:):

Wow, I can't believe that last chapter got so many reviews. It was so short! Thank you all so much. :)

As promised, here's an early update~

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Lead the Way

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Back in Snowdin finally, Papyrus let out a sigh of relief. He'd never tell Undyne this, but he was actually glad they had to cut his lesson short this time. He felt very uncomfortable leaving the human alone for so long. Not only was he being a bad host, but it was irresponsible, too! Good thing he hadn't been gone for more than a few hours. Nothing bad could have happened in such a short amount of time, right?

"Human, The Great Papyrus Has Returned!" Papyrus cheerfully called out in greeting. "I Hope You're Not Napping Because I've Thought Of Some Fun Games We Can Play!" His loud voice seemed to fall flat inside the empty house. Shutting the door quietly, Papyrus headed for the kitchen. "Miss Fearia?"

Silence...

Maybe she went upstairs to sleep? Before Papyrus had the chance to check however, a piece of paper set on the counter caught his attention. Picking it up in his gloved hands, the tall skeleton carefully examined it. Was this a treasure map? Squinting, he tried to read the sloppy letters that were thrown in here and there.

"Paps! B bck latter. Wnt too Watterfull tu luk fer Umbyn!"

If Papyrus could pale any further, he would have. But he was already white as a sheet. The human went to Waterfall all by herself?! That was no place for an unsupervised child! What if something happens?! And why was she looking for Undyne?

As much as he hated to, he knew he had to call his big brother. Sans would never let him hear the end of this, he just knew it! But that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was finding little miss Fearia and bringing her home safe and sound.

...

Leaning against a large pillar inside the Judgment Hall, Sans was once again boondoggling. He had arrived way later than he had intended, and still he didn't feel quite up to speaking with the King yet. Sure, he had some pretty impressive evidence to argue the kid's case, but he still didn't know if that would be enough. What if just by dawdling he was helping to prolong her life for just a little while longer?

He'd already accepted that he was well past the point of no return when it came to the brat. Willingly letting anything bad happen to her was unthinkable now. Knowing this, Sans had been going through every scenario he could think of and trying to find the best solution before showing his hand to Asgore. So far, nothing he had come up with was good enough in his opinion.

Bringing him out of his brainstorming session, the stressed and chronically tired skeleton retrieved his cellphone from inside his jacket to check who was calling. Huh, wonder what Paps wants... Maybe he wanted him to pick up some dried pasta of his way back home.

"sup, bro."

"SANS!" Papyrus exclaimed through the receiver. "The Human! When I..- And She- There's A Map! But... it's hard to read... This Is Bad, Sans!"

Smile lessening, Sans tried to calm his frantic sibling. "whoa, whoa, take it easy, paps. now, tell me again, what happened?" He was getting a real bad feeling about what he was hearing, and he prayed it wasn't what he thought it was.

"She's Gone, Sans!"

The lazy skeleton felt his nonexistent stomach drop from hearing those words. "...what?"

"Undyne Called And Asked To Speak With Me In Person. I Tried To Decline But You Know How She Is! I Told The Human To Wait Until I Returned. ...Maybe I Took A Little Too Long." Papyrus admitted regretfully. "When I Got Back, She Wasn't Here! I'm Really Worried, Brother. I Think She Went To Waterfall!"

no...

Grin falling flat, Sans disappeared in a flash of blue flame. Consumed with worry, the skeleton had teleported so fast that he had forgotten to reply to his younger brother and now it was too late, the signal was lost. Reappearing with a small audible pulse, Sans hastily stuffed his phone away as he stared into the cavernous mouth of the confusing cave system. Did she... Did the kid really go inside Waterfall?

Memories of the fourth child came back to haunt him as he quickly teleported once again, this time to his sentry station. He had warned the girl with the deep blue soul about the dangers of Waterfall. She had chosen to ignore his words and that was the last time he ever saw her. Though, news of the King acquiring a fourth soul did circulate throughout the Underground not too long after. He had given her fair warning.

But this kid... the loveless sixth child... He'd never even thought about warning her! He knew something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, but he didn't think it'd be today. He should have figured... that kid liked to make everything difficult. Hopefully she hadn't gotten too far and was still preferably in once piece. There were so many things that could be fatal to a human in these caves, even more so in this case since this particular human was super tiny. He needed to find her and fast!

Frantic barking echoed off the stone walls before a small ball of fluff bounced into the check point area. Seeing his friend, Poff barked and zoomed over to him. Whining, the small dog circled the skeleton before rushing a few steps ahead in hopes that he would get the hint.

He did.

"lead the way, buddy." Sans urged as he followed after the furry monster. "show me where she is."

This was the most exercise the lazy skeleton had endured in years and it was catching up to him fast. The concern he had for the child's well being, however, was enough to keep him moving. Keeping a watchful eye light on the bouncing ball of fluff as it splashed through the slightly flooded cave tunnel, his soggy slippers finally found a wooden walk path.

Sans felt a sense of dread settle into his bones as Poff led him to the edge of the pier. A dark body of slowly moving water stretched out before him. He could just barely see the other side off in the murky distance. He couldn't imagine that the kid had tried to get across this all by herself. It was way too dangerous. She was smarter than that... right?

*Splash*

You gotta be kidding me... The skeleton thought as he watched the small dog begin to doggie paddle its way across the river. The deceptively slow moving current swept the furball away from the pier at an alarming rate, quickly sending it towards the other side. Looking back over to the far riverbank, Sans effortlessly teleported himself. Once there, he reached out with his magic and carefully plucked the sopping wet monster out of the water and plopped it down beside him.

Panting, Poff looked about two times smaller than he normally did as his water drenched coat weighted him down. Shaking the water off as vigorously as he could, the small dog's fur poofed out almost comically. Shaking once more for good measure, Poff gave a quick bark and took off running again.

How far did this kid go? Sans mentally grumbled as he pushed his way through the dense reeds that were congesting the path. The wooden planks had ended not too long ago and now he was relying solely on the little white puffball as it weaved nimbly through the tall reeds. The damn dog made it look easy.

Once free of the tangled overgrowth, Poff barked impatiently for his friend before padding off into the nearby cave.

"wait up, mutt!" Sans called after the furry white monster. Picking up his pace, the disheveled skeleton stumbled out of the clingy plants a little worse for wear. This was a great reminder of why he liked Snowdin so much; there were very few things that someone like him could get caught up in.

Entering the small cavelet, a familiar voice caught Sans by surprise. It was the kid, or rather, just her voice being repeated by a nearby Echo Flower. Not only that, but it seemed like it was a message that she had left just for him. The skeleton listened carefully as his worry intensified. She was lost and scared and she sounded absolutely miserable.

Poff whimpered quietly as he listened as well. Once the message was over, the small dog looked up to his friend and whined impatiently. They needed to go now! Prancing in place, the little dog looked to the exit. Before he had a chance to scamper on ahead again, bony hands reached down and grabbed him.

"as much as i appreciate your help, little buddy, we gotta go a bit faster. bark if i'm going in the right direction, okay?" Sans requested as he held the damp creature. Poff yipped in understanding. "hold on, kid, i'm coming." The skeleton vowed under his breath before he quickly began to teleport through the confusing network of caves.

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This chapter was also very short, but the upcoming one will be much longer.

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In the next chapter, Fearia makes an unlikely friend. Can you guess who?

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Thanks for reading!

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Sheii Bae~