"don't ya know how to greet a new pal? Turn around."
Frisk was filled with frozen terror. It made her heart slam desperately against her ribs and her breath to stop. She shakily complied, slowly turning to face the owner of the deep voice.
It was a skeleton. A living, moving skeleton. He was about her height, with sharp little white lights in his eye sockets. His mouth was turned up in a sharp, almost forced looking grin, unusual canine shaped teeth on display. He wore a black jacket with a single blue stripe running across the arms, with an icon of a blue crescent moon on each elbow. He wore black shorts that went to his knees, and they too had the royal blue stripe and moon icon.
His arm was outstretched, offering a boney hand in greeting. Frisk hesitated before slowly stretching her own hand- out of fear of what would happen if she didn't.
The second she took his hand, a sharp sound rang out into the snow, making her jump and pull away. It sounded suspiciously like someone passing massive gas… or craping in their pants, for that matter. Frisk took a step back, eyeing the skeleton as he let out a deep laugh. She didn't like those teeth… did her teeth look like that? She ran her tongue over her canines and hoped not.
"ah, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. A classic." He laughed, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye dramatically. Skeletons could cry?
Frisk stood in shocked silence. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. What am I seeing, anyways?
The skeleton joined in her silence for a few moments, not knowing what to do.
"… Uh, that's your cue to laugh. Ya'know, haha? Funny? Humor?" He said, raising his brow (somehow). Frisk replied with fearful silence. Something felt wrong and dangerous about him...
"No? Just gonna look like a scared cat? Okay. Well, I'm Sans, Sans the skeleton." He gave her a good natured wink, but the way his eye lights narrowed to little glowing slits sent a shiver down her spine
"I'm… Frisk…"
"heh. You know, I'm supposed to be on watch for humans. But I, uh, don't care about catching nobody."
Why should I believe that? Frisk thought, her eyes narrowing. It didn't sound believable.
"now my bro, Papyrus, does care about catchin' humans. He's crazy about 'em. And you so happen to be a human. Right?"
"what else would I be…" Frisk muttered. Sans somehow heard, to Frisk's dismay.
"heh, it may look like I don't have ears, but I actually have really good hearing. Juuuust to let ya' know. Not the friendliest pup around, aren't ya'" His smile faltered a little.
Frisk kept her mouth shut this time, though flinched slightly at the word pup.
"Well, if you're done givin' me the eye, I think I see my bro up ahead."
Frisk turned quickly, her legs wanting to carry her far away.
"Where?" She squeaked. What if they gang up on me?
"Eh, don't worry. Go through these bars- they are too wide to keep anybody from passing through." Sans beckoned towards the barred bridge, and Frisk decided she had no choice but to trust him. She went through, hurrying onto the other side.
There was a clearing, with what seemed to be a stand of sorts and a crudely shaped lamp nearby.
"quick. Hide behind that conveniently shaped lamp."
Frisk gave Sans the what the hell you on, boi? Look, but complied, crouching behind the lamp. It smelled like tomatos and mildew.
Why is there a lamp in the middle of a snowy forest? Frisk wondered.
Her thoughts were cut short by loud, vigorous crunching, and she peeked out through the side of the lamp to see what was happening.
Sans stood in a relaxed position, hands in his pockets and eyes half closed. Completely indiffrent to the new figure that burst into the clearing. Or so he tried to be. She could see his right arm trembling slightly. Was that from his brother or something else?
He was tall and lanky, a huge red fur scarf wrapped around his neck. His skull was much leaner than Sans's, but the canines were much more prominent. Besides that, his teeth seemed pretty mild when compared to his brother. His eyes were smaller and lacked the lights that Sans's did. He wore a white breastplate with rounded shoulder pads tipped in orange. He had a warm looking, fur lined half-cape draped over his shoulder pads, reaching his waist. He wore large red boots with fur on them. Frisk noted that fur seemed like a pretty common fashion trend.
Frisk shrunk slightly. He didn't look too scary with those wide eyes, but he was tall. And he probably had magic powers like Asgore. It was best to avoid him for now.
"Hey bro." Sans greeted.
"Don't "hey bro" me, SANS! You haven't done anything, have you?! What if a human passes through here?!" The tall skeleton, Papyrus, yelled. Frisk was caught off guard by the volume of his voice. Why was he so loud?
"hey, relax. I've gotten a ton of work done today. A skele-ton." His voice contained a growling rumble near the end as he delighted in his own wordplay.
Papyrus yelled in frustration, and it was all Frisk could do not to join him. Sweet mother of god, that was the worst pun…
"Sans! Now is not the time! This is serious! I have to be in the royal guard! Undyne does to! If we get a human, we can both join the royal guard! We don't have time for your lame jokes, Sans!"
"hey, it sounds like your working yourself…down to the bone." He glanced her way with a wide grin. Frisk grabbed a fistful of snow and considered throwing it at him. Oh dear god make my suffering end please someone help me….
"SANS."
"hey, come on bro, you're smilin'." He pointed. His arm stopped trembling. He instantly felt more genuine. Maybe he was okay?
"I am and I hate it!" Papyrus replied.
Frisk realized the corners of her mouth were turned ever so slightly up.
Well, talk about frustrating.
"hey, why don't you look at this lamp with me? It looks like it pretty rattled about my puns, if you ask me."
Frisk froze. Did he just give me away? Oh no…. He really is after me…
Frisk stiffened, ready to flee, when Papyrus replied in his loud voice.
"I don't have time for this! I'm going back to my work! As for your work…"
Oh no please no don't you dare…
"Put a little more…"
"stooooop." Frisk whispered, wishing she could shoot lasers from her eyes. Sans looked in her direction, grinning wider. Did he really pick that up?
"Backbone into it! Nyeh heh heh!" Papyrus laughed before running off excitedly. After his steps faces into the woods, Sans turned to her again. His right arm was shaking again.
"alright, you can come out now."
Frisk made sure she was not smiling before standing up, brushing snow from her knees.
"You looked like you had fun."
"I have half a mind to slap you." Frisk replied, trying to sound threatening…. And ended up sounding more playful than anything.
Sans chuckled in response. He raised a brow
"aren't scared anymore, are we?"
I am still very frightened of you. Frisk wanted to say, but her sharp tongue beat her.
"no, the desire to flip you off wins over." Frisk went wide eyed as she said it, taking a step back. If she had learned one thing, it was not to piss off a monster.
Sans just laughed some more and winked.
"You're sending me some mixed signals there pal, but whatever floats your boat. But you should get going before you have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes."
Frisk suck in a breath of air, feeling relieved. Thank the stars.
But as she turned to walk away, she felt a reluctance. She didn't know why, she just didn't want to leave. Leave this little bit of familiarity and go off into the foreign monster world alone again. What if her next encounter wasn't so friendly? She didn't trust Sans at all, but at least he didn't seem to outright murder her. Sans seemed to notice her hesitation.
"hey… you say, could ya do me a favor? Paps is really set on finding a human… and he's working really hard. Could you just let him see you, play around with him for a bit? Don't worry- he acts all mighty but in reality he wouldn't hurt a bug."
Frisk turned slightly.
"You want me to just… show myself to him?" Her voice was small again. That wasn't what she was expecting.
Sans winked again, though she noticed it was with his left eye instead of his right. It struck her as odd for some reason.
"yeah. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out for ya. It's just that he really has been working himself to the bone, and he's real excited. And this may be his only chance. I don't know how you got past him, but might as well take opportunity, right?"
"you know Asgore?" Frisk asked suddenly, unable to stop herself.
"yeah. Most people don't know where the former king went, but I'm kinda a sentry here, so I know. I also know that no other humans have come through here since he moved there."
The lights in his eyes dimmed momentarily, and his grin twitched. Seeing this sent fresh fear into her system.
Sans shrugged it off lightly, closing his eyes.
"well, ya don't have to if ya don't want to. I don't blame ya for being scared of us. I know plenty of monsters who'd be just as scared of you."
Frisk looked down. He did help her, and maybe it was a good idea to get on his good side. Being close to Asgore discouraged the monsters in the ruins from attacking her, so maybe this would work in a similar manner.
"I… guess…I will…"
"Alright. Thanks a million. I'll meet you ahead."
Sans turned to leave, oblivious to her distress. She was hoping he would walk with her wherever. Like Asgore did.
She found herself missing him more and more. He was so warm and kind… she had grown so used to him and the ruins. Now she was in a world she knew nothing about, nothing familiar around, and the closest thing to Asgore was Sans. And he was a person she just meant and wasn't sure if he wanted her dead or not.
But at the same time… the monsters weren't evil, were they? They were much kinder than humans by nature. Monsters in the ruins had opened up and shown how much kinder they were when someone listened to them, understood them, helped them.
Asgore said I could change them… I don't think so, but… I need to try to keep going. For him.
Frisk gave a last glance in the direction of the ruins before heading onward. Her body had begun to shiver violently from the cold. Great.
Ahead was a shorter path, with one section going north and the other continuing eastward. Frisk was about to continue east when something glowing yellow caught her eye.
It was a little yellow star, glowing close to the ground. As she got closer, it let off a warmth that instantly filled her body up to the brim. She could feel her fingers again. The dull pain in her back faded, and lessened in her side. She also felt a warmth pulse in her chest, and a feeling she couldn't describe flow through her body.
She backed away suddenly, frightened. All she did was graze it. She left the star be and walked along the path, shaking the snow out of her shoes.
She heard a rustle, and stopped and she heard crunching approaching her from behind.
"Sans?" She asked, turning around.
She ended up being face to face with a large dog.
It's fur was a cream color, and it's ears small and pointed. It was dressed in warm, torn warrior garnets and carried a dagger the size of her arm.
It's ears were pricked forward, and tail erect. Frisk felt a wave of uneasiness hit her as she seemed to instantly understand this dogs body language.
This dog was aggressive.
The world quickly went to black and white, signaling a fight. Frisk took another step back. She felt her own ears flatten against her head and her tail tucking between her legs.
"h-hey… I… I'm not looking to hurt anyone…" She stuttered.
The dog tilted it's head, looking at her oddly. It's aggressiveness seemed to fade after she said that. It approached her, bending slightly to stretch it's nose out to sniff her.
Frisk remained completely still, letting it get close. It seemed like it wanted to sniff her now, and maybe that would make it more comfortable-
It prodded her with its paw, curiously. Unfortunately, it happened to prod her Injured side.
Frisk jumped away, letting out a sound that was hallway between a snarl and yell. The dog jumped too, instantly going into attack mode as it leaped at her, knocking her over.
Something cold slid into her torso, and blazing pain erupted from the spot.
Frisk tumbled over, unable to make a sound as she grabbed at the dagger buried in her.
Everything spun as black crept into her vision, everything turning black. She could taste blood in her mouth, but didn't have the strength to spit it out. Frisk closed her eyes, feeling distant and groggy. The pain started to fade into nothingness.
Is this it? I'm sorry Asgore… I failed you…
…
Frisk shot up, screeching and holding the spot where the dagger had stabbed her. Only, there was nothing there now.
She was on the ground by the yellow star, just a short ways away from where she had just died.
Frisk panted, unable to get enough air into her lungs as she looked around herself, unable to piece things together. That had to be real. It was too painful, too… her vision blurred and her head spun.
Frisk looked down at her torso. Completely normal. The only thing different was a Phantom pain in the area.
Frisk glanced at the star, shaking too hard to move normally. What had that star done to her?
Her thoughts were cut short by more crunching behind her. "hey, puppo, what's your deal?"
Frisk scrambled away instinctively, though looking behind her just revealed it to be Sans. His canine like teeth send another jolt of terror through her.
Sans put his hands up, looking at her in a puzzled way.
"no need to act like that, I ain't gonna hurt ya. I take back what I said before about knowing monsters who are just as scared as you, damn. I-"
Sans stopped as Frisk began scrambling away, looking somewhere behind him.
Sans turned around calmly.
"is that what spooked you? That's Lesser dog. His pretty nice once you know him, but I think your human scent may have set 'em off. Here boy…. You see that? Not dinner, got it?"
Sans moved to point at Frisk. Frisk's heart pounced while the dog looked between her and Sans. It's tail lowered obediently and it gave Sans a slightly fearful look before leaving.
Frisk looked on with wide eyes.
He just went up and ordered the dog that just killed me… or did it? It couldn't have been a dream, right? Because I've never seen that dog before…
Sans turned to her with a grin.
"see what I mean? So, are you going to stop swimming in the snow or what?"
Frisk frowned, not amused. He had no idea…
Sans took a few steps towards her, slowly offering his hand. Frisk glared at it.
"c'mone, I'm not gonna bite. And there is no whooping cushion, I promise."
Frisk contemplated it before huffing and getting up on her own, legs still shaking. Somehow, her side ached even more.
Sans blinked before shrugging. "eh. Suit yourself. Jeez guy, you sure do know how to pick'em."
"…" Frisk decided it wasn't worth asking. This skeleton did lots of weird things, anyway. If she questioned them all, by the time she was done she would be a skeleton.
I wonder how that works, anyways…. Frisk wondered, looking him over again. How do they... how are they brothers… how would a skeleton… She found herself staring at his crotch, of all places.
Unfortunately, he noticed.
"Someone's curious, aren't we? Or do I just have a bone-er."
Frisk quickly covered her mouth and looked away feeling her cheeks burn. And struggling to not laugh.
She failed miserably. She just couldn't contain it.
Of all the jokes, of all the puns, WHY?
Frisk ended up falling over, laughing hysterically and clutching her side.
"wow. You are all quiet and serious until I bust out the d-joke, huh. Diiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrty."
"I hate you." Frisk managed to fit into her laughing fit. Whenever she thought she was done the joke came to her mind again, and it started all over again.
"what was that? I couldn't catch that between your hysterical enjoyment of my joke." Sans said with a wink.
"This… isn't…. Enjoyment…. Its… hell…" Frisk huffed. Now she was coughing and trying to breathe. Her stomach hurt.
I don't think I ever laughed that much in my whole life. Why did it have to be at a d*ck joke?
"oh stop it, you found that joke very humerus."
"stooooooooooop." Frisk moaned.
"Sans, what is going on Here? I heard a bunch of noise and I- GREAT WATERFALL, IS THAT A HUMAN?!"
Frisk jumped and looked behind her.
Papyrus.
"uuuuuhhhhhh…." Sans started, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his skull.
"Maybe?"
Warning: the pacing gets really, really horrible for a few because around this time I was losing a bit of motivation and needed a break. The only thing keeping me going through these few was making horrid jokes. I'm sorry.
Until we meet again-
Comycat~