Many weeks passed, arguments and make-ups stretching and forming this forbidden friendship.
It was a particularly cold day in Snowdin town, the snow fresh after the night's blizzard, the air crisp and fresh to breathe in. The school bell rang, announcing the schoolday's end to the many pleased students who leaked out of the building in massive waves.
Papyrus, Undyne and Tess were as usual the first to burst out, excitement leaking out of them like water out of a tap. It was considered a good schoolday, since Undyne had gotten two new scars on her arm which she didn't know where she had gotten them from.
Snow was kicked up as they ran across the playground and towards the town centre, where they usually hung out. What plans they had for that afternoon.
There was not another place Tess wanted to be right now. Oh if only her brother were here! Then things would be perfect. But in the meantime, how lucky she was to have such great friends.
"Last one there is a rotten egg!" Undyne bellowed, beginning to sprint towards the town centre across the massive heaps of snow. Papyrus and Tess bounded after her, chattering and cheering.
"Papyrus!" called a third, unfamiliar voice to her. Papyrus was so startled by someone calling his name that he tripped, causing Tess to run into him and fall with him into the cold snow. Undyne ran up to them, laughing loudly at their clumsiness. Tess laughed too, shaking the snow from her long hair and patchwork jacket, until she realised that Papyrus wasn't laughing in his usually chattering voice.
"Is something wrong Papyrus?" Tess asked innocently, gesturing at Undyne to calm down her euphoria. Papyrus looked up at her with his beady black eyes, and smiled widely.
"No! My dad's just here," said Papyrus, pointing to a dark figure in the distance.
Tess raised her silver eyes to look up. Surely, there was a black-cloaked figure in the distance, making its way towards them. It contrasted the white snow and bright nature of the town greatly, so it could be seen miles away. Undyne stepped up to stand beside her, her vertical pupils thinning threateningly. Giving her a questioning look, Tess raised a single thin dark eyebrow and asked why she was acting the way she was. Undyne flipped her tight ponytail back and behind her fins.
"Dr. Gaster's the royal scientist Tessy," she explained briefly with a gnash of her teeth. "He experiments on human souls."
"Undyne! My dad doesn't kill humans!" Papyrus snapped, getting defensive of his blood while brushing snow off his scarlet scarf.
A chill went down Tess' spine as if snow had gotten behind her clothes. Now that she looked, this so-called Gaster's movements were too smooth, unnatural, as if he made no effort, used no muscles, used no energy. The longer Tess looked, the scarier this black creature got.
"Papyrus, you never told me you had such friends?" The monster's voice deep, masculine and emotionless. Even Papyrus shivered at his sight. There was no possible way that this tall, threatening figure was related to someone so sweet like Papyrus. "Why don't you introduce yourselves?"
Undyne took to talking, taking Tess' silence as a sign of letting her speak. "The name's Undyne, and that over there is our number three side chick Tessy."
The skeleton was so close now that you could see every detail of his bone and even a scratch on the side of his face which bled both blood and bone marrow, his black cloak billowing in the breeze. He had the same shape of face as Papyrus, long and thin. Now that Tess looked, Papyrus was a less threatening, younger version of Gaster, so it was biologically possible for them to be related.
A frail greeting managed to slip past her tight throat, which caused Papyrus' father to turn his face towards her. It smiled briefly before it fell in surprised realisation, then morphed into the embodiment of rage.
Gaster's eyes flared a deep purple, then toned down to mere embers. Pinpricks, barely visible, yet creepier. Tess froze for that moment, not able to move any of her limbs. Then her heart began to pound heavily against her chest. She had faced monsters before, but none had shown pure antagonism towards her. Even Toriel was friendly at first before she became obsessive and overprotective.
Undyne noticed Gaster's inhuman expression, and stood protectively in front of Tess, flattening her fins against her scaly head. Seeing this, Gaster forced himself to relax and put on another smile, but this time it was fake, devoid of any feeling.
"I have never seen a human child attend an underground school," he remarked, however there was still that tone of hate in his voice. "How... peculiar..."
The human girl wasn't fond of Gaster right of the bat, and neither was Undyne, clearly. Her golden eyes were fixed onto Gaster, like a guard dog looks at a potential threat. But Gaster would not look at her. To him, it was like the two monster children had faded away with the breeze, leaving him in a second dimension, alone with the human.
"It's been such a long time since I've seen a live human being," continued Gaster, the purple in his eyes spreading like the plague. "The last one was also a female, and I recall Lionheart got her in Waterfall."
"Dad! You came here for a reason, didn't you?" Even someone as naive and innocent as Papyrus could sense that Gaster didn't even try to hide his glee at the previous human's death. But only Gaster seemed to be blind to the ultimate horror in Tess' eyes, something children can recognise in a flash.
"Ah," said Gaster, as if he had only become aware of his own son standing next to him at that very moment. "Why yes, thank you for reminding me. I came to take you home."
"Home?" echoed Papyrus, exchanging a glance with Undyne and Tess. "But, it's just after school and-"
"Don't argue," snapped his father. "Come along now, we're going to Hotland."
So without another squeak, Papyrus dropped his head and trudged after his father. Undyne and Tess watched them go. Just before they disappeared beyond the buildings, Papyrus turned round to give his two best friends a warm, apologetic smile.
For that moment silence drew between the two girls, who let the world around slowly seep back to them like surfacing from strange depths of an ocean.
"Don't worry about him Tessy," Undyne punched her friend in the shoulder, knocking her out of her own fear. "I won't let him hurt you! I'll protect you with my power!" She threw both her fists into the air and tried to shake off her uneasy feeling.
Tess choked out a forced laugh, trying to hide her horrible realisation in her gut that there were more monsters like Gaster, and living in the underground as a human would be a challenge more than it already has been.
"So I guess our plans are cancelled," Undyne changed the subject. "Listen Tessy, our fridge is nearly empty, so can we go food shopping instead?"
"Okay," said Tess, eager to get away from the place where she had seen the Royal Scientist. She had been to the grocery store deep in town only once, since her fear of passing monsters had gotten the better of her once or twice and caused her to stay home, but right now being alone was the last thing Tess wanted.
So Undyne led the way down into town, where all the monsters went about their day. Tess was surprised at how familiar the sights of Snowdin had grown to her already, and all Gaster did by coming here was just poison its bright nature with his unwanted darkness. She shook her head and tried to forget that the black-cloaked skeleton had appeared at all.
The grocery store was perhaps the biggest building in Snowdin to date, able to get lost in it if you didn't know where you were going. Perhaps that's why a frail human like Tess was frightened to go alone to big, heavily crowded places.
"Alright, tonight, I'm making vegetable-and-chicken soup," Undyne announced, pushing open the door to the grocery store. "So I'm gonna need a lot of healthy ingredients!" She elbowed Tess twice lightly. "Y'know, the one I showed you how to make just last week! You know what to get?"
Tess nodded her head again, forgetting about Gaster instantly. Undyne went her way into the noodle isle while Tess hurried off to find the vegetables Undyne seemed so passionate about. While Tess didn't possess as much talent as Undyne, to anything in particular, she did love to watch how Undyne cooked and played piano and practised her fighting with the dummy outside their house. She loved to watch, to listen, to wait... Be patient, that was her motto.
Despite cooking not being her thing, Tess did have a very good memory. She remembered everything Undyne had told her about the recipe.
Chicken, onion, carrot, parsnip, tomato, parsley...
By the time Tess reached the vegetable isle, she had already forgotten all about Dr. W.D Gaster and the event that just played out before her. Her metal basket dangled from her hand as she began to inspect the parsnips. She wasn't particularly fond of parsnip, but it did add the flavour the soup needed, which did taste very nice if it was prepared by Undyne. The long white sticks smelled strongly and fresh, growing greatly despite the lack of sunlight in the underground. She smiled to herself and plopped the two great fat parsnips into her basket. She had gone shopping with her brother when she still lived on the surface, since their father was too drunk to take care of them. He had always let her choose something small and sweet when they had spare pennies to spend. He was so dear to her.
For that moment she could hear him next to her, making some sarcastic remark about how ironic it was that they were so young and already acted like adults. Her hand snaked into her pocket and tightened round her MP3... Her promise...
Her light blue soul gave a jolt as she heard her own voice ring inside her head.
I will find you. No matter how long it takes, I will find you in the world, and we can rebuild our lives together. I promise.
She had made a promise. An oath. How long had she been in the underground? She couldn't stay down here forever, she needed to get back to the surface to find him. But what about Papyrus and Undyne? She couldn't just leave them behind. Tess shook herself. Undyne had said that she just had to wait for the barrier to break. That she could accomplish. And she didn't have to find him immediately. Her brother also had a light blue soul, and they had always competed their patience by annoying each other constantly. He could wait, so could she.
In fact, she had a song on her MP3 called 'Wait For It', and it seemed pretty fitting for her. Why was such a simple, bland and talentless girl like Tess going through so much?
Suddenly something crashed into her, causing her to fall on her side onto the cold floor, the items falling out of her basket and sprawling all over the floor.
"Oh sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," said a deep voice from above. "Are you hurt kid?"
Tess shook her head, brushing her messy, unkempt hair out of her face and picked herself up off the floor. She reached out to pick the items off the floor, but to her surprise a blue aura had already done it for her. She spun round to see who had bumped into her, and she almost fell to the ground again.
Another skeleton. This time he was not much taller than herself, around Papyrus' height, yet nothing like her best friend. He wore a massive blue hooded jacket with a furry rim, his face was broad and flattened and had a permanent smile raised on his mouth.
"Woah kid, you look like you've just seen hell," said the skeleton, handing her the basket back. "Why're you so scared?"
Tess backed away, but shook her head in fear that she was being rude by staying silent. After the run-in with Gaster, the only skeleton Tess wanted to see was Papyrus.
"Well anyway, seems like you've gotten yourself in a tight pickle here," he said with a shrug of his broad shoulders. "Tell you what human, I have a bone to pick with you."
That sentence made Tess' heart stop. He knew she was human too? And what did he have to be angry with her over? She took another step back and looked around to see if Undyne was anywhere near. But the strong blue fish wraith was nowhere in sight.
"What... What do you want from me sir?" Tess asked, trying her hardest to handle a situation by herself, but it wasn't going well. She had handled situations alone before, just something about this skeleton frightened her. Not physically. Mentally.
"Sir?" The skeleton chuckled in his deep voice. "Call me Sans kid. Sans the Skeleton. And I need to talk to you. In private. Here, I know a shortcut."
The human girl did not trust Sans. Not one bit. She kept her distance, much to Sans' dismay.
"Kid, I'm not asking you," said Sans, his white pinprick eyes boring into her like shards of ice. "I need to talk to you. I promise it won't be for long. C'mon."
Still Tess would not listen to him. "I'm not going anywhere with you sir. I'm sorry but my friend is waiting for me."
She began to back away, but a tight feeling gripped her soul and prevented her from moving in any direction what-so-ever. Her usually light blue soul had now turned a deep, dark blue, forbidding her to move even a little.
Sans had raised a single hand, wisps of the same blue magic snaking between his bone fingers. "The more you struggle the more awkward this is gonna get kiddo," he told her, releasing the grip he had on her soul, allowing Tess to rest. "Come with me, I need to just talk to you. I promise you'll be back before Undyne knows you're gone."
He knew. He knew everything.
Did it look like Tess had much of a choice? She sighed and left her basket of groceries behind as she hung her head and followed Sans into the next isle blindly. However the shop had suddenly disappeared, replaced by a bang of warmth of a bar.
What? How could it be? Tess looked behind her, but the door which she had not been aware of entering through was closed against the harsh winter cold of Snowdin.
"Wha- Where are we Sans?" Tess gasped, looking at the many weird creatures that sat at the tables. They greeted Sans warmly, then returned to whatever they were doing. To Tess, the grocery store vegetable isle was more private than... whatever this place was.
"Grillby's," Sans replied easily, making his way down to the front of the bar, Tess followed closely.
She had seen the diner; 'Grillby's' in Snowdin, but she had never been inside. Papyrus told her that the food was too greasy and he hated it there, and Undyne had agreed that it wasn't her favourite place in the world, so naturally Tess never went there. In fact, Tess had never ventured anywhere alone since she had made friends with Undyne.
"Take a seat human," he said, sitting down on a high chair himself. Tess propped herself to sit up next to him, and jumped in fright at a loud fart sound. To her surprise, she had sat on a whoopie cushion. "Careful where you sit down," the skeleton chuckled, apparently finding her reaction hilarious. "Blokes like to place whoopie cushions on the seats."
Feeling a little embarrassed at herself, Tess hung her head and let her dark brown hair drop over her face and over the counter. "You wanted to talk to me Sans?"
"Ah yes," he shrugged as if he was merely reminded of an exam he had tomorrow and not studied for. "Now, no doubt you know who Papyrus is."
Tess nodded her head, shaking her hair away from her face. "He's one of my best friends," she told him. "Possibly the nicest person I've ever met."
Sans shrugged and held up three fingers at a creature of pure flames behind the counter. The bartender, presumably named Grillby, nodded his flaming head and went behind the door.
"That's great that you think that of my little brother," was all he said.
Another brick of realisation hit Tess across the head. Sans was Papyrus' brother? It was unlikely... even more than Gaster being their father. The human girl dropped her eye to the polished glasses on the shelves while trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was in fact talking to her best friend's older brother.
"I didn't know, sorry," she apologised sheepishly. "I'm still getting used to everything around here."
"I'm sure you are, but tibia-honest, you're doing a fine job of it."
"Huh?"
She wasn't expecting Sans to complement her, for it was as welcome as a nest of wasps in a toolshed, but she had to admit she felt more at ease when he said it.
"But that's not the point," his voice went dark, as his pupils disappeared. "A friendship with a human like you isn't healthy for my brother. He has already become attached to you as a friend, same with Undyne. Who can blame them? I've been watching, and you haven't attacked a single thing."
"Why would I?" Tess sounded appalled at his accusation. "I'm not some kind of sick freak, I'm just a child. Have I done anything wrong that I've been born human?"
Sans' pupils returned to his eyes in surprise. He had clearly not expected Tess to react in such a way. "Trust me, one time an orange Bravery soul fell down here, and he had killed seven sentries and two bystanders before Lionheart had finally taken him down, and he was no older than you are."
A shiver went down Tess' entire body at his words. How could someone like her even think of killing something? The thought had never crossed her mind, not even once. Her silence was a cue for Sans to keep talking.
"Anyways kid, I know humans differ from each other like monsters do." He ran a skinless hand across his skull. "But I want you to know one thing." His pupils disintegrated from his black eye sockets. "If you ever even think about hurting Papyrus, or Undyne, you'll be dead where you stand."
Tess had been in many situations when she wanted to escape, but never before had the desire to leave gotten this bad so quickly as in this situation. She began to shake at Sans' hostility, so hard that her seat shook with her.
"Calm down kid," Sans shrugged, noticing her scared face. "I don't plan to attack you without cause. Another thing I wanted to talk to you about was Lionheart."
It took Tess a few moments to take in anything else Sans had said to her over the statement he had made.
"Who's... Who's Lionheart?" she managed to choke out.
Grillby came back right on cue, with a single bottle of ketchup. He slid it towards Sans and waited with an expectant glare. Sans opened the bottle without another thought and mumbled- 'put it on my tab'. The flame monster flared higher for a moment as if he looked like he would explode, but then calmed down and turned to take out a thick notebook- which Tess would be willing to bet money was called 'Sans' Tab'.
"Anyway," continued Sans, taking a massive swig of the ketchup. "Lionheart, he's the Captain of The Royal Guard. You could not have heard of the mane man."
Tess had heard his name round her school a couple of times, and she had enough brains to figure out that there were kids, her age, older and younger, who absolutely worshipped him as their hero.
"Lionheart had killed two humans, while Asgore killed the other three," Sans explained briefly. "No doubt he'll be after you too. Your soul will add to the ones needed. He'll come kid, and when he does, you're nothing but a piece of prey."
That was the red line. Tess slid off her chair and slunk away from him, raising her patchwork jacket hood over her head.
To her dismayed surprise she hadn't come out into the isle like she'd expected to, only into the massive, wide town centre of Snowdin town. Her heart gave two beats and, without even turning round, she pelted away from Grillby's and down south to the grocery store, where despite Sans' promise, Undyne would undoubtedly be worried sick at where she was.
Tess was good at running, mostly from her experience of running away, and reached the grocery store in a matter of moments. She ignored the stares from the passersby and even the 'are you alright child?'s from the mothers.
She was at the grocery store in a matter of moments, panting for air as she burst into the shop. The abandoned basket was still there where she had left it, and Tess reached out a shaking hand to pick it up.
"Hey Tessy!" came Undyne's voice from behind. She was carrying meat and other ingredients about the soup Tess had forgotten about. "Have you got all the vegetables and-" she realised how unstable Tess looked. "Is... everything okay?"
Physically, yes. Mentally, no.
After telling Undyne everything that had happened, the monster girl embraced her human in a tight hug, so tight it nearly squeezed the living daylights out of her.
"I never thought Sans would be such an ass," she told her. "Forget the soup, I'm taking you to the River Person and Boat. That should cheer you up."
Tess nodded her head weakly. Now she had met Papyrus' family, and there was no doubt about it. Papyrus was the only ember between the ice.