Ice contains no future, just the past, sealed away.
As if they're alive, everything in the world is sealed
up inside, clear and distinct. - Haruki Murakami.
Toriel felt strange being on the other side of the sealed door, she never knew a day like that would come. The Queen of Monsters hasn't made a public appearance, not since the death of her children at least.
Everything beyond that purple stone door felt unreal, terribly unreal. She was too accustomed to the slow life in the Ruins, that even the sound of the chilling wind was strange to her. She was even more surprised to find that annoying flower outside, who wanted to speak but couldn't utter a word.
This time, Flowey was hardly concerned by Aster, who was hiding in the background. He had met the mother of the dormant SOUL within him, along with her long-lost daughter. Of course, the ghosts of their lovers tagged along behind them, and he could only have minutes with a family he may never see again.
The sight was strange, three of the four Dreemurr family members stared at each other, nearly not knowing if that was their kin. Asriel, through Flowey, stared at Goat Mom so intently she was creeped out. She looked at Chara in worry, asking without a word if that monster was alright. Chara shrugged, she just pretended Flowey was just a confused monster, knowing who he was.
They stayed in that staring deadlock until Aster finally came out of the shadows, along with the two ethereal beings that formed the party. Flowey muttered a hmph before plopping out, sending glances to "Frisky" like they were reminding them of their earlier encounter.
The dead human knew they had no more room for hiccups. Everybody seemed to be willing to pacify the underground this time, by non-lethal means. The half-dead, half-alive group of monsters and humans then moved out of the Ruins, and into Snowdin Forest.
Normally, sans would post one of his clones by the Ruins' door. He got acquainted with a funny old lady who practiced knock-knock jokes with him. It was one of his few distractions down here, he was too busy trolling papyrus or locking himself in his room the rest of the time.
Sans could not shake the feeling that this timeline felt different, perhaps even more than the last two conundrums he witnessed. He steadily moved out to the farthest sentry post, only to feel his clone has ran back into him with alarming news.
"the door to the ruins has opened."
Sans' body froze a bit, whoever came that way had to go through that old lady first. They befriended the person behind the door for a while now. Perhaps the old lady was harmed or worse ...
Killed?
Were those kids he saw before crazy enough to kill monsters all over again?
He knew all about what happened in the last few timelines, yet never had a clue what would happen in the next. He simply adapted himself to events unfolding, either guiding humans to their barrier - or their death.
Well, he died last time as well.
Sans teleported with all those thoughts in mind, closing into the Ruins' door. He stopped at his sentry post, forgetting to greet the party back at the gaping bridge. Toriel's crunching sound woke him up, and he slowly looked at the party. Sans was confused to see that many people coming out, chattering like they did not know each other.
First, demon girl as he used to call her. She looked different, tagging along with a tall and strangely dressed monster. When sans heard the voice, he immediately recognized the old lady.
"uh ... knock knock"
Toriel suddenly turned around and faced the skeleton, who only earned a glare from a suspicious Chara.
"Who's there?"
"Mom? What are y-"
Sans chuckled, he just tagged along the joke, ignoring the now incoming daggers from the demon child.
"um, dishes"
"Dishes who?" Chara was yelling an "ugh" in the background, trying to get Aster to speed up along the two ghosts lagging.
"dishes a very bad j- huh, pops ..."
Aster was equally reluctant to meet his son, once again. Toriel did not know about the two related, so she asked, still a little confused.
"Friend, is that your father?"
"yeah, nice to meet you too old lady."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Toriel, Guardian of the Rui-"
Toriel went with the usual introduction, only to find herself in a white landscape.
" ... I mean former guardian."
Sans stretched an arm to shake hands, without any whoopee cushion around this time.
"name is sans, sans the skeleton. "
A bony hand and a much sizeable paw met together.
"so uh, you hangin' out with a human huh?"
"Yes."
Chara got snuggled by Toriel as she scrambled in the embrace. It was not something she wanted Bonehead to see.
"This is my daughter, Chara."
"guess you've been good to my pops too, thanks, old lady."
Aster slowly showed himself behind Toriel,
"Sans"
"dad, you should pick a better lamp."
Aster chuckled, but Toriel and Chara did not get the gist of it until sans brought a strangely shaped lamp. Toriel's eyes widened as she start laughing, but Chara seemed ... moved by the sight of the object.
"what up, kid, did you get spooked?"
Chara just felt like it was resembling Frisk, who strangely passed by her and held her hand. He was unwilling to show up, but couldn't just leave her there. He also noticed Papyrus had yet to arrive and glanced at Arial who seemed lost in thought for a minute before speaking up.
"Partner, we need to look for him."
Frisk nodded, he squeezed Chara's hand before moving out, leaving some warmth in her palm. Sans saw the usually grumpy child draw a smile, a genuine one to boot. He chuckled low enough not to be heard, as he followed the ragtag party of three. Only one other person could make demon girl smile like that, regrettably ...
"that other kid, huh."
They were the other genocider.
Papyrus has not been himself for days now, and his mood has not improved since he met a strange flower. He had no idea what it was, but the Great Papyrus never back down from making new followers.
"HELLO THERE, STRANGE FLOWER! I NEVER SAW YOU AROUND THESE PARTS."
The plant looked back at the cheerful skeleton, her "body" blackened by some strange liquid.
"Hello there? Do you remember me?"
Papyrus, taken aback by the monster, wondering where he could have seen it in the past.
"NYEH? D-DID WE MET BEFORE ... ?"
"We did, I'm just another echo flower, and I am here to foretell your future ~ "
"FORETELL ... MY FUTURE?"
The great sentry was not sure this was an ordinary echo flower. Yet, he was curious as to what his future held.
"D-DO TELL THE GREAT PAPYRUS A B-BIT MORE", he said, as his bones rattled when he heard a husky, deep cackling.
"Let me see ... Hm! You meet a human, they are a golden key to access the Royal Guard position you sought for so long ..."
"WOW...IE ~ I AM GOING TO BECOME A R-R-ROYAL GUARD?"
Papyrus was half-elated, half-afraid from his now monstrous medium. The flower that was once at boot level has grown to be two times his height.
"Yes, but you are a fool. You befriended the human instead ... you think you have a friend ... They go away ... and they're back again ..."
"I MANAGED TO G-G-GET A FRIEND? THAT IS GREAT ... THEY HAVE BEEN DRAWN BY MY FRIENDLY A-AURA."
The Royal Guard wanted to leave, they have heard enough good news. They felt something ominous was about to happen, as the giant flower's red flames flickered in their eye sockets.
"THEY CAME BACK TO KILL YOU, YOU DIMWIT !"
"N-N-NYEH ...? FRIENDS KILL ... EACH OTHER?"
The air felt heavy, so heavy it nearly crushed Papyrus' backbone. His belief in friendship was questioned, since when friends killed each other?
"DON'T YOU GET IT ?! A LOSER LIKE YOU WILL HAVE NO FRIENDS! YOU FAILED TO CAPTURE ONE SINGLE HUMAN !"
The oozing substance covered the soil, inches away from Papyrus' brand new red boots. The giant flower was laughing madly, spraying the area with shadowy figures. Those either went underground or flew away, leaving Papyrus alone with his self-deprecating thoughts.
A loser.
Yes, Papyrus felt sometimes like that. He knew he was not as strong as Undyne, whom he admired. His passion for puzzles and eagerness to cook helped him hide his worries.
Humans never came his way, heck, he does not know what a human was. Now he was not even unwilling to meet them, let alone spare them.
The flower buried itself, leaving a sizeable crater in her wake. Papyrus went back home, made some burnt spaghetti, and ate it anyways. He slept even without his bedtime story that night, only recalling that living nightmare he met.
Day after day, Papyrus' mood worsened. He hardly tolerated Sans' puns or lazy disposition now, and nearly got in a FIGHT with him. He skipped his Royal Guard training twice and was often absentminded during those he attended.
Undyne relayed the information to Sans, who sat on the couch as usual. The night before he met the party coming from the ruins, he waited for Papyrus to get home. His brother was different indeed, he never recalibrated his puzzles, skipped his bedtime story, and burnt every cooking recipe he tried.
The door was slammed again, Papyrus coming in stomping as he did the past few days.
"you okay bro?"
"NO, SANS, YOU STILL HAVE NOT CLEANED YOUR ROOM, CALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES, OR FOUND ANY HUMANS !"
Sans was a little surprised to hear Papyrus yell that way. He almost snapped out at him, a little irritated at how careless Papyrus was these days. Sans gave in at the last minute after his pupils went on and off.
"look, bro. you clearly out of your mind these days, and yer askin' me to do things you haven't done in a while yourself. you're going to become a lazy bones like me if you keep it up."
Bone attacks flew by Sans, nearly hitting his one and only HP left. After a dozen more waves, Papyrus' left eye turned orange. He then spoke to his hidden brother, who dodged all of these attacks while sacrificing clones.
"YOU ... CANNOT UNDERSTAND ... I AM ... I ... AM NOT SURE I WANT TO CAPTURE A HUMAN ANYMORE ... I WANT TO ..."
Since when Papyrus stopped believing in capturing humans? Sure, sans heard about a talking flower that spewed nonsense to a few Snowdin folks. It could be their doing, but for that ... they had to know about the timelines.
Next thing he knew, Papyrus had already left the house, and never came back since yesterday.