A/N: This is the most followers and reviews I've ever had from a story. Thank you all so much! I'll definitely be writing more chapters for this one. I'm also co-writing a Batman/Yugioh Arc V fanfiction with Vector/Rei Shingetsu called "The Protector of Heartland"

Please do take a look. Now, I've taken up enough of your story-reading time. Let's get to Batman.

The forest was quiet. Suspiciously quiet. And beyond one fallen branch, uncomfortably clear. There was a camera behind a rock next to the door. He was being watched. If he had his tools with him, he would have traced its signal to whoever was spying on him. Instead, he settled for obscuring its vision with snow.

Batman slipped in between the trees beside the path, and found that the forest was quite dense, with ample cover. Much better. He found and picked up a decent-sized branch. Whether or not he was going to have to attack anyone, Batman would much rather not be defenseless.

He took a route parallel to the path, away from the Ruins door. He'd have to keep moving if he were to leave the Underground.

He heard a rustling from behind him. He stopped and held the branch, turning around and trying to detect the source of the noise.

It was coming from the undergrowth, and Batman could see what appeared to be a blue jacket of sorts from between branches and snow-dusted leaves. From its positioning, it seemed someone was crouched there, watching him.

He pretended to inspect a tree, as if he hadn't seen who was observing him, and began systematically drawing nearer to their hiding spot.

Judging the distance he would approach before they would attempt to find another hiding spot, and limiting their options by positioning himself where he would see if they moved, or at the very least, be able to discern their next hiding spot, Batman got closer.

And in one swift, precise, calculated movement, he grabbed them by the shirt collar and lifted them up...

...or he would have, if he hadn't MISSED.

Whoever was watching him had to be either as fast as the Flash, or able to teleport. If they were invisible he would still have caught them, and if they were intangible, he would still be seeing them.

He felt a presence behind him and narrowed his eyes, his mask's eye slits following suit.

Perhaps this is what it felt like when he sneaked up on people.

"Human." The voice was low, a deep, menacing growl.

Perhaps this is what it felt like when he sneaked behind people and addressed them.

Batman turned around as the voice continued speaking.

"Don't you know how to greet a new pal?" They stretched out a hand, mostly hidden by the sleeve of their blue hooded coat. Their face was also obscured by the hood of said coat. They were short, and Batman could not see any of their face. They were wearing a white shirt under their hood, he could see part of it just above the zipper of the coat. Despite the sleeve, Batman could see the tips of their fingers— Or more accurately, the bare distal phalanges of their three longest fingers.

"Come here, and shake my hand."

However much practice the skeleton had with hiding things in his hands, Batman had more practice with not being played a fool by them. A certain clown was quite fond of juvenile pranks.

"Remove the buzzer from your hand, and I might consider it." Batman was not going to deal with this nonsense.

The figure took off his hood, proving that he was, indeed, a skeleton.

"no need to be buzz-kill..." He took his hand out of his sleeve and picked the whoopie cushion he taped on it off and held it up. "though the news might be shocking, it's actually a whoopee cushion." Sans stretched out his now-empty hand, looked up at the tall human with his usual grin, and said "the name's sans. sans the skeleton." Sans' voice lost its menacing tone and took on a laid-back, casual air.

Batman was not very amused. He shook Sans' hand politely, and considered leaving somewhat less politely.

"so you're a human, huh? that's hilarious. my bro and i are on the lookout for humans, actually. we're sentries." The skeleton looked into the human's eyes with an unblinking stare. Combined with the unwavering grin, most would consider the look unnerving. Batman had his share of odd situations, and though a talking skeleton was indeed a deal stranger than many of the things he'd witnessed, it wasn't overly shocking. The skeleton's mouth didn't move as he spoke.

Batman wondered how Sans' bones stayed together. Perhaps there were magnets embedded in the bones. They'd have to be designed very specifically. It's possible that the skeleton was a construct; it wouldn't be difficult to animate it remotely. The part he couldn't figure out were the eyes. The pinpricks of light were small, and could move in the eye socket, but he could see no lenses or mechanics from it.

Sans kept talking. "i'm not really interested in capturing anyone, but my bro's a human-hunting FANATIC. i bet it'd really make him happy to see one, so if you meet him, it'd be nice if you told him." The look on Batman's face wasn't one of amusement. "or not. he might not even know if you don't." Sans raises his hands to top of his head and stuck his index fingers up, imitating Batman's cowl. "though i'd probably get an earful if he finds out i knew you're a human when he didn't. he's definitely going to mask you about it." Sans winked. "don't worry about my bro. he's not gonna hurt you." Suddenly, the skeleton's pupils disappeared. "And if you hurt him, well... that's on you." The lights returned. "welp, see ya around." The skeleton walked behind a tree and disappeared.

That couldn't have been an actual skeleton.

Sans had been watching the human from the moment he was out of the door. He could tell from first glance that the human was no stranger to violence, but had no dust on his hands, nor intent to kill. Yet. And Sans was hoping it would stay that way.

He was also hoping to have a bit of fun, but the human didn't seem to have a funny bone in him. If Sans weren't so good at dodging, he'd have been grabbed by the neck, and wouldn't that be a crummy juncture? You'd think someone dressed like a... whatever he was supposed to be dressed as... would have a sense of humour. The guy didn't smirk or groan at his puns, but that didn't worry Sans. The look on his face was of someone who simply didn't have much of a concept of "funny," not of an unfeeling psychopath. Being too lazy to walk home just yet, Sans decided to see how the lady behind the door was doing.

Not that he walked to the door, or would have walked to his own home anyways. The human could take care of himself.

Batman didn't have any intention of encountering Sans' brother, let alone fight him. He continued forward, the shade of the trees filling him with determination.

A/N: I was originally planning to have Papyrus show up in this chapter but it ended up not happening. Don't worry, they will meet. Thank you for the encouragement, this is easily my most popular fanfic.

And please do check out "The Protector of Heartland" if you are familiar with Yugioh Arc V.

-Edited