Notes: Hooray, a long chapter! Don't know why I'm still posting this thing. No one cares about it all that much, but hey, I'll see how far I can get into this story before I get bored.

Chapter 5

Blossoming Friendship

Papyrus put away his groceries quickly and efficiently while Amber just stood in his living room and gawked at the peaceful abode she found herself in.

She expected a home full of skeletons to be a bit…spookier. This place, however, was quite nice. Purple and blue carpet, wooden walls, a bone painting in the second floor hallway. Everything looked quirky, but nice. There was a rock on a table covered in sprinkles for some reason. There was a green saggy couch perfectly angled to view the TV. Despite her expectations, it was just a normal home.

"My brother is still at work!" Papyrus said from the kitchen, "I think today he works at his illegal hot dog stand. I wish he would just get a license to sell food, but he's too lazy to do so! All he does is sit and boondoggle! Oh well, I guess I can't complain too much. He is the only one getting paid for his work at the moment. Oh well, when I become a famous royal guardsman, I will repay him everything and more!"

Papyrus then walked into the living room to find Amber sitting on the couch, staring at the blank TV screen.

"Would you like to watch Mettaton's cooking show?!" Papyrus asked eagerly, "I love Mettaton! He's my favorite TV personality! I wish I could be as cool and popular as him! Not that I'm not popular! No, it's just, I'm not as popular as him!"

Papyrus then turned on the TV, and a rectangular robot was showing the audience how to cook a soufflé while posing dramatically.

"Mettaton is a…calculator?" Amber guessed.

"Oh, he can do far more than that!" Papyrus shouted excitedly, "Mettaton is an icon! Too bad his TV show is filmed in Hotland. I would love to see it someday, but Hotland is so…hot!"

"Really? The name isn't ironic?" Amber asked playfully.

"Unfortunately, no!" Papyrus sulked, "Besides, it would require taking vacation days. I can't take a vacation! Then the Royal Guard will think I'm not serious about my work and then they won't hire me! I have to prove myself to Undyne! I just wish I could come up with a puzzle that would be perfect! One that would show her I am perfect Royal Guard material!"

"Why don't you just bribe her?" Amber asked nonchalantly, "That's how my rich college friends got most of their opportunities."

"Oh, Undyne is too honorable to accept something so unseemly!" Papyrus declared, scandalized.

"Are you sure? I mean, if a Royal Guard is anything like a cop, then she can't make too much money," Amber shrugged.

"I'm glad you want to help me make my dreams come true, but I don't think that will work," Papyrus insisted, "But if you have any other ideas, tell me! I've tried so many things, but someone as old and wise as you must surely have some great ideas!"

Great, the goat mom thought I was a child, and the bounty hunter skeleton thinks I'm an old lady. How am I supposed to look my age when I don't even have my own body anymore?

As Amber pouted over her predicament, the front door suddenly opened, admitting a new skeleton. This one was shorter, squatter, and had on an outfit that could best be described as 'morning breath couture'.

"Sans! You're home early! Wait, are you just here to grab your blanket and pillow?" Papyrus asked accusingly.

"Nah, bro. I took the day off. Thought you and I could go over some of your puzzles and whatnot," Sans replied easily, "Hey, who's that blending in with the curtains?"

"This is Amber! She's my new best friend!" Papyrus proudly introduced her, "We just met today, and I already feel so close to her! Amber, this my older brother, Sans! I think you two will really like each other!"

"Hey, nice to meet you," Sans nodded, "I'd shake your hand, but I don't trust you. In fact, I can see right through you. Heh heh heh heh heh."

"Sans! No ghost puns!" Papyrus whined, "Don't embarrass me in front of my cool new friend! Oh, by the way, Amber is close to becoming corporeal! She just needs a new body!"

'Oh. Cool. Just don't try to take mine. It's pretty bare bones," Sans quipped, "Heh heh."

"Sans!"

"Hey, it wasn't a ghost pun," Sans pointed out cheekily.

"Hm…you look familiar, actually," Amber noticed, "Have we met?"

"Uh…do you not know, who you know?" Sans asked in confusion.

"No, I know, I know," Amber backtracked, "Oh, wait! I remember now! You look just like the guy from Super Smash Bros. Yeah, personally I wanted Waluigi in Smash, but you know…since when does Nintendo listen to their fans?"

"Smash? What are you talking about?" Papyrus asked, "Is it something cool!?"

"Eh, personally I think Papyrus and I are Super Smash Bros.," Sans said with a wink, "Because together we're an unstoppable team."

"Hey, that's a good one, Sans!" Papyrus grinned.

Amber smiled, thinking how silly the name Sans sounded. It kind of reminded her of Comic Sans, but she was probably only thinking like that because his brother's name was Papyrus.

Hah, Sans…just like the guy in…

…Smash Bros…

That was when something clicked for Amber. Sans wasn't just a fighter in Smash Brothers. He was a character from one of James's computer games. Which one was it? Doki Doki Literature Club? No, that was the one with the anime girlfriends. Maybe it was No Man's Sky. No, that was a sandbox game.

Amber spent the next couple minutes in silence while Sans and Papyrus talked to each other. She was racking her brain trying to remember what game that little skeleton was from…

Oh, yeah! Undertale! James never deleted the game because he could never beat Sans in a fight.

Wait a second… Amber's brain screeched to a halt. Sans isn't real. That's just a character in a video game. This guy either really loves roleplaying, or something weird is going on here.

Amber stared at Sans for a moment, still trying to figure out what to do with this absurd new influx of information.

It can't be roleplay though. His legs are clearly just bones. I can even see the holes! His hands are just bones too, and Papyrus is also very clearly a skeleton. There's no way to fake that! Besides, Sans's eye sockets have those glowing pinprick lights in them. That's…not natural. Actually, both of these guys look pretty creepy up close. Hope they don't know I think that…

Amber sunk a little in the couch, as if trying to make herself physically smaller so these monsters wouldn't notice her. Her mind was almost refusing to believe what she was seeing in front of her, but her eyes didn't lie.

If this guy is Sans from James's video game, and he's also real and standing in front of me, then…that means…oh no…I'm in a creepypasta!

"Aaahh!" Amber suddenly screamed before she could stop herself, and her two hosts looked at her in befuddlement.

"Huh. I always thought ghosts went ooooooooo~" Sans teased.

"Are you okay, Amber?" Papyrus asked in concern.

"Um…sure," Amber lied, "I was just, um…practicing for…when I get my new body. Things are more dangerous when you're solid, right?"

"That's a great idea!" Papyrus grinned, "Maybe after our hangout we can go in the backyard and practice screaming together! I want to work on my battle cry for when I valiantly fight a human! Nyeh heh heh!"

"I'm sure it'll be bone-chilling," Sans joked.

"Sans!" Papyrus yelled again.

Amber, grateful the attention was away from her, continued to ponder this new data. Sans was real, and he was standing in front of her, which meant this world was likely the world of her brother's computer game. In fact, given that her last memory was of the computer overheating after a virus, it might be the exact copy of the game he had downloaded.

Wait…the virus. It said things like 'I have a bone to pick with you' and 'I'm a skeleton crew around here'. Skeleton puns. Just like this guy. Sans…was the virus. He was trying to talk to them from inside his own game!

Great. Rogue AI, a video game come to life, and me looking like the corpse of Edna Mode. This is way more than I need to be dealing with right now…

Amber sighed. Now that the shock was starting to wear off, Amber realized just how hopeless her situation was. Her family, even if they should decide to look for her, wouldn't think to look inside a computer program. If she was going to escape, then she had to figure out how by herself. Problem was, she didn't even know if winning the game would send her home, or even if there was a game to win. Was this literally the game, or just a world that resembled it?

Then there was the human soul problem. She wasn't just the main character. She was also the McGuffin. Everybody would want her soul so they could return to the surface, and killing her was the only way to get it. Wait…killing her…

She died. She remembered dying. Yet she didn't. She went back to before it ever happened. She…she saved the game. Those stars were save points. She couldn't really die here. At least, not immediately.

Was this like an old console game where you had so many lives and then you were gone forever? Was this a more modern game that would let you die infinite times until you reached the game's end? Did the main character die in the final cutscene anyway, thus making everything pointless?

Amber wished she had paid more attention when James talked about his games. He would go off on tangents about whatever he was interested in at the time. He was about 15 years old when he played Undertale. He loved the game at the time, but Amber was too focused on her business major to pay much attention, so she would just let him ramble on while she studied. Now she needed that information, but she didn't retain any of it. The irony wasn't lost on her.

"Hey Amber?!" Papyrus called out to her, "Amber!"

"Huh?" Amber jolted back to reality, "Oh, um, did you need something?"

"Yeah! Sans wants to watch TV, so I was thinking we should go upstairs to my room for our super fun play date!" Papyrus requested, "Say, I never did ask! How long are you planning on staying in Snowdin?!"

"Um…I dunno," Amber shrunk into herself as she spoke, "I don't…really know which way I'm supposed to go…or where I'm supposed to go, for that matter."

"Well, where are you from?" Sans inquired.

"Uh…" Amber couldn't say Knoxville. There was no way they knew where that was, "Uh…the ruins? I guess…"

"I hear that place is really popular with ghosts!" Papyrus commented, "Do you have to go back very soon? If you could stay in Snowdin for a while, that would be amazing! We could hang out all the time! We could be best friends and do all sorts of fun things together! Play with my action figures, read books at the library, cook and host dinner parties together, and even have sleepovers!"

"Um, aren't you an adult?" Amber asked dubiously.

"Sure am!" Papyrus bragged.

"Well, I am too," Amber pointed out, "When two adults have a sleepover, that's usually called a date."

"A date?!" Papyrus asked, eyeballs suddenly bugging out of his sockets, "You mean…? Do you…do you like me?!"

"No! No!" Not like that!" Amber quickly backed away, scooting to the farthest corner of the couch, "You're a nice guy, but I really can't deal with that right now! I already barely escaped having to make out with a killer flower! I don't need this right now!"

"Do you like flowers?" Papyrus smiled, looking right at her with those hollow sockets.

"Why are you asking?" Amber suspiciously questioned him.

"Because my best friend is a flower!" Papyrus exclaimed.

Well, that wasn't where she thought he was going with that, but at least it got him off the subject of dating.

"Bro, that's not a sentient being," Sans corrected Papyrus, "That's just some echo flower somebody painted yellow. It's probably one of those mean teenagers trying to make you look foolish."

"No, no, no! Flowey is real!" Papyrus argued defensively, "He's my best friend! Well, besides you of course, Amber. He's a great friend to me! He gives me advice, believes in my dreams, and tells me how to best capture humans! Why can't you just let me have this!?"

"Um…did you say Flowey?" Amber interjected.

"Yes, Flowey is my best friend, no matter what Sans says!" Papyrus sniped at his brother.

"Oh, heck no!" Amber bellowed, "Forget that noise! Flowey sucks!"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Papyrus whimpered, hurt that Amber would say such a thing.

"Wait, you think Flowey is real?" Sans asked skeptically.

"Yeah, a real pain in the butt!" Amber groused, "He's the worst! That thing tried to kill me!"

"But you're a ghost! You can't die!" Papyrus pointed out, "So, maybe he knew that and was just playing a prank on you! He pranks me sometimes. He doesn't mean anything by it!"

"Uh, no. He literally screamed DIE!" Amber recounted.

"But he's so cool! How could you not like Flowey?" Papyrus asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, no, I'm just saying, if Flowey was on fire and I had a glass of water, I would drink it," Amber replied harshly, arms crossed under her sheet.

"You can't talk about him like that!" Papyrus snapped, the first sign of anger she'd seen from the jovial skeleton, "I…I don't know if I can have a best friend that's so mean to my other best friend. Amber, I need you to apologize."

"For not hypothetically saving the life of Audrey II?" Amber asked sardonically, "Uh, no. He can hypothetically burn for all I care. You threaten me, you're dead to me. I don't negotiate with terrorists."

"I…I think you should leave," Papyrus sniffed as he turned away from Amber on the couch, "I hope you get to wherever you're going safely. If you want to be friends again, all you need to do is apologize, okay?"

Amber cringed slightly when she realized she actually hurt Papyrus. She didn't know him very well, but she could already tell he was a kind soul. She hated to see him so miserable.

"Um, I guess, I'm sorry I hurt you," Amber offered, "I'm not sorry about what I said about Flowey, but I'm sorry it hurt you. You're a nice guy, and I don't know why you would hang out with someone so creepy."

Papyrus's shoulders raised as he crossed his arms tighter, exposing more of his spine through his shirt. Amber could tell he was mad, so she decided to leave and let him cool off.

"Um, thank you for your help, Papyrus," Amber hesitantly said as she walked to the door, "Maybe I'll see you later…"

Amber then went to open the door, but the sheet was slick and made it hard for her to turn the knob. After a few awkward seconds she finally managed to get the darn thing open, and walked out into the snow and unknown.

Amber made it a few steps, and could already tell the snow was getting lower to the ground. There was a thick fog in the air, and she couldn't even see in front of her.

Yeesh, I thought I was stuck in Undertale, not Silent Hill…

As Amber huddled into herself to prepare for the long walk ahead, she could hear footsteps behind her. She thought it was probably Papyrus, and wondered if she should lie and apologize about Flowey. After all, Papyrus was one of the few people here that tried to be nice to her without expecting to keep her as a pet. Maybe he earned a little better from her than her typical thorny demeanor.

When she turned around she was surprised to see that it wasn't Papyrus who followed her, but Sans.

Oh great, is this going to be trouble? Amber couldn't help but think. After all, she didn't know much about Sans. Papyrus told her he was lazy and maybe sickly, but she distinctly remembered James saying Sans was the hardest boss fight in the game.

Yeah, I really should've apologized…

"Heya," Sans greeted her casually, "Sorry about all that tension back there. My brother doesn't have a mean bone in his body, but he's real protective when it comes to people he cares about. Papyrus sure is cool, isn't he?"

"He's, uh, really intense," Amber replied honestly, "He makes everything feel like a big deal. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings. I'm sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," Sans waved away her concerns, "Say, what do forgetful ghosts say when they're sad?"

"Huh?" Amber stiffened, confused.

"Boo who?" Sans delivered the punchline and winked.

Oh, good lord. It's Snowdrake all over again…

"Hey, you don't like that one? I got a million of 'em," Sans continued, "What do you call a homicidal flower?"

At this Amber perked up. He was talking about Flowey. Was he Flowey's friend too? Did she royally mess up when she told them she hated Flowey?

"A weed killer. Heh heh heh heh heh," Sans chuckled goodnaturedly.

"Oh, I get it. Ha ha hah hah…" Amber pity-laughed, trying to stay on the monster's good side.

"So, I'm guessin' you met Flowey in the ruins, huh?" Sans asked.

His question was very nonchalant, but Amber could tell he was fishing for something. Something about Sans told her to not immediately trust him. Probably because she knew in-game he was an enemy. Still, she didn't know if this was actually the game or just the world it was based on. She didn't really know what she was supposed to hide about her situation, beyond being allegedly human.

"Yeah, I saw him near the ruins," Amber chose to reveal, "Listen, I'm sorry about what I said. I wouldn't really hurt the stupid flower. I just…got scared."

"He talks to Papyrus in Waterfall," Sans explained, "I assumed it was an echo flower. The fact that a flower could travel all the way from the ruins of Home to Waterfall is strange. Stranger still is that something would leave the ruins at all. I mean, ghosts leave all the time, but I mean, you know…other monsters."

"I didn't really talk to many other monsters in the ruins," Amber told him, "Why don't they leave?"

"The ruins is a cloister of sorts, a place to hide away," Sans answered her, his tone growing more somber, "Monsters go there when they're filled with regret, or else have suffered a tragedy from which they can never recover. The door stays locked, and it only opens to admit monsters that have no intention of ever leaving. For us solid monsters, it's seen as a sort of living death. Admittedly I've never really bought into that sort of maudlin mumbo-jumbo. I use that big door to practice knock-knock jokes, which is great to keep myself from getting bored at my job at the sentry point. You know how many people use that road? Basically nobody."

"Sentry point? I thought you ran a hot dog stand," Amber remarked.

"I have a few jobs," Sans shrugged, "You know how it is. There's a food shortage in the underground. Everything is getting expensive. Plus, more jobs means more legally required breaks."

"Yeah, it's hard to have enough to just live on these days," Amber added, though she was thinking more about her own rent and utilities back home.

"Is ghost food getting expensive too? Wow, they overcharge for literally nothing. Heh heh heh heh."

"Are you the guy that works at that hut with the condiments and the lamp on the ground?" Amber asked.

"Yep. That's me. I probably won't need that lamp after a while, but it'll probably stay there until Papyrus gets tired of looking at it. I don't mind it sitting there forever though. It clashes with the decor, which is just fine with me. I get sick of looking at void white all day."

"Beats corporate grey," Amber snarked.

"You used to live in New Home?" Sans asked, "It's pretty far from Snowdin. New Home is a bustling city, but everything is such a drab grey color. It feels like the sadness permeates into the very fabric of the city. Shame. So many monsters have already given up. Not my bro though. Papyrus never gives up. That's what I love about him."

"Well giving up doesn't really solve anything," Amber agreed, "If you want something you have to work for it. You might not get it, but that doesn't mean you won't learn from the experience. I think Papyrus has the right idea. Try and try, even if you fail, because success won't come from nothing."

"So you do think he's cool," Sans's smile widened a little, "I knew it. You do want to be his friend."

"I…don't really know how to get what I want," Amber confessed, "I don't know where to go. I don't know where I live. I mean, I know, but…I don't know where it is. I guess what I'm saying is, I'm lost."

"The ruins are that way," Sans pointed a thumb back down the path they came from.

"That isn't where I'm supposed to be," Amber sighed, "I…don't know where I'm supposed to be, or even if I should try to find it. Maybe I'm going about this whole 'life' thing the wrong way. Do you…do you know where I could get a job? Maybe earn some money to get a new place to live?"

"Maybe," Sans shrugged again, "What can you do?"

"I'm working toward a business major, but my actual work experience is in fast food."

"Sounds like a dream job," Sans mused, "I tried to get a job at Grillby's once, but he fired me on my first day when he caught me eating all the fries. He also said I couldn't work there anymore. Heh heh heh."

Amber, not knowing who the owner of Grillby's was or that he was made of fire, didn't get the joke.

"Hey, maybe I can put in a word with Undyne. Get you a sentry job," Sans offered, "It's pretty easy. You just sit on your ectoplasm waiting for humans. Since humans never show up, you basically get paid to do nothing."

"That sounds pretty much like Subway," Amber shook her head fondly, "Nobody ever came into the Subway I worked at. So, basically it was all listening to music, keeping things clean, and chilling with my coworkers. It was nice."

Was…

Amber sighed softly when she realized she was already talking about her old life in past tense. She was already planning a new life here in this strange world that resembled an old RPG. She would have to spend the rest of her life wearing an old bedsheet pretending to be something she wasn't. She would spend the rest of her life looking like an ugly jaundiced child under that sheet. She would spend the rest of her life in fear of the day the monsters discovered her, murdered her, and stole her very soul. She was already starting to believe she couldn't escape.

"Well then, I'll put in a good word for you," Sans grinned, "Oh, before I go, I just have one more question for you."

"Um, sure. Ask away," Amber tried to sound warm, but it just came out as shaky and forced.

"What do you think Flowey wants with Papyrus?" Sans asked, his eyes scrutinizing her with an intensity that surprised her.

"I don't know. I only saw him once," Amber replied noncommittally, "He tried to pretend to be nice to me, but I was a little freaked out at the time, so I think that's when he turned on me instead. I don't know what he wanted, but whatever it was I guess I didn't have it, so he decided it was easier to just kill me."

"Must be one dumb flower, thinking he can kill a ghost," Sans smirked.

"Yeah, he was dumb, but boy was he freaky!" Amber shivered, "Um, Sans? I don't really have an address right now. Is it okay if I meet up with you in a few days about the job?"

"Just give me your phone number, and I'll call you about it," Sans suggested.

"Um…sure…"

Amber couldn't figure out how to pull out her phone. It was in her pocket, which was behind the sheet. If Sans saw the glow under the sheet, he might get suspicious that she was lying about what she was. So, thinking quickly (if stupidly) she forced the phone out of the sheet's eye hole, and it landed in the snow with a soft thud.

"Uh…I think you dropped something," Sans stated the obvious.

"Just put your number into my phone, and look up my number with the phone," Amber instructed, "I'm, uh, I'm bad with technology. I am a very old ghost. Ooooo~"

"No kidding. This thing doesn't even text," Sans remarked, "Where'd you even get this old fossil?"

"Where all old fossils are found. The ruins," Amber quipped.

"Heh heh heh heh, good one," Sans smiled approvingly, "Okay…here we go. So, do I shove this back in your eye socket, or…?"

"Please," Amber nodded.

Sans was a little surprised. He was joking about that. Amber was very odd, and Sans could tell something was up with this unfamiliar face. Still, if she was from the ruins it would explain why he had never seen her before.

He shoved the phone back through the empty socket, and as soon as she had her phone her eyes reappeared. Amber thanked him and took off in the direction of Waterfall, while Sans turned to go back home.

Instead of going inside his house however, he used a teleportation shortcut to get to his lab behind the house. He needed to write down some new information in his notebook before the timelines reset.

new ghost from ruins. knows about living flower. flower…maybe anomaly? flower is hostile presence, but also stupid. tried to kill a ghost. bad news for timelines if anomaly. no human still.

Sans couldn't make sense of this new alternate timeline he found himself in. It was playing out differently from every other iteration of the timeline, namely in the fact that the absolute present was allowed to be disrupted by a lack of human presence. Was the human the anomaly, or was the flower? It could be something else altogether, but Sans couldn't find anyone else that fit.

The flower was his first suspect, because he happened to find it first. Then the timelines started including a human, and Sans assumed the flower changed its form to that of a human to mess with the monsters living down here. That theory could still be true, and maybe the flower was getting tired of its human impersonations. The creature, whatever it was, was likely looking for a specific outcome. What that outcome was, Sans still didn't know.

Then there was Amber. Sans made it his mission to get to know every creature living in the underground, but ghosts were admittedly one of his blindspots. Most of them lived either in the ruins or near the dump. They were known to keep to themselves and be very socially awkward. While solid monsters went to the ruins as penance for their failures and misery, ghosts lived in the ruins just because no one would bother them there.

Sans often wondered if the mysterious friend he had in the ruins was a ghost. She was so lively, friendly, and loved to laugh. Her behavior didn't fit that of an average ghost. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time. He knew all about Mettaton's little secret, after all…

He didn't know what or who his mysterious friend was though. What he did know was that she was deeply concerned with the welfare of humans. She feared the king's declaration against their lives, and begged Sans to promise her to protect any human that came out of the ruins.

He didn't want to make that promise. He didn't exactly have a lot of love for humans himself. This mystery lady however, she was very persuasive. She had a kind soul, and a strong sense of integrity. For all Sans knew she could be a human too. At this point however, he didn't care if she was. She was a true friend, someone as lonely and isolated as he was. They understood each other on a level that other monsters just couldn't.

Sans sighed as he put his notebook away. How long would it take this timeline to reset? Did the anomaly get his message before? Did it decide to show their world compassion and just let them go? Was it angry, and just waiting for the right moment to rip everything away from them?

Why did he have to be alone in this fight? Sans was the only one who truly understood the gravity of their situation. Papyrus, naive monster that he was, knew a bit about Sans's research into time and space. He wasn't completely in the dark, but he didn't truly understand. He didn't understand that there was a chaotic being with unspeakable power playing with them like action figures. He didn't understand that not everyone was inherently good. He didn't understand how many times he died for his belief in the goodness of a soulless freak of nature. He didn't understand…

…that Sans couldn't protect him.

Sans researched Flowey in countless timelines. He was sure Flowey was the anomaly, and he was so tired of Papyrus trusting this evil being over and over again. He was tired of his brother being tortured and killed by a creature that could start and stop time at its whim.

That was when Sans got an idea, an idea he almost wished he didn't get. It was an intrusive thought at first, but the more he thought about it, the more it started to fester in his brain.

Amber knew about Flowey. Amber was a ghost. She couldn't be killed by the anomaly, at least not by traditional methods. If Sans could get Amber to befriend Flowey, he could use her as an unwitting pawn to gain information on the anomaly. Amber could replace Papyrus as this sick creature's new best friend. They could all be free of this evil being at last.

Sans went back to his notebook, furiously scribbling his idea, and imploring the other versions of himself that read this to elaborate on whether or not this plan worked. If he could use Amber as a decoy, then he might be able to figure out how to stop the anomaly once and for all.