Sans banged on Toriel's door, his heart racing. She opened the door to her home, a tired look on her face as she stared down at the excited looking skeleton. "Hello Sans. Well done on that last job." She said, handing him a bag. "That'd be your payment. I have a different type of job for you... This time, instead of killing a human, you'll be protecting them." His face fell, and she sighed. "This is very, very important. I don't suppose you saw a human child heading out of the Ruins door? They were wearing a striped shirt." Toriel explained to him, and he shrugged, looking away from her at a brick in her house that suddenly became the most interesting thing he had ever seen.
"yep. nice kid." He muttered.
"So you've met them? ... And you didn't kill them. To be honest, I'm surprised, considering your... Rather manic personality, if I may say that." Toriel said, raising an eyebrow. Sans had earned the reputation with her of being an extremely erratic and borderline insane person, reveling in every single mission that he was assigned. The fact that he hadn't killed them yet made her suspicious, but she thought it would be better to not mention it to him.
"go ahead. i've been called worse." Sans responded. "but, as always... you know exactly what i want for this?"
"I have to wonder how much your home costs when you and your brother aren't there often... But if you complete this mission successfully, protecting the human... I will make sure you and your brother are never, ever homeless again." Toriel said, and that struck something within Sans. The small, contained smile he had on his face right now was another part of his personality that Toriel had learned. He would have fun with this. Sans always had fun, no matter what he was doing, from slaughtering humans, to protecting a single human child.
"pleasure doing business with you. and if you'll excuse me, i left them in snowdin. hopefully they haven't stepped on a trap yet." He said, before starting to walk off.
"Wait. Can I ask you something?" Toriel stopped Sans, who turned, raising an eyebrow. "... May I ask why you left being one of the Royal Scientists?"
"huh. you know about that? and yet, you don't know why i left." Sans said, the smile spreading across his face, trying to contain his laughter. "that's hilarious... now... don't get me wrong. i love my job. but leaving one of my few friends to take on all of the orders for new weapons by themselves just to clear out some humans here and there? i was reassigned. and i think that's all you need to know. let's keep this relationship at a business level, huh?" Sans said, his eye turning pitch black as he turned to leave, eventually disappearing just like that. Toriel couldn't help but wonder exactly why Sans acted the way he did, with his personality switching from calm and collected, to being completely and totally insane. Someone so unstable was useful... But dangerous too. Just as long as Sans was happy and kept working for the monsters, Toriel supposed that she shouldn't worry so much over it. But he had mentioned that he had a friend... Who was obviously not his brother. There were so many mysteries involving that seemingly innocent looking skeleton, none of which she had the time to look into.
"put this on." Sans said, standing in front of Frisk, who had miraculously survived some of the starting traps Papyrus had set back up for them. Frisk raised an eyebrow, opening their mouth to ask why, and Sans gave them a look so serious that they didn't argue anymore. "kid, every monster knows what a human looks like. if you want to stay alive, i suggest you take this costume. and yes, i know it looks ridiculous, but it might fool some monsters for a while." He said, handing a costume to Frisk. Frisk could see a pair of rabbit ears sticking out of it, and it sparked memories within them. There used to be a human holiday that everyone celebrated. When they all put on costumes and went around getting free candy... Frisk had never had a costume like that before. "oh, and before you ask where i got it, i... ah, borrowed it from some humans." Sans quickly leaned over to check to see if there were any dark red stains on the light blue fabric of the costume. Sans jerked up, hearing footsteps loudly crunching through the snow, and the clank of armor. "quick, go put that on over there." Sans hissed to Frisk, who ran off with it in their arms.
"Sans!" Papyrus' loud voice rang out, and Sans leaned down, pretending to be re-calibrating one of his traps. "Oh, thank God. You're finally doing that." He said, crossing his arms. "... Sans? Why won't you respond? Sans!" Papyrus said, looking at his work. "What the-?! You aren't even setting them correctly! I don't know why I bother leaving you to do this stuff sometimes!" Papyrus said, crouching down and moving his brother out of the way to set the trap himself. "What have you even been doing?!" He demanded, and Sans sighed.
"papyrus, i'm having a rough day." Sans said, crossing his arms as his left eye began to give off a soft blue glow. "lay off a little."
"Sans, there's no time to relax. Did you forget what time we're in? You can rest when all of the humans are dead! Now go and make an effort to be useful while I set all of YOUR traps!" Papyrus retorted, and Sans stood up, the glow intensifying.
"At least you're not that Papyrus who was beating me to train." He whispered, and Papyrus jerked his head up, staring at his brother in surprise.
"What?" He asked Sans.
"I'm saying... That I need a break." Sans said.
"Don't be an idiot, Sans." Papyrus said, standing up after setting the trap, his hands on his hips. "You sleep all day! You don't do anything!" He yelled at his brother. Frisk leaned out from behind a tree, watching the two brother's argument, feeling as if they really shouldn't be watching this. "So tell me why you would need a break!"
"You're so oblivious it hurts, Papyrus." Sans whispered, his eye starting to flare up into an aura of blue. "If you knew everything that I knew... You wouldn't want to get up in the morning either."
"DON'T BE STUPID! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Papyrus shouted, obvious that he was pissed. "ALL I KNOW IS THAT HUMANS WILL KILL MONSTERS, SO WE NEED TO KILL THEM!"
"At least there's something that you care about." Sans said, beginning to turn and walk away.
"SANS DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE! THIS ISN'T OVER!" Papyrus said, taking a big stride forward, before yelping as the mechanism for the trap snapped shut, a net set on the ground, covered by the snow scooped Papyrus into the air. Sans turned, a huge smile on his face.
"huh, look at that." Sans said, watching his brother struggle in the net.
"Get me out right now!" Papyrus demanded, trying to get out of the thick net that he couldn't rip with his bare hands.
"oh, i'm sorry. i would, but, i don't know how." Sans said, trying not to laugh. "besides! you said it yourself! Apparently... I don't know anything." Sans laughed, doubling over into his crazed laughter. Papyrus stared down at his brother, laughing at him as he was trapped, anger smoldering in his eyes. And Frisk, watching, felt their hearts pound. They were going to trust themselves to be protected by Sans? It unnerved and scared them, as they watched Sans howl with laughter, pounding his fist on the ground.
"SANS!" Papyrus shouted.
"oh my god that is just priceless!" Sans giggled, gasping for breath. By now, Papyrus' face was bright orange with embarrassment.
"SANS PLEASE!"
"ahah- oh jeez... wow..." Sans sat up, wiping a tear from his eye. "that was... oh my god..." He took a shaky breath, before his tone slid straight to being serious. "And you expect me to let you free after you just told me that I was useless? Wow. You really do know nothing. I think you should hang out here for a while."
"OH MY GOD THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR PUNS!" Papyrus yelled, before starting to struggle again, making it worse.
"heh. i haven't laughed like that since the last time i took a job. ah... anyways!" Sans dusted off his hands, acting as if his brother wasn't caught in a net right in front of him. "you done over there kid?" He called to Frisk, who darted out of the cover of a tree, dressed in a light blue bunny costume to match the people of Snowdin. If you took a close look, you could easily tell that it was fake, but Sans had advised Frisk to move through towns as fast as possible. Papyrus stared at Frisk.
"Who's that?" He asked, trying to get a good look through the ropes of the net.
"oh, i'm sorry bro. i don't know." Sans retorted, before walking off and gesturing to Frisk to follow him. Frisk stopped near Papyrus, who had began to struggle again, and bit their lip from within their costume. "he can get himself out." Sans said, before walking off. Frisk would have felt bad for leaving Papyrus there, so they drew a knife that they had from when they had fallen into the Underground, and began to cut Papyrus out. Eventually, Papyrus fell out and stood up, trying to regain his dignity.
"Thanks... Say... What's your-" Papyrus muttered, still embarrassed, and Frisk quickly turned to follow Sans, deciding to leave it at that. "... Name?" Papyrus watched them go, still pissed at his brother, before deciding to follow them. Sans was probably guiding that rabbit kid through the traps.
Just like Sans had told them to, Frisk took zero stops on their way through Snowdin just so they wouldn't get caught. They had, however, taken a short break to stop off at Snowdin's shop, where the rabbit shopkeeper was selling various weapons to be able to fight humans, and cinnamon rolls. What a drastic difference in items. Frisk had bought a cinnamon roll, before retreating into the forest to be able to eat it without getting caught, before setting out on their journey again. They hadn't stopped to eat Toriel's butterscotch cinnamon pie, because something told them that they still couldn't eat it. But as they walked out of Snowdin, an unsettling feeling came over Frisk as they headed towards Waterfall. Fog started to lay thick over where the river ran past the trail to Waterfall, and if Frisk squinted, they could see the faint imprints of someone else's footprints in the snow in front of them.
An orange light immediately made Frisk jerk their head up, staring in front of them as the orange flared up, dispelling the fog in a sphere. Papyrus stood in front of Frisk, his heavy armor shining in the orange glow from his eyes. He pointed his hand, covered in a gauntlet at Frisk. "You... You're not a monster, are you?" He asked Frisk, and their stomach turned. "Of course you aren't. You peaked my interest from the moment I saw you. My brother had been taking extra precautions to keep you safe... Wouldn't you agree that it's a little suspicious?" Papyrus said, and Frisk bit their lip, beginning to shake. "Take that costume off... Human." Frisk slowly took off the costume, their heart pounding, until they were just a little human child, standing in front of an angry skeleton with armor and endless amounts of magic to easily kill them. "I knew it... And I have to wonder... Why would Sans want to protect a human? We're collecting these human souls, you know. So our armies will be able to overpower the human's." Papyrus explained to Frisk, leaning down.
"You don't have any EXP...?" He whispered, doing a Check on them. "And yet... You're a human. No. That's impossible. All humans are dangerous savages." Papyrus straightened up, the glow of his eye flaring up as he raised his hand. Bones rose out of the ground. "And, finally, I'll be able to become a famous Royal Guardsman! I'll be the one to take a human soul! I'll give it to our king, and he'll become a god! And we'll kill the rest of you humans, and take back the sun!" He declared, before the bones pointed straight at Frisk, and they shot at them. Frisk yelped, ducking to the ground, as the bones whizzed into the mist behind them. "You're faster than I thought!" Papyrus said. "Good. Undyne said that I needed a challenge." Another barrage of bones caught Frisk off guard, as they darted around trying to dodge them. Of course, they got hit, but the pain that they had experienced when being dragged into the Underground was so astronomically agonizing that the injuries they suffered from Papyrus' attacks felt almost like nothing.
Eventually though, they felt fatigue starting to take over them, as their movements slowed, more bones hit them, and Frisk was forced to eat some of the Monster Candy that they had found in the Ruins. "Fall down already!" Papyrus demanded, shooting another barrage at them. Frisk started to attempt to dodge, but a white beam seared through the fog with a loud...
BOOM!
Papyrus jumped back, the fog whipping away around him and Frisk, the bones that he had sent at Frisk disappearing. A blue light came from in the veil of mist, and a few sparks of white came from something. "I told you not to make any stops." Sans said, stamping on the head of his blaster to make it move forward out of the mist. Papyrus stared at his brother, shocked. He had never, ever seen his blasters before, and Sans knew this. "hey bro." Sans said, sitting on its head as its mouth sparked, thirsty to kill something.
"Sans?! What are you doing?! That's a human and you're trying to protect it?!" Papyrus gasped.
"papyrus, you have no idea about anything. you don't know about my powers... hell, you don't know where i disappear sometimes. and when you do find me, you scold me for being on my phone. and you know why i do that? i'm looking for jobs to do. oh, but i guess i should explain to you what my job is. no, i wasn't reassigned from the lab to be a sentry in snowdin. i was reassigned to be in the army, working as an assassin for the monsters. i took jobs from the queen in the ruins and the king in new home. and each time i wasn't at my post, i was working harder than you could have ever imagined. So excuse me if I didn't set my traps. Excuse me if I'm tired. But I'm doing work much, much more important than you could have ever imagines. Got that?" Sans explained to his brother, the blaster making him float closer and closer to his brother until they were nearly touching their foreheads together.
"Why... Why are you protecting this human though?" Papyrus stammered, unable to believe anything his brother had just told him.
"Not only did the queen tell me to... I have my own reasons. And, don't get me wrong Papyrus. You're a good brother... Is what I would say if you weren't always pressuring me to work and train, set this trap, go stand over there, do this or that. Because everyone, even you needs a break. Now... If you'll excuse me, I need to take this human through the Underground. And stay in Snowdin. Go be useful like you always tell me to be." With that, Sans leaned away from Papyrus, a slight crazed look in his eyes, before motioning for Frisk to follow him. Papyrus stood straight up, completely and totally silent. His brother... When Papyrus turned around to shout something to Sans, both him and the human were gone.
And suddenly, the impact of the mistake he had made hit him. He didn't have any friends now. Papyrus had pressured his brother too hard, thinking that he was weak and useless. But in reality, Sans was stronger. Much stronger than him or even Undyne. And Undyne was merely his teacher, grudgingly giving him and other monsters in training lessons on how to fight. He wasn't important. And nobody cared about him anymore.
"don't worry about me and my brother, kid." Sans said, no longer sitting on top of his blaster, and instead walking beside Frisk. "what you should be worrying about is undyne. she's the commander of the monster's army, and if you thought the queen or my brother was hard, well, think again. she's going to fight you, and you're probably going to die. but oh well. i'll step in and keep you from dying. probably." Sans said, and that definitely didn't fill Frisk with determination. "hey, kid. don't worry. okay? i'll keep you safe." Sans said, putting a hand on their shoulder.
Frisk took a shaky breath, becoming nervous despite all of Sans' reassurances. But the fact that they might be able to get out of the Underground alive finally filled them with determination.
Enough determination to keep going.