The chill of the air hit you like a pillow fight. Though the air wasn't technically fresh, it felt easier to breathe out here than in the Ruins. You know you weren't down there for long, but it still felt like an accomplishment. As you take a deep breath, you smile.

"Okay, here we go." You walk ahead, the crunch of the snow under your feet echoing of the trees, the only sound around you. You look around at the trees, the familiarity setting in, but you couldn't tell if it was your memory or Frisk's. Either way, you knew just what you were in for.

A ways up, you stumble a bit on a large branch. You hadn't noticed it before. Curious, you try to move it, pulling at it with all your might. You try one arm, then both, then at every angle, until finally, you give up.

With a sigh, you sit against the branch, "Man, this branch is a lot tougher than it looks," you glance back, the door to the Ruins still in sight, "Well... No one else will be coming this way anytime soon, right? It should be fine."

You smile and nod, resolved to push forward anyway.

You were several paces away from the branch, when you heard a loud crack. You jump nearly out of your skin, but force yourself to glance back the way you came. You tense up, the branch is still there, only now it's in pieces. Quickly, you turn back ahead and start walking again, faster this time.

"Its all in your head... It's all in your head..." You tell yourself, trying to calm yourself down. Unwilling, but curious, you glance back again as you walk. This time, you see a large shadow duck behind a tree. You key out a yelp and start to run,"That is so not in my head!"

You slow to a stop as you reach a bridge with a large fence blocking the way. You don't know quite why, but an overwhelming sense of dejavu stats to set in. You look up at the gate, wondering if maybe you could climb it.

"Human."

A shiver runs down your spine. You turn slowly around, even though your better instincts days don't. The figure was all in shadow as it looms over you. You stare at it for a second, frozen in place. After a long second, the figure extends a hand out to you. You stand up straight and prepare yourself as you extend your hand to meet it and grab firmly.

The tension dissolves in an instant as a sound like someone blowing a raspberry echoed off the trees. Followed by a very familiar laugh.

As you look up at the figure again, he steps out of the shadow, you see Sans smiling a little too big, "Oh man, the whoopee cushion in the hand trick, that never gets old." You stare, dumbfounded for a moment, before you remember the first time you had met him. You smile at him, grinning add wide as you can, "You sure acted quick though, turning around before I told you too. As if you've done this before," he says, almost thoughtfully, "Anyway, your human right?"

"Oh, yeah!" You smile at him and nod.

"That's hilarious." Sans says, looking to the side, "Anyway, I'm Sans, Sans the skeleton."

"Nice to meet you, Sans."

"You know, kid, I'm a sentry here. I'm supposed to be on the look out for humans, but, I don't really feel like capturing anyone," he just shrugs, "Now my brother, Papyrus, he's a human hunting fanatic. Actually, I think I see him coming now."

You turn to see what he saw, but you couldn't see anything. You raise an eyebrow, confused for a moment, and look at him.

"Go on, just walk through this gate thing. My bro made the bars to wide to stop anything."

You look ahead and realize that he's right. The bridge going between the bars was much bigger than it needed to be. Guess Papyrus doesn't want to stop anyone that badly. You thought to yourself.

Or it's something else.

You glance to the side, wondering what it was he meant by that, "What?"

"Uh, I didn't day anything, kid."

You blink and look over your shoulder, remembering that Sans was still with you. Of course he couldn't hear Roxas' comment. You aren't sure how you could keep forgetting that. In the back of your mind, you can feel Frisk laughing at you. It's a bit mocking, but somehow makes you feel a bit better.

"Quick! Behind that, uh, almost conveniently shaped lamp."

As you step off the bridge on the other side, you see the lamp next to Sans' sentry station. The lamp he was pointing to was a bit shorter than you, and for some reason reminded you of Frisk. You shrug it off and smile as you crouch down behind the lamp, hiding as best as you could.

"Sans!" After a moment, you hear Papyrus's footsteps stop.

"Sup, bro?" You hear Sans respond. You cover your mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"Your know precisely whats sup," Papyrus was stomping his foot in the snow with each word, "Is been 8 days and you still haven't recalibrated. Your. Puzzles!" You glance around the side of the lamp and see Papyrus stepping closer to Sans, gesturing to his stand beside you, "You just hang around your station all day! You get lazier and lazier everyday!"

Sans shrugs, "Hey, take it easy. I've gotten a ton of work done today," he glances your way and winks, "A skeleton."

You had to duck down to keep from laughing. It was all you could do to keep yourself hidden.

"Sans!" Papyrus stomped again and just sighed, "How is someone like supposed to get ahead in life when I constantly have to deal with these conditions?"

"Gee bro, sounds like you're really working yourself-" he winks at you a again, "-down to the bone."

Papyrus have a frustrated sound, "Just get keep an eye socket out for any humans!" He turned and started to walk a few steps before he stopped again, "And as for your work, Sans. Put a little more backbone into it. Nyeh heh heh!" He laughed and marched down the path. "Heh!"

"Okay, kid, it's safe now."

You stand up from behind the lamp and just smile at Sans, "Wow," is all you manage to say.

"Better hurry and get going before he comes back," he looks at you before turning away, "or else you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes."

You laugh to yourself and start to walk, "okay, okay. See you later then." You look ahead of you down the snowy path. The snow on either side of the road seemed untouched, except by the line of trees. In the dirt path in front of you, you could see Papyrus's footsteps leading away. You smile, still seeing his laughing face as he-

"Actually, hey, could you do me one favor?"

You hear Sans again and stop, to the back to him, "Sure, what is it?"

Sans looks at you, his unreadable expression particularly blank, "My brother's never seen a human before and it would really make his day," before you could answer, he turned away and started to walk, waving at you, "Thanks, I'll be up ahead."

You tilt your head as you watch him walk away, confused. You blink a couple times and suddenly he vanishes, "Huh?" You look around yourself. You had been watching him, but he just vanished, "Where did he go?"

Don't worry too much about it, Sora, Frisk tells you. You can feel them urging you to move forward, There's more important things to worry about.

You smile and nod, "Right. Onwards then!" You hold your arms up as you March down the path, smiling to yourself.

The silence set in as the air around him went still once again. Watching Sora march off was both familiar and new. He was different than before, but why?

Sans leaned against a tree by the door, wondering what had changed. He stared at the door, waiting for something to happen. But what? It was only recently that things began to change. The world has as been fluctuating more than usual. Was it because of Sora?

Or was it something else entirely?

He quickly jumped to the side as something shot from the shadows and broke the tree he was leaning against in half. He kept running through the trees as more and more of them shot past him, breaking the trees down. Sans kept to the light from the crystals in the ceiling as it shone through the treetops. Each time he glanced back he caught sight of big yellow eyes following him before they shot another blast

"Whoa!" He skidded to a halt as he came to the edge of the small frozen lake in the forest. He turned around, his back to the icy waters, "You really got me shaking now. Why don't you come out and face me?"

Sans shoves his hands into his pockets as he watches the shadows step of the trees. They surrounded him instantly, shuffling and twitching awkwardly. Sans narrowed his eyes at one shadow as it stands before him.

"Huh. Not familiar with you. Who are you?"

The figure held its hands out to him, moving closer to him. Sans steps back, his foot shipping a bit on the edge of the ice. He glanced back down at the ice, then back up, the figure directly in front of him.

"Whoa, buddy!" Sans said, holding his hands up, "Personal space!" Sans stared at them for a moment, before he said, "No. I can't help him. Why do I need to? Kid can handle himself."

The figure stepped back, turning away from him. The shadows around started getting antsy. They shuffled more and twitched, watching Sans. The figure stopped for a moment, it's head turned back a bit, before it disappeared.

Sans watched as the shadows, too, began to recede back into the dark of the forest. He folded his arms, "What is that supposed to mean? " he looked up at the high cliff above, seeing Papyrus as he traveled between puzzles, Sora not far behind him. He shook his head "Guess I'll just have to break the ice then." He laughed as he snapped his fingers, using a shortcut to catch up, "I'm funny, I swear."