Do you like updates better on Friday night, Saturday night, or Sunday night?
"TELL ME A STORY!" the monster exclaimed in excitement. His boots stomped the ground as he bounced, a grin etched on his face and he clasped his gloved hands together. He turned to his brother, the shorter of the two, armor a bit scuffed with dirt but withstanding. The suit itself was lighter than usual.
"alright, alright," the shorter said as they continued to walk through the blue scenery, rounding a corner. "once upon a time, there lived a king in a castle. he had a daughter who-"
"NO, NOT THAT STORY!" the brother cut in rather abruptly and waved his hand toward the shorter monster. "THE ONE ABOUT THE STARS! TELL THE ONE ABOUT THE STARS!"
The shorter sighed. "a long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. if you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true.
"now, all we have are these sparkling ceiling stones…"
Seeing his brother's armor begin to slouch, upper body drooping downward, the monster quickly butted in with his own version of the narrative. "THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WISHING TOGETHER CAN'T BE WRONG! KING ASRIEL WILL PROVE THAT. YOU HEARD HIS MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH. NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS! HE SAID THAT HIMSELF!"
"he sure did," the shorter replied with a chuckle, his armor making small clunks against the stone floor. His eyes gazed up at the sparkling stones above them and he straightened himself. "hey, bro. why don't you make a wish?"
The brother's eyes widened a small bit as they followed the shorter's trail, smile firming and the energy revitalizing his body. "OF COURSE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WISH FOR MY BROTHER AND I TO SEE THE REAL STARS SOMEDAY!"
Papyrus gave a small push against the bridge of his lensless glasses, continuing to gaze at the stars, unaware that the older of the two had moved to the back wall where another blue flower rested. The older observed him for moment, then redirected his attention back to the stones on the ceiling and let out another small laugh.
"seems my horoscope is the same as last week's."
He narrowed his gaze.
Whatever the human's goal was- killing their king, getting home- they had to pass through here. He knew Waterfall like the back of his hand. Hell, he knew most of the Underground like the back of his hand, but Waterfall especially. There were other ways of getting around, but they were difficult to find and even more so to maneuver. This was a human, not a monster. It didn't know these routes. It didn't know where to go. Making it this far was just a fluke. Snowdin is easy to navigate, and the Ruins… Hopefully Queen Chara was alright. Er, not queen. What did she want to be called? They. What did they want to be-?
A small thump found its way to his ear, followed by another, and even another, like something heavy walking on wood. He rested his hand against the dark pillar and leaned forward.
It didn't matter now. He could deal with all that stuff later, when the human was dead. Or...robot? Human, robot, didn't matter. That thing had a human SOUL; it was going down.
He waved his hand in front of his armor. A long, thin light emerged, shaping itself not even a second later into a bone-like structure. Before the end could form, he broke off the energy supply, leaving just a thin, pointed tip on one side, like a skewer almost, or a deadly pencil.
Despite this, his eyes had never left the target. They remained fixated on the tall human of metal, taking aim at the jet-black hair weaving over its face, a small step forward, swinging his arm behind himself and then releasing on the thrust. Unfortunately for him, the human's reflexes seemed to have kicked in. Their head was turned before, body leaning forward as if to listen to something, and he could have sworn he would have caught them off guard, but the human's head then swiveled, and they froze after leaping back.
In response, he brought forth three more.
"hit," he thought to himself, summoning them two or three feet beside him so that they could emerge from behind the human. Naturally, the human jolted to the side.
"hit," he thought again, this time a little bit louder, as if screaming in his head would do much good. He summoned three more bone picks and the human, eyes widened as far as they could go at seeing this, began to sprint down the damp boardwalk.
"hit!" he repeated in his head, teeth gritting and jaw locking. This time, the bones were aimed a few feet farther ahead of the human than they had been. The human gasped rather loudly, screeching to a halt in their high heeled hot pink boots just as a bone pick managed to nip their ankle.
Seeing his opportunity, he swung his hand high above him, wasting no time in bringing to light a storm of bone spears that rained down onto the human. They barely had time to move their hands to their head to shield themself. He smiled slightly at this.
It was over too soon, however, and the human continued running forward, stumbling slightly. At one point, he thought it was going to fall. He didn't let up on the skewers for an instant. When it seemed like the human was going to trip over its own feet, his focus increased ten fold. All that was running through his mind were two separate thoughts: "hit," followed by, "i can't let it get to papyrus." His kid was safe. He knew his kid would be fine. They had proven themself already in that aspect, and Temmie would have told them otherwise if they were not. If Frisk was up ahead, he would shield them too, but they weren't. They were back in Snowdin. Hotlands was ahead of the human. Papyrus was strong, but he still needed to protect his family.
"i can't let it get to papyrus."
When the purple heart appeared in front of the human for the second time after another bone had made contact with their arm, his grin widened. Once more a flurry of blue light descended upon the human, and they winced quite visibly. A cut then came into view. The human didn't seem to bleed despite being very obvious that their inner mechanisms had been exposed on the right arm. At least it was a start.
His smile fell when the human dropped to all fours and began to crawl forward. Though unsure of the intent, he didn't let up his attack. When he noticed the direction the human was headed, his eyes widened.
He still didn't let go. Even after the human had crawled into the mass of seaweed, their body disappearing from his vision, he continued to send row after row of sharp picks, hoping at least one would hit. It wasn't until he himself approached the seaweed that he finally slowed the production and then stopped it completely, the number of weapons present falling to only the single bone spear held in his left hand.
The seaweed came up just barely below the top of his skull. Dark shadows were cast around him. On days like these, kid-sized monsters like him wished they'd been born a bit taller.
"Come on, pal," he said to the underbrush, forcing his voice into a more authoritarian tone as he rummaged through. "If I could sea you, it'd make my job to weed you out a heck of a lot easier."
As soon as the chuckle made its way to his ears, his hand darted through the dark leaves that threatened to overpower his size. His eyes didn't have the capability to give any sort of input. At least, not until his hand had managed to grab a hold of something soft, like fabric, and he yanked it forward, the plants around it parting to reveal the wide-eyed grin of a little yellow monster.
The two stared at each other for what could've been a second, a minute, a year… He couldn't tell. Confusion flooded his body, quickly followed by a sense of defeat. Nothing he wasn't exactly used to by now. So, letting out a small sigh, he released his grip on the child and turned around, trudging his heavy metal boots down the path he had already traveled.
Once back on the dock, he sat himself down along the edge, metal boots dipping into the water beneath him. It probably wasn't good for the suit, but oh well. He could clean it or something. Or have one of his subordinates do it. That's the great thing about being Royal Guard captain- someone else does the housecleaning for you.
His hand snaked into a small side compartment hidden on the inside of the suit. It was meant to store water so the guards wouldn't become dehydrated during their daily patrols, but with his capabilities, he didn't need such a luxury. It might be effort, but he could make it home with just a snap of the fingers if he absolutely needed to. Plus, the pocket had its other uses.
Out from the pocket emerged a phone. It was a simple one, one that gave off the impression the designers were more focused on it not breaking than it being fast or complex. Perfect for someone who kept it inside a metal suit of armor most of the day.
The message displayed to him upon first switching it on would cause the skeleton to frown. Five missed calls, all from a caller labeled "kiddo". He told Frisk not to call while he was at work. The guy learned a while ago that if he spoke on a non-professional level while on duty, he'd end up distracted and slack off the rest of the day. Didn't want another repeat of the king and queen assassinations.
Instead, he opened up his contact menu, which displayed to him five different numbers- dadster, kiddo, king az, papy, and tem. Two were barely used. Only one had a picture beside it, and that was due to her snatching his phone during "training" and putting it in herself. He didn't feel like wasting the effort to delete it.
The second number had a small grey dot next to it, signalling that they had left a voice message. Maybe this really was important? That wasn't something his kid normally did. Confused, he pressed the icon, lifted the mask of his helmet, and slid the phone beside his ear.
"hey, papa," the voice came from the other side. It was soft, hesitant. Almost reminded him of when they had first began to break themself away from their selective muteness.
He remained quiet, and after a moment of silence, it continued.
"i just wanted to say that...i love you. and i miss you. hope you come home tonight."
The recording ended there with Sans moving the phone away from his ear. There was a bittersweet smile on his face.
"love you too, kid," he muttered, mostly to himself as he pressed the number labeled "papy" and brought the phone back to his skull, "but i got work to do."
It rang only twice before another voice echoed through the phone. "Hello?"
It still felt odd to not hear his brother screaming when he spoke, but he was getting used to it.
"hey, papyrus," Sans replied, his smile widening at hearing his brother's voice. It was a nice voice. It really was.
"SANS!" the brother replied in excitement, however gasped when a slight 'thump' echoed in the background. His voice dropped again. "Sans! It's so great to hear from you! Aren't you supposed to be at work?"
"nice to hear from you too. funny thing about that. you still have those cameras up around the underground, right?"
"Of course! Why do you ask?"
"well, uh, let's just say the human might have slipped out of my sight."
"Oh!" There was a resurgence of glee in his voice, and Sans could hear it clear as day. "You need me to find the human!"
His eyes narrowed down at the water below him as he leaned forward. "yeah, that'd be good. also, if you could just keep an eye on them, that'd be great."
"Absolutely, brother! Are you planning to battle them?"
His smile fell slightly, a small sigh emitting from it. "if i have to."
"Great! I'll definitely watch out for them! No boondoggling here!"
"great," the older repeated. He straightened his back. "thanks, bro. you're the best."
Click!
Sorry about the last chapter by the way. I mean the last one of ET, not "Happy Break Time". The wording is awful, and I honestly don't know why.
Since I don't have much to say, let's go to reviews!
NoItsBecky: Hey, it's okay! Don't be sorry!
A.M.C.: Honestly, the idea of a spider baby in Papyrus's role is sort of cute. It's not the mechanics I have a problem with, though; it's the reason. Like...why? Why is it there? How the hell did it end up rooming with Frisk? Why is it rooming with Frisk? It's a freakin' spider; it would probably die in the cold of Snowdin.
At any rate, it's a little late for that now. I still used an equation to get Temmie in Papyrus's spot; it's just a different one.