Chapter Three
The child entered the town as she walked by a sign that read "Welcome to Snowdin Town."
She entered a shop where she met a rabbit shopkeeper, who's sister owned the inn next door. She spoke to the shopkeeper who told her more about the town like how the skelebros just appeared one day and the town become more interesting upon their arrival, that the monsters used to live in the Ruins and that no one unless a ghost or can burrow can enter the Ruins, and that they have hope for freedom one day from the underground. She took a few minutes to stay at the inn, and then left to meet a few other monsters in town.
There were rabbit monsters, bear monsters, a spirited Monster kid who was a yellow lizard-like monster with spikes on his back and no arms but a striped yellow and orange shirt, and a few other friendly monsters near a Christmas tree between the inn and an eatery. Upon reaching the eatery, the child read the sign that said "Grillby's." When she entered, she noticed the dog guards relaxing at the tables while a rabbit and big-toothed monster rested in the booths. There were also a few monsters near the bar on the stools, and a fire monster wearing a suit and glasses behind the bar cleaning a cup. Although he would offer her a drink of water he couldn't because he doesn't touch the stuff, and the child just accepted this logic with a smile.
Then she spoke to a bird monster who sat on one of the bar stools as she mentioned that the dogs were part of the Royal Guard, an elite military group led by Undyne. The child felt uneasy upon hearing the name of their leader, especially since the more she learned about her, the more she realized that she was much more wild and tough then the guards she had already faced. However, she left the eatery with her head held up high, as she continued meeting more monsters, realizing the town itself was pretty large.
After watching a wolf throwing large ice cubes in the river and visiting a rock house, the child continued back on the road where she found a library with the name spelled wrong. When she entered inside, she noticed a few monsters there and shelves stacked with books of multicolors in each column.
"Hey there, Chara. What's up?" A familiar voice spoke as the child turned to see Curtain standing next to her in front of the bookcases.
"Ah! Hey Curtain. I didn't think I'd see you here," the child said, feeling some form of safety from the presence of her friend.
"Heh. I just came by since the shopkeeper bunny mentioned a library was here. I wanted to read up and see if there's anything I can learn about who I'm looking for," Curtain said, as the child noticed she held a stack of books in her hands.
"Oh cool! I actually wanted to learn about the monsters, so I wanted to read some books," the child said as she took a book from the shelf.
"Cool. Want to read together?" Curtain asked, and the child nodded.
The two sat by one of the tables as they read the books together about monsters: one mentioned how during a monster funeral the dust of said monster is spread on their favorite thing so that their essence rests there, another spoke of monsters being made mostly of magic and humans made mostly of water which is why human forms are physically much stronger than monsters, a third mentioned that monsters' bodies are attuned to their soul since they are made of magic and will weaken if they don't want to fight, while a fourth spoke of Monster history which was how the monsters decided to leave the Ruins that used to be called Home and head to the city capital named New Home by the King, and finally the fifth that mentioned that people say monster souls are made of love, hope, and compassion although the nature of souls are still unknown since humans have proven they don't need these qualities to exist.
The child was fascinated by such knowledge, and also felt a pang in her heart when it mentioned humans since she could feel from the written text that the monster writing it must have met not-so-friendly humans. Curtain read the book with a little less fascination since she knew the knowledge already being described, and her lips tightened as it mentioned humans and monsters. The child occasionally looked up at Curtain as she read through the book, while Curtain would pat her head to encourage her to keep reading. During this time, some of the monsters around looked towards the human as she read the book in a whisper loud enough for Curtain to hear, but the look they gave showed that they were wondering why the human wouldn't know this already since they were not sure she was a human. They immediately looked away when Curtain shot them a look as they realized staring was indeed rude, although Curtain just wanted to deter them from realizing that the child was human.
After returning the books to the shelves and leaving the library, Curtain and the child walked ahead to see a large two story house with Christmas lights on it, two mail boxes on the left side, and a shed on the right side.
"Oooh, such a cute house. It's got a shed and everything," Curtain said, examining the house.
"It's very nice… and tall. Much bigger than the other houses… I guess Papyrus and Sans live here," the child said as she noticed the overflowing mail box belonged to Sans while the empty one belonged to Papyrus.
"Huuuh. Oh! Duh, their names are on the mail boxes. That's why you kn- Wait… there's other houses?" Curtain asked as she looked towards the child.
"Yes there is. Up the road in the middle of town. You didn't see it on the way here?" the child asked.
"No! I didn't even notice. I went through the little igloo to fast travel to see where it went… oh geez, I guess I got to head back and meet whoever I missed. I wouldn't want to leave them hanging," Curtain said while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
"Aww, you have to go so soon?" the child asked as her shoulders slumped.
"Hey come on. Don't look so glum. I'll catch up with you later. I do have my own work to attend to, remember?" Curtain replied, as the child nodded slowly.
"So don't worry, alright? You're a strong kid remember? But if you're really in a jam, just give me a ring. I'll come over, okay?" Curtain said as she showed her cellphone.
The child felt more confident as she nodded with a smile, and Curtain did the same. After snapping her fingers with a single finger-gun and a click of her tongue, Curtain headed back to meet those she passed by, and the child turned and walked ahead to reach the end of Snowdin Village.
As the child walked, a blizzard of snow began obstructing her vision, but she continued walking through as she shielded her head with her arm. She noticed a figure ahead of her and stopped walking when she realized this silhouette in the blizzard wind was Papyrus. He seemed more serious as he explained some complicated feelings of joy and admiration for someone that the human must feel towards him since he is indeed the Great Papyrus. However, as he was about to offer his friendship towards the human, he paused and said that he can't be their friend since he has to capture them and gain his dream of becoming a part of the Royal Guard.
The human did not wish to fight him since she figured that he didn't want to either, but because of the situation they were in, he probably felt that he had no choice. So the battle began anyway as her soul appeared and body faded the same as with Toriel.
+ Darn! I didn't want to actually fight him. He's cool.
– Hmph. Like everyone down here, you're going to have to fight them eventually.
The human decided to stand her ground as he refused to fight since he let her make the first move.
"SO YOU WON'T FIGHT… THEN, LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED 'BLUE ATTACK!'" Papyrus said as he sent cyan bones towards her.
The human child stood very still as the bones passed by without harming her, however, the moment her soul changed blue she felt weighted to the ground as a normal bone came and hit her soul taking a little damage.
"YOU'RE BLUE NOW. THAT'S MY ATTACK! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus cackled as he sent more bones her way, while the child jumped over them.
With each set of bones Papyrus would send her way, the human would have to jump higher and time her jumps to not get hit with a bone attack. The weight made her have to land at some time which made this battle a little different then when she faced Toriel since her soul had more air room for it to move and dodge. However, the human quickly grew accustomed to this form of dodging as she gracefully dodged the bone attacks, while Papyrus was trying hard to play it cool, and mentioned having a special attack.
"UNDYNE WILL BE REALLY PROUD OF ME! THE KING WILL TRIM A HEDGE IN THE SHAPE OF MY SMILE! MY BROTHER WILL… WELL, HE WON'T CHANGE VERY MUCH. I'LL HAVE LOTS OF ADMIRERS!" Papyrus said as he was sending more attacks her way that she easily dodged.
"… SOMEONE LIKE YOU IS REALLY RARE… I DON'T THINK THEY'LL LET YOU GO… AFTER YOU'RE CAPTURED AND SENT AWAY… URGH… WHO CARES, GIVE UP! GIVE UP OR FACE MY… SPECIAL ATTACK!" Papyrus said as he sent more bone attacks that the human dodged besides one that she tripped over.
+ Hmm, what to do… check just checks, insult just insults but he never takes an insult as one, and then there's… flirt? Why is that even an option?
– I don't know.
+ Hmm, I already tried the other options, but maybe this one is like the ones where you have to click it more than once to get an actual reaction.
- Wait-
With the command in mind, the child tells Papyrus that she thinks he is a cute and kind skeleton.
"WHAT! FL-FLIRTING! SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS! W-WELL! I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!" Papyrus said.
+ Wait, what?!
– Why did you pick flirt?!
+ I didn't think it would work on the first try! I thought it was like a more than once try like sparing!
When Papyrus told the human that he has very high standards, the human heard to tell him that she could make spaghetti, which met Papyrus' standards and he agreed to go on a date with them later since they were fighting at the moment.
+ Are you kidding me?!
– Hahahahaha!
+ No! Stop laughing! I didn't mean to even do that!
– Hahahaha!
"BEHOLD…! MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" Papyrus announced, as he revealed… a dog chewing on a bone, while one of the human's brows raised.
"WHAT THE HECK! THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK! HEY! YOU STUPID DOG! DO YOU HEAR ME!? STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE! HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! COME BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" Papyrus scolded as the dog's eyes widened, and then the dog took the bone and left with it.
+ Hahaha. That dog is the best character here.
– Wow. Hahaha.
A moment of silence passed for the bone, and then Papyrus decided to let it go and just attack with a regular attack. The human prepared herself and began dodging the bone attacks with precision and last minute dodges with a few of the bones and the dog chewing the bone passing by, along with bones spelling out 'Cool Dude' and a skater bone. Then a whole army of bones came towards her with an extremely large bone behind them as she looked at this in surprise. With determination filling this next leap, the human jumped up high enough and was able to suspend herself in the air, while also climbing higher to make it just over the final giant bone. When she landed, her instincts kicked in as she dodged a small bone that came towards her.
+ Yes! I'm gaining skills!
Papyrus noticed that the human looked a little winded as he also felt so, and then he proposed to end the fight, as the human agreed. Although Papyrus felt upset and ashamed to do so since he knew it would disappoint Undyne and prevent him from gaining friends, the human cheered him up by saying that she will be his friend. This certainly worked as Papyrus' smile widened, and he accepted their friendship, while realizing that making friends meant making people do puzzles and fighting them afterward to gain their friendship, which made the human's brow raise.
+ Facepalm
"YOU TAUGHT ME A LOT, HUMAN. I HEREBY GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH! AND I'LL GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE. CONTINUE FORWARD UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. THEN... WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT'S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US ALL UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER THROUGH IT, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT... EXCEPT SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL... LIKE YOU! THAT'S WHY THE KING WANTS TO ACQUIRE A HUMAN. HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE!" Papyrus instructed as the human child nodded while retaining the knowledge he had passed down to them.
"OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU… TO REACH THE EXIT, YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS… THROUGH THE KING'S CASTLE. THE KING OF ALL MONSTERS… HE IS... WELL… HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER! EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY. I AM CERTAIN IF YOU JUST SAY… 'EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR... CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?' HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF! ANYWAY! THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING! I'LL BE AT HOME BEING A COOL FRIEND! FEEL FREE TO COME BY AND HAVE THAT DATE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus said with glee, as he ran forward and jumped over the human while heading back to Snowdin Village.
The human took a moment to take in what had just occurred as she noticed that her surroundings were no longer covered in a mist of cold blizzard air.
+ Oh geez.
– You gotta go on the date.
+ No. No I'm not.
– Yes you dooo. You chose it.
+ It was an accident!
– You gotta gooo. Hahaha!
+ Grrr! Fine then! I'll go now!
The child followed the positive voice's instructions as she headed back to meet Papyrus for their date. He let them enter his home as he let the human walk around and explore the inside of the house. There was a green sofa, a tv, a rock with sprinkles on it on a long table, and a kitchen with a very tall sink and a dog inside that Papyrus chased outside the house.
Upon entering Papyrus room, the human noticed how neat and tidy it was with a bookcase, a table of action figures, a racecar bed, a poster of a skull and crossbones, and a computer. After taking a look around, the human agreed to start the date, as Papyrus started it while also stating that he never had a date before and turned to his dating manual for help. As he followed the steps and the human answered questions he asked about if they wanted to date, if they wore clothes for the sake of the date, and if they liked his cool clothes that he showed that he wore under his armor, the human also took a taste of the spaghetti Papyrus offered which made them scrunch their face with nausea. However, she was able to keep her cool, as Papyrus was convinced that the human must really love them. However, Papyrus revealed that he didn't romantically like the human, which actually made the human feel relief that he didn't since she didn't really feel the same but was just being kind since she felt she should keep to her word and go with him.
+ Oh thank goodness he doesn't love me!
Although Papyrus felt bad for feeling like he made the human love him when he doesn't love them back, he decided that he will still help the human and keep being their cool friend.
"IT WOULD BE TRAGIC TO LOSE YOUR FRIENDSHIP. SO PLEASE… DON'T CRY BECAUSE I WON'T KISS YOU. BECAUSE I DON'T EVEN HAVE LIPS. AND HEY, SOMEDAY, YOU'LL FIND SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME. WELL, NO. THAT'S NOT TRUE. BUT I'LL HELP YOU SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! OH, AND IF YOU EVER NEED TO REACH ME… HERE'S MY PHONE NUMBER. YOU CAN CALL ME ANY TIME! PLATONICALLY. WELL, GOTTA GO! NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus said, and then ran off after giving the human his number.
The human was pleased to be friends with Papyrus and have his number as well. She soon left his house as she continued on her way passed where she had fought Papyrus a while ago.
+ Oh cool. I got his number. Another ally on the list.
– Yeah… what list? You only have two numbers and Toriel hasn't answered you!
+ … Oh yeah.
She walked along a trail where the ice blocks followed alongside a river, and she reached an area where a cave entrance was present and waterfalls flowed from the ceilings and walls. The first place she entered showed a monster next to a glowing blue flower, which the human learned was an Echo flower that copies the voice of whoever spoke to it last. There was also Monster kid nearby and a sentry station where Sans stood inside. The human first approached a golden light to save, and then approached Sans to speak with him.
"Sans? What are you doing here?" the child asked.
"what? haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before? fortunately, two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks. i'm going to grillby's. wanna come?" Sans asked as he walked around his station.
+ Hmmmm, eh might as well. I hanged out with Pap, might as well hang out with Sans.
– Well you dated Papyrus.
+ That doesn't count. It never happened. We are friends.
– Hehehe.
"Sure, let's go," the child said with a nod.
"well, if you insist. i'll pry myself away from my work… over here. i know a shortcut," Sans said, as he walked ahead and the child followed him.
I'll probably be posting a few chapters at a time for now since I have a lot of it done. :)