The armored figure looked to the top of the staircase to see a girl standing in the doorway of Papyrus' room. She stood about a foot shorter than himself. Her short brown hair stood up on one side of her head. She wore a blue sweatshirt with purple stripes that ran horizontally through the center, and a pair of blue shorts. A pair of brown rainboots completed her outfit. The outfit, in all, contrasted with her rosy skin. 'She doesn't seem much older than I was when I fell', the armored figure thought to himself.

She yawned as she spoke, rubbing her eyes as she did this, "What's up Papyrus? What's going on?"

"HUMAN FRISK, THIS IS MY NEW OTHER HUMAN FRIEND…" he began to whisper into the side helm of the figure.

"WHAT WAS YOUR NAME AGAIN, I KNOW IT'S 'A' BUT YOU NEED A MORE GRANDIOSE NAME, FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE EVERYTHING YOU KNOW!"

The figure reached into his pouch and pulled out the notepad, flipping to an unused page.

'Ashen one'

"ASTEN NUMBER ONE", he whispered back to the figure, "GREAT NAME BY THE WAY, I DON'T KNOW WHY SANS WOULD WANT TO SHORTEN IT!"

"I HOPE YOU LIKE READING… HE'S NOT MUCH FOR TALKING."

The armored figure stared blankly back at the skeleton, unsure as to how he managed to misread that.

"Nice to meet you Asten, Pap probably already told you my name by now."

"I DID"

Frisk started walking down the stairs, straightening out the cowlick that had formed on the one side of her head. Her small brown eyes met his blue though the slit of the helm, she had a small, gentle smile on her face as she stared at him.

A small explosion sounded in the kitchen, the spaghetti Papyrus was cooking on the stove earlier, suddenly caught fire, prompting a dog to run out the front door from its hiding spot from underneath the sink.

"SO THAT'S WHERE MY SPECIAL ATTACK WENT… YOU TWO HOLD ON FOR A MOMENT!", Papyrus ran into the kitchen, trying his best to put out the spaghetti fire, leaving the two alone at the base of the stairs.

"So how do you know Pap?", Frisk asked, still looking directly into the eyes of the armored figure.

'Sans brought me to here after I enquired about your whereabouts.'

Frisk was initially confused by this guy's choice of words, and in addition to this, why he would be looking for her.

"Why would you be looking for me?" Frisk asked, a look of confusion replacing her smile.

'The goat of the ruins has tasked me with seeking, and protecting you and as per my duty I am sworn to your service.'

Frisk was even more confused by what she had just read.

"Goat of the… you mean Tori?" The armored figure gave a silent nod to this question. Frisk seemed to become somewhat sad at the armored figure's acknowledgement.

"Oh… is she doing alright?"

'She seemed deeply saddened by your sudden departure, and even more so worried as to your wellbeing.'

"She was always so kind to me… she's…", Frisk paused.

"Like a mother to me."

'Do you wish me to escort you back?'

"No… I… have something I need to do first. You wouldn't mind… would you?"

Asten gave pause before writing again.

'Not in the slightest, you have my sword till you cross paths with your mother again.'

"She's not exactly…", Frisk paused, smiling back up at Asten.

"Thanks, it'll be nice to have the company, but please… you're not going to use that sword… are you?"

Asten paused at this question, thinking about its implications as he did so.

'As long as my duty rests with you…' he stopped writing.

'… I will do as you require of me, but if the situation requires it I will do what is necessary to fulfill my duty. Is this to thine satisfaction?'

Frisk closed her eyes as she continued to smile.

"Yes, that'll be just fine sir knight."

Frisk opened her eyes, still smiling as she looked back up into the eyes of the armored figure. She could sense that there was a kindness behind all of that cold metal and weaponry, but also something repressed. Something was hurting him, but she didn't know just what it was. Papyrus interrupted her mid-thought, running back into the room with a small plastic container filled with some deformed, black substance.

"CRISIS AVOIDED, THANKS TO MY BRILLIANT PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS!"

Frisk looked to Papyrus with that same gentle smile.

"Hey Pap, you said you knew a way out of the underground, right?"

Papyrus began to narrow his eyes deep in thought when he suddenly said,

"OH RIGHT, CONTINUE DOWN THE PATH UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN, THEN WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER."

"THAT'S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US ALL UNDERGROUND."

"ANYTHING CAN ENTER THROUGH IT, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT… EXCEPT SOMEONE WITH A POWERFULL SOUL… LIKE YOU!", with this he pointed at Frisk.

"THAT'S WHY THE KING WANTS TO ACQUIRE A HUMAN. HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE!", Asten began to look down at Frisk, a questionable and somewhat worrisome look in his eyes.

"OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU… TO REACH THE EXIT, YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS… THROUGH THE KING'S CASTLE. THE KING OF MONSTERS, HE IS… WELL…", both Frisk and Asten began to look worried as to what Papyrus was going to say next.

"HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER!", a wave of relief washed over both of their faces.

"EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY! I'M CERTAIN IF YOU JUST SAY… EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR… CAN I PLEASE GO HOME? HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF!"

"Thanks Papyrus." Frisk said with a smile.

"ANYTIME… ANYWAY! THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING! I'LL BE HERE BEING A COOL FRIEND!"

"FEEL FREE TO DROP BY! NYEH HEH HEH!"

"OH, I ALMOST FORGOT I MADE YOU GUYS SOMETHING IN CASE YOU GET HUNGRY!", Papyrus held out his hands with the tuple ware, the blackened mystery food sticking to the wall of the plastic container.

"Thanks… Papyrus… you shouldn't have… really…", Frisk said with the best friendly smile she could muster. Her eyes were glued to the substance as a metallic hand grabbed it and placed it in his pouch.

"NONSENSE! I COULDN'T BARE THE THOUGHT OF MY FRIENDS GOING HUNGRY!"

"HEY… YOU GUYS SHOULD HANG OUT WITH MY BOSS UNDYNE! ASTEN, YOU COULD SHOW HER SOME OF YOUR COOL MOVES AND FRISK, YOU CAN GET AN OPORTUNITY TO SPREAD SOME OF THAT FRIEND ENERGY!"

"YEAH, LETS BE FRIENDS WITH UNDYNE! WE'LL CALL IT THE FRIENDSHIP SQUARE!", Frisk smiled back up at Papyrus.

"I'll be sure to keep an EYE SOCKET out for her." Frisk began to giggle at her own bad pun. Asten began a slow metallic clap, thoroughly enjoying the horrible pun. Papyrus on the other hand did not seemed amused in the slightest.

"YOU KNOW… IF YOU KEEP HANGING OUT WITH SANS HE'LL RUB OFF ON YOU…", Frisk recovered from her joke and looked back up at Papyrus.

"Come on Papyrus, you know it was a good one."

Papyrus took a deep breath before continuing.

"OH, AND IF YOU NEED TO REACH ME HERE'S MY PHONE NUMBER. YOU GUYS CAN CALL ME ANYTIME!", Papyrus noticed that Astren was giving him a questionable look as he said this.

"OR TEXT ME, IF PEOPLE STILL DO THAT THESE DAYS."

"I'll be sure to call you when we meet Undyne, we should probably get going."

As the two left through the front door Papyrus was saying his goodbyes, shutting the door as they started walking down the path toward the waterfall.

As they walked Frisk said, "If you're going to eat that stuff, just please do it in a way that I can't see it."

Astren passed a torn piece of paper, 'noted'.

Frisk giggled at the armored figure's attempt at puns as they continued to walk down the snowy path and into the distance.