Welp, onto the next chapter~!
As school ended, Papyrus began to pack up and wait outside the school with his brother. While Sans stood around, patiently, Papyrus started to pace around his twin.
"pap, could you sit down for, like, one minute?"
"How am I supposed to sit down when dad's taking forever to get here?"
"don't worry about it," Sans said as he placed a hand on Papyrus' shoulder. "i'm sure dad'll be here very soon."
...
...
A half an hour had passed, Sans had watched as the school had gone empty. He looked at his brother in disappointment. "c'mon, pap, let's go home."
Just as the brothers were about to give up and head home, their father had come into view, wheezing as he wiped the sweat off his skull.
(Forgive me, children...I did not mean to be so late!)
"That's OK," Papyrus assured him, "though had you been gone for much longer, we would've left you here all by yourself."
"so where are we goin'? Sans asked, holding his hands behind his back.
Gaster smiled as he walked closer to his sons. (Waterfall, of course!)
"R-really?" Papyrus excitedly placed his hands over his cheekbones, his eyes began to light up. Gaster nodded, patting his sons on their head. (Of course! It can be a bit dangerous, but you'll be fine just so long as you stay by my side.)
The young skeleton grabbed Gaster's arm as he jumped excitedly, like a dog begging for a walk. "Then let's go, I wanna see what it looks like!"
(Patience, my child!) Gaster told Papyrus as magic hands appeared beside his head. (We will get there, soon enough!)
He grabbed onto Sans' hand and started walking down the street. Papyrus looked over at Sans with a curious gaze. He began to whisper."What do you think's gonna be in Waterfall?"
"i dunno," Sans replied, "i'm guessing there's little white dots over there, just like what the humans have on the surface."
The walk through Hotland wasn't very pleasant. Skeletons couldn't detect temperature too well, so the heat didn't seem to bother anyone. However, what Papyrus REALLY didn't like about Hotland was its reliance on conveyor belts and steam vents in order to get from place to place. It was one of those reasons why he was thankful he didn't live in Hotland. The only things that didn't bother him were the elevators, though he wondered what the "L" and "R" above them were supposed to stand for. Rotini? Lazagna? He wasn't sure.
As they reached the end of Hotland, the three skeletons made their way to a river. At the river stood yet another skeleton. They wore a long black cloak, standing next to a boat with a dog's face at the front.
"Wowie..." Papyrus said as he ran up to the skeleton with a fixed gaze. "I didn't know there were skeletons outside of New Home!"
"Papyrus!"
The young skeleton jumped upon hearing his name called. He looked over at Gaster, who looked a bit peeved. "Stay with me!"
"But he is not harming anyone," the hooded skeleton replied, placing a hand on Papyrus' skull. "Is he your child?"
(Indeed he is,) Gaster told them. Sans looked up at the cloaked monster as he tightened his grip on his father's hand. "who is this person?"
(Their name is Mono,) Gaster replied, (They'll able to take us to Waterfall much quicker).
Mono nodded, looking down at the two children. "I love to ride in my boat. Would you care to join me?"
Gaster quietly lead his children onto the boat, sitting down in the back as Mono stood in the front. Suddenly, the boat started to float. It was running across the water like a dog fetching a stick.
Sans looked off to the side. He wasn't quite sure, but he was certain that there were fish in there. He reached out of the boat in an attempt to grab one.
"Careful," Mono turned their head to look at the young skeleton, "we wouldn't want you to fall out!"
Sans shrunk back in fear, curling up against his father. The elder skeleton noticed Sans was rattling. He gently rubbed his arm, calming him down.
Meanwhile, Papyrus was kicking his legs back and forth, looking up at the ceiling. Occasionally, water droplets would fall from the pointed rocks above them. What were they called? Stalactites? Stalagmites?
Eh...it probably wasn't important.
"Tra la la~!" Mono began to sing, gaining Papyrus' attention. "The more you distance yourself, the easier it is to hurt others."
Papyrus frowned as he tilted his head. "Are...you talking about LOVE?"
"I could be," Mono replied, "Or it could just be nonsense, it doesn't matter either way."
As the skeletons got closer to Waterfall, Papyrus began to notice something glowing in the walls. A little while later, they were suddenly surrounded by glowing stones. Papyrus' jaw dropped, he had never seen anything like this, before.
The boat finally stopped at the dock. Gaster nudged Sans for a bit. The young skeleton was half-asleep, rubbing his eye sockets until he noticed the sparkling stones above them. He was awestruck, unable to look away from the stones.
Gaster, Papyrus. and Sans all stepped out of the boat. They bid farewell to Mono and began to explore this new region. The twin skeletons stumbled upon a group of blue flowers towering over them. They were Echo Flowers, if they could remember correctly.
"Hello!" Papyrus yelled, only for the flower to yell back at him. "Hello!"
"I am the greatest!"
"I am the greatest!"
"No, I am!"
"No, I am!"
Gaster watched in amusement as his two children played with the Echo Flowers. He watched Sans walk up to one, the young skeleton started to yell. "I'M THE LEGENDARY FART MASTER!"
"...I'M THE LEGENDARY FART MASTER!"
Upon hearing the flower yell back, Sans began to laugh. Papyrus gave him a dirty look, though he honestly didn't expect his brother to say anything classy.
"Come along, children!" Gaster called out, leading his children deeper into Waterfall. The skeletons looked around cautiously as they kept going. They came into a room where the water glowed as brightly as the stones on the wall. The ground below them was a dark blue, almost black color. It had small patches of grass growing out of the ground.
Eventually, the trio made their way to the Wishing Room. Not only were there glowing rocks on the ceiling, there were rocks on the walls, as well.
(Long ago, us monsters would wish upon the stars at night,) Gaster signed, looking somewhat melancholy. (However...Once we were sealed down here, the closest thing he had to the stars are these rocks that hang along the ceilings in Waterfall.)
"Why DID the humans seal us down here, anyway?" Papyrus asked.
"yeah, i wanna know!" Sans added. Gaster let out a deep breath. (It is because the humans feared our ability to absorb their souls. However, they failed to realize that us monsters would never do such a thing to them.)
Papyrus tilted his head. "But didn't you say that they're stronger then us?"
(Indeed they are). Gaster replied. (It would take nearly every single monster soul down here to equal to that of a single human soul.)
"really...?" Sans pulled his soul out of his chest, it floated weakly over his hands. "is that why king asgore wants to collect human souls?"
Gaster nodded in response. (And if he can grab two more, we'll finally be able to live back on the surface).
The elder skeleton pulled out a pocket watch, tapping his feet on the floor. (It's nearly 10:00. If you have any wishes, then do so now before we head back to New Home).
Sans placed his soul back into his chest and started looking up at the glowing stones. Papyrus followed closely behind, his hands hiding behind his back. "So what do you wish for?"
"if i told you, then my wish won't come true!" Sans replied, blushing in embarrassment.
"Well...if you tell me your wish, then I'll tell you mine!"
"it's probably got somethin' to do with the royal guard!"
Papyrus shook his head. "Not really...I mean, yes...I would love to join them more then anything. But there's something else on my mind, right now."
"like what?" Sans asked. Papyrus grabbed onto his brother's hands, smiling. "I want us all to stay together, forever. Just you, me, and dad!"
"hehe..." Sans' grin grew wider as he squeezed Papyrus' hands. "that's funny...'cause that's my wish, too!"
"It is!?" Papyrus asked, shocked.
"'course it is!" Sans said happily. "i mean...just imagine: once we reach the surface, we could all look at the stars together. we could all lay around on the grass while dad tells us about the con...con-stull-ay-shuns?"
"Sans, that's genius!" Papyrus yelled as he hugged Sans, lifting him a few inches off the ground. Sans held tightly onto Papyrus' arms as his feet dangled. Nonetheless, he gently nudged Papyrus' skull with his own skull in return.
"Papyrus! Comic Sans!"
The two skeletons looked up at their father, who was gesturing for them to follow him. Papyrus placed his brother back down and the duo began to follow Gaster, making their way back to New Home.
Papyrus smiled, hoping that his wish would come true.
Here ya go, a little bit of brotherly fluff~!
...But I'm not done, yet...far from it, actually. I'll be back soon with another chapter...hopefully.
Anyways, bye-bye~!