Chapter 5

"Come on, bro," Sans was saying as Papyrus cooked their breakfast of baked beans over the open fire, "don't be that way. I was only suggesting that you put a little more backbone into it."

Frisk softly giggled at Papyrus's exasperated sigh as his gaze was locked straight onto the potted beans.

"After all," Sans continued, "we only have a femur minutes before we need to hit the road again. Gotta eat that skull cooked meal and be on our way down that marrow path before any more of our friends find us."

"Someone, please kill me," Chara said from beside Frisk. "I do not care that I am a ghost. End my existence now, please. Death was better than this."

As Papyrus muttered his own complaints, Frisk grinned and added, "Aw, don't be that way. I find all of these bone puns humerus."

"Aha! Good one!" Sans chuckled and slapped his knee for effort. Frisk felt a sense of pride at his approval. Chara and Papyrus, on the other hand, were less than amused.

"I cannot believe you just said that," Chara told Frisk.

Papyrus muttered almost too quietly to hear, "I am going to kill the both of you, then I'm going to kill myself."

"Don't be that way, Paps," Sans replied. "No need to be so sternum."

Gripping the wooden spoon in his hand so hard it snapped into two, Papyrus slowly turned his attention towards his brother. Sans only chuckled and shrugged. Frisk couldn't help but laugh at the soft mumbling of Papyrus counting to ten.

"You are an evil girl, Frisk," Chara then said as Papyrus wordlessly returned to preparing their breakfast. "This man is trying to help you out, and you are doing nothing but adding to his suffering."

Frisk's smile faltered at Chara's words. Maybe he was right, and she was stepping a little out of line. Papyrus seemed so overly cherry that his acts of frustration were almost amusing to her. His obviously empty threats were even somewhat funny. Yet seeing that Papyrus at no point deciding to stop cooking food for her and Sans, Frisk could see how she was being unnecessarily mean to someone who didn't deserve it.

"I'm sorry, Papyrus," Frisk said. I'm sorry to you, too, Chara, she mentally added. "I won't make any more skeleton puns."

"Oh, thank goodness, child!" Papyrus exclaimed, clearly relieved. "You have a heart after all. As for my brother . . ."

Sans did nothing but shrugged without interest. "As your brother, it is my job to torment you. I apologize for nothing."

The rest of the morning was spent in comfortable silence as Papyrus finished preparing their food and the three of them quickly ate. Once the mess had been cleaned, it was time for them to be on their way again. Sans looked at the map and scratched the back of his head.

"What's the matter, brother?" Papyrus asked, swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"As strange as it sounds, I don't like that we haven't been ambushed or anything since that initial surprise attack," Sans answered. "Is there a bigger ambush in the works, waiting for us to deliver ourselves to them? No way someone tried to get us, failed, and decided, 'Welp, I tried.' There has to be something going on that we're not aware about yet."

What have these two done that would result in them being hunted down? Frisk wondered not for the first time. Chara flew into her field of vision to study the map. Even he had nothing to say.

"We should continue to stay off the main road," Papyrus suggested. "If someone is waiting for us to show up, we should probably keep them waiting."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Paps." Sans rolled up the map and put it in his sack. "Everyone probably thinks we're too dumb to go around."

"No matter. We'll show them what happens when you underestimate the Great Papyrus! Nye heh heh heh!"

"If I may ask," Frisk brought herself to say before she could lose her nerve, "who's after you two? Why are you on the run?"

"Aw, well, gee, kid," Sans began before that dark expression returned to his mask, "wouldn't you like to know."

Frisk gulped, and since Papyrus didn't offer her anything, she decided to drop to subject. Staying with the brothers was starting to appear more and more of a bad idea by the minute. However, Frisk was still certain it was smarter to continue to travel with these two than go off on her own. She wouldn't know where she was going if she had to travel Snowdin Lane on her own. Chara confirmed just as much for himself shortly after the journey to Waterfall Marsh resumed.

"I did not recognize any landmark on that map," he told Frisk. "Regardless if I was familiar with Snowdin Lane before my death or not, I know nothing of it now. It is extremely frustrating that I know I used to live here but I also know absolutely nothing about the place I used to live."

Even if Frisk could offer words of comfort, she wouldn't have known what to say.

After what must have been only a couple hours of travel, Frisk heard a snapping noise in the distance. She turned her head around in the direction from which it came. There was nothing to be seen in the distance. Still, she squinted as if by looking hard enough, Frisk could see what made the sound. Yet there was still nothing in her field of vision.

"Hey, what's the hold up?" Sans called. Frisk turned back around to see the brothers a few paces ahead. Sans then added, "C'mon, we ain't got all day!"

"Sorry!" Speed walking towards the brothers, Frisk tried to put her mind at ease.

There's nothing out there. It's just my imagination playing tricks on me. We're not on the path anymore, so we're perfectly safe.

However, Chara felt the need to undo Frisk's attempts to comfort herself. "I heard it, too. I think you're being followed."

Gee, thanks, Chara. Now everything I hear is going to be a mass killer lurking behind every tree.

With her senses now on high alert, Frisk slowly and carefully followed the brothers. They were chatting away again, this time discussing somebody named Undyne. Then, there was another sound, this one louder than the first.

Sans and Papyrus both must have heard it, because they stopped dead in their tracks and began to look around. Frisk halted right beside them. She couldn't hear anything above the combination of her heart racing in her chest and her blood rushing behind her ears.

"You heard that too, right, Sans?" Papyrus softly asked.

"Yeah," Sans just as softly answered. It might have been Frisk's imagination, but it appeared that blue light began to emerge from one of the eye sockets of Sans's skull mask. "Take the kid and run. I got this. I'll meet ya up ahead."

Before Frisk could fully process what Sans had said, Papyrus grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her away with him. They ran through the woods, kicking up snow as they bolted down an unmarked path. Frisk struggled to keep her balance as she quickly trudged through the snow in an attempt to keep up with Papyrus as he pulled her against the snow.

"Where are we going?!" she shouted, her lungs screaming for air.

"Up ahead!" was all Papyrus responded.

"Please, I can't breathe!" Frisk shrieked out before she tripped and fell face first into the snow.

Before she knew it, Frisk was pulled out of the snow by Papyrus and thrown over his back, his backpack moved to the side to make room for her. As he held onto her legs and she wrapped her arms around his neck, Papyrus took off running much quicker than he ran when he was dragging her. Frisk, growing sick of all the scenery rushing past her in a blur, squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to vomit.

Frisk could feel Papyrus sprint through the snow, climb up mountains, and jump over tree roots like a fleet-footed deer on the run from a predator. With a sick feeling growing in her stomach, Frisk realized that she and Papyrus were not much different from such a deer. They were on the run, and getting caught was the difference between life and death.

"Hang on, Frisk!" Chara's voice shouted from somewhere. "If you fall off Papyrus with how fast he's going, you might break something!"

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

Still, Frisk held onto Papyrus as if he was her lifeline. The bitter wind slapped her in the face and attacked her exposed cheeks and hands, but Frisk did not loosen her grip. It was extremely difficult ignoring the pain she was in, but knowing that she was in for worse pain if she did not hold on was all the motivation she needed to tighten her grip every time she felt it loosening.

After what felt to be hours upon hours of running, Papyrus slowed to the stop. He breathed heavily, and Frisk found the courage to crack an eye open. They were in a clearing of some sort, a blanket of snow stretching out in a massive circle as trees in the distance acted as the boundary.

Then, as if he could not resist the temptation anymore, Papyrus fell on his backside and began to breathe quickly and deeply. Frisk took this as her cue to unwrap her arms from around his neck and crawl away from the monster. Moving to sit beside him, Frisk tried to study him to see if he was all right.

"Are you okay?" she asked, not knowing what else to do.

"I, the Great Papyrus, have never felt better," he answered despite having to speak between gulps of air. "How are you, child?"

"I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about."

"You are kind to show such concern for me. Thank you, child. However, I really am all right. In a moment, I shall be fine again. For now, I just need to catch my breath."

Looking in the direction from which they came, Frisk asked, "Who is chasing you guys? What did you two do to end up on the run like this?"

Without a word, Papyrus touched the bandana around his neck. Now that Frisk was able to get a closer look at it, she could see what appeared to be abs drawn onto it. Papyrus wrapped his fingers around the clothing and answered, "What we did is of no concern to you. But . . . I will be honest with you – we should have been honest with Toriel after she asked us to walk you through Snowdin Lane. You see, my brother and I are on the run from the law.

"Please, do not gasp so loudly! I assure you, we are not bad guys. Up until Sans and I went into hiding, I had been training with Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard herself, to become a member of the king's guard. It has been my lifelong dream, to dedicate myself fully and completely into protecting others. Just imagine, all the fame I would receive! There would be parades in my honor, and the king would trim a hedge in the shape of my smile. Everyone would want to be my friend!"

"This guy is rather full of himself," Chara muttered, but Frisk paid him no mind.

"What happened to ruin that dream?" Almost without realizing, Frisk leaned in closer to Papyrus. "How did you go from training to be on the guard to running from it?"

Papyrus shook his head. "As I said already, what we did is of no concern to you. I just need you to trust that you are in no danger. Well . . . you should be in no danger, but my brother and I are wanted men. Your being seen with us puts you at risk."

Without another word, Papyrus jumped to his feet and began to survey the area. "Now, where is that brother of mine?"

"He said he would meet us up ahead," Frisk recalled. "Are we too far up ahead?"

Shaking his head, Papyrus replied, "No, this is one of our places to rendezvous if we ever got separated. With this being the closest location, it would make sense for him to tell me that he would meet us here. I can't imagine Sans would want us to meet anywhere else. Besides, our other locations are further ahead than this. I would hope if Sans was going out that way, he would at least pass through here first."

"So . . . we're just going to wait for him here?"

"Unless there is a good reason to leave, it would be nice of us to wait for Sans. If he shows up and we're already gone without him knowing where we are, he might worry."

"Okay, I see your point." Frisk remained seated in the snow, not sure what to do. She had expected to travel the whole way through Snowdin Lane, so she had nothing prepared for moments such as this where she needed to sit and wait.

Papyrus must have noticed this, because he immediately began digging through his backpack, pulled out a couple sheets of paper and pencils, and offered, "So, while we wait for my brother, how about we compete to see who can complete this word search first?"