Sorry for not posting the next chapter 'til now.
Frankly, I just kinda hate uploading stuff, lol. Even though it's way easier than actually writing stuff.
Even if it takes me a while to update, I'm not gonna abandon this fic 'cuz it's already done. I just have to proofread the chapters before uploading them. So, yeah, ya'll don't have to worry about that lol. .
XXX
Papyrus, once again, wanted to kill something. When he'd gone to wake up his brother that morning, he'd found the door locked and, once he'd kicked the door down, the window left open. Sans had decided to disobey him yet again. Papyrus assumed that Sans had decided that, if he couldn't do whatever he wanted while living under his brother's roof, he would run away. It wasn't the first time, and Sans always came back within a few days. He, after all, couldn't actually keep himself alive without Papyrus's help.
Papyrus would be prepared to punish him whenever it was that the lazy idiot remembered that.
In the meantime, however, Papyrus had no one to vent his anger on. Or, he didn't until he came across a monster trying to rob someone.
Papyrus grinned maliciously. This would do for now.
XXX
Papyrus still wasn't entirely sure what to make of Red.
The little skeleton would go from panicking to silent to angry and back again so quickly that he had a bit of a hard time keeping up with it. Granted, he'd only really known the guy for a few hours, and Papyrus had kind of dropped a bomb on him by explaining that alternate universes were real, but still. Red didn't seem to be afraid of what the existence of different universes meant as much as he was scared of him and Sans.
Maybe that had something to do with his injury? After all, victims of an attack could be jumpy, especially when the victim was a monster with only 1 HP. He had thought he was dying, and he pretty much was for a minute there, so that was probably a pretty bone-rattling experience.
It was also a bit weird that he called his brother 'Boss,' though. At first, he didn't know who Red had been referring to when he said it, but he quickly figured out it was directed toward him, even after Red had been slightly more alert. That could really only mean that Red had mistaken him for his brother. Something about the nickname, though, just made Papyrus feel uncomfortable. He certainly couldn't imagine Sans calling him that. Maybe Red's brother had a higher position in his world, though.
But still… he just had a bad feeling about this whole thing. Red's clothes, beyond the damage and blood, looked very old and worn. And there was that crack in his skull. It took a very specific intention and skill in fighting to deal damage like that to a 1 HP monster without killing them. Plus, he was pretty sure that Red had been attacked soon before coming to their universe. A wound like the one going across his chest didn't happen accidentally. Red claimed it had happened a few hours beforehand and reopened, but then why hadn't he changed his clothes? Or, if he was too hurt to do it himself, why hadn't anyone helped him? And why would he have apparently not been home when his HP was so low that he would have turned to dust if he so much as tripped? Had Red been too hurt to get help after he had been attacked? Had he just been lying somewhere, waiting to die?
Papyrus didn't want something like that to happen to any monster, let alone a version of his brother.
Well, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that the machine had malfunctioned, then. If it hadn't, Red would probably be dead by now. The smaller skeleton could heal while Papyrus fixed the machine, and when he went back to his own universe, he could tell their version of the guard about what happened.
For now, though, they were going to show Red around their version of the Underground.
XXX
"And this is my sentry station! Paps helped me build it!" Blue exclaimed as he pointed toward the cardboard structure.
This little tour of the underground was, to put it simply, confusing. Sans had expected everything to be generally the same, at least layout-wise, but that couldn't be farther from the reality of it. It seemed like everything was flipped into a mirror image, at least in location. The buildings were mostly the same, but swapped around. Instead of going left to get to the ruins' door, they had to go right. Waterfall was to the left now. Grillby's, however, wasn't Grillby's at all. Here, it was Muffet's. In his world, he hadn't ever even met Muffet, though he had heard of her, given the small size of the Underground. He wondered where Grillby was, but he wasn't sure if he should ask.
On top of the layout flip, though, Red couldn't ignore how different the world was. Everything and everyone was so much brighter, so much happier. Nobody glared at them as they passed or flinched away from this Papyrus's gaze. There wasn't any dust swirling in the wind like snow or collecting in corners or being shaken out of someone's clothes. Here, people waved and smiled and talked and laughed and it was all so incomprehensibly different that Sans wasn't even really sure what to make of it. He wondered if his own world had been like this once, but it's not like anyone here could answer him.
He really couldn't deny that this was an alternate universe.
What would things have been like if his own universe was more like this one? If everything wasn't so horrible and scary all the time, would Boss be more like this universe's Papyrus? Or, more like Blue, maybe? Would they have been happy? Would he still feel this way?
It didn't matter. This world wasn't his, and his world would never be like this. His own brother would never be like either of these two. It was far too late for anything to be different.
"Red?"
With a start, Sans realized he had been spacing out for a while, and Blue had apparently been talking.
"You feeling okay there, buddy?"
"If your injury is bothering you, we can take a break!"
Sans blinked. This world really was so very different.
"I'm fine," he grunted. "This is all just… pretty weird."
"Yeah, it takes some getting used to," Papyrus agreed. "Me and my bro freaked when we found out about the whole multiverse thing."
Red considered asking some questions. He was, after all, a curious person, even if he wasn't usually motivated enough to actually seek the answers to his wonderings. And this was a huge deal. Like, a really huge deal. Who wouldn't have questions after accidentally ending up in a whole other universe, especially when they hadn't even known it was possible? It didn't matter if his questions were answered or not, but if it didn't matter, it wouldn't really hurt to ask, would it?
Plus, it seemed like these two would answer his questions rather than hit him for asking.
"How'd you find out about it anyway? Someone else just kind of show up like I did?" he asked finally.
"Hm, sorta. The first time I fixed up that machine, I wasn't really sure what it did. When it opened a portal, I thought it was just to another part of our own universe," Papyrus responded. "Turns out, nope. So, I was kinda the person who just showed up, I guess."
"And I had no idea where he went!" Blue chimed in. "I didn't believe him at first, either, until he brought me along to the universe he visited."
"So, do you go universe hoppin' a lot, then?" Red questioned.
"Hm, not too much. Sometimes we get visitors here, though," replied Papyrus.
"Hm."
Red looked down toward his feet, at the clean, white snow surrounding them.
"So, now that you've seen some more of our world, can you tell us what it's like in your universe?" Blue asked excitedly.
Sans wasn't sure how much or what he should say. By now, he had realized that there were some pretty big differences between their universes, but he didn't know if he should actually mention those. What, was he supposed to tell these two that his world was defined by 'Kill or Be Killed'? Should he tell them about the dust, about the fighting, the anger, the malice? Should he tell them about his brother?
In the end, he shrugged.
"Everythin's all flipped around, I guess," he answered. "And we have Grillby's instead of Muffet's."
"Oh, yeah! Most of the other universes we've contacted are like that!" Blue responded. "I've never met Grillby in our universe, but he seems pretty cool in the other universes!"
"I think you mean hot, bro,"
"PAPYRUS!"
"Aw, don't get all fired up."
"PAPYRUS, NO, THAT WAS AWFUL!"
"Nyeheheheh."
XXX
Papyrus glanced toward Red. He had been hoping that lightening the mood with some puns would make the smaller skeleton less afraid of them. He could tell that Red, despite putting up a brave front, was still a bit shaky and uncertain. This was the first time he had spoken up since they left the house, and he had noticed that Red had been on alert ever since they left, repeatedly checking their surroundings and tensing up every time they came across someone. Well, he couldn't blame him. You never know what might happen when you're in another universe.
As it was, Papyrus wasn't sure if the puns helped or not. Red was currently staring at them like they were the most confusing thing he had ever seen. Maybe they were.
Or maybe Red wasn't a fan of puns.
"Anyway, why don't we go to Muffet's?" Papyrus suggested. "Since you've never had her food and all."
"Hm, normally I wouldn't want to encourage Pap's sweet tooth, but it is a special occasion today," Blue conceded.
He and Blue stared at Red, waiting to see his answer. In the end, they received another shrug.
"Sure, I guess."
Red's shoulders were tense again. Hopefully a pastry or two would make him feel more at ease
XXX