(20)
For Toriel and Leo it went without saying that returning through the Underground was far more pleasant than the trip to Asgore had been. As they went, the three had various talks, ranging from Toriel and Leo finishing their recounting of their separate travels, to Asriel and the aforementioned undead getting to know each other better.
Leo had to bar much of the information about his time on the surface from the young Boss Monster due to its sensitive or disturbing nature, but he tried his best to be open with the boy. Sure enough, Asriel began seeing Leontius as a kind of hero. Other than that, Asriel communicated that he was still feeling sore about having to leave his father as soon as he saw him, but Leontius reminded him that he'd have chances to see Asgore sometime in the future.
The way had been cleared of obstructing monsters and many of the shortcuts and quicker paths had been opened up, cutting travel time between the Capital and Snowdin to around half an hour of walking. They had also made use of the rivers throughout the Hotland and Waterfall area, thanks to a mysterious individual in a hood and overcoat who had allowed them to share a boat with them.
Oddly enough, the trio couldn't quite figure out the person's gender from their voice or coated form, their cryptic nature being their most defining trait. On the final boat ride, the person had beckoned to Leo after starting one of their songs and then whispered warnings and foretellings to him. They told him of a 'knight on wings with eyes of red', a 'man who speaks in hands', and finally, 'someone whose destiny is not of their own volition.'
Of the three, Leo only felt like he understood the first warning, seeing as he had fought a knight who matched that description before, but Leo was unable to defeat him before he escaped using a massive eagle that carried him off. The other two were totally alien to him, and attempting to ask for elaboration from the river person only made them snicker quietly and ignore him, opting to focus on piloting the boat instead of giving explanations to the unsettling foretellings. When Leontius told Toriel of the things the odd person had whispered, she was just as stumped as he was.
When all was said and done on the ordeal, Leo felt he should be cautious for good measure, the fact that the person could accurately describe one of his past foes felt a little more than coincidental. It would certainly not hurt to have some measure of preparedness, especially since he'd be the one most capable of defending against intruders from the world above.
vvv
When the three finally stepped off the boat, they were suddenly hit with the bracing cold of Snowdin, which for some reason didn't reach into the canals of the river. Toriel and Asriel pulled their clothing in closer at nearly the same time, and Leo just stood unperturbed by the harsh climate. He turned to thank the boat person, only to notice they had seemingly left in complete silence as if they had vanished.
Leo would have idly commented that they were a strange individual, but it really went without saying. Instead, he looked about the area of Snowdin they had ended up at, not recognizing it until he spotted the back of the brick building known as Grillby's.
The area they had been dropped off in seemed to be where much of the housing was located, with rows of snow-topped wooden homes all lit up with warm light pouring from their windows. The image contributed quite a bit to the town's cozy feel, with a smaller community to match.
Leontius eyed the general housing area, unsure of what to do. "So, Toriel, any clue as to who we should be talking to or where we should be looking…?"
The Boss Monster herself seemed somewhat puzzled, but the answer came to her after she remembered how messages were usually handled during her time as queen. "If I am remembering correctly, messages are usually sent to the most conveniently located royally-employed member in the vicinity…"
A look of distress started to creep across her visage, and Asriel was totally clueless what would possibly perturb his mom of all monsters. When Asriel looked to Leo, he could have sworn he saw an opposite effect on him, and he almost felt like he should be worried…
Leontius knew exactly who the message would have been sent to, if Toriel was correct. "And that would be the sentries of the town… perhaps we should ask Sans and Papyrus?" At the mention of Papyrus, Leo gave Toriel a raise of his eyebrow, knowing that she didn't quite enjoy the flashier of the two's antics or his spaghetti.
Nevertheless, she had to agree. "I suppose that would be the best idea, we do know them. If they were not the ones to receive the message, they may point us to who did."
While the two adults were talking, Asriel's split memories were starting to merge at the mention of the skeleton brothers. He didn't know them… but Flowey certainly did. He was recalling past timelines that went differently, situations in which Sans would repeatedly fight Flowey across separate loops, remembering even after resets. Would Sans be able to recognize him somehow?
As his mother took him by the hand and followed Leo into town, Asriel could feel a sense of dread as the thoughts started piling up, but they were cut short when he finally started paying attention to where they had ended up.
The three were close to the West edge of town, with a big house a little bit ahead of them. Past the house, two unmistakable skeleton brothers were waiting at the town's limits, not looking in their direction. Asriel's dread started to mount quicker when Toriel started leading him to the two, and he hoped he didn't look like the nervous wreck he felt like he was. To be safe, he made sure to try to hide behind his mother as much as he could.
Eventually, Leo decided to get the attention of the two sentries while they walked up to them. "Sans, Papyrus!"
At the sound of the undead's voice, Sans lazily looked back at the group over his shoulder and Papyrus dramatically turned with exaggerated surprise, exclaiming "AH, THERE YOU ARE, HUMAN!" as he did so. Papyrus excitedly strode up to meet the undead and Boss Monsters, Sans following with his ever-present casual demeanor, bony hands in his pockets like always.
When the two groups finally met, Papyrus immediately took initiative and got the first words in, before Sans could take the opportunity. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE THE FIRST TO WELCOME YOU BACK TO SNOWDIN… AND THE FIRST TO WELCOME YOU TO YOUR NEW HOME! WELCOME!"
Papyrus made a wide gesture to the town, his skeletal grin getting the point across as well. When his brother was done, Sans just gave an understanding nod as his own way of officially welcoming Leo to the kingdom, since Sans, unsurprisingly, already knew that Leo succeeded in dealing with Asgore. Additionally, if the odd blackout everyone in the Underground seemed to have shared simultaneously was anything to go by, Sans figured Leo had also fought Flowey like Frisk usually ended up doing… most of the time.
"we got a call from asgore's royal aide a while ago, orders to find vacant houses for three very important people, by the names of leontius, toriel, and-" Sans noticed Asriel hiding behind Toriel, trying to avoid attention. "-asriel. i'm willing to bet that's you guys?" He gave a wink to complete his obvious feign.
"anyways, nice to see ya' again. so… quick question." Sans pointed at Asriel's mostly hidden form, before continuing. "who's the kid? are we missing something here, or-" Another one of his cheeky grins, Leo and Toriel could only imagine what was next, until… "-do you two just work really fast?"
It went without saying that Sans' joking question had everyone giving him one of 'those' looks, so Toriel just decided to disarm the situation and introduce her son. Best not to give a comic ammunition, after all. She stepped aside to reveal the bundled up form of Asriel to the skeleton brothers, causing him to start to almost shake at the sudden exposure.
"Ah… well, Sans, this is my son. Until recently he was… lost… but Leontius found him. It is a strange story, but I am unimaginably happy to have him back again." She squeezed her son's paw comfortingly, noticing he was shaking for some reason.
Something imperceptible happened next, a slight change in Sans' demeanor that stuck for but a moment. No one noticed it, but that fraction of a second was all Sans needed to figure out the situation.
'well. this timeline is something else, alright. seems like this kid has a bit of leo's soul serving as his own… and some serious ties to that psychopath flower. i know for a fact that... thing... doesn't have a soul, but he's got a presence. this is way more complicated than i thought, but things are still going pretty smooth, at this rate i can just keep relaxing. besides, i'm sure it'll all make sense sooner or later…'
Sans held out a hand for the nervous Boss Monster to shake. Asriel carefully took the offered hand and did his best to calm his own unease while he lightly shook hands with the short skeleton. It was oddly surreal for both of them, considering both- technically- had met numerous times before.
They exchanged a "nice to meet you," but Asriel failed to hide his voice's light shudder. If Sans noticed, he didn't indicate it at all and instead shifted focus back to Leo and Toriel.
"so, i bet you guys wanna get out of this cold and check out your houses, huh?" Leontius gave a nod in confirmation and Toriel was about to agree, before Papyrus once again decided to interject.
"WE DID OUR BEST TO GET THEM READY FOR YOU, BUT UNFORTUNATELY THEY'RE NOT NEARLY AS COOL OR AMAZING AS OUR HOUSE… THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE SUPER SECRET-"
Before his brother could finish, Sans stood as tall as he could to put a hand over Papyrus' mouth to interrupt him. "aaaanyways, let's go see those houses now. papyrus, why don't you start on tonight's spaghetti, huh? i'll be back before ya know it." Papyrus gave his brother an uncertain look, which Sans quickly addressed. "if you start on it now, i'll actually try it."
Toriel was aghast at that statement, while Papyrus was totally sold. He excitedly ran past the group, yelling "PREPARE TO LITERALLY EAT YOUR WORDS, BROTHER!" as he went. Sans was starting to regret what he'd said just a little, but it got Papyrus busy with something else other than yelling in public. Leontius found himself again wondering why nobody seemed to like Papyrus' spaghetti, it tasted just fine to him.
Sans let out an exasperated sigh, and decided it would be best to get going. "it's pretty easy getting to the houses, just follow me." While he would have preferred just shortcutting, he had more than just Leo to worry about this time around. So for once, he'd actually have to do some walking.
The three wordlessly decided to just follow Sans, with Leo and Toriel still a bit embarrassed by his suggestive joke, and Asriel reclaiming his place behind Toriel as they went, trying to not get the skeleton's attention. Sans led them through the housing they were near earlier, and onto a path that was steadily going down the side of the plateau-like base of Snowdin, down to the vast forests below.
At the end of the path was an unlit house, slightly larger than Sans and Papyrus' own home. The house was positioned at the beginning of a large clearing in the forest, which seemed to expand out from the back of the building, almost as if it was the backyard. In reality, this was a clearing for future homes, but Snowdin had yet to reach the population levels that would make it necessary to actually start building in it.
Sans waved a hand in the house's general direction. "here's tori and asriel's place. pretty big, gotta wonder if asgore is playing favorites, considering-" he stopped that thought, a kind of cheeky grin growing on his face.
Leontius could only take in the house with a sense of awe, it was a huge house, far larger than any in Snowdin. "Sans, this is quite the dwelling. Was the previous owner wealthy?"
Sans shrugged and gave Leo what he knew. "it's the oldest house in the area, apparently. we're not really sure who lived here, but everyone wants to live up on the main area, so it's been unused for a while now. it's already hooked up to everything, so someone probably lived in it not too long ago and left. there wasn't a whole lot in there when we first checked it, so we brought some bits of furniture, stuff like that. anyways…"
Sans pointed to Toriel and her son. "you two have fun getting settled in." His finger then slowly shifted to Leontius. "your house is way out there in that field back there, so stick with me."
Leontius gave another one of his silent nods as Toriel and Asriel went to their new home's doorway. Asriel didn't hesitate much before entering, only looking back to his mother for a moment, who was staying behind for a few moments to thank Sans.
Toriel gave Sans a thankful and relieved smile, she was granted a home again, a place to live outside of the Ruins. She knew it was thanks to Asgore, but by the sounds of it the skeleton brothers had provided some important furniture for them out of pocket, and she'd show appreciation for it. "This is a great boon to us, Sans. Thank you for setting this home up for us, sincerely."
Sans just gave a wave of his hand. "hey, don't worry about it. that's what friends are for, right?" In reality, getting a compliment from Toriel was pretty big for him. In other timelines, he'd occasionally end up having a bit of a crush on her, and he still remembered plenty of the good times all of Frisk's friends shared before the resets, like Toriel opening that school on the surface… he wondered where this timeline would take him.
The lights suddenly came on in the house, and Toriel looked back for a moment before returning her attention to Sans to say goodbye, receiving a "see ya' round, tori" in return, then she headed inside with Asriel, shutting the door behind her.
Now it was just Leontius and Sans, who beckoned the undead man to follow him.
The two went around the backside of the house, where they got a better view of the large clearing in the forest behind Toriel's house. In the distance, seemingly in the middle of the clearing, sat a home closer to the size of the rest of Snowdin's homes.
"that's your place out there. i know you're not really into being around people, and that's the only other available place, so it kinda works out right? we also got you some furniture, but-" Sans interrupted himself by placing a hand on Leontius' arm and shortcutting the both of them over to the home.
"-it's still a smaller place."
Now that he was closer, Leontius found that Sans was definitely correct in that statement. The home was indeed smaller than most and looked to be a simpler one-room log cabin design. It wasn't too different from his old home on the surface if his memory was to be believed.
Looking back to Toriel's house and the rest of Snowdin, L could just make out the lights of some homes peeking over the cliff's edge and the back porch of the larger home. It would be quite a walk getting to Snowdin from here.
Sans continued talking about the home, leaning against the cabin's front wall as he did so. "since it's so far out this place doesn't have power, but it does have a fireplace and all that, we even gotcha some candles. you'll probably want more at some point though, the general store up in town has em. don't know how you'll make the g, but you'll figure something out."
Leontius decided to keep that in mind and handle it later, then opened the door to his home for the first time. It was just bright enough inside to see the furnishings, those being a bed with a set of sheets, blankets, and a pair of pillows sitting atop it. A chair and table were near the opposite wall to the bed, and a brick fireplace and chimney were built into the back wall.
Leontius walked into the home and approached the table, finding that there was already a candle holder with a candle waiting to be lit. He briefly lit his pyromancy flame in his left hand and set the candlewick alight, bringing a modest amount of light to the small cabin. After a few more moments of inspecting the inside of the cabin, Leontius exited in order to thank Sans for his contribution and bid him farewell.
The short skeleton just shrugged in response. "don't worry about it, ya did good buddy. go ahead and get settled in, i gotta get going myself."
With a final nod, Leontius re-entered the cabin, shut the door, and left Sans on his own outside.
"...and now i have to deal with spaghetti. cool." With that, the skeleton took one of his shortcuts and vanished without a trace, the wintry field quiet as ever.
(20)
