Level -2

"A dragon?" Sans looked up from his bowl of oatmeal with slices of Crab Apple to Papyrus frantically nodding his head.

He held his spoon and hands up to his face, not noticing a big chunk of oatmeal on his spoon plop back into the bowl. Sans frowned. "I can't make that."

"Why not? My warrior would look awesome fighting it!" Papyrus whined while Sans stirred his oatmeal absentmindedly with his spoon. He could hear Gaster cleaning up in the kitchen after having made the boys breakfast, and would soon be returning to his study before they left for the store later that morning.

"I can't sculpt like you, Papyrus. Make it yourself." Sans stared down at his teeth, to the best of his abilities, while focusing on opening them to eat his food. Sadly the only thing that happened was his skull rattling and giving himself a headache before sighing and pouring the oatmeal behind his cheekbone.

"But I'll be making the King his own snowman! My work lies there." Papyrus spoke with a tone of authority, as if he were the master sculpture about to make his masterpiece.

"I can make another monster, but I won't do a dragon." Sans closed his eye sockets to emphasize his point, to which he heard Papyrus give a light sigh.

"Fine. But it better be one scary monster!"

"Just make sure to bundle up warmly before going outside." Both boys turned their skulls to see Gaster poke his skull into the dining room. He smiled lightly. "I don't need two skele-pops outside when it's time to go to the store."

Both boys lightly giggled at the joke while Gaster decided to slip away during the moment. "I'll be out to get you two in an hour."

"Ok." Sans replied back, deciding to stir his oatmeal again while Papyrus shook his skull after he was done laughing.

"Ugh, that was terrible."

"But it made you laugh, right?" Sans pointed his spoon as Papyrus for a moment before picking up one of the crab apple slices and sliding it through the gap.

"Only because it was so bad." Papyrus tried to save face, even when Sans gave him a teasing, skeptical look.

Papyrus picked up his spoon again to eat his breakfast, but paused. "Hm?"

"What is it, Pa-!" Sans had enough time to look up from his oatmeal just as Papyrus sprang out of his seat.

He didn't bother grabbing his jacket or boots before flinging the front door wide open, sticking his skull outside. "Hey! Don't mess with my snow warrior!"

Sans dropped his spoon when he heard two girls scream, turning his skull in time to watch two alarmed bunny ears scurry away from the window. Pushing his seat back, Sans hopped out of his chair and over to the door, where Papyrus was letting in all the cold air.

"We weren't messin' with your snowman!" A young, high-pitched voice angrily shouted back.

Sans poked his skull outside to noticed two young bunnies standing a few feet away from the door. The pink bunny shivered as she hid behind the purple one, who had planted her boots into the snow and held her hands on her hips.

"It's not a snowman, it's a snow warrior!" Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets, though his eyes were more on his sculpture. "And don't touch them! They're to impress the King!"

"King Fluffybuns?" The pink bunny poked her head out from behind the purple bunny, less frightened then before.

"Fluffybuns?" Papyrus opened his jaw to counteract the silly name, but paused. He looked down to Sans. "Sans, is that the King's name?"

Sans strained his brain, feeling as though a memory from somewhere was out of reach. "I don't think so… maybe Kingy?"

"King Kingy?" Papyrus contemplated the name for two seconds before looking back down to Sans. "Our King has a rather peculiar name."

"We like to call him King Fluffybuns." The two skelebros turned their attention back over to the two bunnies, who had grown more friendly than before.

The pink one grabbed her own ears, lowering them to the side of her face. "Because his fur is so soft, like warm buns."

"Really?" Papyrus grabbed for the top of his skull before realizing he didn't have bunny ears. "I shall have to feel the King's fur and truly see if it warrants the title of Fluffybuns!"

Sans half-smiled. "That's kind of weird."

"Sans, nothing is weird when it comes to research." Papyrus held up a bony finger, gazing down at Sans as if to lecture him. "For as Uncle Gaster taught us, nothing is more crucial than the discovery of knowledge!"

He then smiled, dropping his finger. "Plus I want to see how plush our King is!"

Again the boys attention was taken back to the girls when they heard them giggling. Papyrus furrowed his eyebrows. "What's so funny?"

The purple one used one of her hands to cover her mouth, though it failed to stop the giggles. "You are!"

She gestured her only free hand over to the pink bunny, who had taken herself out from behind her. "This is Carrie, and I'm Mary!"

"Hello." Sans lightly waved his hand in the air, his smile growing when they enthusiastically waved back.

Papyrus' smile brightened. "Well I'm the Great Papyrus, and this is my cool brother, Sans!"

"Hiya!" Mary giggled when returning the greeting, though Carrie paused in her wave. She lightly tugged on Mary's jacket, who turned to her with slight annoyance. "Don't tug on me, Carrie!"

"But Mary!" Carrie started to whine, allowing her voice to grow soft. Papyrus and Sans had to lean a little to hear what she was saying. "That name, didn't it belong to-"

Carrie noticed the two skelebros in the corner of her eye. She stifled a gasp before hiding behind Mary, who gave her a confused stare. She then shook her head, turning her attention back to Sans and Papyrus. "Don't mind her. She's scared of everything."

"I am not!" Carrie whined again, but Mary just rolled her eyes.

She gazed back at the snow sculptures. "So are you going to make some more today?"

Papyrus straightened his back, placing a hand on his rib cage. "You bet we are! I am to make the King a snowman worthy of his attention!"

He then gestured to Sans, his high-and-mighty voice dropping an octet. "While Sans needs to try again with his ferocious monster."

"Oh! Can we help?" Mary's eyes almost sparkled when she leaned forward, her little body wiggling. "I wanna make a monster!"

Papyrus glanced over to Sans, as if to ask him if he wanted it without yelling it to the heavens. Sans gave the two monster girls a quick look before shrugging his shoulders. "Sure, why not."

"Yay!" Mary jumped practically a foot into the air, leaving Carrie to wobble forward from losing her grip on Mary. Once she landed however she took her sister's hands into her own, lightly jumping up and down to get her sister excited too. "We're makin' a monster! We're makin' a monster!"

"Yaaaay." Carrie tried to fake the enthusiasm, her eyes trained on Sans. He didn't know why, but it looked as though she had a lot of questions for him.

"Sans, Papyrus! Don't leave the door open!" Both boys flinched to hear Gaster's sharp voice cut through the air, turning their skulls back. They saw him resting his hands on the banister on the second floor, a authoritative frown lingering on his face. "Get dressed and talk outside, but don't linger at the door."

"Sorry…" Papyrus weakly muttered, deciding that the best course of action was to not upset Gaster any further. The two got dressed as quickly as they could, and soon Sans found himself standing with Mary and Carrie over by his snow-rock while Papyrus went behind the house to gather snow.

"So what are we makin'?" Mary's breath materialized in front of her face when she spoke, her mittens close to her cheeks to give them warmth.

Even though he was bundled up Sans didn't feel cold like the other monsters. He decided to mimic Mary's gesture though, as if that would bring some heat he hadn't felt before. "Well, I was just going to make a bigger rock."

Mary narrowed her eyes, allowing her hands to drop. "That's boring! What we need is something big and scary!"

"Like a dragon?" Sans joked, his eyes drifting off to the side only to go back to Mary when she suddenly grabbed his arms.

The delight in her eyes made Sans uncomfortable. "Yes! Like a dragon! Oh, let's make a dragon!"

"That sounds hard." Carrie grumbled, stuffing her chin inside her jacket. Her eyes lingered on Sans again, making him wonder why she was so fascinated with him.

Mary rolled her eyes. "Pssh, how hard can it be?"

"Oh ho, so you are making a dragon!" Sans didn't need to turn his skull when Papyrus suddenly threw an arm around him. His eyes shined like stars. "The Great Papyrus approves of this monster!"

"But bro," Sans started, glancing wearily at the snow around what could be called their front yard. "Do you think we'll have enough snow?"

Papyrus opened his mouth but closed it in contemplation when he surveyed the snow before them. "Hmm, you might be right about that, brother."

In a defeated way Papyrus drooped his shoulders forward. "Now what will my amazing snow warrior fight? Nyo ho ho."

Sans felt a little bad for constantly trying to kill Papyrus' fun, his mouth forming a small, innocent smile. "We could just make a tiny dragon. I'm sure we have enough snow for that."

"A tiny dragon?" Papyrus turned his skull to look at Sans. "Dragons aren't tiny! They're supposed to be huge and intimidating!"

"Hey, don't cry!" Mary held her hands up delicately, leaning lightly forward. "I can just make the inside rock, and we can pile snow around it!"

"Mary…" Carrie tried wrapping her arms around Mary's arm but she pushed her off. Carrie lightly bounced back before planting her feet in the snow; her cheeks lightly blushed in annoyance.

"Rock?" Papyrus lifted his shoulders back up, turning his skull to either side before back at Mary. "I see no giant, rock-dragons."

Mary playfully shook her head. "Nah, watch!"

"Mary!" Carrie threw herself back at her sister, who delightfully smashed her foot into the snow. Just as Carrie wrapped her arms around her sister's neck, throwing her off balance, something big and dark erupted from the right in front of the two skelebros.

Sans' pupils grew small as something inside him stirred on its own. Instead of freezing in fright his knees bent before jumping backwards and out of harms way.

Sans fell into the sticky snow, lifting his skull first in fright. Since when did he have such good reflexes?

"Sans!"

Sans angled his skull up when he noticed a blur of red dangling from the sky. Before him stood a massive and intricate statue of a ferocious dragon, its mouth open to reveal its rows of jagged teeth and wings flared upwards towards the sky. Dangling from the tip of one of the wings was Papyrus, whose winter jacket had caught onto the end when it rose and took him with it.

"Papyrus!" Sans quickly got to his feet but didn't know how he would be able to reach his brother. The dragon didn't look climbable, but to stand there and let his brother struggle wasn't an option.

"Sans, this is so cool!" Papyrus shouted down below, cupping his hands over his mouth for maximum volume. "I can see the rest of Snowdin up here!"

He took a moment to blink, letting the newfound height settle in. "Also, I am very terrified right now!"

"Don't move, Pap!" Sans cupped his hands over his teeth like his brother was doing, trying not to panic as hard as he wanted to. "I'll get you down!"

"Look what you did, Carrie!" Mary's voice could be heard behind the dragon statue, followed by the sound of Carrie's whining tone.

"Dad said not to use our powers close to other monsters!"

"That's not how you acted with the other ones!"

"That was before dad grounded us!"

"I had it under control until you pushed me!"

"I did not push you!"

"Did too!"

Whilst the two sister's bickered Sans lightly jogged around the dragon to reach them. He stopped and placed a hand on the tail of the statue, finding the two bunny girls standing opposite of one another with fists raised. "Hey!"

The two stopped their fighting for the moment when they noticed Sans grit his teeth. "Get my brother down!"

"Yeah!" Carrie side-stepped in the direction Sans stood, crossing her arms.

Mary pursed her lips, stomping the ground again. "Don't side with him! This is your fault!"

"Is not!"

The sound of a door slamming open made everyone flinch, followed by a loud, commanding tone. "What is going on out here?"

"Uncle Gaster!" Sans gasped, his legs refusing to move while his upper half turned to face their guardian.

His attention however was on Papyrus, who dangled from the giant rock dragon. He hesitantly waved his hand. "H-Hi Uncle Gaster."

A sudden rip and jerk, and in a few seconds Papyrus landed face-first into the snow, a small cloud of snow dispersing around him. Gaster took a step back to avoid getting hit by the line of snow, watching as Papyrus' red winter jacket fluttered to the ground and atop of Papyrus.

Ears drooping, Mary and Carrie took a few steps back whilst hanging their heads in shame. Then, without notice Mary grabbed her sister's hand and bolted down the street. "Mary!"

"I'm not gettin' in trouble again!"

Sans frowned, turning his body to the direction they ran. "Hey! Don't leave this in our yard!"

He then heard Gaster breathe in a long sigh as he bent down to help Papyrus up. He held his red jacket in his left hand, noticing the giant gash that went through the middle.

Papyrus took his hand away from Gaster's grip and slowly walked backwards in an attempt to get behind Sans. However his foot hit upon the dragon's tail, leaving him to falter and fall into the snow. "It-it was an accident, Uncle Gaster. I'm alright, though, see?"

"I know you would be." Gaster paused for a moment, then moved himself over to where Sans stood. He helped Papyrus up again before crouching down and placing a hand on Sans' shoulder. "Did you get hit? Are you hurt?"

"Huh?" Sans wasn't sure why Gaster was checking him over, Papyrus was the one that fell fifteen feet. He nodded his head. "I'm fine, Uncle Gaster. You really should be checking Papyrus though."

Gaster glanced over to Papyrus, who gave him a nervous smile as if he was still in trouble. "Papyrus, are you alright?"

Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets. "Heh, such a height can't stop the Great Papyrus!" He then eyed the statue, "But uh, maybe the statue isn't too safe to have in the yard."

"I agree with this notion." Gaster glanced back in the direction Mary and Carrie ran off, knowing whose kids they belonged to. "I'll have to talk with their parents later about dismantling such a large structure in our yard."

His attention then turned back to Sans, placing his other hand on his shoulder. "You need to be more careful if you're going to be playing outside, alright? This world is filled with a lot of dangerous things."

Sans felt a nervous smile crawl up his face. He didn't understand why Gaster was looking at him with such concern. "Uncle Gaster, I'm ok. Look, no broken bones or anything."

As if to demonstrate he wiggled his way out of Gaster's hold, proceeding to lift his arms and wiggle his legs. "Don't worry about me."

Gaster didn't seem to take his word for the moment, solemnly standing up. He gazed at Papyrus' ripped jacket once more.

"Looks like we'll stopping at another store in the Capital." He said with a groan, as if he was dreading the destination he had in mind.

He then motioned with his skull at the other two. "We'll be leaving for the Capital shortly."

"Why not right now?" Sans asked, as him and Papyrus were already dressed for the trip out of Snowdin.

Gaster got down on one knee and ruffled a hand on Sans skull, giving him a toothy smile. "Because someone forgot to clean up their mess this morning from breakfast."

"Oh yeah!" Sans and Gaster turned to Papyrus, who looked more surprised than the both of them. "Never fear, Uncle Gaster! I, the Great Papyrus, shall finish all my breakfast!"

"You better." Gaster lightly chuckled, "Or else I just might forget to pick up some spaghetti at the store."

"Forget the spaghetti?!" Papyrus practically soared over the dragon's tail, grabbing Sans' hand and roughly pulled him back inside the house. "Come on, Sans! Get inside and eat your breakfast! The spaghetti depends on it!"

Gaster simply watched when he entered back inside their house to the race Papyrus attempted to initiate with Sans in order to get their food down. Sans was a little slower in eating his now cold oatmeal, but he hopped off of his chair to go wash his bowl and spoon a little later than Papyrus.

After grabbing their small, brown backpacks, Gaster let them back outside before locking the door behind them, starting their journey to the Capital.

Papyrus led the way as he hopped through the untouched snow, bellowing his signature laugh with every step of his foot. Sans stayed close to Gaster on their walk, his little left hand finding Gaster's right one and gently holding it. Gaster didn't seem to mind.

"Can we get some more crab apples, Uncle Gaster?" Sans asked, prompting Gaster to gaze down at his little companion.

Gaster lightly hummed. "Strange, I thought you weren't a fan of crab apples." A smile teased at his lips.

Sans saw his smile and hid his under his jacket. "Well, I know Papyrus likes them. And I probably should be eating healthier."

"That would be good for you." Gaster gently squeezed Sans' hand. "Want to go visit the dump again, huh?"

Sans shifted his eyes away as Gaster peered down at him, his shoulders lightly rising. "Maybe."

Gaster chuckled. "I think we can make a stop. Just no pets or sharp objects, ok?"

"We're going to the dump?" Papyrus paused for a moment in his fun with the snow to turn happily back to the two trailing behind him.

Sans eagerly nodded his head, so excited that he let go of Gaster's hand for a moment to rush over to his brother. "We get to keep something, too!"

"Really?" Papyrus opened his arms only for Sans to crash into them, both boys giggling as Papyrus easily picked Sans up in his arms. He swung him around as they held hands, with Sans circling through the air while Papyrus tried to keep himself from falling down. "We're going to the dump!"

Gaster took a moment to watch the boys' fun, a soft smile present on his face before he gestured them to turn. "Come on you two, we're burning time."

Papyrus slowed his swing, catching his brother in his arms before running in front of Gaster. "Coming!"

After passing a small, dense part of the village, which consisted of just houses, the two came upon a long, large river that snaked its way through their hometown. A lone figure stood upon a wooden boat, whose front piece resembled that of a dog. Their whole identity was shrouded in grey.

The hood idly turned to look at the three when Papyrus laughed his way over, setting Sans down right next to the figure. "Good morning!"

"Tra la la. Morning." The lone figure replied, their voice but an echo of something once great. Their hood turned upwards to greet Gaster, who softly smiled at the creature.

"Waterfall, please." Gaster hopped from the snow bank onto the small boat, gesturing for Papyrus and Sans to follow.

Sans wobbled when he hopped onto the boat while Papyrus slammed his feet onto it, throwing his arms into the air in proclamation of his skills. "Nyeh heh heh!"

Gaster made sure both were inside the boat before nodding to the figure in front of him.

"Then we're off." The figure spoke. Not soon after the boat lightly shook as Sans and Papyrus fell on their bottoms.

Papyrus grabbed the edge of the boat, gasping loudly when he looked down. "Sans, look!"

Sans peered below the boat, shocked to see that the boat had move upwards to reveal wooden legs that were hidden in the water. The feet of the boat seemed to stand atop the water, and before Sans could look at them any longer the boat lurched backwards and sped off in the opposite direction.

Gaster broadened his stance to keep himself from falling off into the river, his smile growing to hear Papyrus and Sans laughing behind him. They held onto the boat beneath them, being swayed back and forth from the constant change in inertia.

"This is so cool!" Papyrus yelled aloud as Sans nodded his head excitedly in agreement. Out of all the times they rode the boat, this was the first time they had seen it do something like this.

"Tra la la. Are you forgetting something?" The boatman sung to himself, his body staying perfectly still despite the boat's movements.

After a few more minutes of the boat 'running', the four occupants came towards a small area to dock. The snowy world Sans and Papyrus were used to was now replaced with walls and floors of stone, which they eagerly hopped onto once the boat stopped moving.

Papyrus snatched Sans' hand into his own, already running down the hall of stone before Gaster could get off. "Come on, Sans!"

Gaster lightly frowned, calling out to them. "Don't wander too far!" But by then the two monsters had already turned the corner and left the boat.

Papyrus and Sans didn't get too far when another monster blocked their path, recognizing the two as they skidded to a stop. "Slow down there boys! You might just knock into this old monster!"

Sans grinned up to the old turtle before them, who rested his hands on his cane in front of him. Out of all the monsters to run into, Gerson was always his favorite. "Good morning, Mr. Gerson!"

"Good morning you little rascals!" Gerson laughed, getting down on one knee and opening his arms. Papyrus and Sans practically threw themselves into his awaiting arms for a warm hug, hearing Gerson hum in delight. "You two staying out of trouble?"

Sans lifted his skull out of Gerson's hug, to which he let go of both boys. Running into Gerson whenever they went to the dump was always a favorite time for Sans. "Eh, sort of!"

"Sort of?" Gerson eyed them, a silly smile on his face. "You two giving old Wingdings a run for his money, eh?"

"Uncle Gaster runs from his money?" Papyrus seemed to have completely missed the saying, thinking intently on what Gerson said. Sans and Gerson lightly chuckled as he contemplated hard before glancing at his brother. "Is the gold alive!?"

"I don't think so." Sans grinned, deciding to let Papyrus think of his own fantasies before turning his attention back to Gerson. "How are you doing?"

"Well, I'm doing as good as an old monster can do." Gerson slowly got back up on his feet, resting his hands on his cane again. "But what I wouldn't give to be able to have the energy you two have. Say, you want to trade? Wah ha ha!"

Gerson's eyes soon stared behind the two boys, making them glance back to watch Gaster turning the corner. "Well, if it isn't ol' Wingdings himself!"

Gaster moved silently over to where Sans and Papyrus stood, lightly frowning. "I'm not as old as you, Gerson."

"Yeah, but you're still old! Wah ha ha!" Gerson tapped his cane on the ground. "I'm surprised you still have the energy to raise two rambunctious skeletons. They were telling me all sorts of pranks they were going to use on you."

"Is that so?" Gaster stared down at the two of them with a teasing smile, which made Sans' grin widen.

Papyrus however frowned. "Hey, I didn't say that!"

He turned his skull back over to Gerson. "Gerson, you're lying!"

"No no, I'm pretty sure we were talking about putting whoopee cushions in his shoes." Gerson teased, staring more at Gaster than he was the children at the moment.

Papyrus huffed, crossing his arms. "The Great Papyrus would never do that!"

He then lightly smiled, picturing the scene in his head. "Well, maybe not never."

Gaster used one of his hands to lightly gesture the two boys. "Why don't you two go and see what the dump has in store today? I need to talk to Gerson for a moment."

Sans nodded his skull. "Alright." Before turning it back over to Gerson. "See you later, Mr. Gerson!"

Gerson waved the two scampering boys off with his right hand. "See ya, you little rascals! Find something cool for me!"

"We will!" Sans yelled behind him, running after Papyrus who had gotten a good head start after Gaster gave them permission to head off.

From stone to water, Papyrus and Sans wasted no time splashing into the watery world amassed with hills of junk and garbage. From the heavens came waste that no one wanted, and yet in the darkness the denizens saw it as gifts from a world they would never reach.

Papyrus jumped onto the nearest hill of garbage, shuffling through what he could touch to grab for things inside. Sans continued to trudge through the murky water, eyeing the tops of the hills while gripping his rugged backpack tightly in his hands. He remembered when Gaster first gave them these backpacks when they found them in this very place.

Testing the structure of one hill, Sans hoisted himself up a good looking hill, more notably for the edges of books that seemed to be sticking out. He climbed his way up, his boney hand feeling the hard-edge of the first book he could reach before giving it a tug. It relented, but with a few more tugs Sans jerked backwards and held onto the mass of junk from falling into the water.

He eyed the worn title, which was stained with a few mysterious liquids before opening the inside. Inside were pages of nothing but typed paragraphs, a novel to say the least. Sans absent-mindedly picking one paragraph to focus on:

As darkness settled upon the earth, Clayton and Lady Alice still stood by the ship's rail in silent contemplation of their future abode. From the dark shadows of the mighty forest came the wild calls of the savage beast- the deep roar of a lion, and, occasionally, the shrill scream of a panther.

The woman shrank closer to the man in terror-stricken anticipation of the horrors lying in wait for them in the awful blackness of the nights to come, when they should be alone upon that wild and lonely shore.

Sans eyed the text whimsically before closing it and placing it in this backpack. Another book about these strange things called 'man' and 'woman', only now it had new words like 'lion', 'panther' and 'forest'. He wondered just what these strange beings looked like, as it seemed most of the work he found in the dump featured such monsters. Were they a deceased race? Or was it merely an imaginary creature, taking place in a weird world where there were dangers like lions and panthers.

Sans eagerly snatched at another book, hoping it would soon give him the answers to these odd words or a little more info on this 'man' that he knew nothing about. When he took notice of the cover it wasn't like the others he had picked up, flipping through the contents inside for information.

It looked to be a journal, though some of the pages up front were scribbled on in illegible cursive. Sans frowned, then decided to smile and put the journal in his backpack. He would make sense of the writing, whoever it came from.

"Whoa, neato!" Sans idly turned his skull over in the direction where Papyrus' voice came from. He probably found another action figure, before resuming his scavenging.

Occasionally Sans felt as though he was being watched, as whenever he turned his skull in the direction a light splashing noise could be heard. He didn't pay much attention to it, as it could have been other things plopping down into the dump.

"Sans, look what I got!" Sans looked down when he heard the hill he stood upon crunch and slightly move as Papyrus jumped onto it. He scurried up to where Sans stood, shoving something plastic close to his skull. "Isn't it cool?!"

"Give me some space, Pap." Sans gently shoved the item out from in front of him, to which Papyrus held his arms back a bit to show off the item better. It was a dirty and somewhat broken airplane, complete with a black window up front and little wheels on the bottom.

Sans eyed the thing curiously. "What is it?"

"I don't know!" Papyrus proudly proclaimed, holding it in one hand before eyeing it himself. "Do you think it's some sort of car?"

"Maybe." Sans opened his palms as Papyrus gave him the airplane to inspect. He exchanged it from one hand to other, inspecting the airplane for what it was before flicking the wheels only to flinch back when they rolled.

His smile grew with his excitement. "This is pretty cool."

"Right?" Papyrus gestured to have it back which Sans did so happily. "Such a car can only be driven by the Great Papyrus!"

Sans' eyes scanned the other books he could see on the hill he stood on, starting his trek up. "Maybe one of these books says something about them."

When grabbing part of the pile however, Sans felt the items underneath his feet shift. He lurched down for a moment before falling off of the hill entirely, creating a big splash on his way down into the water.

With a startle Sans raised his skull quickly, soaking wet while Papyrus called down to his brother. "You ok?"

Putting away his 'car' and letting go of some junk, Papyrus let the garbage beneath his feet slide him down to where his brother sat, soggy and wet. He extended his hand to help him up, which Sans took eagerly. However instead of getting up, Sans jerked his arm back, throwing Papyrus off balance on his shaky foundation and down into the water with him.

Sans angled his skull away as the murky water splashed at him, following Papyrus sitting up from falling in Sans' lap. He narrowed his eye sockets. "What was that for?"

"I don't want to be the only wet one when Uncle Gaster sees us." Sans innocently replied, his grin stretching.

Papyrus shot his brother a mean look for a moment before throwing his hands up, splashing some water on Sans' skull. "Yeah, well take that!"

"No, not the water!" Sans laughed, pushing his brother off of him and back into the water before getting up to run away.

Papyrus got on his knees quickly, water dripping off of him as he rose to his feet to chase after Sans. "Oh you're not getting away that easily!"

"Try and stop me!" Sans yelled back, running around the hill he just tried climbing as Papyrus bounded after him, kicking water up with every step.

Something from beneath the water seemed to catch Sans' foot, causing him to stumble and fall back into the water. He only had a moment to turn onto his back before yelling when Papyrus pounced on him. Both boys fell harmlessly back into the water, rolling farther into the dump as both tried to get atop one another, throwing and splashing water in every direction.

"Hey, get off!"

"You started it!"

"I'll end it if you just hold still!"

"No, The Great Papyrus always ends the fight! Nyeh heh heh!"

Among their rolling and splashing Sans saw a nearby hill with something odd atop. Using his newfound ground and with Papyrus beneath him, he hopped off of his brother and scampered over to the hill.

Papyrus pushed himself back up, leaping for the hill and climbing after his brother. "No hill can save you from justice!"

Sans responded with his own chuckle, lightly kicking his foot above Papyrus' head so as to not actually hit him. "We'll see about that."

Pulling himself atop the hill, Sans was surprised to discover something big and whole, unlike most of the other stuff him and his brother usually found. It looked like some sort of transportation device, but not like those little cars Papyrus liked to collect. It was a solid, yellow color, with handles off to the sides which connected to a plastic wheel, and in the back was another wheel and a spot where a wheel seemed to be missing.

Sans didn't have long to look at it when his brother suddenly sprung up from the hill behind him. "Got you!"

Grabbing for his brother, Sans gripped the handles and threw himself into the seat, placing his feet onto two slabs of metal that stuck out from the sides. "You'll never catch me alive!"

Sans however didn't know how the vehicle worked, pushing his feet down onto the metal slabs only to find them stuck. His fear grew just as Papyrus lost a bit of his balance from the sliding garbage underneath him, falling atop his brother and pushing the vehicle forward.

Papyrus only regained his ground as the vehicle lurched forward from the hill suddenly giving out, and both brothers found themselves riding down the rickety slope of the crashing hill. Both screamed as they held onto one another, enduring the roller coaster they set in motion.

Just at the bottom was a small, make-shift ramp of cardboard, which both boys flew off of and careened into the next hill. The hill they were originally on slumped into the water, defeated and tired.

Papyrus lifted his skull from the crash, still holding onto Sans for dear life as his skull was implanted into the hill. "Sans?"

"I'm ok." He weakly muttered, his skull lifting up and out of the hill. A pillow rested where his skull originally was before falling onto their vehicle, which slowly slid down the new hill until it slowly sunk into the water.

Both brothers glanced at one another before Papyrus snorted, then started laughing. Sans felt a nervous chuckle escape his teeth before it became an actual laugh. Papyrus couldn't help but shout. "That was awesome! Let's do that again!"

Sans closed his eye sockets when Papyrus hugged him, opening them quickly when he spotted someone watching them. They didn't notice Sans was staring at them until he raised his voice. "Hello?"

With a snap the figure hunched over, scurrying behind the hill they casually touched before. Papyrus glanced at his brother before he moved himself out of the hug, hopping back into the water and over to the hill. "Sans?"

"Someone's here." Sans whispered, before allowing his voice to grow louder. "Hello? I know you're here."

Papyrus stopped and watched his brother start to make his way around the hill, only for another monster to start creeping around it to the front. They seemed very focused on not getting caught from behind, so when Papyrus waved his hand and shouted, 'Hello!' they nearly had a heart attack.

"O-Oh!" Spinning too fast to see Papyrus, the monster tripped over their own tail and landed into the water. Sans had exited from the hill on the other side only to race back over to Papyrus.

"Oh-oh dear…" The monster stuttered, trying to find their balance again as they stood up.

They both realized they were staring up at a female, yellow dinosaur. Her white lab coat covered most of her body, which left her clothing underneath up to the imagination. Her head split off into three points behind her, spotted with light orange spots. Her young, black eyes stared at the two boys from behind thick glasses, her mouth shivering as if it were cold. "U-um…Hello!"

She raised a hand, but didn't wave it. "S-Sorry for snooping… I uh… d-didn't want to interrupt…"

"Snooping?" Papyrus looked down at Sans, who looked up at him back.

"It means she was watching us."

"Oh!" Papyrus smiled to the new monster. "That's ok! If you wanted to play with us you could have just asked!"

"Th-That's ok…" The dinosaur fiddled with her claws, a deep frown resting on her face. She stared hard at the water for a moment that followed the silence. She cleared her throat. "U-um…"

She turned her head backwards, as if she was expecting someone to be there, before glancing back at Sans and Papyrus. "C-Can I…er, would you mind if I um…"

She bit her lower lip. "T-Took a look at you two…?"

Sans wore a confused expression. "Aren't you looking at us right now?"

The female dinosaur shifted her eyes away, her face blushing with red. "We-Well yes and no… I mean, I am looking at you but uh not in the way…th-that is to say…"

She didn't finish her words, deciding to just burry her face in her hands. "N-Never mind. Forget I said anything!"

Sans gave his brother a weary glance. Papyrus however stepped forward, his smile still plastered to his skull. "Hey, it's ok! You can stare at the Great Papyrus all day if you want!"

"N-no, that's alright…" The female monster weakly replied. However she moved her hands to let one of her eyes look at Papyrus, before dropping them slowly. She stared long and hard at Papyrus, which Sans didn't like at all, before she started to circle around him. "O-Oh…"

She extended a hand. "U-Um… may I?"

Papyrus looked to his hand, giving it to her. "Sure!"

She lightly took Papyrus' hand, holding it tenderly before giving it a little squeeze, feeling the bone. A smile grew on her face. "Wow, I uh…"

She glanced away. "Th-This must look really weird…"

Sans decided to take note on what she was wearing. "Are you a scientist?"

As if he just proclaimed he had a bomb the female flinched back from Papyrus' hand. "What? Um, n-no! I-I'm not a scientist! I uh, j-just like wearing this for fun, and uh,"

As she continued to babble, Papyrus bunched his eyebrows in curiosity. Suddenly, his eye sockets widened. "Wait a second, I know your voice!"

"You do?" Sans gave his attention to his brother, with which the dinosaur did the same.

"Y-You do?" The dinosaur mimicked.

Papyrus quickly nodded his head. "I heard you talking with Uncle Gaster back at the lab."

"O-Oh!" The dinosaur's face lit up with red, her hands coming together for comfort.

Sans still stared at his brother oddly, to which he shrugged. "You were still out then."

Sans was still confused, but he turned his attention back to the monster girl, whom he assumed was just a teenager. "So, who are you?"

"Uuuuuuuuhhh." The teenager replied, though in one giant breath she slumped her body. "A-alright, you got me."

Tapping her claws together, she weakly smiled. "M-My name is Alphys. I uh, I'm D-Dr. Gaster's assistant."

Hey everyone! As promised, it's March 6th, which means Accepting Darkness is off of its hiatus and will be updated! …Unfortunately, I barely had the motivation to write what with all the craziness school has been giving me and getting somewhat sick. So for the moment Accepting Darkness will be updated on a weekly basis instead of every five days to give me time to catch up on my writing.

A lot of you have been confused as to what I mean with my last update on the 'two routes'. What I was referring to was the ending you guys picked for Accepting Darkness, IE, Chara or Frisk. The polls were very close and at first I was ok with doing both endings, but in the end it would have to end with Genocide after Pacifist if I were to do both, which would sort of violate the true pacifist ending. So, I decided to take the Genocide after Pacifist and make that into its own story, "Relearn what's been forgotten." I won't be updating that nearly as often as Accepting Darkness but I'm very excited to write about it, and I hope you guys join me over there too! It'll be a lot of fun, trust me!

Finally, the story is going to start off slow, I will say that. Some of you might get suffocated by the near cuteness and innocent behavior these next several chapters are going to be, but trust me, it's going to get dark fast and when that happens these scenes will be rare. Gotta give the skelebros some good memories!

Oh, I almost forgot! That book Sans finds is actually a homage to one of my favorite books, and whoever can guess the title (and author!) first can ask a question about Accepting Darkness or Fading Light! While I can't give away spoilers, I'm fine with wetting your bills with teasers, so search google and tell me what you find! I'm pretty sure one of those names in there is a big giveaway. : P

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all Sunday!