It was dark between torches and unnaturally quiet. The only sound you can hear is your own footsteps as you make your way down the hall and around each corner. You aren't even sure you should be down here, but still you walk on. Something inside you wanted to trust that your Keyblade led you down here for a reason. Something in the back of your mind was trying to come forward, to tell you something you may have forgotten, but as your blood began to run cold, you decided it didn't matter right at that moment. As you rounded the final corner, you stare ahead. The hall ahead seemed to stretch on forever, you weren't even sure you could see the end of it.

"Maybe this wasn't the best idea," you say aloud, trying to convince yourself to turn back. But, something in you pushed you forward. Even though you felt heavy, a terrible feeling of dread hanging over your head, you proceeded down the hall. As you walked, you found yourself clutching your keyblade for comfort. A small gesture, but it helped a little.

At the end of the hall there was a huge doorway. It was intimidating, even from a far distance. As you got closer to it, you feel a gust of wind. Gentle at first, it picked up as you came closer and closer. It wasn't blowing at you, it seemed to be pulling you out the door. Before you could change your mind and turn back, the door opens and pulls you off your feet and out into the cold.

You felt the chilling feeling all around you, no longer just under your skin. It surrounded you until it started to feel good. The cold quickly turned to a much warmer feeling. There was even a murmur around you as the warm feeling began to feel more like burning.

And then, there was nothing.

It felt like an eternity, but you finally found your eyes. As you opened them, you could see a much brighter environment. The sky above you was still dark, a few specks of light around you, though they seemed much further away. You blink a few times and the scene becomes a bit clearer. Sitting up, you notice the trees, grey and covered in snow. Snow? As you looked around yourself, you discovered what the cold feeling had been. You had been lying in a snow bank. But for how long?

You stand, brushing the snow off your legs. It didn't feel quite as cold as you would have imagined, but,you soon realize nothing feels quite right as the feeling begins to rush back to your legs. The prickly feeling takes you by surprise, but tells you you have indeed been lying there for a while. As you stumble to recover your balance, you notice something up ahead.

It was a little structure that almost looked like a counter in a store or something. It looked almost like a food stand. As you make your way to it and look behind it on the inside, you see your assumptions were correct. Inside were bottles of ketchup, mustard, and relish, though there didn't seem to be much else.

As you were looking, you hear your stomach growl loudly. It was then that you remembered that you never ate the pie that Toriel had given you. Looking at these ingredients, you begin to wish you had at least brought it with you.

Just then, you hear the crunching of footsteps up the path, beyond the trees. In a panic, and almost ridiculously so, you look around for someplace to hide. If this was someones stand or something, staying behind it was a definite way of getting caught. Just then, off to the side you catch glimpse of what looks like an oddly shaped lamp. You begin to wonder why a lamp is even out here when you hear the footsteps getting louder. Brushing the convenience off, you hide behind it. Its a little smaller than you, but you find yourself able to hide nicely. You close your eyes tight and wait, your heart beating out of your chest.

The footsteps get louder and louder, closer and closer, until finally they stopped just beside you. You scrunch yourself down further, hoping the lamp was hiding you better than you thought it was. During the long silence, your skin began to crawl, in the way that it does when someone is watching you. But still, you refused to open your eyes to check.

"Kid, you know I can see you."

The voice made you jump right out of your skin. As you fell back, you knocked the lamp over. It shattered into so many pieces as you just laid back in the snow. Blinking, you stared up, trying to figure out what happened. The figure comes into view, leaning over you. You couldn't quite tell at this angle, but his eyes seemed lifeless and empty like a skeleton, an ever present smile on his face, and, despite all that, he seemed to be raising an eyebrow he didn't have.

You jump again and slide back, "Whoa!"As you gather your bearings you see that he is, in fact, a concerned and confused skeleton. His eyes weren't empty, though they were mostly black. Little white spots in the center followed you as you moved from side to side in front of him. You smile and nod as you stand again, "I keep forgetting there are other monsters."

The skeleton seemed to understand your confusion, but still was confused himself. He shrugged his shoulders. He was wearing a blue hoodie, unzipped all the way, with a white t-shirt underneath and black sport shorts. On his feet were some dingy looking socks inside a pair of slippers.

"You're human aren't you? That's... Well, that's interesting," he winked at you, something you had to tell yourself twice that he did despite seeing it for yourself, "I'm Sans, Sans the Skeleton."

As he held his hand out, you smile, "Nice to meet you! I'm Sora-" as you take his hand to shake it, you hear a loud raspberry sound, followed by Sans laughing pretty hard.

"Oh man, the ol' whoopee cushion in the hand trick never gets old."

As he takes off his glove and shows you the whoopee cushion inside, you laugh along with him, "That is a pretty good one!"

"Hey, what can i say, sometimes to break the ice you just need to break some wind," You both stand there howling with laughter for a good few minutes before things finally settle down. As you look at Sans, he still seems confused, "So kid, how'd ya get here? A bit unusual to see a human down here. Let alone two of them."

You blink, surprised to hear about the other human, "The other human came through here?"

Sans nods, "Yeah, my brother Papyrus and I showed them a pretty good time before they left town. Seemed they were in a hurry for something."

You shake your head, "Did they tell you their name? Or where they were going?"

Sans shrugged his shoulders, "Kid didn't really say much at all. Not really much for conversation," he thought for a moment, as if considering each word before he said it, "If I had to guess, I'd say they were going to see the King though."

You feel the color leave your face, "The... King?" You remember what Toriel had said about him and involuntarily shiver. Sans seemed to notice it right away.

He raised his eyebrow again, "I suppose that's a touchy subject for you, even if it is about the King. Don't worry, he's fairly harmless. You can count on that." Despite the obvious jokes that he's making, you still feel uneasy. The other kid was in danger, but what could you do? You didn't even know how to get to the castle.

"I need to get there, too," You tell Sans. This time, he doesn't seem surprised, "They are in danger, I can just feel it."

Sans nods a couple times, "Okay. I'll show you the way. But first, how about a bite to eat? I could hear your stomach growl from across the trees."

Before you could protest, or even agree, your stomach growls again. You rub your head, a little embarrassed, "I could eat."

Sans chuckles to himself, "Don't worry, I know just the place," he starts to walk back the way you had come from. You start to follow him, a bit confused. Before you could ask, he looks at you and winks, "This way, I know a shortcut," with that, he snaps his fingers.

In the next instant, you were suddenly inside a much warmer place. It smelled like grease and burning wood. All around you there was chatter and various levels of barks. The other monsters seemed to pay you no mind as you followed Sans to the bar.

"H-Hey Sansy~~~!"

"Hey Sans! Welcome back!"

"Hey Sans, weren't you just in here for breakfast?"

"Nah, I haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour," Sans answers. He shrugs and winks at the one speaking, the monster who looks a lot like a giant fish, "You must be thinking of brunch."

The whole room erupts with laughter, much like you had been laughing with Sans. Sans seems very much in his element as he sits on a bar stool. He gestures to you, "Sit here, kid."

You smile and nod as you go to sit next to him. Once again, you hear the loud sound of a whoopee cushion, and give Sans a look. He just looks really amused.

"Be careful, kid. There's a weird guy who keeps putting whoopee cushions in the seats."

You sigh, still trying to hold back your laughter as a bright light approaches you. As you look up at it, you have to cover your eyes for a moment. It was like a roaring fire, but contained. Once your eyes adjusted to the sudden light, you saw it was a fire. As a matter off act it was a controlled fire in a neat suit.

"Grillby, a double order of burg," you hear Sans say. The fire nods and walks off towards, and then through, a door beside the bar, "That's Grillby, he owns this place," Sans tells you, "He's a a good friend, has been for a long time now."

You look at Sans, the questions filling your eyes, "He's on fire!"

"He is pretty hot, isn't he?" Sans leans on his hand on the bar, "He's made of fire, kid. So, I'd keep my hands to myself if I were you."

You couldn't quite tell where the joke began and where it ended, so you just looked across the bar to the back shelves. There were bottles lining them all along the wall. Mostly some kinds of liquids, as well as several bottles of ketchup. The labels all said just "Grillby's" on the labels.

You turned around in your chair and looked at a table not far from you. The occupants seemed to be having some sort of heated discussion, or maybe just talking. They were all dogs of varying sizes so most of the chatter from them was just different levels of barks. One off to the side who seemed to be smoking a dog treat kept his eyes darting from side to side, depending on who was moving.

"Those dogs are all in the Royal Guard under Undyne," you hear Sans tell you. You see his bony finger point to each dog a she introduces them, "Dogamy and Dogaressa just got married a couple dog years ago. Their fighting style is a bit unorthodox, but they are nice once you get to know them and get past the cuddling. Greater Dog there is all bark and no bit," he pointed quickly away as the dog in the big suit of armor looked your way, "If you aren't careful, he'll jump in your lap and cuddle you to your death."

Even though it sounded completely adorable, you couldn't help but feel uneasy around him.

Sans points to the side where a smaller dog in armor seems to be playing cards with himself, "Beneath Greater is Lesser Dog. He just gets overly excited about pretty much everything. You could say he unleashed his true potential in battle. The one smoking dog treats in Doggo. He actually con't see anything if it's not moving. He had great potential when he started, but the vision he had of himself faded long ago."

You look at Sans, "And what about you?" you ask him, "What were you doing in the forest?"

"Me? I'm a sentry in Snowdin Forest. The stand you saw is my station," Sans explained. he shrugged and looked to the side, "I was actually supposed to be on the look out for humans to capture them and take them to the King. But... eh, I don't really care about catching anyone. Now my brother, Papyrus... he's a human hunting fanatic."

Just then, the door to the bar slams open, "SANS!" a tall figure stands in the doorway, wearing armor sort of similar to the royal guard dogs.

"Speaking of," Sans chuckles to himself, "Hey Papyrus, what's up?"

"You know very well what is up, brother!" As Papyrus approaches, you see that he is about twice the height of Sans at a third the size. The armor he was wearing was actually very different from the dogs. It was white, while theirs was mostly black, and he wore a long red cape like scarf around his neck. As a skeleton, he too had a permanent smile on his face, but his eyes showed more irritation at Sans. He put his hands on his hipbones as he spoke, "Why aren't you at your station?"

"I'm on break," Sans shrugged, "Besides, you and I already found a human. What do I need to look for now?"

Papyrus looked absolutely frustrated, "You must be on the lookout at each of your stations! You chose to run so many, so go man them! Quit boondoggling so much! You lazy brother!"

As you watch them, you let a little chuckle slip out. It was quick and quiet, but it was enough to catch Papyrus's attention. As he looks your way, his attitude changes, it eases a little.

"Sans, who's your friend? Another human?"

Sans looks at you as he answers, "This is Sora. He's actually interested in seeing the king as well."

Papyrus straightened up, "Well then! I, The Great Papyrus, will have to help you as well! After a few puzzles and a battle, you and I might become good friends as well!"

"Don't the puzzles need to be reset and re-calibrated first?" Sans said.

Papyrus's shoulders drooped for a moment, "Oh... Oh yes! They do!"

"And you look like you could use some rest before you fight anyone."

"Sans! Do you wish for me to not make any friends at all?!"

"Nah bro," Sans winks and shrugs at Papyrus, "a cool guy like you could make a friend without going through all of that first."

"Are you sure?" Papyrus turns his attention to you. He thinks for a moment, then points at you, "You there, Human! Would you like to be friends with The Great Papyrus?"

You tilt your head. The two of them seemed a bit strange,definitely unlike the other people here. As you glance at Sans, you see he gives you a secret thumbs up. Smiling back at Papyrus you nod, "Sure! That'd be great!"

Papyrus's eyes seem to sparkle, despite being empty like Sans's, "Wowie! In just one day I've made two new friends! Oh, we absolutely must hang out soon! Stop by my house any time! Nyeh heh heh!" he laughs to himself as he hurries back out the door.'

"Thanks, kid," Sans says as he stands from his seat, "Papyrus certainly is having a great day."

You smile at him and nod, "You're a good brother to do that for him."

Sans shrugs, "Nah, a cool guy like him doesn't need my kind of help. Well, anyway, I better go. Gotta check on the other kid. You got this, right?" he points behind you as Grillby sets two burgers on the bar. You blink and look in your pockets, realizing you have no money, "Just joking. Grillby, put it on my tab." Sans turns and starts to walk out the door then.

You start to turn back to eat, "Oh, one more thing," you blink as Sans is beside you again, "Missing something?"

He raises his hand in front of you. Sitting in the center of his glove is your keyblade. Blinking, you quickly look at your wrist to see it no longer hanging there, "Whoa, thanks! I don't know what I would do if I lost that!"

"Hey, no problem, Sora," Sans winks at you, "Better take care of it. Hate to see it in the wrong hands."

You were looking down as he spoke, returning the key to the string on your wrist. As he finished, you blinked, realizing what he said, "Wha-?" as you look up to question him, you see he's already gone. Even though you never heard him leave, he's already disappeared. Shrugging, you turn back and start to eat your burger.