat there silently for a while, Red smoldering in his hoodie and his own conflicted emotions.
XXX