Chapter four:
Frisk glances around at the snowy landscape before her. She notices the trees, though the spaces between them don't look inviting. She decides to follow the path hoping it'll help lead her to where she wants to go. She pauses swearing that she heard footsteps. She looks behind herself though doesn't see anyone. She turns back to continue forward coming across a large branch. She can't take it with her as it's too heavy and big. She hops over it finding it strong enough to support herself as she does so. She takes a few steps forward only to jump with a yelp at a loud cracking sound. She spins around her heart racing in her chest.
The stick behind her has been broken in the middle as if it took no effort. Yet it hadn't moved from its spot, not at all.
Frisk's hands tremble at the thought of meeting whoever was able to do that. She turns back to continue forward and keeps alert. She swears her heartbeat is roaring in her ears. She ducks her head out of fear as the woods around her feel claustrophobic. She spots some kind of gate that is too big to actually stop anyone. She heads towards it only to stop in front of it as slow footsteps come from behind. She freezes on the spot not sure if she wants to turn around to face this monster. She takes a deep breath as the footsteps stop right behind her.
"Human..." A clearly male's voice speaks from where the other stands behind her. "Don't you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand."
Slowly Frisk fearfully turns around to find someone on the shorter end standing there.
He offers his hand to her all while staring right at her.
Frisk reaches forward remembering how she decided to go about things down here. She grips his hand gently, and pauses as the sound of a whoopee cushion sounds out. She keeps her hand there as she tries to let her heart settle down.
Clearly this monster is not the threat she thought he was.
Once the sound comes to a halt the monster pulls their hands apart. "Ahh. The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. That never gets old." He stuffs his hands into his jacket pocket. He steps forward into the more lit area. He has on a blue and yellow hoodie with white fluff on the hood, bottom, ends of the sleeves, as well as the tips of the hood strings, blue shorts with yellow stripes, and blue fuzzy slippers. He smiles to her in a rather friendly manner. "Hey there. I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton." He introduces himself to Frisk. "You're a human right? That's cool. My brother is a human hunting enthusiast. Oh. Here he comes now. Come." He gently grabs her wrist and leads her over to a wooden sentry station with a lamp in the snow. "Quick. Hide behind that conveniently shaped lamp."
Frisk moves and hides behind the lamp. She watches as Sans moves to meet another taller skeleton. She realizes that Sans has them standing so she won't be noticed. She swears she hears the taller skeleton mumble 'Ah. Outertale it seems.', though she doesn't understand what that means.
"Yo bro." Sans greets with a lazy smile to the other. "How's it going?"
"Sans! You lazy bones!" Papyrus begins placing his hands on his hips. "You haven't gone to recalibrate your puzzles!"
"Heh. Sorry bro. Just feeling bone-tired."
"Ugh!" Papyrus brings a hand up wiping it down his face before continuing. "Well you should be attending to your puzzles! What if a human comes on through?"
"Tibia honest I'm sure it'll be fine." Sans tries to shrug it off. His pun makes Papyrus groan as if a little annoyed.
"Fine. But you really should put some more backbone into your work!" Papyrus retorts then he pauses looking as though he can't believe what he just said.
Sans bursts out laughing. "Good one bro! You tickled my funny bone pretty well!" He mentions between his laughter.
Papyrus shakes his head with another groan. "Dang it brother!" He looks back to Sans who is grinning at him.
Frisk can see the care for one another exchanged in their looks. She finds it sweet that Sans can annoy Papyrus without it affecting their care.
"You should keep alert for humans." Papyrus tells Sans.
"Okay okay. By the way did you want to check out this lamp?" Sans's suggestion makes Frisk tense a little. "I think it's pretty cool."
"I don't have time for this. I need to work on my puzzles!" Papyrus slightly huffs crossing his arms across his chest. "And you should too." With that he heads off while Sans stays where he is.
Sans gives Papyrus a few moments to get away. He turns his attention to where Frisk is hiding. "Okay. You can come out now."
Frisk comes out and approaches Sans. "You could have avoided mentioning the lamp."
"Don't worry. I sometimes tease him with it." Sans waves it off in assurance. "After the prank I played on him with the lamp he doesn't even inspect it. Unless he does it when he thinks I won't know. Looking for more pranks." His words do help to soothe Frisks worries a bit. "Oh. By the way before you continue could you maybe do me a small favor? Let Papyrus see you and go along with his puzzles? It would make him really happy. He can act tough but he's actually very harmless. So you're not in danger for doing this. Just do it to make him happy, won't you?"
Frisk blinks at this. "I guess I could."
"Thanks! It would mean so much to him. I'll meet you up ahead." Sans thanks her before heading off in the opposite direction than Papyrus.
Frisk watches him go in confusion before he ducks out of her sight. She decides to let it go as she turns away continuing forward. She follows a snowy path knowing that surely this leads to a town. She kind of isn't looking forward to what Papyrus will put her through. She just hopes that it won't be too intense. She looks around expecting a monster to jump out at her. She slows to a stop as she finds Sans however he is wearing different clothes.
Sans is in a brown scarf, brown shirt and pants with black sleeves that have lines on them, as well as a blue sweater tied around his waist. He seems to have smudged something black on his cheek. He glances to Frisk who blinks at this.
Frisk isn't even sure what she's looking at. She doesn't understand why Sans would suddenly change his clothes. "Um are you okay?" She inquires wondering if he had to change cause he got hurt.
"Oh. Sorry human. Excuse me. Carry on with your journey." Sans runs off disappearing behind a tree.
Frisk just stands there not really sure what to make of it. She decides to brush it off an presses onward. She lets that play through her head again. She swears that Sans seemed off in that moment though she doesn't understand why. She isn't paying attention when she runs into something. She jumps back and looks up to see a surprised Papyrus.
"Excuse me have you seen my brother?" Papyrus inquires before taking a closer look at her. "Hold on. You match the descriptions of humans." His eyes shine in excitement and he gasps. "Are you a human!?"
Frisk nods and Papyrus looks so happy.
"I did it! The great Papyrus has found a human!" Papyrus jumps around before pausing with his excitement dimming. "Oh. But I haven't found Sans yet."
"I saw him just earlier. He was wearing different clothes and had a smudge of black on his cheek."
"Oh. That must be Ink. Well that means he'll hide and watch until he changes." Papyrus figures out and seems glad to know this.
"So that wasn't Sans?" Frisk is rather confused now. She wonders if Sans has a twin.
"Oh. Sorry human you don't know. No that was Sans. He has multiple personality disorder but doesn't actually know it. His mind makes him change his outfit to match the personality that is coming out. Just play along with his personalities and don't say anything. He's a good skeleton really."
Frisk does find that with that it does make sense now. She hadn't even thought that monsters could get the same mental disorders as humans. She wonders if there's a way to help Sans stick to one personality. She feels kind of sad for him never having one true reality as the personalities have their own views.
"Well I'll meet you up ahead for your first puzzle!" Papyrus dashes off with excitement at this.
Frisk smiles softly as it is kind of wholesome to see Papyrus happy. She continues onward to find that first puzzle. She makes her way through the snowy land, until she finds herself at a spot where Papyrus is waiting. She doesn't see Sans anywhere.
"Welcome human!" Papyrus greets with a grin across his face. "What is standing before you is the invisible electric maze!" He exclaims and Frisk glances over the ground before her. He holds up a ball in his hand. "This ball will administer a shock if you touch the walls! You may begin when you're ready! Nyeh Heh Heh Heh!"
Frisk looks up and blinks at Papyrus. She was told that he was harmless though it's hard to see it at this moment. She moves forward and finds herself hitting a wall... Only for Papyrus to get the electric shock.
Papyrus pauses with a surprised look. "Dang it! Why did it shock me!"
"Was I supposed to hold it?" Frisk inquires and realization crosses Papyruss face.
"Oh right." Papyrus walks through the puzzle in a certain pattern. He seems to be doing it purposefully, he ensures his footsteps hard enough to leave footprints.
Frisk is now starting to realize that Papyrus is indeed harmless. She smiles softly as this level of making sure she won't get hurt is sweet.
Papyrus places the ball on her bed then hurries back making sure to not shock her. He turns once back to his spot. "Okay! Go!"
Frisk walks in Papyruss footprints and stands before him. She blinks at him doing her best to look proud as if she had done it all on her own.
"Rats! The human has proven to be too smart for this puzzle! Onto the next one!" Papyrus gently takes the ball from Frisk then runs off. "Nyeh heh heh heh!"
Frisk jumps when Papyrus suddenly is shocked and he turns back this way.
"Sans! Leave the puzzle alone!" Papyrus shouts back this way before huffing and continuing on his way.
Frisk turns around finding Sans standing by the edge of the puzzle. She notices that he is now in a darker outfit with a bandana.
Sans's expression looks cold and serious. "Welcome to Swapfell human. Don't mind the mutt." He greets moving to stand in front of her.
Frisk remembers what Papyrus had said about Sans's condition. She decides for now she'll go along with this, and see if somewhere she can find information that might help treat Sans's condition. She's not an expert in this enough to even attempt it. "Oh. Thank you. I guess he got ahead of himself."
Sans snorts a little at this. "He probably wanted to get this over with so he can go be lazy." He shrugs. "At least he's doing some work." He meets his eyes with Frisks own. "Well I'll be meeting you at the next puzzle. Don't be late human." He heads off in the same direction that Papyrus had gone in.
Frisk watches Sans go. She knows why Sans is acting like this, but she can't help feeling jarred by the change in him. She takes a breath and continues forth following after the two skeletons. She wonders how Papyrus handles this persona of Sans. She decides that she'll try to observe their dynamic, and observe a bit of Sans, to get information that perhaps could be useful to help Sans. She's not really sure. She keeps going despite this as she decides to get to the observations when she gets there. She isn't really sure what to expect next, and Sans being unpredictable isn't helping. She makes her way through the snowy area just trying her best to make it through. She does find that making friends with the residents of the snowy area is quite nice. She arrives to a spot where she sees the two skeletons waiting.
Papyrus doesn't really look happy, his glances at Sans look as if he's trying to hope these looks will make Sans change.
Sans is still in Swapfell mode currently. "Welcome human!" He greets with a smirk. "Right on time. Excellent." He crosses his arms over his chest. "This is one of the mutts puzzles." He pauses when he looks at the actual puzzle with a piece of paper laying there. "Mutt." He growls with his gaze turning to Papyrus. "What the fuck is this supposed to be!?"
Papyrus lets out a huff through his nose.
"Hey! Don't take that fucking attitude with me mutt! Answer my question!"
Frisk can see why Papyrus doesn't like the Swapfell personality.
"It's a super puzzle. Meant to confuse the human. When she looks at the paper it'll work. Just wait." Papyrus tells Sans clearly trying to just play along with the persona.
"Hm. Fine." Sans turns to Frisk once more. "Step forward human! Put my brothers stupid idea to the test!"
Frisk, feeling bad for Papyrus, moves forward and takes a look at the puzzle. She notices that it's just a kids word search. She picks it up pretending to be super interested in it. She doesn't want this persona to just get more mad at Papyrus. She keeps her gaze on the paper but out of the corner of her eye she watches the two.
Sans turns to Papyrus. "Damn mutt. It was more effective than I expected."
Papyrus looks a little surprised then grateful at Frisk before turning calmer to Sans. "Of course m'lord." He plainly says as if not sure what else to say.
Sans turns and starts to approach Frisk looking like he might try to grab her.
Frisk looks up from the paper and drops it making Sans stop.
"Hm. Could be a little more effective. But not bad for a lazy mutt." Sans pauses and his gaze drops a little. He seems distracted suddenly.
Frisk looks to Papyrus who looks happy to see this happen.
Suddenly Sans vanishes like he just teleports away from them.
"Finally!" Papyrus groans in relief before he approaches Frisk. "Thank you for doing that human. It was really nice of you. That puzzle was actually made by my brother, well technically the more lazy personas, so it probably wasn't the best. Thought that was very excellent acting." He blinks as if getting an idea and he pulls something out of his inventory. "Here. Take this. Consider it a token of my appreciation." He hands her what he had grabbed. "Now then. I'll see you up ahead human. We'll see what persona of Sans comes out next at some point. See you later human. Nyeh heh heh heh!" With that he runs off up ahead.
Frisk looks down to what she was given. She finds it to be a Cinnamon Bunny. She smiles and puts it safely away for later. She continues forth after this, smiling to herself at the nice gesture. She passes by monsters, a few more puzzles, and some more encounters with Papyrus though this time Sans is absent. She even completes the tile puzzle pretty easily as Papyrus makes it be a straight walk. She supposed that's his extra thanks for earlier, or he is just way too nice that way. She finally makes it to a space with a bridge stretching across it.
Papyrus stands on the opposite side with Sans now at his side.
Sans is now wearing his Undertale outfit.
"Nyeh Heh Heh Heh!" Papyrus laughs and Frisk swears that he has a big smile on his face. "Prepare yourself human! You won't be getting past this one so easily!"
Various dangerous items lower and raise into view making Ftisk look them over nervously.
"When I activate this axes will swing and many other dangerous things! You'll have to use perfect timing to get through! I hope that you're ready because I am about to activate it!" Papyrus declares... Only for nothing to happen...
Frisk blinks finding herself having a feeling that Papyrus won't go through with it. She still keeps tense just in case though. She slowly relaxes as nothing still happens.
"Uh... That doesn't look very activated." Sans mentions and Papyrus actually hesitates.
"I am... About to do it... Soon it will be activated..." Papyrus stares at Frisk almost seeming to be contemplating something.
Frisk suddenly feels safer as she realizes what's going on.
Papyrus is rethinking just how dangerous and harmful this puzzle actually is. He doesn't want to risk seriously harming her or even killing her. He blinks as he makes up his mind. "You know what? This puzzle is much too easy for the human. This puzzle deserves someone who will find it to be a challenge. Away it goes!" He flicks his right hand causing the parts to disappear again.
Frisk lets out a breath relieved that it's gone.
"Well done human! You've complete almost all of my puzzles to stop you!" Papyrus declares looking proud yet also excited. "However there is just one more you must complete before you're through! I'll see you up ahead. Nyeh heh heh heh heh!" He runs off with that while Sans stays behind.
Frisk makes her way across the bridge finding it to be more stable than it looks. She makes it and gets a smile from Sans.
"Hey. Thanks for doing this. My brother is really having a lot of fun. I really appreciate it." Sans gets a smile from Frisk at this before he pauses. His look quickly telling Frisk his persona is changing. He teleports away so Frisk just continues forward.
Surely she'll just see him later on.
The path ahead is pretty simple with it not taking much time to get through it.
Frisk spots Papyrus up ahead and she smiles. She approaches him expecting him to be waiting excitedly for her to arrive. Her smile slowly turns to a frown as she approaches however. She sees Papyrus pacing and he has a very worried look.
Papyrus turns spotting her and rushes to her. "Human! The next challenge will have to wait! I'll explain later!" He scoops her up and races her into town, which looks empty, before getting her into a home locking the door behind them.
"Papyrus? What's going on?" Frisk questions as Papyrus looks around to ensure it's safe. She feels really concerned about how he is acting.
Papyrus looks satisfied that it is safe. "It's Sans. He's switching personas and his next persona isn't a good one to put it lightly. Very rare, but not a good one. You don't want to be around if he shows up. We have to wait for his personas to change again. Ones like these are usually faster to change... Usually..." He frowns in concern about what might happen, even making Frisk even more worried.
That's when Frisk notices a kitchen knife is missing from the rack.