Level 2

"Why is the room purple?"

Sans looked to his brother, who had taken to wandering off just a few steps before him. Sans merely shrugged before going back to the journal in his hands, having taken to sketching out one of the broken columns before him.

After leaving the room where they had met Flowey, Sans suggested that they take a few more minutes to rest their aching bodies in case they encountered anymore hostile monsters. Papyrus seemed against it as they were already burning daylight but the moment Sans sat down on a bed of dead, red leaves the tall brother took to scoping out the room.

Just beyond the red leaves were two grey, stone staircases that led to another room above. Unlike outside, this room had light, which made the brothers question where the electricity was coming from.

"Maybe the monsters wanted to paint it purple." Sans innocently responded, having finished half of his sketch. His eyes kept wandering to the other side of the page, where he had written down some pointers from earlier, some warnings to keep his distance when encountering new monsters, and an unfinished sketch of Flowey. He hoped to never finish it.

"Out of all of the colors they could have chosen." Papyrus shook his head. "And it's a bright purple too!"

"What, you an interior decorator now?" Sans asked, giving his irritated brother a smile which only irked him some more.

While Papyrus wasn't back to his normal self yet, Sans was satisfied in seeing his brother slowly regaining himself and learning to accept that monsters were real. He didn't want to know what it might have been like for Papyrus to see him almost die by a flower.

"If I was then this place would be my first project. Everything would be replaced with more cool things, like…" Papyrus placed a few fingers on his chin, as if contemplating his next words. Suddenly his eyebrows lurched up. "Like a nice, stylish grey! And maybe a few sports cars to show off over there, and there."

"You know, I'm surprised you haven't freaked out about your car yet." Sans admitted, going back to his sketch. "That thing is your baby, isn't it?"

"Yes, but thankfully there's no one around to steal it so I'm less worried about it." Papyrus was soon reminded of something, turning his fully body in the direction of Sans. "Which reminds me, when are you going to get your license? I can't drive you everywhere!"

"Aw, but I like it when you drive." Sans noticed Papyrus coming over to his spot, which made him close his journal. "You're so good at it."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Sans." Papyrus responded, though he did seem to like the compliment. "But I am an awesome driver, that is correct."

"You sure you don't want to rest?" Sans slowly rose to stand, placing his journal back in his backpack. "We might not get to for awhile."

"I'm fine, Sans!" Papyrus looked eager to continue, if not a little annoyed Sans was going so slow. "I want to get out of here as soon as we can before we encounter anymore deadly flowers."

"Flowey told me not all flowers are monsters." Sans lifted his backpack up and back onto his back, motioning with his head towards the stairs.

Papyrus pursued. "And you're going to believe him?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"I hate it when you respond like that!"

Together both brothers ascended the stairs and walked into the next room, where both were greeted to six stone buttons in the floor and their first door. Upon said door was an emblem that was made from a circle in the middle, followed by what appeared to be wings on either side, and to the bottom of it was two upright triangles with an upside down triangle in between the two.

"Wait, I've seen this before." Papyrus held a hand out, stopping Sans from going any further into the room.

Sans eyed him. "You have?"

"Of course! This is the part where the entrance behind us closes and we get subjected to a deadly trap!" As if expecting it Papyrus soon ran out of the room, staying behind the door frame.

He gestured a hand. "Hurry, Sans! Before snakes start coming out of the walls or the room fills up with water!"

Sans instead chose to stand in the room, as if asking the supposed trap to spring. He looked to both sides of him, then back to Papyrus. "I don't think that's the purpose of this room."

"Why not? It's obviously here to trap us!"

"Or maybe…" Sans looked to the door, walking farther into the room much to Papyrus' protest. "This is here to keep people from going inside."

"You mean like… a door?" Papyrus seemed confused, but entered back into the room when nothing seemed to be happening.

Sans just chuckled, shaking his head. "Yeah, bro. Like a door."

Sans set down his backpack for a moment, reopening his journal before quickly sketching out the symbol on the door. Papyrus on the other hand looked to the stone buttons, his curiosity piqued.

"I'm guessing the door only opens by a certain pattern from those buttons." Sans pointed with his pen without looking, finishing up his sketch. "What pattern though…"

Before Sans could contemplate any suggestions the door suddenly split open. Sans, startled moved backwards, tripping on his own feet and falling down.

Papyrus' face came into view as he laid on the ground, though he wasn't expecting the goofy smile he wore. "Sans, the door magically opened!"

"I noticed that." Papyrus held out a hand to which Sans took, helping himself up. He brushed off the dust that littered the floor that now clung to his clothes, then bent over to grab his journal and pen.

When he stood back up he noticed four of the buttons were pushed in. He looked to Papyrus. "How did you know the right combination?"

"Combination?" Papyrus twirled to look back at the buttons. "I just made a square, that's all. To represent the room."

Sans stared questionably at the buttons before back at Papyrus who had the silliest smile on his face. Sans couldn't help but produce the same, placing a hand on Papyrus' shoulder. "Nice going, bro. You're a real genius."

Papyrus felt his cheeks got hot with a light blush, watching Sans walk back over to his backpack. He straightened his back, placing a hand on his chest. "Yes, well, I'm glad we can both see my smartness!"

"Me too." Sans readjusted his backpack, motioning his hand for Papyrus to follow. Upon entering the next room however neither of them were expecting to find what laid ahead.

Papyrus lifted a finger questionably. "Is that…?"

Sans nodded his head to confirm Papyrus' thoughts. To the side of them stretched a long hall, where three bridges waited and running water flowed just beneath them.

Sans was the first to approach the water, setting down his backpack to the side. He cupped his hands and dipped them into the cold water, about to bring the water to his lips if Papyrus hadn't harshly spoke. "Sans, don't drink that!"

"Why not?" Sans turned to look at Papyrus, who kept a safe distance from the water. "It's just water."

"You don't know where it's been!" Papyrus eyed the water skeptically, as if he was looking at sewage. "What if it's full of monster gunk?"

"I don't think it is." Sans, noticing his water from before having dripped through his fingers took another plunge. "There's probably a small creak on the mountain that runs through here."

Before Papyrus could make any more excuses Sans took a sip of the water. Immediately it felt as though his mind had grown sharp, like drinking a good cup of coffee. Even his aches from when he had fallen seemed as though they melted off his body."Whoa."

"Whoa?" Papyrus mimicked. "Water shouldn't make you 'whoa'."

Sans motioned Papyrus over, cracking a good grin. "Try this, Papyrus."

Papyrus however wasn't as eager as Sans was to give the water a try. "Hmm…" When he had inched himself close enough Sans grabbed his wrist, pulling him down to his level.

With Papyrus on his knees Sans demonstrated cupping his hands, which Papyrus mimicked. Together they both placed their hands in the water, with Sans making an example by taking another sip. Papyrus hesitated, still unconvinced before finally taking a small sip.

Immediately Sans could see the thought train rush through his brother's mind, straightening his back and making him stare off into the distance. He shook his head to get himself back into the moment. "Whoa."

"See what I mean?" Sans smiled, watching his brother go for another hand-full. He figured his brother was probably thirsty after all the walking they had done that day, with himself going for another sip. They only had two canteens of water, so it was better not to waste it and go for the free water.

However when Sans looked up from his drink he nearly spilt the rest of the water on himself. Floating just inches above his head was what appeared to be a spirit. Its body was pale with little legs dangling from its whimsy body, small antennas hanging off of its head, fragile wings keeping it suspended in air, and a sorrowful look lining its features.

Sans had to blink to make sure what he was seeing was true, keeping perfectly still. "Uh, Papyrus?"

"Hmm?" His brother lifted his head only to spit out the water he was gulping down just seconds go. He physically backed up, instinctively crawling behind Sans. "What is that?!"

The small monster seemed offended by Papyrus' cries of fear as it started to shake and produce tears. Sans noticed this and looked back just in time to see Papyrus unclip his walkman again, shaking it in his fist. "Get back, you monster!"

"Papyrus, no!" Sans held up his hands, blocking his brother from throwing his cassette player. Papyrus looked to Sans in confusion and anger, but Sans turned his attention back to the monster.

He still kept his hands up, moving an inch forward while the monster floated an inch back. "Hey now, it's ok. My brother didn't mean to scare you."

"Yes I did!" Papyrus yelled, still ready to throw his walkman. "Sans!"

"Chill, bro." Sans turned back for a second then back to the monster. He gave it a half-hearted smile. "I'm Sans. What's yours?"

When he extended his hand to the monster the little creature started to sob. Sans withdrew his hand in fear, wincing to watch the monster fly off while still crying.

Papyrus crawled out from behind Sans, seeming rather content as he clipped back on his walkman. "Heh, that was rather easy. Guess it was scared of our awesome might!"

Sans didn't smile however, just simply looked at his hand before setting it down. "I guess."

He then noticed Papyrus' walkman. "You're going to break that if you keep threatening to use it."

"It's the only thing I have." Papyrus responded, though he did take another glance at it. "I forgot my monster weapons back in the car."

Sans shook his head, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a medium-sized stick. He handed it to Papyrus. "Here, you can use this to bop bad monsters. I found it while you were taking a bathroom break."

Papyrus eyed the stick, then looked to Sans. "Why did you keep a stick?"

"Does that mean you don't want it?" Sans felt his teasing smile return, waggling the stick in front of Papyrus' face.

Papyrus merely grumbled and took the stick, which was only a foot long and devoid of any leaves. He gave Sans a deadpanned expression. "I sometimes wonder what goes through that skull of yours, Sans."

"Heh…" Sans remarked, though he didn't say anything afterwards which Papyrus thought he might do. Instead he got back up, tugging on his backpack. "Come on bro, let's go find an exit."

Papyrus rose to his feet as well, shaking off the rest of the water on his hands as he tucked away the branch in one of his pockets. His eyes held a bit of determination, hands changing to fists. "And then we can have our totally cool party!"

"Yup, and then we can have our cool party." Sans closed his eyes for a minute, as if to reflect on the situation.

Many more times Sans would have to take in the scenery or pause to give himself a moment to think. In going farther into the Underground, Papyrus and Sans found themselves encountering puzzle after puzzle after puzzle. They weren't too hard with their combined efforts, though Papyrus got especially squeamish near the spiked traps and waved his stick around whenever anymore fragile spirits or frog monsters came their way. Sans, a bit upset he wasn't able to really sit and talk with any monster, decided to sketch them when he could and jot down any information he could get his hands on.

By the time him and Papyrus had come to what seemed the end of the ruins, he had already given names to the two most frequent monsters they had encountered; Whimsuns and Froggits.

With his head stuck in his journal, it was Papyrus who had to place his hand on his brother's shoulder to get his attention. "Sans, look! I think we made it out!"

"We did?" This news alerted Sans to close his journal, though the picture before him was anything but a hole or tunnel out of the mountain. Instead, the two had come upon a quaint little house, with two open windows on the front and an open entrance way in.

Sans regarded his brother. "I don't think we're out yet, Papyrus. I think this is someone's home."

"Monsters, living in houses?" The notion seemed too far-fetched for Papyrus. "But this is the first house we've come upon!"

"Maybe the other monsters don't live in houses." Sans shrugged, pocketing his journal yet again. "In fact, all the monsters we've encountered were itty bitty."

"So they must all live in tiny houses!" Papyrus raised a finger to the air, proud of the conclusion he had surmised.

Sans just lightly chuckled. "I don't think so either, bro. I think one giant monster lives here."

He placed a hand to his cheek. "But we never encountered any huge monsters. I wonder where-"

"Hey Sans!" Sans looked up from his contemplation to notice Papyrus already inside the house. He waved Sans on over. "Something smells delicious in here! Come on!"

Sans blinked, then shook his head and followed inside with his usual smile. Upon entering the little abode Sans didn't think how relived he would be to see something that wasn't purple. The inside was a nice shade of skin color, with a staircase leading down to what he presumed was the basement and two halls to either side. It was very homey, which Sans wasn't expecting.

"Papyrus?" Sans called out, not seeing his brother from where he stood.

"Over here!" Papyrus stuck his head out from another doorframe to San's right; a delightful grin smeared on his face. "There's a pie in the kitchen, Sans! And it smells like Cinnamon!"

Sans gave a toothy grin. "Awesome; could you cut me a slice? I think I'm going to look around."

By the time Sans asked Papyrus was already back inside the kitchen. "Sure! But uh, I'm obviously not going to eat any pie! Who knows what monsters cook in their pies!"

"Don't worry, bro. I'll make sure it's not poisonous."

"Thank you!"

Knowing Papyrus would be busy for a little, Sans decided to head to the left to the other hallway. He tried the first door, which to his surprise was open. The door swung idly in as Sans felt the walls for any sort of light switch. When his finger brushed up against something similar, he flicked it on.

The room was soon bathed in light and Sans was able to see. The room was rather quaint, with a bed to the right with several dirty plushies to the side, a dresser across from the door which Sans came in, a small bookshelf with various trinkets set up on display, and a small shoe box beside it.

"Heh, this looks like a room for children." Sans said aloud, as if he were having a discussion with himself. He sauntered into the room without a care, taking a glance at everything he could. It was just like a normal room, which wasn't very interesting and yet very interesting for the environment it was set in.

With nothing left to see Sans plopped himself on the bed, taking out the pocket watch to check the time. His casual smile dipped a bit when he noticed it was past midnight, they had been gone now for roughly half the day. This wouldn't concern Sans if not for the fact that he told Papyrus they would be home around then.

He sighed, leaning back a bit with the backpack still on. "What am I going to tell Papyrus? He'll flip when he sees this."

He planted his hands to either side of the bed, which was when he felt something odd. Cracking open one eye, he saw a small little shoe beside his hand, innocently resting on the bed. "Heh, you trying to escape too, little shoe?"

The bed creaked when Sans got up from the mattress, picking up the shoe and walking over to the little shoe box on the other end of the room. He got down on his knees and carefully opened the shoe box, starting to put the shoe inside. "There you go, little shoe. All safe and-"

That's when his smile faltered and fell to a frown. Sans still held the small shoe, except only now he was greeted to several other shoes inside the box. He set the shoe in his hand down, grabbing two random shoes in the box and holding them side by side. Not only were they completely different, but they were different sizes too.

Sans was genuinely confused for a moment, wondering why there were so many mismatched shoes in the box when an idea struck him in the head. His face soon turned grave, remembering the stories of people going missing on the mountain. "Oh no…"

"What are you going on about, Sans?" Sans spun around so quickly it almost frightened Papyrus. He held two plates, both having a slice of pie on each with a fork balanced on top.

He stood in the doorway with a smile, but when he got a good look at Sans his face dropped. "Sans, what's wrong?"

Sans noticed this too, wiping a sleeve on his face to hide it. "No-Nothing, bro. You just scared me is all."

"Ah yes, I am quite stealthy like that, aren't I?" Papyrus seemed to buy into the lie, extending a plate of pie to Sans who quickly stood up and walked over. "Anyways, here's your piece. I brought an extra one in case the pie is ok to eat."

"Thanks, bro." Sans took the plate, picking up the fork in his left hand.

Papyrus did the same, excited to watch Sans take the first bite. "Now remember, Sans. If this kills you I don't know CPR or anything to bring you back to life. So try not to die, ok?"

"Sure thing, Papyrus." Sans smiled to his brother, hoping he wouldn't see the underlying concern. "Anything for you."

Just as he was about to cut into the pie, an unfamiliar voice came through the front entrance to the house. "Hello? Is someone here?"

"Huh?" Papyrus looked towards the open door, not seeing the fear surfacing on Sans face.

"Run." Was all Sans muttered, as if in a trance.

"Sans, I can't hear you when you mu-mumble?!" Papyrus soon found his wrist locked within Sans' grip, who mad-dashed for the stairs leading down into the house.

"Run!"

Plates smashed when impacting with the ground, but Sans didn't bother to turn around and watch. He swung Papyrus ahead of him, pushing him down the stairs as the poor teenager stumbled and almost fell down. "Sans?!"

"I'll explain later!" Sans cried, eyes looking up as he descended the stairs to see if the monster would follow.

Sure enough, just as his line of sight had vanished to the walls of the stairs, something stepped into the house. "Who's there?!"

Sans heard the creature come towards the stairs, but the movement stopped for a moment, then an audible gasp was heard. "Children?!"

This was quickly followed by the sound of footsteps quickly coming down the stairs, just as Sans and Papyrus were exiting to the bottom. "My children, stop! Do not be frightened!"

"Who's that?" Now Papyrus was the one on edge, trying to regain his balance as he exited the bottom of the stairs.

"Don't worry about tha-AT!" Sans tripped on the last step and would have crashed into the ground had Papyrus not caught him.

He struggled to get Sans back to his feet. "I-I got you, bro!" But when lifting his brother back up, his mouth fell open and gawked, almost dropping Sans. "Kn-Knife!"

"What?" Sans got back to his feet, taking a step back when he saw what Papyrus was pointing at. The silhouette of the creature was coming down the stairs, holding what looked to be a knife in its hands.

"Keep going!" Sans motioned to his brother, who took off running down the long hall that awaited them. Sans pursued right after him, hoping that they hadn't trapped themselves down in some basement with no way out.

Half of him was scorning himself for jumping the gun, as the monster could have been friendly. But his first encounter with Flowey made Sans weary of meeting another monster, especially with all the shoes he had found hidden away in that room.

"Children, please! I mean you no harm!" The voice was female and talked as if she had a wide assortment of knowledge at her hands, which made Sans start to slow. Her voice was gentle and reassuring. "Please stop! This is all a misunderstanding!"

"Sans, what are you doing?!" Sans didn't realize he had stopped, his feet planted on the ground. He looked ahead to see Papyrus just a few feet away, motioning wildly with his hands. "Didn't you see the knife?! We have to get out of here before it chops us up and bakes us into a pie!"

"My children…" The voice sounded close, much closer than Sans would have liked.

He turned his head to the voice, his eyes catching the beast for half a second before something flew in front of him and smashed one of the lights out before him.

Sans staggered backwards, watching a stick fall to the ground before his feet. "Sans, come on!"

"Please!" The voice sounded closer, only now Sans couldn't make out what it was. His mind was a mess, unable to move or make a decision.

The creature's footsteps were slow, as if it were coaxing a wild animal towards it. "I know you must be scared, but I can help you. What you are running towards is something far worse than either of you can imagine, and the world outside these ruins is not forgiving. They will only treat you with malicious intent and harm you, but I only want to protect you, my children. We can live here happily, together!"

"Sans!" Sans found himself shaking his head from how much it moved from the soothing voice to Papyrus.

"Just take my hand, my child." A single hand slowly moved out from the darkness, frightening Sans. It was gentle however and open, with white fur covering the hand. Sans wondered how soft it would feel to touch it.

His eyes looked up to the black silhouette, masked behind the darkness in front of him. He could see the warm smile on her face. "You don't have to be afraid, anymore."

Sans lifted his hand instinctively, as if to take the offer.

"Sans!" Hearing his voice called shocked Sans into turning around, his hand still hovering in the air. Papyrus looked absolutely miserable, as if he had lost his brother. "Have you forgotten our party?"

Party. The word rang through Sans skull like a bullet, snapping him out of whatever daze he was in. His eyes widened as he quickly withdrew his hand, instead his hand grabbed the stick before him and ran over to Papyrus. "We need to get out of here."

Papyrus followed suit behind Sans, rounding a corner in doing so and out of the hall. "Sans, you're back! I knew you wouldn't give in!"

"Of course not, bro." Sans remarked, turning his head for a second to flash his toothy grin. "I could never leave you behind."

"My children!" The monster pursued once more, alarmed by Sans choice.

In rounding the corner the two brothers were faced with a giant door before them, bearing the same symbol as the first door they had encountered. A way out.

Running up to the door, Sans pulled on one of the sides with all his might, but nothing moved. Papyrus soon stepped in, hands grabbing at the crack and nodding his head to Sans. "On three!"

"Three!"

Pulling at the same time, the brothers felt the door slowly budge, then slide back into them. They fumbled over one another but eventually pushed one another through, pushing the door back with what little strength they had left.

"Please, don't do this to yourselves!" The female voice cried, which made it harder for Sans to close the door. The voice was so pained.

He shut his eyes and forced the voice out of his mind, using the rest of his muscles along with Papyrus to seal the door again.

With a sudden jolt the door slammed close, throwing both boys onto the ground and on top of each other. Sans landed on top of Papyrus, who groaned with the additional weight. "Sans!"

"Sorry." Sans pulled himself to his knees, while Papyrus sat himself up and propped his back on the door. Both stared at one another for a few seconds until Papyrus cut the silence with a snort and started to laugh.

Sans felt himself get a little chuckle before it erupted into a full-blown laugh, which Papyrus had already succumb to. It was so loud in fact, that Sans could hear the words that made up his laugh. "Nyeh heh heh!"

Both knew it was nervousness that drove them to laugh so hard, but there was something else underlining their fits of giggles. Something sincere and loving.

Sans finished before Papyrus, allowing his brother to calm down on his own. When his laughs weren't so hard Sans fished out the stick he grabbed and handed it back to Papyrus. "Here's your stick, Papyrus."

"Thanks." Papyrus took it, placing it rightfully back in his pocket.

"That was pretty genius of you, breaking the light." Sans gestured a hand while shrugging. "I might have been baked into a pie if not for your quick thinking."

"Yes well," Papyrus lightly blushed, deciding to get back up on his feet. "Someone has to look out for you, right?"

Sans nodded. "Right. I'm glad it's you."

As Sans occupied himself with getting back up, Papyrus motioned ahead and took a few steps. "Now come on, you lazy bag of bones. We have a hole to find."

"Right behind you, bro." Sans responded, starting their journey once more. But before he got into a full stride he felt himself stop and look back at the door. His eyes went to his hand that he raised, then back to the door before he dropped both and continued ahead with Papyrus.