Jeremiah couldn't help but shiver when he saw what lay ahead. "Chara, are there any other ways to Snowdin?" He asked, his voice laden with desperation. "Nope, the only way in and out is across this bridge." The bridge in question was just a bunch of wooden planks suspended in the air by some rope. While the fact the bridge was such a poorly built one greatly discomforted Jeremiah, the fact it was the only way across the widest and deepest gorge he had ever seen just made it even worse. "How many gorges have you even seen Jeremiah?" Chara asked skeptically. "Also is that even a gorge? Wouldn't this be a canyon?" Jeremiah ignored her questions about the name of this giant gaping hole in the ground and focused on her first question. "I got to see plenty of gorges with the caravan I was with right before I fell. But they were never stupid enough to try and cross them." He could feel Chara rolling her eyes at him. "Did any of those canyons have a bridge?" They continued debating about gorges for the next half hour. They ultimately agreed that while it was a good thing that they even built a bridge, they definitely could've done a way better job. They also agreed to disagree on the name of the giant gaping hole in the ground.
Unfortunately for Jeremiah, that meant he had no more excuses to delay crossing the bridge. So with a prayer for safety, he took a single step onto the bridge. The whole thing wobbled and shook as he stepped onto it, causing him to cringe. He took a moment to gather his nerves, and once he did he placed his second foot on the bridge. It shook once again, causing him to panic and grasp the ropes suspending the bridge like his life depended on it. After that, he slowly but steadily made his way across the bridge, praying to God all the while. And the further he got, the more confident he felt. Soon enough there were only three planks left between him and sweet solid ground. "Thank you, Lord, for getting me across this bridge safely. Please help me as we move on and give me the right words to save these savages. Amen." Chara who had been respectfully quiet while he prayed, chose now to speak up. "I don't know why you were so scared of this bridge Jeremiah. Whoever built it did an amazing job because it's been here since before I fell, yet it's still here." It took Jeremiah a moment to realize what she had said, and it took him another moment to do the math on how old this bridge was. But as soon as he finished doing the math in his head, he let out a squeak and ran the final three steps and flung himself onto the snow.
He panted for a few seconds before looking back at the bridge, fully expecting it to collapse right at that moment. But it never did. It took a moment for the adrenaline to go away, and as soon as it did his fear was replaced with anger. "Why didn't you tell me that before I got on that deathtrap!" Chara laughed and replied. "You didn't die, did you?" Chara didn't wait for him to answer. "Besides, would you have crossed the bridge if you knew that?" Jeremiah tried to come up with an answer, but he couldn't come up with one that wouldn't have him either lying or agreeing. So he just let out a huff, picked himself off the ground and marched off. "Wrong way," Chara said smugly. He turned around without a word and marched off once again.
Soon enough he was in front of a sign that said, "Welcome to Snowdin!" He could see a small town just past the sign. Jeremiah was a bundle of nerves as he approached Snowdin. "What's wrong, Jeremiah, it's just a town full of monsters that apparently want to steal your soul?" While Chara meant that as a joke, it just made him more nervous. His eyes darted all around him, half expecting to see Papyrus charging at him. But he never saw any signs of him, even after he entered the town.
The town was... nice, Jeremiah supposed. The little wooden buildings they had were nothing like he ever saw before. He could see they all had lights on inside their homes and stores, but he saw no sign of any actual monsters. He didn't even need to take a guess as to why it was obvious they were hiding from Papyrus. "I can't believe Asgore would let this cretin get away with harassing an entire town like this!" Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Toriel say Asgore murdered multiple children?" Chara hesitated for a moment before saying. "I'm sure it's all some sort of misunderstanding." For whatever reason Chara seemed hurt and desperate as she said that. Those emotions were the main reason Jeremiah didn't tell her how stupid that was, he really didn't want to deal with a sad and quiet Chara again. The secondary reason being the voice calling out from behind him. "Yo!" Jeremiah whirled around to face the voice. To his relief it wasn't another skeleton, it was just a... weird lizard child? They were smiling at him, showing off their razor-sharp teeth. It would've normally made him nervous to see teeth like that, but the fact they were a whole lot shorter than him, plus the fact they were obviously a poor cripple missing both of their arms, made him pity them far more than their teeth could possibly make him fear them.
Jeremiah gave the crippled lizard child a genuine smile, even though Chara was cursing inside his head about Papyrus crippling children. "Howdy, my name is Jeremiah. What's your name?" The crippled kid seemed to look him up and down before responding. "My name is Monster Kid." Jeremiah stared at Monster kid and wondered what sort of parent would name their child that, seriously you'd be as well to just combine both of their parents' names. "Creativity when it comes to names isn't something the monsters are that good at." Chara supplied quite helpfully. "So dude, your a kid too right?" Jeremiah was confused by the question, was Monster Kid asking if he was a child or asking if he had the same last name. Monster kid continued before he could even begin to think up an answer. "You don't need to answer, I can tell you're a kid based on the fact you're wearing a striped shirt." Jeremiah was confused by this as well until he remembered what he was wearing. "I guess I am wearing one." They both became silent for a moment until Monster Kid spoke up. "Yo, you wanna go see Undyne?" Jeremiah didn't know who this Undyne person was, but she sounded vaguely familiar. "Who's Undyne?" He asked Monster Kid. Monster Kid's eyes became like saucers. "You've never heard about Undyne before? Do you live under a rock or something?" Jeremiah felt tempted to point out that technically Monster Kid lived under a rock, but he figured that would be insensitive. So instead of being snarky, he just shook his head. Monster kid seemed to be disappointed at first, but that quickly turned into joy. "Well, that just means I'll have to tell you all about her! She's the coolest, she beats up all the evil humans in the name of justice! She could beat up all the teachers in the underground... not that she would, she's far too cool to hurt innocents like that!" He continued to ramble on excitedly about this undyne for quite a while, but Jeremiah felt like he got the basic gist of Undyne, so he began to ignore Monster Kid in favor of thinking about what Undyne meant for him. He had me worried when he mentioned her beating up all the evil humans. But he said she wouldn't hurt an innocent, so I should be all right. For once, Chara seemed to agree with his assessment. "Maybe we could get her to deal with Papyrus?" Chara suggested. Jeremiah gave it some thought before shaking his head. "We can't possibly ask her to risk her life like that." Chara hesitated for a moment before conceding that he was right. He started to pay attention to Monster Kid at exactly the right moment. "She's even the captain of the Royal Guard!" That single sentence was enough to send Jeremiah on a pretty big loop. But once he recovered he interrupted Monster Kid's ramblings to ask. "Isn't Papyrus supposed to be captain of the Royal Guard?" That single sentence seemed to stop Monster Kid's ramblings in their track. Monster Kid looked at Jeremiah like he had two heads. "Yo... that's pretty dumb, what made you think that?"
Jeremiah was thrown aback by Monster Kid's reply. "Chara, are you sure Papyrus is the captain of the royal guard?" Chara shook herself out of her confusion to answer him. "Well, of course, he's the Captain of the royal guard, he tried to poison you remember?"
"Of course I remembered near getting killed by Italian food, but Flowey tried to murder me as well, and he isn't the Captain of the royal guard, is he?" Chara thought about what he said for a moment before it all seemed to click for her. "I got it! Papyrus is using this Undyne chick as a puppet! Heck, maybe he's even using Da… I mean Asgore as a puppet too!" Despite Chara's apparent glee at unraveling the mystery, Jeremiah had his doubts. Her theory seemed to be a little... out there. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Papyrus had pretended to be his friend before he struck, so he knew Papyrus preferred a cloak and dagger approach. Based on Monster Kid's description of her, Undyne sounded far too just to be killing children on her own violation. Chara also seemed to think Asgore was unable to murder children, so he would trust her judgment on that. "See, it makes sense," Chara said smugly. Jeremiah just sighed and conceded that it did in fact make some sense.
He then realized he had been standing silently in front of Monster kid for at least for a few minutes now. Jeremiah blushed and finally answered. "Well, Papyrus tried to poison me." Monster kid's eyes widened like saucers. "Wait, what!" Jeremiah looked all around, to make sure no one was listening. Once the coast was clear, he leaned in towards Monster Kid and whispered. "He tried to poison me with spaghetti. Also, I'm pretty sure he's using Undyne and Asgore as puppets." Monster kid stared at Jeremiah slack-jawed, which he could understand, having your whole worldview flipped upside down like that could mess with a person. But almost as soon as it came, their shock disappeared and was replaced by a sudden understanding. "Oh, your that paranoid dude Sans warned everyone about" It was Jeremiah's turn to be shocked. "Paranoid?" He asked. Monster Kid looked like he made a mistake and realized it. "Uh... I probably shouldn't have said that." They stared awkwardly at each other for a second before monster kid spoke up. "I guess I'll see you later." He then turned around and started to run away. It wasn't until that moment Jeremiah realized what he forgot to do. "Wait have you gotten to hear the good news of our Lord and savior-" Monster Kid tripped before Jeremiah could finish. Jeremiah was about to rush over and help him back up, but Monster Kid was able to jump back onto his feet with so little difficulty Jeremiah couldn't help but be impressed. He then continued to run away, leaving a very confused, worried and slightly offended Jeremiah behind.
Chara let out a huff and said. "What a nerve he has!" Jeremiah sighed and said. "I don't know Chara, what he said has got me thinking, maybe I am slightly paranoid." He could feel Chara shaking her head. "No I'm not talking about the kid, I'm talking about that perfidious skeleton Papyrus, he's obviously had his creep of a brother tell everyone to avoid you!" Jeremiah blinked and asked. "Wait, wouldn't that be helping us?" Chara let out a groan. "It does help us, but he doesn't care about that. It's all so he could hunt and kill you himself, the fiend!" Jeremiah thought about it for a moment, before realizing that once again, he couldn't come up with a better explanation, so he just accepted hers, for now.
With no sure idea of what to do next, he just aimlessly wandered to the other end of the town. He passed by a large two-story cabin with two mailboxes. One was filled to the brim with mail and was labeled San's, while the other one was empty and labeled Papyrus. "See, everyone's too scared to even send him mail!" Jeremiah didn't bother to reply, he was too busy just keeping his head down and hoping neither of them could see him from their home.
Snow was whirling all around him, blinding him and making him shake like a leaf. "Chara, do you have any idea if I'm going the right way?" He could feel Chara giving him a thumbs up. "Your almost to waterfall." Jeremiah smiled at the news and offered a quick prayer to God. But as he did so, he realized something pretty important. "Hey, Chara. Why am I going towards this Waterfall place? Shouldn't I just stay in Snowdin if I want to convert people? I understand not wanting to be killed by Papyrus, but can't he just follow us to this Waterfall place?" Chara was about to tell him about her plan involving the king when she noticed someone up ahead. "Jeremiah watch out, Papyrus is right in front of you!" Jeremiah froze in his tracks and looked straight ahead. At first, he couldn't see anything, but then he saw him. A tall and lanky silhouette standing firm and facing straight towards him. Even though Jeremiah couldn't see the skeleton, he could feel his empty eye sockets staring into his soul. "So my easily scared friend, how'd you enjoy my famous pasta?" Jeremiah blinked in disbelief at the audacity of the skeleton. Did he just make a joke about poisoning me? "I think that cretin just did!" But once he got over the audacity of Papyrus, he realized he had a big problem. "Chara how am I supposed to get around him?" Chara let out a curse that didn't inspire any confidence in Jeremiah. "You'll have to find a way to get passed him." Jeremiah gulped and took a step forward. "Oh, you loved my spaghetti so much you want to hug the great Papyrus! I accept!" He then stretched out both his arms and started to approach Jeremiah.
Jeremiah wavered for a moment and took a step back. "There's no need to be nervous new friend, the great Papyrus won't hurt you!" Something within Jeremiah snapped at that moment. "Stop pretending! We both know that I'm a human, and you're the captain of the royal guard and are trying to kill me!" This seemed to stun Papyrus and even Chara. Jeremiah took a small amount of pleasure in their reactions. But his pleasure quickly turned into fear when Papyrus spoke up. "Well, if that's the game you want to play…" Papyrus summoned a giant bone and held it in his hands like a club. "Then I, the great Papyrus, captain of the royal guard, shall capture you human!" Jeremiah stood there as if he was held in place by some sort of spell, which in all honesty was a possibility. But whatever spell had held him down, whether it was real or just imagined, was broken by Chara yelling at him to duck. He did as she told him to, and was rewarded by Papyrus just barely missing his head. Thankfully Papyrus had put a little bit too much of his strength in his attack, so when it hit nothing but air, it caused him to fall. "Now's your chance, run!" Jeremiah didn't need to be told twice.
He ran as fast as he could, Papyrus never far behind him. Running through the snowstorm was miserable, the snow almost reached all the way up to his knees, which made every step more difficult than the last. And he couldn't even see where he was going thanks to the storm. It got to the point that he just wanted to give up and die, but a strange sense of DETERMINATION pushed him ever onwards. His persistence was eventually rewarded by the snow gradually becoming thinner, allowing him to actually see where he was going. Just a few feet ahead of him the snow stopped, the ground being coated in a strange purple grass instead of that accursed white powder. There was also a small pond off the side of the trail. He felt a bony hand graze against his back. "I've almost got you that time human!" Jeremiah felt like crying, Papyrus would catch him any moment now. "Jeremiah I have an idea! Dive into the water quickly, he can't follow you because his armor would just cause him to sink!"
To be fair, Jeremiah was in such a panicked state, he didn't have time to think what she said through. All he heard was a way to escape certain torture and death at the hands of the perfidious, skeletal, puppeteer of the underground known as Papyrus. So just barely avoiding yet another attempt by Papyrus to grab him, he made a sharp turn to the left and dove headfirst into the water. While Chara's plan was fairly good on paper, there was a critical flaw in it Jeremiah didn't realize until he hit the water. That single flaw was the fact he didn't know how to swim.
Papyrus starred as the strange monster kept screaming and thrashing at the surface of the water. He was asking for someone named Abba to help him. "Wow, this guy's really dedicated to playing monsters and humans," Papyrus muttered to himself. At first, their screams for help had really concerned him and he was fully prepared to dive in and rescue them. But he remembered the sneaky way he had been asked to play this game to begin with, so he figured this was all a part of one of those nerdy roleplaying things Undyne mentioned before. It was pretty nice of them to let him be the captain of the royal guard, it was important to get practice for his future job after all. He also had to give this to them, their actions could rival Mettaton's. "Sup Bro?" Papyrus whirled around to face his brother. "Well Sans, I successfully befriended that poor scared monster you told me about." Sans seemed to be surprised by this for a moment, but his surprise quickly morphed into his usual air of aloof amusement. "So where are they now?"
Papyrus turned around to point at them, but they weren't there anymore, in their place was just some bubbling water. "I don't know," Papyrus admitted. He couldn't help but feel vaguely hurt by his new friend just up and leaving him like this, but he reasoned to himself that the thought of San's puns must've scared them off. Sans just shrugged in response. "Well then, if you don't know where they are, I'll be going back to work." He then turned around and started to walk deeper into waterfall. Papyrus felt tempted to tell him he was going the wrong way, but he figured Sans was just going to take another one of his shortcuts. Papyrus let out a sigh and looked at the water as the bubbling slowly stopped.
(AN) So it's a new year and a new chapter! I hope y'all have enjoyed your winter breaks, I sure have. Being honest, I actually really like the way this chapter turned out, but if you don't like it, please let me know why, so I can fix it in the future. And that leads me to begging y'all into leaving a review because I love seeing reviews. Thanks to the two people who have reviewed, you both have made me very happy.
Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope y'all have enjoyed it. Have a great day and year, God bless!
Edit: Just realized I forgot to put in the actual line breaks and just left the words, line break. Fixed it as soon as I noticed it. Its a small thing, but I do apologize for that.