SUPERSTAR SKELETON CAN FIX YOUR PROBLEMS CHAPTER 47
The Snowdin house was dim and listless, a lingering gloominess in the silent rooms when Papyrus threw the door back, a sprinkle of snow following him around his shoulders. He was on his own. He didn't remain that way for very long, though, as a small, white dog plopped out from inside his ribcage and made itself comfortable on the couch. The same thing had happened several times at Undyne's, too.
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He had so many things to do. First of which was to start a big batch of pasta to bring to Asgore's for breakfast. As the pot bubbled away, something told him to take it slow. Take the noodles from their box. Salt the water. He thought he saw someone in the corner of his eye, but when he turned, nothing was there. He peeked into the living room. The dog was still on the couch. Had the cushions always been blue, though? He remembered it looking more green before. Or maybe it was brown?
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Sauce was next. Chop and crush the veggies. Cook the onions down. Season and let it simmer. There was something itching the inside his skull. Something reminded him of snow. A battle. An assistant chef. He turned and half expected there to be a chair and a short someone at his side.
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While the sauce simmered, filling the whole house with a tomatoey oregano scent, he went poking around in the other rooms and grabbed both his mom and dad a change of clothes. Before he knew it, he found himself at that glittering star up in the attic room again. The light drew him to it like a moth. He had to yank himself away. Even if it kept evolving his hum somehow, he didn't really understand it and he wasn't keen on starting to cry uncontrollably again.
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He headed to his room to change, and the white dog followed him. He liked his new jacket. He would have kept the pink tank, but Sans had spilled tea on him at Undyne's, so a sensible orange one with a basketball and the faded word BASKETBOI on it in white replaced it. And skinny jeans seemed pretty cool, too. With his scarf and red boots, of course. For some reason, just staring into his closet made him nostalgic. He did used to have someone who would help him, didn't he? His eyes settled on his battle body, hanging up in there. He rolled his fingers over his thumbs and rubbed the back of his hand absently before pulling on his red gloves.
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He turned. The dog was on his bed now. Papyrus spread his arms wide.
"You could at least make yourself useful! What do you think?"
The dog flopped onto its side and stuck its tongue out. Papyrus sighed heavily. It just wasn't the same.
.
He sat down at his desk and turned his computer on to check his messages, just in case. He had more than none, which was unusual. A bunch of monsters were congratulating him. He wasn't sure what for, but it was very kind of them, so he thanked each one as the dog clambered up into his lap. He also had a message from notsans, who he was fully certain was, in fact, Sans. It said, "gfdnmdnmksnbsdddddd". He must've fallen asleep on his phone.
.
Once he was done with that and the food was finished, Papyrus packed up spaghetti into individual portion sizes and put what didn't fit into his phone into a messenger bag. With the white puff of a dog in tow, he headed out and back in the direction of New Home.
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In Waterfall, he peeked in on Undyne and Sans, who were still right where he'd left them, asleep on the couch. He gave them each a container of pasta and tucked the small dog in snugly with his brother before heading on his way.
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Asgore's house smelled of tea, even from the outside. He made his way in and found the King sitting at his dining table, eyes half-lidded, his golden mane of hair a little messier than usual. He clutched tight to a steaming mug with yesterday's newspaper spread out before him. He greeted Papyrus with a big, warm smile despite how tired he looked.
"Howdy, son, how are you this morning?"
"Good! Strange, also, but good. Here! Freshly boiled and sauced!" Papyrus handed over a plastic tub of pasta with a smile, which Asgore gratefully accepted. "We went to the bottom of the big black lake and a weird void tongue or something got me and made my bones glow, so that was fairly out of the ordinary. And I also got this." He put the red orb on the table. "It summons small and yet mildly annoying dogs on a fairly regular basis. Oh! Also, we found Undyne and she is doing alright."
"I'm very glad to hear it," he said, smiling fondly.
"You wouldn't happen to know much about mysterious dog orbs, would you?"
"I'm afraid not," Asgore said apologetically, "but I'm sure it's harmless."
"Harmless? Yes. Annoying? Also yes." He huffed. "Is my dad doing okay?"
Asgore hesitated for a moment. Papyrus frowned.
"Is something very wrong?"
"Not… very wrong." The big King got to his feet and beckoned for Papyrus to follow. "Come see."
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Papyrus eagerly trailed him to the room at the end of the hall, where he opened the door very slowly. The cozy, faintly green room was lit only with a small desk lamp. Toriel slept on a chair she'd dragged in from elsewhere, arms folded, chin dropped down onto her chest. Gaster was tucked snugly into the King's huge bed, nestled in blankets so large they made him look like a child. One of his hands dangled into a bucket that was on a stool by the bedside.
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With a soft gasp, Papyrus rushed to his father's side. "Dad? Are you awake? How are you?"
Gaster didn't stir. That was unusual. There was still black ooze dripping from the hole in his hand, though the bucket was empty. That was also unusual. Papyrus froze up, watching the the tar-like liquid vanish before it had even splashed against the bottom of the pail. He was positive he had seen this before. It had been in Sans's eyes, hadn't it? They'd poured it out into the trash, hadn't they?
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He gently lifted up Gaster's hand. He initially thought ooze was just darkening the bone, but when he looked closer, he realized that the fingertips and the area around the hole were dyed charcoal grey.
"Uuhh… King Uncle Asgore, you didn't happen to notice this, did you?" he asked.
"His hand? Yes, let me…" Asgore froze as he got close enough to see. "Oh my." He hurried to Toriel and gently shook her by the shoulder. "Tori?"
She opened one eye. "Hm? What is it?"
"I'm sorry to wake you, but it's spreading."
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Toriel roused herself immediately. She stalled at the sight of Papyrus, but quickly gave him a warm hug and moved him aside, taking Gaster's hand in hers. The pitch liquid darkened her fur but didn't stain and vanished as it dribbled down her palm. They could all see the dark on his fingertips creep upwards towards his first knuckle.
"That's a bit alarming, isn't it?" Papyrus said. "Oh! Maybe if I try healing him?!"
"It's alright, hun, I'll take care of it." She pulled back the blankets and blew out a gentle, pink and green flame that hovered in a halo above Gaster's chest, drawing out the glow of his blackened soul, too. She put her hand to the spot and frowned thoughtfully. "Asgore. Something to write on. Just in case that spreads upwards."
"Ah! Good idea." Asgore fumbled in his desk and came away with a journal and pen, then leaned in close, copying what Gaster had written on the back of his hand down. He looked at Papyrus with a sympathetic smile. "Why don't you go have some tea, son?"
"Is he alright though? Is that normal? Because it does not really look very normal," the skeleton said shrilly.
"We aren't sure about normal, unfortunately," Asgore said. "But, it's not causing him any pain at all, so that's good news, I think."
"Go on, honey, I'll let you know when we're done, alright?" Toriel said.
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Papyrus didn't want to go. He wanted to help. But, they looked like they had it more than handled. No use getting too fired up about it, right? He took a deep breath and nodded.
"Right! Okay! Here." He put more pasta on the desk. "To keep your strength up! And I will—"
"You can translate some of these notes in a moment, just in case," Asgore assured him.
"Right! Gladly! You can count on the great Papyrus!" he said, thumping his fist onto his chest.
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Despite his words, as soon as he was outside, Papyrus paced the hallway on quick, quiet feet. He sent his brother a text about what he had seen, leaning in to listen at the doorway every few passes. He could hear Toriel cursing quietly. She never did that while she thought he was listening— only in front of Sans. She must've been a lot more worried than she let on.
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He was forced back when the door opened and Asgore popped out with his notebook clutched tight.
"So?!" Papyrus asked.
"I've been kicked out," he said apologetically. "Don't worry. Tori's very good." He handed over the notebook with a smile. "I copied out what he'd written on his arms."
"Ah! Thank you! Alright." Papyrus looked at it and found it to mostly be single words or brief reminders, or strange math or musical note combinations. He bit off the cap of a pen from his pocket and translated the ones in Creatlach to English instead, though what it said didn't mean anything to him. "And there we go. You do think he's going to be okay, right?"
"I do." Asgore looked Papyrus up and down and tilted his head. "My boy, are you doing alright?"
"Yes, perfectly alright, why?" the skeleton asked.
"Well, it's just, you just went on such a large adventure, and then to the bottom of the lake, right? That's a lot to do. Have you had any sleep at all?"
"Nyeh, not really. I can usually go for a couple days," Papyrus said. "I don't feel tired at all!"
Asgore smiled fondly. He chuckled. "Some things never change, hm?" He put a hand on his shoulder and guided him back towards the dining table. "Come, let me try some of that pasta. You made that this morning?"
"Oh! Yes! You'll love it! It's my secret recipe," he said, and then conspiratorially whispered, "The secret is hard work!"
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Papyrus made sure to grab his red orb before sitting down. He half expected a dog to pop out of his shirt again, but instead, he got a text from an unknown number that was a picture of a dog's nose and nothing else. He rolled his eyes. Asgore was already tucking into the pasta. He seemed pleased.
"It's very good," he said.
"Oh, you like it?! I mean, of course you do! Excellent! Thank you!" he said brightly.
Asgore smiled. He paused, twirling noodles slowly onto his fork. "Papyrus. May I ask you something a bit unusual?"
"I can't see why not," Papyrus said.
"Do you… remember me?"
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Papyrus stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "Absolutely I do!"
"Forgive me, it's been on my mind for a while. I know it is definitely a strange question," Asgore said. "I mean… You've started calling me Uncle again." He smiled a little wider. "Which I very much appreciate, by the way! But it's just, in the back of my mind, I feel like we were strangers for too long. Even though we weren't, really. Does that ring any bells to you?"
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It did. The skeleton frowned thoughtfully and tapped his teeth. He tried to reach back into his memories. It was strange, now that he thought about it. Like there were two sets of the same events, one that must've been real and one with his father removed. As he considered it, he distinctly recalled not remembering Alphys much either, and yet they'd spent a lot of time together when he was just a baby bones. Almost all of that had been facilitated by Gaster. Of course, some of that fading was completely natural, but a few months ago it'd been more like he'd just met her for the first time in his life, not like he was reconnecting with someone he'd known as a child. The same was true of the King. If nobody had mentioned it, Papyrus might not have noticed at all.
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"Oh! Of course," Papyrus said quickly, eyes wide with understanding. "Sans told me all about that! That's sort of how we know what's happening in our heads about the missing kids, too! Dad was outside of time for ten years. So now that he's back, there's the real memories and then the wrong ones, too. Which…" He frowned sympathetically. "Wow. Nyeh. I'm sorry! I… didn't mean to forget you as much as I did. I didn't even realize!"
"It's the same for me. There's no need to apologize at all," Asgore said. "Though! I am sorry you missed out on a few years of tea and biscuits, my boy."
"Don't worry about that," Papyrus assured him quickly. "There's so much weird stuff going on right this minute! You don't need to worry about me at all for even a second of that minute! I just would really like to help. You. And dad. And Sans. And Undyne."
"I know you would. You are very right, though. There are many unusual things happening all at once."
"Ever since dad came back," Papyrus said. "All of this, it really is a puzzle, right? Including our two missing pieces as of right now. So, since puzzles are my speciality I will definitely figure out something."
"I'm sure you will," Asgore said fondly. "I actually may have a little piece of a piece, if you'd like."
"Yes, absolutely," he said.
"The child that… The one that looks like… us. Like Tori and I? He's our son. We think we know his name."
"You do?!" Papyrus beamed. "That's great!"
Asgore nodded. "We are certain it would be Asriel."
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Papyrus blinked. Asriel. He rolled the name around in his skull. It slotted right into some fluffy white monster whose face he couldn't remember, that he'd…? What was it? Duelled? He recalled red flames. But he also remembered a pillow fort. And stars. He could have sworn the monster was a rabbit, but no. The boy had horns, right?
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His eyes got big. He wrote the name down in the book and in his phone and texted it to Sans as well. A big grin spread across his face. "King Uncle Asgore, that's fantastic! I—"
Asgore bashfully lowered his hands a few times. "The humans are still sleeping."
"Sorry, but this is very exciting!" Papyrus was still loud, but he hunkered down and tried to force his tone down to a whisper. "I can feel a few of my memories dropping into place with that name, so it one hundred percent must be right!"
Asgore smiled brightly. "That's excellent news."
"You wouldn't happen to know what to call my sister, would you?"
"Ah. I'm sorry, we did not name her as far as I know," Asgore said.
"Right. Yes, right, dad must've… Ugh, but he'd name her what it says in her soul, and without her soul how can we know?"
"Does the name really hold so much weight?" Asgore asked curiously.
"Well, Asriel did something, absolutely," Papyrus said. "I just… I'm not sure, to be honest, maybe just for peace of mind?" He sighed. "Are you sure I can't help in there, by the way?"
The King nodded. Papyrus sighed again, much more heavily.
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Asgore stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Would you like a job to do? A very official, Royal job?"
"Yes, please," the skeleton said instantly.
Asgore wrote a small list in his notebook and then tore out the page, offering it along with a pouch filled with gold. "There is a shop called Sweet Dreams in the city. Perhaps, if you'd like something to do—"
"I would love something to do!" Papyrus took both and put his hand over his chest. "Don't you worry one bit, your Highness, the great Papyrus is on the job!" He unloaded the rest of his spaghetti and rushed out of the house like a whirlwind.
xXxXx
Asgore's request was a grocery list of sweets. Though Papyrus wasn't sure, he suspected it was to treat the little human kid that was staying over. Understandable. She'd been through a lot in a couple days. To have been missing a parent for so long, only to have them show up, and then adding a bunch of monsters into the mix— it must've been very emotional and exciting, he thought.
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He made good time into New Home. So good, in fact, that the shop was not even open yet by the time he approached its antiquated, wooden storefront. The time on the door said it would open at 8:00am, but that wasn't for over an hour. He checked his phone. Sans still had not texted him back.
.
He worried for his brother. There was something going on here, much deeper than anyone was telling him. The wobbliness he felt in Sans's energy was far from usual. He was obviously not well, but it was more than that, wasn't it? Papyrus had this uncanny feeling of anxiety, like he was trapped watching the sand trickle down through an hourglass.
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He paced the street, lost in thought, wandering a little farther every few passes. It wasn't until the sound of water splashing jarred him out of his head that he realized he'd completely left the block. He was at a small park meant for strolling, with shimmery grass and a big, round fountain spraying in its centre. Nobody was there, save for a spotted rabbit jogging way off across the other end of the small field. Papyrus sighed at himself, shaking his head. That was very much not like him. He needed to focus.
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He took a seat on a nearby bench, knitting his fingers together, frowning at the grass beneath his boots. There had to be something he could do other than lake diving and emotional support, but all he could think about was Sans. He didn't get far in his musings, however, before the squeal of a familiar voice lifted his gaze from the ground.
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Over his shoulder, he caught sight of two friends heading towards him: Catty, the round, purple cat and Bratty, the tall, pink-eyed alligator with blonde, corkscrew curls. Catty's dark, colour-streaked hair was a little askew, and she wore an oversized, cream and pink sweater and black leggings with loud, rainbow shapes all over them. Bratty was in a blue tank top with a pink plaid sweater tied around her waist, hanging over torn jeans with heart-shaped patches stitched into them. He was glad to see them, though a little surprised that they were up so early. They were usually the noon-or-later kind of monsters.
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Catty was grinning wide and waving frantically, the sleeve of her sweater half-consuming her paw. Papyrus raised a hand to greet her.
"Heeeeey, Papyrus!" She bounced over to him but, taking one look at his face, she pouted and pushed in close to him on the bench. "Dude, you look, like, waaay outta it."
Bratty grabbed his shoulders from behind and leaned over him curiously. "You're all mopey and stuff. That's not very Papyrus of you."
"Siiiigh, I know. Hello, friends." He straightened up and shot them a smile. "What is up?"
"Eh, not a whole lot," Bratty said, though she winked. "Pff, as if."
"We went to the early MTT screening at the Archives last night! And then we totally fell asleep there," Catty said with a laugh. "Are you here for your big thing?! Oh, you should be totally psyched! And great work, by the way! It was like, WOW! "
"Oh! Uh. Thank you?" Papyrus said, hardly masking his confusion at all. "I'm just waiting for a store to open, to be honest."
"Man, you can't be looking so totally down about just that," Bratty said.
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Papyrus smiled tepidly. "I guess it's been a bit of a week."
"You missed our cooking thing, so it must be," the alligator said. "What's going on?"
"Would you like the short version or the long one?" he asked.
"Long!" Catty said.
"Short." Bratty overran her words.
"Bratty!" the cat whined, holding the skeleton's arm. "Okay, fine, short." She grinned sheepishly. "I-I just like hearing him talk."
Papyrus laughed and rubbed his brow. "Well. I don't blame you. My brother got sick but when he woke up, it turned out he woke up because my little brother and sister— who I can't remember existing— left the world and time, too, I think? To fix him, because that was a whole entire mess, but then they also got lost out there so we have to find a way to find them and bring them home because things apparently keep changing in the world that are not supposed to change." He sighed. "I want to remember so badly, I feel like it's this itch inside my skull and it's really not very fun at all, to be honest."
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"Whoa. Lame," Catty said, wide-eyed. "I mean, I'm glad he woke up, though. I guess it did look, like, pretty serious when we visited you, right?"
"Your brother isn't playing a totally shady prank on you, is he?" Bratty asked, her brow furrowing.
"Nnnno, no, he definitely isn't, basically everyone I know is fully in on this," he said. "Even the King, a little bit! And my mom. And my dad."
"Whaaaaat?!" The cat held her cheeks in dismay.
Bratty pouted. She gave the skeleton a light, reassuring hug. "Total bummer, dude. Do you know what's wrong with him?"
"It's hard to say. Do you think…?" He flinched. "Do you think a monster can die from a broken heart?"
"Oh yeah, for sure!" Catty said.
"Catty," Bratty chided.
"What? My aunt totally got dusted that way," the cat said, ears drooping. "I think it happens a lot."
"Okay, but like, you couldda said it softer."
"Sorry, Bratty."
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Papyrus frowned. He clenched his hands together.
"I-I'm sure your brother will be fine!" Catty said swiftly.
"So am I, but this is all making him sick anyway," he said. "It's hard. Because my memories are wrong. But his are right. These missing kids, he must love them so much. So I must've loved them, too. Maybe if I could just remember, it would help him, somehow."
"You're, like, sure it's real, though, yeah?" Bratty asked.
"Yes, for sure! There's lots of little hints laying around back home," Papyrus said. "And other people who met them can remember little bits. It's all just… a little frustrating, I guess. I am the great Papyrus, after all! I should remember. Right?"
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Catty shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, Papy, it kinda all sounds bad to me, but I hope you, like, figure it out!"
"He'll totally figure it out," Bratty said, sticking her tongue out as she patted the skeleton's shoulders. "You're, like, really good at fixing stuff and finding stuff. Like that one time, remember? Or, uh, that other time?"
"So many times!" the cat agreed eagerly. "And, I mean, you definitely shouldn't let it ruin your big day!"
"Big day?" he repeated.
"Yeah, your billboard is up today, right?" she said.
"It's gonna be the biggest picture of your face since, uh, the movie I guess?" Bratty said with a sideways smile. "Pretty wicked."
"Movie?" He scratched his head. "You mean the play? That was then turned into a movie? WAIT." He held up both hands. "I'M ON A BILLBOARD?!"
"No offence, Papy, but you're like, totally outta it, huh?" Catty asked with a sympathetic smile. She took his hands and pulled him to his feet. "C'mon, let's go find it!"
"But I…" He checked the time. It was still a while until the shop opened. "Alright! Show me to this mysterious billboard!"
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Catty eagerly lead the way. It was only once they'd covered a block that Papyrus realized he had not gone nearly as far as he had thought. The candy store, which they passed, was exactly where it should have been, but the park occupied a space where a block of more shops had been less than twenty minutes ago. Papyrus had to quell his surprise despite doing a very obvious double-take, and continued on with Bratty hanging off his arm. He wondered where those buildings ended up.
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The district of shops was narrow and cozy and perpetually looked overcast. Emerging from it gave room to stretch, but little alleviation of the greyness. Again, Papyrus could've sworn this place looked a little more colourful the last time he'd been here. His eyes felt weird.
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They passed by a few big, white, round-roofed buildings, but just beyond that, Papyrus was quickly confronted by a huge image of himself on a board rimmed with flashing bulbs positioned just off the side of a road. A tired-looking purple slime in a hat and overalls had presumably just finished putting it up, and he now puddled down a ladder to get back down to the sidewalk.
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The massive image boldly announced the name BLACKLETTER in huge, dramatic font. Produced by MTT was pretty big, too. Aside from that, Papyrus was front and centre. He stood, staring seriously off into a grey sky, in a sleeveless black tunic, dark scarf trailing behind him. He had fingerless gloves on and carried a bow made from bone and an arrow with a tip in blue magic and shaft and guiding feathers in orange. He also had what seemed to be a dark spiral tattoo wrapped like a snake around his upper humerus.
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Papyrus's jaw dropped. "Wh…?! WHAT?!"
"Man, I should like, get that poster soon," Catty said. "You'd sign it for me, right? Promise I wouldn't sell it. Like, not for a couple months, at least."
"I mean, yes of course, but—!" He looked at the others with wide eyes. "Was this what you saw last night?!"
"No duh," Bratty said, sticking her tongue out at him. "It was pretty good."
"So good!" Catty agreed brightly. She pressed herself snug against Bratty and grabbed the skeleton around the shoulders to yank him over. She stuck out her tongue and put up her fingers in a peace-sign as she snapped a quick selfie of the three of them.
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Papyrus put a hand to his head. "Wooould you excuse me for a few minutes, please?" He took out his phone and hurried away quickly, calling up Mettaton as quickly as his fingers would move.
"Helllooo, darling, you're up early," Mettaton answered.
"Ah! Hello, it is I, the great Papyrus—"
"I know, doll."
"Nyeh. Yes. Well. Did we…? Did we film a movie?!" he asked.
"Of course we did, the premiere's tonight!" Mettaton said brightly. "Though the pre-screening seemed to go off without a hitch! My… I mean, our fans really are something else, hm?! Did your friends get those special tickets you asked for?"
"Wait, wait wait. Could you just do me a small tiny minuscule favour and explain to me when exactly we did this?!"
"Ummm… A few months ago, I suppose. I have so many projects going, you'll have to excuse not remembering the exact date," Mettaton said with a laugh. "Why?"
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Papyrus was left speechless for the first time in a long while. He stared up at the poster of himself. His eyes glittered with stars. "I-I'm a famous actor?!"
Mettaton laughed heartily. "You're welcome!"
The skeleton bit back an excited laugh and had to take a deep breath. "Okay. Okaaaay, okay. That's fine. That's good, in fact! But. Okay. You know that whole, um, time thing? That. We. Discussed?"
"Mhmmm?"
"So, um, I don't think I remember making a movie at all and that time just changed last night?"
"Huh. Well, that's bizarre," he said. "It couldn't be just your memory being off, could it?"
"It is absolutely my memory being off, that is the whole point!" Papyrus insisted. "Or, maybe my memory is fine and it's the past that's wrong?! I'm not sure, exactly!"
"…Oh, wait, you mean like that sign up on the elevator outside? The one that you clearly made but fully denied making?"
"Yes! Yes, exactly, just like that," he said.
"Do…? Do you not remember the story, then?" Mettaton asked curiously.
"I have literally not one single memory of any of this."
"Ooh!" He sounded eminently pleased. "Actually! That's wonderful news!"
"Is it?!"
"Oh, what I wouldn't give to look at one of my projects with fresh eyes! Papyrus, darling, think of this as a blessing!"
"Well. Okay. I… guess I'll try?! I'm actually very busy with time shenanigans and chores from the King, though, so it may need to wait." He hoped it wouldn't erase itself from existence before he got a chance to watch it, though.
"I'll send you a screener," Mettaton said absently. "I have to go, my rosewater sparkle bath is all foaming up. Toodles, superstar!"
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Mettaton hung up, leaving Papyrus in a bit of a daze. A weird slimy feeling smacked against his hand. He looked down to see the beleaguered slime.
"Sorry. Would you mind? Signing this?" He held up a poster of BLACKLETTER and a pen.
"I don't mind at all!" Papyrus hurriedly signed the picture for the short monster.
"Hey, thanks man, you're a good egg," he said, sliming away.
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Papyrus took a deep breath. He stared at that bow and arrow. Could two kinds of magic even be cast in one attack like that? He held out a hand and formed a curved bow like what he saw as naturally as if he'd done it a thousand times. Then, as he drew a magic string, his soul sparked and a bicoloured arrow glimmered into existence in his hand. He yelped and let it go, shattering them both into sparkling dust.
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"Papy, what you dooooing?" Catty asked. "Ooh! Was that the famous Blackletter Bow?!"
"Is it famous if the movie's, like, not technically out 'til tonight?" Bratty joked.
"I was just, uhhh… Calling my producer! To tell him that the billboard looks really fantastic!" Papyrus said. "Really, this is…! This is extremely cool, to be honest, but I…" He had a sudden, dramatic hit of nauseous worry. He looked down at his left arm. "Oooh. Nyooo, I wonder if I…?" Cringing, he rolled up his sleeve all the way to the shoulder. Though it was light grey instead of black, he found he did indeed have that spiral tattoo around his arm bone. "Oh shit." He put a hand to his mouth, then groaned loudly and slapped his palm against his brow. "Who even am I right this second?!"
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"Heeey, are you okay?" Catty asked worriedly, rubbing his back.
"Sans is going to be so perturbed," he grumbled. "I am very sorry for the rude word, friends, I don't typically like to swear."
"Pff, don't worry about it, y'dork," Bratty assured him.
"I…!" His eyes lingered on the billboard for a minute, but he shook his head and tore himself away. "I should really get back to my errand!"
"Oh. Well. Can we, like, tag along?" Catty asked. "Or, I'd like to. Especially if we're getting snacks. We're getting snacks, right?"
"We're so getting snacks," the alligator said.
"Feel free. I'd be pretty happy to have company right now, to be honest," Papyrus said. He hoped the store was still even there.
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The girls were extremely chatty on the way back, which he appreciated, but he was having a hard time focusing as he tried to recombobulate himself. To his relief, Sweet Dreams was exactly where it was supposed to be, and it was open a few minutes early to boot.
.
Papyrus wasn't sure he'd ever been here, and though a candy shop didn't really appeal to him, the place was like a cozy wood cabin that had a nostalgic feeling seeping from its planks. It was packed full of shelves, the candy itself a welcome splash of colour in their displays. A bowl of bonbons acted as a greeting at the door, accompanied by a sign that implored guests to take one. Bratty and Catty eagerly obliged, though Papyrus did not and instead checked Asgore's list. It was mostly chocolate, and was very specific about what kinds, and asked for quite a lot of it. He gathered up what he could find as his friends ran amok. Together, the two of them bought much more than Papyrus had for a whole group of humans.
.
"Well, that was eventful!" Papyrus said as they headed out into the street. "It was good to see you both, but I should—"
"Heeyyy, hang on a second," Catty said hurriedly. "Can't you, like, hang out just a little bit longer?"
"You look like you need it," Bratty said.
"I appreciate the thought, but I really should go," he said apologetically.
"Well. If you gotta jet, can we walk with you partta the way at least?" Catty asked as she shoved a pawful of star-shaped candies into her mouth. "Ohmigod, so good."
"Welllll…" Papyrus rubbed his chin. "I guess I don't see the harm in—"
"Wicked," Bratty said, grabbing his arm with a grin as they went on their way. "And maybe you can tell us some behind the scenes stuff, right?"
"Uuumm, well I can definitely tell you about working with Mettaton, if you like," he volunteered.
"Yeeessss, yes please," Catty said.
"Catty, we worked with him," Bratty said with a laugh.
"Yeah, but like, only one time though," she protested. A bashful, sideways grin spread on her face. "Ummm… Why did we do that again?"
"Like, why wouldn't we, though?" the alligator said.
.
Papyrus's phone rang. He scrambled to grab it. It was Sans, finally.
"Oops, sorry, I have to take this," he said.
Bratty quickly dragged him off to the side of the street, to a small stone wall dividing the walkway from a small median and another shop's meagre yard. The two monsters instantly lazed on either side of him, eating their candy as Papyrus picked up his phone just shy of the third ring.
"Man, almost made it to three," Sans joked. "Drop your phone in the lake or somethin'?"
"Oh, hah hah," Papyrus said dryly. He sighed. "Are you okay? Did you sleep alright? Did you have breakfast?!"
"Relax," he said with a laugh. "I'm, uh… I'm okay. You?"
"I aaaaaam… fine? I think? Apparently I was in a movie?!"
"Pfff, okay? Any good?"
"I have no idea."
"It was totally rad!" Catty called. "Also, hi Sans, feel better!"
"Yeah, get well, funnybones," Bratty agreed.
Sans snickered. "Thanks."
.
"There's a few more things," Papyrus said. "One. Please don't be mad. I think I might have gotten a tattoo."
"Wh…?" Sans burst out laughing. "You what?!"
"I don't know what happened!" he protested, though his brother responded simply by laughing so hard he started to wheeze. "I-It's very light!" He started to snicker himself and he put his hand to his brow. "Nyeh heh heh, this is pretty crazy, isn't it?"
Sans heaved in a deep breath and let out a satisfied sound as he managed to get control of himself. "Ah, oh man, that's the best. What's it of?"
"Just a spiral, I guess." He lowered his voice. "I didn't know monsters who could do tattoos were even still a thing that's around?!"
"Hey, time's goin' nuts, who knows what could happen, huh?" Sans said. "You seen dad?"
"Didn't you get my texts?" Papyrus asked.
"Uhhh… No. Saw a pup and some pasta and thought, I gotta call Paps."
"Read my texts, you lazybones," he scolded.
"Okay okay."
.
Sans went quiet for a few seconds. Papyrus drummed his fingers on his knee. He heard Sans's voice, but couldn't quite make out what he'd said.
"Brother?" he asked.
"…Asriel, huh?"
"The King was a hundred percent positive," Papyrus said. "It… felt really right to me. I think I might have remembered just a moment or two of him. How about you, do you think that's useful?"
"Heh. Yeah." He chuckled quietly. "Not sure that technically helps much, but hell, makes me feel better. Anythin' on our other kiddo?"
"Unfortunately not," Papyrus said apologetically.
"And dad, he's…? Is it real bad?"
"I don't know. Maybe it just looks worse than it is? Mom's taking care of it right now, but it is a bit worrisome, still."
Sans sighed heavily. "Damn. I… I should go see him, huh?"
"You should rest and take your time! Eat first and sleep if you want, or even ask Undyne to do her magic attunment with you! In fact, I insist on that last bit!" Papyrus said shrilly. "You can't heal. You'll exhaust yourself for no reason."
"…Welp. You're not wrong." Sans sounded a little disappointed. "Think Alph could use some help at the lab?"
"Nooo, no no no, you stay right there," Papyrus said, and he raised his voice. "UNDYNE, CAN YOU HEAR ME? KEEP HIM THERE UNTIL I GET BACK, OKAY?!"
"Sheesh," Sans said with a quiet laugh.
.
"Why are you so insistent on working? This is incredibly O-O-C and I will not stand for it, especially when it potentially puts you in danger!"
"Paps, I…" He sighed. "Those kids already left 'cause of me. I can't just be dead weight on this."
"You can and you should," Papyrus said sternly. "At least for a few more hours. I heard what June said and she was right: how many times did you faint yesterday?! And stop making yourself responsible for the weight of whole entire world! Leave it up to me, alright? I'm much stronger than you and I can definitely carry it."
"Bro, I dunno—"
"Listen. You rest. You do an attunement. I will come get you," he said. "I'll go see Doctor Alphys in the meanwhile. Annnnd. Honestly? You've done really well. Much better than I thought. Okay? Of course, considering everything, the standards were quite low, but you've actually surpassed them already. So. Don't try so hard for a few hours."
"…Yeah?" There was a little intonation of hope in his voice. "You sure?"
"I'm the great Papyrus, of course I'm sure," he said.
His brother snickered. "…Okay, okay. Cap's glarin' at me, too."
"That's because she's very smart," Papyrus said. "And, actually, you are too, despite being so incredibly stubborn this week. So I know you know I'm extremely correct. I'm going now, don't do anything silly, okay?"
"Heh. I'll try not to, bro," he said, then hung up, leaving dead air in his wake.
.
Papyrus lowered his phone with a sigh. That wasn't exactly a confirmation, was it?
"He's gonna be okay, right?" Catty asked, pausing her nibbling on a chocolate bar. "Don't be, like, too hard on him though."
Papyrus blinked. "What do you mean?"
Her ears drooped "Well, like, when you say actually like that, it's like, actually, you didn't really expect all that much, y'know?"
"Oh! I'm sorry! Let me explain," Papyrus said. "Do you know my brother?"
"Umm… Like, kinda?" the cat said. "I mean, who doesn't know him?"
"I figured everyone knows him, pretty much," Bratty agreed.
"Well, the thing about him is, he's very easygoing on the outside, but on the inside he's very hard on himself," Papyrus said. "Much too hard, if you ask me. And because of that, taking a sincere compliment is very difficult for him." He rolled his phone over in his long, careful fingers. "If I say he did something good, a lot of the time his mind won't accept it. It's what brothers are supposed to say, after all, and I am his very cool brother. He will just deflect and find some reason to still think he didn't do enough. But! If I say it as if I was expecting something and he has exceeded whatever it was I was expecting, he tends to actually take it to heart. It's not that he doesn't believe me, but he doesn't believe in himself."
.
He smiled bashfully, his gaze drifting off as if into a memory. "He's so strange. I heard him say, back when I was just a small Papyrus, that all he wants is to do right by me, and not much else matters. Which is very sweet, but also very wrong. Many other things matter. Including him! We've been through a lot together, even if a lot of that a lot I don't even remember right now. But! I do know. I'll do whatever I can to build him up, even if it's only little teeny fragments at a time. And even if it has to sound a tiny bit backhanded to sneak its way in."
.
When he looked up, he was startled to see both of his friends were teary-eyed. He put his hands up quickly.
"Ah! What happened?! Did I say something wrong?!" he asked.
"Dude, you're…! Waaaah!" Catty hid her eyes in her paws. "Wuhhh-why can't I have such a cool and sweet sibling like that who knows how to get through my insecurities?! You're totally raising my expectations way too hiiiighhh!"
Bratty gingerly wiped along her eyelashes with a claw. "Seriously."
"I'm glad it made sense," he said with a laugh. "Especially now, I really do need to watch out for him."
"I always figured your brother for like, being cool and smart and funny," Bratty mused, "but I guess even someone like that can be totally down on themself."
"Funny, absolutely not, but smart, definitely." Papyrus smiled to himself— and, he supposed, Sans had had a couple moments of being undeniably cool. "It's alright. As long as he has me, the great Papyrus, I can definitely help him."
.
"Hm. I guess, like, bein' the son of the smartest monster ever'd give anyone a complex," the alligator said.
"You think so?" Papyrus wondered.
"Oh! And wasn't he the first skeleton born, in like, so long?" Catty said. "I bet it was totally a big deal! And a lot of pressure. Actually! You were probably a big deal, too!"
"Yeah." Bratty laughed. "I think I remember my mom mentioning the second skeleton being born. That must've been you, right?"
"Famous as a baby bones?! Huh! Interesting. I had no idea," Papyrus said. "But, being my dad's kid didn't give me a complex, I don't think? I mean. We worked a lot. But he was always very supportive of whatever I wanted to do! I know he supported Sans, as well." He tapped his fingertips together. "I honestly don't know. I mean, maybe? It could be." He huffed loudly. "I'll add it to my very long list."
"What else is on it?" Catty asked.
"Oh! All kinds of things." He counted on his fingers. "Time and space stuff, surface stuff, the time loops, not to mention all those things I mentioned before; weird stars that make me cry, being the best emotional support to Captain Undyne because her relationship got erased from the timeline… That kind of thing."
"That is a lot," Bratty said.
.
"Why do stars make you cry?" Catty wondered.
"I think there's some weird emotion energy in them when I touch them. I'm not sure," Papyrus said. "I… I feel like they're important. It's like they're calling me, but I'm not sure what to make of them."
"…Uh-huh," she said, clearly not understanding at all.
"What stars?" Bratty asked.
"You know, those yellow ones that are always in oddly convenient spots," he said.
They both stared at him blankly. He got to his feet and pulled them up with him.
"I'll show you!"
.
There was one off beside a mailbox on the way back to the King's, glimmering its strange light in the middle of the sidewalk. Papyrus gestured to it proudly. Bratty and Catty looked at each other in confusion.
"The mailbox?" Catty asked.
"What?! No! Right here!" he waved his hand in front of it. "See?"
"Bratty, is he okay?" the cat asked under her breath, nudging the alligator with her elbow.
Bratty shrugged widely.
"You don't see." Papyrus frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Iiiinterestinnng…"
The alligator gently grabbed his arm. "C'mon, let's… Eeeek!" She jumped back and rubbed her eyes, staring hard at the star.
Catty laughed. "Like, what was that for?"
"But it…" She grabbed Papyrus again. "Wait, like, you mean that thing right there?!"
"You see it?!" he asked.
Catty folded her arms. "Oh, c'mon, you can't just, like, prank me in the middle of this whole thing, Bratty."
Bratty rolled her eyes and seized the cat's paw and put it on Papyrus's arm. Catty instantly recoiled, fur standing on end, and let out a growly, high-pitched me-yowl.
.
"Could you see it, too?!" Papyrus demanded as Bratty burst out laughing.
"Heeey, not funny, Bratty," Catty said, pouting and giving her friend a gentle whack.
"Kinda was, though."
"…Yeah okay, like, kinda." Catty stuck out her tongue. "But, like… Papy, why… does it work like that, though?"
"I am not sure, it might have to do with red dog orbs and void nonsense," he said.
"Man, you, like, just keep saying more and more confusing things. But, like, don't stop, though."
.
"You should touch it," Bratty said.
"What?!" Papyrus yelped. "But I specifically did not touch one earlier."
"…Yeah but, like, we're here," she said. "If you start wailing or something, we can totally give you some tissues."
"Ooh, right, yeah," Catty agreed, eyes lighting up. "Plus, what if they're, like, totally important to this whole weird thing you mentioned?"
"I… I guess?" Papyrus looked between the two monsters.
Their eyes were shining and bright. Catty stuck two thumbs up. He put on a steady face and nodded. They were right. Crying or not, if they had a chance to get him something more about the missing kids, it was worth it for them. And it was worth it for Sans, too.
"Okay. I will give it another shot!" he said.
.
Without any hesitation, he stuck his hand straight into the starlight. At first, he felt little, but some notes of a melody he couldn't hear bounced into his skull. His soul stirred. He felt a little heat inside his pocket; his red orb was glowing in there. It flashed. His soul seared orange out through his shirt and between all his bones.
.
He was on the plateau. Wind rushed by his skull. The sun blazed as it beamed directly overhead in a clear, blue sky.
"Hey, Paps, sit down, you're making her anxious!" a cheerful boy's voice said, though the cadence was all wrong, as if it was over-compressed and echoed softly.
Papyrus quickly looked down to see there was a kid on either side of him. A white-furred boy in purple that looked like a goat and brown-haired, brown-skinned human girl in blue and pink. He couldn't make out their features, but he still knew when the girl smiled bashfully. She held an unbitten crabapple in her hands.
"I-It's okay," she said, but her voice was strange in the same way as the boy's.
.
Papyrus wanted to yelp out the name Asriel. He wanted to ask the other kid what her name was. Neither of those things occurred. Instead, he cackled and put his hand to his chest.
"Not to worry, little sister! What could possibly happen?" He grinned and sat down between them anyway. "But! Of course. Your worry is appreciated."
The kid snorted and she grabbed his arm. She was warm. The monster kid stretched and let out a satisfied sigh.
"We need to come out here more often."
"We will! It has only been a few days, after all," Papyrus teased gently.
The boy snickered and he grinned as he looked out over the horizon. He had big fangs for his size. "I thought I'd kinda be over the sun once the plant bit was finished. Nope!"
The other kid smiled and leaned into Papyrus. "…S'funny. I like the mountain, it's cozy."
"Humans, huh?" The boy winked. "Weirdos."
The girl blew a raspberry at him and he replied in kind. Papyrus snickered and grabbed each of them under his arms.
"Don't worry, small siblings. I will come out here with you, or back in there with you, as much as you like! This view really is something, though, isn't it?!"
"Not gettin' sick of it any time soon," the boy said.
"Nope," their sister agreed.
.
Papyrus stumbled and abruptly toppled back onto sidewalk. He stared at the light and the grey world around him, head spinning. Between his bones still blazed orange, but dimmed swiftly. He let out a deep breath.
.
Bratty and Catty leaned into his view with relieved looks on their faces.
"Hey, you didn't blow up!" Catty said.
"You doing okay?" Bratty asked. She smiled. "You're not crying!"
They grabbed one of his arms each and pulled him to his feet. He rubbed his head.
"Wowie," he said.
"Did it help?" Catty pressed.
"I think it very well might have!" he said. He'd never felt anything like that before. And that vision— somehow, he knew it was a memory. He put his hand in his pocket and his fingers tapped against the still-warm dog orb. There had to be something to this.
xXxXx
After stuffing their faces a little more, Bratty and Catty walked with Papyrus and saw him off to the castle before they parted ways with a hug and wishes of good luck. When he got back to Asgore's house, the big King was sitting with a cheerful and patient smile on his face as the little human, Ellie, perched on his knee and regaled him with stories of yesterday and her dreams from the night before. The uncommon scent of coffee was in the air. June was awake, too, and she greeted Papyrus with a warm, tired smile and a wave from her spot on the chair near the hearth.
.
"Welcome back, son," Asgore said when Ellie paused to take a swig of juice. "How'd it go?"
"Very well, of course!" He produced the huge bag of sweets from his phone and put them on the table. "I found everything you needed!"
"I knew you would," he said.
"I'm going to check on my dad now, is that alright?"
"Of course," Asgore assured him
Papyrus was off like his boots were on fire.
.
Gaster was still sound asleep in the huge bed. Papyrus hurried to his side to check his hand. He gulped when he saw the dark colour on his bones had spread significantly— up to his wrist, now. However, the hole was no longer oozing, so hopefully that was progress. Toriel had definitely made a good call to have Asgore copy out Gaster's notes, because most of the ones where the bone was darkened were illegible now.
.
Papyrus let out a worried nyeh and moved the ooze-free bucket from the chair by the bedside and took its place, gently holding his father's hand. His bones were frosty to the touch.
"Dad? Can you hear me?" he asked.
This time, the older skeleton flinched. Papyrus perked up, grinning wide, especially as Gaster's eyes opened a crack.
"…H-Hey, kiddo," he said in a quiet, raspy voice. His lids drooped closed again but he reached up and patted Papyrus's face gently. "…You look like you're in a good mood, hm?"
"Of course I am, now that you're awake! Well. Half-awake, at least, right?"
"I am doing my best," he said with a soft chuckle. "…Maybe not for long."
"Are you feeling okay?" Papyrus asked.
"I feel as if I've been smashed with a boulder," he said, smiling faintly. "I'll get over it. How's Sans?"
"Well. Not toooo bad, I think. We went into the lake and found a weird rip down there."
"Did you? Was it dangerous?"
"I'm not sure, but I don't think so," Papyrus said. "I got a dog orb. But, Sans was very worried and very tired afterwards. I made him stay with Undyne for a while. I think it'll help! Probably."
"Mhm." Gaster's voice was getting weaker. His hand dropped lethargically back to the bed. "Ah…" He raised his other hand over it. Dark seemed to pool in the gap in his palm. "…Oh, that looks odd."
"Of course it does! Does it hurt?!"
"…It does not. Don't worry." Even so, he clenched his blackened fingers into the covers. "Papyrus. I… I saw your sister. I think I scared her pretty badly."
.
Papyrus's soul sped a beat. His eyes flickered. Crabapple kid.
"Do you remember?" Gaster asked.
"Not yet! But…! But I will. I promise I will," he insisted. "Was she…? Was she safe?"
"I think she was." He began to droop. "…Sorry, Paps, I… I'm not sure that I can…"
"It's okay! It's just fine," Papyrus assured him swiftly. "Go back to sleep!"
"I… managed to warn her. I told her… we're veering off." He slumped. "That we'll… signal her, somehow. I… I n-need to…"
"Shhh, shush shush. I'll handle everything, okay?! It's going to be fine. You can tell me all about it once you're feeling better." He froze, eyes wide, as the darkness crept a little farther up Gaster's arm. "Nyeeeh. Can you tell me what happened with your arm, though?!"
"…s'posed t'help," the skeleton muttered into the pillow. He didn't stir again.
.
Papyrus frowned worriedly. He put a hand against his father's skull and let some healing magic gently seep into his bones before he tucked him in a little more snugly. He left having gained little, but he was still relieved to see him conscious at all.
.
He nearly bumped into June coming out the door. She was holding a small case of colourful paint. She backed off bashfully.
"Sorry, I just wanted to ask if you wanted some tea. Or coffee?" she said.
"I'm alright, thank you." He tilted his head and pointed at the case she had. "What's that for?"
"Hm? Oh! The King wanted to take us on a tour of the kingdom and suggested I should, um… paint some stripes on or something like that," she said. "Apparently that makes humans a bit less conspicuous. It's true that not everyone recognizes what we are right away?"
Papyrus tilted his head thoughtfully. That sounded familiar. "I guess, if we account for the whole time-being-a-strange-loopy-mess thing… I think so! I mean. Unless they watch some human movies. Which not everyone does? And even then, sometimes. Would you like some help?" He grinned and put a hand to his chest. "The great Papyrus is also a great makeup artist, every once in a while!"
"Oh! Well, if you wouldn't mind," she said.
.
There was a huge blanket hung up in the middle of the room the human's had borrowed as a divider, making a tiny room for each of the two beds. The one on the left was very clean and neat. The other was a little rumpled with a plush tiger sitting proudly on a pillow.
.
As they set up on the neater of the beds, Papyrus pulled a large pink and orange case of MTT makeup, along with the leftovers from the trip and powder from his phone. He added June's to the stack. As he got some brushes ready, she watched him curiously.
"You really come prepared, don't you?"
"Of course! The great Papyrus is always prepared for all kinds of situations! Though, I must admit, this has not got a whole lot of use, it's one of my frequent just-in-case cases!"
She nodded. "So, um. How was your father?"
"Still very tired, but not horrible," he said. "How are you doing, by the way?"
"…Good. Good, I think." She laughed and rubbed a hand through her hair. "This is still all so surreal, sometimes." She settled back and pulled her black tee with small, white, chubby dragons on it straight. "I'm wearing a shirt made of magic."
Papyrus snickered. He held up one hand before pulling off his glove, then gesturing to his jacket. "And my things are from the human world! Anyway! Do you have any idea what you would like?"
"Um… I haven't really given it a lot of thought."
.
Papyrus tapped his teeth thoughtfully. "Well. We have a lot of colours. Something bright would definitely not look human, so that might be good. Most of my blues and purples are from the dump so it might be better to pick maybe one of the MTT ones. Annnd… I wonder…" With a crackle of his magic, he focused and tried to replicate a shape a little like the bow he'd made earlier, but much smaller— it worked. His eyes glittered "Nyeh heh heh! Alright! I can also give you some horns to wear, then, if you want!"
"Oh?!" June put a hand on her head. "…Maybe a foresty deer or goat or something? That sounds pretty safe."
Papyrus beamed. "Now you've got it! How about some brown and green stripes?"
"Green?" she repeated.
"Yes! Since it's your colour, and all!"
June's cheeks flushed. "O-Oh, right. Y… Yes. Okay. Let's try."
.
Papyrus instantly went to work with an impeccably steady hand, using mostly the monster makeup, painting and blending some brown and green stripes around her forehead, cheeks, and neck. He used darker green and black around her eyes to give them a more cat-like shape, with perfectly precise winged liner, more exaggerated from the normal makeup she'd worn when they'd first met.
.
"You seem awfully confident for someone with no skin," she said, one eye closed as he painted her eyelid. "You did a really good job on, um, Mettaton, too."
"It's pretty easy," he said. "We used to do all kinds of things. My brother and I. Well, mostly him to me. But a bit of me painting myself. Or sometimes someone else. There used to be pretty frequent costume parties in the library in our town, so it was pretty exciting to come up with different things." He pulled back to look her over and she blinked at him, looking a bit like some sort of forest sprite. "Hmmm, I wonder if…? Ooh! I'm going to give you a beast nose, that'll definitely help."
"Whatever you think," she said with a laugh.
"Thank you for your trust!" He held her face stead and used some very dark brown to shade the whole underside of her nose in a subtle, rounded heart-shape.
.
Just a few minutes more, and he went to work on her arms, continuing some of the green stripes there and then a brown and green fade on her fingertips. When he switched, she looked over her hand curiously.
"It's not going to come off if I sweat, will it?" she asked cautiously.
"Umm… I've been using MTT brand mostly, so I think you are gooood," he said. "It's made of magic, I mean. It's not waterproof but we don't sweat the same way humans do, so I'm not sure if it'd make a big difference. I can touch it up for you, either way." He finished with her hand and then grinned. "Okay! Horns or no?"
"…Well. We've done this much. Why not?" she said with a laugh.
Papyrus beamed. He took the one horn he'd made earlier and duplicated it, and he held them up to her head curiously for a moment. "I am ninety-nine point nine percent positive I know what to do." He looked at them thoughtfully, squinted, and then made a band to attach the two together.
"Ooh, smart," she said.
"I know! Thank you. It's technically new," he said.
.
He grabbed the paint and coloured the band black with careful, quick strokes. June watched him curiously. She carefully rubbed her fingers over her arm. Neither the stripes nor the colours on her hand smudged.
"I hope I remember all this," she said quietly.
"Me too," Papyrus said. "If you don't, would you like me to tell you about it?"
June looked confused for a moment. She cracked a smile. "Yes, I think I would."
"Then I definitely will do my best!" The skeleton shook the band in the air to dry it, then dusted the tips of the white horns with green. "Here, try."
She looked them over and then slipped them onto her head. Papyrus moved a little of her hair to hide what little of the hairband could be seen and then sat back with his arms folded to observe. The human now looked a lot more like a mysterious deer than a human at all. He grinned.
.
"I think we got it!" He handed her his phone with the front facing camera on. "So?!"
June squeaked. She blinked quickly and turned her head to either side. "Oh, wow, that's…" She batted her eyelashes. "That's actually cute! I haven't done anything like this since I was a teenager!"
"So you like it?!" he asked.
"If I'm going to try to blend in, I think it's perfect." She laughed. "I can't believe you freehanded this. Thank you, Papyrus."
"I knew it!" Papyrus said brightly. "I am very glad to help. Do you think the other humans need it?"
"I doubt you could convince Boyd in a million years," she said.
"And I definitely don't have a million and one years," Papyrus said.
.
Asgore had spaghetti and other breakfast foods, and rows of chocolate out on the table when they returned. A groggy Boyd, sitting slumped in his chair, became instantly less groggy at the sight of June, almost snorting out his coffee.
"Ah!" Asgore's eyes lit right up. "June, if I did not know better, it would never even occur to me that you were not a monster!"
She smiled. "Thanks to Papyrus."
"Wow, Miss June?!" Ellie beamed. "That looks so cute!"
"Let me see these…" Asgore came in close and inspected her horns. He turned to Papyrus, wide-eyed. "Son, when did you learn bonecrafting like this?"
"Technically this morning? I mean, I could do slightly simpler things before but, ah, it just kind of came to me," Papyrus said. "Ooh! I should show mom!"
"Can you make me a costume, too?" Ellie asked, wide-eyed.
"Think about what you want, first, El," Boyd said.
The girl grinned. "Rainbows and also big wings and big horns and—!"
"Maybe something he can paint, sweetie," June said with a smile as she took a seat with them.
"I would glad to help in juuuuust a moment," Papyrus assured them.
.
The skeleton hurried into the kitchen, but was met only with disappointment when Toriel was not there. He backtracked into the dining room, rubbing his head. "Excuse me, has anyone seen my mom? She's about seven and a half feet tall and is a white goatish monster?"
"Is she not inside?" Asgore asked. "Ah. Maybe she stepped out for some air?"
"Oh! You might be right!" Papyrus gave her a call regardless, but she didn't pick up. He pouted for only a moment before straightening up. "Well! I'm sure she'll get back to me! Ellie! Let's get to work on you, then."
"Yes!" the kid cheered.
xXxXx
Halfway through giving Ellie some pink and yellow stripes, Papyrus felt a shiver in his soul. He knew Sans must've fainted again, and Undyne texted him to confirm it just moment later. They hadn't even gotten out of the house yet. Perturbed but not surprised, Papyrus changed the order of his plans— Sans first, then Alphys and the lab. After he finished the human's makeup, of course.
.
He used his new ability to craft Ellie a diadem that, when hidden under her hair, made it appear that she had a horn on her forehead. She was very pleased by this. Boyd opted out of the makeup treatment, preferring instead to hide under a hoodie if he had to go out. Two out of three wasn't bad, though. Monsters weren't fully used to seeing many humans with no hair in much of their media, so that would probably work to his advantage.
.
Though Asgore invited him to stay, Papyrus excused himself. He made his way back to Waterfall as quickly as he could. There was a flashy, pink-haired cat girl lurking outside Undyne's house, and Papyrus greeted her pleasantly before rushing inside.
.
Sans was laying on Undyne's couch, half draped in a shark-patterned blanket, with his arm hiding his eyes. The fluffy white dog was still with him, flopped over his legs. Undyne was leaning up on her counter near her stove, and she raised a hand to greet him.
"Is he okay?" Papyrus asked.
"I'm awake," Sans said, cracking a smile. "Can't look at stuff though."
"Why, what happens if you look at stuff?" Papyrus asked worriedly.
Sans moved his arm and his left eye was already blazing with light so bright it stung to look at. The iris beamed all over, rolling in its socket like it was chaotically tracking a lightning-fast insect all over the room. He winced and covered it up again.
.
Papyrus flinched. He came in close and took off his scarf. He folded it over on itself a couple times and then carefully moved his brother's arm away from his face. He tied the cloth over Sans's eyes snugly.
"There. Until it stops," he said, putting a healing hand against the top of his brother's skull.
"Oh. Heh. Not the worst. Thanks, bro," Sans said.
"So, when it does that, do you see anything useful?" Undyne asked.
"Nah. When it's that bad, I can hardly tell what part I'm lookin' at is real," he said. He grinned. "The headache and the faintin' are just a bonus."
"Did anything make it start doing that?" Papyrus asked.
"Stood up too fast?" Sans shrugged. "No clue. Sorry."
Papyrus pouted. "Ugh. You're a mess."
"Tell me about it."
.
Undyne's kettle whistled faintly. She prepped some tea for Sans and slid it into his hand. He sipped it carefully.
"Thanks, Cap."
"This is gettin' nuts again," she grumbled.
"Has anything changed for you?" Papyrus asked worriedly.
"Thankfully naw." She cracked a toothy grin. "Sounded like you had a couple things shift, though, huh?"
"Yes! Surprisingly, a net gain!" he said. "Well. Except the tattoo. That's a bit odd."
"Lemme see."
He pulled off his jacket, and Undyne and the dog leaned in close to stare at his arm.
"Huh. You sure that's not a scar?" she asked, raising her brows.
"Yes absolutely, I scar a different colour than that," he assured her. "Mine's more… off-white but with a gold undertone, and this is more light grey with a blue undertone."
She snickered. "So. An alternate timeline. Where you're a movie star. And you got a tattoo."
"I guess so!" he said. "A slime man asked me for my autograph, so that was nice."
"Congrats," Sans said. He smiled sideways. "At least, uh, someone's gettin' somethin' outta this. You wanna go through it all?"
"Absolutely I will," Papyrus said.
.
In great detail, Papyrus told them everything he'd done and seen since they'd split up in the wee hours of the morning. Sans nodded every once in a while and sipped his tea. The dog crept into Papyrus's lap and fell asleep with distracting snores.
"Productive, huh?" Undyne said when he finished. "That vision sounded nice, to be honest."
"It was! Probably-Asriel and Crabapple Kid were both really fun and sweet and… And I'm even more determined to help get them home now. But I still have a lot more to do," he said. "Oh! Mom didn't happen to come by, did she?"
"Nope," Sans said.
"Hmmm…" Papyrus rubbed his chin. "Maybe she finally went home to sleep for a little and I just missed her. She looked exhausted when she was helping heal dad."
"Hope so, last thing we need is even more of you passing the hell out." Undyne shoved a cup of tea into his hands. "That means you, too, punk!"
"I'm fine! Really!" Papyrus tipped the entire, steaming hot drink into his mouth nonetheless. "I really, honestly feel okay! And besides. I need to go see Alphys."
"Man, I wanna go see Alphys," Undyne grumbled, folding her arms.
"You two could come, as long as Sans promises not to try to work," Papyrus said.
Sans shrugged. Undyne sighed and shook her head.
"No. We'll go do attunement once he can stand up on his own. It's more helpful," she said. She thumped Papyrus on the shoulder. "You go. Just, uh… Say hi to her for me, okay?"
"Of course!" he assured her. "Okay! Unless you need anything from me, I guess I'll be on my way!"
.
"Wait," Sans said. He stuck a hand up and then began to fiddle with the scarf. "This's yours."
"Keep it for now," Papyrus assured him.
His brother paused. He waved him closer. Papyrus joined him and Sans pushed himself to sit up a little more.
"Let me just, uh…" He grabbed Papyrus's arm and pushed up the scarf off his left eye with his thumb. His iris was still frantic, but staring right at Papyrus, the movement settled a bit. He grinned tiredly. "Thanks."
"For what?" Papyrus asked.
"You stay pretty solid," Sans said. He tugged the scarf down again and then leaned back, folding his arms behind his head. "See you when I see you, huh?"
xXxXx
When Papyrus burst into the lab, half the lights were dim and the ground floor seemed normal, from the faintly glowing security monitors to the empty noodle cups on the floor that had missed the trash near one of the main desks.
"Doctor Alphys?!" he called loudly. "Are you here?! Or are you not here and I am wasting my time shouting for you?!" He paused to listen.
No reply, but he did hear what might have been a snorting noise from upstairs.
.
Papyrus bounded up the wrong escalator and found that Alphys was, in fact, there on the second level. She slouched at a desk with big, bulky earphones on, clicking through a black screen marked with fragments of red.
.
With a grin, the skeleton leapt to her side and put a hand on her arm. She gasped shrilly and staggered back, scrambling to take her earphones off.
"P-Papyrus!" She smiled. "Hey, nice to see you! What, um…? What a-are you doing here?"
"Greetings, Doctor Alphys! Undyne also sends a hello. What are you working on?" he asked curiously. He leaned in, tilting his head, only to freeze up for an instant when he felt a dog crawling up his back. He sighed and patted it on the head as it poked up over his shoulder.
Alphys's dark eyes got big and her mouth hung open for a moment before quickly turning back to her computer. "W-Well, um, I was decoding any melody out of the red line from our o-old Dark Model experiments," she said. "The, um, stuff your dad and Sans and I w-were all working on back in the day. The theory i-is, these notes should m-match up with… with your missing s-sister, I think? Then we should be able to feed it into the NOCTURNE and h-have it try to follow her. It's almost done. Oh! W-Would you like to hear it?"
.
The skeleton perked right up and he nodded. Alphys unplugged her earphones and turned the volume up. She opened a little sub-window with the outline of a red heart in it and clicked on it. Simple, digital notes began to play. Papyrus memorized every one. Something about it was familiar. Maybe something he'd heard? He closed his eyes, folded his arms, and tapped his foot where the rhythm should have been. He saw red and a glimmer of light inside his head. His soul sparked with a memory of warm orange.
"Aah!" He grabbed Alphys's shoulders. "I know this!"
"Y-You do?!" she yelped.
"I do! But it's faint, it's…!" He grabbed her up off her seat and beamed into her face. "You're a genius!"
"I-I am?" she warbled.
"Yes, of course! Can we go put this in the NOCTURNE now, then?!"
.
Alphys looked him up and down skeptically. "Um, soon? Wh-Where's your dad?"
"Ah. Still sort of out of it, I'm afraid." He gently put her back in her seat. "Someone told you what happened, right?"
She nodded. "A-Asgore's been filling me in on everything." She nervously gripped one hand with the other, rubbing her fingertips. "I h-hope whatever's h-happening isn't painful."
"He seemed to be okay," Papyrus said. "Hey, are you busy?!"
"Uhh… Well, I was about to start fixing Sans's, um—"
"So you haven't started which means you technically have time for something else first?" he asked eagerly, eyes brightening.
"I… I guess?" she said cautiously.
"Excellent! Because if my memory doesn't fail me— which I very much hope it does not— my dad finished setting up his machine to analyze all that stuff Big Dog and I found, right? But he did not actually use it yet. Because he would have said otherwise. Right?!"
"…Wh…? Oh!" Alphys's eyes went wide. "You're d-definitely right! We g-got busy on the NOCTURNE and a few other things. A-And a weird, timeless g-grey ghost? I think your mom saw it, too?"
"Ah, right, the Probasriel," Papyrus said, nodding thoughtfully. "Anyway! I figured, you and I, we could do the science. What do you say?"
"Wh…? Uh…" She blinked. "I… I m-mean, I guess we c—!"
"Fantastic!" He'd already grabbed her and whisked her away down to the elevator.
.
Gaster's setup was down a level, behind heavy, protective doors. He'd moved some rooms and panels around, and formed a chamber with transparent walls. A huge, boney apparatus that resembled one of his blasters hung down from above, glaring over a hexagonal pedestal with a shiny, black circle flat against each side. The centre was a rough chunk of crystal that a strange bit of black, sparkling liquid magic floated up and down inside, like a lava lamp.
.
A small, grey control room looked inwards, with a large computer on a desk beside a panel of switches, levers, and blinking lights. Alphys knew the system well. She booted it up as Papyrus looked around for the objects he'd gathered. Thankfully, the size of the place was to his advantage. He found them in one of only three cabinets in there, each one carefully labeled: the strange, round dog plush, the cube with the red heart drawn in its panels; a small, glass vial glowing with red inside, labelled "GWD - DT". Papyrus tutted at the sight of the last one. He hoped his dad hadn't done anything dangerous to get it.
.
He gathered the stuff up and opened the door to the clear chamber. The huge, monstrous, skull-like apparatus let out a smooth, low, melodic hum.
"S-Seems pretty obvious, but his notes say to p-put each thing on a circle," Alphys said.
It was, indeed, pretty obvious. Papyrus stuck his thumb up.
.
When he put the cube in its place, the circle quickly lifted and encased it in a dark, translucent bubble. He did the same with the plush and the vial.
"Can you just p-pull the big machine there so the, um, mouth bit lines up with the centre?" Alphys called.
Papyrus grabbed hold of it and did as she asked, then backed out into the control room, closing the door tightly.
.
"What do you think, Doctor, good to go?"
"Ummm…" She leaned into the monitor and adjusted her glasses. "Yep! Y-Yep, looks like it, it seems pretty s-simple, all things considering." She pressed a few buttons on a big, chunky keyboard, and then turned a dial slowly to the right and then pushed it in.
The holes resembling eye sockets glowed with white light. She pulled a lever and the whole console clunked. The skull-like apparatus began to whir loudly. A big, red countdown flashed across the screen, down from twenty.
.
When the number hit ten, Papyrus was jarred by the dog on his shoulder diving into his pocket. He cawed with surprise, but the little canine was already free from him, bounding across the room with the red artefact in its mouth. Somehow, it opened the chamber's door.
"Hey!" Papyrus gave chase and reached out with blue, but Alphys squeaked and dragged him back towards her. His magic connected to nothing.
"I-It might be dangerous!" she yelped.
The dog was already at the pedestal. It leapt like gravity meant nothing and tossed the red orb into one of the black circles. It was engulfed in a bubble and the dog leapt to the top of the skull machine just as it fired a blinding white beam into the crystal. Papyrus winced and Alphys covered her ears.
.
The crystal was overwhelmed with energy and sung out loudly. Beams shot out of it into each bubble. They surged over with searing red. The little dog woofed excitedly.
.
After five seconds, the laser shut off abruptly with a pleasant chime. The red on the bubbles drained away, as did they, leaving their contents on the pedestal, seemingly unharmed. Papyrus perked up. Alphys squeezed his hand. The dog log-rolled away, but somehow vanished when it passed behind the machine.
.
The hum in the air cracked like thunder, and the whole of both chambers was overwhelmed with fragments of red light and chunks of magic reflected off the crystal's facets. Star-like, glittering sparkles danced as if on a soft, whirling breeze. A magic hum played slowly with them, writing itself out on the computer as it went. Papyrus was positive now that he knew it, even if it was more like the memory of a dream than something he could grasp.
"Crabapple Kid," he said softly.
"It's…" Alphys turned to the computer. She brought up her work on the Dark Model and lined up the notes— they matched exactly.
.
The lizard's eyes misted and she smiled wide. "It's e-exactly right!" She grabbed Papyrus and pulled him close. "S-See?! This confirms a-all the work I've been d-doing! Which is, um, a h-huge relief honestly. I think w-we might actually be in big trouble if they d-didn't match."
"So…?! So that means we did it?!" Papyrus's eyes lit up. "We can find them?!"
"Soon! R-Really soon, once we g-get running in the NOCTURNE." She ran through the notes once again and nodded to herself. She carefully pointed out the analytics with her claw. "We're m-missing just a small chunk, st-still… Maybe it's the other kid?"
"I need to talk to mom about him," Papyrus said.
"Hm! Oh! Would you look at…" Alphys chuckled. "L-Looks like we might've been a bit overzealous, actually!"
.
She got up and went into the chamber. She picked up the cube and offered it back to him. "Y-You picked really well! A-And I guess, um, that dog did too? But this… It just has it. Clear as a b-bell." She pointed out the red heart glowing on its panels. "I g-guess, she probably did this herself! Where did you get it?"
Papyrus took the cube back gingerly. "It was on my desk." He stared at the red heart and cracked a smile. The same warm feeling Crabapple Kid had given him in that vision flickered in his ribcage again. He was soon beaming. He grabbed Alphys up in in his arms and squeezed her tight, making her squeak and laugh with surprise. "Doctor Alphys, we are on our way!"