AN: Man, sorry this took so long. I meant to have at least something up last week. Heh, and you would think that with Spring Break and all, it would have happened, but NOOO! And really this chapter doesn't even have everything I wanted to have in it, but it was starting to run long, so I figured I'd post something for you to read rather than have a disproportionately sized gap between chapters and no bird to carry you across. You could call this "filler" or you could call it a "set up" to some of the main content. either way, I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 3

Good Morning, Old Friend

It had been such a peaceful night too . . .

How in all hells did it come to "this"? It was supposed to be over! It was supposed to be finished! They were supposed to have been able to pick up in the morning after a good night's rest and finished cleaning house. They should have been able to quickly dispose of the junk and move on with life. It was supposed to take a day at maximum . . .

But NO! Here he was, absolutely zero sleep and trudging through the extensive hallways searching for whatever the hell it was that tripped the alarm system.

Blaring sirens screeched and the bright warning lights flashed a horrendous red as Dr. Gaster stalked through the walkways searching high and low for whatever it was that was causing so much of a commotion so early in the morning.

And it didn't take magic to figure that Sans was probably sleeping right through it. Not that Gaster blamed him. He would have been as well if it were up to him. Unless . . . Was Sans the cause of the alarm? Gaster supposed it was possible with his strange (if a bit envy- inducing) ability to fall asleep just about anywhere. It was entirely possible that Sans had set the alarm, fallen asleep somewhere and then woke up and decided to make his way to bed, forgetting that he had already set the alarm.

But for God's sake, turn that damned noise OFF once you heard it!

Or was he in danger!? Did he encounter something in the storage unit they didn't foresee and was caught unprepared and unaware? Gaster quickened his pace. If that was the case, he had to find Sans immediately and help him subdue . . . whatever was going on.

Gaster groaned as a slight throbbing in his skull alerted him to an oncoming migraine. Maybe it wasn't even Sans. Maybe it was just a hiccup in the program. God, he hoped so. Then he could go back upstairs and get some rest.

Ugh, whatever! As long as he could turn that damned siren off! The readings from his office said that the disturbance was centered down in the sub-basement. Well that was where he left Sans to finish up that last room. That small nagging voice that thought that maybe his apprentice needed him after all lit a match under him and as he thought about it again, his brisk pace became more of a jog.

Taking the last elevator down, Gaster could already feel there was something extremely off. There was less of a chill than there had been earlier, or maybe that was because of the welling frustration. He had even left his lab coat upstairs, discarded on his desk chair having removed it hours before. He surprised himself when he realized that he didn't really need it, maybe it was due to his jog as well.

Rounding the corner of the last hallway, Gaster saw exactly what had been causing that awkward feeling.

Somehow, Sans had left the door to the storage room open. There was a noticeable gap between the double doors, showing a glimpse into the shadowing darkness inside.

If he was still down here . . . and the alarm was still going . . . then . . .

"Sans!" The doctor called out, being cautious with his steps and slowing down to that brisk walk from before. "Sans, answer me! Are you down here!?"

The sirens continued to wail and the lights continued to flash as Gaster pressed onward, but there was no answer from his apprentice. He supposed it wasn't that uncommon and everyone was subject to a minor slip-up like a door not being completely locked before setting an alarm. He couldn't really blame Sans for that . . . even if it was EXTREMELY inconvenient.

With this thought to calm him, Gaster let out a steadying breath as he approached the pin pad against the far wall and expertly keyed in his override code. Immediately, the wailing and the blaring ceased and the next breath that was released was one of relief. Finally, some quiet.

He would just have to remind Sans to double check all doors after he had closed them. Well, it really was no big deal. It was an easy fix and afterward, he could go back upstairs and perhaps get a little rest before the big day.

Gaster pulled on the door to get it to close, already mentally preparing himself for the heaviness. When the door moved with the ease of a pound of feathers, his face fell.

"How in the world . . . ?"

He examined the door again and only realized then the gaping hole ripped through the inner workings of the door's core structure. Someone or something had sabotaged the door. He took a look at the other door and found a similar disemboweling. The locks and mechanisms that made these doors so secure had been completely removed. No wonder the alarms were so insistent! This definitely wasn't Sans' handiwork!

Pushing the door once again, the metallic barrier gave way too easily. It fell off of its hinges with a creak and toppled forward into the room, demolishing all that happened to be in the way. Boxes were flattened and equipment was smashed and Gaster's nerves tightened in the resulting crash.

Maybe he'd turned the alarm off too soon.

Reaching up to a device pinned to his shirt, he pressed a button and the Overhead System clicked to life.

"SANS!" The voice boomed from every strategically placed overhead speaker, "SANS TO SUB-BASEMENT STORAGE! SANS, TO ME AT ONCE!" Gaster then flicked his wrist toward the keypad, shocking the alarm system back to life. Once again, the sirens began to wail and the flashing red light began to steadily blind Gaster.

From behind him, through the intermittent screams of the siren, there was a shuffling of feet and a low groaning sound.

"Ah! There you are, Sans!" Gaster sighed, a bit of comfort washing over him at the speedy response. He turned around to face his apprentice, "I was not expecting you to—"

Gaster's eyes went wide and he may have even gasped in his shock. Immediately, his hands were up in defense and he summoned his magic to the surface of his being, letting it pool in his hands, ready to be released at a moment's notice.

"You!" He accused, backpedaling and nearly tripping over the fallen door, "How the Hell!?"

Somewhere in the back of his skull there was a continuous ringing haunting the little bit of sleep Sans had found. He thought he even heard Gaster's voice in there, but it faded an instant later and the ringing sound followed soon after, so Sans didn't move.

That relief was short-lived when the ringing started up once again with a renewed vigor. After the few minutes of silence, the noise seemed even louder and it startled the snoring Skeleton awake.

Blinking out of his stupor, Sans peered through the darkness of his room. In all honesty, there wasn't much to it: a mattress, a corner where he kept his extra sets of clothing and the scraps of some personal projects he had been working on in his free time. In the far corner of the room, there was a bit of trash piling up. He figured he should probably do something about that soon.

"SANS!" Gaster's voice boomed, and he realized that this was the same tone of voice he'd heard nudging at the corners of his consciousness. Damn, how long had he been calling? He seemed downright frantic! What the Hell was going on? "SANS! TO SUB-BASEMENT STORAGE IMMEDIATELY! DAMN IT, SANS, WHERE ARE YOU!?"

That got his attention. Gaster NEVER used that kind of language unless the situation expressly called for it.

"I should probably get down there, then." He sighed to himself, grabbing his coat and slipping on his shoes. "The sub-basement, huh? Didn't I just lock that place up? Heh, maybe I really should've spent the night down there with Papyrus after all."

Sans had to hurry through the walkways and hallways in order to make decent time. The elevators on the other hand, there wasn't much he could do about.

Stepping out into the lowest level, the sirens seemed even louder and the flashing lights seemed even more blinding. If he had ears, he would have covered them or plugged them with socks or SOMETHING, but as it was, he could only try to ignore it as the sound resonated within his skull, but it was starting to get really annoying. He must be getting close.

"Hey, Gaster!" Sans called hoping to gain the doctor's attention and maybe convince him to turn off the siren, "Dr. G! Where are you!? What's going on down here?"

Turning that fateful final corner, all of Sans' initial questions were answered upon first glance. The sight, however, only raised several more.

There Gaster was, his arms outstretched, his guard fully raised and his gaze completely focused ahead. It looked like he may be preparing an attack.

The object of his glare was several feet before him, helplessly pinned to the wall by strong magic. Bony fingers stretched outward as the rest of the Skeleton's body was rendered completely immobile, a faint green glow surrounding it.

In other words, Gaster had probably found him wandering, totally freaked out, and set off the alarm to call for help. As an extra precaution, he'd immobilized the subject and made it impossible to escape.

"Bro . . ." The Skeleton groaned, his reaching hand becoming almost desperate when he noticed Sans approaching. "My . . . bro . . ."

Holy crap! He can talk!?

"For the final time!" Gaster hissed, "You have no brother! You are not even supposed to be functioning! Now answer me! How did you destroy the storage door!? How did you regain consciousness? How did you . . . I know you can speak. Just answer me and I'll let you rest!"

Sans' eyes went wide. Woah! Woah! Hold on! "Let you rest" was Gaster-speak for "terminate." Was he still planning on killing Papyrus even though there was evidence that he could be rehabilitated and maybe even reinstated!? Yeah, he may be a little . . . unruly . . . and holy crap, what the heck happened to the door!?

"Hold up, Gaster!" Sans called rushing the last few steps to be at the doctor's side. He even placed a hand on his arm in an attempt to lower his hand and ease him off of an attack.

"Sans!" Gaster exclaimed, over the shrieking sound of the alarm and snapping his head toward the other skeleton. "Where were you!? Were you aware of this!?"

Sans shrugged, "Nope." He answered a bit more nonchalantly than the situation called for, "I mean I saw him earlier, but he was as unresponsive as ever. Even as I was locking up."

"My . . . Brother. I want . . . My brother."

"Sans, explain! Do you have any idea what he is . . . What IT is talking about?

Sans turned his attention briefly to Papyrus, his eyes studying his immobile friend. "Can't say I do. Was he always asking for his brother?"

"He . . . IT has. From the moment I found it wandering the halls. It seems to have imagined one for itself and it's been searching to find him. Where it got such a ridiculous notion, I have no idea."

"Interesting." Sans mused stepping in front of Gaster's hand and steadily approaching Papyrus where Gaster had him pinned a good foot or so off of the ground.

"Hey there, buddy." He began with a bit of a smirk to his tone and his face, "How's it hangin'?"

"Sans," Gaster groaned, "Is now really the time?"

Sans looked back over his shoulder with his signature faux smile firmly pasted in place as he raised an open palm to stay the doctor's criticism. Gaster's frown remained firm, but he nodded all the same, understanding Sans' motive. "Proceed with caution, Sans." He warned, "This thing is dangerous. It tore out the inner locking mechanisms of the security doors and it still has the knowledge of how to manifest magic and create attacks. One wrong step and you could—"

"I understand." Sans answered calmly still approaching Papyrus. "Thanks, G. Now could we please turn OFF that siren? That thing could wake the firggin' dead!"

Reluctantly, Gaster obliged, flicking his wrist toward the pin pad again as a separate floating hand sprung into existence for the sole purpose of disabling the alarm before dissipating soundlessly.

"That's better." Sans sighed as he chanced a few more steps before starting back at the Skeleton. "Hey, listen. You were project . . . P-49 . . . 7 . . . 305, right? Geez, that's a long number. And it doesn't really roll off the tongue, does it? We should really get you a name badge or something. Look, I don't know how or why you suddenly woke up, but you're really freakin' the boss out here. So here's the deal. I'm gonna see if I can convince him to put you down, and then we can see if we can work this out like civilized . . . monster-beings.

"Sans!" Gaster snapped, "Have you gone insane!? There's no way we can let that thing loose!"

From the wall, there was a low groan, "Name . . . Not . . . Not mine."

Both Gaster and Sans silenced, stopping stone cold as they watched. A bewildered, "Well, that's new." Escaped Gaster's mouth and the green glow slowly ebbed away as he set his target carefully back on the ground. "You have a name, do you? What is it?"

"My name . . . is . . . Pap . . . Pap-rus."

Sans stilled, knowing exactly where this was headed.

"My name is . . . Papyrus."

"And tell me . . . Papyrus." Gaster struggled with the name, but kept a criticizing tone to his voice. No doubt, he had put the puzzle pieces together as well. "Who gave you that name?"

When Papyrus spoke again, his voice was very different. The word he said was garbled and gravelly, almost as if someone had taken the word and run it through the blender. Gaster recognized it immediately as wingdings.

"Is that so?" Gaster continued. "Now, Papyrus. I understand you've been looking for your 'brother'. Can you tell us his name?"

Papyrus nodded in answer and spoke again in the strange language. The word he spoke was identical to the first.

"Sans."

AN: And I think I'll end it there for now. Not only is it late . . . but it's short too? Dang, I'm sorry. Well, at least it's something to suck on while I get dinner ready! I normally try to leave it at some sort of "revelation" but honestly, we all knew this coming eventually, right?

So with the addition of a name and the discovery of his attachment to Sans, can Papyrus' fate be changed? Or will Dr. Gaster insist on continuing with his eradication? And what about Sans? He broke one of the fundamental rules Gaster expressly laid out. What will the ramifications be? Well, I don't know? We'll have to see in Chapter 4. See you there!