Chapter 45: Snowdin Town
After Sans took the other monsters home, he reappeared as Frisk passed by Greater Dog's station.
"oh there you are."
"It seems silent around here. Is it usually so quiet?"
"most of the sentries are off duty around this time. usually this place is full of dogs, literally. snowdin is a little ways. i know a shortcut though," he said grabbing her hand and walking the other way.
They reappeared in a town with snow covered roofs.
"the first houses on the right are the item shop and the inn. peri owns the item shop and violet owns the inn," Sans explained. "the igloo is a quick shortcut to the other side of town if you're in a rush."
Before they passed an intersection further north, they passed by a another building with six yellow windows. In the middle of the windows was a sign that read 'OPEN'.
A sign on the building read Grillby's. Next to the windows was a roofed door. A barrel of green flowers stood by the door.
"as you can see this is grillby's. it's the place with the best grub."
"I see."
There was a path to the west.
"across from here is the librarby."
"Librarby? Don't ya mean library?" Chara and Frisk asked at the same time.
'Jinx, you owe me a soda.' Frisk thought.
"Crap," Chara said.
Sans chuckled before he ruffled her hair.
Frisk flinched.
"Quit that. Don't touch me. That makes me uncomfortable."
She glanced at the building. There were four windows. One of the windows stood right of the door revealing a silhouette of a cactus.
Sans put his hand back in his pocket.
"well why don't i just show you and you can see for yourself."
The two stepped into the librarby.
As they walked inside, Frisk looked around. On the backwall stood six shelves of books. There were red, blue, yellow, orange, lime green and green books on each shelf from right to left.
"hey mari."
To the left of them was an orange triangular desk situated in a 90 degree angle. A green mole-like monster wearing a pair of glasses and an orange sweater stood behind it. There was also a pink vase behind them that contains a green cactus.
"Hey Sans, it's been a while since we've seen you here," said the green mole-like monster. "Last time you were here, you were checking out those books on soul theory. It's been a while, I guess you must be busy then huh?"
'Soul theory? Could he know about the other humans who have fallen down here?'
Chara shrugged.
"Who knows."
Sans winked at the green mole monster.
"i guess i've been a little busy with work."
An orange table was on the right where three monsters were seated in chairs that stood on a pink rug. One was a yellow monster with short white hair wearing a sweater. Next to her was a green slug-like monster with brown hair tied up in a bun. She was wearing purple eye shadow.
The slug monster snorted.
"Only a little? You hardly ever visit. Admit it you're too embarrassed to be around us."
Sans chuckled.
"how slimey of me."
"I knew it. See Mari, I told you that skeleton was trouble. He's not a thing like his brother."
"Come on Peggy, he was just teasing you," the yellow monster said, softly.
Peggy groaned.
"Well I wish he'd knock it off. This is nothing to joke about."
"so what do you think about the library? it's cool right?"
"To be honest, it's kind of sparse," Frisk said.
"Sparse? What planet are you on? Who loves reading? It's lame," Chara said. "It's so boring. The less books in the world the better."
'Makes sense, always wondered why you can never think of anything catchy to say.'
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you trying to say I'm illiterate? I never said I don't read, I just don't love reading."
'Ah really I guess I was mistaken then.'
Chara glared at Frisk.
"Yes, you are."
Frisk ignored him glancing at the red creature with a yellow eye sitting across the two monsters. It looked alot like Loox from the ruins.
'Say Chara don't ya think this monster kinda looks like Loox from the ruins?'
"Yeah, that monster kinda has a keen resemblance to them. They could be related," he said.
Frisk addressed the creature.
"Say, you wouldn't happen to have a brother in the ruins would ya?"
"Um yes, why are you asking? Do you know my brother? Is he a friend of yours?"
"Kinda," Frisk said.
The creature chuckled.
"Betcha he was a jerk to ya wasn't he?"
"Well not exactly he just knocked me out."
The creature's eye widened in shock.
"Really? I'm surprised. He's usually gets beat up before he can even retaliate. Are you sure you're talking about my brother?"
"I am."
She frowned.
"You don't have to lie for his sake."
Her yellow eye turned red as she avoided her eyes.
"I'm not lying. Why would you think I'm lying? Are you two not on good terms?"
"Something like that. He's been more of a jerk after our mom died," she said. "Picking on monsters around the neighborhood. I tried to talking to him but he always blows me off so I moved here."
"How? Aren't the ruins locked from the inside?"
"Right?" Chara said.
"The ruins weren't always sealed off. Some froggits killed a human that was down there. I heard the lady in the ruins sealed it off afterwards out of spite to prevent something like that from happening again."
"Still he's your brother isn't he?"
She snorted.
"I guess but that doesn't account for much."
"Heh," Chara said.
Frisk's eyes darted towards Chara, noticing his lips were twitching like he was forcing the smile on his face.
'How unlike him.'
Chara looked up as Frisk turned away to glance at Sans. She immediately noticed the eye lights in his eyes were gone.
"Are you talking about Sans again?"
'Yeah. I guess I had no idea he was so popular with everyone.'
It was a lie but she figured asking Chara what was on his mind wouldn't be the most tactful thing she could say to him at the minute.
'Weird, it's the first time I've seen his eyesockets looking like that.'
"you know-"
"You know-"
Sans turned to glance at Frisk with small eyelights.
"Oh, you were gonna say something?" she asked.
"nah, you could go ahead."
"I was just gonna tell you that maybe you shouldn't take him for granted. No one really knows what they have until it's gone," Frisk said. "You're lucky to even have a brother at all."
Sans looked at Frisk with narrowed eyes.
Just then the door to the librarby opened.
Frisk something fly inside and shatter on the floor.
"What's-"
She saw red liquid spilt on the floor around the shattered glass.
"That?" Chara spoke.
Within minutes it began to smoke covering the room in gas.
Frisk felt her vision darken and her head fog. Sans and the rest of the librarby inhabitants looking darker and blurrier with time until she slowly eased into sleep.
"kid?"
"Hey."
"hey kiddo, wake up."
"Hey idiot, look alive."
She woke up to the sight of Sans looming above her and Chara floating next to him.
"good, you're awake."
Still he was frowning, looking directly into her eyes in accusation. For what? Frisk couldn't even fathom.
'What happened, Chara?'
"Don't know. After you passed out, the room was filled with smoke and I couldn't even see anybody. When the smoke was clear though everyone else was passed out and that one-eyed creature you were talking to disappeared."
Frisk sat up.
"take it easy. you did hit your head pretty hard."
She ignored him preferring to look around the room. Sure enough Loox's sister was gone.
'Cr-p.'
"What happened to that one-eyed monster?" Frisk asked.
Sans looked at her with confusion.
"huh?"
"You mean Layax?" the yellow monster asked.
"Yeah, I was trying to find her once I woke up but she's gone," Mari said.
"Do you know where she lives?"
"Well usually she stays with Frizzle," Peggy said pointing to the yellow monster.
'I guess that yellow monster must be Frizzle then.'
"So she's disappeared then!?" Frizzle asked.
Frisk felt someone staring intensely in her direction.
"She couldn't just disappear. Maybe her brother knows where she could have gone. Maybe she ran into some trouble. Someone clearly planned to put us all to sleep."
"Well, even if you want to let him know, Layax said no one could access the ruins so you couldn't possibly get ahold of her brother no matter how far you stretch it, dear," Peggy said.
Frisk smiled smugly.
"I don't have to. I have a faster way of getting ahold of him," she said digging her phone from her pant's pocket.
Quickly she dialed Cobra's number before putting the cellphone to her ear.
"Wow, never seen anyone use a cellphone like that before," Frizzle said.
"Yeah, I thought she'd text like a normal person," Peggy said.
"Hello?" a deep voice croaked over the phone.
"Cobra? Is that you?"
"Who's this?"
"Remember you gave an amulet to me to ward off ghosts."
"Oh that's right. Why are you calling me? Did you find something?"
"No, I wanted to talk with Loox if that's alright. I had something I wanted to ask him."
"Ok, he's right here. I'm putting him on."
Frisk heard the sound of rustling.
"Hello?"
"Loox is that you?"
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"Just a couple of minutes ago I was talking to your sister in Snowdin."
"What?! Was that your attempt of surprising me? If it is, it's not working."
He chuckled.
"What a stupid reason to call."
"That would be the case if that was the reason I was calling you. See we ran into some trouble and your sister's gone missing."
"Cr-p. She was saying something about running into trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
"I don't know exactly. It has something to do with an underground food operation. That's all I know. She told me she had discovered something sinister. I thought she was crazy at the time."
Frisk grit her teeth.
"Ah I see why she hates you."
"Hey don't judge me. Anyway, you gotta find her. I just have a bad feeling about this."
"I'll see what I can do. See ya."
With that Frisk hung up the phone.
"so what's the verdict?"
"I think she's been kidnapped by some shady organisation and that's about all I know."
Sans patted her on the back before she glared at him.
He chuckled nervously removing his hand.
"sorry about that."
"You think I was joking about this?!"
Sans snorted.
"well buddo, it's not like anything bad happens down here. don't really see that happening amongst monsters."
'Is he trying to imply something? He seemed to put extra emphasis on 'monsters.'
Chara shrugged.
"I wouldn't worry about it. He probably meant no harm by it."
Frisk sighed.
"well we better continue with our tour kid or i'll be running a little late for my next job."
With that the two left the librarby.
As they passed the library, they came across another house at the end of town. It was a two story house with a patio area hanging off on the right side of the top floor. A pirate flag was hanging off the left side of the roof as well.
"Who's the house at the end?"
"oh that's our house," Sans supplied. "feel free to drop by any time. you do owe me a favor after all. well i guess i'll have to show you grillbys some other time i'll be seeing you kiddo.
With that he winked before walking into Grillbys.
In the meantime, Frisk walked into the item shop spotting a tall furry monster with bunny ears peeking out of a straw hat on their head.
They wore a yellow beaded necklace and a white apron over a black dress.
"Hi."
"Hello, never seen you around here before. Are you a tourist or are you by yourself?"
"I guess you can say I'm a tourist."
"Well then pleased to meet you."
In the back of the shop was a scroll with a familiar insignia of a circle with wings above a triangle in the middle of two upside down triangles below it.
"What's that?"
She had seen a similar symbol on Toriel's shawl.
The monster turned.
"You mean the scroll or the symbol written on the scroll?"
"The symbol."
"Oh that's the delta rune. It's been connected to a story that has passed down from generation to generation. It tells of a prophesy regarding an angel who will set us all free."
"An angel huh?"
"Yeah," she said. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"This is a shop right? Can I buy anything?"
"What do you need, dear?"
"Do you have some clothes, it's kinda cold outside."
"Oh," the monster said. "They're in the back. I sell food too if you're hopin' to stock up."
As Frisk headed in the back she saw an orange bandanna and some pink gloves hung on the right wall.
"It looks like a picture of manly abs drawn on it," Chara said.
'Weird.'
Towards the back of the shop was a coat rack.
Frisk rummaged through it finally picking out a black furry coat for 60 g.
"Is this what you want, dear?"
"Yeah," she said handing her the gold. "Are those gloves on the wall for sale too?"
"No I keep them as a reminder in case I stumble off the path of the straight and narrow."
"Oh I see."
She had fallen off that path a long time ago.
"Can I buy the bandanna then?"
"Sure."
Frisk took it off the shelf and wore it around her neck.
"You look disturbed. Is something tormenting you?"
"It's nothin'."
"If something is disturbing you dear, you know you can come by and talk anytime."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"It's just you remind me of a boy who once fell down here. He looked so lost like he had this huge weight on his shoulders. He told me that he killed his father. Can you imagine a poor innocent boy doing something like that?"
Frisk shrugged.
"Well I couldn't either. He told me that he killed his father but it gets weird because the gun he had brought with him was the weapon he said he used but he never remembered firing the gun. I imagine even if he was a bad person he didn't hurt anyone down here. I took the boy in after that feeling sorry for him. So even if you think your troubles are only yours to bear, you can't be an entirely bad person if you want to handle them by yourself. Only truly evil people can burden others without thinking about the trouble they cause."
"Well it was nice meeting you," Frisk said.
"See ya later."
"Bye now, come again sometime."
Frisk donned the coat over her sweater before heading to the inn next door.
A pink bunny stood behind the desk next to a smaller white bunny.
She looked up as Frisk walked inside.
"Can I help you?" she asked coolly.
"Excuse me, is it possible to pay for a room ahead of time?"
"Of course dear. It's 80 g a night though."
Frisk set 500 g on the counter.
"Is this enough?"
"Yes, are you planning to come by later?"
Frisk nodded.
"Ok, feel free to come by whenever you're finished with your business."
With that she left and headed to Grillby's. Inside was a couple of tables to the right and a large table to the left where three empty seats.
A square table was above the large table with an uninhabited seat.
The first stall to the right was also empty.
The next stall had a large plant monster that looked like a venus flytrap. Towards the front of the pub a horse monster was seated on the right side of the bar.
On the far left side was an ugly pink fish monster seated next to a yellow duck-like monster.
She saw Sans was seated in the middle talking with a red flame monster.
"Hey!"
"hey kiddo, whatcha doin' here? bored already?"
Frisk shook her head.
"then why don't we have a little chat. dizzy shouldn't be coming in until lunch so there should be a booth for us towards the front entrance."
Sans hopped off the stool and lead Frisk to the empty booth.
She scooted in the booth at the skeleton's insistence.
Sans squeezed in the stall leaving Frisk crunched in the corner with their hips touching awkwardly.
He held out his hand in her direction.
"so how much did ya spend? i did have a lot of change and i was planning on paying the rest of my tab too."
Frisk handed him his wallet.
"Sorry I was broke."
"so you did steal it."
She smirked.
"Yeah, you made it so easy I thought 'why not'."
Sans looked through it.
"looks like you used all the money too."
Frisk shrugged.
"Well it's not like it's easy getting money around here."
'I don't even know if they accept frankies.'
"Frankies? What's that supposed to be?" Chara asked.
'It's the currency of the surface. At least where I'm from.'
"Weird, I guess alot has changed huh? I remember using dollars on the surface."
'Still if they don't use it that would make me more suspicious.'
"Well it's not easy finding money," she said.
"well the only way to earn money is to work for it though you don't look old enough to even get a job."
"How could you possibly know that?" Frisk asked.
"i figured you'd already have a job if that was the case."
"That's quite an assumption to make," she said glancing at Sans. "Do you have the habit of judging people by their first appearances?"
"guilty, but it's never steered me wrong," he said. "so what's the story kid? you have quite a lot of dust on your hands don't ya?"
Frisk frowned.
Something about the way he was avoiding her eyes vexed her. If he had something to say he could have easily looked into her eyes and said it.
"Guess he's a bit of a coward," Chara said.
'You would know.'
Chara was silent.
'How unlike him. He's nastier than usual,' he thought.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Frisk asked.
"monsters fade to dust when they die." Sans said.
The pupils in his eyesockets disappeared.
"So I guess what I'm really asking is how did you get dust on your hands?"
"What the h-ll?" Chara sputtered. "Where did that come from?"
"I killed some monsters in the underground. Happy? Satisfied?" she said coolly.
"heh, heh, was it fun to watch?"
'Is he tryin' to be funny or is he being completely serious?'
"Yes, I even throw my knife around because of how much I enjoy myself."
Frisk grinned, something cold in her eyes.
"i don't appreciate the sarcasm bud," Sans said.
"Um," Chara said.
"Well I don't appreciate your sense of humor so join the club," she said.
"Well, that just got awkward."
"Of course I don't enjoy killing other monsters but even still it's a two way street. You think I'm gonna stand there and tank the hits. Just because you're immortal doesn't mean I am."
Sans snorted.
"so you intend to kill anyone who's in your way?"
"Judge me how you will. I don't have to answer to you."
Sans noted how she continued to avoid his eyes.
"then why are you looking away? don't tell me you actually regret-"
"Shut up!" Frisk snapped. "Don't act as if you know me. You don't know anything about me."
"heh, you're right. i guess i don't."
Frisk regarded him suspiciously.
She was certain he was angry with her and almost instantly it was replaced with that sheepish expression.
"guess i'll see you around then."
'What a coward and he still has the nerve to say those things.'
He headed out the door leaving Frisk alone with her thoughts.
After she had got up and headed outside of Grillby's she caught sight of Papyrus in the distance talking with Barby.
"BARBY, HAVE YOU SEEN SANS? HE'S SUPPOSED TO HELP ME GET READY FOR THE COSTUME PARTY."
Papyrus caught sight of her as she was heading towards them.
"HEY DIDN'T MY BROTHER SAY HE INVITED YOU AS A GUEST TO THE PARTY. THAT MEANS YOU HAVE THE SAME COSTUME PRIVILEGES AS HE DOES SO YOU COULD HELP ME WITH MY COSTUME."
Frisk looked confounded.
"Me? I don't know the first thing about making a costume. My sewing skills aren't even passable."
"Wait, really. Dude, even I could sew," Chara said.
'Oh well then I guess you can help me then?'
"What? You're not seriously thinking about joining him. If Sans finds out, he's gonna kill us," he said.
"NONSENSE, YOU'LL DO FINE."
Papyrus all but pushed her in his house after unlocking the door.
Once inside, Frisk looked around.
There was a tv next to a rack of socks. A set of stairs on the left led up to two room on the second floor. There was a room ahead that looked like a kitchen. On her left, Frisk spotted a green leather couch against the wall by the door.
"COME ALONG, I HAVE ALL THE SUPPLIES WE NEED IN MY BEDROOM."
He grabbed her left hand and led her up the stairs to his room which was directly ahead. Inside his bedroom was a computer set up on a desk on the upper right corner of the room.
There was a small closet next to it. Next to the closet was a bookshelf that reached to the ceiling.
A table was situated on the left wall where Frisk saw a bunch of tiny action figures lying on top.
He had a red race car bed in the bottom left corner of the room. The bed was already made rather nicely only ruined by the bags of fabric.
"HOW DO I PUT THIS? UM WHAT IS HIP THESE DAYS?"
Chara chuckled.
"Is this guy for real?"
Frisk glanced at Papyrus. He was a rather tall skeleton. She remembered Sans had only reached his midriff.
"I have an idea why don't you make a costume of a warrior or one of the three musketeers."
"The perfect opportunity for your inner nerd to come out," Chara said with a smile.
'Shut up, Chara.'
"MAGNIFICENT IDEA. WHAT SHOULD WE MAKE FIRST?"
Frisk pulled out some fabric from the bag on top of his bed.
"Let's start with the sash. Any good costume has some flashy item to bring it all together."
She took out some red fabric.
"GOOD IDEA."
"It probably should look a little worn for the sake of realism. Maybe cut a couple of holes at the end."
Frisk got some scissors working at the ends slinging the red fabric over his neck when it was finished.
There was a curt knock and a voice.
"papyrus, i'm coming in."
Sans came inside. His pupils dialated at the sight of Frisk.
"what are you two doing?"
"Cr-p, he's gonna kill us," Chara said.
"Oh relax, he's not gonna kill us. You're exaggerating. He's probably make sure we're black and blue before doing anything.'
"That isn't funny.'
"THEY'RE HELPING ME WITH MY COSTUME. HOW DOES IT LOOK SO FAR? LOOKING PRETTY GOOD IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF."
"what are you supposed to be?" Sans asked.
"He's supposed to be one of the three musketeers," Frisk said. "I haven't finished the costume yet though. Still need to make the shirt thought I don't know how to do it."
"Where do you get all that courage and can I have some?" Chara asked.
"what color of material do you intend to use?"
Frisk shrugged.
"I don't know. I guess white would go really well with the red. Oh we'll need some boots and gloves too. It will look perfect."
"papyrus, can you clear off the table."
"OF COURSE BROTHER."
"wait here i'll be back."
Sans came back minutes later with a sewing machine in his hand which he set on the table and plugged into the wall.
"You can sew?" Frisk asked.
"i could do a lot of things, kiddo. i'm guessing the costume was your idea, right? why'd you pick a costume of them of all things?"
"Well I heard they're very strong and intelligent. They also have each other's back."
"Unlike you.'
"i just never pictured you as the kind of person that enjoys picking up a book. guess you're a bit of a nerd huh?"
Frisk raised a brow
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"nah, there's nothing wrong with that. still while we're discussing good deeds i think you owe me twice," Sans said.
"For what?"
"You did steal his wallet, remember?" Chara said.
"Maybe he should have kept a better eye on it instead of trying to pull a prank on me. I can't help it if he offers the opportunity.'
"one for checkin' up on you and the other for stealing my wallet. i heard grillbz is hiring new waiters y'know so you could pay back the money you owe me," Sans said with a wink.
"Fair enough but how do you know I will pay you? I could just skip out on you?"
"where are you stayin' tonight?"
"Probably at the inn, since I've already paid for a room. Still that won't help you if you don't know when I'm gonna leave."
"i'm not worried about that."
"Because you can just teleport to where I'm at right?"
Sans shrugged.
"i don't know what you're talking about."
"That's fair."
"all i wanted to tell you is if you needed some place to stay you could always stay with us and get your refund if you get my drift. some people need that money y'know.
Frisk grinned.
'Not a chance. Do you really think I trust you?'
"I'll keep that in mind," she said.
After they had finished later in the evening, Frisk headed out.
"Tell Papyrus it was fun but I best be heading out."
Once Frisk headed out she dropped by the inn.
"Are you crashing for the night?'
"Yeah."
Frisk headed upstairs into the first room to the north. Inside was a large bed with a thin violet sheet on it. She jumped face first into the bed.