Chapter 3

Frisk woke up bright and early the next day, she didn't get much sleep either but that couldn't be helped right now. Suppose it worked in her favor as she had to head back to the surface with Toriel and collect the belongings she'd need to bring with her since she was staying for the summer. She couldn't stop worrying about her friends, they probably had a search party on the look for her by now. Frisk shifted herself out of bed and made her way down the stairs where she found Sans sitting down at the kitchen table smoking a cigarette and drinking a cup of coffee, it was weird seeing him awake at this hour, Frisk assumed he usually slept in. She also had no idea the packet of cigarettes she found in his room were actually his.

Sans looked up at Frisk standing there and grinned at the weird look she was giving him. "You look a bit surprised there, had no idea I smoked did you? Yeah, I didn't always but it kind of became a habit the last few years," said Sans, taking a drag from it. "An expensive habit, mind you."

Frisk chuckled. "Yeah, I get you. I try to not buy them as often, and usually manage to leech a few off my roommate when I can heh," she paused, looking around. "Where's Papyrus by the way? Usually he's the one up earlier than you."

"He went out to run a few errands, you heading to the surface with Tori today?" he asked, sipping coffee.

"Yep, just grabbing some stuff I need for when I'm down here, I'll be back later," said Frisk.

"Cool, Tori came by earlier on by the way, she dropped off your clean clothes so you can get changed into those, she also said to meet her in the Library so you don't have to worry about walking all the way down to the ruins," said Sans, gesturing towards the neatly folded clothes on the far side of the table.

"Thanks, Sans!" said Frisk, gathering up her clothes.

"And another thing-" Sans added, he reached into his pocket and pulled out Frisk's phone, he handed it to her. "Managed to get it all fixed up for you this morning, hope you get in touch with your friends and let them know you're ok!"

"Oh wow, thank you so much Sans! This really means a lot that you went through the trouble of doing this for me," said Frisk, smiling gratefully.

"Hey it was no problem, just helping out an old pal y'know?" said Sans, winking.

"Really, thanks again Sans," she paused. "We can hang out when I'm back later? Maybe, if you wanted, you and Papyrus can come over to Tori's house for dinner?"

"Yeah, sure, that'll be great! I'll let Pap know when he gets back," said Sans.

"Great! Well, I better go get changed and go meet Tori, thanks again for this Sans - and for letting me stay the night," said Frisk, she walked over and gave him a big hug. It felt odd hugging something that wasn't soft, squishy and made of flesh, but he still felt warm.

She headed up the stairs to qucikly get changed out of San's old vest and shorts into her own freshly cleaned and sweet smelling clothes, it felt nice wearing something that actually fit and wasn't threatening to fall down at each movement. Frisk then made her way out the door and strolled down the path towards the library; the cold air hitting her face, making her shiver, she had almost forgotten how cold Snowdin was. She rubbed her arms in an attempt to keep herself warm when she finally reached the library and bolted in, relieved at how warm it was inside the place. Toriel was sittng in the far corner, engulfed in a book about human history. She looked up and smiled when she saw Frisk walking up to her.

"Good morning, Frisk dear! I'm glad to see you up early, was afraid I'd have to go back and drag you out of bed myself," said Toriel, chuckling.

Frisk laughed. "Good thing I didn't sleep in then! You ready to go?"

"Of course, just a second," she fumbled in her pocket and pulled out 10 gold coins. "Here's some gold for the train fare, I know you don't have any yourself."

"Train fare?"

"Oh, yes I completely forgot you don't know about our new transport system to and from the surface! We've only had it for a couple of years now, but it's very handy instead of making the trek through hotland. Makes the journey that much shorter, thank goodness!"

"Oh wow, that's great! It's nice to see the underground is making some good changes around here," said Frisk.

"Indeed, come along the station isn't that far from here," said Toriel, placing the book back on the shelf.

The two made their way out of the library and began heading west, everything seemed familiar for a while up until they reached a different path and turned right towards a large glass building ahead of them. This was definitely new to Frisk. She was used to big buildings since moving to the city, but this was different, new, and kind of exciting to say the least. They walked inside and Frisk couldn't help but gawk at everything around her, it was so beautifully designed, she had to stop looking around once they'd reached the ticket office. Once they'd purchased tickets for the surface they had to pass through a barrier, almost similar to the way it worked back on the surface. They entered a different room where a large platform was visible before them, below that platform there were train tracks, but they were a little different from the ones back home. These were slightly curved at the sides, and when Frisk looked up she noticed that there were tracks suspended up above too. She soon found out why, once the train had arrived Frisk noticed large metal grips on the top of the train that held onto the tracks, the train itself was a little peculiar in shape too, almost cylinder she thought. They hopped onto the train and took their seats, Frisk couldn't help but feel a little excited to be riding in the Underground's first proper train all the way to the surface, she wondered what it would be like. Apparently, it stopped in Waterfall and Hotlands too before it would reach the surface, which Frisk found interesting, it certainly made it a lot easier on the monsters that wanted to visit. Once they had passed Hotlands, Frisk noticed the tracks growing higher and higher, it almost felt like she was on a roller coaster now rather than a train. The tracks grew steeper, but Frisk could see a light up ahead which only meant they were very close to the surface.

The train started to slow down once they reached their destination, Frisk had never seen this station before, probably because she hadn't visited this part of the country in 6 years. The station was right next to Mt. Ebott, figures. It was quite a small one at that and not as impressive as the one underground, but that wasn't overly important right now. They hopped off the train, crossed through another ticket barrier and made their way out of the station, once they were outside Frisk had spotted her car still parked at the base of the mountain. Thank goodness no one had tried to hijack it during her absence.

"Is that your car?" Toriel asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I um, kind of drove here that night," said Frisk, clearing her throat.

Toriel folded her arms but decided against saying anything. They headed towards the car and Frisk reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out her car keys. She unlocked the door and let Toriel in the passenger seat, she gingerly pushed the keys into the ignition and thankfully the car started, so far so good. Frisk reversed the car out of the place and began driving toward the city, she was too busy being mesmerized by the Underground station that she'd forgotten to switch on her phone to check if Warren had left her any messages. She only hoped he would still be back at the house.

The drive back to the city felt like the longest drive to Frisk, she parked the car in the driveway and quickly hopped out of the car, looking around as if she expected Warren to pop out of nowhere and start yelling at her. Toriel was looking around too, she seemed mildly fascinated with the area from how she was staring at everything. Frisk walked up to the front door and gave it two sharp knocks, before she even considered trying a third the door suddenly flew open, and there Warren stood. Hair stood up in crazy angles, looking like death himself with his dark circles and sleep deprived eyes. Warren's expression changed from sleepy, to shocked in the space of two seconds.

He threw his arms around Frisk, pulling her into a suffocating hug. "Frisk! Oh my god Frisk it's you I was so worried about you-" he stopped, and suddenly pushed her away. "You IDIOT! What were you thinking? You nearly gave me a heart attack! Janet and Rob are worried sick about you, where the hell did you run off to?"

"It's...a long story Warren, but I went back to the Underground to meet up with old friends..." said Frisk, gesturing towards Toriel, who stood nervously in the background.

She waved cautiously at Warren. "Hello, there."

He stood still for a second, staring at her, turned to Frisk and then back at Toriel again. "Hey there." he finally said back.

"I think we better head back into the house, shall we?" said Frisk, breaking the awkward silence in a desperate attempt to just keep Warren cool.

"Y-yeah, you've got a LOT to tell me," said Warren, letting Toriel and Frisk walk ahead into the house.

Frisk switched on the kettle to make tea for everyone while Toriel and Warren sat down at the table. Once the tea had been made Frisk joined them at the table and sipped tea cautiously, racking her brain for where to begin with explaining the situation to Warren.

"So...you wanna start telling me what happened?" said Warren, gulping down some tea.

"Well...while you guys were passed out that night I just took the car and drove down to Mt Ebott, I passed through the barrier to the Underground, tripped down a platform and knocked myself out. That morning Toriel - this woman here, and my friend Undyne, brought me back to one of the towns there, my phone was busted so I couldn't contact anyone and I was in no state to head back. But I didn't want to go back anyway, Warren...I missed these guys so much. It's been six long years since I've seen anyway I just had to go! I'm so sorry I worried you all so much, it was a drunken thought that I just had to leave there and then, I'm sorry, I should have told you about it." Frisk explained, hanging her head in shame.

"What the, you drove drunk?! What the hell were you thinking?" said Warren, raising an eyebrow at Frisk.

"That's the thing, I wasn't really thinking!"

"Fair enough...so, you mentioned not coming back, are you staying there for good then?" Warren asked, looking a bit anxious.

"Not for good, but...for the summer, Toriel said I could stay with her and get a job," said Frisk.

"Ah, right, damn...this is so much to take in, it's gonna be different not having you here for the summer!" said Warren.

"You could still visit, if you like!" Toriel piped up, making Warren jump a little. He'd almost forgotten she was there in the daze he was in.

"Oh, well, that would be great actually! Can't say I've ever been to the Underground before," said Warren, smiling at Toriel.

"Don't worry, we're not as hostile towards humans as we used to be," said Toriel, chuckling. "If you'd like, you could come back with us today and stay the night, see what it's like for yourself!"

Warren looked at Frisk for approval, she nodded her head enthusiastically. He turned back to Toriel. "Sure, that would be awesome!"

"I'm glad to hear it," said Toriel, smiling.

"Right, I'm off to pack some of my stuff so you guys stay here and get to know each other, ok? Be back in a bit!" said Frisk, gathering the cups and putting them in the sink.

She headed up the stairs to her room, pulled out her suitcase and began rummaging through her wardrobe, pulling out as many clothes as she could and stuffing them into the suitcase. Next was the bathroom, where she gathered up her shampoos, conditioners, toothbrush, body wash, soaps and deodrant and dropped them all in on top of the clothes. She managed to cram her shoes and her laptop as well as a few other belongings she thought she'd want to have with her before zipping the suitcase shut and hauling it, with great difficulty, down the stairs into the kitchen where Toriel and Warren were happily chatting away.

"That's me ready now!" said Frisk, setting the suitcase down against the wall.

Warren raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Jeez you've quite the stuff shoved into that suitcase, it looks like it's about to explode any minute!"

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure I had everything I'd need while I'm there. What about you, you need to bring anything?"

"Just my pjs and toothbrush, then I'm sorted, I'll get those right now," said Warren, getting up off the seat and making his way upstairs to his room.

Toriel turned to Frisk. "He's quite the lovely young man I must say!"

"Yeah, he's one of my best friends, couldn't have asked for a better roommate," said Frisk, smiling.

"Or he could be...something a little more eventually?" Toriel teased, winking.

"Oh no no no, plus we already were a thing at one point many, many years ago. We agreed it was better to stay as friends, though," said Frisk, half-laughing.

"Oh, I'm sorry for making you feel awkward, I had no idea," said Toriel.

"Ah no it's fine, don't worry about it! Some people still joke around about that at times," said Frisk.

Warren returned with a small messenger bag hoisted over his shoulder, "Right, I'm ready when you guys are!"

"Aren't you gonna let Janet and Rob know you'll be away for the night? Or at least tell them I'm ok," said Frisk.

"Way ahead of you, gave them a text a bit ago, that'll stop them worrying their little minds over you - as well as myself," said Warren.

"Thank God, well guess that means we're ready to go, let's head out to the car," said Frisk, dragging her suitcase out of the kitchen and towards the front door.

Toriel and Warren followed her out to the car, Warren helped put the suitcase in the trunk and they all hopped inside the car. Frisk reversed out of the driveway and headed once more down the road towards Mt Ebott, she remembered the station and grinned to herself, Warren would be in for a big surprise. She wondered how he would react to it all, not just the transport system, but the entirety of the Underground itself. What would he think of the monsters too? It was something she didn't get much of a chance to ponder about, she knew he'd seen a few monsters here and there but not as many as she'd hoped. Would he get on with any of her monster friends? There was only one way to find out.

Once they'd reached the station and got on the train again, Frisk watched Warren's expression as he looked mesmerised by everyhing around him. It changed once again when they'd began passing all the different places in the Underground, his mouth hung open and stayed that way even when they'd hopped off at Snowdin. That was, until Frisk reminded him to shut it. He looked incredibly confused once they stepped out into the winter wonderland, looking around at the snow that fell about the place.

"How...is it even snowing here?" he asked.

"It's best you don't ask," said Frisk, chuckling.

They had been walking for a long while until they reached the ruins, up ahead at the sentry point was Sans himself, reading a magazine. It was odd, he wasn't on the look out for humans anymore, but sometimes he still liked to chill out here. Probably when he wanted some peace and quiet from his overly obnoxious brother who constantly whined about how lazy he was. Sans grinned when he saw Toriel and Frisk walk up to him.

"Well ladies, fancy seeing you here," Sans joked. He turned to lay his eyes on Warren, who was looking a little lost for words at the talking skeleton in front of him. Warren was much taller than Sans, but that didn't stop him feeling slightly intimidated.

"Hmmm, can't say I've seen you before," Sans added, looking him up and down.

"Uhhh..." Warren faltered.

"This is Warren, Sans. My roommate," Frisk explained quickly.

"Nice to meet you, kid, I'm Sans, let's shake on it shall we?" said Sans, winking at Warren and holding his boney hand out to him. Warren had almost forgotten how to function completely, but he soon enough snapped out of it and took San's hand gingerly and shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Sans," said Warren, his voice slightly hoarse.

"We were just on our way to my house, Sans, would you like to come inside for some pie?" said Toriel, smiling sweetly.

"Sure thing, Tori," said Sans, folding up the magazine and hopping down from the seat. "Gives me a chance to get to know this fella here." he added, grinning slyly at Warren.

Warren looked even more uncomfortable.

"Be easy on him, Sans, Warren isn't used to guys like you," said Frisk, laughing.

"I can't make any promises," Sans joked back.

They headed through the large doors and into Toriel's house, while Frisk and Warren went off to find their rooms Sans followed Toriel into the kitchen where she began making tea and cutting a slice of pie for Sans.

"I'm sure you're happy to see Frisk back again," said Sans, taking a bite of the pie.

"I really am, it's so good to see her after all these years, I'm really going to enjoy having her around again," said Toriel, taking a seat beside him.

"Have to say I am too, though looks like she's had some good company throughout the years..." said Sans, indicating Warren, and just a little too harshly too.

Toriel giggled. "You're not jealous now, are you?"

Sans grinned back. "Oh c'mon now, Tori, you know I'm not like that."

"Of course, Sans."

He did have to admit, he felt a little weird seeing this new human with Frisk. Male, to be precise. Hadn't seen one of those in a while, especially not around here. Sans guessed, as much as he hated to admit, he felt odd because he couldn't help but look at Frisk differently. Like he started to notice her in a new way, now that she wasn't a kid anymore. It made him feel weird, and he didn't like it. He also didn't like how it made him feel towards Warren either, like he had to feel territorial over Frisk. Which was ridiculous, because he didn't own her.

But that didn't stop this new, strange feeling slowly creeping up on him...

Author's Note:

Hey there guys! I just wanted to say thank you to all that have taken interest in my story, it means a lot and I hope to not let you down! I know this isn't that long of a chapter but I kind of wanted to break it down a little so I didn't try and cram everything into one chapter. I promise there will be more Sans and the others in the next one, I felt this barely had any because of situations and such! Also I was stuck for what to call this chapter, so I went with this because of Sans' reaction to Warren hahaha

Until then, enjoy!

~AerisTheStrange