Sans walked with Frisk for awhile, passing what seemed to be a former golf hole. And a random snow ball. Wait, no, it was actually a snow decahedron.

He seemed to be going out of his way to be friends with her, she noticed. Not even Asgore smothered her this much. He was kind and gentle, letting her reach her own terms. Sans seemed to be shoving friendliness down her throat.

Frisk was silent the whole way. She took an occasional sip of cocoa (which was very good) and glanced her surroundings from time to time. The snow was clearing again when they came across Papyrus.

He was standing in front of the path, and a little ways away from him was a single piece of paper lying on the ground.

Papyrus stomped the snow. Frisk actually didn't jump this time. "Sans! You said you were just getting the human! Where were you!"

Sans opened Papyrus's cocoa and held it up, showing him.

"hey, easy bro, looks like you're really steaming. I just grabbed some nice cocoa."

"SANS! I accept your gift, but not your pun."

Frisk was not amused, and her expression told so.

Are all monsters out of the ruins this obsessed with puns?

Papyrus walked across the open space to take his cup from his brother. Sans winked at him. "aw, c'mon, I got a femur for you."

"NYEEEEEEEH!" Papyrus picked up a handful of snow and chucked it at his brother. It hit the shorter Skeleton's face and slid to the ground with an unceremonious plop.

Thank you Papyrus, I was meaning to do that. Frisk said to herself.

Sans didn't even react, still standing with a wide grin and relaxed posture.

"anyways, if my brother is done ruining my moment, here is the next puzzle!"

Papyrus dashed back to his starting spot, and made a weird looking pose.

"Human! This is your next challenge, crafted by Sans!" Papyrus broke out of his pose. " wait, brother, what is the puzzle."

"it's right there." Sans replied, pointing at the paper.

"Really? Could you be any lazier?"

"you want me tibia honest with you?"

Papyrus groaned loudly as Frisk decided to grow a pair and throw snow at Sans just as Papyrus did. Papyrus let out a laugh.

"Good job human!"

Frisk took a step back, just to be sure. Sans hadn't moved and that was bugging her.

"Hey, puppo, you threw snow at the guy who bought you cocoa? How rude."

"oh… I'm s-sorr-HEY!"

Frisk jumped back as snow was chucked at her face. She rubbed at Her face and shook her head in an attempt to get the burning cold substance off. She could hear Sans laughing.

"Sans, that was mean!" Papyrus scolded.

"hehehe… Karma, bro."

Frisk growled under her breath and stuck her tongue out at the skeleton. Sans copied her motion with his own unusually large blue tongue.

"… Sans, you're teaching the human bad habits! Put that thing away, please!"

Sans turned and aimed his tongue at Papyrus instead, and Frisk had to supress a giggle- It was quite comical.

"Sans, I said put it away! Do I have to get the mustard again?!"

Sans pulled his tongue back in his mouth at an amazing speed, and his eyes went dark for a split second. He looked much more threatening without the lights in his eyes, and Frisk shivered nervously.

"c'mon bro, I wouldn't be so marrow minded if I were you."

Sans's serious expression was replaced by his shit eating 'I just made a pun haha' face as Papyrus threw his arms in the air and screamed like a banshee in delirium.

"Brother I swear to Asgore I will-"

"Not in front of the pup, bro."

"Oh, of- wait, I thought that was a human."

Frisk's eyes narrowed. "I am a human. Not a dog."

"Yeeeeaaaah, sure." Sans looked at her non-human ears, and Frisk looked down.

Not like I asked for these…

"Alright, human! You may proceed to solve my brother's puzzle!" Papyrus motioned to the paper.

Frisk stared at it skeptically before approaching it. It was a kids word search. Frisk looked up, feeling annoyed.

"Sans! The human doesn't like your puzzle! It's too easy! You should have used junior jumble!"

"word scrambles are easy. This is the real big bones stuff, junior jumble is for baby bones."

"It is not! Human! Which is harder, the word search or the junior jumble?" Papyrus looked at her expectantly.

"uh…. I don't know…." Frisk replied. How'd I get involved?

"Of course you do! No need to be shy, human!"

"ummm…. I've never tried either…. But I think word searches are harder… I guess."

Sans grinned and watched Papyrus look from her to Sans.

"You two find difficulty in the weirdest places! Nyeh!" Papyrus dashed away, presumably to work on his next "challenge".

"he's the one who finds difficulty in the weirdest places. He got stumped trying to "solve" the horoscope yesterday." Sans said.

Frisk snorted. I'm sorry buddy, you don't solve horoscopes.

Frisk finished the last of her cocoa and put the empty cup in her bag, saving it till she could find a trash bin to throw it in. Sans raised an eyebrow bone at her.

"I don't like to litter." She explained.

"eh."

"littering is bad, Sans. You are going to kill all the penguins."

"No penguins down here, bud. Hey, I was just gonna take a shortcut, but I guess I'll walk with ya. Lesser dog is supposed to be 'round here and last time you met up with him he rattled your bones." Frisk groaned and pinched her nose. She was going to hear these in her sleep. Particularly in nightmares.

"unless you don't want me too. I wouldn't want to intrude on an aloof furry with a dagger, would I?" His eyes were on her pocket. Frisk took a step back, her heart jumping. He noticed? But was it really any of his Business? She hadn't used it. Despite his joking tone, there seemed to be a warning beneath his words. An unsaid threat. Frisk felt her tail lower in nervousness.

"n-no, it's fine…"

Sans shrugged.

"hey. Just sayin."

Sans turned around and began walking, and Frisk took that as her cue to follow. She felt like her mind was running in twelve different directions. At first Sans was friendly and nice, but there were more than one occurrence of warning and seriousness. And he was mysterious. What about the stick? The disappearing footprints? It shook her to the core, and Frisk didn't know what to think.

She wanted to believe he was friendly and nice, so she decided to push her questions aside for now and play along. He seemed to be trying hard, after all. Despite this, she reminded herself not to get too comfortable all the same.

Frisk was broken from her thoughts by her new view of Sans's back. The back of his jacket had the design of a howling wolf, blue mist spewing from its mouth. Frisk blinked and walked a little faster so she was besides him.

"Sans?"

"hmmm? What is it, puppo?"

Frisk hesitated, but her soul was burning with curiosity and not even shyness could halt it.

"are…. Do wolves have any sort of… significance down here?" The canine appearance, her tail and ears, and the wolf design… were they connected?

Sans let out a hum and nodded. "yep."

"how… so? If you don't mind me asking…"

"well, it just sort of pops up here and there."

"How so?"

"Well." Sans adjusted his sleeve as he spoke. "It just shows up everywhere. Like how when in Blizzardland, aka former hotlands, the crops sway in the wind. When that happens, the monsters say the wolf is running. And when the wind lays them flat, they say they have been trampled by the wolf. Little things and expressions like that."

Frisk took it all in, becoming more fascinated.

"That… sounds cool."

Sans chuckled softly.

"Yeah. I guess. There's also a legend… they say it's an old human legend. That everyone has two wolves in them. And that one represents everything good, like kindness and humility and honor, all that jazz. And the other represents bad things, like greed and ego and stuff. These two wolves fight and the winner is the one that shows the most in a person. And the one that wins is the one you feed. You humans come up with some weird stuff, oh boy."

"I could say the same about you."

"heh, yeah, I guess. But I have to say, it's a pretty good representation of things. Especially down here." The lights in Sans's eyes narrowed and his grin widened, giving him an almost predatory look. "We've all got a little wolf in us, don't we?"

Frisk felt a chill go down her spine, and she immediately thought of her ears and tail. She stared at him hard, trying to read what he meant by that, but his face had already went back to his lazy, soft expression.

Frisk rubbed her ear between her fingers, feeling the soft fur. It's almost like… he knows how I got these… it's true, he does look a little canine, and so does his brother. And some of the monsters in the ruins did as well.

Frisk shook her head and decided to let it drop for now. She felt like she got all she could out of him, and it would be weird to ask how she grew a magic pair of ears and a tail.

"so… you said something about a place called Blizzardland? What's That?"

"It's the place past waterfall, which is to the east of Snowdin. It used to be called Hotlands because of the magma flowing through it, but it got colder and colder. Some sort of magical ice was encasing the magma somehow, and eventually there was none left. Soon high winds and blizzards hit, and that is where the name comes from. It's the best place to grow food because of the nutrients in the soil. A scientist named made it possible to grow different crops there through gene splicing, so that's where a majority of our food comes from." Sans stretched and cracked his neck.

"You seem awfully interested in us for a human." He added. His eyes burned a hold straight to her soul.

Frisk looked away.

"… why… wouldn't I be?"

"most human are either scared to death of us or treat us like complete garbage. At least, through my experience."

"well…" Frisk grabbed her scarf to calm her nerves. "I've always been curious… I like learning about stuff like that. History and myths and stuff. It fascinates me. And besides, you guys seem close enough to people for me. But… to be honest… I'm still scared to death of you guys." Frisk flinched at the memory of Flowey's scathing voice, calling her a coward. It hurt to realise he was still right.

"huh. Cool. Didn't think humans were into that jack. Hey, watch your step, there used to be spikes here."

Frisk looked down to see little holes scattered across the ground in neat rows, stretching across the entire path.

"…why?"

"trap. But it was taken out because spikes are a danger to children."

"… I think spikes are a danger to humans too." Frisk muttered, watching the little holes to be sure spikes didn't shoot out of them.

"woooooow, I never knew. I thought humans loved having sharp metal objects shoved in their feet. "

Frisk snorted at Sans's sarcasm.

"Yeah, we're an entire race of people that get off on having metal spikes shoved in our feet, that's right."

"better feet than other places."

"I would imagine that would be painful."

"heh, you'd probably need an ibebonefen for that."

"no… wait, that exists down here?"

"yeah."

"cool."

"don't be getting no ideas to shove spikes in inappropriate places buddo. You'd have a very bad time."

"that wasn't what I meant and you know it, Sans."

"well, just wanted to clarify because There are spikes over there."

Frisk looked ahead and indeed, there was a line of tall spikes blocking the path.

"…oh."

"you could just jump em. That's what pap and I do, anyways."

"yeah."

"but there is a puzzle."

"and?"

"you should solve it."

"why?"

"because it makes my brother happy."

"… fine. What do I do."

"step on those platforms once. They will turn to 0's. Then hit the gray switch."

Frisk looked to see two X shaped platforms in the snow, separated by frozen rocks.

"that's… it?"

"yup."

"… nothings going to shoot me, Right?"

"nope."

"or shock me?"

"nuh-uh."

"stab me?"

"no."

"poison me?"

"no, nothing is going to poison, shoot, stab, shock, burn, hit, molest, defile or send you into any form of disarray or injury if you step on the platforms."

"…. Are you positive?" Frisk didn't trust those platforms. It was like a sign reading "trap" in flashing neon colors.

"oh sweet tori… look. Watch."

Sans walked over to one of the platforms and placed a single foot on it. Frisk was startled as the X changed to an 0.

"see? No harm. You do that one."

Sans pointed at the second platform. Frisk stared at it uncertainly before getting an idea. She picked up a loose rock and threw it onto the platform. The X changed to an 0, just like the other platform.

"…. Seriously?"

Frisk shrugged.

"I did it, didn't I?"

"… You fail puzzle class."

Sans decided he would hit the switch before there was more added to the assurance of puzzle safety manual. The spikes went down with a squeak.

"… why didn't we walk over them again?"

"I dunno. But here comes Paps."

On cue, Papyrus came running to meet them, looking slightly worn out.

"Brother, human! I, the grea- you solved it." Papyrus stopped, looking down where the spikes used to be.

Papyrus jumped up with glee.

"Great job, human! You seem to share my love for puzzles! I'm sure you will love the next puzzle! I even modified it for you! Heh heh heh Nyeh!"

Frisk turned to Sans and silently mouthed "help me."

"I'm not getting you out of this one." Sans said with an evil chuckle.

Frisk growled and shot him a betrayed look. Bastard.

"well, I've got something to do. Go do some puzzles with my brother." Before Frisk could reply, Sans winked and walked back the way they came from, leaving her alone with the tall, hubristic skeleton.

Papyrus didn't notice Frisk's unease and was filled with joy.

"Yay! Nyeh heh heh, follow me human!"

Papyrus took a few bounding steps and looked behind him to be sure Frisk was following. Frisk took a gulp of air and followed.

She had to walk briskly to keep up with the hyperactive skeleton. He becoming mpre and more harmless by the second in Frisk's eyes. His enthusiasm was almost contagious.

Almost.

"My brother started a sock collection recently!" Papyrus stated, his voice so loud it echoed through the air. Frisk's ears tilted back due to it.

"…"

"Its very saddening! I wonder what he would do without such a cool guy taking care of him! Nyeh!"

Sure it isn't the other way around?

"My brother is very weird, am I right?"

"…"

"Human?"

Papyrus stopped and turned around abruptly, the sudden motion making Frisk jump.

Papyrus cocked his head to one side similar to the way a dog would.

"No need to be shy, human! I, the great Papyrus, is nothing to be shy of!"

"…"

"… I would have gotten a better response from a rock, Nyeh heh heh. Don't worry, the great Papyrus will get out to come out of your shell soon enough!" Papyrus struck a pose and continued.

Frisk had to supress a giggle. Good luck with that. Challenge accepted. (Lol I wanna make her dab now with the deal with it sunglasses ^x^)

Papyrus lead her to a much larger arrange of X platforms, with more rocks separating them.

"Human! Hmmm… how do I say this? You were taking awhile to arrive, so I decided to improve this puzzle by arranging the rocks and snow to look like my beautiful face!"

Frisk raised a brow, but said nothing.

"in the process, I may have... changed the solution? What I'm saying is, worry not dear Human! I, the great Papyrus, will help you solve this conundrum! Then we can both proceed!"

"… wait, where is Sans?" Frisk asked quietly.

"hmmm? What was that Human? You need to speak up!" Papyrus moved a little closer.

Maybe my voice is too quiet for someone that shouts most of the time.

"I was… just wondering where Sans is. Wouldn't he want to proceed too?"

"Oh, my brother! Don't worry about him. He has… other means of getting across. Like I said, he's weird."

Other… means? What, does he teleport or something? Wait, didn't I ask that before in the same sarcastic manner? He better not actually have teleportation powers or I swear I will slap myself.

"What's with that look, human? Is something ailing you?"

Frisk snapped out of her daze and gave him a nervous smile.

"oh, no, it's nothing!"

"good! Well, I guess I'll let you try the puzzle yourself first. I'll try not to give away the answer!"

O-okay… so I just need to step on these… nnnnnhhhh.

Frisk put her foot over the closest platform, then hesitated and pulled it back.

I don't like these… wait, it looks like I may have to go through a certain way, I don't think I can step on them twice. Can I? Well, better safe than sorry.

Frisk surveyed the puzzle, becoming deep in thought.

Hmmm… if I go this way, I would have to go through that loop there, but then I'll cross over that one… but if I circle around and go through that opening there…

Frisk's eyes skimmed the path her mind was forming, extra cautious. Then she circled to the opening in the side to take said path.

She slowly pressed her foot to the first platform and jumped high in the air when it changed to an 0.

Actually, maybe she didn't have the guts to do this.

She tested the platform again, and it turned to a triangle. She pulled back when it changed again, like a cat putting it's paw to water.

"You can only step on them once, human." Papyrus said.

"ummm… Papyrus? I… think I know where I need to go… I'm just too jumpy. Can… you do it? I'll tell you where to go…" she cursed internally. She sounded so stupid.

Papyrus softened. "oh, alright human. You really must learn not to be scared of everything!"

Papyrus hit the gray switch to reset the puzzle then walked over to her. Frisk pointed at the tile in front of them.

"so… first you go up there around that loop," she used her finger to show the path. " then down and you'll come out over there. Then all you need to do is hit those two over there and I t-think we should be good…"

Papyrus put his hand on his chin and followed Frisk's imaginary path, then nodded.

"Yes, that should work. Great job Human! You are very smart! Almost as smart as me, Nyeh heh heh!"

Without warning, Papyrus dashed across the path Frisk had laid out, and Frisk was surprised he didn't slip and hurt himself. He hit every tile then jumped over and hit the switch with overwhelming enthusiasm.

"YAY I DID IT. WE DID IT HUMAN! Nyeh heh heh heh heeeeeeeeeeh! I'll see you at the next puzzle!"

Papyrus ran across the path where the spikes used to be, passing by a familiar jacket wearing skeleton.

When did Sans get there? More importantly, why did he just stand there and not help!

Frisk approached the skeleton, and Sans waved at her.

"Bonejor."

Frisk ignored the pun. "Why didn't you help? And how did you get here?"

"I know a shortcut. And you didn't look like you needed help. Which is good. Cause I love doing absolutely nothing."

Frisk pouted and adjusted her scarf.

"So, you got some sort of fear of x's or something?"

"well, X does mean death, so…"

"remind me never to bring out tick tac toe with you. You'd pee yourself."

"ha ha ha, I'm overwhelmed with your humor." Frisk said dryly.

"Hi overwhelmed with your humor, I'm Sans."

"bye."

Frisk did not care that these monsters could probably have her torn onto a million pieces in a heartbeat, she just couldn't take the puns. Any longer and she would have tackled him.

The path ahead was filled with little snow puffs. It almost looked cute.

Until she felt a shaking, that is.

Frisk froze as the ground began to quiver, her heart skipping a few beats.

"P-Papyrus? Sans?" She called out.

"Bwark!"

Uh oh... spaghetti'os!

I am hungry now...

From the wolf in the mountains,

Comycat~