Chapter 7
It had been a while since the two departed from the Gate, but still, neither sibling had uttered a word, each lost in their own far-off thoughts. The snow beneath Chara's feet crunched as they walked, the only sound echoing through the dense Snowdin Forest. They'd used some freshly fallen snow to wipe away the blood and sweat for their previous battle, but that did nothing to heal their HP or mend their torn clothes. Were they even going the right way? The path through the trees seemed endlessly littered with puzzles and in every direction, all they could see was white.
Their brother didn't want to talk, the snow was freezing and they were pretty sure the both of them were lost. Chara didn't think their day could get any worse.
"Human. Don't you know how to greet a new friend?"
Chara froze. What was this intimidating presence behind them? When did they get there? Surely they would have heard someone else's approaching footsteps in the snow?
"Turn around and shake my hand."
Asriel had bolted behind a nearby tree from pure fright. They had probably forgotten they couldn't be seen or touched, but his actions left Chara all alone with this menacing newcomer. The human gulped, not wanting to turn around, but fearing what would happen if they didn't. Hadn't their mother just finished telling that they'd be hunted down mercilessly for their soul? They had just started the first leg of their journey and they already had to fight for their life? With only seven HP, even!
Well, there was no changing their circumstances. It was time to face this next challenge head-on!
Chara quickly turned around and clasped the hand offered to the—
BZZZZZZT!
They snatched their hand back at the weird tingling-shock feeling sent right into their palm. What the! They glared over to the offending device but paused when they recognized the gadget. Is that a—
"heh, the old hand buzzer handshake trick. can't beat the classics. anyway, you're a human, right?"
"Hu-I-what?" Chara stammered. They watched the creature put its hand back into its zip-up hoodie's pocket and their incredulousness soon gave way to anger. "Of course I'm a human!" they yelled. "Who are you? And what was with the hand-buzzer?!" The monster in question was… a short skeleton? His bones were a charcoal gray color, his eye-sockets seemed to be backlit with dark blue light coming from deep within his skull, and black pupils indicated where he was looking. His clothes were casual: a bright orange hoodie that was open to expose his ribcage, light gray shorts and green, fuzzy slippers.
Wait, hold up. Was that a ball-and-chain attached to his left ankle?!
"i'm sans. sans the skeleton. and, uh, a word of advice? don't go screaming about humans down here. tends to stir up trouble. as for the buzzer," Sans shrugged, "i just thought it would be funny."
"Funny? You nearly scared the crap outta me! I thought you were going to attack… me…" Chara trailed off when they realized they were within grabbing reach of an unfamiliar monster. Suddenly alarmed, they jumped back to put some distance between them and got into a fighting pose just in case this skeleton initiated a fight.
"heh, you did look pretty… shocked. but relax, i'm not gonna fight or capture you. that's more of my brother papyrus' thing."
Chara narrowed their gaze, unconvinced. "Why not?"
"don't feel like it."
"I find that hard to believe. I know King Asgore sent out a declaration for any monster to obtain human souls from anyone who Falls down into the Underground, so I'm not falling for any tricks!"
There was an uncomfortable pause where Sans didn't speak or move. The stifling feeling from before swept over Chara's body and left them feeling very, very vulnerable …
But then it was gone. Poof, vanished as if it had never even existed. Sans moved a hand to scratch his boney head as he spoke, "seems you know everything, huh? a lot more than the usual child that comes through here, at least."
"… The usual child that comes through here?" What was this monster talking about? If Toriel was to be believed, then it had been a while since the last human made their way through the Underground. Was Sans lying? And to what end? "What are you talking about?"
Before the skeleton could answer, however, a voice rang out nearby. "SANS? WHERE ARE YOU? PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE NOT SLEEPING ON THE JOB AGAIN."
"that would be my bro," Sans informed casually.
"The human capturing one?!" Was that this monster's plan: to stall long enough for his brother to show up and attack together?!
"well, he hasn't captured one yet, but he's always wanted to. hey, there's an idea – could you stick around for a bit and let him capture you? it'd make him super happy."
"What?" What was with this weird skeleton! "Of course not! He'll take my soul!"
"nah, papyrus'd never hurt a fly. and if he did, he'd apologize and offer them dinner as an apology. see, just watch." Chara followed San's pointing finger, turning to see an approaching figure that was far too close to hide from now. The human turned back around to snap at Sans for using underhanded stalling tactics, but the stout skeleton was nowhere to be found. Where did he go?
As Chara was looking around in confusion, Papyrus drew near, still yelling after his brother. "YOUR SENTRY STATION IS VERY BROTHER-LESS AND HUMAN-LESS, SO I CAN ONLY GUESS THAT YOU ARE BEING A LAZY-BONES—" The loud shouting was interrupted by a very long gasp. "IS THAT A HUMAN?!" Before Chara could even turn to face this boisterous newcomer, the human watched him flash right by and pick up a sizeable rock that looked disturbingly like a human's contour. "GREETINGS, HUMAN! I, PAPYRUS, HAVE WAITED A LONG TIME TO CAPTURE YOU!"
The stone obviously didn't respond.
"HMM, MUST BE THE STRONG, SILENT TYPE."
"Um, that's… just a rock…"
"NYEH?" Papyrus turned and finally noticed Chara. "OH! A HUMAN!" He placed the stone down where it previously was before running over and picking up the actual human being off the ground. "GREETINGS, HUMAN! I, PAPYRUS, HAVE WAITED A LONG TIME TO CAPTURE YOU!"
"sup, bro?" Sans appeared out of seemingly nowhere.
"SANS! LOOK, I FINALLY CAPTURED A HUMAN!" Papyrus excitedly presented the human in his large, gloved hands.
"awesome, bro. i knew you could do it. you're the coolest."
"YES, I AM QUITE COLD RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF THE SNOW. BUT BACK TO THE MATTER LITERALLY AT HAND: I MUST INFORM UNDYNE! THEN SHE WILL SURELY RECOGNIZE MY TALENTS AND MAKE ME A ROYAL GUARD AT LAST!"
"Um, if you aren't going to attack me, can you let me down?" Chara said, awkwardly dangling in the taller skeleton's grip.
"HM." Papyrus frowned pensively, apologetic. "I AM AFRAID I CANNOT, HUMAN. FOR YOU SEE, I CAN ONLY LET YOU DOWN ONCE YOU HAVE BEEN SAFELY SECURED IN OUR HUMAN HOLDING CELL. FURTHERMORE IT APPEARS YOU HAVE BEEN INJURED! I DO NOT WANT YOU TO BE HARMED ANY MORE ALONG THE WAY!"
"why don't you carry them to the holding cell, paps? they won't get hurt if you're there to protect them," Sans added.
"THAT IS A GREAT IDEA! AND WHILE WE WALK, YOU CAN TELL US MORE ABOUT YOURSELF, HUMAN!" Without consulting the human in question, Papyrus plopped the child onto his shoulders and started back down the path he came, apparently toward their 'human holding cell.' "LET US DEPART!" he proclaimed while gleefully marching in the snow, with Sans lazily trudging behind.
A little ways behind the three, the prince of monsters kept to the cover of the trees as he followed. Asriel could have sworn Sans looked back at him before moving on, but that couldn't have possibly been the case… right?