It took me long enough, but I can finally update this!

And, um...just letting you know, this chapter is a long one (with over 3,000 words, not counting this author's note right here).

And, um...spoiler alert!

Time had passed since then, and Papyrus was now 12...at least for one more day. He sat up as he began to stretch. Over the years, he had grown tall and lanky. In fact, he was even taller then his father at this point.

Papyrus felt a slight pain in his joints, which could've been from growing pains. The skeleton looked at the clock, his eyes popping out upon realizing that it was 9: 36.

"OH MY GOD!" Papyrus' voice nearly cracked as he ran into his closet to look for his clothes. "SANS, GET UP! WE'VE SLEPT IN!"

"it's saturday, papyrus!" Sans mumbled as he curled up even more, nuzzling into his pillow. The older skeleton had little time to react when Papyrus ripped the blanket off him. "SANS, DON'T TELL ME YOU FORGOT!"

"forgot what?" Sans grumbled, refusing to move.

"It's the last day that we ever get to be kids!" Papyrus replied. He clasped his hands together, happily. "Just think: after today, we no longer have to wear stripes! We could just stay up all night doing puzzled, playing games, watching adult movies-"

"er...i dunno about the last one," Sans replied as he finally got out of bed. Compared to Papyrus, Sans still resembled a small child, standing up to Papyrus' shoulders. This made him the shortest one in the family, though he mostly blamed his own frailty for it.

Papyrus grabbed his striped red and green shirt and put it on. It was his last day of being a kid, so he had to make the most of it. Once he was dressed, he ran into the living room. "Don't take too long, brother!"

"i won't," Sans mumbled. He looked around in the closet and pulled out a purple shirt with blue stripes. Once he was dressed, he met his brother on the couch. "so what are we doin', today?"

"Maybe we could go visit the library?" Papyrus asked. Sans shook his head. "nah, too boring!"

Papyrus crossed his arms, huffing in annoyance. "You always say that about the library!"

Sans shrugged in response. "well? if i REALLY wanted to make the most of today, i'd rather just prank some helpless monster out there."

"And by prank, you mean to shove a whoopee cushion under your glove and let people shake you hand."

"c'mon, pap. you used to love that prank!"

"Yeah, well...to me, it just seems childish!" Papyrus argued. Sans lowered his eye sockets, smirking. "says the guy who asks me to read him a story every night!"

"That's different!" Papyrus yelled in embarrassment. "You know I can't read very well!"

"heh...sorry." Sans got up from the couch and offered to give papyrus his hand. "how 'bout we just get some nice cream for now? we'll see what we can do later."

"Hm..." Papyrus sat up and grabbed his brother's hand. "That sounds nice actually."

"then let's go!" Sans said enthusiastically.

Once the brothers left the apartment building, they made their way to the closest Nice Cream shop they could find. They sat on the bench, watching as other monsters quietly walked passed them. They didn't seem to have a lot planned for this day.

"OK..." Papyrus said as he placed a hand on his jaw and narrowed his eyes, "I spy something that's...grey!"

Sans pointed to one of the apartment buildings. "is it that building there?"

"Yes it is," Papyrus said as he took another bite of his ice cream. His brother cleared his throat. "i spy something that's-"

"Ooh! Is it the building?"

"yep!"

"OK, my turn!" Papyrus said happily. "I spy-"

"it's the building!"

"Nyeh..." Papyrus started to frown, "I was thinking about the ground, actually."

"well...it doesn't help that almost everything in new home is-" Suddenly, something caught Sans' attention. He stood up from the bench, looking over at a monster in the distance. "i spy somethin' yellow!"

"WHAT!?" Papyrus yelled as he turned his head. In the distance, they could see a goat-like monster carrying a vase full of Golden Flowers. This goat had a long purple cape. And while his fur was white, he had a long, blonde mane. His long horns stood proudly on his head.

"Isn't that King Asgore?" Papyrus asked, curiously. Sans looked over at him with wide eyes. "huh...whaddaya think he's doin' with that thing?"

"Maybe he's just taking it to his garden?"

"well, we may as well look for ourselves," Sans said as he jumped off the bench and ran towards the Monster King. Panicking, Papyrus began to give chase to his brother. He turned his soul blue, keeping him from running any further. Sans struggled to move, but the gravity magic on his soul prevented him from doing so. "hey, what's the big idea?"

"Huff...huff..." Papyrus caught up to Sans. Despite being a skeleton, Papyrus was almost out of breath. He placed a hand over his chest as he tried to regain his breath. "Y-you should know better th-then to bother the king!"

"i was just gonna talk to him!"

"No, you were just gonna embarrass me in front of him!"

Sans rolled his eyes. "here we go!"

Meanwhile, as the brothers were arguing, Asgore was standing there with the flowerpot in his paws. He started walking over to the twin skeletons while keeping a calm expression. "Excuse me."

The brothers suddenly stopped bickering to look at the king. Papyrus had a shocked expression on his face.

"Would you two happen to be Wingdings' children?"

"Indeed we are," Papyrus replied. "I'm Papyrus and this," He placed a hand on his brother's skull, "is my brother, Sans."

"Oh, like Tempus Sans?"

"comic sans," the shorter skeleton said bitterly.

"Oh, right...sorry. " Asgore said as he looked down in embarrassment. "Anyway...I shouldn't bother you any longer." Asgore said as he turned to leave, "I'm sure you would rather spend time with your friends.

The skeleton brothers gave each other a sad glance. "We would, but-

"we...don't really have friends."

"Oh, you don't?" Asgore asked, shocked.

"it doesn't help that people think i'm as fragile as glass," Sans replied.

"Not to mention that everyone thinks I'm too loud to be near them."

"hey...they can't help that they find your voice BOOMING!"

"Don't start!"

Asgore began to smile as he clasped his hands together. "If you would like, maybe I could be your friend for the day. I'm sure I know how to be 'hip' with the kids."

The skeletons cringed upon hearing Asgore say the word "hip", making the goat monster worry. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No! No!" Papyrus said as he shook his head. "We're willing to hang out with you, but please-"

"never talk like that again!"

"Very well, then." Asgore said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Please, follow me."

As Asgore started to walk, Papyrus grabbed onto Sans' hand and started follow him. They thought it wouldn't hurt to spend time with Asgore, at least until their father got home from work. Besides, everybody loved the king.

Asgore's castle rested in the very end of New Home, as it was the closest building to the barrier. However, while the castle was great in size, the main area resembled a small, cozy house. Just like the rest of New Home, the main area was gray. However, the house seemed to have a golden flower set in each room.

Asgore was on the phone with Gaster, waiting for the scientist to pick up. He kept an eye on Sans and Papyrus, who were sitting at the table in the living room. Suddenly, he heard a female's voice filling in for Gaster. Asgore assumed it was one of his assistants.

"H-hello...?"

"Howdy. Is Dr. Gaster there?"

"Y-yes," replied the voice, "he's telling me to say 'hello' to you."

"Well, I just wanted to inform him that his sons are staying here at the castle. They said that they would like to stay here until he got home from work."

The assistant repeated what Asgore had told her. The goat monster could hear Gaster laughing from the other end before he began to cough. It sounded as though he had a hairball lodged in his non-existent throat.

"A-are you ok, sir!?"

As the coughing subsided, it had gone eerily silent. Nearly a minute had gone past until Asgore heard the assistant speak, again. "Dr. Gaster says that he'll come over, soon. H-he also says to take care of his sons while they're there."

Asgore nodded, though he knew the assistant couldn't see him. "I will, thank you for your time."

"Good-bye."

As Asgore hung up, he placed the cell phone back into his pocket and walked over to the table. He sat in one of the chairs, next to Papyrus. He could see both skeletons were doodling on a few sheets of paper.

"I'm sorry that I don't have anything interesting for boys your age, but I hope you two are doing all right."

"We're doing just fine, actually!" Papyrus replied as he lifted up his paper. "Look! I even designed some special armor for when I join the Royal Guard. I call it my Battle Body!"

On the paper was a crudely-drawn picture of Papyrus. He was wearing some strange armor. Papyrus had also given himself huge muscles, despite just being a skeleton.

"that looks so cool," Sans said in admiration. Papyrus placed a hand on his chest as he began to brag. "Of course it's cool. I AM The Great Papyrus, after all." Papyrus looked down at Sans. "What did you draw?"

Sans handed the paper over to Papyrus. "here. it's not very good, though."

Papyrus looked over the drawing. It looked like a simple picture of a dog. For some reason, the dog had a flower on its head.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Papyrus said as he placed the picture down. "It looks just fine to me!"

"heh..." Sans started to blush in embarrassment. "thanks, bro."

Asgore couldn't help but smile at the two brothers, seeing how well they were getting along. In fact, seeing them get along so well almost brought a tear to the Monster King's eye.

Papyrus looked over at Asgore, he began to frown. "Is something wrong, your majesty?"

"Hm?" Asgore looked up, noticing that the skeleton brothers were giving him concerned looks. "Why do you ask?"

"you looked like you were gonna cry," Sans said. "did we do something wrong?"

Asgore shook his head. "No, it's just that I haven't seen two siblings get along like this since Asriel and Chara. And while they were not related by blood, they both had a strong sibling bond." Asgore let out a deep sigh. "I'm sure you two would've gotten along with them. But sadly...they're gone, now."

"Oh..." Papyrus looked down at the table while Sans looked away from Asgore. The shorter skeleton rubbed the back of his skull. "i'm sorry to hear that."

"Ah, forgive me!" Asgore said as he looked up. "I did not mean to upset you!"

"No, it's fine!" Papyrus assured him, "you were just reminiscing, that's all!"

"yeah," Sans added, "so don't worry about it, ok?"

Asgore looked over at the clock, the time said it was almost noon. He looked back at the two skeletons, smiling. "How about I make you two some lunch? Would that be OK?"

"sure, knock yourself out!"

"As long as there's no grease on it, then it's fine!"

"Splendid," Asgore said, smiling. "But while I make lunch, you two are free to explore the castle if you wish!"

"That sounds nice," Papyrus replied, "Thank you."

Once Asgore walked into the kitchen, the skeletons looked at each other with a curious gaze.

"What do you think, brother? Should we look around?"

"sure, i don't see why not."

Papyrus sat up from his chair and started walking into the hallway with Sans following close behind him. They walked into the first room. There, they could see two twin-sized beds standing on each side of the room. The room was also filled with dusty toys, old drawings, and a photo frame sitting on top of an old bookshelf.

Sans walked in cautiously, almost as though he were expecting a surprise attack. "gees, this place feels like a museum!"

"Hm..." Papyrus walked over to the bookshelf and grabbed the picture frame. In the picture, he saw Asgore smiling with three other people. Two of them appeared to be the same species as Asgore while the other appeared to be a different creature, one that Papyrus has never seen before. The taller skeleton began to tap Sans' should. "Sans, look! There's three Asgores in this picture!"

Sans cocked his head to the side. "whaddaya mean?"

"Look at this!" Papyrus yelled as he handed Sans the photo. "There's a lady Asgore and a little Asgore.!"

Sans examined the picture closely, he began to talk in a more serious tone. "pap...i'm pretty sure the smaller one's s'posed to be Asriel!"

"Oh..." Papyrus began to blush. "Th-then who's the lady supposed to be?"

"i think she might be asgore's ex-wife," Sans guessed, "i can't remember her name, though."

"Wowie...I wonder what happened to her."

Sans began to frown. "i'm hoping she didn't 'fall down' after they lost their kids. i don't think asgore would've handled it very well."

"Can Boss Monsters even 'fall down'?"

"mm...probably not," Sans replied, "not that i know of, anyway."

"Well, maybe we should just keep looking around," Papyrus said as he left the room. "Let's go, Sans!"

Once again, Sans followed closely behind Papyrus. The skeletons tried to get into the second room in the hallway, but it was locked. A sign stood in front of the door saying "Room Under renovations."

Sans looked up at his brother with a curious gaze. "what now, papyrus?"

"Uh...Maybe we could take a look at the third room?"

Sans nodded without question as the skeletons made their way to the third room. They assumed that this room was Asgore's room, since he had a king-sized bed sitting in the corner. The room looked rather clean, but it seemed to intimidate them too much to actually look around.

Papyrus looked down at his brother with a look of concern. "Do you think we should go back to the living room?"

Sans shook his head. "nah, there's gotta be more stuff around here."

"But if we go too far into the castle, King Asgore will worry about us!"

"i'm sure it's fine. besides, it's his castle. he should know where all the rooms are."

"Huh..." Papyrus scratched where his ear would be, "If that's the case, then I suppose it's OK."

Sans swiftly grabbed onto Papyrus' hand. "then let's go!"

Sans started to lead Papyrus into the lobby and down the stairs. As they continued to walk, Papyrus looked over to his left. He could see all of New Home from where they were. He could also see a red glow in the distance, which he assumed was Hotland. He had to admit, the red glow behind New Home actually looked cool.

As Sans walked into the next room, he felt a shiver crawl down his spine. He released Papyrus' hand in the process.

"Is something wrong?" Papyrus asked with concern Sans shook his head. "Nah, it's just a chill."

Papyrus walked slowly into the next room. Unlike the rest of New Home, this room was bathes in a bright, golden hue. The light from the outside shined brightly through the window, which almost blinded Papyrus.

"What is this place!?"

"i think it's the judgement hall," Sans replied. "i heard that each year asgore picks a random monster to judge anyone if their worthy of going into the throne room, just so long as their LOVE is lower then 20, though i think it applies to humans, too."

"Yikes," Papyrus' bones began to rattle. "Has such a monster ever existed where their LOVE is higher then 20!?"

"i hope not," Sans replied, "and i hope it stays that way!"

Not wanting to dwell on the subject, the skeleton brothers walked through the judgement hall, into the next room. Of course, this room was grey just like everything else in New Home. However, they noticed a sign hanging besides the next room. It simply said "throne room." When the skeletons peaked inside, they couldn't help but feel their jaws drop. Inside the throne room, there had to be hundreds...No, THOUSANDS of golden flowers growing all over the floor. There were vines sitting alone the walls, which like the Judgement hall, bathes everything in a bright, golden hue. Sunlight from the surface appeared to be shining above the room, which was something the skeletons hadn't seen before.

Papyrus walked carefully to the throne, making absolutely sure that he didn't step on any flowers. He sat down on the throne, sitting proudly. It looked as though he were a young prince waiting to become a king. Although in reality, he wouldn't really ask for something like that.

Sans started walking over to Papyrus, trying not to step on the flowers. However, as he stepped over to the thrown, he managed to trip and fall on his face. Papyrus gasped in horror. "Sans, are you OK!?"

"i'm fine," Sans said as he sat up. He came up to the throne and sat down on Papyrus' lap. Despite being somewhat older, he still closely resembled a child. Papyrus examined his brother. Although he managed to give himself a small crack on his forehead, it wasn't very noticeable. Papyrus' hand started to turn green as he placed it over Sans' skull, healing it almost instantly.

"i gotta say, asgore's got a pretty nice place."

"He certainly does," Papyrus said happily. "If I were Asgore, I would probably just sit here and look at these flowers all day."

"heh...i wouldn't blame him, either."

Sans looked at the back of the room, he noticed that there was another throne covered by a white sheet.

"i kinda wished i knew what happened to the queen, though."

"I do too," Papyrus replied, "But perhaps she might be on vacation?"

"i dunno, she could be."

"Well...either way, we could probably ask King Asgore about it, later."

A few more minutes had gone past until Sans curled up against his brother, falling asleep almost instantly. Papyrus started to run his fingers over brother's skull as he continued to look down at the golden flowers. While he thought that Asgore wouldn't approve of them sitting in his throne, he still seemed to like the golden hue of the room. After all, despite the plants everywhere, it made him feel safe and sound.

I dunno, pap...I don't think there's anything safe about Golden Flowers, but that's not going to happen for several more years.

Anyway, I'm glad I was able to finally update this.