Once Percy had forced himself to stand up, he thought he may as well check out the shop nearby. There was an upright bunny monster manning the shop, and when he entered, she greeted him. "Hello, traveller. How can I help you?" Percy looked up at her and asked, "what do you have for sale?"

She showed him a list of the shop's wares. "What would you like to buy?" There weren't many items for sale, but a couple looked interesting. One thing he saw was the Manly Bandanna, and it had 7DF, whatever that meant. Percy just wanted it because it looked cool. When he pointed at it she said, "it has abs on it. Do you want to buy it for 50G?" Percy nodded, and said, "sure, why not?" He handed her 50G, and she gave him the Manly Bandana in return. "Thanks for your purchase."

The other thing he thought looked good was the Cinnamon Bun. It healed 22HP. Percy had already figured out that the acronym was talking about his health, and since "HP" started with an H, for "Health," it seemed to mean something like "Health Position." For example, right now, his HP would show that his health is at position 252 of 252. Made sense.

When he asked about the bun, the bunny lady smiled at him and said, "it's my own recipe. Wanna buy it for 25G?" Percy went ahead and handed her the money, and she gave him a wrapped Cinnamon Bun and said, "thanks for your purchase."

Percy nodded, and she said to him, "take your time. Care to chat?" Percy thought it'd be rude to just walk out after an invitation to chat, and since he realized he didn't say hi when he walked in the shop, he started with that. "Hello."

She smiled at him again. "Hiya! Welcome to Snowdin! I can't remember the last time I saw a fresh face around here. Where did you come from? The capital? You don't look like a tourist. Are you here by yourself?" Percy shrugged, getting uncomfortable with all the questions, and headed to the door. As he was leaving, she called out, "Bye now! Come again sometime!"

Percy put the Cinnamon Bun in his pocket and tied the bandana around his head. He didn't bother going to the inn nextdoor, he wasn't tired. He walked through town, not paying much attention to anyone.

When he was about to pass by a building named Grillby's, Percy stopped for a minute and curiously looked past the nearby bear's shoulder, under the "OPEN" sign in the window. When he saw Doggo inside, holding a drink with a heavily bandaged arm, Percy shrunk back out. The building seemed to be a bar, but Percy wasn't that hungry. He shoved the Cinnamon Bun into his mouth and moved away from Grillby's.

When he got to the crossroads, Percy headed left and walked past a couple rocks on his left and a wolf throwing ice into a river on his right. When he found himself at another shore of the river, Percy jumped as the phone he had gotten from Toriel suddenly rang. Ring... ring...

Feeling a little apprehensive, Percy answered the phone, and heard a voice he didn't recognize. "Hello! Can I speak to G- ...Wait a second. Is this the wrong number?" Suddenly, the voice on the other end of the line just burst into song.

"Oh it's the wrong number! The wrong number song! We're very very sorry that we got it wrong! Oh it's the wrong number! The wrong number song! We're very very sorry that we got it wrong!" Click... Left in the silence of the rushing water, Percy felt quite worried.

Percy was feeling very uncomfortable keeping the phone now, and since Toriel had already told him she didn't want him coming back, it seemed she wouldn't be calling him anytime soon, either. No point in keeping a tracking device on him at all times. Percy threw the phone in the freezing river.

When he went back and started along towards the east side of town, not paying much attention, he glanced at the library's sign. No point in going in the library. What good would reading some random book be?

Percy soon saw a festive looking house with a balcony and a pirate flag, and next to it a bland looking shed. Once Percy had walked a little ways past it, he was suddenly aware of the crushing silence.

As he cautiously walked on the path of snow, ice bobbing along silently in the river to his left, fog filled the air, making it harder to see. When the fog got so bad he could barely spot a thing, Percy was addressed by a voice ahead of him. "HUMAN."

Percy put a hand around his ballpoint pen. Papyrus said, in a voice quieter than usual, "ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE... THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER." Percy didn't think that was an accurate assessment of the situation, considering he hadn't even tried the pasta on the table earlier, and he was about to say so, but Papyrus continued.

"...THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FEELINGS... THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW! I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY." Percy rolled his eyes at Papyrus' words, not that the skeleton would see his motion through the fog.

"AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE. I PITY YOU... LONELY HUMAN... WORRY NOT! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR...

"...NO... NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG! I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND! YOU ARE A HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS! THAT'S PAPYRUS! THE NEWEST MEMBER... OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"

As the skeleton spoke those last words, he started a Fight. So, that's why they were fighting. All because Papyrus wanted be "powerful, popular, and prestigious." The skeleton just wanted to be the newest member of this "Royal Guard" more than he wanted to be friends. Or at least not enemies. So much for trying to befriend everything.

Percy thought he'd rather not fight anyone in such thick cover, and thought to himself, if I can move snow, why not fog? Then, with a motion of his hands and a mental shove, Percy cleared away the fog from between the two of them, leaving the arena clear.

All but for Papyrus. Papyrus blocked the way. Percy uncapped Riptide. Suddenly filled with rage, Percy gripped his sword, and with all his frustrations, swung the celestial bronze blade at Papyrus as hard as he could, slicing right at the neck.

There was a moment where nothing happened, and then Papyrus' skull fell off the neck and into his hand. Shocked out of his rage, Percy stood still, watching.

Papyrus' head mumbled to itself, "ALAS, POOR PAPYRUS!" Then the skeleton's body disintegrated into dust, just like every other monster Percy had killed, leaving just the skull lying in the snow. "WELL, AT LEAST I STILL HAVE MY HEAD!" the lone skull of Papyrus murmured, with his usual boundless optimism.

Even as Papyrus spoke those words, the last of him disintegrated into dust.

Percy stood still, barely holding onto his sword. Slowly, he capped his sword and put it in his pocket. Then he sat down, still staring at the pile of dust.

It felt wrong. He had killed monsters before, but it was never like this. He had never killed a monster that had wanted to be his friend before. A monster of all things wanting to be his friend was still a new experience for him. It had only ever happened a few times before this strange trip to the Underground.

And now he had just killed Papyrus because he got frustrated. That scared him.

Then he heard a familiar, faint, whoosh. Percy tensed and jumped back to his feet, uncapping Riptide again in the process.

Sans stared up at him, his eyes empty. His hands were in his pockets, and his smile was anything but happy. "welp, you made your choice." Sans' right eye suddenly shone with a blue light, one that Percy had seen once before, outside the door of the Ruins, right after he admitted out loud to himself that he had killed more monsters than he could even count. In the second before the Fight really began, chills ran down Percy's back.

Thanks for the patience everyone. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but I wanted it to feel right for me. There was a lot of stuff going on in the story, and I know not everyone is going to like how things happened, but this has been the plan for me, and it's where the story is going. Thank you so much to everyone who's read this far! Even if it takes me a while to get a chapter out, don't worry. The story is not cancelled, and I intend to finish it. If anyone would like to ask a question, leave constructive criticism, or a comment of any kind, feel free, and I'll be glad to see it. Alright, sorry this was long, but I hope you have a good day. Farewell until next time, and I wish you all well!