LOUDERTALE

by Superdimentio77

When Lincoln wins a free reservation at a resort, he of course invites all of his family to join him. But when said resort is standing next to a certain mountain, their visit up the mount might extend the Loud Siblings' trek by a little bit. What friendship and trials await them? Look out Underground, here come the Louds.

13. Snowdin, Part 4

LOUDERTALE

Arc 2 : Snowdin

Part 4 : Pap-puzzles and some more non-Sans

(I'm not sorry)

Author's (Musical) Note :

*Jazz music starts to play, and a dashin' jester gets behind a piano*

SD77 : It seems today, that all you get, are sloppy self-inserts, and fics that upset.

*Sans pops into view, because of course he does*

Sans : but where are all those good time-wasters...

*Loud Kids plus Toriel, Papyrus, and Napstablook slide into the shot*

All : That used to keep us quite late~ ?!

*Las Vegas scene appears, everyone now has a golden outfit and dances the cancan, except Lucy and Napstablook who just twirl their canes*

Everyone : Luckily, there is LOUDERTALE ! Eight hours of gameplay, into bloody essays ! And which update times-

Lily :A' Poo-poo !

Everyone : This. Is. LOU-DER-TAAAAAALE !

(Cue applause. APPLAUD HARDER !)

Happy (late) Anniversary, LOUDERTALE ! Wow, can you guys believe it's been one year since this little fic started ? Even though it wasn't even little to begin with ? Still, I'm very happy that after all this time, you guys still put up with me and my overcomplicating of such a simple story. But hey, one year down, only twelve to go, right ?

*Gets spit at, because I do not know da wae*

But seriously, thanks for the support you've given me over this year. Things haven't been easy from this side of the screen, and writing just helps me get away, if just for a moment. But don't worry, I'm gonna land back on my feet pretty soon. Also, feel free to check the description at the end, where I'll answer that question about certain anomalies in the Loud House Timeline. In the meantime, appreciate this generous serving of puzzle and puns, courtesy of everyone's favourite duo.

The Loud House, Undertale, and their characters are not my proprety. But soon, oh soon...

Enjoy !

---

The next area the Loud group accessed was a large turn to the left, almost shaped like an arrow pointing towards their final desination. In the middle of it was what most of them could already assume to be their next challenge. Rocks were disposed in a toppled-over 'H' fashion, and in each gap of the rock formation was a strange blue 'X' switch on the ground. By one side was another stone switch, and by the other was a little wooden sign, to which the kids lost no time gathering around.

Not recognising the writing to be Papyrus', Luna handed her reading responsibility to Lucy. "'Turn every X into an O, then press the sitch. If you see a triangle, then you've gone too far. Or gone under, whichever way you look at it.'" read the young poet.

"Man, this is a peace of cake ! Certainly doesn't looks like Lisa was the one to whip up all those puzzle ideas." said Lana.

"Yeah, there would be some numbers with those X's, about every letter of the alphabet, and some brain-busting equation that leads nowhere." snickered Lynn. Lisa only answered with an eye roll; the brunette could barely do the equations that had a result, so it's not like she, her tutor, expected anything else from her.

"That seems more like Papyrus' kind of gig. I'm surprised he didn't leave some kind of boasting note, or stayed to explain everything in a dramatic and heroic tone !" Luna playfully mimicked, with Lily on her open palm like a Shakesperian skull, but a lot cuter.

Leni couldn't fight a sigh of deep enthrallment at the mention her bone beau's name. "Yeah, he would make it better than Will Smithpeare, or whatever his name is."

"He already has the skull ready too !" chortled Luan, elicting a few snickers. But as she turned her look to her right, she noticed two things. The row of spikes they needed to get off their way, and the monster standing right behind it. She directed Leni's attention with a small elbow nudge. "And it looks like the performance is running early. Or we are very late. Probably the second one."

Leni's brain snapped right to the words, and she let a gasp of awe, for Papyrus himself was there, his back facing them. And to Leni, there was no wrong side to the tall skeleton. Still, the blonde was making some progress with her emotions, managing to keep some composure at his view. But she was still weak in the knees, and her heart was still threatening to burst out of her chest like a wooden canary announcing noon. His serious and thoughtful expression didn't help in taming the butterflies in her throat.

"HMM, WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO ?" pondered Papyrus, drumming his fingers against his chin. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TRANSPORT THE HUMANS IF I DON'T HAVE MY HUMAN IMPRISONING EQUIPEMENT ?! AND SANS IS NOWHERE IN SIGHT. I MUST HURRY, FOR THE HUMANS, ENDEARED BY MY DELICIOUS TRAP, MUST BE FORGETTING HOW FREEZING IT IS ! THEIR TOES ARE PROBABLY ALREADY TURNING BLUE WITH COLD, AND THERE IS NOTHING WORST THAN FROZEN TOES ! OR SO I'VE HEARD."

"Can't you just take us all in one go with those broad arms of yours ?" proposed Lori with an amused little smile, as she and her siblings now stood near the range of spikes.

Papyrus gasped in joy. "OF COURSE ! FURTHER TRAINING, AND THE ACCOMPLISHEMENT OF MY MISSION ! BRILLIANT, IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF ! THANK YOU, BOSSY HUMAN !"

While Lori rolled her eyes at the permanent nickname and made a mental note to 'accidentally' squish Sans' foot next time they'd see him, Lana raised an eyebrow. "Does he even know we're there ?"

"Well, we've seen the guy, so..." said Lola, while giving her infatuated big sister a knowing side-glance. She primed the countdown on her gloved fingers, "Three, two, one..."

The egg timer inside Papyrus' skull tilted, and realisation dawned on him as he spun around to find eight grinning faces, two disinterested ones, and one as red as a tomato. "HUMANS ?! B-BUT... HOW ?! HOW DID YOU GET HERE ?!"

"We... walked ?" tried Lincoln.

"And pet ! Don't forget pet !" chirped Lana, without a scrap on her from her little one-sided fight with Lola, all thanks to the healing magic of cartoons.

"OH ! LOVELY !" rejoiced Papyrus, before realising he was getting the wrong answer. "WAIT, NO ! WHAT I MEAN IS, HOW DID YOU GET PAST MY SPAGHETTI TRAP ?! I THOUGHT FOR SURE THAT YOU WERE ENTANGLED IN MY ENDEARING COOKING ! HOW IN THE ANGEL DID YOU ESCAPE ITS FLAVOUR ?!"

"By running very fast." whispered Lisa, who Lincoln swiftly ushered.

"BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY..." Papyrus squinted his eyes... and opened them with excitement, "DID YOU LEAVE ANY FOR ME ?! I DIDN'T GET TO TASTE THEM EARLIER ; NOT THAT MY CRAFTSMANSHIP NEEDS ANY TESTING, BUT STILL ! WELL ?"

"Uhhh..." was the Louds' drawling answer. What else could they say ? The 'endearing meal' had been the worst piece of cooking they had ever seen, even beating the disastrous food amalgam they had whipped up in a panic to convince their father to spice up his dinner routine. At least that dish had been fit to enter the mouth with hopes to being spit. Even Lucy's spirit shuddered at the thought of the spaghetti's taste permanently imprinting itself on her tongue, like a plague or an amoeba. So yes, they had indeed left plenty of it. All of it.

But could they say it like that, send their raw advice to the cook's face ? One look at it, and the answer was pretty clear : Not in a million years. So, unlike him, subtlety was key here. And, against all odds, it was Leni who worked up the courage to break the news. "W-Well... I-I-we wanted to t-taste it, but we c-couldn't reach it, no m-m-matter how we tried." she stammered, her voice getting squeakier and squeakier with every word.

She dared to look at his expression, and the sight wasn't very encouraging. Papyrus didn't look happy, nor mad, or sad, or anything really. The most he had was this spark of surprise in his eyes, and the feel that he was processing these new informations. Blinking, he lightly scratched his chin. "SO... YOU DIDN'T EAT IT ? DESPITE HOW MUCH YOU WANTED TO... YOU DIDN'T TOUCH IT ?"

There was no reproach in his voice, not a single ounce. It was even, simply wanting an answer, with no repercussions behind it. But that didn't stop a pang of guilt to form in the Louds' SOULs, and a truck of it to ram into Leni's. "Sorry..." she murmured, dropping her vision to her foot aimlessly pushing some snow aside.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY. YOU LEFT THAT POT OF SCRUMPTIOUS SPAGHETTI... SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME ?!" exclaimed Papyrus, his glowing grin bursting anew.

Leni's guilt turned into surprise, and hope bloomed in her mind. Another escape that didn't involve lying to her beloved ? Like, could she get any more lucky today ? Leni nodded vigorously. "The more the merrier ! P-Plus, I really wanted to taste them while they're totes f-fresh, and see how you cooked them. We all did, right guys ?"

"Yeaaah..." "Sure." "It does bear watching." "A farfale for the eyes !"

The genuine flattery worked wonders on the human hunter, making a vivid orange tinge appear across his cheekbones. "WOWIE... NOBODY EVER SAID SUCH NICE THINGS ABOUT MY COOKING BEFORE, OR ASKED FOR A SECOND SERVING." gushed Papyrus. "FOR SOME REASON, THEY'RE ALREADY FULL BY THEIR FIRST FORKFUL." One could only wonder why that would be. And he'd be the only one.

Papyrus felt his SOUL being set ablaze with the inferno of passion that had claimed his stove about a month ago, and pointed a proud finger to the ceiling. "FRET NOT, HUNGRY HUMANS ! GRAND MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS WILL COOK ALL THE PASTA YOUR LITTLE HEARTS DESIRE, AND YOUR EMPTY TUMMIES YEARN FOR !" A sleek tune began to play in the background, and Papyrus' voice turned smooth to mirror the atmosphere. "AND WE'LL ALL SHARE IT AROUND A CANDLELIT DINER, THE ONES WITH A VANILLA SCENT. WE'LL LAUGH, WE'LL COUNT STORIES, WE'LL GET TO KNOW EACHOTHER BETTER. THEN, WE'LL JOIN HANDS, GET CLOSER TO EACHOTHER, AND THEN... AND THEN... WE'LL DECIDE WHO GETS SECONDS WITH A GAME OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS !"

"And, we lost her again." deadpanned Lori, observing her ditzy roommate's euphoric grin and dazzled pupils. They had lost her at the hands part. Lori sighed. At least she hadn't fainted, that was an improvement.

"Uh, I suggest we don't try that kind of system. It usually ends badly for the ones who don't choose Rock. Trust me on this." quipped Lincoln, remembering the Janken tactic to be his 37th failure to try and settle things peacefully for the last slice on Pizza night. Rocks hadn't been the only issue, as Scissors would go for the eyes for a quick blinding, and Paper were powder kegs towards explosive slappy fights. Eventually, he just fell back to the good ol' ABC, and let things be as they should be. Louds be Louds.

"MAYBE, BUT IF YOU EVEN WANT TO TASTE MY MASTER COOKING, YOU'LL HAVE TO SOLVE THIS LITTLE PUZZLE FIRST ! BUT YOU'VE ALREADY FIGURED IT OUT, HAVEN'T YOU ?"

"I'd say it's pretty hard to mess it up." said Lana, as she jumped the nearest blue 'X' switch. As soon as her little boots made contact with it, a red circle appeared at its place.

"One little hop is all it takes !" sang Lola, pressing the other switch.

Lynn made a high jump, completed with a frontflip, and struck a perfect landing on the stone switch. The two circles turned a green lime colour, and the spikes disappeared into the ground, freeing the way. Papyrus applauded the solving's originality and style. "WONDERFUL ! TOO BAD I DON'T HAVE MY RATING CARDS, BUT YOU'D DEFINITELY BE GETTING AN 11 !"

Lynn, though grinning at the praise, had to raise an eyebrow at the strange rating. "Why eleven ?"

"BECAUSE I ALWAYS LIKE TO GO ONE STEP BEYOND !"

"I feel like someone should be remembering that, so we don't have to." said Lincoln, gazing at the camera. Why did he feel like shooting at the ceiling while drinking from a skull all of a sudden ? Also, was this reference being pushed too hard into play ?

Yes, it most definitely was.

"I think what we'll remember is how easy that puzzle was, dude. Next time, we'll just let Lily do it, eh ?" proposed Luna.

"Poo-poo, hehehe." giggled Lily, both curious and excited at the prospect of slapping some shiny figures on the ground.

Lori chuckled at the baby's enthusiasm. "Not a bad idea, as long as there is litteraly nothing dangerous, like electric walls or spikes."

"BUT KIDS LOVE DEADLY SPIKES ! THEY'RE HALF THE FUN !" quipped Papyrus earnestly.

"To avoid getting chopped in half ?" grimly suggested Lucy.

"EXACTLY, LITTLE PSYCHIC HUMAN ! ANYWAY, GOOD JOB PASSING THIS PUZZLE, BUT... THIS WAS MERELY A TUTORIAL FOR A MUCH TOUGHER CHALLENGE ! WILL YOU SOLVE IT ? WE SHALL FIND OUT SOON ! SEE YA IN A BIT ! HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH NYEH !"

Once again, Papyrus skeedaddled out of the area, bounce in his step, and the kids watched him with ranging expressions from apathy to inner loving meltdown. "I hope he really means that 'soon'." swooned Leni, already missing the monster of her dreams.

"As long as we can keep going, I don't see the hurt in that." shrugged Lisa. "Let's resume our footwear shuffling, people. We do not want to end as did our friend's culinary disaster."

All were in agreement with that, minus Leni on the disaster part. Nothing could ever be disastrous about him ! The only blunder she could find linked to him was the time they had to be apart. Leni let out a small sigh as she followed her siblings.

How long was soon, anyway ?

---

"HELLO AGAIN !"

"Dang, he wasn't kidding when he said soon." commented Lana, not looking the least unhappy about that.

Navigating in the new area, a large straight way forward with thingamajigs soon to be discovered and most likely to be tampered with, the Loud group found Papyrus right by the path they were taking. It seemed his dash had only carried him so far, and that he wanted to converse some more.

"HOW GREAT IT IS TO SEE YOU AGAIN ! I JUST THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE SOME COMPANY WHILE YOU WALK TOWARDS YOUR NEXT ENTANGLING ENIGMA, MADE BY YOURS TRULY." boast-offered Papyrus, most charitably.

"You want to talk ? That's weird." commented Lola, before catching herself as felt a pair of eyes fall on her. Usually so warm and full of Kindness, they now carried a danger and frost that would make Lucy blush. "I mean, we don't mind at all, you're good in our books. But, don't you want to capture us and stuff ?"

Confusion wormed its way into Papyrus' expression. What strange questions these strange humans had. "WHY, JUST BECAUSE I WANT TO CAPTURE YOU, DOESN'T MEAN THAT I CAN'T GET TO KNOW YOU, HUMANS !"

"Careful to what you're gonna find. We all have our skeletons inside our closets. Litteraly in some cases ! Am I right ?" jested Luan while nudging Lucy, who took it as well as she could. Skeletons inside her closet ? Ha ! She liked her monsters with a little more cold and emotionally-dead flesh, thank you very much.

"WELL, THERE ARE NONE IN MINE ! EXCEPT ME SOMETIMES. AND SANS, WHEN HE NEEDS ANOTHER NAPPING SPOT. BESIDES, IF I GET TO KNOW YOU... YOU'LL GET TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ME !" said Papyrus, jerking a perky thumbs up towards himself. "SEE ? WE ALL WIN !"

"I guess so." chuckled Lincoln.

"I KNOW SO !" cried Leni in pure euphoria, so much that it was a wonder it hadn't propelled her to the ceiling and straight back to the Surface. The shy glint in her eyes had made way for a sky of fireworks, heart-shaped ones at that. But just like those, her look reverted back to a noiseless night sky, of slight embarassement this time around. "I-I-I mean, yeah, what he said."

"GREAT ! SO... ARE YOU REALLY ALL SIBLINGS ?" asked Papyrus, the first question coming to him when looking at the humans' odd sameness.

"Yep ! We're all Louds, and proud of it !" said Luna, accompanied by her siblings' supportive cheers.

"WHAT A COINCIDENCE ! I'M LOUD TOO ! AT LEAST IT'S WHAT OUR NEIGHBOURS SAY ! NYEH HEH HEH !" cackled Papyrus.

"It's more a family name, but yeah, loud count for us too." said Lori, referring to her and her siblings' legendary pool/supermarket/amusement park/magician show blacklisting. She then caught sight of Leni's blanching face, and immediately cleared up the misunderstanding. "No Leni, he doesn't mean it like that ! He's not part of our family, your love is still possible."

"Well, it would still be possible in certain cultures-" Lisa's science rant was stopped by Lori plugging her mouth with her green beret.

"Stop feeding her information she doesn't need to know." commanded the sistriach.

"Dwoovy nofed." sputtered Lisa, before pulling her headwear out.

"FOLLOW-UP QUESTION," continued Papyrus, unaware of the Louds' zaniness, or his own for that matter, "ARE ALL HUMANS SIBLINGS OF EACHOTHER ?"

"On a Darwinist view, humans do share-" began the mini scientist, before feeling Lori's hawk eye dead set on her. "Roger, information aborted." And with a dry look, she stuffed her hat back into her mouth.

Lori nodded, and turned to Papyrus to answer him. "No, we're the same species, but we are not all siblings."

Papyrus seemed actually surprised by this developpement. "REALLY ? BUT YOU ALL LOOK SO MUCH ALIKE ! THEN AGAIN, THE TEMMIES ARE... UM..." Papyrus trailed off, unsure of what to add about the second most mysterious species of the Underground, in his opinion. The first one was... more annoying. And shed a lot of white fur.

But no time thinking about that ! There were humans to know more about ! "ANYWAY, THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION, HUMAN BOSS !"

"Uh, I have a name, you know." remarked Lori, still not keen on the nickname. While exact, it felt weird being called like she was some kind of mafioso.

"I KNOW THAT ! IT'S BOSS, ISN'T IT ?"

Lori's index and thumb rejoined their good friend the forehead, for some much needed levity. "Did Sans tell you that ?"

"INDEED ! HE GAVE ME ALL YOUR NAMES WHEN I ASKED HIM, EVEN THOUGH HE HAD TO THINK ABOUT THEM FOR A MINUTE EACH TIME !" answered Papyrus candidly.

"Uh-huh. And might we know those 'names' he gave you ?" asked Lola, her arms crossed with dry anticipation, which was shared by most of the others. From their short experience with Sans, they could already feel the jabs at them coming.

"FIRST AND OLDEST, BOSS !"

Lori rolled her eyes.

"LENI !"

The blonde let out an enamoured giggle.

"MOONY !"

"Wow, zip for originality, dude." laid down Luna.

"SUNSHINE !"

Luan perked up. Whether it was her personality or the fact she dressed all in yellow, she could only appreciate this nickname.

"SPEEDY !"

Lynn audibly groaned. She could catch a ball with her mouth and scratch the back of her head with her foot, and suddenly that meant all of her nicknames had to be canine-based. At least it wasn't Fido this time...

"SNOW WHITE !"

"Never heard that one before." Lincoln commented sarcastically.

"GLOOMY MCGLOOMFACE !"

Unbeknownst by everone, Lucy furrowed her brow.

"SKIPPY !"

"I'm not a squirrel ! All kids stock acorns into their mouths, I swear !" said Lana, defending her honour.

"SPARKLES !"

"That's the name of a pony ! I'm... actually not sure if I'm mad." Lola thought about it for an instant, until her glare returned. "Nope, I'm mad !"

"POINTDEXTER !"

To avoid any comments, Lisa chose to keep munching on that hat a little longer. It was good for her enamel, she'd pledge some day.

"AND POTATO !"

Lily blew a happy raspberry. Potatoes were yummy, that meant so was she !

"Look, those aren't our names. At all." said Lynn rather grumpily.

"WHAT ?!" gasped Papyrus, derpy eyes comically bulging out of his sockets. He turned to look at the Loud fashionista. "YOUR NAME IS NOT LENI ?!"

"Yes it is !" Leni cried back, aghast that her good name could be doubted ! That... was her name, right ? Right ?!

"No no, Leni is Leni, but all the other names are wrong." corrected Lana. "He just gave you the nicknames hek made up for us."

"And he'll be getting a few choice words about mine." hissed Lucy, spooking the tomboy by her sudden appearance by her side.

"Let's start to the beginning." said Lori. "I'm Lori, the oldest. In order, we have Leni, whom you already know..." The young fashionista timidly waved. "Luna..." The rocker saluted with a flick from her forehead. "Luan..." The clownette made her pocket klaxon honk. "Lynn..." The athletic girl gave her right arm a good flex. "Lincoln..." The sole brother waved for two. "Lucy..." The spooky duchess gave a simple nod. "Lana..." The handygirl flashed an almost-toothy smile. "Lola..." The pink pageant emperess swiftly passed a hand through her long blond bangs. "Lisa..." The small genius, hat back where it belonged, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "And Lily." The tot gave a greeting babble.

"A SIMILARITY DOWN TO THE INITIALS ! HOW UNCANNY ! YET STRANGELY MARKETABLE..." mumbled Papyrus in the beard he wished he had. Nothing told prestance and royalty than a big, bushy beard ! Everyone in the Underground knew that... "ANYWHO, I HAVE ASKED MY QUESTION, HAVE A SHOT AT YOURS !"

'"What's your favourite colour ?! What do you like in a girl ?! How do you keep yourself so handsome ?! WILL YOU MARRY ME, LIKE, RIGHT NOW ?!"' Those were only a speck of questions compared to the entire stampede trying to force its way through her throat at once, but getting all stuck as a result. She just couldn't wrap her mind around the one good question to start off, she felt so confused ! Not the first time, certainly not the last, but admittedly a very embarassing one. She simply wasn't ready for such deep exchange.

So, with a sigh of defeat, she let Lola have the first question. "So, I was joking earlier, but I gotta ask for real : Do you ever power down ?" She received a sharp jab into her ribs first, courtesty of her messy twin. "What ? I'm really curious about that !"

"OF COURSE I DO !" responded Papyrus, not the least bit offended. "A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP IS IMPORTANT FOR A GOOD DAY OF WORK IN THE ROYAL GUARD !"

"I thought you were aiming for the Royal Guard." said Luan, cocking her brow.

Beads of sweat appeared on Papyrus' forehead, a phenomenon that had Lisa's eye slightly twitching. "W-WELL, I'LL SOON BE PART OF IT ! WHAT MORE NATURAL THAN TO ALREADY PREPARE MYSELF FOR THE GRUELLING, YET REWARDING WORK OF A SENTRY ?! AND I KNOW NO BETTER WAY THAN TO BEGIN THE DAY WITH SOME HEALTHY MORNING TRAINING !"

Lynn's attention and interest were caught faster than she herself would have caught the ol' pigskin thrown across the field. "Morning training ? Like push-ups, stretching, all that good stuff ?" she asked excitedly.

"NATURALLY ! BEFORE BREAKFAST, I PICK UP THE DAY WITH 20 LAPS AROUND SNOWDIN, WITH THE TWO LAST ONES ON ONE FOOT, TO BE SURE I'LL ALWAYS CARRY ON IN CASE ONE OF THEM GET ASLEEP ! THEN, AFTER EATING OF COURSE, I ATTACK THE DAILY CHORES WITH ENERGY, TREATING EVERY ONE OF THEM LIKE A RESOURCEFUL ACTIVITY, OR A SPORT !"

Lynn's face brightened up considerably, as her heart flourished. "No way ! I do that too ! Batting dust, dunking laundry, catching flying plates. I even have my own record for fastest bed-making ! Still number 1 of the house, don't want to brag." she bragged anyway, ignoring Lola's stinging stink eye.

"WELL, ALSO NOT TO BRAG – BUT MAYBE A LITTLE BIT – I AM QUITE THE MAESTRO IN DUSTING GYMNASTICS ! NO DUST OR KETCHUP STAIN CAN RESIST MY TRIPLE FEATHER DUSTER AXEL !" bellowed Papyrus, twirling on the ground like a majestic ballerina. They didn't know about the dust going wild, but the kids could tell that it was sending the 16 year-old to heavens.

Lynn's happiness meter also wasn't out of juice. Chore-athlon was always something she did alone, as her siblings, most of the time, simply couldn't be bothered. Even Lana could hardly see the fun in it, and the alternative for her to partake into competition involved either pipework, something Lynn had been banned from since the time she'd messed with the water heater, and cleaning after the pets, which the brunette wouldn't do since... let's just say that Lana's chimp had a precise bathroom schedule, and an even more precise aim when said schedule was being messed with.

She turned to her siblings with an expression of absolute smugness. "Well, it's good to see someone who gets what it means to be healthy, even thought he doesn't have any muscle. Take notes, guys. Take notes."

"Yeah, twenty laps around the neighbourhood without a drop of coffee in my belly and my brain half-asleep ? Dream on, dudette." deadpanned Luna.

"We brought an end on our parents' extreme fitness tendencies for a reason." quipped Lisa, her tone equally as dry. "Besides, my latest urinal tests have shown that everyone in our family is at an adequate level of healthiness, even the less thrilled to partake into any form of physical exercise."

"When did you- you know what, never mind. This is one question I'd rather drop down ! Get it ?" cracked Luan, trying to hide her disgust for her sister running that kind of test. 'For the good of science' was an excuse that was getting pretty old, and if it wasn't to whip up some kind of amazing liquid of epic effects, then Lisa would soon find the bathroom closed to her forever. And forever was a pretty long time to hold it in.

Lynn took the cocky attitude down a notch. "Heh, yeah. I guess there is such a thing as being too healthy. Still, wouldn't hurt you guys to put on some muscle in there, instead of dieting all the time." professed the brunette, making her eldest sister's arm wobble like a noodle.

"I do not diet all the time ! Besides, I happen to litteraly like broccoli jello." rebuked Lori, reclaiming her arm and her honour.

"WHAT'S JELLO ?" asked Papyrus, having heard the mention of what was apparently human food.

"Well, you know Moldsmals ?" said Lincoln.

"YES ?"

"Kinda the same thing, except with a distinct taste, and not alive. In this case, with the taste of broccoli"

"...THAT SOUNDS TERRIBLE." avowed Papyrus, his face all scrunched up despite the lack of skin. "DO THEY HAVE SPAGHETTI FLAVOUR ?!"

"I... guess so ?" said Lincoln, not sure if that was even a thing, but the more he thought about it, the more promising it sounded. "Can we do that ?"

*You feel like your aims in food are terrible. As you should.

"Better than to scarf down chocolate all day." retorted Lincoln in a mumble.

*YOU TAKE THAT BACK !

"WELL, IF IT DOESN'T EXIST, THEN I'LL BE THE FIRST ONE TO MAKE IT ! IT'LL BECOME THE TOWN'S RENOWNED DISH IN NO TIME ! 'WELCOME TO SNOWDIN TOWN : HOME OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND ITS GREATLY DELICIOUS SPAGHETTI JELLO !'" fantasised Papyrus. His glowing look fell into the distance, where he could see the golden-lettered words appearing.

"Kind of a mouthful." said Lana.

"Ha ! Good one, sis !" praised Luan.

"Jello with tomato sauce ? That sounds like a huge stain hazard." remarked Lola, trying to sound snooty. But it didn't hold up really well when she remembered their own table habits. "Then again, food and garnish splattered across your face is pretty much a given at the kids' table." she reminisced with a chuckle.

"DO NOT WORRY, LITTLE HUMAN CLONES ! WE'LL HANG A BIGGER BANNER FOR THE NEW SLOGAN, AND MY SPAGHETTI JELLO WILL BE GUARANTEED STAIN-FREE ! WHY, IT'LL EVEN BE GREASE-FREE, THAT MUCH I CAN ASSURE !"

"Why ? Grease is awesome ! It makes the burgers at Burpin' Burger all that more special !" said Luna, whipping her harmonica, and blowing a high note. "Ready, mates ?"

"Hungry y'all ? Look no further. Come on down to Burpin' Burger ! Grade B beef and special spice, when it comes back up it's twice as nice !" chanted the Loud kids in unison, before letting out the iconic belch. Even Leni did out of instinct, and her ears burned bright red when she realised what she had just done.

Papyrus held a bemused expression hearing the slogan. He had to admit that the song was catchy, and it brought a joyful ode to children's hearts, so that was good ! Problem was, it promoted grease, and the finish was a bit uncouth... just like kids. Huh, it all made sense now ! Papyrus made his mind content, and clapped for the slogan. "WOWIE ! WHAT A NICE SONG ! A GREASE-FILLED SONG, BUT A GOOD SONG NONTHELESS !"

"Say, what's your beef against grease ?" joke-asked Luan, earning an small groan from the interviewed. "And for that matter, what's the problem with puns ?"

"I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST PUNS IN GENERAL ! BUT THEY'RE JUST LIKE CINNAMON IN THE SPAGHETTI SAUCE : YOU CAN HANDLE ONLY SO MANY BEFORE YOU FEEL THE NEED TO SCREAM TO THE HEAVENS ! WHEREVER THAT IS. AND I HAVE HAD MY DOSE OF LAZY CINNAMON FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS." explained Papyrus with a side-glance, knowing full well that the source of his annoyance was listening.

"You get used to it." said Lucy, knowing full well it was a lie.

"AS FOR GREASE, IT JUST... GETS EVERYWHERE. EVEN MY BATTLE BODY IS INEFFICIENT TO PREVENT BURGER GREASE TO GET ALL OVER MY RIBS !" sighed Papyrus, his arms crossed in slight annoyance. "IT DOESN'T HELP THAT MY BROTHER PRATICALLY LIVES IN THE GREASE PURGATORY ITSELF."

"Yeah, your brother does seem like the kind of guy who would eat burgers every day." said Lincoln. "I think I saw bottles of ketchup and mustard behind his stand."

"That guy must have burgs in his pockets all the time. Why else would he have that at his work station all the time ? To drink from them ?" jested Lynn.

(*Rimshot*)

"So, um, w-hat do you think of your b-brother ? He seems kinda nice." threw in Leni. Being close to family was a point that Leni could only admire, and she wanted to see how much love for it the dreamy skeleton had.

However, love wasn't exactly what Papyrus' expression screamed at the moment. It mostly sighed a deep exasperation that in the end, you knew you could and had to live with. A feeling certainly not alien to the humans, directed towards eachother quite often. "SANS IS A PECULIAR PUZZLE. ONE THAT HAS A SOLUTION, BUT DOES EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE IT DOESN'T HAVE ONE !"

"That's deep. Mind if I write this down ?" asked Lucy, a twinge of admiration in her monotone.

"OF COURSE NOT ! IT'S ONLY NORMAL THAT I INSPIRE YOU ! NYEH HEH HEH !" Papyrus cackled happily, before drooping back to his irritated mood. "BUT TO SPEAK TRULY, MY BROTHER'S LOVE FOR GREASE AND PUNS ARE NOT THE REASON I'M A BIT DISAPPOINTED IN HIM. WELL, IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T HELP, BUT THAT'S NOT IT ! NO, IT IS SOMETHING MUCH DEEPER, MUCH MORE COMPLEX AND GRIPING TO MY VERY AWESOME SOUL..."

{Undertale OST - Premonition}

The tension was now palpable, the air felt that much heavier, giving the Louds' very SOULs a light squeeze. The lightning around also seemed to dim, and any far-away noise they had been hearing then and again was silent, as if the whole forest and its surroundings were listening. This reminded them all too well of a certain question asked this morning. A question that was technically never asked...

"MY BROTHER... HE'S NOT ALWAYS WHAT HE SEEMS." 'murmured' Papyrus, more serous than they had ever seen him be. "HIS POWER IN THAT DOMAIN... IT IS UNLIKE ANYONE HAS EVER SEEN OR KNOWN. HE KNOWS THINGS, THINGS YOU WOULD ONLY KNOW THE KERNEL ABOUT AFTER POURING YEARS TRACKING AFTER HIM... SANS IS... HE IS..."

The humans took a collective gulp, bracing themselves for the big reveal. They had only known him for an hour or two, but it was enough for them to have that suspicious feeling about him. The way he had approached them, that look he'd given them at times, the fact he was wearing pink slippers. It couldn't be all just a coincidence ! There just had to be something weird about him, something huge, something mind-blowing !

Intermingled hands squeezed and breaths were cut short when Papyrus looked at them, inhaling a heavy gulp of air to say it, say the thing that would change their views on Sans forever...

"...HE IS A VERY LAZY MONSTER."

{Le Record Scratch}

The group fell apart, and on the ground, right on their faces. All this tension for naught. This place was playing with their feelings and expectations like a yo-yo, and they honestly didn't know how they kept falling for it.

"HUH. I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD SURPRISE YOU THAT MUCH." blinked Papyrus in confusion.

"That's because we're not !" chided Lola. "Sans being lazy isn't a secret, it's litteraly the first thing you notice about him !"

"That, and that he's got a very poor sense of humour." said Lori, a hue of pink spreading across her cheeks. Most awkward handshake ever.

"...OH. THEN I SUPPOSE MY BROTHER IS EVERYTHING HE SEEMS TO BE !" Papyrus corrected himself.

"Yeah, but is he really that lazy ? I mean, he's at least on his feet and dressed. That's more than some of my pals can say back home." commented Luna, remembering the time she and her two friends surprised their bandmate Victor in his bed at noon. On the plus side, she had been a bit short on dough at this time of the month, and lunch was on him, in exchange of forgetting all about 'Grizzly Hendrix'.

The lack-of-smile virus took a hold on the lanky skeleton once more. "MY BROTHER'S LAZINESS... IT'S NOTHING SHORT OF LEGENDARY. BUT IN AN INFAMOUS WAY ! UN-LEGENDARY IF YOU WILL ! THERE IS NO BARE MINIMUM THIS LAZYBONES CANNOT UNDERMINE ! WITHOUT MY ASSISTANCE ? HIS TRAINING GRAPH WOULD BE AS FLAT AS A CARPET, WHICH HE SOMETIMES TAKES A NAP ON ! SO OF COURSE, I DELEGATE MYSELF TO PUT HIM ON THE COUCH, THAT IS TWO STEPS AWAY FROM HIM !"

"Pshh, I do that sometimes." said Lana dismissively. Carpets were a good place to curl on from time to time, especially the one in the parents' room. The carpet was always greener on the side that wasn't being constantly trampled by eleven pairs of feet. "C'mon, how lazy are we talking here ?"

"TWO WEEKS AGO, HE BEGAN A SOCK COLLECTION. HE HAS ABOUT ONE, BECAUSE HE 'LET THE OTHER ONE ESCAPE'." quoted Papyrus in one long sigh.

Lana blanched, and could feel her legs getting asleep by this tale alone. "Oh wow, that is lazy." she yawned. "Geez, could someone get me some snommmm... YEEK !" Lana jumped three feet in the air as snow rolled down her back, courtesy of Lincoln. "Thanks bro."

"Don't mention it." Lincoln patted her head.

"Wait, and with a pedigree like that, they still recruited your brother in the Royal Guard ? How come ?" asked Lori. If the guy couldn't be bothered to catch a sock, how could he be catching a human ?

"WELL, IT'S NOT THAT SANS CANNOT DO THE JOB, IT'S THAT HE DOESN'T FEEL LIKE IT. SO HE KEEPS WALKING ON THE MINIMUM LINE, SWAYING FROM SIDE TO SIDE, BUT STILL ON IT, STILL EMPLOYED ! BESIDES, THEY PAY WELL. AND THEY HAVE A GREAT DENTAL PLAN !" nyehed Papyrus, flashing his pearly whites.

"You know, maybe you should give him a little pep talk, or shake him up good. Heck, do both !" offered Lynn enthusiastically.

"I love the guy, but if you feel like you need to do something, don't hesitate to shake him back to his Sanses, hahaha !" jested Luan with a mostly supportive tone.

"I LIKE YOUR SPIRIT, HUMANS ! BUT CATCHING SANS IS SOMETHING EASIER SAID AND FANTASISED THAN DONE." said Papyrus.

"Huh, I didn't think you could down the mood. Nicely done." complimented Lucy.

Lola raised a confused eyebrow, hands on her hips. "Didn't you say a minute ago that he was so lazy he couldn't even catch socks ?"

"WOULDN'T, NOT COULDN'T ! SANS IS VERY GOOD AT DODGING CONVERSATIONS. AND EVERYTHING ELSE, REALLY."

"Kinda like us." piped Luna.

"I HOPE NOT ! HE'S ALREADY PARASITING YOU WITH AWFUL PUNS !" exclaimed Papyrus, trembling at the horrifying thought of a world solely populated by Sanses. A world with laziness, grease, and not a vacuum cleaner in sight.

"I think you're being a bit too hard on him, to be honest. Yeah, he's a lazy prankster, but he seems a good guy, and helpful when he wants to." defended Lincoln.

"Yeah, he ribs me the right way, get it ?" said Luan.

"He helps in his own way. It's not much, but it litteraly does count for something." acknowledged Lori.

"'Nans, whoosh !" said Lily, waving her little mittens in the air.

"...H-He is, like, pretty nice nice." Leni quipped shyly, knowing she wasn't taking the side of her darling Papyrus.

"WHY, OF COURSE HE IS ! MY BROTHER MAY BE FULL OF ANNOYING QUIRKS, BUT HE IS TWICE AS FULL WITH WONDERFUL QUALITIES ! NYEH... AND THAT'S KIND OF THE PROBLEM." Papyrus took a pause, suddenly looking quite upset. This was certainly new. "SANS HAS ALWAYS BEEN ON THE LAZY SIDE, IT'S TRUE ! BUT RECENTLY, IT'S GOTTEN WORSE. AT TIMES, HE JUST LOOKS SO DEFEATED FOR NO REASON AT ALL, LIKE HE THINKS THAT NOTHING HE DOES COUNTS, THAT NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE ! HE KEEPS SMILING, SURE, BUT I JUST DON'T KNOW..."

And just like that, the kids' views on the skeletons shifted. Not as much as they expected Sans' big reveal to be, but a certain depth had been added to the humouristic duo. The way Papyrus always seemed to do his maximum to be as exageratedly peppy as possible... could it be that he just wanted to prove his bro something ?

"So, you're carrying the team all by yourself, huh ?" Lynn.

Papyrus sharply exhaled the air in his rib cage, and energy gradually made its way back into his tone. "IT IS A HARD TASK, BUT I'M MORE THAN WILLING TO BE DETERMINED FOR THE TWO OF US. REALLY, IT'S A WONDER WHAT A LAZY GUY LIKE HIM WOULD DO WITHOUT A GREAT GUY LIKE ME TAKING CARE OF HIM ! BUT I'LL CARRY ON AS LONG AS I NEED TO!" he openly boasted, his flare up and blazing again. "GIVING UP IS NOT AN OPTION, IT'S NEVER BEEN ONE ! AS LONG AS MY HEAD IS BETWEEN MY SHOULDERS, AND MAYBE EVEN WHEN IT ISN'T, I SHALL NOT SURRENDER ! I'LL KEEP HOPPING FORWARD AND TOY WITH THE ODDS, WITH MAXIMUM PAPYRUS ! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH !"

A feeling of warmth invaded the siblings' chests hearing the cheesy, but uplifting speech. He was still very naive, and reckless, most of them still had no doubt about that. But also remained the thought that there was just something endearing and likeable about this naivety. To give up was not an option, he said. And that was exactly what the kids needed to hold in mind, if they ever wanted to see the upper world again.

Leni was tearing up in joy. And to think that for a moment, she had thought of the lanky monster as something less than perfect. Shame on her ! But now it turned out that his energy was made of nothing but good will, and towards his family. He was raking up good points in her heart at a speed that would be leaving a cheetah gobsmacked.

Though she didn't outright show it, the bespectacled smartypants felt envigorated by this new development, but tugged on what actually needed to be done. "Well, I believe this little exchange was most informative, but I suggest we start carrying on now. After all, we have yet to see what you have in store for us, or this town we keep hearing snippets about." she pointed out.

"WHY, HUMAN POINT- I MEAN, HUMAN LISA, YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT ! LET'S GET TO IT, SO I CAN CAPTURE YOU, AND WE CAN ALL CALL IT A DAY !" bellowed Papyrus, half-excited and half-mimicking a ne'er-do-well plotting his ultimate scheme.

"Yeah, that remains to be seen, pal ! If anything, maybe we'll have you in cuffs by the end of all of this !" smirked Lola, getting excited as well.

"You start us up, and we're gonna finish this !" Luna fist-pumped, flashing a knowing grin. The electric atmosphere Papyrus was creating was plucking the right chords in her, almost making her forget that they were still gambling with their very lives. Although, with Papyrus, it just felt very unlikely to happen.

"ZADABAH !" Lily let out her battle cry, both pumping and adorable.

"RIGHT YOU ARE, LITTLE HUMAN ! ONWARD !" said Papyrus, pointing ahead dramatically. And in a litteral leap, the skeleton was already well ahead of our heroes.

"Well ? No time to flunk back there, come on !" called Lynn, already going on his tail.

"Wait for me !" cried Leni with her legs taking a whirlwind form to propel her forward like a certain roadrunner, and with the speed to get ahead of Lynn, surprising the brunette, but certainly not deterring her. The other siblings quickly followed suit, passed a pine tree or two, then came to the end of the small path.

Here, they discovered their next challenge, which looked to be pretty much the same thing as before : blue 'X' switches on the ground, all surrounded by a formation of rocks, a wooden sign near it, and a stone switch. Only this time, the puzzle was far bigger, with at least a dozen switches to activate, and the rocks arranged to form a tiny maze, with more switches on some parts than others. The wooden sign was checked first, but nothing much came of it.

"'Turn every X-' Yep, it's the exact same sign." said Lincoln, wondering why someone would put the same instructions to the same puzzle separated by a walk of about ten seconds.

"Well, at least this one does look harder. But the form seems a bit weird, I don't know why..." Lana tapped a thoughtful finger against her temple.

"I think it looks perfect !" blurted out Leni, realising the true form of the puzzle design before anyone else.

Lori had to raise an eyebrow at her roommate's sudden infatuation for a pile of rocks. "Hey Leni, I know it's made by that guy, but don't you think you're litteraly blowing it a bit out of-" she whispered to the enamoured's ear, until she took another good look at the way switches and stones were arranged. "Ah. Never mind then, keep admiring." she conceded, patting Leni's head.

"Welp, that's one way to brand your puzzle, brah." whistled Luna.

"YES, ABOUT THAT... HOW DO I PUT IT..." uttered Papyrus, twiddling his fingers with certain awkwardness. "YOU WERE TAKING QUITE SOME TIME TO ARRIVE, SO I DECIDED TO GIVE THE PUZZLE A LITTLE MORE FLARE, BY REARRANGING IT TO LOOK LIKE MY FACE ! INGENIOUS, RIGHT ?!"

"As narcissistic as it is, and really weird too, it's sorta well crafted." Lucy commented with her usual bluntness.

"GLAD YOU LIKE IT !" said Papyrus, completely ignoring the implied jabs at his person. "BUT HERE'S THE HITCH... THE COLD HAS FROZEN THE PUZZLE OVER, AND I CAN'T MOVE IT ANYMORE. SO NOW THE SOLUTION IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. WHICH MEANS EVEN I DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT IS !"

"So you traded efficiency and a logical solution for visual appeal ?" inquired Lisa with a flat look.

"I'D SAY SO, YES !"

"...Do you monsters know aspirin ?"

"OF COURSE, WE HAVE A TON OF THOSE !"

"Of course you do."

"So, you're as stuck as we are ?" concluded Lynn, looking at the very long row of sharp spikes behind the puzzle, blocking the way ahead.

"STUCK ?! WITH I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BY YOUR SIDE, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS YOU BEING STUCK AT THE ODDS OF A PUZZLE !" exclaimed the puzzle master, making his scarf float in the breeze. A certain blonde certainly didn't look she minded being stuck here. "WHY, I'LL HAVE THE SOLUTION FIGURED OUT BEFORE YOU KNOW IT ! BUT, THIS PUZZLE WAS MADE FOR YOU. SO WHY NOT HAVE A SHOT AT IT FIRST ?! PROVE YOUR SKILLS AND FINESSE TO ME, HUMAN SIBLINGS !"

"Well, if we all go at once, it'll be over in a second." Lori casually remarked.

"That sounds a bit like cheating." frowned Lana. "You know, because it totally is."

"One, you've done it litteraly a minute ago. Two, our butts are freezing. I rest my case."

"But Lori, we HAVE to do it, or Papy will be so disappointed !" Leni whispered urgently. The skeleton was currently questioning Lucy about the secret of her eyes piercing through such thick bangs. Needless to say, the answer was both poetically cryptic and tersely straight to the point. Papyrus still approved with a thumbs up.

"Eh, what's a minute or two gonna cost us ? We already messed with the clock once, what's one more time gonna do ? Figuratively, of course." chuckled Luan, arm around her big sister's shoulders. Her buck-toothed smile shone for Lily giggling at one of her jokes for once.

"I approve. The last thing we want to administer this friendly monster is an unhealthy dose of rudeness." professed Lisa. Besides, he called her an astute child earlier. That had to deserve a smidge of respect from her.

Lori rolled her eyes, but complied. To win Papyrus' friendship was going in-pair with their wishes and promises. All she could hope is that if he was the 'Boss' of this place, and he was shaping himself to be, things would go differently. "Alright, fine. It doesn't look too complicated anyway, it should be quick. Lisa, want to give it a spin ?"

"A bit under my capacities, but eh, why not ?" shrugged Lisa.

"WAIT ! Guys, I've totes got to do it !" interjected Leni, still down to a whisper. Papyrus, now making push-ups alongside Lynn, paid it no mind.

Lisa gave her a flat look, and patted her hand in a condescending way. "Sibling, let me enlighten you to the Encyclopedia entry of 'quick', remarkable word, really."

Leni could smell the dripping sarcasm, but this was no time for pettiness. "Lisa, I'm serious ! This is the perfect chance to prove myself to Papy ! If I solve this maze thingy, he'll be super proud of me ! That way, I start something special between us, I convince him to, like, let us go, and then... and then..." Leni wandered away, lost into another drooling daydream. "I can already see the little white birds, and all the flowers, and the big chocolate cake..."

Her bubble was blown away by Luna's sharp whistle right into her ear. Also, probably her right eardrum. "Sorry dude, but you were in dreamtown again, and we still kinda need you here."

"But debatable on the whole puzzle solving schtick." quipped Lana, her tone reeking skepticality despite herself. "You know, I don't think Papyrus minds. I bet he's still super impressed by the way you knocked his puzzle down like a charging rhino !" she openly chuckled.

But while she had to admit it was true, 'good' wasn't exactly the term Leni would describe the event in her opinion. Good idea and happy ending, but the execution of it ? Leni's face turned beet red just thinking about it. "But that's not the me I want him to think about when he thinks about me ! I don't want to be a brute, I want to be charming and super smart ! Or, you know, average smart at least."

"Lisa, what you're about to say isn't nice or helpful in any way, is it ?" Lori raised awareness in the small genius as she opened her mouth. She closed it, and shook her head. "Then don't say it." was the eldest sister's firm order. She then turned to Leni, and adorned her supportive attitude once more. "Alright Leni, you can have the floor. Just, try to stay focused, and... yeah, just do that. Think Halloween Costume Stitching focused." Leni nodded fervently at that, and squinted her eyes at the puzzle. She was going to go through that maze like an old thimble. "And hey, there's no electric wall, or spikes surging from the floor if you get it slightly wrong." Lori laughed, before easing to a slightly suspicious stare, that she angled back to Papyrus. "There is nothing dangerous around that puzzle, right ?"

"OH NO, NO PUNISHMENT FOR A MISTAKE HERE, I CAN GUARANTEE IT ! I HAD THE IDEA FOR BLOWPIPES AND SLEEPING DARTS, BUT LESSER DOG WOULDN'T STOP PLAYING FETCH WITH THE DARTS. IT WAS A MESS. SO NOPE, NO PENALTY HERE ! ONLY SHAME !" reassured Papyrus. He then turned his attention back to Lily. "SO THEN, DID SHE GET BACK UP THAT GUTTER ?"

"Poo-poo !"

"AMAZING !"

Lori shook her head in mild amusement. If he was to capture them, then Toriel would have been right from the beginning, they'd really not stand a chance down here ! And he wanted to be part of the Royal Guard ? The why still kind of eluded her, and the how was getting further away the more time they spent knowing the guy ! Then again, looking back at the furry and greasy roster they had already encountered.

Eventually, Leni was given perimssion. "Alright, go crazy then. Just not too crazy." said Lori.

"Leave that to the professionals !" cracked Luan, giving Leni a hearty slap on the back.

But she barely flinched from it. She needed no encouragement, nor did she feel she needed any luck. Her SOUL was brimming with confidence, similar to the burst she had felt earlier, minus the tingling from the shocking orb. She was going to own this puzzle like she had owned that pesky granny at the Sales of '15, she could just feel it !

Suave and smart : those were the key words she was after. And she could poise them, no probs ! As she advanced, Leni couldn't help but love how invigorating her strut felt. Gosh, was this how Lola felt on stage ? Ready to own the world before snack time at 4 p.m. ? Wow, she should be trying that more often, it felt amazing !

'This is gonna be easy as pie ! Sweet and quick ! I'm going to do this ! I'M GOING TO-'

The first X changed into an O under Leni's boot, and a heavy question suddenly plowed through the ditzy teen's mind like a brick through a beautiful strawberry shortcake. Where to go next ? She hadn't forgotten the rules, mind you. She had assumed that there would be a precise path that would be leading her through every switch of the hunky-shaped maze, then back to the stone switch, spikes would fall, everyone would cheer, Papyrus would get on one knee, all that normal stuff.

But looking at it now, she didn't quite see that easy road. Basing it on her own maze experience – which we already know the extent of – the paths she saw always seemed to get her to step on a switch twice ! But wait, was that even a bad thing ? All she remembered the sign saying, and vividly at that, was that she needed to turn every X into an O. Nothing about how many times she could step on a mark, or if it would make the puzzle fail.

But if that was the case, and she was not to get any penalty for that, then that meant she could take what ever way she jolly fancied taking. How could one call that a puzzle ? But then again, weren't most of the Underground challenges, like, super easy ? Made by dogs, who always liked to get pet, and one of them apparently could build stuff, and could dogs even be builders ?

All those questions were unravelling before poor Leni's eyes, and scrambling her thoughts like eggs being mixed by a very confusing whisk. Her confidence had evaporated into a woozy sensation, and her assurance into even more questions and doubt. Thankfully, she managed to get some hold of herself, and began processing the situation.

'Okay, now's not the time to lose it, Leni.' she monologued internally. 'You are in a quest for love, and you aren't going to get anything if you just stay put like a dummy from the discount section !' Leni flinched at her own harsh words. 'Sorry, just needed to let that one out. Anyway, the best solution is to just try. Like, if an error doesn't cost anything, then why not just risk it, and try again if we're wrong ?'

'That's a wonderful idea ! Thanks, voice of me in my head !' she jovially replied to herself, before raising an inquisitive eyebrow. 'Wait, aren't you supposed to be a hamster ?'

'Munchie break.'

'Oh.' And with that, Leni proceeded forward with a necessary ounce of precaution in her step. But she had no doubt she was making it look very elegant !

"Why is Leni walking like she has two peg legs and a rabbid raccoon on her back ?" Lynn wondered out loud, confused as all heck to Leni's slow and quivering march. Every step she took had a space of five seconds between each step, where Leni would put on a heavily-sweating expression of contemplation, wondering what had gone wrong in her life, and if she had truly lived it to the fullest.

"Maybe all the thinking is making her nervous. Behind the biggest smiles, hide the deepest anxieties." recited Lucy.

Lori scoffed at the ridiculous notion. "Leni doesn't have hidden fears, there is litteraly no one more transparent than Leni. She shrieks when she sees a spider, cries when she stubs her toe by the door, and drowns herself in fabric during every exam period." said the blonde without any sarcasm or hyperbole.

"Yeah, and it doesn't take a genius to see that she's just anxious to please you-know-who's-great." added Luna, jabbing a thumb behind her.

"ALL THE WAY TO THE MOON ?! GET OUT !" Papyrus gasped in apt shock.

"I would never lie about such a pivoting moment in man's history, and the conquest of space. But the moon was only the first step, and with the progress we have already made, I am positive we'll be able to establish a scientific base on the moon by the end of this half of the century." nodded Lisa, the pronounced hint of pride heavily suggesting who she thought would be able to make such a prowess happen.

"ASTOUNDING ! I ONLY HAVE ONE QUESTION... WHAT'S A MOON ?" Papyrus asked naively. Lisa's shoulders sagged in exhaustion, and in shame for not seeing this question unfold beforehand.

Lucy didn't give any answer, falling back to her usual moody silence. They were right, this was Leni they were talking about. Anybody could read into her like a book. An enjoyable book, but still a simple book without any hidden threads. The closest thing to a tragedy with her was her report card, and even then, she hadn't repeated even one year.

The young poet shook her head. If Leni's SOUL had any gashes, she was the Queen of England, and not the bloody one.

Meanwhile, Leni kept proceeding through the small maze, watching with growing anxiety a red circle appear beneath her boots' soles each time she made another step. All was good for now, she had already highlighted a good bunch of them, but she knew it wasn't going to last. The tension was driving up the walls, making her realise there weren't any walls, and thus making her even more nervous.

'One foot after the other, no traps, one foot after the other, no traps...' was the mantra she was chanting internally. It only ceased when she found a red circle before her comfy boot. Rock on her right, rock on her left, and another O switch behind her. She could try extending her foot to reach the piece of neutral ground at the switch's right, or even step above the rocks, but she feared it would mean foul play, and make her look like a fool in her beau's eyes.

That was it then, the moment of truth. The blonde steeled her spirit, and carried on.

She almost shrieked out of surprise when she saw a bright green triangle appear, making her jump backwards. Which in turn, sprouted another triangle, prompting her to back some more, and the motion went on. Panicked out of her wits, Leni fled through the exact way she had come in with a high-pitched scream, until she came back to her siblings.

"Leni, stop screaming ! You're fine, everyone's fine !" said Lincoln, attempting to calm his sister.

"Except for our eardrums !" complained Lola, her fingers desperately trying to plug-shield them.

"WHAT DID SHE SAY ?!" shouted Luan over the one-Leni ruckus.

Eventually, Leni managed to get a grip on herself, courtesy of Lynn stomping on her foot with studs. She pieced together what had happened during the last fifteen seconds, also why her voice was so sore, and her first instinct was to look back to the puzzle. She found in horror that Papyrus' beautifully displayed figure now had triangular pimples scattered all over it. She could feel them taunting her, even glowing as if to highlight the fact that this whole mess was her sole hazy doing. 'Ditzy puzzle breaker~' they chanted and laughed at her misery.

Leni too was glowing. A deep red blush of embarassement. There was no way she could save or find an excuse for a failure this loud and shameful. In defeat, she turned to Papyrus, but was unable to meet his gaze, which was probably full of disdain for the puzzle-failing human. "Sorry. I broke it." she murmured sorrowfully.

"BROKEN ? DO NOT FRET, HUMAN LENI ! YOU WERE NOT MEANT TO STEP TWICE ON THE SAME SWITCH, BUT THE PUZZLE IS FAR FROM BROKEN !" reassured the armoured monster. "HERE, LET ME SHOW YOU !" The Louds let Papyrus waltz through, and watched as he stomped the stone switch. In a clic, all the triangles turned back into X's.

"Mercy be praised, they had the intelligence to put a reset option." Lisa sighed in deep relief.

"QUITE ! IF YOU EVER MESS UP, JUST DO AS I DID, AND TRY AGAIN !" explained Papyrus boisterously. He then approached the sagging sack of sadness named Leni at the moment, and threw a long bony arm around her shoulders. "AH, DON'T FEEL BAD ABOUT THAT FAILED ATTEMPT. IT WAS STILL A GREAT ONE, YOU HAVE MY WORD ! NYEH HEH HEH !"

The proud laugh lifted Leni's spirits a little, but the harsh feeling of failure still plagued her mind. She gave a thankful nod to Papyrus, then retreated to the back, away from her beau's sight. There, she plopped her butt on the ground, and her chin on her knees, holding the heartcrushing look of a sad puppy. Her siblings looked at her curved form in great pity.

Luna came to sit by her side, and let her blond teary-eyed head rest on her shoulder. "There there, love. He still thinks you're amazing, don't worry. It was just a little goof, ain't the end of the world as you know it." she caressed her long hair soothingly, and gave her a little kiss on the forehead. Leni whimpered, but cut off the waterworks before they could start.

"It's true what they say. Love hurts." concluded Lincoln with a heavy heart. A very heavy one at that...

"She'll be fine." assured Lori, all too familiar with both Leni and sentimental problems. She sympathized with her, but knew this was no heartbreak, and moved on, knowing Leni would as well. "Okay, who wants to go next ?"

"Wa'k, wa'k !" babbled Lily, raising her hand.

"I think we've got ourselves a candidate." giggled Luan.

Lori hesitated for a second, a bit squirmish about letting the baby girl do this all alone. She didn't want any the sudden apparition of traps that Papyrus would have 'FORGOT, OOPSIE, LITTLE POTATO HUMAN HAS BEEN FRIED, NYEH HEH HEH !'. But hey, Leni had already field-proofed it. And, if worst comes to pass, there was that neat little SAVE option, even if that would mean go a second time against the dog guards, Chilldrake, Ice Cap/Class, and... that guy.

'If I see him again, I'll... step on his foot. Twice ! And I'll make a trending status out of it !' she plotted wickedly. She wasn't touching that FIGHT button now, was she ?

"YOU HAVE A VERY DISTURBING SMILE, BOSSY LORI !" quipped Papyrus earnestly, making her notice the malevolent smile she was currently sporting, suggesting she was about to steal Christmas away forever.

"Uh, nevermind that." she waved her hand dismissively. She then put her little sister down on the cold ground. "Well Lily, we're litteraly counting on you, so go !"

And off Lily went, under the cheers of her big brother and sisters, as well as one loud skeleton, who didn't want to be left out of the celebration. She felt as giddy as she could be. Her mission was to hit things, make other things appear magically, and all of that would help in their quest to go back to their home. Fun and getting the goal closer, how could it get any better than this ?!

And now, we offer you this poem as a little change of pace. Also, we've got complaints that this story was not litterary enough, if you can believe that. So here we go !

A puzzle in sight, taking wobbling steps ahead,

Little Lily had quite the task on her little head !

But she didn't deter, nor did she frown.

She was gonna have a blast hitting the ground !

First, before aiming for the lot,

Better boop the nose, thought the tot.

Then, a gentle pat to the eye,

The other one in a bit of time.

She ran along the jaw, highlighting a smile.

One that had the Great Papyrus' style !

But she didn't stop there, and mounted to the top.

Passed along the top of his skull with a small hop.

The task was finished, all red and round !

Better go around it to keep it safe and sound.

And so ended the grand task of little Lily.

And I think we all have learned here today.

A necessary action, so boring and mundane.

Few rhymes can spruce up the lot, wouldn't you agree ?

(This chapter now possesses the Lucy seal of Poetic Quality. 'It'll be on your tombstone, I'll engrave it myself' she declared.)

Back to her starting point, Lily sat on the stone switch, and the puzzle was declared solved by the long row of spikes bowing out down into the ground. Immediately, Lily was given triumphant congratulations.

"Lily, that was awesome ! You lighted all those O's like it was nothing !" cheered Lincoln, making her twirl in his arms.

"You weren't out of shape, that's a given !" said Luan with a pat on her sister's head.

"Yeah, looks like that baby fat is all show. That was some fast work, trooper !" chuckled Lynn.

"And fast deducting. Younger sibling, I dare think my intelligence is starting to rub off on you. In any case, your effort was admirable." nodded Lisa, giving Lily a rare small hug, that she joyfully returned.

"Nicely done." monotoned Lucy with underlying compassion.

"I'm giving it a perfect 10 !" chirped Lola, bringing out said card. Still no explanation as to how.

"Let's give it up for Lily !" called Lana for the mile around to hear.

"HIP-HIP, HURRAY ! HIP-HIP, HURRAY !" chanted the kids, throwing Lily in the air like some kind of hero, to the great joy of the little girl herself. Lori couldn't fight a giggle from escaping, of which its slight embarrassement was drowned in mirth, as they were basically throwing a parade for the smallest of victories.

'And here I thought we wouldn't be fitting right in.'

At the back, still sitting down, two teens observed the celebration with varying expressions. Luna's was directly linked to the ongoing giddiness. "Heh, little dudette did a rockin' good job. Right Lens' ?"

Leni on the other hand didn't seem in a jolly mood at all, no matter how much she wanted to be. After progressively feeling better, she was was now back to square blues, as miserable-looking as she was before, with an added flare of defeat. It was one thing to fail a major task, certainly one that hurt. But to fail such a task, then watch your baby sister, who was still teething and wrapped in nappies, whoop up that task in fifteen seconds top like it was the easiest thing in the world...

That wasn't just wounding for Leni's ego, its whole fabric had just been torn appart into ugly little ribbons. And to add insult to injury, HE had seen everything, and now knew that she was below toddler's puzzle-solving skillset.

'Everyone already knows that.' she felt her inner self whisper to her ear, but it didn't belong to the fancy hamster or the supportive Mini-Leni. Didn't mean that she didn't know it quite well...

"YO, IS THE MIC ON IN THERE ?!" Luna's voice suddenly blasted through Leni's ear in Surround. Leni was rung back to reality, in more ways than one.

"Huh ?! What ?! Where's the termite invasion ?!"

"Dude, you were out of it again, but not exactly lookin' like you were dreaming about your monster prince. Everything okay ?" asked Luna, her brow crinkled in deep concern, a normal reaction towards a sad Leni.

The blonde usually wasn't one to keep secrets – A fact I'm pretty sure most of you are aware of – but she knew that complaining about that sort of unimportant stuff wouldn't get them anywhere, it would just waste time for everybody. So, with a forced smile, she discarded the notion. "S-Sure I am ! Just a little sad I couldn't do it myself, but whatever. A win's a win, and Lily totes deserved it, like, am I right ?"

That grin wasn't 100% genuine, the rocker could tell, but it didn't look like she was really lying. The hints of that would have been much more noticeable, and she was meeting her gaze without any shyness. Still, Luna decided to poke the bush just one last time, "Are you sure you're alright ? Remember what we said about secrets, dude."

"N-Nope, just still feeling a bit under the weather. Which is weird, because there's no cloud up there." she remarked with a tighter smile.

"...Yeah, I guess you're right." shrugged Luna, dropping the charges. Bringing herself on her two feet, she adressed one last wink to Leni. "No reason to feel shy or down, I think he likes you better when you have that sweet smile of yours."

Leni watched Luna go with renewed warmth in her SOUL. She could still feel disappointment tugging at it, but it felt more like a weak pinch now. And she could live with that ! Sticks and stones couldn't reach her heart, or else it would be gruesome !

With that slightly unsettling thought in mind, Leni resolved herself on her feet. Luna was absolutely right. She could still shine in her Papyrus' eyes, and the trek towards the Surface wasn't over. Everything was still great, nothing to mull about right now ! And to alleviate her spirits even further, she caught with the group just in time to hear her beloved speak again.

"BRAVO, HUMANS ! YOU SOLVED THAT PUZZLE SO EASILY, AND WITHOUT EVEN ASKING ME FOR A CLUE !" Papyrus clapped enthusiastically.

"Yep, looks like we aren't in the doghouse yet, huh ?" said Lynn with a cocky tone, reveling in the collective victory.

"IT SEEMS NOT. NEITHER THIS PUZZLE OR MY SPAGHETTI TRAP COULD STOP YOU, THAT IS QUITE THE ACHIEVEMENT. BE PROUD, BUT DON'T CELEBRATE JUST YET ! YOU ARE STILL IN THE WOODS AND I'M NOT OUT OF IDEAS !" the monster taunted knowingly. "THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL BE QUITE SPECIAL, AND IT'LL TAKE MORE THAN ONE HEAD TO GET PAST IT EFFICIENTLY ! OR COULD THAT BE THE REASON OF YOUR LOSS ? I WONDER..." His tone betrayed him. He didn't wonder, he knew.

But the kids didn't feel insulted nor threatened, but instead excited at the prospect of a challenge, and of the fact he was starting to take them seriously. They knew their quest had the traits of a game, but they were finding themselves to actually have fun here, despite the numerous threats against their lives and the haunting image of a murderous flower that wouldn't go away.

Lincoln met Papyrus' gaze with a certain bravado, his SOUL alight with Determination. "Trust me, we'll make that number thing work. We always make it work." he spoke confidently.

"Yeah ! Eleven's been our lucky number for a while, and it's not gonna stop now !" qupped Lola, using her brother's backpack as a footboard to crawl onto his shoulder.

"More heads equal more brains, it's a fact !" added Lana, now perched on Lincoln's other shoulder. The boy's cheeks were starting to get red.

"Honestly, when it comes to our profiles, this is a debate the very local scientific community is still debating." Lisa said dryly, popping out from behind her brother's head.

"Back... in pain ! Going... down !" cried Lincoln, his weight capacity all but obliterated, and sending him to the ground below.

"Sorry." "Sorry bro." "Deepest apologies."

Lincoln sigh-groaned. So much for sending a message.

"Well, I think you got our point." said Luna, attempting to salvage the sorry display.

"IT'S SETTLED THEN ! I'LL BE UP AHEAD, SETTING THE PUZZLE OFF !"

Lori's ears burned at the small grammatical error. "Don't you mean, setting it on ?" She really hoped it was an error.

"AH, YOU'RE RIGHT, SETTING IT ON !" realised Papyrus. Sighs of relief. "SETTING THE PUZZLE OFF MIGHT BE FOR LATER THOUGH !" Relief gone. "POINT IS, YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE AWAITS YOU, BUT IT AWAITS ME FIRST ! DARE CONTINUE, HUMANS ! NYEH ! HEH HEH ! HEHEHEH !" he cackled loudly, before sprinting into the distance.

"For you, I'll dare socks and sandals." Leni sighed dreamingly, admiring his smooth running with a sweet smile.

"What do you think he meant by special ?" asked Luan, quite puzzled by the use of this term.

"As long as it's not some ninja parkour with spears coming out of the ground, a quiz with flamethrowers, or something along that jazz, it should be fine." sighed Lincoln, in bliss over the back-repairing massage Lynn was giving him. Those knuckles could send you to heaven as much as they could send you crashing against a wall.

"The ninja parkour sounds fun." said Lynn, starting to fantasize herself doing it, with explosive soccer balls added to the mix.

"Are you okay, Leni ?" asked Lucy of all people, though it was unsure if she was expecting a positive or negative answer.

Uneasiness came back to tug at Leni's mind, feeling all the stares focused on her. But she knew which cards she needed to play to minimise worry.

"My Papy is running off again, so of course I feel a little bummed." 'sighed' Leni, trying to even the edge in her voice to not sound suspicious. "Tell you what, we should go to him, and totes forget I ever looked sad in the right place, because there's NOTHING to talk about that !"

"...Sounds like a plan to me !" said Lana. Everyone chimed in agreement.

'NAILED IT !'

The kids stepped around the grinning puzzle, and were ready to cross the row of spikes, before they suddenly noticed the other end of the bare-boned duo, still looking extra lazy.

"heya kiddos." greeted Sans. "nice work on that puzzle, baby loud. didn't even need my help, which is perfectly okay with me."

"Yep, Lily did everything !" chirped Lynn, before catching onto a weird detail off the skeleton's praise. "Hey, wait a minute, how do you know Lily did it ? You weren't even there."

"of course i was. i was just standing there, watching the whole thing."

"Nuh-uh ! We would've seen you !" argued Lola.

"can you prove you didn't see me ?" grinned Sans, flipping the interview around.

Weirdly enough, Lola didn't have any counter-argument. She had a feeling eleven eyewitnesses was something that sack of bones would be easily able to spin around. How could someone that lazy could be that clever ?! She was starting to see what Papyrus meant.

Lola crossed her arms and pouted. "No..."

"guess that makes me a free monster. though loaning me for birthday parties is still well above your budget.." he winked cheekily.

The younglings grunted at the pun-offer, while Luan snorted and returned the wink. Loaning someone for a birthday party, that was a good one ! Services, yes, but someone ? Like, asking them to hide in a cake, then come out in a special suit, covered in cake batter, and...

…It was particularly cold today. Yes. That had to be the reason the comedienne was conjuring up so many frisky dreams about a certain emo. Body reaction. She felt sweltering all over. Yep, much better.

"well, i'd love an update, but i can hear my bro being ready with his next puzzle. and I don't think he can wait another hour." suggested Sans, waving his invisible eyebrows.

"Good point." nodded Lori, signaling her siblings to carry on. But before they went all the way, she adressed one last suspicious look to Sans. "You know, I didn't see you either..."

"i'm all white. i blend easily with the snow." was Sans' half-baked explanation.

"Yeah..." drawled Lori, in a tone that indicated she would be watching him a little closer than before. That look was supported by Lisa, who despite not saying a thing, was the most suspicious of them all. As they departed, Lily poked her head over her oldest sister's shoulder, and playfully made a shushing sound.

Sans' smile widened, and he returned the gesture with a sly wink.

---

"WHAT ?! B-But he was- and he- how did he- WHAT ?!"

Lisa's cries of pure confusion had nothing to do with what the new area had to offer : A small platform at first, linked to a wider path with a single exit at the end, and about 80% of it covered with a checkered tiled floor, with different shades of grey. It also had nothing to do with the strange machine next to Papyrus, which ressembled a large dark grey calculator with four dials on its front, and a rusty brown grid screen. And it certainly had nothing to do with Papyrus himself, standing on the other end of the floor, looking as peppy as ever.

But it had everything to do with his brother standing right next to him.

"GREETINGS, HUMANS ! THE PUZZLE YOU SEE BEFORE YOU-"

"CEASE THIS NONSENSE AT ONCE !" roared Lisa, taking her siblings by surprise, leaving Papyrus a tad bemused but still grinning, and Sans as himself. "Papyrus, I apologise for the interruption, but I will NOT have this clear offense to logic itself fly above our craniums, not this time !" She turned her scorning gaze to the accused, imagining handcuffs on his hands so he'd stop nonchalantly putting them in his pockets like nothing was wrong. BECAUSE EVERYTHING WAS WRONG RIGHT NOW ! "How are you here ?! How in Aristotle's woolly beard are you here right this instant ?!"

"i'm not lazy enough to stop being." he answered.

HE DARED ?! THAT LAZY POTATO SACK OF BURGERS AND BAD JOKES DARED MAKE A FOOL OUT OF HER ?! THE NERVE ! THE GALL !

"What I think she means," continued Lori, watching Leni and Lynn keeping a strong and soothing grip on Lisa, who was starting to produce rageful foam by her mouth, "is how in heck did you get past us ?!"

"Yeah, you were just-" Lincoln halted himself when he saw the empty spot where Sans had been just a couple of seconds ago. But it was TOO empty to the young white-haired sleuth. The snow, which sported all of their footprints, including Papyrus', didn't have a single slipper mark left in it. He knew Sans was all bones, but he couldn't weigh nothing !

"Alright, what the hoo-ha's going on here ?" Luna asked pointedly. Her critical eye was shared by a good chunk of the myriad of siblings, who weren't buying the normalcy of Sans appearing where he pleased to be either.

"what's up ?"

"You are up ! Up with something weird ! How did you move from there to there ?!" Lana mimicked the motion exageratedly.

"i walked."

"That quickly ?!" countered Lynn.

"i ran."

"Without the singlest eyewitness, wind friction, or sound of you running ?!" thundered Lisa, her whole body twitching erratically.

"you blinked. all at the same time. you're weird." Sans' smile didn't waver, but they could feel the sneakiness oozing out of it.

"Your testimony is full of holes, and that smile isn't buying you any favours. You're up for it, buster." Constable Lucy pressed charges, divided between her curiosity for the mystical action implied, and the returning frustration of him dodging a label she had been tagged with since she had learned how to crawl.

"buster ? i don't see how i broke any rules. maybe a vestimentary code or two, but that's about it." Leni found herself partly agreeing with that claim. Those slippers were just too tacky, it sent goosebumps down her neck. "now, i think there's a puzzle in need of solving, right bro ?" Sans nudged his head in his brother's direction.

Alarms blared inside Papyrus' skull, who had been watching the debate intently with a bucket of popcorn in his hand. Sniffing the air, Lana could've sworn there was the smell of meatballs coming from it. Immediately, his pose straightened up, and the hazardous treats were thrown in the abyss below.

"THAT'S RIGHT, BACK TO OUR PUZZLES ! NO TIME FOR UNIMPORTANT DISTRACTIONS !"

"But-" Lisa tried to argue how crucial this answer was compared to a small mind game, but stopped when she felt Lori's hand brush her shoulder. The Loud leader shook her head with a haggard look. The message was clear. 'It's not worth the headache'. Until they got something good on him, he was going to keep making them run in circles. Lisa understood, no matter how reluctantly, and dropped the subject, but did not let it stray too far away from her immediate memory. She would be picking it up later...

"NOW, AS I SAID TO YOU BEFORE, THIS IS QUITE THE SPECIAL PUZZLE." said Papyrus, demonstrating the tiled floor. "IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DOCTOR ALPHYS ! SHE IS VERY SMART, AND THUS VERY NERDY ! SO THIS WILL BE QUITE DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU'VE ALREADY BE CONFRONTED TO !"

Lynn hopped mad on one foot, holding onto the aching other. She sent a glare towards Lori, who mimicked looking away innocently, but betrayed that with a small smirk tugging at her lips. Geez, she hadn't meant to snicker, no need to steamroll her toes !

"BUT DO NOT WORRY, HUMANS !" Papyrus picked up a piece of paper previously taped to the strange mechanism. "I HAVE HERE A SET OF SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS ! READY YOUR EARS, IT IS QUITE LENGTHY !"

'How can it be simple AND lengthy ?' wondered Lincoln. He could feel a shrug from the back of his mind, asking him to just roll with it, as always.

"Ready when you are, skeletal captor." signaled Lisa, pen in hand, and a hint of annoyance still present.

"HERE WE GO THEN !" claimed Papyrus, and started to read. "THE FLOOR YOU HAVE IN FRONT OF YOU IS A COLOURED TILE MAZE ! WELL, WILL BE ONCE I BOOT IT UP ! EACH TILE HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTIONALITY ! RED TILES ARE FORBIDDEN, YOU CAN'T WALK ON THEM, NO MATTER WHAT ! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIFIED, AND WILL ZAP YOU IF YOU TRY TO WALK ON THEM ! TO AVOID, THEN ! GREEN TILES MAKE A BELL SOUND, AND WILL SUMMON A RANDOM MONSTER FOR YOU TO FIGHT ! THINKING AND ACTION, HOW EXCITING ! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES, WHICH YOU CAN GO ACROSS WITHOUT ISSUE, BUT NOT IF YOU CROSS AN ORANGE TILE BEFOREHAND, FOR THEY SMELL LIKE ORANGES, WHICH THE PIRHANAS ADORE FEASTING ON ! FURTHERMORE, IF A BLUE TILE IS RIGHT NEXT TO A YELLOW TILE, THE WATER WILL ALSO BE ELECTRIFIED, SO BEWARE OF THAT ! PURPLE TILES ARE COVERED IN SOAP, AND ARE THUS QUITE SLIPPERY, LEADING YOU DIRECTLY TO THE NEXT TILE, OR OFF-LIMITS ! UM, WATCH YOUR STEP WITH THOSE ONES. BUT HEY, STEPPING ON ONE WILL COVER YOUR BODY WITH LAVENDER SCENT ! IT USED TO BE LEMONS, BUT WE RAN OUT OF THEM DURING THE LEMONADE BELDAM OF LAST FRIDAY, A FUNNY STORY. AND PIRHANAS HATE LAVENDER ! PURPLE THEN BLUE IS GOOD ! AND FINALLY, THE PINK TILES ! NO EFFECT. AT ALL. YOU CAN STEP ON THEM AS MUCH AS YOU WANT ! DID YOU GET ALL THAT ?!"

"Geez, whoever is that Alphys, she went through the whole friggin' rainbow." commented Luna in mild amusement. "Why not throw in some Turquoise, Maroon, and off-white while she's at it ?"

"OOO, I'LL HAVE TO COMISSION HER THAT NEXT TIME ! MAYBE TURQUOISE CAN MAKE YOU SING A SONG ! NYEH HEH HEH !" said Papyrus as he hastily wrote out the idea on the verso of the rule set. Luna wasn't sure whether to laugh or sigh. There was no sense of irony with that bloke.

Luna chose to laugh at that. 'Blimey, could he be ANY more perfect for her ?'

"How can there be pirhanas in there if it's shallow enough for us to walk on it ?" questionned Luan, scratching the side of her earmuffs.

"I think the better question here would be 'Why are there pirhanas in the first place ?' !" said Lola.

"Who knows ? No need to snap at it, hahaha !" she chortled.

"Why do we even tell you things ?" sighed Lola, rubbing her eyes.

"Ugh, I hope we can avoid the orange tiles. If it's not a blood orange, then I don't want its smell anywhere near me." said Lucy with heavy disdain for the healthy fruit.

"I hear you there, although I hope we'll avoid the purple ones." grumbled Lana with an irritated frown. "Of all the soapy smells in the world, he just HAD to pick Icky Lavender !"

"I have a question !" Leni hovered her hand in the air to press her demand.

"YEEEES ?"

"What do Grey tiles mean ?" Her question prompted an orchestra of moans and palms slapping the respective foreheads in C minor.

"IT USUALLY MEANS THAT THE PUZZLE IS TURNED OFF !" chirped Papyrus without a hint of sarcasm.

"O-Oh ! Thank you !" blurted out Leni, soon switching back to her dreaming smile. "He's so smart..."

"That's up for debate- Gah, would you stop that ?!" growled Lynn, holding her other foot.

"Whatever do you mean ?" purred Lori in faux innocence.

"Don't you pull a Sans on me !"

Lisa cleared her throat audibly, rising awareness of her findings. "If it's anyone's interest, which it should, I have indeed finished to transcribe the set of guidelines given by our monster acquiantance."

"Nice job." nodded Lincoln.

"Yeah, super nice job, Lisa !" repeated Leni with a much more excited tone. However, the gentle pat she meant to deliver on her sister's back packed a wee bit too much strength. This made Lisa jolt, and let the little leaflet she had taken out of her notepad flutter away in the obscurity down below. The underaged genius lost no time to adress a most pointed glare to the teen, who chuckled sheepishly. "Uh, heh heh. Oopsie ?"

Lisa sighed irksomely. "Let us be thankful that I have an excellent photographic memory. But maybe you'd like to chuck me away too ?" she prodded snidely. Leni shrunk away like a shy little mouse. She knew it was still the annoyance towards Sans' schtick talking, but it still hurt.

"Alright, break it up you two." intervened Lori, digging an invisible line between the two life opposites. Lisa sobered a little, but still looked quite moody, while Leni looked away sadly. She patted both of their backs with firm compassion, then turned to the monster brothers, and nodded. "We're ready."

Papyrus' eye twinkled. "THEN LET'S NOT WASTE ANY MORE TIME !" he said, turning to the machine. However, before he could start tweaking with the dials, he thought to adress one last thing. "OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU ! THIS PUZZLE... IS COMPLETELY RANDOM ! EVEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS COMING UP ! SO GET READY !"

"Alright, here we go." spoke Lynn, welcoming the little tension that had been added to the whole thing. Colours flashed up to life across the checkered floor, starting to display different patterns. Some made the kids' spines rattle with chills, with big splashes of yellow here, a wall of red there, puddles of green, and even an entire floor of deep purple.

Okay, that last one only made one Loud tremble. But as the humming of the machine got louder and faster, like a quickening drumroll, every eye and eyesocket was turned to the future dancefloor. Some were taking in the pretty colours with wide eyes, while others were kept on tenterhooks for the challenge ahead. Papyrus naturally was one of those people, every second adding a centimeter to the widening of eyeholes, while Sans, chesire smile still nailed to his face, seemed to gain a small degree of interest to it.

The colours were now flashing at a seizure-worth speed. It wouldn't be long now, any second the path would appear. Would it be like a walk in the park ? Or would it spell doom for the humans ? Heck, would it ACTUALLY spell doom ? That would certainly be an impressing feat. But that answer, that heart-pumping outcome, nobody knew of.

No one in this area anyway.

And... it stopped. The humming was cut short, and the puzzle appeared.

…

…

*You feel... very underwhelmed.

"Um..." said Lincoln, tilting his head to the side.

"It's kinda... straightforward." hesitated Luna.

"I'm truly starting to see a pattern appear here." cut Lisa, massaging her forehead.

"I don't know you guys, but that puzzle doesn't seem very... puzzle-ey." quipped Lola. "I'm liking the colour choice though !"

"Urk, speak for yourself." cringed Lucy in apt disgust.

And what else could have the certainty to earn Lola's colour seal of approval, than a nice overabbundance of pink. Not hot pink though, or Lucy wouldn't just be sticking her tongue out.

Such was the random pattern the floor chose to become : A corridor of pink, flanked by two walls of red on the sides, acting as barriers from the gaping holes there. Non content of being easy, the puzle was also as safe as it could possibly be.

"Forget a walk in the park. At least parks have bumblebees and wayward frisbees !" commented Lynn, not sure if what she was seeing was more on the funny or the disappointing side.

"I know what you mean." nodded Lori, busy scratching the top of her head. "I feel like I should be glad nothing happened, and yet..."

"What ? Are you still seeing red flags over this ?" cracked Luan. As everyone around her groaned, she took notice of the puzzle master's demanour. "Does Papyrus seem a little tense to you guys ?"

While his eyesockets were back to normal, Papyrus' smile was still stretched, but no longer glowing. It seemed stiff, frozen in place. His sight still rested on the puzzle, if he could still call it that. He then looked at the Louds with the exact same face, blinked at them without saying a word, and gazed at the bichromal floor again. He spared a glance at his brother, then back to the floor. Then, still as silent as a grave, Papyrus slowly spun out of the area.

"Well, that wasn't weird at all." Lori commented sarcastically.

"Poor guy, this whole thing was probably too awkward for him, so he had nothing else to add." said Lana, feeling a little bad for the not-so-full-of-flare skeleton.

"I can understand why he didn't run. You can't run from your failures." recited Lucy, her melodrama senses on high alert as always.

"Papy..." Leni murmured, her eyes comically bulged with tears at the mere notion of her skeleton sweetheart feeling even thinly somber. If not for Rule Number 3 of the Loud Underground Code, she would already be running after him and scooping him into a reconforting hug, or help him with some comfort cooking.

"Well, bust or no bust, the highway's open for us, brah. Not much flare about it, but still a little victory for the humans, right ?" acknowledged Luna with a little grin.

The kids agreed with this, going forward was still priority number one. Besides, they had a feeling that this wasn't Papyrus' final effort to get them, so he still had a chance to prove himself. Not that they'd let themselves get trapped just to please him.

They trudged along the pink tiles, with the orange SOULed girls feeling a little daredevil and trying to touch the red ones. Their snowy boots bounced against invisible walls, and were forced to leave it at that. Once they were on the other side, it was Lisa who was now on the warpath.

"So, mind filling us in about the little skit that was pulled on us about three minutes and twelve seconds ago ? Your honesty on the subject would also be most appreciated." hissed Lisa, her foot drumming on the floor with clear frustration and a thirst for answers.

Sans observed the angry little genius with great amusement. He could see the wrinkles sprouting on her little face, something he didn't think was possible at such a young age. The others also had their expecting glances boring into his skull, with some more suspicious than others. Aww, they thought they could get clearance on that kind of info about him.

Now there was a good joke he could applaud.

"i have no idea what you're talking about." answered Sans in a goofy tone.

Lisa's brow creased with such acrimony, an angry face seemed to appear on it. "The gig is up, comedian."

"you seem pretty down about it."

(*Rimshot*)

"...Let me put this into simple words I know you can understand just as much as the complex ones, but that unlike them, you will not be able to twist at your advantage." Lisa articulated, trying to keep the lid on the brimming wrathful kettle inside her, which pression levels were skyrocketing every second she tried keeping this conversation from taking a sharp turn to Lazyburg. "You were right there behind us, we saw you, we interracted with you, you were there. Then, as we got to the next area, you suddenly vanished from that point A, to appear here, at point B, without any sign that proved you moved forward. You claim to have ran, but brushing aside that eleven children, a lot of them being very perceptive, did not see nor hear you, the background given to us does limit the belief into you being capable of running."

"ouch, cold." said Sans, not even bothering to sound offended.

"Furthermore," pressed Lisa, irked at being cut off, "when asked about it, you prove evasive and all too wishful of alleviating the tension with a pun. Suspicious, and not fooling anyone. Or at the very least, not fooling my self. So let me ask you, for the very last time, with no 'hee-hee' or 'ha-ha' to be had; HOW did you get yourself here so fast ?"

Lisa's glowering look, stronger than the laser she was still in the process of patenting, would've been enough to strike as much cold terror in those who knew what she was capable of, than it would've in those who knew diddly-squat about her. A normal sttranger would've already been spilling the beans right about now.

But Sans was none of those suckers.

"i know a shortcut." he replied truthfully. Indeed, he had not lied, not by a mile. But the little brunette didn't know that, and that was perhaps the funniest thing about her reddening face.

Crimson from the tip of her toes to the edge of her ears and the kettle in shambles, Lisa surprisingly folded her arms behind her back in a calm fashion, and adressed the group's supreme-ish authority. "Eldest sibling-"

"No." Lori cut flatly.

"I wasn't even allowed-"

"You are not torturing him to get your answers. He's an ally, and we're not losing that."

"Sister, this is for the greater good of science !"

"If he doesn't want to talk, that's his right."

"He's being very obnoxious about it !"

"I don't care."

"Just a slipper or two, I'm not asking-"

"NO. Final decision. Put a sock in it." Lori cut short. Lily furthered the claim by bringing her squeaky gavel down on her roommate's head, not leaving any trace, but indeed leaving the case to rest.

Oh, the things Lisa wanted to say to that, but she knew better than either provoke the ire of the eldest Loud child, or the tears of the youngest. As such, she opted for a silent protest in the form of the hardest pout she could muster. Not even the gentle caress of her brother's hand across her back could make a dent in it.

"You know, if you don't want to talk about it, you could just say it." said Lincoln, sharing the feeling of unquenched curiosity ever so slightly.

"sorry, it's just too tempting to mess with you. we don't get new faces that often." he admitted with a small chuckle.

"With how many faces we've seen in the last two hours, that's a bit surprising." quipped Lana.

Sans' permanent smile gained a wistful edge, small enough to be unnoticed physically, but loud enough in his tone when you knew the punny skeleton for a grand total of three hours. "down here, it's pretty easy to know everybody." The kids' expressions fell slightly hearing that, but Sans was quick to regain his energy, if you could call it that. "i've gotta say though, you kiddos have been coming around quite nicely for a bunch who doesn't know the joint."

The kids tried to not appear flattered, especially the miffled brainiac herself, but ultimately failed. "Shucks, we're doing our best, as always." said Lynn, dusting her sleeves in a totally not cocky manner.

"And looking at the path, it's kinda hard to get lost. Big gaping holes are kind of an obvious 'Maybe don't walk this way' sign." chortled Luan, her mirth reflected to her by Sans' wink full of respect.

"The locals are making it really fun too !" chirped Leni, reminiscing herself of the dangerous yet fun times they had dealing with the whacky monsters, and the weird friendships they were striking. A memory of wi-fi and nacho chips did make her slightly flinch out of it. "Well, almost all of them."

"my bro too, i bet ?"

Leni's expression immediately melted to a lovey-dovey grin. "Totes." she pratically drooled maple syrup, her mind felt so sweet.

"Your brother is a really sweet chap. He cares about you a mighty lot." said Luna, returning the slyness in due form. It somewhat made the mark. His perpetual smile was still up and mighty, but if he thought he could hide those two teensy spots of blue hue painted across his boney cheeks, he was sorely mistaken.

"heh, of course he cares. my bro's the coolest there is." sighed Sans, the fondness in his tone warming a couple of SOULs.

But while Lola fully agreed that Papyrus was a very cool dude, a fun guy to be around, and all around a real sweetheart, she felt the need to rev up something the narcissistic skeleton wasn't so good at. "Yeah, but he could use a few cooking lessons." piped the little princess, feeling a bit nauseous.

A wave of cringe and queasiness splashed against the humans' minds; cringe over Lola's bluntness, and queasiness over their collective memory of the Spaghetti Purgatory they had been unfortunate enough to witness.

Dear gosh, they could still smell it, despite the fact that they never had in the first place. And thank Toriel for that !

"Sorry if it's too direct, but your brother's sauce ? It was the stuff of nightmares. And I know my nightmares." shuddered Lucy.

"And his pasta looked like a mutant ball of tumbleweed, if that make any sense." added Lynn. Part of her mind still wondered if even she could've been daring enough to put it in her mouth, but her whole brain agreed, she wouldn't have liked either outcome.

"But hey, it's okay, really. Everyone has bad days." said Lincoln apologetically.

"Yeah, once I mistook my lunchbox for my toolbox, and I flooded the entire school basement trying to fix a snag in the pipework with a PB&J sandwidch, and a couple of carrot bits." Lana recollected with a small awkward blush.

But if the lazybone felt insulted, he was doing a poor job showcasing it. "actually, that was probably one of his best attempts yet."

Consternation fell on the children with the heft of a grand piano. Greasy prankster say WHAT ?! That pot of wretched muckiness, drowned in Death's drool, and a garnish of poison ivy ; a creation so vile, so alarming to all the senses, it belonged to an experimental horror movie set ; that, was what could be considered one of Papyrus' BEST attempts ?! Teeth clattered in fear at imagining the unthinkable.

"If that was his top work... then what does his w-w-worst look like ?" Lori almost stuttered, hugging Lily for comfort. Her mind was busy trying to destroy the swarm of horrendous pictures popping up right out her imagination, pictures of butchered meals litteraly crawling out of the kitchen to pounce on unsuspecting bystanders.

Sans' faraway gaze and omnious silence did nothing to appease the Louds' worst expectations. He knew things, things they weren't supposed to know, that they didn't want to know. But just like that, it disappeared under his goofy smile. "don't worry about it. besides, he's been making real progress lately. by next year, he just might make something edible."

The small jab elected a few chuckles around, and worries were put to rest. For now. Besides, there were other matters the chubby monster owned them to answer. "Oh yeah, while we're on the subject of your brother, we'd like to know why you gave him those dumb nicknames of yours." Lincoln probbed sourly.

Sans gave a shrug of trademark nonchalance. "he was already really warming up to you. i thought i'd let him in the secret."

"But why did you tell him those were our actual names ?!" pressed the boy.

"'cause they were spot on. he believed them, didn't he ?"

"That's- ! Okay, fair enough. But seriously, Snow White ?" Lincoln pointed to his scalp incredulously.

"you can't go wrong with the classics." replied the monster, patting the sole brother's head, who sighed in defeat.

"Yeah ? What about Speedy ?" asked Lynn, the little growl in her voice being a pure coincidence.

"are you saying you ain't fast ?" replied Sans, making the sports girl reconsider her position. She supposed that a hound was pretty fast. Or maybe a wolf ! Yeah, that was something she could roll with.

"Moony ?" Luna raised a brow.

"rocker at heart, rocker at night, right ?" Sans finger-gunned. Luna rolled her eyes, but let that little grin appear. He had her there.

"Heh, Sunshine ? Sans, you rapscallion." Luan giggled cheekily.

"i know a beaming smile when i see it. plus hey, moony and sunshine. perfect roommate theme." he winked. Smiles graced the artistic duo's faces, as he was making an excellent point.

"What about Skippy ?" Lana heatedly demanded.

"Yeah, or Sparkles ? Do I look like a horse to you ?!" grumbled Lola, her nostrils flaring with anger.

"horse ? i just thought you had the face of a kid who loves everything that shines. and you look like a kid who can fit twenty acorns in her mouth." Sans nodded 'firmly'. The twins' eyes widened, and both blondes whipped around with a pout. Oh sure, if he was wringing the right heartstrings.

"Mine is fine, sorta, but Potato ?" Lori pointed at her little sister.

"a pretty sweet potato." Sans booped her nose, making Lily giggle adorably. She made another shushing sound, and Sans returned a wink. "thanks, kiddo."

"Gloomy McGloomface ? Really ?" Lucy suddenly made her reclamation in a bitter and nose-nipping tone, pushing aside her siblings to stand nose-to-... um, eye-to-... forehead-to-forehead with the nickname dealer.

"...okay, that one was just really funny right on the go. i've got zero excuse." confessed Sans, his protuberant gut shaking with hilarity, which was proving contagious. Lucy though, wasn't in the mood for a laugh. Not that she was most of the time, but the drought in her gut right now was without previous compare. Her glare was becoming cold enough to transform Sans into a blue popsicle, which was frankly what she was hoping to accomplish.

"alright alright, not a fan ? how about thursday ?" Lucy's fists tightened. "countess choculette ?" The teeth appeared, ready for a bite worthy of her mystical peers. Sans made his skeletal fingers snap. "got it ! raven !"

Lucy's bloodthirsty instincts were quelled at the right second. "Raven ?" she repeated, tasting the name. Sour and dark, yet swift and cool. She liked that.

"shady, mysterious, always a feather in the dark arts, and plenty of those to write down dark thoughts. what d'you say ?" Sans offered, his friendly tone a little more genuine. Then it got right back to jokester norm. "of course, we can keep going with McGloomface."

"Bats are more of my thing, but Raven is fine." Lucy nodded, her monotone betrayed by two feeling stretches ; pride in her new nickname, and a hidden warning of 'You get to live another day, comedian'. Sans took it as a neat bonus.

"Hey, why don't I have a nickname ?" asked Leni, quite a bit upset about not being invited to the funny name party.

"Uh, why do you even want one ?" Lola asked incredulously.

"Because it sounds fun ! I wanna see what he comes up for me !" she chirped.

Expecting a nickname from him, after the ones he dropped for her siblings ? Those kids were getting weirder every minute. And Sans was liking it. Still, he felt like he needed to play his cards right here. From what he had seen, and heard, blondie over here was a sensitive one. He doubted she could really get angry, but she could be upset. And then the others would be angry, and that'd just be a mess.

Not to mention, things were warming up between her and his bro quite nicely. Lazy he certainly was, but he wasn't insensitive. He couldn't mess that up ; not until they'd get on the couch and he'd present her Papy's baby pictures. He certainly had done his homework on that one.

'nickname, nickname. play it smart, sans, it's gotta be clever, but nice enough to avoid any kind of hassle.' Sans brainstormed, an activity not as uncommon as people liked to think. Hand polishing his lower jaw, he cracked an eye open to catch the gentle blonde's glimmering look and small smile of anticipation. All too reminding of Papyrus while he'd been waiting for his scarf to be sewed.

'let's see, what's her profile this far ? she's nice, she's perky, and she has a look that kills. those puppy eyes are a menace.' he shuddered. 'she's also... not very smart. not stupid either, that's for sure. naive ? candid ? dim on certain ends ? eesh, no good material here. you're losing your touch, buddy. But what benign name can you give a hazy young... hazy... kinda sounds like... but can I dare ?' The memory of a wickedly childish laughter ignited his non-existant blood, but he kept it in check. He always did. 'she's worth it. besides, if i hesitate, it'll give him way too much pleasure for my liking. which is any.'

"Wow, he's thinking really hard about it. I didn't think he could do that." murmured Lana, understandable seeing her knowledge of the lazy sentry.

"He's a crafty fellow, we know that now." returned Lisa with a whisper made from an odd cocktail of haughtiness and grumbling, making the both of them turn their backs on Sans. "Just because his Surface 'cousins' lack any cerebellum, does not mean he's unfit to use his."

"or ears for that matter." Sans' voice slithered across their shoulders. The two young girls nearly leaped out of their winter garments at the skeleton's sudden apparition, but Lisa immediately spotted the footsteps in the snow. This was just a lack of attention on her part, which was already pretty embarrassing. "you weren't badmouthing me, were ya ?" Sans raised a smooth eyebrow, seemingly reading them. 'Pointdexter' and 'Skippy' hastily shook their heads, which prompted an affectionate hat ruffle from the friendly guard. "good girls."

"Did you find my name ? I mean, like, my other name ?" asked Leni, barely holding the small squeal of excitement that begged to be released.

"sure do, daisy."

Mixed reactions immediately betrayed the Louds' thoughts : Some were finding it cute, while others were making gagging faces. But a core pattern could be found through those two expressions ; the smiles seemed a tad forced, while the stuck-out tongues were anything but playful. Indeed, an overwhelming cringe seemed to be rotting those two easy-to-pull emotions. Even Leni, who seemed enthralled at first, visibly deflated when she caught the floral reference.

"Um, I-I don't not like it or anything, but... does it have to be about a flower ?" Leni fidgeted on the spot, as uncomfortable memories played before her eyes.

For a brief moment, Sans' relaxed demanour almost fell apart. His eyes went wide, and his smile became tense. The rarer timeline shifts... not a peep from that whacko for over a week... and all of that while had happened the arrival of more humans than the Underground had ever seen, who, surprise surprise, happened to be uneasy about flowers...

He knew darn well this could be all just a big coincidence, and that there could be a whole other reason for that flower fear comment. Anthophobia was a thing, after all. But dang it, it just explained too much things to be just that.

For the moment though, Sans could only speculate, and there wasn't much time for that right now. Right now, he needed to get things back on a smoother track. "flowers are giving you a bad time ? no worry, we don't have many of that down here."

"And thank heavens for that." Lincoln mumbled to himself. And to Sans' keen hearing.

"still, sorry if i struck a nerve there. i just thought, you know, i thought i was nipping it in the bud, florally speaking."

"Floral ? There is a language for flowers ?" pried Leni, feeling like she had heard that before.

"Oh yeah, there's a whole book about it." answered, to the surprise of all, Lynn. "They say Daisies is supposed to symbolize love and harmony, basically the union between two lovers. But geez, I never thought you'd know that sort of stuff, Sans."

"And we didn't know either, eh Lynn ?" Lori's smug tone immediately brought an unhealthy shade of crimson to Lynn's face, as she realised what she had just blabbered out.

"H-Hey, stop staring ! Mom forced me to take the Botany class back in seventh grade to even out my average." Lynn explained hastily to all the sly grins flashing towards her. "That kind of thing just stuck to my brain like a weird chewing-gum, that's all ! It's just proof I haven't been bonking my head against stuff enough these last few- LUCY, YOU HAVE THREE SECONDS TO WIPE THAT SMUG GRIN OFF YOUR FACE, OH MY GOSH !" Lynn heatedly ordered to her little sister, and her wide, wide grin.

"While it was way too sweet for my taste, what you said it was, sniff, almost too poetic." said Lucy, flicking away a fake tear. Inside though, she was crying of laughter at the angrily bashful expression the sportaholic was pulling.

"Can we please continue before I do something we all regret ?" Lynn half-threatened, half-begged. Three marathons and a thousand push-ups couldn't get her nearly as tired as her family could sometimes.

"It depends." Lincoln chuckled, appreciating the tenstion being lifted. "Leni, any qualms about the new name ?"

"Daisy..." mouthed Leni, processing the new bout of info she had just received about her new nickname. Was this... Was this Sans' way of giving his benediction ? In the most adorable and nice way possible ? That's it, she expected him to be nothing less than Papyrus' Best Man, and to have the most generous piece of pie of the table.

She gave Sans the fondest smile she could muster, any Flowey worry pushed away from her conscience. "I love it." she sniffled, and wrapped Sans into a tight hug.

Sans patted her back in return. "glad you do, and glad i didn't make it orchid."

(*Rimshot*)

"Don't worry, you didn't Rose any hard feelings ! Hahahaha ! Get it ?" Luan asked around, getting groans as expected, and a quiet chuckle from Sans.

"Please, let's go..." groaned Lynn, unwilling to endure an Pun-mageddon on top of her stupid slip of the tongue.

"Agreed, we have hindered our progress long enough." said Lisa, rubbing her temples. "And to be quite frank, our companion isn't lessening my weariness by a single atom."

"harsh. but fair." quipped Sans as he was released from the rib-crushing embrace. "see ya later, kids."

"Of course we will." Lisa dryly retorted.

"BYE SANS !" the rest waved, and were all ready to proceed forward to more unknown. And Sans stood there, ready to decipher what he already knew.

---

The next piece of white land the Louds entered was a wide rectangular area, bare of any trees that held another wooden station, with a small wooden sign next to it, and a little white sign on top of the counter. And while the writing on it was debatable at best, it didn't raise as many eyebrows as the warzone it seemed to loosely supervise.

Old pawprints smeared all over the snow. White fur everywhere. Gashes in the snow that indicated that something had rolled in it. Those few clues alone were more than enough to identify this station's keeper to be a certain long-necked petting lover.

But the real shocker came in the form of the half-dozen sculptures around it. Columns of snow built in the clumsiest way possible, smeared with more paw prints. Some were angled, others were strangled into loop-de-loops. But short or long, square or circle, all those stackings of snow abruptly ended the same way, and the missing bits came in the form of severed snow dog heads, a horrifying sight to the Loud's resident zookeeper.

"Holy smokes, what the heck happened here ?!" exclaimed Lincoln in apt shock.

"It looks like some kind of art vengeance." murmured Lola. An uneasy feeling rose from her throat as she observed the happy, unmoving faces. "D-Does that count as some kind of massacre ?" she grimly asked, her mind wandering back to that friendly snowman from earlier.

Lana dropped on her knees, and began pounding the ground. "THOSE MANIACS, THEY BLEW IT ! SHAME ON THEM ! SHAME ON THEM TO DOGGY PURGATORY !" she roared to the ceiling, mourning the innocent canine losses around her.

"Woah Lana, calm down ! We don't know for sure they were alive. A bunch of rocks being sentient in the Ruins didn't mean the whole ground could talk !" Lynn pointed out, crouched to her sister's level to soothe her animal-loving spirit.

The little honorary pup lifted her brimming eyes from the ground. "You think so ?" she tearfully asked.

Behind her roommate, Lucy nodded. "And if they were alive, at least you can say they had a smile when they got gruesomely beheaded."

"Dude !" cried out Luna, pointing at Lana's growing pupils of sadness, pitiful enough to make Lucy flinch.

"Sorry." she retracted bashfully.

Lana hiccupped and sniffed, but she still had a grip on herself. "I-It's okay, Lucy, you're right. A-At least they were happy until the end..."

"Uh, those weren't alive."

The Louds quickly located the source of the unfamiliar voice. Next to the exit, on the side of the station, a monster was quietly sitting on a little chair. This monster ressembled an antropomorphic cow, with a way slimmer figure and light brown hair. He was clad in purple jeans, a purple sweater with green stars, and little black shoes. In his hand was a cup full of white liquid, hot if the smoke was anything to come by, and the small kettle with a portable stove that rested by his feet.

The bovine monster held a rather disinterested look, and didn't seem like he wanted to duke it out with the Louds. Thus, the children approached him without too much caution, but still enough.

"Are you sure ? They weren't alive at all ?" questionned Lori, ushing Lily's 'Moo !' attempts. She was proud that the tot still remembered that, but she didn't want her to come across as rude, especially in the odd chance that the monster didn't know that she was just a baby.

"Nope. Just sculptures that got messed up." assured the monster. Immediately, the Louds sighed in relief, except for Lana who fell backwards, her body sagging in endless deliverance. Unthinking snow, it was just unthinking snow.

"So, is it safe to think that Lesser Dog did this... um ?" Luan rotated her hand.

"Ferdinand, but call me Fred. You will eventually." 'Fred' took a long sip of his little cup, still showing it half-full afterwards, and began his tale. "Yeah, a dog came back here, more excited than I ever saw her be. Usually she'd start making a little neck, she'd stop, and then she'd just look at it for a long time. Like, hoping it would make art appear."

The humans gave knowing glances to eachother. That sounded like Lesser Dog alright.

"But today, it was different. She had an idea, a vision." pursued Fred. "She built the neck as usual, and copied her head on top, with an excited panting face to match her own. Standard self-portrait. But as every time she looked like she was finished, her neck would grow longer out of excitement. So, she would add more snow to match it, but that only made her more excited, thus making the neck even longer, and so on, until..."

He fell silent, sipping on his concoction with a sizzling sound, and finished with an audible popping sound from his lips. It spoke for itself.

"It was kinda sad to watch her doing it again and again. But I just couldn't look away, like I needed to see this." the monster sighed in a slightly somber tone.

"She reached too far for the skies, and tumbled back to the soil. The same fate as Icarus, with less real casualties." Lisa recited.

"I was more thinking about that kitty with the really long neck I saw that one time !" chirped Leni, giggling at the image of the funny feline.

Lisa drew a hard expression, thoroughly unamused. "No education. But then again, what else was I expecting ?" she grumbled, still full sourpuss. Sour enough to not notice the flash of hurt passing through Leni's own features.

"Poor Lesser though. She must've been so sad." said Lana, carrying her stare to her boots.

"As if. I don't think sad is even something she knows." Fred clicked his tongue in a haughty manner. "She heard the dinner bell, and skipped out of here with the same bounciness she came in with. She won't be back until morning."

Lori's eyes widened. "Morning ? You mean it's night right now ?"

"You got that right. Night is up, and I'm down on Sea Tea, which means it's my cue." said Fred, looking at his watch. He grunted out of his chair, gave it a little kick to make it fold flat. "You kids should head back home too, wherever you live."

"No need to tell us that, Sherlock.." Luan quietly chuckled, before feeling an important question pop out in her slightly loony mind. "Oh wait ! Is Snowdin Town close from here ?"

Ferdinand, his stuff in hand, squinted his eyes at the humans. "You kids aren't from here, are you ?" The question elected a couple of droplets of sweat to roll down foreheads, but thankfully, the horned monster quickly lost interest. "Eh, whatever. So many dang tourists these days, geez- Snowdin is about ten minutes straight away. It's not hard, you've just got to go forward, and you'll see the lights soon enough."

Despite the monster's clear indifference, Lori still flashed a grateful smile. "Thank you for the directions, Fred."

His trek was halted for a moment, and he waved a gloved hoof absentmindedly. "Yeah, you're welcome, I guess." he said, and resumed his shuffling until he was out of sight.

"We better do the same if we want to find a place to bunk." quipped Luna.

"Yeaaaah, but first we've got to fish Lana out of that booth." remarked Lynn, pointing at Lana's form diving behind the wooden counter.

"Urgh, Lana ! Get out of there, we have to move !" ordered Lola out of mild annoyance.

"Just a minute, you guys ! I'm just checking for some cool stuff !" Lana called back. "Whoo, a whole lot of squeaky toys. Wow, a rubber ball ! Oh never mind, it's just a really well-groomed ball of fur."

Knowing she would be taking some time, the Louds approached the booth for further inspection as well. The wooden sign was a good laugh, except perhaps for Lisa.

"'AWARE OF DOG. pleas pet dog.'" read Luna, before instinctively moving out of the way, sensing a disturbance in the sibling force. "Lis', what are you doing ?"

"Making this crazy world a little more right." said Lisa as she furiously scribbled on the sign that she swore was there just to taunt her. She sighed in deep relief and proudly nodded, observing the results. "Much better."

' BE AWARE OF THE DOG. Please pet the dog.'

Lola pouted at it. "It kinda kills the feeling." she criticised.

"It has been a long, tiresome day. Let me have this." Lisa simply retorted.

"Hey, I found raisins !" Lana's hand shot up to reveal her fruitful findings.

As the pun indicates, Luan took a hold of the little white box, and inspected it. The off-white treats squeezed both her hearts with their dead ringer to Friendliness Pellets – unfunniest joke ever, period – but perked up when she read the brand. "Don't you mean, Pomeraisins ?" she giggled lightly, but stopped when she heard the usual groans, as they were out of cue. "Um, that wasn't a joke. That's actually how they're called."

"Groan, that's somewhat worst." Lucy, one could assume, rolled her eyes.

"And there's a lot where that comes from, so you shouldn't have so much grape about it !" she fully chortled this time, much to her siblings' further annoyance. As if they didn't get enough fruit humour from her endless assaults of banana and blueberry pies.

As Luan put the treats back, Lily became interested in the little white sign, and crawled on the counter. The transcription looked pretty awful, and that pleased the little girl greatly. Why, it looked like something she'd write, trying to imitate her older siblings. Messy scribbles going all over the board, and a little paw signature at the bottom. Lily cooed as she put her own chubby hand over it, and giddly felt like she was matching it despite the mittens making it impossible.

"You know, looking at it from here, that writing looks mighty familiar." commented Lori thoughtfully. Not for long though, as the narrative cavalry arrived.

*"You see more dog scratches, but more 'calligraphic' ones. It reads, 'Shift done, back in morning. If you have treats or pet coupons, put treats and pet coupons inside station. If is Captain, I worked very hard today, good girl outta good girl, deserves a treat. Signed, Leslie 'Esquire' Sser of Dog. (P.S. : Pls give treats and pets.)'"

"That's some fancy name for a dog that only tilts in pets." said Lincoln, getting his voice back. "Still, I guess it's not too bad for an artist name."

"Yeah, but it'll be a while before she gets to use it." quipped Lucy with a dry motion towards the snowdog graveyard. But, surprising herself the most, she started seeing past the grimness the sight suggested. "But I've got a feeling that's not gonna stop her. Artist blocks are meant to be broken, after all." she added with an audible note of hope.

And that was when, amongst the fallen heads, Lincoln noticed a beaming yellow star that brought good news. It seemed eerily waiting to be noticed by the humans like they had done for its cousins, and its brightness went up a couple of hertz when the boy spotted it.

"Alright, one SAVE, coming right up !" chirped Lincoln, as he rushed to it and delivered a hearty but still careful slap on its shiny goodness. In an instant, his pupils gained crimson.

*"Knowing that Lesser Dog won't roll over on trying to make the perfect snowdog... It fills you with fuzzy Determination !"

LOUDS – Dog House

LV1 – 176:01

File saved successfully !

Immediately, a wave of relief washed over the children, resplendishing their HP bars and healing the wounds from their sore fights. That relief also gave Lynn a perfect window of opportunity to scoop Lana out of the station so that they could proceed. Lana fussed at first, but knowing Lynn's grip of steel, she resigned herself to her fate, and put on a heavy pout as she let herself be carried out of the area like a doggy bag.

---

The next zone welcomed the Louds with a small slope on their right, and a new Tic-tac-toe kind of puzzle straight ahead, but with no rocks to separate the dozen of switches this time around, instead having a heavy coat of ice around those few spots of snow. Surprisingly, all the X's had already been turned into lime green O's, and the stone switch at the right of the puzzle had already been pressed. From what they could tell, it deployed a long ice bridge that stretched through a gap between twin rows of bare trees that stretched so high, craning their necks could barely allow to see their top. The small forest was so thick that the bridge was veiled with darkness, except for a faint light showing the other side.

However, before the humans could gayly cross, the ice bridge began to crumble. Audibly at first, but they quickly could see the structure falling apart. When the bridge went completely under, the stone switch unlocked itself up from the ground, and all the X's reappeared for the next challengers. In this case, the gaping humans.

"Alright, show of hands ! Who thought 'This is too easy !' when they saw the puzzle already done ?" Lola asked impatiently. Ten hands awkwardly rose around her, laughing sheepishly. The little pageant powerhouse let out an annoyed sigh, but didn't chew anyone out. She was too busy raising her hand as well. "Dang it."

"Hey, cheer up ! It can't be too hard of a puzzle if that guy did it in under a minute." Luan happily uttered.

"Let's get busy then ! Alright, what do we have here..." said Lincoln, deep in his strategy-making zone. He began his usual pacing, almost seeing dirty brown carpeting under his feet and close yellow walls. The place where had born most of his plans, all with varying degrees of success, and imagining it being there made the blood fluctuate to his brain more easily.

But there was such a thing as being too roped up in your own imagination, and it wasn't Lincoln's first slipping onto something because of his clouded mind. But a banana peel or a flight of stairs wouldn't cut it this time. Instead, Lincoln let himself on a straight sliding course, and not a speck of snow to stop him. The end of that course ? It sent goosebumps right up Leni's spine when she noticed him already halfway across the rink.

"Linky ? OH GOSH ! LINCOLN, WATCH OUT !" shrieked Leni in sudden terror, that spreaded across the girls' expressions, and prompting them to shout panicked warnings to their brother. He eventually picked up on them.

"Huh ? What's the problem ? And why are you all getting further-" His words died in his throat when he felt the light breeze against his back. He turned around...

And his face blanched when he saw the shortening half-meter (couple of feet) separating him from the end of the rink.

"This StiiiIIIIIIIIIINKS !" Lincoln cried out, as he lost his footing and was plunged into the abyss.

"LINCOLN !" the ten sisters howled in despair, scarcely believing what had just unfold. Their brother had fallen, disappeared forever, and all because of a single second of inattention. The shock was so intense, they couldn't even cry, but they were already assuming the worst. Was this their punishment for becoming numb to the danger ? Was this world, with all its humour and energy, willing to tear through their hearts with the guilt of their brother's demise ?

"Uh, guys ? Yoo-hoo."

"I can still hear his cute squeaky voice..." whimpered Leni, hot tears finally starting to form.

"My voice is not squeaky !" echoed Lincoln's voice from afar.

"Brother ?" gasped Lucy, daring relief and joy to flood inside her SOUL.

"Lincoln's alive !" the First Grade duo hollered and bounced in pure elation.

"Are you alright ?! Did you break something ?! Is it dark ?! Don't scream thy last scream !" broke Luna, her heart still rushing like a derailing train, and relief having yet to completely settle in.

"Guys, I'm fine ! My tushie is sore, and so is my ego, but otherwise, I'm A-okay !" Lincoln joked back to calm the frantic calls for his well-being. "I've only fallen a few feet below, and I can already see a way up."

"Hold on, how's it like down there ?! Is there some kind of hidden secret treasure or stuff like that ?!" Lynn wondered out loud. Secret loot and its wonders was one of the very few elements from her bro's snore-fest of how games usually worked that she had managed to fit inside her brain.

"Doubt it, the whole thing is kinda empty ! Well, save for those snowcrafts !"

"Snowcrafts ? Like, more cute snowdogs ?" asked Leni.

"Nope, no dogs ! In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not Lesser Dog's work ! Or she must really have a thing for Papyrus." Lincoln's claim made Leni gasp sharply. Had a rival appeared ? And a totes cute one at that ? How was she going to compete with all that white fuzzy fur and those petting oportunities ?!

"And, why would that be ?" asked a slightly grossed out Lisa.

"Because you must be to put an 8-pack on a life-size snow Papyrus."

Leni's thoughts made a sharp U-turn, erasing the strange thought of a Battle of the Bands against a dog – also burying the question of how she'd even got to this point – and making a mad scramble to Hunkland, and their new attraction : An lifelike ice sculpture of a muscular Papyrus, that could be touched and even danced with on a beautiful winter-themed scenery.

But what were mere thoughts, compared to seeing the real thing ?! Meaningless ! Feeble ! Unworthy of another millisecond being lost on them !

It was this idea, though not worded exactly as such, that lit Leni's brain like a Christmas tree. And she wanted her presents now !

"I'M COMING MY LOVE !" clamoured Leni, with only hearts in her eyes, and a destination in her sights. Which could explain why she didn't take any notice of her nine sisters in front of her and rammed into them forward. But seeing as their minds were not scrambled with infatuation to the point of blindness, they all tried to hold their love-crazed sister from making a big mistake.

"Leni, slow down ! Remember what we talked about ! Family safety before Skeleton of your dreams !" hissed Lori between her teeth, trying to keep her feet from the slippery floor.

"I know love makes you do crazy things – Gah ! – but this is straight up ridiculous !" groaned Lynn. "I'm putting my whole bod into it, and with help ! So how is she still pushing us ?!"

"Love hurts, and in this case, it's going to hurt us." Lucy threw in her two verses.

"Haha, good one sis." praised Luan.

"Who's joking ? My knees are this close from crumbling into the dust they eventually will become."

"...Hold on a minute." spoke Lana, peeking an eye open, and spotting an interesting element to the right of the wall of siblings and the Leni-dozer. An element that they hadn't even taken into consideration, despite being explained in the area's presentation. Does somebody even read them ?! "Leni, look ! There's a little road down there, and I bet it goes where Lincoln is ! You don't have to jump off a cliff to see that jacked Papyrus !"

"I don't ?!" Leni gasped in joyful surprise, immediately sobbering and straightening up. Indeed, there it was, waiting for her to skip through it ! But as she turned to her siblings to tell them to follow her ASAP, she noticed them in a pile slowly slipping across the frozen ground, and scrambling madly to get a grip onto something.

"Guys, this is no time for skating !" she lightly chided. First they said to not get onto the rink, and now they were doing it anyway ?!

"Leni, you darn fooOOOOOOOOOOL !" cursed Lisa, as the falling took its cue, soon followed by a heavy *POMF*.

The fashionista raised an eyebrow at the insult, but then realised her mistake : she had just nudged her siblings off a ledge, right after trying to stop her doing the same to herself. She cringed, heavily so. She was in for the earful of the century.

'But will that keep you from doing it again ? No, of course not. Learning is just one of the many things you're awful at.'

She rightfully ignored that taunting voice, and dashed straight down the small path. Perhaps she was going to get chewed up, but the itching worry of her siblings being hurt overpassed that fear.

---

The area Leni found was just like her brother had described : a small bare platform that led nowhere. The center had been shoveled clean, and she could see Lincoln standing there, just next to-

No, she couldn't look at it directly ! Not until she spotted her sisters- And she found them in an instant. It was hard to miss a heap that big, with limbs sticking out and twitching, as well as multi-pitched groans of heavy discomfort. It wasn't pretty to look at, especially since it seemed that they had partly landed on the cold harsh ground rather than the cushioning blanket of snow. The only thing Leni could be thankful for about the sight was an uninjured Lily at the top, Lori's loyal hands hovering her a measly ten centimeters above the human pile.

As she advanced, a shocked Lincoln took notice of her, bringing him the explanation of the lack of platinium blond hair in there. "Leni, what the heck happened ?"

Leni bit her lip and rubbed her fingers nervously, but admitted her guilty plea, knowing that her Linky would be the less inclined at berating her. "I was kinda trying to follow you to see, um, you-know-who, and I, like, might have pushed them by accident..." She ended with a sheepish chuckle.

Lincoln cringed in sympathy inside, but shook his head wearily on the outside. Another lovestruck blunder to add to Leni's toll. Her toll of hazy goof-ups in general was pretty high, but the daily one sure was getting heavy for a measly couple of hours. But Lincoln was not that surprised.

Instead, he focused his efforts to try and get the fallen girls back on their feet. He didn't have to beckon Leni in assisting her, something the blonde chose to do in a heartbeat.

"Are you guys alright ?" fretted Lincoln as he pulled and dusted his little mechanic of a sister.

"Yeah, it's fine. Not exactly a pleasant fall, but I've taken worst falls than that from the casa's roof alone." reassured Lana, giving her neck a couple of therapeutic cracks.

"Or staircases. Or the tree. Or Vanzilla's roof that one time." chuckled Lynn, already up and about.

"That was one heck of a stage dive." groaned Luna as she stretched her back.

"Yeah, looks like the crowd below got cold feet. Get it ?" Luan laughed weakly, contently letting Leni shoveling the snow out of her hair and ears, then gently putting her earmuffs back where they belonged.

"Well, the good news is, it looks like your HP didn't suffer from that fall at all." said Lincoln. His attempt at being positive was met with limited results.

"Whoop-dee-do, but that's not stopping my head from feeling sore, not to mention kinda heavy." moaned Lola. Still, her numbness was not enough to stop her from carrying herself up with the amount of pride that befitted her.

"Yes Lily, I'm fine, you can dial back the kisses." Lori laughed at the youngest's effort to smooch her worries away, and despite the feeling of soreness still very present, it did soothe her cyan SOUL aching with annoyance.

"I could use some demonstration of affection as well." called Lisa, not caring how pitiful it sounded, while Lincoln straightened her beret. Lily eagerly obliged, much to her sister's bashful gratefulness.

"Pass." Lucy boldly claimed, in spite of the aching shoulder she now sported and was busy rubbing. A fact that did not fly under Lori's radar, who teasingly brought her peckering package closer to the Duchess of Darkness, to give her what she despised, but needed. Of course, while she gave a hidden scowl to Lori, she didn't dare raising a complaint to the toddler. She was not heartless, unfortunately.

"Sorry everyone. I-I guess I wasn't thinking again." Leni shamefully apologised. From the tone of their replies consisting of groans and sighs, there didn't seem to be too much bad blood, telling her to 'forget about it' and 'it's alright, love'. But still, she could see the tired annoyance starting to radiate in her direction, and she did catch the passing murmur of 'Yeah, big surprise there'. She didn't know who had said that, she wasn't even sure anyone had said it. But she knew she deserved it.

Feeling better, Luna shrugged, "Well, we're here, might as well see what's up. Where's that jacked goofball ?"

"Right there. It's kinda hard to miss with that impeccable finish." Lincoln pointed behind him.

The snow Papyrus, a snow bust in fact, had everything it should have to be faithful to the original, from the obvious artist's point of view. Red-orange scarf and gloves, a proud expression completed by a dazzling smile, neat finish, and the muscle stature of a bodybuilder, with two more abs added for extra emphasis on how ripped he was. All in all, the perfect physical representation of Papyrus' ego. In fact, most of the siblings were surprised he wasn't wearing a crown with a plate of spaghetti on top, or about the lack of a sign highlighting 'A ROYAL GUARD'S MAGNIFICENCE ! A HUMBLE SELF-PORTRAIT'.

"That's some buff skeleton right there." whistled Lynn in great amusement.

"I cannot believe that this sentence is no longer deemed to be agrammatical." Lisa facepalmed.

"There's ego, that's for sure." Lori commented. She then gained a sly smile. "Although..." Her vision allowed Papyrus' head to morph into the one of her loving boyfriend, grinning at her while he flexed all that muscle-y goodness. "I see good possibilities, and then some..." Lori smacked her lips hungrily.

"So many possibilities..." Leni drooled, imagining a beach scene, with her in a cute floral swimsuit, and Papyrus clad in only swim trunks, coming out of the water, sizzling on his hot bod, and blond-coloured seaweed atop his head flowing in the breeze. Dear gosh, he could make seaweed look hot ! And then Leni imagined Papyrus asking if she wanted him to pass sunscreen along her back, and she just had to stop before she broke into a huge nosebleed.

Lana looked with a confused pout at her two oldest sisters' salivating expressions, having only a vague idea of why Leni would be that way, but not wanting to push the idea any further, in fear of extreme grossness. She took another look at the statue, and started to see her own dreaming thought : a huge lizard head ! She imagined Izzy having licked some of Lisa's chemicals, and going from cool little lizard to Awesome Giant Dinosaur Mutant, with huge scaly muscles, giant claws that could tear through buildings, and teeth that could mash steel like carrot sticks. Lana could see herself on his shoulder, as he let his Atomic Breath on the school, closing it forever and burning all the homework ! Burn homework, burn !

"I see what you mean..." she nodded, making quiet monster growls that earned a confused brow raising from her brother.

"Wait, shouldn't there be a snow Sans too ?" queried Luan, whipping her head around.

"I doubt he even has the stamina to build one." snarked Lola, still feeling a bit woozy for some reason.

"Actually, he did. Sorta." said Lincoln, and pointed to their right, near Luna's boots. A lump of snow layed there, its lumpy state reeking of idleness. And to ponder the artist's personal touch, the name "sans" was unevenly written over it in red marker.

Lisa snorted contemptuously. "Alright, that is just sad." Despite her bluntness, pretty much everyone felt inclined to agree.

"It's kinda fitting. Art doesn't have to be beautiful, it just has to mean something." quipped Lucy poetically. "And I think the message isn't lost on anyone here."

Being the sole one amused by Sans' below-amateur craftiness, Luan shook her head and went to her pun buddy's defense. "You guys are being unfair. I mean, like it or hate it, you've gotta admit that for such a lazy guy, he's pretty good at lumpshading it !" the comedienne broke into a full-on cackle.

"Huh. That one wasn't too shabby." said Luna with a genuine grin. "Looks like you're dishing out the effort for the two of you, Loons. I mean, I know he's all for minimum work, but he could've at least put a face on that thing !" Finding the overabundent laziness insulting, Luna picked up a small broken stick, and drew Sans' face herself. And mightily fine while she was it. "There, heck-a lot better !"

"Neat work !" said Lana, exchanging a high-five with her big sister. Lily shared the mirth with joyful clapping.

"You know, that stick also could've made for a great arm ! You know if we had another." chirped Lynn, taking a minute to wonder how their snowman friend was doing with his brand new limbs.

"Urgh, why is my head still so heavy ?" bemoaned Lola, massaging her throbbing forehead. "It feels like someone knitted weights to my hair. And I'm usually okay with things weighing my head, like books, or an emergency tea party set." The little princess was at her wits' end with that weird bout of pain, especially since it appeared that nobody else was feeling it... but they were sending suspiciously agape stares in her direction. "Hey, what's up with the dead fish looks ?"

A collective sentiment of nervosity now oozed around Lola's brother and sisters about sharing their latest discovery, one that they felt quite foolish to have only discovered right then and there. As much as they loved their crowd-winning sister, they knew she could be quite touchy when it came to bringing her bad news solely affecting her, and had a nasty habit of biting the hand of the messenger out of immediate rage.

And the news they had right now ? Definitively not good.

"Okay Lola, hear me out until the end." Lincoln began calmly. "There is no reason to panic."

*You feel like your bomb defuser skills could use some MAJOR improvements.

As much as he wanted to diss back, he had to admit, Lola looked anything but calm right now, if that suspicious glower was anything to come by. "It's not a big deal, not at all. But, um... what if I told you we know why your head feel weird... and that this place really had two sticks in it ?" he squeaked the last part with the tightest smile he had in him.

Okay, now Lola knew something was up. That smile alone was a giant red flag with "Suspicious" embroidered in it and highlighted by flashing neon lights. Why was he beating around the bush so much ? And what did that stick had to do with... with...

Lola's rosey face drained of any colour, and she could hear the haunting sound of her heart dropping to the pit of her stomach. She wasn't sure which one, heck she imagined being the two at once.

He could not be implying what she thought he was implying.

"...Guys, is there a stick stuck in my hair right now ?" she slowly asked. The anxiety in their eyes rose sharply, and so did hers.

Lisa laughed nervously. "W-Well, it depends what you consider to be the proper semantic of a stick-"

That was all Lola needed to tear the compact mirror out of her coat pocket, and take a good look at herself despite her siblings' cries of warning. And when she saw herself, her beautiful self, she wondered if she should have taken heed of those warnings.

A large prickly stick had gotten itself completely tangled in her hair, holding hostage as much bangs as it could in its evil little stumps. Every hair was going in so many directions, it looked like she had slept on a pillow full of dynamite, and later groomed it with an egg beater. And to add insult to injury, the two ends of the stick made her look like a moose. A Moose ! A big stinky Moose !

'Mess' wasn't bad enough of a word to describe what her precious coiffure had become. Disaster ? Still too kind. Apocalypse. Yes, that sounded just about enough in her opinion. Barely so.

Lola couldn't even scream to the vision of pure revulsion, it was beyond any regular outrage. Her vocal chords simply couldn't express the amount of despair she was feeling at the moment. All they could muster was a pathetic little whine, a fitting sound for her situation, she believed.

The feeling of terror was quickly replaced by sympathy at seeing their sister this affected, especially when she didn't deserve it. They needed to do something about it, and Lynn had just the plan. But she knew the victim herself wasn't going to like it. She began advancing while cracking her knuckles, the sound of which immediately struck Lola with cold dread.

"You stay away from me." shakily ordered the pinkaholic.

"It needs to be done." Lynn sternly stated, not hindering her approach.

"Lynn, don't toy with me. I'll bite you, I swear !" Lola recoiled even more. Her breathing was becoming more erratic as she saw the firmness radiating from Lynn's being. Especially those hands, small and grabby, yet ones that had a grip akin to a gorilla's. Just to imagine them yanking at her beloved scalp buried her mind under even more panic.

And doing so, she failed to notice the small head nudges Lynn was making to Luan and Lincoln to restrain her. The two hesitated at first, more for their safety than anything else, but understood where the brunette was coming from. They moved quickly and took a tight hold on both arms. Then, the hard part began.

"Get your hands off me this instant, you hear me ?!" cried Lola, trashing and clawing around in a mad fuss.

"Lola, it's for your own good ! You don't want to keep that hairy situation going, do you ?" said Luan, holding on strong.

"Fiends ! Traitors, the lot of you ! Wait until I wiggle my way out, I'll have both of your butts red and steamy !"

"The longer you fight it, the worst it'll get tangled, and the longer you'll look like Santa's lost reindeer ! Let Lynn do her thing, please !" Lincoln asked with a certain urgency.

Lola's struggling slowly stopped, until she went almost limp. Her cries for revenge had dialed down to quiet sniffles, and she looked up to her older siblings with big eyes that were cracking their hearts open like ripe nuts.

"Guys... I'm scared..." she openly admitted, her voice wavering and almost breaking into sobs.

Lincoln and Luan responded with reassuring smiles and a comforting squeeze. It wasn't much, but it was about all that they could offer. As for Lynn, she carressed her shoulder, silently promising her that it would be over before she knew it. That sounded like a doctor before a flu shot, and while it wasn't doing wonders to quell Lola's fears, she did trust Lynn on that promise.

"Okay, here we go." Lynn took a deep breath, and had the stick clutched between her palms. "And a one, and a two, and a great big THREE !"

*SHRIP !*

"AAAAAAAAAAAH ! " Lola's pained shriek placed second on the Underground's record for Shrillest sound ever.

"Oooh, that's eardrum assault right there." Luna cringed despite herself. Only few concerts had ever gotten to the point of an instant headache for the loudest of Louds.

Lynn also cringed, but more about what she felt she had to say next. "Welp, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is, that branch is completely out of your hair, and with no lasting damage !" she boldly assured. However, her flare didn't last for too long. "Bad news is, well... just a little advice : don't look into a mirror right now."

Fear tightened its grip around Lola's heart, especially when she spotted the few blond bangs still hanging from the branch. Lynn's advice sounded safe for her sanity, so she slowly went to put the compact mirror back into her pocket. But temptation was just too great, and she whipped it back near her face again, took a good look-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH !"

-and re-established her scream record again while she was at it, but still earned the silver for the Underground's.

"Aaaand, that's eardrum murder." wheezed Luna as she held on her ears, the most precious part of her body along with her hands and vocal chords. She sent a look to Lola, but there was hardly any blame in it, instead was a good lot of pity.

Lola's hair looked even more disheveled than before, with wild hairs springing from absolutely everywhere and, the worst of all, little bald spots here and there ! Her precious hair, uprooted from its sacred stand with prejudice and pain. But was this the worst she had ever looked ? No, not by a mile. There wasn't any banana peel perched on her head, she wasn't litteraly dressed in a potato sack, and hey, she still had most of her hair, unlike the time Lisa had 'helped' with her tangled hair problem.

Heck, the stick out of her hair was actually a major improvement, hence why she found her voice this time. But this was still too much to take for the little blonde, and she promptly began to complain about it, with all the theatricals that had to go with it, or her name wasn't Lola Loud.

"Why ?! Why must my hair be besmirched like so ?! I wasn't even bad today, I made the best of efforts to be, at the very least, charritable ! I even helped a monster find his true way in life ! Ain't that good enough for you, Santa ?! So why ?! Someone tell me ! Why did I do to deserve thi-i-i-is ?" she ended her soliloquy with a mighty crash forward, once again attempting to bury her face in her own tears.

It was Lana, her SOUL filled with the most pity, that went to console her. She knew her often demanding twin had been through a lot today, with the entire forest apparently going out of its way to either wound or insult her cherished appearance. And she was right ; for what reason ? None she could think of, that was for sure.

"There there, sis. It's not your fault, none of this is." said Lana, lifting Lola into a gentle hug and letting her tears cascade down her shoulder. Not the most pleasant of sensations, but she held on, for Lola's sake. "You don't deserve this."

"...You're right." Lola answered, her tears abruptly ceasing their descent. But there was nothing soft about her tone, no sound of spirits being lifted by the reassurance. Instead, the harsh undertone her voice held highlighted the silent fury that was brewing inside her previously heavy heart. Lola broke the hug, and stood in all her disheveled and simmering glory.

"I don't deserve it." she slowly went on, her voice getting lower and colder with each word. "Which means somebody else does."

"B-But..." Lana stammered, believing she had just walked straight into a wrathful tiger's cage, and flinched when Lola pointed her open palm at her.

"No. You're not to blame." she assured, almost gratefully. Lana felt relieved, but only for herself. Because if she was not to blame, that meant she already knew who was. But who could that be ?

Lynn, for not being careful enough ? No. She had done her good getting that thing out of her hair.

Lincoln and Luan, for restraining her and making false promises ? No. They couldn't have known.

Everyone, for delaying their confession on the capillary crime, thus possibly making it WORST ?! No. Too widespread, and too little to blame. She needed all that anger out of her system, the remnants of the frustration accumulated through the day.

She needed an scapegoat, a basilica to focus her wrath on. She needed to attack the very source of her problems.

And what luck ! Such a source did exist ! And she knew her quite well.

"You..." Lola gurgled in a deep demonic voice, her outstretched claw piercing through the crowd to fall on the trembling lamb named Leni, looking at her like a deer caught in headlights. If a wolf was driving the car. She saw Lola approach slowly, never cutting the contact between her smoldering peepers and Leni's fearful ones. She kept gnashing her teeth, warming them up for the chewing out she was about to put her big sister through. And when she stood in front of her, despite being half her size, Leni could feel Lola towering over her, leaving her completely helpless in her looming shadow.

All Leni could choke out was a meek "Sorry".

"Oh, you're sorry ?" sing-sang Lola with a wide menacing smile that made sure to show every sharp tooth in her mouth. She let out a small hollow giggle, and her grin increased along with Leni's apparent terror. "Ain't that the bee's knees. You're really sorry ?"

Leni nodded frantically. She didn't even care if bees had knees or not ! Not too much anyway.

"I didn't hear you~" Lola sang again, positively reveling in the terror she was inflicting to her, and making no effort to hide it. She was that far gone in her wrath. "Are you sorry~ ?"

"Y-Yes."

"Oh, so you are. And do you think you being sorry is going to cut it ?" the smaller blonde asked in a sweet tone that was threatening to burst any second.

"U-Um... Maybe-"

"OF COURSE IT'S NOT GOING TO, YOU AIRHEAD !" the Lol-cano finally erupted, her cookie-dough mask finally exploding into a million pieces. "Look at me ! This is all your fault, and you know it ! My beautiful self is in shambles, and I'm not even sure that healing star is going to make it any better, because it's not even a monster who did it to me ! Oh, scratch that, it is one ! And the biggest ditz I know at that !"

"Lola..." Lori warned sternly, not liking where she was going.

"NO, LORI !" the six-year-old shot back. "This has been going ALL FLIPPIN' DAY ! It's time someone clean that girl's clock, before one of us ends up getting killed by her lovey-dovey dumbness !"

"Lola, I know you're mad, but come on..." quipped Lincoln, surpassing his fear of Lola's wrath. The advice from his mindmate, dripping with sarcasm, wasn't helping at all.

*Humans letting their emotions run wild for petty incidents. How shocking.

But Lola ignored her brother altogether, instead letting her rage dictate her next words. "As soon as we crossed that first bridge, all YOU've been doing is making goo-goo eyes to Papyrus ! Because of that, your attention span is even worst that usual, and all it's doing is making this quest more difficult than it needs to be !" She began listing her sister's blunders on her fingers. "First, there was you bumping into Snowdrake. Then, there was alerting Doggo by ringing the bell ! Then, you zapped us with a couple hundred volts in the labyrinth ! Then, you completely messed the X-O puzzle to prove something you hadn't ! THEN, you sent Lisa's notes straight into the abyss ! And THEN, you did THIS !" she pointed at her hair. She didn't care for Leni's composure of pure guilt or her siblings' disapproving looks. She was telling the truth, and that's what mattered !

"I-I-I..."

"Oh ho ho, but wait ! Why am I saying all this ? What does it matter to you, as long as you have your precious skeleton's attention ? Why don't you just tear what's left from my hair, and make a wedding necklace out of it ?!" Lola spat.

Leni gasped softly. Everything she had said before had hurt, but to imply that she was capable of willingly putting her family in danger just to satisfy her beau ? That was like someone had slapped her directly across the face. And another came from the fact that she couldn't even prove it wrong.

"Did that promise we made in the Ruins meant zippo to you ?! Does going back home means nothing now ?! All because of the first pretty monster boy you see ?! HA ! And they call me the petty one !"

"Lola, you're going too far !" Lori's stern glare crawled on Lola's back. But she didn't care.

"Why are you like this ?! Why are you... Why are you ALWAYS like this ?!" Lola hitched her breath. Part of her mind was suddenly reeling in, knowing she was about to cross a line that she hadn't ever crossed, even during her worst tantrums. But as she paused to recollect, she spotted a couple of hair strands on the ground. And just like that, the boilingstream of anger in her SOUL was raging and kicking more fiercely than ever. "Why do you take anything so litteraly ?! Why are you always asking such dumb questions ?! Why are you always so clumsy at everything you do ?! Why... Why..."

"Lola, no !" cried Luan, halfway in reaching for her sister to stop the fatal blow she was about to inflict.

"WHY CAN'T YOU HAVE YOUR BRAIN TURNED ON AT ALL TIMES LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE DO ?!"

"LOLA !" thundered Lori, positively out of her newfound patience. Her glower was more intimidating than ever, somehow combining her regular death glare with Toriel's motherly disapproval, making it powerful enough to finally tear through the princess' anger and fill her blue SOUL with fear. She passed Lily to Lincoln, and stomped over to Lola to make herself even more imposing. "You take back everything you just said and apologize this instant, or else..."

But despite Lori's towering form of lecturing, Lola still had some sass to dish out, and stood her ground. "W-Whatever ! Someone had to say it, and none of you had the guts ! If anything, I'm helping her !"

"Lola, I litteraly swear to heck..." Lori growled, clenching and unclenching her fingers.

"I only said what's true ! Dare tell me I'm wrong !" Lola shouted back with crimson cheeks.

Lori sputtered. She just couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was a whole other level of brattiness, even for Lola. "Of course you're wrong ! This is a bunch of hooey, and nothing more ! Right, guys ?!" Her call for support met an awkward silence. "Guys ?"

Lori turned to glance at her siblings, and was floored to find them rubbing their necks nervously and avoiding looking at her, Lola, or Leni altogether. Except for Lily, who was just as confused as her oldest sister right now.

Lola on the other hand, simply crossed her arms with a knowing nod. "Told you so." she said flatly.

"Oh. My gosh. Really ? Like, really ? That's what you all think of your sister ?" Lori shook her head, just about done with this.

"Woah woah woah, hold the phone there !" Luna hastily gesticulated. "We ain't agreeing with how she said it and all of what she said, especially the last part ! Right, dudes ?!" The others nodded and voiced their approval, some hesitating a little bit. "Just because she can be a little, um, hazy at times, doesn't mean she ain't a Loud we love !" The approval was more genuine this time. But then, Luna's attitude took a shameful step back. "But... Lola has a point somewhere, sis. Leni's been really out of it this afternoon, and it's getting... you know, a bit dangerous."

"Yeah, what if that zapping ball instantly recharged ? We would've been fried on the spot !" Lana pointed out, not even amused by the fact her skin could have tasted like chicken.

"Or what if Doggo's attack didn't have that huge weakness ? Heads would have rolled for him to play catch with." Lucy grimly uttered.

"And even though Lincoln had already debunked the theory, his fall ending well could've been a fluke, while we would've fallen to whatever horrors await us beyond this realm already from beyond." quipped Lisa with a little gulp. "I doubt a bed of flowers is waiting to catch us down there."

"And that gives you the right to call her names ?!" asked Lori out of complete disbelief.

"Hey, Lola is calling her names !" defended Lynn, looking uncharacteristingly fidgety. "All we're saying is that we all agreed on pushing forward no matter what and, well, she is pulling behind. Not on purpose or anything, but it's still... kinda not helping."

The other girls voiced despondent "Yeah"s and gave half-hearted nods, again avoiding any visual contact with the sistriarch, who took the consensus with a tired sigh. Tentatively, she looked at her brother and youngest sister, and found the latter to be gloomy because of the general atmosphere, while the former was looking just as uneasy.

Lori frowned at him with a judgemental stare. "Et tu, brother ?"

Lincoln sighed. "You know, I think we all are a little to blame for not keeping track of Leni with Doggo, or not having the best choice of words during the invisible maze puzzle. And hey, she looked like she was getting better with that love bug of hers. But pushing your sisters over a cliff, even by accident ? This is where we've gotta start talking. And yes, talking, as in a conversation, not a one-sided nastiness storm." he chided, giving Lola a disapproving glare, which she rebutted with a grumpy pout. "Look, I agree that we should stay cool about it. No one is hurt-"

"Excuse me ?!" Lola shrilly interrupted, pointing at all her icky bald spots.

"No one is seriously hurt," Lincoln stressed, annoyed, "and the road is still open before us. But I've got a feeling it's only gonna get tougher from there, and if we want to keep going with Determined hearts, Leni has got to get a serious grip on that love thing, like she promised us. I think that's only fair." He angled his look towards the kind accused, and his voice softened. "Leni, does that sound fair to you ?"

Through the whole conversation, despite her siblings talking about her like she wasn't even there, Leni hadn't raised a single complaint or changed her expression. Ever since Lori had barged in, all the pretty blonde had done was looking to the ground with a sorry expression. But that was it, just some gloom splashed across her face, her cheeks and eyes bare of any tears or embarassed redness. She gave a tiny nod, and added nothing else. She didn't look sad so much as she looked... accepting. And that bothered her siblings to no end.

"Leni, are you okay love ?" probbed Luna, uneasy at the sight of a sad Leni for the second time in less than an hour, and even more at the thought that she had a part in making it happen.

Leni took a deep breath, and exhaled it just as deeply. She made a small smile appear, and looked at her siblings ahead. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I messed up, I-I'm really going to try harder this time. I've learned my lesson, totes swear, heh." she forced a chuckle.

The Loud kids began easying up at seeing their sister taking their criticism with a smile, Lori included. She could be a handful at times, but gosh was her little sister sweet to the core. Still, there was still a pink sour spot that needed to be evened out. "Did you hear that ? She said she was sorry. Now be a good sport, and do the same." Lori nudged Lola forward.

Lola's simmering anger was gone, but childish grumpiness was still at work. "Why should I ?" she sassed back, then yelped when she found Lori going nose-to-nose with her.

"Because you're the one who started arguing. Because Goat Mom would be mighty disappointed if she could see you. And because if you don't, I'm sticking that branch back into your hair and tying it with a pretty blond bow." Lori breathed heatedly, pressing her face a little more with each threat.

"Why... else ?" squeaked Lola, sweating bullets.

"NOW, Lola !" Lori commanded.

"Okay, okay !" Lola threw her hands in the air, and turned to Leni, who met her obstinate glare with a soft sheepish look. "'M s'rry..."

"With sound, please." Lori chided.

"I'm sorry !" she spat like she had some of that yucky NOT-strawberry-flavoured medication in her mouth. "There, I said it ! Happy ?!"

Leni winced slightly at the harsh tone, but kept her smile alive. "Yes, I am. Thanks Lola." She even went to rub her head affectionally, making Lola roll her eyes, but she still let her. She never said no to head scratchies.

Lori's frown deepened at the way Lola had given her apology, but decided against reprimanding her any further. If Leni said things were okay, then she didn't need to reignite the feud. Instead, she picked Lily from Lincoln, who mouthed a small apology, and turned to the others.

"Alright, now that we're litteraly done, up we go ! We've still got some way to go before we get to town, and that puzzle isn't going to solve itself."

Her siblings were all too happy to comply, and headed back up. As they passed Leni, they took the time to offer her an apologetic smile, a shoulder pat, or a friendly fist bump. Lana and Lincoln even gave her a small hug, which made Leni's smile grow. Only Lola, still sour, departed without any friendliness to dispatch.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright ?" Lori fretted, last to pass her. "I know it's not your style, but you could have had her grovel a little bit. Maybe make her promise to rearrange your wardrobe or something."

Leni giggled a bit at the image of Lola drowning in dresses and boots from last year's shop-apalooza, and shook her head. "No, it's alright. It's her tiredness speaking, I know it. If anything, I needed that wake-up call. From now on, I'll really do my best to, like, stop getting distracted, and help get us home. I promise." she swung her fist enthusiastically.

"That's all I'm asking for." Lori said warmingly. Lily gave Leni a healing smooch, and the oldest-youngest duo followed the group, leaving Leni looking at them with a grateful smile.

'You're really lucky to have them, you know ? No matter how badly you mess up, they'll still smile and reconfort you. If only they could be that lucky with you.'

'…'

'I mean, you, learning something ? Wow, that's a good one ! You don't learn anything. You just let it flutter inside your head for a while, then you let it fly out by your ear like a pretty butterfly, because being happy is about the only thing you can do right.'

'…'

'Learning, ha ! Why not being able to drive while you're at it ? Yeah, how many garden gnomes did you pulverize last time ? Six, seven ? Ooooh that's right, you don't remember. You can't remember.'

'…'

'How much time do you give yourself before what just happened is gone from your memory ? A day ? Three hours ? Five minutes ? Well remember this at least, there's an easy way to avoid messing up again, and that's to say out of their way. You can do that at least, right ?'

Leni didn't answer. She simply followed after her siblings, with a smile she fought to keep present at all costs.

'Stop bothering them, Leni. You're not worth it.'

---

Author's Note : Did someone order a bruised cinammon roll ? :3

Also, don't be too hard on the siblings, especially Lola. Remember, it's already quite late, and beauty sleep is required...

Anyway, now to answer the Timeline question. Let me put it like this : Season 1 is entire canon, no questions asked. If I make a mistake, I'm dumb.

Season 2 is also canon, to a few exceptions that I'm gonna list below.

As for Season 3, apart from flashbacks that wouldn't hurt what I already have or is set to happen, none of it has happened yet. Lori is still at odds with Carol, Pop-Pop is still single, and Luna isn't doubting her dreams yet ! Well, not all of them.

Now let's take a look at the anomalies you've spotted :

Lana's rhubarb allergy not being mentionned : As you can guess, 'Fool's Paradise' hadn't aired yet when I wrote that little tidbit, so I didn't know about it. Maybe I'll change it, maybe not. There are no rhubarb delicacies in the Underground, so it's not like it hinders the story in any way.

Luna not with Sam yet ? : Yep, she isn't, because 'L is for Love' hasn't happened yet. It's the only episode of the season that's that way, because it's needed for some events to play out later down the lane. That also means that none of the sisters have given love letters to their 'crushes'. While I have no issues with most of them, Lucy and Rocky are just too cute together, Luan... you get the point, and Lincoln and Ronnie-Anne, well-

Why are Ronnie-Anne and Bobby still in Royal Woods ? : That's a tad harder to explain. 'The Loudest Mission : Relative Chaos' has happened, but Ronnie-Anne made the choice to stay in Royal Woods in the end. Why ? Because MY continuity includes my other fic, 'It's Not a Date !', which officialised Ronnie-Anne as Lincoln's girlfriend, and thus gave her that extra push in her final decision. Bare in mind that I have no problem with the canon ending, not at all. It was still very sweet, and the Casagrandes are awesome characters. But, Ronnie-Anne and Bobby still being there fits better here. And I'm too lazy to reckon the whole thing !

Hope that answered your questions. If not, try asking me in the Review section, but know that I cannot reply to Guest reviews. But you can still leave one if you like.

You will leave a Review... RIGHT ? (*Looking intently at you through the fourth wall*)

Anyway, hope you appreciated this little chapter, and know that I've already got part of the next chapter in the works, so you shouldn't have to wait too long. (*Loud laughing track*). Heh, don't worry. They'll get to Snowdin Town eventually !

In the meantime, this is Superdimentio77, tellin' ya to party hard ! But stay in school. Maybe even do both at the same time !