The sun was beginning to set behind me as I walked up to the cave entrance, its dark silence giving me chills down my spine. I failed to understand why some monsters decided to stay here after the Barrier was gone. They must like the darkness and constant damp weather I guess.

I, of course, didn't tell Papyrus where I was going. He was use to me wandering off every evening like this, so he didn't question me when I left. Even so, I could still sense his concern for me. Big guy's always watching out for me, he always has since we were baby bones. If only he knew how much I'd done to protect him in return...

Thanks to Frisk though, that wasn't necessary anymore. I could rest easy knowing Papyrus had good friends around him. In fact, I rest so easy, I actually sleep. I stay asleep all night and on into the next day sometimes. It annoys Papyrus to no end. I took his advice once and got an alarm clock set up to help me get into a better routine. I later ended up throwing it away.

Out the window.

Papyrus hasn't given up on me though. He says I'm "a work in progress, without much progress, but in progress nonetheless."

Man my brother's cool.

As I walked into the Palace of the underground I decided to follow through on another piece of advice from him. Get some exercise. No shortcuts I decided. I promised him I'd get at least 20 steps in each day. Which I just got, so, shortcuts are making a come back.

I made my way through the Palace and soon found myself in a familiar corridor. Memories of Frisk came to my mind. I had faced them here many times, explaining the consequences of their actions to them. They made their fair share of mistakes more than once, but, like Papyrus, I didn't give up hope in them, even after the one time they took their power to reset too far. I still haven't figured out what stopped them from finishing that timeline. It wasn't me believe it or not. I like to think that they realized it was a bad choice and reset it to make things right. At the time, it was the proof I needed to know that they weren't going to experiment with their power. At least, not down those kinds of paths.

Kid's got a good heart after all it seems.

I was soon through the Palace and out in the streets of New Home, and decided to take a detour to my old stomping grounds deeper in the city. I made my way down the aging streets of the city and found the old park at its center. I couldn't help but reminisce about my childhood as I looked around. The old tree me and Papyrus would climb was even still here. Its branches were filled with leaves for the first time in who knows how long. Guess it was just as happy as us monsters that the Barrier was gone.

Just for fun, I tried to climb the old tree, walking up and jumping as high as I could onto it. My strength quickly left me as I clung to the tree, my worse enemy, Gravity, pulling me down. Suddenly, I felt something pushing me up. I rose up to the lower branches and grabbed a hold of them, pulling myself up on top of one. I stabilized myself on the branch and looked back down below me to see what had pushed me up here.

"This is just further proof of your need for exercise, brother!" Papyrus said to me in a stern tone. "Starting tomorrow we will begin a routine! One lap around the house! That way, if you get tired, you can just fall right into your bed!" he told me, his cape blowing in the wind behind him.

He was still in his police force uniform, which didn't surprise me, and with his stern tone and demeanor, I felt a bit intimidated by him. I also felt proud of him. My little bro, all grown up and holding his own with a car, a job, the whole shebang, heh, not that he ever couldn't.

"Sounds good bro." I replied to him, secretly dreading the idea. "But why are you-"

"Why are you down here climbing this tree anyway?" he unknowingly interrupted, and before I could say a word, he answered the question himself. "Wait." his eyes widened. "Is this what you have been doing every evening? A secret exercise routine?! My encouragement is working! Oh I'm so proud Sans!" he shouted with happy tears in his eyes.

I smiled and reached down to him, inviting him to join me up here. He quickly noticed and took hold of my hand. As I helped him up into the tree with me, I remembered back to when he was shorter and had to jump to reach me. I never told him I was using my magic to help him jump a little higher, heh. We helped each other further up the tree, the tree swaying under our weight, but thankfully not breaking. We soon reached the top and looked around at our old home town. Hardly any monsters lived here now with the Barrier gone, so it was looking pretty abandoned.

"Hey! There's the old clock tower Sans!" Papyrus shouted, pointing it out across the park.

"Looks like it's still keeping time." I replied as I caught sight of it.

"I wonder if it is on time though." Papyrus asked, pulling out his cell phone for the time. "Wowie! It is right on time! 5:32 PM!" he exclaimed.

"Heh. That clock's still pretty handy, huh?" I joked.

"Yes, Sans, it has great face too." Papyrus grudgingly joked back.

"Guess you could call this clock an old timer." I joked again.

Papyrus groaned and laughed at the same time, rolling his eyes at me.

We spent the next thirty minutes sight seeing from the tree, talking about all we use to do here; playing in the park, sneaking around the alleys, helping old man Puzzleton with his hedge maze, and then spending the money he gave us on ice cream, or doughnuts, we mixed it up each time.

As we later climbed out of the tree I ended up falling the rest of the way out, Papyrus being quick to catch me. It wasn't because I fumbled or anything that I fell, it was the tree, they don't build them like they use to, heh.

"Say, Sans." Papyrus said meekly as he put me down.

"Yeah Bro?" I turned to him.

"Do you think we could... stop by the house?" he nervously tapped his fingers together.

"Sure thing Papyrus." I told him, his face now beaming with excitement.

As we walked down the road to our old homestead, Papyrus couldn't help but remind me of the time we got lost because he wanted to see the Royal Guards when they were training. That was when we first met Undyne if I remember right. She was eager to prove herself and get into the Guard, much like Papyrus later would be. She would mimic the Royal Guard's training routines to train herself, soon creating her own routine when she decided theirs were 'too wimpy'. She signed me and Papyrus up for it one day after school, so she wouldn't have to do it alone.

Ah, the memories.. The painful, painful, memories..

The way to our old home here in the city came to us by instinct, even after all this time, and we found it in worse condition than the rest of the city. It seemed like I was just here in my memories. I could clearly remember the last time I was here...

"Do you think it's safe to walk inside, Sans?" Papyrus asked, interrupting my thoughts. "It doesn't look very... stable." he brought out.

"Well of course it doesn't look stable. This isn't a farm house." I joked.

Papyrus face palmed and sighed. He was smiling though.

"I'm sure it's fine Pap. We'll just have to be careful and not hurt the floor boards." I told him as I walked up to the door.

"Hurt the floor boards?" he asked confused.

"Yeah. If we hurt them, they'll have to go on break." I looked back at him with a wide smile.

"OH MY- SANS! That was terrible!" he shouted at me.

I laughed and turned back to open the door. Papyrus quickly caught up to me, and we walked in together. As soon as we walked in we were met with dusty air, parts of the ceiling had broken off onto the floor, which was covered in dirt and rocks, the wallpaper was peeling, and the furniture was growing hair by the looks of it.

"Yeesh. This place has really gone down hill " I glanced around the entryway.

"I guess no one moved in after we left." Papyrus stated, looking and sounding a bit upset.

"Guess not." I replied with a sigh. Just as I said that, I caught sight of some spiders living in cobwebs on the ceiling. "Heh, some spiders are making good use of it though." I told Papyrus.

When I looked back, I found him scanning the room, deep in thought about something. He looked over at the stairs to the second floor, and his gaze stuck to it.

"I wonder what our rooms look like?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

"Why don't we go see?" I walked past him to the stairs.

I pressed my foot against the first step to test its durability, it squeaked under my weight as I stepped up to the next one. It seemed safe enough, and Papyrus weighed less than me anyway, heh. I led us up the steps close to the wall where the boards would have the best support, last thing I wanted was to fall through the stairs down to the basement.

I'd hate to see what that looks like now...

We made it up without incident and walked down the hall to our old room. The door was slightly ajar, so I gave it a gentle push to open it completely. The hinges made an eerie groan as the door slowly opened, stopping as it bumped into a pile of stones and boards that had fallen from the ceiling. As I looked up at the new skylight, Papyrus walked past me into the room. He looked around and seemed a bit annoyed.

"What a mess! This room was never this bad while I was here!" he said in annoyance.

"Heh, I don't remember it ever being tidy, bro." I replied, knowing how he would respond.

"Not on MY side of the room! I kept my side spotless! You never put away your things! It was always such an eyesore!" he said as expected.

"Didn't you just say it was never dirty while you were here though?" I asked.

"It was! Eh, wasn't-! Oh you know!" he struggled to say, getting properly flustered by his brother, heh. "It was my job as your brother to help you, so I would clean it up for you when you were doing your homework!" he reminded me, looking away annoyed with his arms folded.

"Thanks Papyrus." I thanked him.

"Your welcome Sans." he replied kindly.

"I wonder if there's anything still lying around here now?" I asked, looking around the room.

"If there is, it's probably yours." he grumbled, looking around as well.

The both of us were looking high and low for anything that was still intact; under the beds, in the bookshelves, under the moldy rugs... As I looked in the empty closet, I heard Papyrus open a drawer in the night stand, and get unusually quiet.

"Sans." I heard him call somberly.

"What is it Pap?" I turned to him.

He held out a photograph he had found, inviting me to come look. I walked over and took it, finding it well covered with dust. I wiped the dust off of it with my jacket sleeve, and froze when I saw who was in it.

There was me, no taller than I am now. Papyrus, being held by our mom, heh, cute little baby bones. Our dad was behind me with a big smile. Grandpa Semi was next to us, his proud smile taking up most of his face. How old was this picture to have him in it I wonder?

"Sans?" Papyrus prompted. "What... really happen to them?" he meekly asked.

I put the picture in the pocket of my jacket and looked up at him.

"I honestly don't know Papyrus." I told him.

His expression grew sadder as he looked away from me upset. I looked back up through the hole in the ceiling and wondered what had happened to them all those years ago, because I truly didn't have the answer.

"The last I saw of them, they were here." I said, thinking out loud. "When I came to visit them a week later.." I paused. "After the experiments went wrong.." I whispered. "They were gone." I sighed.

"But where did they go?! Did someone kidnap them?" he asked.

"I doubt that." I told him.

I had an idea of someone who might know though, someone who might have been the reason they disappeared in the first place. I seem to remember them going out of their way to hurt me on multiple occasions...

"Let's go bro. I need to talk to someone." I sternly stated, making my way out of the room.

"Who's that?" he followed.

"Flowey."