The faint tumbling of dirt and crunching of snow was all the warning Sans got before Flowey was popped up in the ground just beyond the porch landing. Sans gasped and pushed back futilly from the flower. Papyrus had his leg in too tight a grip for him to move.
Papyrus was crouched down next to and above Sans on the tiny porch. He had Sans leg held up in his hands. Green healing magic surrounded the cracks in the tibia and fibula. Unusually for the magic of a skeleton, the healing spell crackled and popped like a real fire. It bonded the pieces of bone in fitful spurts, but it was working. Well, up to a point. At that point, Sans' body quit accepting the healing magic. Papyrus sighed and released the spell. Most of the cracks were healed. Only the two biggest ones remained, and they were reduced to pencil-thin lines.
Sans saw Papyrus perk up out of the corner of his eye when Flowey appeared. He frowned. That didn't make any sense. Flowey hadn't introduced himself to them in this timeline yet. How could his brother know Flowey, let alone well enough to be relieved to see him?
"OH! HELLO THERE, FLOWER FRIEND. THAT WAS VERY FAST OF YOU. DID YOU GET THE GROCERIES?"
Sans felt even more confused. Groceries? Friend? Papyrus hadn't acted like this last timeline. This couldn't have been just from the strawberry smoothie, could it? Had Flowey already done something different? Apart from hurting Sans, that is. Maybe that was enough? But why would Papyrus be acting different. Sans could already feel the headache coming on.
About a foot away from Flowey the ground parted to reveal several bags of groceries. They were a bit dirty and the bags were wet, but that was all. Sans knew Flowey found it easier to travel underground than above. Well, more underground than Sans did.
"Howdy, Papyrus! Yes, I got the groceries. There was a bit of extra money left over from what you gave me, so I got a couple more of those smoothies. I hope that's okay."
Papyrus nodded. "THAT'S PERFECTLY ALRIGHT! THE SHOPKEEPER MUST HAVE BEEN HAVING A SALE ON SOMETHING. THAT'S USUALLY THE EXACT AMOUNT OF MONEY I NEED. I LIKE TO PAY WITH EXACT CHANGE, THAT WAY THE SHOPKEEPERS HAVE SMALLER BILLS TO HELP MAKE CHANGE FOR OTHER PEOPLE."
"how do you-" Sans started to ask, but his voice gave out midway. Not gave out as in got too gravelly or painful or discouraged to talk, but gave out as in stopped working.
Sans was mortified. How could he forget to renew the spell on his voice this morning? It was the first thing he always did once Papyrus was out of the house. He felt so stupid. Now Papyrus was going to have to recast the spell for him.
Both Flowey and Papyrus turned to him with very different looks. Papyrus had his usual look of concern and understanding. Flowey's look was more interesting. Flowey looked...nostalgic?
"HERE, SANS, LET ME HELP YOU RENEW THAT SPELL…"
Chara stared up at the glittering ceiling that was the top to their room. It wasn't anywhere near the beauty of the real thing (don't think about it that's gone you'll never see it again) but these little stars had so much more meaning to them. They could remember the day that they and Asriel had stumbled on what must have been packages and packages of those little stick-on stars. The tacky stuff didn't work anymore, but it was easy enough to make something similar. At least, that's what Gaster had said. He'd done it, too. Now every bedroom in the entire underground had stars on it's ceiling, and Chara had made sure that there was at least one real constellation on each one. Theirs was no exception. Chara had picked their favorite, Scorpio, the sign of their birth. Asriel and Papyrus liked it, too.
It was their third brother who Chara was thinking about, though. The young adult had noticed that Sans never seemed to cry. He didn't make any noise at all. Mom and Dad didn't seem worried by it, but Chara was sure Sans should be talking by now, or at least whimpering. Human babies made noise from minute one. Was that not how monsters worked? Chara knew now that they grew much, much slower. Asriel still hadn't hit puberty. Did monsters hit puberty? Was that really relevant right now?
"Azzy. Azzy. Hey, Azzy."
Below them, in his tangle of blankets, pillows, and limbs, Asriel snorted and turned over. The sounds were unmistakable. Chara wasn't sure which way he was turning, but turning he was.
"Aaaazy. Hey, Azzy!" Chara crooned quietly.
Another snort was their only reply. At least, the only one from the target of their intent. Azzy had always been a heavy sleeper, but Papyrus was not.
"WHAT IS IT NOW, CHARA?" He asked from the top bunk across from Chara.
They hesitated, but he was their brother. If they couldn't trust him, who could they trust? Just because they had known Asriel longer didn't mean he was more trustworthy. And Papyrus probably would know, too.
"Why isn't Sans talking yet? Is there something wrong with- no, that's rude. Is there something we can help him with?" Chara caught their ableist language just in time. Mom wouldn't like it.
Papyrus sort of buzzed a bit while he thought. It was a combination of a hum and a vrr sound. Pap had been making it more and more lately. Mom had said it was fine, that it was just another way for him to focus. Chara had tried to make the sound, but it hadn't worked. They figured it was the same kind of effect as white noise.
"IT'S HIS JAW, AGAIN. BECAUSE HE CAN'T MOVE IT HE CAN'T REALLY SPEAK. A LOT OF SKELETONS CAN'T SPEAK. IT'S WHY SO MANY OF US KNOW SIGN LANGUAGE. I THINK MOM AND DAD ARE PLANNING TO TEACH HIM SOON."
Chara scowled. "That's stupid. You don't have the right parts to speak, like a vocal cord? Anyway, you don't have them, either. So he should be able to speak, too."
Papyrus rolled over to face them. He placed a phalange on the gap where his throat would be. Magic lit up, dark and light blue swirls tracing out the shape of a throat, adam's apple, and neck. "WE DO HAVE THOSE THINGS. THEY'RE JUST MADE OF MAGIC. IT'S EASIER TO KEEP THAT MAGIC HIDDEN. IT COSTS A BIT OF ENERGY TO MAKE IT SHINE, WHICH IS GOOD. OTHERWISE IT WOULD BE HARD TO GET TO SLEEP."
From down below came the sound of giggles. Chara bent over the edge of their bunk and looked down. Azriel had at some point woken up. He was giggling like mad.
Chara sighed and said, "Azzy, please. I'm trying to be serious."
"About what?" He asked in that silly voice he got when he was still half asleep.
The human breathed out a sigh and surrendered to the inevitable. "We're talking about Sans. I'm pretty sure he should be talking by now. Isn't there a way for him to speak without moving his jaw? Some kind of spell?"
Azriel hummed softly to himself. "Hmm...no, I don't think so."
Chara huffed. That was stupid. Magic could do so many things. Why not this? It didn't seem that hard to them. Hadn't anyone ever tried to make it before? An evil little grin spread across their face. "Azzy~," They said in that sing-song voice that meant they were up to something, "Guess what we're gonna do tomorrow?"
"What?" He asked flatly. He knew that voice all too well.
"We're going on a field trip! The library has copies of old spell books, right? And journals of experimental logs from magic users?"
"IT DOES," Papyrus answered quickly, "ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT LOOKING FOR A SPELL TO LET SANS TALK?"
"Yep," Chara said cheerfully, "and if we don't find anything, we're going to see if anyone has tried before. Then we're going to invent the spell to do it. After all, it will benefit more monsters than just Sans. There's lots of monsters that have to use Hands, but not everybody knows it. This was they could interact with more people easier."
Azriel groaned. He hated reading boring stuff like that. He'd much rather read a good fantasy novel, or, better yet, write something himself. But if Chara wanted something, there was no stopping them. Better to surrender now, especially since resisting this would make him look like a monster who didn't care about his family or anyone else, and that wasn't true. He was a prince. It was his duty to care for his people as best he could.
"Fine," He said, "But you owe me ten nights of snail pie for dinner."
"Five," Chara countered.
"Deal. Now, can we go back to bed? I'm still tired from magic practice yesterday.
"ME, TOO," Papyrus said with a yawn. "HEALING FIRE MAGIC IS VERY HARD TO DO. I THINK MISS...SORRY, MOM. I THINK MOM WAS HAPPY WITH HOW MUCH I"M IMPROVING. WAS I DOING GOOD?"
"Yeah/Yep." Two voices said quickly. Chara looked down at Azriel. Then they both laughed. After a moment, Papyrus joined in, too. The room slowly filled up with laughter. Life together was good.