For those of you enjoying this story I have bad news; my computer is having problems and I needed to borrow someone else's just to post this. I don't know what is wrong, but it can't seem to find its operating system. Anyway, updates are going to come slowly until it gets fixed or replaced. Sorry to disappoint. :(
-Melanie
You felt something nudge you. You grumbled and buried your face in your arms, not wanting to be bothered. You did not want to move. You felt sick. The last thing you remembered was eating Papyrus's cooking and getting a stomach ache so bad you passed out. You figured all the suffering you went through for the sake of his happiness should earn you at least five more minutes of rest, but whatever nudged you just kept poking.
"C'mon kid. I don't know your mom's number and she's probably worried sick for you." Sans's voice rang in your ears. She was not the only one that was sick. You crawled over to Sans sluggishly and took the phone from his hand. For some reason it was slightly greasy and looked like it had snack crumbs stuck to it. You typed in Toriel's number and handed the phone back to Sans so you could take a face plant in the sofa and curl around your ailing stomach. Sans chuckled a little and you growled at him. "Hey I didn't tell you to eat it, much less wolf down the whole thing. I can usually get a way with one or two bites."
He hit the call button and the phone started ringing. When Toriel's voice came up on the phone she sounded panicked. You could here what she was saying clearly and she was not even on speaker phone.
"Hey, it's me. I got your kid here." Sans said and started receiving a barrage of loud questions from the other end. If he had ears they would be ringing. "Nah, they're okay. I popped over to see if you were around. They tried to let me in for tea and pie and accidentally locked themselves out. We woulda called sooner, but we got a little side tracked with my brother." more questions flowed through the receiver and Sans tried his best to answer them. "They are fine... We're at my house... On the Eastern end of Snowdin... Yes they're are perfectly unharmed," You groaned loudly. "May have a slight stomach ache... Papyrus's cooking."
Sans handed you the phone, "She wants to talk to you." he said.
"My child, are you alright?" She asked, even though she had asked Sans multiple times already. "Why didn't you have your phone with you?" You tried to convince her that you were okay and that you didn't leave intentionally. You told her about the skeleton brothers and how the took good care of you, (or tried to, in Papyrus's case).
Sometime during this conversation Sans had got up and left and when he returned he was holding a pink bottle labeled 'bismuth subsalicylate stomach relief' you had no idea why someone without a stomach would have that. Maybe this happened with guests before? He poured you a cap full and handed it to you for you to drink while Toriel went on.
"I'll be over right away, but before I go would you hand back over to, Sans was it?" You handed the cell back to Sans as you sipped down the medicine.
"Hello," he answered and you thought you could hear a very heartfelt 'thank you' from Toriel's end, " No problem, so when are you gonna be over to pick the kid up? M'kay, see you then." He ended the call with a big grin on his face, not that that was unusual for him, but you guess talking to Toriel made him happy. He then turned his attention toward you. "So, looks like your mom will be over soon. Anything you want to do in the meantime?
...
You piled on the snow as Sans watched you from the front of the house. You were trying to get as much fun in Snowdin as you could before you had to go home. So far you managed to make snow angels and have a snowball fight with Papyrus. He had burst through the front door while you were making an angel right by his house and declared that if you could best him in a snowball fight he would let you go free and either he had the worst aim you had ever seen or he was let you win. By the end of the battle he had not hit you once and he was so wet that he had to go back inside to dry off. Yeah, you are pretty sure he let you win. Now you were trying to squeeze in making a snowman, but it looked like you would not have time for that. Just as you piled up enough to start shaping the torso, Toriel showed up.
She came up to you with one of your thickest sweaters and a pair of mittens. You ran over for a hug and she enveloped you in warm arms.
"Oh my child, you had me so worried." She sighed in relief, eventually she had to let you go so she could hand you your sweater and you realized it would be time to give Sans back his hoodie. You hoped he would not mind that it got a little damp from the snow angles as you slipped it off your shoulders and pulled on the sweater and mittens. You ran over to Sans and handed him the jacket, drawing Toriel's attention to him as well and she walked over.
"Hello, you must be Sans." Toriel greeted him warmly, "Thank you, so much for helping us."
"Again, it's snow problem." Sans said and the two of them shared a chuckle. You could hear Papyrus groaning from inside the house. "I didn't get your name though."
"My name is Toriel. It is very nice to meet you in person."
"Same to you."
"I'm so sorry to have caused you any trouble," Toriel said as she took your hand and readied to leave, "I would love to stay and talk longer, but we must return to the ruins. I am the only one to look after the place after all." She turned away with a friendly wave goodbye, "I hope we may talk again soon."
...
Toriel held your hand the entire way back to the ruins, glaring down any of the sentries or guards who looked like they wanted to stop you. You were beginning to think she was being over protective again the ones you passed just looked like fluffy white dogs that wanted to be pet. Then you came across one smoking dog biscuits and throwing swords at anything that moved. When he pointed his blade at you Toriel knocked his lights out. For a person who always insisted on talking out conflicts, she could be pretty aggressive when someone she cared about was on the line.
As you approached the end of the forest you began to wonder how she would get the door open if it was supposed to be a one-way exit. Sans did say some of the bigger monsters might be able to pry it open. Was Toriel big enough? She had to be aware of it having lived in the ruins so long, so she must be confident that she could open it. You decided Toriel could do it, however all of these considerations proved moot as the door was not in the same condition as when you had left.
Thorny green roots and vines tangled around the doorway in thick blanket of foliage. The sealed shut the gaps around the door and dug into the surrounding stone, forcing open huge cracks and threatening the stability of the archway.
"Oh my," Toriel gasped, "How could so much growth have sprouted in so little time?"
You were placing bets on a malicious flower, but you were also a bit confused. You did not know Flowey was capable of this much. At any rate, the two of you were not getting through the door with the vines there and Toriel was not sure she could remove them without the stone collapsing. You wondered out loud what you were going to do.
"It does not look like we will be able to leave through here today." Toriel said worriedly, "It's getting late though. We should head back to Snowdin and get a room at the Inn." and turned around to go back. The entire trip back you were glancing over your shoulder and in between trees to get a glimpse of Flowey. You did not know what he was planning so it was best to be on-guard. "My child, is something bothering you?" You tell Toriel you think that an evil flower put the vines on the door and that you were checking to see if it was following you. "Don't worry child, I will not let anyone harm you." You did not doubt that, but Flowey was persistent, an you only needed to be caught of guard once for something bad to happen.
You arrived back in Snowdin and headed straight for the Inn. As Toriel booked your room you had your face pressed up against the window looking for any sign of Flowey, or on a more pleasant note, Sans and Papyrus. Papyrus would probably be giddy that you were still in town and Sans would love to crack more jokes with Toriel, but at the moment neither of them seemed to be nearby. The only ones out were some kids playing 'monsters and humans' and a couple of bears arranging gifts around what looked to be a Christmas tree.
One of the monster children was a yellow boy(?, you think he's a boy based on his voice, but it was kind of hard to tell) in stripes. As they passed near the Inn he tripped and landed on his face, having no arms to break his fall. He squirmed his way back onto his feet and shook off the snow. He went to see if any snow was still stuck to him in the reflection of the window and ended up staring right at you, with a surprised look on his face. It did not last long as his attention was called away by the other kids, and your attention was redirected to Toriel who had the key to your room.
It was kind of noisy at the Inn. The people in the room next to yours snored really loudly, but eventually you were able to get to sleep. In the morning you went down to the neighboring store and got some cinnamon buns for breakfast. After you munched on one you worked on building a snowman while Toriel watched as she contemplated what to do next since the ruins were still inaccessible. You piled on the snow and decided to make it a skeleton, although with your sloppy workmanship it was difficult to identify it as such.
"Yo!" you were approached by the monster kid, "I saw you hanging around at the Inn yesterday. You're a kid like me, right? I know you are 'cause you're wearing stripes." You did not comment on the fault in his logic, "That's so cool! There haven't been any new kids in town in a long time. You wanna play Monsters and Humans with us?" You wondered if this was a jab at the fact you were a human. You shook your head slowely. "Aw, come on. I'll even convince the other kids to let you be the human. See that Jellyblob over there?" He gestured with his had at what looked to be a young moldsmal,"It's his turn to be Undyne and he isn't very fast, so avoiding him will be no problem!"
Undyne, you thought you heard that name before. You think Papyrus might have mentioned them in passing. She had something to do with the royal guard that Papyrus was trying so hard to be a part of.
"Don't tell him I said this," the monster kid leaned close so he could whisper, "but he is really bad at being Undyne. She is so cool and fast, she would never let a human escape her so easily. She would beat them up so bad" He laughed for a second, "Man, Undyne is so cool! I wanna beat up humans just like her!" you ask him if he had ever seen a human, "Nah. I hear the last one that passed through here was before I can remember, but I think they are really mean looking." You concluded he had no idea who he was talking to. "So, how 'bout it? You wanna play?" You supposed it would not hurt, since none of them seemed to know you were a human. You glanced over to Toriel, who was watching you closely, but did not seem to discourage you from interacting with them then turned back to monster kid and agreed.
The game Monsters and Humans was a lot like freeze tag. The humans tagged monsters and they would have to stop moving until the one playing Undyne liberated them and if a human was tagged by Undyne then they were out. When all the humans were gone the game would be over. With no way to get Undyne tagged out the game seemed to be set up to invariably end in the monster's favor, it was just a question of how long you could keep it going.
Some how after a few play-throughs you managed to get chosen to be the current Undyne. The Irony was not lost on you. All of you were running around throughout Snowdin, the game's borders stretched anywhere between the edge of the Inn to the Library. Running back and forth from the two was really starting to were you out. You just wanted to collapse as you jogged past Grillby's to catch the 'human'.
You saw the door to Grillby's kicked open and Papyrus leaving with an irritated expression on his face and Sans slung over his shoulder. You went over to Papyrus eagerly and greeted him, much to the chagrin of the monster kid who had been waiting for you to liberate them.
"HUMAN! HOW NICE TO SEE YOU. SANS TOLD ME YOU HAD LEFT FOR THE RUINS YESTERDAY, DID YOU COME BACK TO VISIT US?" Papyrus talked excitedly. Sans, having heard Papyrus address you, lifted his head to get a look. He seemed a tad surprised.
"Your mom here with you, kid?" Sans asked and you nodded, "huh, She seemed really adamant about staying in the ruins. What changed?" You explained that you were never able to return home last night because the door was blocked. You were stuck here.
"OH," Papyrus said sounding a bit disappointed, but he quickly recovered and struck a dramatic pose (dropping Sans in the process) "WORRY NOT DEAR HUMAN, I WILL MAKE YOUR STAY IN SNOWDIN AS FANTASTIC AS POSSIBLE SO YOU WILL FORGET ALL ABOUT RETURNING TO THE RUINS!"
"They're not a human, they're Undyne, and they let all the humans trap the monsters." The monster kid whined. You turned around to see all the other kids just standing there as all of the monster team was 'trapped' and the human team did not have anyone left to tag or anyone to run away from since you had not been chasing them. Oops. "Does this mean the game is over?"
"Wow, I've never won on the human team before." a bundled up mouse said.
"Next time you play as Undyne you need to remember that she never gives up." The jellyblob added, "Does this mean I get to be Undyne again?"
"Yo! If you're gonna play again you should be on the human team," the monster kid said. You declined, you were getting tired and you wanted to spend time with Sans and Papyrus.
"So, uh, Toriel nearby." Sans asked after the other kids ran off to start a new game. You nodded and pointed to her standing near the Inn, her eyes still on you. Papyrus looked as well and his eye sockets widened.
"IS THAT THE KING? DID HE SHAVE?" Papyrus asked.
"That's not the King. She is Toriel, the kids mom."
"HOW CAN SHE BE THEIR MOM IF SHE IS A MONSTER AND THEY ARE-" Papyrus was interupted by Sans nudging him. It seemed as though not everyone was aware that you were human and Sans thought it best to keep it that way, which would be difficult if Papyrus kept yelling that you were human every time he addressed you.
"Hang on, I want to talk to her for a sec." Sans said and strolled over Papyrus followed out of curiosity.
"Good morning Sans," Toriel said noticing the two of them, "Is this your brother, Papyrus?"
"YOU KNOW ME?"
"Why yes, Sans has told me so much about you. He always talks about how incredibly cool his brother is." Torial answered. Sans looked a little embarrassed.
"NYEH HEH HEH, WHY OF COURSE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM THE BEST BROTHER A SKELETON COULD HAVE!" Papyrus boasted as he thumped his fist to his chest is a show of pride.
"Papyrus, do you know what a skeleton orders at a restaurant?" Toriel asked, barely repressing a snort.
"SPAGHETTI? OR IN MY BROTHER'S CASE BURGERS." Papyrus pondered.
"No silly, spare ribs." Toriel laughed.
"GNAAAAH! MY DAY IS RUINED!"
"Man Tori, you always crack me up." Sans chuckled, "I think I broke my funny bone."
"I always pa-tell-a you to get more calcium."
"Maybe you should try being more stern-um."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! SANS MUST YOU INFECT EVERYONE WITH YOUR TERRIBLE JOKES?!" Papyrus yelled.
"I'm just trying to bring the world a skele-ton of joy" Sans said with a wink and with that Papyrus stormed off saying once more his day was ruined. Sans turned back to Toriel, looking slightly more serious for a moment. "Hey, do you mind if I take the kid for a while?" Sans asked.
"Of course not, especially after you had taken such good care of them." Toriel replied softly. You walked with Sans until you were just out of sight and he gestured you to come closer.
"Come on, kid I got a short cut." He said. You followed close and found yourself outside his sentry station in the forest. He stepped behind it for a second and grabbed a few bottles of ketchup and mustard. He stuffed a few in his pockets and began slurping down another. Is this what he brought you out here for? "Okay lets go." He said after downing an entire bottle.
The two of you headed deeper into the forest until you reached the door. "When you said path was blocked this wasn't what I was expecting. I was thinking some trees fell over, but not this. I've never seen anything grow so fast in my life. Did you see anything strange going on?"
You told him you were yelled at by an ornery flower when he left you here to deal with his brother yesterday.
"Yelling flower? Hm. The marsh is full of echo flowers, but none have been seen this far out in Snowdin before." You look a little confused. "Do you know what an echo flower is?" You shake your head "They are all over the marsh in Waterfall," He explained, "They will repeat anything said to them. My brother has been having unusual encounters with them as well, but he said they were giving him words of encouragement. Something strange is going on here." indeed it was, and no doubt would lead to trouble in the future. You only hoped you could handle what was in store for you.