Heheh...it took me a little while to come up with something for this.

It was early in the morning, and Papyrus was planning to head out, once again. He quietly walked out of his room and made his way over to Sans' room. He stood next to his brother's bed and patted him on the skull. "Good morning, Sans!"

Sans continued to sleep with a content look on his face. Papyrus looked over at the magic scanner, it looked like his brother's magic had increased overnight. This time his HP was at 0.4. And while it wasn't much, it was quite an improvement compared to yesterday.

"I'll be going out for a bit," Papyrus said, smiling. "I'll be back soon, OK?"

He gave Sans one last pat on the head before he started leaving the hospital. He saw that Dr. Puff was sleeping at the front desk. He wondered if the poor dog ever got to sleep in an actual bed. After all, overworking can be just as bad as under-working.

When Papyrus left the hospital, he made his way over to the library (Or the "Librarby", as he was tempted to call it). He managed to grab a couple of puzzle books before he started to head out. But as he left the library, he was happily greeted by Undyne.

"Hey, Papyrus!"

"Hi, Undyne," Papyrus greeted, "You're up pretty early, today!"

"Yeah, well...I thought I'd give you these, since I know you left them back at that cave."

Undyne handed Papyrus two backpacks. Obviously, they belonged to him and Sans. When he checked inside the backpacks, he saw that they still had some clothes, as well as their blankets. However, he also noticed that Sans' bag contained a package of fish cookies.

"That was awfully nice of you," Papyrus replied as he put the books in his back pack. Undyne replied with a shrug. "Well? You've been here for nearly a week, so I figured that it wouldn't hurt to bring those back to you."

"Huh..." Papyrus put his backpack on. "At any rate, I hope I didn't cause you any trouble."

"Of course you didn't," Undyne replied. "If anything, you helped us catch the guy we were looking for!"

"...Really?"

"Of course you did," Undyne said, she started to whisper. "But don't think for a minute that I'll forget about you stealing my trash!"

"Oh..." Papyrus began to frown. "You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"Of course not, it's hilarious!"

"...Hehe..." Papyrus let out a soft chuckle. "It DOES sound kind of funny, now that I think about it."

"Anyways, since you're out here, do you wanna look at something cool?"

"Um...I don't know," Papyrus replied. "Where's this 'cool' thing, anyway?"

"It's in the forest," Undyne replied, "We won't be in there for too long, all right?"

Papyrus began to relax a bit. "In that case, lead the way!"

Undyne began to lead Papyrus outside of Snowdin Town. He could only wonder what this "cool" thing was. Maybe it's a dog cave? Or maybe it was a talking flower? He could only wonder what Undyne had in store for him.

As Papyrus followed Undyne through the forest, he saw what appeared to be some-sort of narrow rock formation. He looked down at it with sheer curiosity, he didn't even notice that Undyne was half-way across the chasm.

"PAPYRUS!"

The skeleton jumped as he heard his name being called. "Y-yes, Undyne?"

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, LET'S GO!"

Papyrus nodded as he carefully stepped onto the rock formation, he felt his hands shaking as he followed Undyne. Surprisingly, the rock formation was more stable then it looked.

As he walked, he saw a group of young kids running by, they were all playing with the Greater Dog.

"What's going on?" Papyrus asked.

"Oh yeah, the kids out here like to play in the snow...ice monsters, especially."

Papyrus watched as a young snowdrake engaged in battle with a small, lizard-like monster. However, it looked like they were actually just play-fighting. As the two monsters fought, snow began to fly in little spurts. It wasn't until Greater Dog started kicking snow in the air that it spread everywhere, some of it got onto Papyrus' sweater.

"All right, take it easy you guys!" Undyne said, gaining the monsters' attention. Suddenly, they looked over at Papyrus with wide eyes. The lizard monster looked up at him with a curious gaze, her tail twitched in anticipation. "Wow, are you a REAL skeleton?"

"What's a skeleton doing out here?" asked the snowdrake. "Are you lost?"

"Oh, um..." Papyrus became flustered, his face started to turn red. "I-I'm not lost, I'm just...um..."

"You're just what?" Asked the lizard, tilting her head.

"...Let's just say I'm looking for a new home," Papyrus replied, sheepishly.

"So you're going to be living HERE!?" asked the snowdrake, Papyrus wasn't sure how to respond to that. He continued to babble, unsure of what to say to the young monster.

"OK, that's enough!" Undyne said as she grabbed Papyrus by the hand. "Mr. Skeleton's had a rough week, so we have to take it easy on him. OK?"

"Yes, ma'am!" said the lizard, saluting with her tail.

"And Greater Dog?"

Greater Dog's ears perked up, listening intently to what Undyne had to say.

"Keep an eye out for humans, you'll never know when they'll pop up!"

Greater Dog barked, like it was trying to say "Yes, ma'am!" With that said and done, Undyne began to lead Papyrus further into the forest. "Sorry about that."

"It's all right," Papyrus replied. "I'll admit, it's nice to get some attention from other monsters."

"Well don't let it get to your head!" Undyne teased. Papyrus nodded absentmindedly. Still, the thought of staying Snowdin hasn't completely left him. Would he be OK living here? Would Sans be all right with this? He had to admit, the cold weather felt nice on his bones. Not to mention that everyone so far had been nice to him, though he was sure that this was out of sympathy. But regardless, he felt right at home here.

The duo made their way through a snow-covered meadow. There, a dog wielding an axe came up to them and sniffed them. He looked back at his wife. "Dogaressa, is this the puppy you've been telling me about!?"

"Yeah, that's him!" Dogaressa said as she walked over to her husband. "His name's Papyrus."

"It's nice to finally meet you," the dog said, shaking Papyrus' hand. "I'm Dogamy, my wife's been telling me about you and your brother."

"It's nice to meet you, too." Papyrus replied, happily Undyne placed her hands on her hips. "So, have any humans walked by here?"

"We haven't seen any, yet." Dogamy replied. "And I don't think Doggo's seen anything, either!"

"One could've gotten by him pretty easily, though." Dogaressa replied. Dogamy nodded. "True, he's the easiest dog to get through."

"Right, well...I'm taking Papyrus to the end of the forest. We'll let you know if we find anything."

"All right, be careful out there!" Dogamy yelled. "You'll never know when a human will turn up!"

Undyne waved a hand in acknowledgement. Papyrus continued to follow her, still curious about what she was up to. Maybe she planned on fighting him? He hoped that wasn't the case, especially when his ribs were still broken.

Eventually, Undyne lead Papyrus to a huge, purple door at the end of the forest. It was encrusted with the Delta Rune, a symbol often associated with Asgore and his family. Undyne turned her head. "This is it, the door to the Ruins."

"...Wowie," Papyrus walked up to the door and placed a hand on it. "What kind of place IS this?"

"Well...monsters used to live here at one point, but it's practically abandoned now." Undyne said, crossing her arms, "Well, besides this old lady who yells at you if you try to talk to her."

"Huh..." Papyrus tilted his head, it sounded rather interesting. "Maybe I can try talking to her?"

Undyne shrugged. "Knock yourself out, but I'll guarantee that she'll just yell at you until you leave!"

Papyrus tried knocking on the door, calling to the old lady to see if she'd say anything. "Hello?"

There was no answer, he tried knocking on the door, again. "Excuse me, ma'am, are you in there?"

Papyrus would keep knocking on the door every few seconds to see if he would get any sort of reply. When he was about to give up, he finally began to hear a voice.

"...Go away!"

"But why?" Papyrus replied. "I just wanted to talk!"

"Please, leave me alone!" The voice said, sternly. "You are not welcome here!"

"But I just-"

"LEAVE!" The voice yelled, scaring Papyrus in the process. Undyne placed a hand on his shoulder. "See? What did I tell ya?"

"You were right," Papyrus replied, giving the door a dirty look. "I guess there's no point in talking if SOMEONE is going to be rude about it!"

"Don't worry about her," Undyne said as she began to lead Papyrus back to Snowdin. "But you know...the most interesting thing about that door is that once in a while, a human might come out."

"Really, now?" Papyrus asked, curiously. Undyne nodded in response. "Yep, it explains why there are sentries stationed out here."

"Well, maybe one day I could become a sentry," Papyrus replied. He received a quick pat on the head from Undyne. "One thing at a time, buddy! One thing at a time!"

"Still...is there anything else that I need to know about that door?"

"I could tell you, but I think Snowdin's shopkeeper could explain it better then I can."

"Then do you think that we'll be able to talk to her?"

Undyne shrugged. "I don't see why not?"

The duo began to leave the forest, heading back to Snowdin as quickly as possible.

Papyrus and Undyne walked into the shop, it was the first building in Snowdin, after all. The light in the shop was dim, but it gave the shop a very cozy feeling to it. At the counter stood a tall rabbit monster wearing a straw hat. She looked purple, although Papyrus couldn't tell if this was from the lighting or not.

"Hiya, Undyne," said the rabbit, "I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Well believe me, I've been very busy for the last several days."

"I can see that," The rabbit said, she looked over at Papyrus. "And who's this? I can't remember the last time I've seen a skeleton out here!"

"He's Papyrus," Undyne replied, "He used to live in the capital, but now he's homeless."

"Really?" The rabbit asked, giving Papyrus a sympathetic look. "Are you OK?"

Papyrus gave the rabbit a stern look. "Well, my ribs are broken, and my brother is sick...but other then that, I'm fine!"

"Dr. Puff's been keeping an eye on them," Undyne said. The rabbit nodded slowly. "Well, if they need a place to stay, they could always ask my sister."

"I would if I had money," Papyrus replied. "Anyway, Undyne told me you know about the Ruins. Could you explain what they are to me?"

"What are they teaching you kids, these days?" the rabbit said, pouting. "Didn't they tell you any of this at the capital?"

Papyrus shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of."

"Well, us monsters used to live in the Ruins at one point. Back then, it used to be called "Home."

"Of course," Papyrus said with a smirk. "Asgore came up with the name himself, didn't he?"

"Pretty much," The rabbit replied. "Eventually, us monsters decided it was time to move. Some of us stayed in Snowdin, some of us stayed in Waterfall, and some of us stayed in Hotland. Eventually, the rest of the monsters decided to live near the barrier, or as the king calls it, 'New Home'."

"Wowie, I'm learning so much," Papyrus said happily. He tilted his head. "Although I must ask, why can't anybody go back to the Ruins?"

"Because the door's sealed off from the rest of the Underground," The rabbit replied. "So unless you're a ghost, or unless you can burrow through it, there's no other way to get in there."

"Huh..." Papyrus placed a hand on one of his hips. "Now that's disappointing."

Still, the fact that the humans came out of that door was amusing to him. He didn't understand WHY a human would come down here, especially when they had so much open space on the surface. But at the same time, one more human was needed to break the barrier and free the monsters. He was aware that they were dangerous, but maybe one day he could see one for himself.

Papyrus and Undyne bid farewell to the rabbit as they started heading back to the hospital. He couldn't wait to tell Sans about the Ruins door, as well as what else Snowdin had to offer.

As they arrived at the hospital, they saw that Dr. Puff was arguing with another doctor at the front desk, neither of them looked too happy.

"You know I was going to be in New Home all week!"

"Well these patients need you too, you know!"

"Hey...maybe you should go take a nap, you're a bit snappier then usual."

"Does this mean you'll FINALLY give me some help?"

"Excuse me," Papyrus said as he walked over to the counter, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Is everything all right?"

"Oh, everything's fine," Dr. Puff replied, trying to calm herself down. "Do you need anything?"

"Um...have you checked on my brother at all?"

"Of course I did," Puff replied. "He's still sleeping in his room."

"Right...but did he have any outbursts like last time?"

Puff shook her head. "He hasn't done anything, all he did was sleep."

"All right, thank you."

Papyrus began to make his way upstairs, he walked into Sans' room and placed his brother's back pack next to the chair. "And how are we doing today, Lazy Bones?"

"You mean he's STILL not awake, yet?" Undyne asked as she walked into the room. "I can give him points for staying alive though, so there's that."

"Undyne, please!" Papyrus said angrily, he looked down at Sans. "Anyway, did you know that Snowdin is LITERALLY close to Home? They call it the 'Ruins", now. And every time you knock on the door, a lady will try to yell at you."

"And we don't know why, either." Undyne replied. Papyrus nodded in response. "And there's no way to get into the Ruins, but it sounds like it'd be an interesting place to check out...IF we ever get to check it out."

Sans was quiet, as usual. Papyrus let out a deep sigh. "You know, I wouldn't mind if you told me a joke, right now." He nudged Sans' arm in an attempt to wake him up. "...Please?"

Undyne's fins drooped downwards, she placed a hand on Papyrus' shoulder. She wanted to say something, but she was worried that she could end up saying the wrong thing, angering Papyrus in the process.

Papyrus looked into his brother's bag and grabbed a couple fish cookies, he put one in his brother's hand while he ate the other one. He saw that Sans wrapped his fingers around the cookie. He started to shift a bit, muttering something incoherently before he settled down again. Papyrus stared at him with wide eyes. Ever since Sans had gotten sick, he was barely able to move...let alone speak. But now he couldn't help but smile, it looked like his brother was finally closer to waking up.

He gently grabbed onto Sans' hand and brought it up to his forehead. With the chance that Sans would wake up, he wasn't going to leave him any time soon.

And with that, I'll be sure to work on the next chapter ASAP...

...Oh yeah, did I mention that this is the second to last chapter?