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harmonytre · 4 years ago

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Comic Plans

Current Projects:

Prismtale (Mondays): An Undertale AU involving NPCs and multiverse travelling. Multi-chapter comic and ongoing.

Mistbreak (Tuesdays): A Steven Universe AU with about 5 pages left of the comic. Then it will become an ask/drabble/design blog.

Flicker of a Neon Soul (Wednesdays): An Undertale AU where monsters have colored soul traits and humans have white soul traits. 10+ chaptered comic with many plans and plot.

Taffy and Steven (Thursdays): A Steven Universe where Steven and his gem are split into different people and Taffy is a wholesome boyo. One page left of the comic, then will become an ask/edit blog with occasional comics.

Future Fandom Projects:

Pokemon Nuzlocke Comics: Multiple regions and an overarching plot. I need to finish playing and writing the first arc before starting the comic. (long term)

Who I Am: A Pokemon comic where James from Team Rocket is a were-pokemon. I need to rewrite it first. About 7 to 8 chapters. (medium length)

Other Undertale AUs: Certain AUs will be revealed in Prismtale and turn into side blogs, and others will be one time comics. (varies)

Future Original Projects:

(One of these I want to make extremely interactive. Like the audience makes choices for the characters.)

Phantulfurs: A comic about teens with powers to see creatures no one else can. I’ve rewritten the first chapter multiple times, but I need to really write it out before starting the comic. About ten arcs. (long term)

Skryculars: A sequel to the above story. (medium length)

The Journeyers: A multi-book series with my cousin. About ten books. Involves animals, powers, and romance. Won’t give information beyond that. (long term)

Unnamed Animated Series: Still need to design the two main characters, but they’ll travel through many worlds from my dream world. (long term youtube series)

Unnamed Wings Story: Decided many many characters for a high school story with wings. Lots of diversity and LGBTQ. Problem is I don’t like writing high school stories and have no plot. ;^; (medium? short?)

Unnamed Long Term Comic: A story about a space girl with wings, a nonbinary person that can shapeshift and communicate with animals, twins with water and plant powers, and an angsty wholesome skeleton bean. No plot yet. (long term)

Short Term (below the cut, any catch your interest?)

(keep in mind many of these I wrote the descriptions for years ago or based off of dreams.)

“Orphan Dog” and “Martha’s Pack” An orphan finds out she can talk to dogs and realizes they are the key to finding her missing parents. (Wrote when I was 8, rewrote partially when I was 13. So very cheezy. Would be even cheezier if I didn’t rewrite it, but still drew quality serious art XD.)

“The Agency” A girl named Jill has secrets. Major secrets. For one, she can turn into any animal at will including extinct, Fantasy, or hybrids. Don’t forget that she can also turn invisible and do telepathy. (Not to mention she runs an entire secret animal spy community…) When her best friend and spy ally, Izabella the opossum, goes missing, she must find what it means to be a true friend and showing that it’s what’s inside that counts. (Actually liked this one too. Even if it’s also cheezy.)

1. “Moos” A boy is adopted by cows and is granted the power to understand animals and turn into a cow.

2. “Moos: Vile Meat” Hoover is back and he must defeat the evil Haystack, a human entrapping calfs in little domes for eternity.

3. “Moos: Cold Cuts” Hoover finds a new ally, one who creates...snow?

4. “Moos: Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey” Haystack is back and Hoover and his friends must defeat him before he turns all pigs into stone. (Cheezy series?)

“Extraordinaries” Emma, her friend, Millie, her brother, Clark, and her dog, Charlie, have to travel to a faraway land to save Emma’s mother, who has been poisoned. Along the way Emma and the team must find how to deal with their newfound powers of Imagination. (This one was also pretty good! A story from Nanowrimo a few years ago.)

“The Hummingbird Did It” A hummingbird turns a lazy boy into a dog. The boy must venture across country to find the cure. (Was kinda boring and just me having fun with google maps lol.)

“Sunshine and Rainbows” A girl is taken to another world by rainbow dust and must find her way back to Earth. (Can’t actually remember this one.)

“Nature’s Lifeforce” A boy and girl are given the power to turn into any woodland creature and talk to trees. (Also can’t remember, but sounds cool.)

“Ravens” A girl named Hannah, a boy named Billy, a boy named Cameron, a girl named Lyla, and a boy named Clark, among other students, have their wishes come true. This creates a problem as Cameron becomes a dog, Lyla becomes a cat and Hannah and Billy become ravens. They fix the problem for everyone except Hannah and Billy, but embark on an adventure to find the scientist who can help them. (Based on a dream, I think.)

“Dragon wings” Hiccup and Toothless accidentally sit down someplace weird. They switch bodies and Toothless claims to have heard someone press a button. (ASDFGHJKL WHAT?! HTTYD short story)

“Melody Dreambubble” A weird new pony arrives in Ponyville. Twilight is curious to find that she has no Cutie Mark, was raised by wolves, and bears mysterious powers. (My Little Pony, kinda self insert, short story)

“Eyes of Gold/The Tower” A Fan Fiction based on The Ever Afters series and two stories rolled into one. Rory finds that her two best friends have been poisoned by a new dragon species/As Rory is about to enter a tower to save Chase a random girl shows up out of nowhere and has a weird habit of annoying Adelaide. (Was my first ever self insert? And based on a book series unlike the rest? Cool! Oh I even wrote ten whole pages! Neat. Featuring a girl chasing a dragon with a bedpan!)

“Roadkill” A man purposely runs over a deer on a freeway. The deer’s best friend curses the man, later to regret it because he has to undo the curse himself. (Lol, this was interesting.)

“Melissa and Steven Started a Food Fight” A completely random book that takes the characters through an adventure of explosions, unicorns, and talking squirrels. (Used a random prompt generator. Very random. And funny.)

“Before it’s Gone” A snooty teen crashes in her car and finds a surprise when she wakes up. (Oh yeah, another old story. She turned into a dog and none of the other dogs believed her.)

“The Unicorn Killer” A short story about poachers and Julia. (Yep. Short story.)

1. “Feathers of Gold” A logical young bird griffin, Gabriel, wants to find a way to stop to war between bird and lion in his land, Genetica.

2. “Scales of Emerald” A shy young dragon, Emmie, tries to keep her land, Reptilia, from destruction.

3. “Hair of Crystal” A brave young unicorn, Crystal, tries to find a way to join together the leaders of the land of Equinsta.

4. “Flames of Ruby” A vain young phoenix, Flaxter, tries to capture the eyes of girls. Taken place in the land of Flamia.

5. “Gems Unite” Gabriel, Emmie, Crystal, and Flaxter find out they are The Gems, the only ones who can save their world, Animagicia, from the beings, called Humurns, that are trying to destroy it. They must come together and find who they truly are. (Might have fun with this series. I’ve always loved mythical animals.)

“The Distance from Sam” An 8 year-old St. Bernard named Barry, a 3 year-old Golden Retriever named Mick, and a 1 year-old Sheltie named Sandy set off to return to their owner Sam, after being kidnapped and sent across country. (Kinda like Homeward Bound. Came in mind when I saw these three dogs alone by a street, no humans around.)

“The Skilled” Andy and Ashley(both fifteen) and their eight year-old siblings, twins Alex and Alexa, gain powers from the sewers. All: understand animals and fly, Andy: talk to toys, Ashley: speak to plants, Alex and Alexa: psychic powers. “I used to think my toys would come to life when I was gone. I guess I was right.”-Andy. Based on a dream. (Too many “A” names, oof. Also, toy Story much?)

“The Moon’s Eye” A teenage girl named April gets trapped under a snow drift and wakes up to be a wolf. A nearby wolf pack needs her aid and calls her The Mooneye, a changeling. (Cool. Cool.)

“Unusual Forces of Omnipotence” A woman and her horse are supposedly crushed by a U.F.O. When Tanaya wakes up she finds out she has super strong senses and can run as fast as her horse. Pluto the alien knows he’s going to be in trouble if his planet finds out he crash landed and accidentally gave a human the powers of her horse. He tries to fix it. Told from Tanaya, Sunray (the horse), and Pluto’s point of view. Based on a dream. (Sounds interesting! Title came from before I knew UFO was an acronym lol.)

“The Lawn” Unknown to humans, a yard full of statues come alive at night. There is an elk, two bears, four buffalo, a wolf, an eagle, three horses, a small boy, a moose, a bighorn sheep, and a rabbit. (Based on a real lawn I’d see on the way to school.)

“Dragon Eyes” Max has an ordinary life, until his family, him, and his three friends, Alice, Peter, and Samuel, are transported to another world. His parents are then kidnapped and they have to fight against an evil Mother Nature. Based on a dream. (Interesting. The dream was freaky.)

“Sweet Treat” Emily’s dad works at a candy factory, and one day she visits him and realizes his work is not all it seems… Based on a dream. (What? I don’t remember what was different about his work???)

“The Flight of the Supernatural” Randy thinks he is mostly a normal kid. Sure, he and his dad live inside a mountain, and sure, some flying species of human killed his mother, that doesn’t mean he can’t live normal life homeschooling and watching TV. But unfortunately, Randy’s life turns around when he finds out he can fly. Is his father telling the truth? Did his own species kill his mother? Based on a dream. (Actually REALLY loved this story.)

“Whispering Willow” A girl named Willow helps 20 wolf cubs escape a pet store and then is recruited by a zoo. Pretty soon all of the animals know her as Whisper. Based on a dream. (Cool. another animal whisperer.)

“The Invasion of Our Minds” Little black aliens invade Earth and only one person can stop them: Julia. Based on a dream. (Oh RIGHT! Yeah I remember that.)

“The Marble Island(Possibly a short story?)” Julia goes on a trip to a new marble island only to find the owner turns people into stone figurines. Based on a dream. (Links to the previous story, I think.)

“Have some candy!” Violet, an expert on strange occurrences, needs to help a group of people who mysteriously turned into animals after attempting to grab candy bars from a bin in a local store. Based on a dream. (More animal transformation.)

“The Guide to Mythical Creatures I Made Up” A guide to everything from the Mystic Melody to the Gollan. (I don’t remember either of their designs! :P )

“Trying to Get Back to Mom” Michael and Annabelle meet new friends, while they frantically try to reunite with their mother. (Don’t remember.)

“Surprise of the Future” Pearl travels to the future and has to fight her now-evil brother in his stone mansion. (Not Pearl from SU. Based on a dream.)

“All for You” A man has to overcome many obstacles, such as mermaids, yellow smoke wolves, and magic maps, to save the world and his girl. (Oh yeah, this was a cool one. Based on a song, but I can’t remember which one.)

“The Stranger at the Door” Keith and Amber have lived with their grandmother for many years, but now they live alone and nobody knows. Then a strange girl arrives at the door. She claims they will have to leave town within 2 hours or risk being stuck in a quarantine zone. There will be traffic jams and other hindrances, so it's best to leave right now without taking anything with you. Unsure about everything, including this strange girl, the teenage boy disagrees to the proposal, if all this turns out to be true, this choice will seem foolish. His younger sister does agree. But what if this strange girl can't be trusted. Or what if all this is an elaborate trap. How could an ordinary teenage girl and boy end up in a situation like this. Time to find out. (Oh, a quarantine story? How long ago was this? 2017 I think.)

“The Beginning of the Hybrid Brothers” A backstory that shines a light on how Ralph the Rat-Man and Dr. Discord came to be evil. (YES, MY TWO VILLAINS NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT BUT ARE STILL DEAR TO MY HEART HNNNNNNNG.)

“Unnamed but same as the blank” A girl named, _____, lives in a family of nine. She and her mother are the only ones who aren’t “Morhumals”, or people who can turn into one animal. After the twins mess-up and send a “Morhumals” hunter after them, it is up to ___ and her sister, ____ to rescue them.

“Song of the Siren” ____ is back after her fourteenth birthday. She finally has received her animal and must follow her family to the mythed Siren hideout.

#story #comic #HarmonyTRE #comic plan

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theadvertisement · 4 years ago

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Once Upon a Time Analysis- Part 3: The Undertale

If you don't know what I'm talking about in this post, please refer to my previous post where I explain my theory on Once Upon a Time.

In this post I'll look closely at the song Undertale and especially how the different parts and uses of Once Upon a Time represent the story it tells.

The Undertale starts off with with His Theme, and at 36 seconds in it adds in O1 as the main melody. This likely represents when Chara falls underground and the two meet for the first time. O1 plays for the majority of the song, but this first use only plays until 2:45. The entire time O1 is played by piano. As a whole this first section will actually loop as long as you stay in Asgore's house, and the moment you leave the next section plays, so keeping O1 here was deliberate. Fittingly, the only parts of the lore you get while in Asgore's home is that Chara fell underground and was taken in by the Dreemurr family. O1 is just the beginning of the story, the set up. At 1:31 there is a small transition before the song continues like before except other instruments start getting added in. This might represent Chara getting adopted by Toriel and Asgore. The new instruments that start getting added in might represent the underground's hope over this new child. (The actual quote from the game is "The Underground was full of hope.")

Now in the game all the sections from here on are never independently triggered; you can just sit there and let the song play out, but I don't believe it loops either. There isn't anything to interact with for the rest of New Home however, and you can't skip through the dialogue, so it's likely intended for you just to go through this area with the song being timed to the sections. For all intensive purposes we'll say that the parts of Undertale that are playing from here on correspond to the part of the story you're being told.

The second section of Undertale is shorter, and begins playing the moment you leave Asgore's house. It spans from 2:46 to 3:26, and only consists of a flute playing O2. After it plays O2 once, it repeats and is accompanied by other flutes. The use of O2, and on such a simple and solemn way is very fitting. Here we learn of Chara's death, and at this point we think it's caused by a disease. It's just a straight-up tragedy.

Then with a cymbal build up the third section comes in, using O1 and His Theme again just like before, but with more intensity. It spans from 3:26 to 4:42. This is when Asriel takes Chara's soul, and O1 and His Theme represent their reunion. Keep in mind, at this point we have no knowledge of their plan. We just see it as Asriel and Chara being reunited. At 4:04 along with O1, the piano will begin to subtley weave in O2 as well. This is pretty well timed to the part of the story where the humans see Asriel, and attack him. O2 coming in marks when everything begins to go downhill.

For the next section O1 will actually drop out, leaving His Theme playing by itself from 4:42 to 5:19. This is when Asriel refuses to fight, and when he is killed. We find out from Asriel in the Pacifist epilogue that he had to work against Chara to stop them from fighting, this is his betrayal. His Theme playing alone represents how the two are once again separated by their death. At 4:52 and 5:10 the piano that had been playing a bass harmony will play a tune that is eerily similar to Bergentrückung. While this could be coincidence, it is timed pretty well to when Asriel arrives back underground and collapses into dust. This subtle bit of piano could represent Toriel and Asgore's anguish, which pushed him to declare war on humanity.

This fits well with the next part, spanning from 5:21 to 5:57. O1 suddenly bursts back in, and the song changes key, moving up with this wave of energy, of hope! And what part of the story do you learn here? This is when Asgore declares war. This is when the entire Underground is given hope that they will be free. The monsters break off from their story and begin talking about how Asgore will free them with Frisk's soul. The key change shows this hope, and while it may seem like the end of the Undertale, O1 marks the beginning of Frisk's story, of how despite Chara's and Asriel's deaths, they still started this hope, and that hope still remains. However... from the start of this section you can hear that same piano part playing O2 weaved throughout, because while it may have given monsters hope, Asgore declaring war was still a poor decision, and we see very quickly how much he regrets it, how unwilling he is to kill Frisk. It's a subtle hint that this isn't the right way.

As the song reaches 5:58, O1 and all of the other instruments fade out, leaving His Theme to play by itself, now in a new key, filled with hope itself. It's when we hear those fateful words. "You should be smiling, too. Aren't you excited? Aren't you happy?"

Whether you choose to fight or to spare, there's only one thing monsterkind is thinking about. It's something only you and Asriel can give to them.

"You're going to be free."

The story of the Undertale ends there, but as the beginning motif O1 and His Theme fade off, they show there's much more of the story left. The ending must be decided by you, and now you must be judged.

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popatochisssp · 6 years ago

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Make Your Mark, 1/10

Series: Undertale Relationship(s): Sans/Reader, Sans & Papyrus Chapter Warnings: none

AO3 Link

In a world where soulmates exist, monsters and humans have one thing in common: the first time two soulmates touch, a mark randomly appears somewhere--anywhere-- on their bodies to represent their match.

It still doesn't make relationships easier...but maybe it does make them a little more interesting!

“DON’T YOU BEND SPACE-TIME ON ME, SANS! AND FAR LESS LIKELY, DON’T YOU DARE RUN EITHER!”

Sans was certainly not considering anything so childish…not the least because Papyrus was too fast for him and had already caught him by the hood of his jacket.

Still, he did keep trying to pull away, awkwardly batting at his brother’s hand trying to make him let go.

“c’mon, Pap,” he pleaded, “it’s fine, just leave it…”

Papyrus wasn’t having any of it. “IT’S BEEN AT LEAST TWO MONTHS,” he snapped, tugging harder and nearly yanking Sans right off his mattress. “THIS THING IS FILTHY AND I’M GOING TO WASH IT. ACCEPT YOUR FATE!”

To go hoodie-less? For as much as an hour? Maybe more?

“death before dishonor,” Sans said, and proceeded to go limp—a sudden dead-weight that made Papyrus stagger forward a step if his sputtering was any indication.

“OH MY GOD, SANS, ARE YOU REALLY THIS CHILDISH?” he demanded. “I COMPLETELY BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE, BUT I WANT YOU TO THINK LONG AND HARD ABOUT THE KIND OF PERSON YOU’RE BEING RIGHT NOW!”

“heheheh… that’s what sh—”

“IF YOU SAY ‘THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID,’ SANS, I SWEAR, I’M GOING TO—”

Whatever he was going to threaten, Sans never found out.

Papyrus gasped and suddenly, Sans was facedown on the bed, unceremoniously dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Confused, Sans tried to sit up and turn to see what caused that reaction, only for Papyrus to catch him by the shoulders and keep him turned around.

“uhhh…Papyrus?” he asked a little helplessly. “what—”

“SHUT UP!” Papyrus exclaimed. “OH MY GOD??? SANS! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!”

Sans frowned, confusion mounting. “be…cause…i have no idea what you’re talkin’ about…?”

He knows his brother pretty well by now and he can physically feel Papyrus’ look of disbelief from behind him.

“YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN’T EVEN SEEN IT?!”

“…no?” Sans laughed. “what, did i lay in somethin’? big, terrible stain that i definitely need to take off my hoodie for, or…?”

Papyrus tsk-ed. “FORGET YOUR FITLHY HOODIE, SANS, THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT!”

Before the shock could even set in—the eternal neat-freak that was Papyrus so swiftly brushing off the dirty jacket Sans had been wearing for two and a half months— Sans heard the unmistakable click of a photo and a phone being shoved in his face.

It took Sans an embarrassingly long time to realize what he was looking at.

His own vertebrae, a little blurry from the lightning speed at which Papyrus had taken the picture, but not unidentifiably so.

And right there, swooping and twisting across his C7 innocent as can be, is an infinity symbol.

His soulmark.

“wh…”

He tries to form a sentence, even just a single word, but finds himself…utterly speechless.

Sans never thought…

Sure, soulmates were a thing, people found them all the time, but he wasn’t… he didn’t…

He suddenly realizes that he never thought he’d be one of them. He has no plan for this; not even a reaction.

As always, Papyrus seemed ready to bail him out.

“CAN YOU THINK OF WHEN IT MIGHT’VE HAPPENED?” he asks.

Slowly, still staring at the picture, Sans shakes his head.

No, he has no idea.

He can’t remember touching anyone new in months and even then…in such a weird spot, the mark could’ve showed up years ago and he’d have been none the wiser.

He wavers on the edge of defeatism for a moment—of course, this is more like it, a soulmate he had only to never know them, opportunity snatched away right in front of him once again, just like always—but Papyrus asks another question.

“WHAT ABOUT THE MARK?” he prompts. “DOES IT…REMIND YOU OF ANYONE? CAN YOU THINK OF WHO IT MIGHT BE FOR?”

And, oh…

Oh…

He can.

There is someone, somebody that comes to mind right away—a beautiful laugh and warm eyes and a feeling of hope that’s been painfully elusive until…

“yeah,” he says out loud. “i think…i think maybe……”

There’s really only one person in his skull when Sans even dares to think about ‘forever.’

And you’re just a shortcut away.

You startle pretty badly when Sans suddenly appears in your living room.

“Sans!” you snap at him, protectively holding your bowl to your chest. “Don’t do that, I almost spilled my popcorn!”

It gives you pause when the pun you’re expecting just…doesn’t come. You take a closer look at the skeleton standing before you and frown.

Sans looks tense, to say the least. His shoulders are stiff and his permanent grin is tight and the lights in his eye-sockets won’t quite meet your gaze.

“…Sans?” you try, a little more gently. “Are you… is everything okay?”

“uh. yeah,” he says. “yeah, it’s…m’fine…”

“You don’t sound fine.”

You set your popcorn aside and get up, walking over to him.

“Seriously,” you insist, “what’s up? You know you can talk to me, right? We’re friends.”

And nothing more. No matter what you…

That's not important.

“…yeah. yeah, i know.”

Sans finally looks at you and you spare half a second to feel self-conscious—you weren’t planning on seeing anybody today and you’re only dressed for a solo movie-marathon, in sweats and as minimally groomed as you’ve ever been—but if something’s wrong, you know that doesn’t matter either.

Sans’ eye-lights shrink a little. “i, uh…i……found somethin’…today…jus’ now, actually, heheh…”

That’s…much too vague for you to work with. “Yeah…?” you prompt.

And he says the words that make your heartbeat stutter.

“a soulmark.”

………oh.

You’d known, in the back of your mind, that…this…was only a matter of time. In the few short years since monsters hit the surface, people were finding their matches all the time, and somebody like Sans… funny and kind and effortlessly charming… Of course he had a soulmate out there for him, even if…

Even if it wasn’t you, the way he was yours.

You’d been quietly devastated when you found your mark and went days, weeks, months without hearing a single thing from the skeleton you knew it’d come from. Mismatches were rare, but they happened and…you’d done your best to make peace with the fact that you were one such unlucky case.

Your skin still feels unaccountably hot right where you know your soulmark to be and your heart aches a little in your chest.

“O-oh,” you manage to get out, sounding mostly normal, “that’s great! Who, uh…who are they? Do I know them?”

Sans’ grin inexplicably goes a little crooked, sweat starting to bead along his skull.

“shit, i hope so,” he mutters. Then louder, “actually, i…i think i probably musta had it…awhile? it’s…um…hard to look at…”

You frown again. “Is it really that bad?”

“heheheheheh…no, it’s, y’know, it’s literally hard to look at. ’less if i were an owl or somethin’, i guess.”

Sans turns, putting his back to you and tugging his hood down a little further and you get what he means.

The bright little infinity stamped on the knobby vertebra of his neck is beautiful.

You’re already jealous.

You remember his words, ‘i hope so,’ and think you know why he’s here: he wants your help figuring out who his soulmate might be because maybe you know them, and that hurts like hell, but you’re going to give it to him.

If nothing else, Sans is your friend and he deserves to be happy.

“Okay… alright, um…do you have any leads?” you ask.

“yeah.”

“………” Sans doesn’t say anything else, though, just staring at you. “And…?”

“and i’m here.”

Duh, you can see that—but how are you supposed to help if he doesn’t tell you anything?

You don’t realize what he’s saying until he starts to squirm under your gaze, sweating even worse than before and backtracking.

“i…! i mean! i don’t…s’not like i know for sure, uhh…i just…maybe you don’t, actually…an’ that’s fine, ‘cause i still…! even if you don’t, uh…have one, you’re my…we’re pals, obviously, an’ i like that, i like it a lot, i just kinda hoped maybe…maybe………”

Your heart does more than stutter when it dawns on you. It actually feels like it full-on stops, just for a second.

Your voice is hushed and tight with hope and disbelief as you say, “You think it’s me…?”

Sans swallows audibly and you still have no idea how that works, but then he says, “i hope it’s you,” and your face begins to feel very warm.

It’s nothing compared to your soulmark though, which is definitely starting to feel like it’s actually on fire.

“it’s…really okay if it’s…not the same for, for you,” Sans says, even as an unmistakably dejected look comes over his skull. “i just…y’know, i couldn’t think of anybody else it’d be, an’ you…you deserve to know that you, uh…that you’re………”

His cheekbones start to color an embarrassed blue.

“heheheh, may’ve jumped the gun a little on this one,” he admits. “i’ll just—”

“No!”

Sans’ eye-sockets go wide at your outburst and you hasten to clarify.

“You didn’t, it’s not, you’re…!” Your emotions feel like a flood, too strong to weather, and you find yourself floundering for words.

But you can’t just not say anything, you need to make Sans understand, and there’s only one way you can think of.

You grab the waistband of your sweatpants and start to tug them down.

You didn’t think Sans’ sockets could go any wider, but they do.

He says your name, sounding kind of alarmed and a lot flustered, but you cut him off.

“No, shut up, it’s, just look!”

You don’t pull your pants down far—just enough to expose the modest little shooting star that Sans unwittingly marked you with, streaking across your rear in cyan-blue.

His eye-lights disappear entirely when he spots it.

There’s dead silence for only a few seconds, and then…

“…heheheh…hahahahahaha, i was expectin’ a full moon, not a star.”

You resist the urge to sigh.

Yeeep…

Even as you jerk your pants back up, you have to press your lips together to keep from smiling while Sans’ grin gets brighter and broader.

“gotta say, that really eclipses my reveal, doesn’t it?” He snickers a little. “little relieved, though, comin’ over here like i did, thought you’d think i was a lunar somethin’.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you say, “get ‘em all out now.”

“oh, don’t worry,” Sans assures you, “this’ll be a quick phase, i won’t get too cheeky.”

You huff and storm over to your couch, mostly to hide the fact that you’re definitely smiling.

“This is how I knew it was yours,” you say, plopping down and scooping up your popcorn bowl. “Endless pun potential.”

You pointedly don’t jump when Sans appears right beside you, but the sassy comment you were gearing up to make dies on your tongue when you look at him.

His expression is so…soft, so warm. One of his hands is rubbing idly at the back of his neck and all he says to you is, “yeah. endless.”

Oh…oh, hell.

Face feeling hot again, you whip towards the TV and wordlessly cue up the movie you were going to watch before Sans wandered in and turned your whole day upside down and put this stupid fluttering feeling in your stomach.

Sans shamelessly shovels some of your popcorn into his mouth and asks, “wha’are we wa’in’?”

“A movie,” you reply flatly.

Thankfully, he swallows before speaking this time. “no way, i love those, how’d you know?”

You decide not to dignify that with a response.

“aw, c’mon,” he says, smiling wide and nudging you in the ribs, “you’re not still mad about the punnin’, are ya’? i don’t want ya’ to be mad on our first date ‘cause you were the butt of the joke for awhile.”

“…Pfft!”

Your poker-face shatters and you burst out laughing.

You don’t resist when Sans throws an arm around you and tugs you to his side, or protest when he blatantly shifts the popcorn to his lap instead of yours.

Your first date with your soulmate…

You think you can put up with a lot for that.

#undertale #fanfiction #make your mark #sans #papyrus #sans/reader #myfic

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thefloatingstone · 6 years ago

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Some people seem to missunderstand the whole “Ghibli AU” thing as just being a crossover. Like just Ghibli movies but with the Undertale characters as the characters in the movie X’D that’s not exactly what I had in mind.

Also just reminder that this is not serious even in the SLIGHTEST. This is just a dumb thing based on the kinda nonsense I enjoy and I was just messing around with “lol I wanna See Undertale characters in this kind of environment” but people have... actually... been.... DRAWING IT???? So here we are I guess.

Really, I think my original post explained it well enough, but in more detail, I was thinking more like the CORE of Ghibli movies, you? The romanticising the every day normality of life. Portraying actions and nature the way a Ghibli movie does. And reflecting that in art by using similar colours as you’d see in Ghibli movies and the attention to how natural light looks and what lush nature looks like. Not so much the events of those movies or the characters of those movies as the soul of those moves.

So I’m throwing together some basic building blocks that may help explain myself better.

So the Ghibli AU is more like...

1: Baking bread together in the kitchen, with attention given to how big and fluffy the bread is, and the stain of flour on the counters, and the sturdiness of the bread oven, and the heavy cast iron baking supplies.

2: A focus on chores that need to be done that in real life may seem like a pain, instead shown as hard work to be celebrated because its about being alive and being with those you love. Yes it looks tiring, but we also get shots of the little things in between as you run around. And of course, showing moments of rest in between chores, when everyone sits down and has a rest, feeling accomplished.

3: Showing an appreciation and love for the houses when you draw them. A house should be somewhere that looks inviting and comforting. Like it’s somewhere you want to live when you see it. It shouldn’t be a boxy structure that holds sterile furniture, but should reflect on the outside just how much the people inside of it are kind and caring. Showing the nature around it just as much as the building itself.

4: Glamorizing food. Especially the most simple and basic of foods. Food is something we need to survive, and yet its something you can so easily find yourself deprived of. All meals deserve to be celebrated. From the cooking to the presentation to the eating. Food may be one of the most important aspects tbh. Even when not getting eaten, the act of making it, sharing it, and spending time together while eating should be given so much attention that it should appear like the highlight of the characters’ entire day.

5: Nature. This is more than just having Nature EXIST, but in really paying attention to it. Nature is more than just “plants”. Its insects among those plants, and how sunlight looks at different times of day, and what kind of emotions those different times of day cause in you. It’s about bird life, wind, clouds, how things move, how it colours the things around it, how the landscape stretched out, how leaves look up close. It is an indepth study of the world around us. Whether it be extremely deep cool dark shadows, or bright glowing sunshine.

6: The inside of a house is cluttered with personal touches. Even if the house is tidy, you can tell so much about the people living in it just by the enviornment. Every room has a multitude of items in it that have uses for the room they’re in. And even if there aren’t a lot of individual items, there is thought put into every aspect of the room. From what the floor and walls are made of to what sort of damage and wear might have occurred to them due to the things people do inside that room. (Scuff marks, water damage, dust, cracks. A thousand tiny personal touches) No room should ever be a sterile environment that only holds furniture. It should look like people live there.

7: Weather. Even if sunny is a “default”, weather should be treated as a shifting changing thing. What time of day is it? What are the clouds like? Is there a high wind? Is it overcast? Is it mid-afternoon or late evening or early morning? Is it cold? Is it hot? Weather should never be this thing that’s stagnant, but should move with as much life as the characters. And if heavier weather happens, even if its just rain or strong wind, it should be treated like an event. It should feel like a noteworthy moment worth remembering.

8: The characters and how they interact. Character interaction is more than just people standing next to each other and talking. This one is not Ghibli specific, but characters and what they do when they’re idle or interacting with each other require the same obsession with detail as the environment. And we should be able to feel every ounce of affection they have for each other.

9: whatever this montage is

vimeo

10: And lastly, a near fanatical devotion to celebrating life, the people in it, and every fraction of joy or contentment you can find in it in the smallest and most humble ways

Honestly all I had in mind when I made the original post was Toriel, Sans, Papyrus and Frisk living in a small but gorgeous cottage together near the forest and dong things like cooking supper and hanging laundry and stuff as Sans watches them happily from an upstairs window or sleeps under a tree or something while Frisk and Papyrus run off to have adventures in the woods.

#Undertale #image heavy #video #Ghibli #The Ghibli AU #That's a tag now. Sure.

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topazshadowwolf · 7 years ago

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The Door (Chapter 12)

An Undertale Fanfiction by: Topaz Shadowwolf Undertale is owned by: Toby Fox Setting: Post neutral run when Papyrus dies with chapter intros being before the child fell. Relationships: Sans and Toriel is the main focus, with a little bit of Undyne and Alphys Rating: I’m thinking Teen? Heads up: There is some depressed thoughts, feelings of worthlessness/wanting to die, mention of major character death, and the occasional bad word. Oh, and flowey being flowey, so you know, psychological/physical trauma. I really don’t want to say much more since I really don’t want to spoil anything further down the road…

You can read it on AO3! Here is Ch 11 Ch 10 Ch 9 Ch 8 Ch 7 Ch 6 Ch 5 Ch 4 Ch 3, Ch 2, and Ch 1on Tumbler.

Random thoughts from the writer about this chapter: I'm dedicating this chapter to two of my readers: Katie, Perry (They helped me come up with the title months ago. They had no idea what was going on in the chapter. And yes, I put their names in that order for a reason.) By the way, sorry this took so long to get done. Life, I tell ya... Anyway, I've joined a Soriel Discord server, so you can sometimes find me there, if you ever want to chat. If you want to join, you can ask me here for an invite, though you need to not be anon so I can reply back privately.

And All Was Revealed

He was either late or unable to come tonight. She sighed, accepting the fact that her friend could not always be here. After all, he has his jobs, his brother, and his friends to occupy his time. She had asked about hobbies and he just laughed then said napping, though she felt there was more than that.

Over time she had started figuring out what she may, or may not, need to be comfortable down by the door. She brought a book, her journal, a pillow to sit on and a blanket to keep herself warm. When she asked her friend, if he brought anything, he just said himself. Thinking back, she chuckled lightly as she remembered how she started chiding him for sitting out in the cold snow for such a long time. Her friend took her mothering well, as he had laughed and said the cold never bothers him.

With her ‘creature comforts,’ she found herself perfectly fine waiting until he arrives. Though, she had to admit, it was starting to get late. By now he would have to read to his brother and will most likely not be coming tonight. It would be their first time not meeting since this all started. While she wasn’t upset, she couldn’t help but worry about his well-being.

She marked her page, closed the book, and was about to stand when she heard a noise on the other side. Listening carefully, she furrowed her brow, unsure if it was her friend or not; the footsteps didn’t sound like his. But then there was a knock followed by the voice she knew, “knock knock.”

“Who’s there,” she replied with a smile.

“mikey.”

“Mikey who?”

“mikey doesn’t fit in the lock.”

Toriel laughed and she heard him chuckle. Before she could offer a joke in exchange he spoke up, “i’m, uh, sorry, lost track of time. and… heh, well, i’m not really in the best condition for this?”

“What do you mean?” She asked, “Are you hurt?”

“oh, no, lady, nothing like that. just, uh, little, somewhat, kinda... really drunk…”

“Oh,” she was surprised at how well he was speaking despite being inebriated. Honestly, she wouldn’t have guessed by his manner of speech alone.

“yeah… papy is out for the night with undyne and i decided to have a drink with some folks. which turned into more than one. grillbz cut me off and, uh… i started home and remembered you when i saw the front door. was actually hoping you gave up waiting for my sorry aaaaa- self. so, ... sorry.”

“No, it’s alright, I understand that can happen,” she replied, “Though I am worried, drinking and being out in the cold is not good for you.”

He laughed, to her annoyance, “don’t worry, i’m fine… ah damn. So many puns i want to say, but they’d give what i am away.” He then snorted and laughed again, “sweet, that rhymed… anyway, everyone says i’m annoying to be around when drunk because i talk gibberish like this. Tend to go off on tangents that they don’t understand, even though i simplify it. granted, it is theoretical science mostly, but it really isn’t a hard concept when you think about it. but then, it would be easier if they remembered…,” there was a heaviness in his voice, “i really don’t like having to re-explain things.”

With how random and talkative he seems to be, she was starting to agree with the drunk assessment. But that last sentence and the tone of voice caused her to worry, “Friend, are you okay?”

“ok? yeah, i’m ok. been ok and always will be ok because that’s what i will always tell ‘em.” she could hear him muttering something before he spoke up again, “sorry, i’m just a mess right now, i should go.”

She imaged a figure walking into a dark, empty house, alone. Already, what she heard him say was enough for her to feel that was not going to be the right thing for him. He sounded lonely, hurt, and in his current state, his thoughts seemed dark, “maybe you should stay a while longer?”

“feeling lonely?”

“Actually, I’m more worried about you being lonely tonight.”

“knock knock”

She shook her head, he was deflecting again. If he was sober she would tell him that, but right now she doubted he would comprehend that, “who’s there”

“al”

“Al who?”

“al give you a kiss if you open the door,” to her surprise, there was a slight seductive purr in his voice.

Toriel was shocked by that and felt a little heat crawl into her face. Clearly, he must be joking and here she was getting fluttered over it. Shaking her head, she couldn’t help but laugh, “No you wouldn’t.”

“yes, i would,” he sounded a little insulted.

“No, you wouldn’t. You openly confessed to me the other day that you have no idea what to do in a romantic situation. Besides, I’m most likely old enough to be your great grandmother.”

There was a pause, then a dry chuckle, “yea, you’re right… but not on the old thing, i don’t buy that. y’sound too young to be that old.”

“Well, I am,” she sighed, “but, at least, we can agree that if I were to open this door, you’d most likely freeze up and I’d be the one kissing you, not the other way around?”

He was quiet, she could hear him shift his position a little as he made one soft, “heh.”

“Well, i think that answers that,” she said with a laugh, “still, I wish you weren’t alone tonight.”

“i’d stay, but… uh, yea, i’m really hard to be around like this,” his voice wavered a little.

“I think i should be the judge of that,” she then added softly, “besides, you are my friend and I know you’re not your full-self right now.”

He was quiet, thinking, “what if i say something, y’know, something mean or rude. Next to my brother, you’re my best friend. i... i don't want to do that to you…”

“It will be alright,” she smiled, hoping her tone carried reassurance. From the other side she could hear sniffling, “friend, are you alright?” she inquired.

“uh, y-yea,” his voice was wavering again and he cleared his throat, “there’s a blanket at my station, not that I need it, but, uh, i know you worry, so i’ll go get it. be right back.”

“Okay, I’m going to go get something as well,” she said, and they both parted ways. Toriel went upstairs and grabbed the log from her fire place. She brought it back down and set it by the door before lighting it with her fire magic. Never had she done this, but she felt her fire magic should be strong enough to leak heat out through the door.

As she worked on it she heard her friend return, with a yawn. Before he could say anything, she greeted him with a, “welcome back.”

“thanks,” he replied.

“When you sit, sit so you can lean by the crack between the two doors,” she urged.

“ok,” she heard him move and then sit down. There was a pause and then she heard him shifting around, “s’warm.”

“Good, I was hoping it would be,” she smiled. He sounded tired and she decided to grab her book, “Feel free to rest if you want, I’m here still if you want to talk.”

They sat in silence for a while, but it was interrupted by a sound. It was muffled, and hard to hear, but it sounded like he was crying, “friend?”

There was a sniff and a hasty clearing of his throat, “i’m fine.” His voice was weak, choked up, confirming what she thought she heard.

“No, you’re not, you’re crying, what is wrong?”

“we’ve done this before,” he exhaled a shuttering sigh, “we’ve done all of this before. i didn’t notice until now... that this was something i remember doing.”

“That’s not true. For starters, you never showed up at this door drunk before.”

“heh, yes i have, you just don’t remember. no one remembers. and when i explain it to them they either think i’m crazy or they believe me. doesn't matter either way, since they forget again when it gets reset. you believed me before, or at least said you did, and told me you would try to remember. well?”

He waited for a response, a slight eagerness was hidden in his jaded tone. What he was saying made no sense, and she didn’t know what to say. From what she could tell, this was clearly the first time they were doing this. And she has no memories of telling him she would remember something like this. The whole idea of them doing the same thing before was new, unheard of.

There was a long shuddering sigh before he said, quietly, “yea, don’t worry, you’re not the only one... sorry, i’ll sleep now.”

Walking down the hall, hands in pockets, Sans opted out of taking a short cut. Sure, it would have gotten him there faster; and, yeah, it would take less effort. But, all things considered, he was still too exhausted to concentrate on where he wanted to go. Short cuts aren't something you can cut corners on. As tempting as it would be to try, he didn't want to risk getting stuck somewhere in between where he was and where he was going. Something that could occur if he lost sight of the destination or his magic became depleted.

So, no matter how annoying, boring, or physically taxing walking was, he figured it was best to play it on the safe side. Besides, he may want to take a short cut back to the room after, and decided to save his magic for that. At least he's been around the castle enough to know where to go without his shortcuts. Some of those memories are from when he was a kid, teen, or young adult. He's not sure which, just that these fragments of his past let him know which hall was which. As to what happened in the memories, he can't remember more than just walking through these halls once before.

This broken up personal history used to bother him, but not anymore. Especially since the rest of his memories became muddled with different timelines. After so many years, it just became a way of life. The only place he didn't experience this, to the same extent, was in the Ruins with Toriel. It felt odd at first, but he found that it was enjoyable. He figured it was because the only time he had been in the ruins was this and a few other timelines. So, messed up memories of his past weren't included.

As he neared the throne room he spotted a familiar yellow monster and grinned, "hey al."

Alphys turned and looked at him with a hesitant smile, if you could call that a smile. She looked like she was about to wring her scales off her hands, and her expression looked as secure about the situation as an old, wobbly ladder on a pile of unstable rocks. Still, she offered a, "O-oh, hello Sans. You... uh, l-look a bit better." She needed to relax badly. The meeting hasn't even started, and she was ready to jump out of her scales.

"yeah, guess i was just bone-tired before," he ignored her sigh, "amazing what a little shut eye can do for someone sans eyes."

Alphys snorted, "That one was t-terrible."

"is that so?" Sans closed his sockets and shrugged, "guess i left my funny bone back in bed."

"Sans," Alphys mock glared.

"just not that humerus without it," he winked.

"S-Sans! That one is so old. I th-think it was one of the f-first puns you told me," Alphys folded her arms.

"huh, guess i'm-," he started.

Alphys threw her hands up, "Y-yes, I know, you're too m-much of a numbskull to think of something new.'' She then paused and groaned while putting her hands over her face. Sans's grin widened and he started chuckling as Alphys's hands slowly slid down to uncover her eyes, "I can't believe you got me to say that!"

"you can't blame me," he shrugged again, grinning so wide that his cheek bones were starting to hurt.

"Y-yes, I can!" Alphys snapped while giving him a shove. Sans laughed as he was forced to side step; but, even with her annoyance, she didn't look angry or anxious.

It was nice to see Alphys more relaxed. Content he did his duties as a friend, he shrugged, "alright, fine, i'll stop."

Alphys sighed and started walking toward the throne room, Sans kept pace with her. Some of the anxiety was returning to Alphys's face, but not the amount she wore before. Sans didn't blame her, he was also feeling there were many other things he would rather be doing than this. Unlike Alphys, Sans didn't wear his feelings out in the open. Instead, he wore a calm smile that fooled most into thinking nothing bothered him. The same neutral smile he had worn for years, one that Toriel has somehow learned to look past.

"Are you r-ready for this," Alphys asked, the throne room door now in sight.

"nope," Sans admitted.

"Yeah...," Alphys sighed.

Sans stopped walking and placed a hand on Alphys's shoulder to get her attention out of ear shot of the guard. "how much does she know?" Sans asked, hoping to have some control of the situation.

"T-Toriel?" Alphys asked, even though she was fully aware of who he meant. She fidgeted, hinting that she was feeling a bit guilty; for what, he wasn't sure, but he could guess. "I-I'm not sure, r-really," she finally said, after getting a simple nod from Sans, "If I h-had to g-guess, she s-suspects more than she let on."

That didn't sit well with Sans. He didn't like surprises as they never seem to work out will for him. Well, except for recently, there have been some surprises that turned out to be good. But those felt rare or just flukes. Putting his hand back in his pocket, he grinned. "alright, thanks, al," Sans said and he started towards the throne room doors.

Behind him he heard the patter of Alphys's feet and he slowed his pace to let her catch up. The doors opened and the guards let them in, announcing their arrival. As he figured, Toriel and Undyne were already there. Gerson was in the room as well, seated at the table, with a cup of tea and laughing at something Toriel had finished saying as Alphys and Sans walked in. What Sans wasn't expecting to see was Toriel standing beside Undyne, green healing magic dancing like flames from her paws and surrounding the fish monster. He stopped, watching the beautiful scene with a feeling of confusion and frustration.

What did he sleep through?

"Well, now that they are here, I'll take my leave," Sans didn't need to look to know Gerson said that. Sans knew many voices in the underground, and this one is one of the most recognizable. The unmistakable laugh of Gerson that followed verified that belief. Which is good, because he couldn't take his sockets off what was occurring before him.

No, that was rude, the old turtle, and war hero, deserved more courtesy than that. Sans turned his head to look at the old turtle, "hey there, gerson. been doing well?"

"Business has been better now that you aren't pranking my customers," Gerson said. Again, he laughed while he heartily patted Sans on the back. "Patted" is an understatement, as the action nearly pushed the small skeleton over. "But, not as amusing. Things have been too quiet in Waterfall without you or Undyne causing trouble."

Sans just glanced away and laughed, happy he could stay upright, "ah, yes, that was good times."

As Gerson passed Alphys, Sans watched him put a hand on her shoulder and give her a quiet look. Even with one eye, it was clear to see the respect he was offering her. There was sympathy, but not pity, when he spoke, "You tried."

Gerson then left, Undyne calling after him some goodbye, but Sans wasn't paying attention as he looked over at Alphys. The short, yellow monster was looking away, wringing her hands again. Sans considered asking her later what that was about, if it doesn't come up any time before then. Though he had a feeling he knew. It only took him a few trips to the lab to borrow supplies to find out what she had been doing, and the result of those experiments. Although he had helped her out, and kept the secret, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the underground knew.

Before he could turn back around, Tori had Sans wrapped in her arms, "My dear one, I'm happy you are here. Again, I am so sorry that I left you this morning."

"eh, i needed the sleep. thanks, tori," Sans leaned into her hug, enjoying the feel of her warm embrace.

"Shall be begin this meeting?" Undyne interrupted.

At that moment, the last thing Sans wanted to do was let go, and yet, testing Undyne seemed ill advised. Carefully, he freed himself from Tori and smiled at her. Like a cloth soaking up water, dread about what would soon be discussed slowly filled his soul. He had no idea if he felt temperature like other monsters, and he had never really felt the cold the same way most monsters describe it; but in that moment, he felt like he was freezing. This is not how he wanted to discuss this. With no other option, he will have to try to make the best of the situation, and know that what he had might soon end.

He will have to pick his words carefully, from here on out.

Toriel took Sans's hand, and they walked together to a long table. Undyne sat at the head of the table; which, as the current leader, was her right. The fish monster called to the scientist, insisting that Alphys sat at her right, a seat commonly reserved for trusted advisors. Considering Alphys's role, and the way Undyne treated her, this didn't feel unexpected at all. Though, Toriel couldn't help but wonder, if Gerson had stayed, would he have that seat?

On her left side were two chairs, Sans and Toriel each took one, Sans taking the one between the herself and Undyne. She didn't mind the space between her and the Empress. The two might have handled a good amount of their aggression towards each other with the fight, but there was still lingering frustration. Still, she felt on edge having Sans so close to the one who had harmed him.

Distracting her mind, she looked across the table at Alphys, and saw the notebooks that had been a source of great concern of hers. Glancing over at Sans, she could see him staring at the books, eyes void of light. Even his expression was void of anything. He looked more like a human skeleton sitting there than his normal self. That look sent a shiver through her, and she wanted to do something to get him to react.

The meeting had started with Undyne thanking them for coming, and saying she wants to get down to the bottom of whatever mystery this "anomaly" was, for the good for the kingdom. The only action Sans had done since Undyne started talking was lean back in his chair, hands shoved in his pockets. She wouldn't be surprised if he was somewhere, other than here, in his mind. As much as she would hate to give him away, at the same time, he needed to be a part of this meeting with them, otherwise it won’t get very far.

"Sans?" Toriel whispered as she tried ushering him back from where ever he was.

Unfortunately, he didn't respond and Undyne caught on. The warrior set her eye on him, a look of annoyance passing over her face, along with a grimace that said "Of course." "Hey, Sans!" Undyne snapped, but still nothing from the skeleton. Gritting her teeth, the fish monster slammed her hands on the table, making everyone, even Toriel, jump slightly. "NGAHHHH!" She bellowed placing a foot on the table, spear in hand. "SANS! PAY ATTENTION!"

Some beads of magical sweat appeared on his skull and he chuckled, "sorry, i guess you can say i'm a little empty headed today."

He may have been turned away, but Toriel could guess his expression. The laid-back grin with a wink, most likely. Whether it was or not, Undyne glared back, "Just stay focused."

Sans shrugged, "i'll try." Toriel could hear a dullness to his tone that was something other than tiredness. It was a sound she had heard in his voice before, the first being back when they were talking through the doors to the ruins. That tone had slowly worked its way into his manner of speech more each day. It had been a while since she had heard it, and now it caused her soul to ache like it did when she first heard it.

“Sans, are you alright? Maybe I should have let you sleep longer,” Toriel offered a chance for him to back out. If he wasn't ready for this, she didn’t want to force him.

He turned and looked at her, and she could see the apprehension in his smile. Still, he tried offering her a comforting look, “it’s ok, tori." He then glanced over at the notebooks before looking back at her. He was smiling, but she knew it was for her peace of mind, not his. “i, uh, was thinking about stuff. Anyway, what's first?”

"You and Alphys were talking about this other thing, and it sounded like a worse threat than the bra-” Undyne stopped and looked in Toriel’s direction, “human was. Then you said that it was still here, in the Underground, with us. Is that true?”

“yes,” Sans leaned forward and reached for one of the notebooks, his arm wasn’t that long but Alphys pushed it closer to him so he could grab it, “the anomaly is as trapped down here as we are, and it’s alive. well, as far as i know, it is.”

“That word you keep calling it,” Undyne leaned back, watching him as he flipped through the pages, “why?”

“because, it isn’t a monster, human, or anything natural. the kid had an anomaly attached to them too, in theory. through the kid’s determination, and access to the anomaly, they could reset the time lines. the first anomaly, the one in question… well… it had determination too,” He glanced up at Alphys then back at the notebook.

“So, it is determination that allows them to reset?” Toriel asked

Sans thought for a moment, “kinda, i mean, the other humans had determination too, but it is unknown if they could, and just lacked the knowledge to, reset of if they couldn't at all. something about the kid all just lined up, or maybe they just had the right amount of dt, while the others didn’t. but, it is unknown if they had reset and just gave up after losing to asgore.”

Undyne frowned, and while Toriel was curious herself, the louder monster beat her to asking, “DT?”

Before Sans could say anything Alphys spoke up, “I-it’s the abbreviation for d-determination. DT was u-used in the old notes in the l-lab. It was used by the, um, previous Royal Scientist and s-staff.”

“Oh," Undyne paused to think, then looked at Sans, "How do you know that?"

Sans shrugged, "i have been around the lab a few times. helped al here and there. i saw it in the notes."

“I... didn't think I-I left any notes l-like that out that you c-could h-have seen," Alphas said quietly.

“found it while poking around," Sans rubbed the back of his head. He then shoved his hand in his pockets again, returning to the closed off look, "guess i'm sorry, if you were meaning to hide it."

"B-but... Sans... a lot of those notes are, well, d-difficult to read. Unless y-you have prior knowledge... o-of the s-subject that is," Alphys frowned, staring straight at Sans. She seemed set on proving something, but all Sans did was shrug.

"Paps did say he was into science, Al. I'm sure he read up on it somewhere," Undyne offered.

"science fiction," Sans tried to correct.

Toriel was about to offer her own agreement, knowing Sans has displayed knowledge in various fields of science that would be plausible for anyone interested to know. But Alphys wasn't going to wait; nor, was she going to let up. "U-Undyne, what's in those n-notes is not," the scientist waved her hands around, trying to think of the words she wanted, "it's... it's not stuff y-you would learn i-in a book or c-college classes. D-DT research i-is -- was -- highly c-classified."

Toriel looked over at Sans who simply shrugged, she could tell he was thinking, debating. Sans looked at her and they made eye contact. He finally sighed and looked away, pulling his left hand free to rub his tired eye sockets.

“Anomaly, DT, his science puns… It's like you pretend to be some dumb comedian, but that’s just an act, isn’t it?” Undyne frowned.

Sans looked over at Undyne, “yes, i used to work directly under the royal scientist, the one prior to alphys. among the experiments i took part in was the dt ones. they weren’t my favorite as they were outside my personal interests, but it was the experiments king asgore was funding us to do. just as he paid you to continue the work when you became royal scientist.” He looked at Alphys who shrank back.

What Toriel heard surprised her, and yet, it didn't feel like it should be a surprise. Sans has proven he is smart and knowledgeable in various fields of science. There were many questions she had, but all of which could be asked later. One though, stuck out, due to Alphys's reaction. “What were these… DT experiments?” Toriel asked.

He pushed the notebook back and put his elbows on the table, rubbing his head, “i don’t remember everything we tried. but essentially the goal was to harness dt to bring down the barrier since it was believed, at the time, that it was dt alone that made humans so much stronger than us.” He then looked at Alphys, then Toriel, “i’ll amend that. it is still the common belief that determination is what makes humans so strong. but i personally question that. i just think it makes them so stubborn.”

“So, experiments with 'DT.' Is that how this 'thing' that you're worried about got its determination?” Undyne asked, looking at Alphys.

“Y-yes, I was, um, testing to see, uh, i-if it was p-possible to m-make a, uh, f-false human soul? I w-was injecting d-determination i-into soulless v-vessels,” Alphys said, she looked apologetic, as if she had done something wrong. Perhaps she had, after all, where had she gotten the determination to work with?

"Soulless vessels?" Toriel asked, hoping for clarification.

Alphys fidgeted with her hands a bit and the answer to Toriel's question came from Sans. He sighed, "flowers, she used some golden flowers." His eye sockets darkened for a moment before he said, "like the ones you visit in the ruins."

"Y-yes," Alphys mumbled.

"and one started talking," Sans continued, to which Alphys nodded in agreement, "since asgore likes flowers, she tried gifting it to him, but it disappeared."

"And?" Undyne glared at Sans, "What about the 'thing' we are supposed to be worried about."

"i really don't know if it is really something to be worried about, but it's the flower," Sans said as he stared at the notebook before him.

Toriel put a paw to her mouth as she thought. She remembered seeing an odd talking flower with the human child. It tried to kill the youth, and would have had she not arrived. If that was the same flower, and she had no reason to think what Sans said was a lie, then is that could be why he started acting the way he did? Why he suddenly stopped wanting to be anywhere near the flowers? And could that also explain why he started becoming hyper-vigilant in that room?

“A flower? You’re scared of a flower?!” Undyne laughed heartily.

Toriel narrowed her eyes as she looked at Undyne, "I'm sure they have ample reason to fear this... flower." She looked over at, Sans who flipped through the notebook.

Finding an entry, he wanted, he stopped at the page and started to read, “the anomaly is clearly experimenting with information it has gained via previous timelines. i believe it used to have issues dealing with undyne, but now it seems like she is nothing more than an amusing toy. my guess is the anomaly finds her predictable. none too surprising as all of us become predictable over time.”

Everyone's attention turned back to Undyne when they heard a ‘thump’ from the warrior slamming her fist on the table, “How can we believe that really happened!”

Turning a few pages, he found another one, “of all people to team up with, i find myself working with undyne against the anomaly. one would think our fighting styles would not coalesce; yet, i must say, i was rather impressed with our combined strength. regardless, i saw her die as i fell to dust.” He flipped through, “there is more, lots more.” His eye lights dimmed, “and they aren’t the worst. heh, haven't had a chance to write those down yet... don't really care to, either.”

Sans seemed lost in a dark place in his mind again, and Toriel reached over, placing a paw on his skull. He looked down and away, hiding his expression from her. "tori, i...," he said quietly, and the heaviness in his tone tugged at her emotions. "i have more to say and wish you would wait."

"Sans?" Toriel hesitated and took her paw away.

"you might... well," Sans sighed. He looked over at Undyne, "the flower is not just a plant, there really is no reason not to expect it to be anywhere at any time. and it can put up a good fight. though, it's main weapon was resetting, which, as far as i can tell, it can no longer do."

"B-because the h-human beat it in d-determination?" Alphys asked, and Sans simply nodded in response.

They continued to talk, but Toriel could hardly focus, after being asked to not comfort him. Why? Why had he asked her to back away? What did he need to say that she should wait for and why wasn't he saying it?

"i understood that the anomaly found out how to win against me. so i had trouble caring unless Pap was involved,” Sans still hadn't looked at her, keeping his attention on Undyne and Alphys.

Sans was either scared or ashamed, maybe both, considering how he has behaved in the past. He was acting relaxed for the others in the room, but Toriel could see past this false look of calm. What she saw was the broken monster within. She had seen him before, the real him, unhidden by the guise of happiness, in her house. That monster had been healing, mending under her care, and now it was if he was right where he started. Frustrated she clenched her paws into fists. For a while longer, she will wait. But he needed something, anything, to know he was not alone.

“and before you say that wouldn’t happen to you," Sans said, looking at Undyne, "i’m not you and you’re not me. just be happy you haven’t been tested.” He then closed the notebook and shrugged, “so, when the kid showed up i treated them differently. tori’s promise it made it easier to just face the kid if it meant that the timelines would all end if i didn’t. after all, if they end it all, then there are no resets, and no chances to have pap live happy. my goal was simple, keep the kid interested or... if they decided to destroy everything, i'd keep them from progressing forward until they give up. then hope they reset and try a different path."

"Did they?" Undyne asked, frowning.

"choose to destroy everything? yeah, they did. and i did what i could to stop them. in truth, i doubted i would win. sure, i could beat them over and over again, but they would figure me out and win. so, i just did my best to make it difficult for them. hoping that maybe, just maybe, they would give up trying. i could tell by their expression that they were frustrated that i stood in their way. that i,” finally, he looked over at Toriel. There was a hesitant look on his face, one that looked worried and sorry, “i broke the promise to tori, and kept killing them.”

At the moment, she didn't know what to say. Toriel sat there, taking this information in. Her child, killed... but... But, the idea seemed unreal. She had started to suspect it, though. The vague hints of memories of events that didn't happen, and what information she already had pointed to things not being as she first assumed.

"Well, yeah, you broke that promise. But that's because they would've killed all the monsters, right?" Undyne reasoned.

"not just monsters, undyne. everyone. everything. according to the reports, they would have destroyed everything if they succeeded," Sans said, which sent a chill up Toriel's spine.

Toriel felt pain on her cheek, the child she thought was innocent stood before her, weapon in hand. They had attacked her, with no mercy or consideration. There was nothing but murderous desire in the attack that was now turning her body to dust. Shocked, she struggled to speak, "Y... you... really hate me that much? Now I see who I was protecting by keeping you here. Not you... But them! Ha... ha..."

"T-Toriel?" Alphys stood up, a startled look on her face.

Looking at the others, Toriel could see they were all concerned about her. Sans was holding her right paw, so she used her left to support her head. A new, nagging headache bothered her as she tried to think about where that memory came from. That child... was that her child? The one she thought she needed to watch after and care for?

The one who killed Papyrus...

The one who, if what Sans said is true, tried to destroy everything...

The one her dear one just apologized for trying to stop because he killed them in the process.

Sans was watching her, waiting to see how she would respond, and as angry as a part of her wanted to be, another knew he did his best. In this timeline, he sacrificed his brother for her promise, a sacrifice that never should have happened. Was it fair to judge him on the behaviors of a Sans, in a different timeline, who was trapped in a dying world, fighting to save what he could? If she was in the same situation, would she have the strength to fight?

She looked at him and he started to move his hand away. Without thought, she grabbed his hand, holding it tight. "I understand," she said, unsteadily, "I... I'm not happy the promise was broken; but, I understand why."

Undyne sighed and shook her head, "Moving on, what about the kid. You got them to give up, right? Since the world is all still here."

The words she saw in the notebook came back, haunting the back of her mind. "the brat killed me and came back to kill me again." She remembered how it was hastily scrawled compared to the rest of his lazy looking writing style. It was clear he didn't want to think about it. Just write it and let it be forgotten. And how he acted that night she had startled him awake by spilling red wine on him. "just let me die in peace," he had said as if it was a simple request he had made before. That calm resignation and acceptance of his death as if the idea of dying had been trained into him as something he should just accept.

"naw, in the end, they killed me. i don’t know what stopped them after me; since, as you said, we are still here. they must’ve failed somehow.”

Having heard enough, and having left him alone to sit there talking for longer than she wanted, Toriel reached out, grabbed him, and pulled him over to her lap. She leaned her head against his and closed her eyes. "You have hidden too much from me so not to upset me. But, at what cost? Perhaps, without everything I know now, I would have been angry. Once I learned the truth, how could I stay angry? You kept the promise the best that you could. You tried to do right by me, by everyone. I know you tried to keep the promise the best you could, and that is all that matters to me."

Undyne and Alphys let them have a moment, and Toriel was thankful for it. Since Toriel was holding Sans, with his back towards her, he couldn't hug her back, but she felt his hand petting her left ear. She could feel the subtle tremble of his hands, and the change of his steady breathing pattern. Knowing he liked the feel of her ears against his head, she made sure the left one stayed draped down along the side of his skull.

Undyne wasn't going to let them have too long to cuddle, and that was understandable. They were here for a reason; and, with how tired Sans still looked - and now that Toriel was holding him - Sans would soon be asleep. To get to the point Undyne interrupted, "And this dangerous flower? You said nothing happened to it?"

“other than losing the ability to reset, yeah,” Sans answered, his voice staying calm despite what Toriel could feel.

“So, it is still out there.”

“yup”

“And? what do we do?” Undyne snapped, causing Alphys to jump slightly.

Sans, most likely used to such random outbursts, shrugged, “why do we have to do anything?”

“Damn it, you are just a lazy good for nothing!” Undyne growled.

“happy you’re on the same page as the rest of us, undyne,” Sans said, sarcasm dripping off every word. He then yawned as he still petted the left ear.

“S-Sans, how long does it take for a r-reset?” Alphys interjected.

“the kid is done, they’ve seen all the potentials they want to see. they still hold the power to reset but they said they won’t… and i guess they were telling the truth because this seems to be the longest they’ve gone without resetting,” his voice sounded heavy in sorrow as he added, “so in the end i failed pap.” Toriel hugged Sans tighter in response to what he said.

"Back to this flower," Undyne looked thoughtful, “I get that it did all these horrible things, but for what?”

"it started as curiosity," Toriel felt Sans move as he shrugged, the full extent of the action hampered by her hold. "but, uh," he sighed, "it was clear we were just toys to it. a means to entertain itself."

Undyne’s face twitched, “So, to cure its boredom it goes out and murders people? And you just want to let it be?!”

“i just don’t see a need to hunt it down,” Sans shrugged again, "but maybe i've done that enough times that i'm just sick of it. the weed has no power, and it knows that. if it calls attention to itself, it runs the risk of dying and never coming back. so, why would it try its old tricks?"

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because it has been a while AND IT'S BORED?! I can't have that thing out there, thinking that it's okay to mess with, OR KILL, monsters,” Undyne yelled, slamming both hands on the table.

"Sans, dear, I am inclined to agree with Undyne on the matter. We should At least know where it is, and what it intends to do," Toriel added while she looked down at him then across to Alphys, "Do either of you have any ideas of where it might be? That must have been it, what I saw in the Ruins with the human, perhaps it is still there?"

"it could, or it could not. it's root system runs everywhere, so it could be anywhere," Sans explained.

Undyne rubbed her head and stood, looking ready to punch something, "So, we have a murderer running lose, and is capable of being anywhere?"

“well, as far as i know, it hasn’t killed anyone in this timeline ye-,” there was a small pause, a hiccup in his speech. Easy to ignore as he quickly finished with a, “et,” but Toriel heard this change. It was not unlike the times he remembered something when talking to her at the door.

Tilting her head, she questioned, “Sans?”

Understanding her reaction, Undyne again slammed her hands down on the table. From the way she was glowering, Toriel thought Undyne looked about ready to flip the table, “Sans! Who did the flower kill?”

“The f-flower killed someone?” Alphys squeaked, catching on.

If there was a moment in this meeting that she would suspect Sans would try leaving, it would be this one. Toriel could feel him tense in her arms, and she could sense him trying to close himself off. Had she not been holding him, chances are he would have found some excuse to take a short cut out of here. Her dear skeleton friend held to his secrets and seemed to fear parting with them. "Please, Sans," she said before nuzzling the back of his skull. As she suspected, the action melted the tension.

She heard him softly mutter, "not fair, t." A smile wanted to cross her face, but concern for her love, what she will hear, and the future, held it back. Still, it was a relief when Sans finally spoke up, “asgore. the kid fought the king and was sparing him when the weed finished him off.”

“Why didn’t you stop the flower?” Undyne snarled.

“because the kid wanted to spare it. which would mean, even if i did jump in, it would all be reset and what i did would mean nothing. and, i can fight the flower as it is, sure, but with six human souls in it, that’s a different story,” Sans replied, sounding defeated in the end.

“It has t-the souls?” Alphys was shocked.

“had, the kid beat it and they just… disappeared,” Sans shrugged.

The chair Undyne had been using fell over as Undyne kicked it out of the way. The Empress formed a spear in her right hand and started for the door, her one eye full of anger. Sans watched her, and said, “undyne, if it doesn't want to be found, you're not going to find it."

The fish monster glared at Sans, and Toriel couldn't help but glare back as she said, "While I feel we should look, we may wish to consult with those who know this flower first."

"You can, but I'm not going to wait around," Undyne snorted then looked at Sans, "What's the worst this flower can do?"

“what?” Sans sounded surprised by that question.

“I want you to think of the worst thing it could possibly do that it hasn’t done yet. Then I want you to consider that if you thought of it so did it. And YOU are giving it time to plot,” Undyne then marched out of the throne room, leaving the space in an eerie silence.

Alphys spoke up quietly, hesitant as if unsure if she really wanted to know, “Um…, h-hypothetically, what would be the, erm, w-worst it could do?”

"the impossible…,” Sans said, flatly. The response wasn't what Toriel had expected, but it was telling enough. There was another pause, guessing by Alphys's expression, she had some ideas as to what this impossible thing might be. To top that off, she was sure she felt a shiver go up Sans's spine. Even though he didn't feel even remotely relaxed, his voice had a calm tone, “welp, it can’t do it no matter how much it plots or tries.”

“W-why do you say t-that?” Alphys asked.

“i’m tired al, and that is a long story. another time, alright?” Sans sighed, rubbing his ‘eye lids’ with his left hand.

"Only if you want, my dear. It seems like something no one really wants to think about, let alone talk about," Toriel interjected, trying to relieve some of his stress.

"heh, yeah," came his quiet reply.

"You should get some sleep," Toriel said, while finally releasing her hold, "I wanted to talk to Alphys for a bit, but if you are too tired, I will carry you back."

"it's alright tori, i have my short cuts," he said to her with a grin. He turned to hug her, and they sat there hugging each other before he said in a dark tone, "what happened to your ear?"

"Hmm?" Toriel asked. She felt Sans touch her right ear and a small wave of pain from where one of Undyne's spears had cut her. "Oh, that."

"yes, that, what happened?" his voice was still dark, hollow sounding even.

"Undyne and I had a little tiff, nothing to be concerned over. I'll heal it in a bit," Toriel said, trying to comfort him.

He didn't look convinced and was lightly touching around the cut on ear. Toriel could feel it, the small trace of him trying to heal her, but it’s clear that healing was not his magical forte. That, and his own magic must still be weak from everything that has happened recently. Kindly, she took his hand in her paw and held it as she smiled down at him. "It's alright. Nothing I can't heal shortly."

"you sure? i can just," Sans started to say.

"Yes," Toriel interrupted, "I am sure. You're exhausted, and should get some sleep."

There was a soft sound coming from across the table, it sounded like a muffled squeak of some sort. Glancing over, she saw Alphys was looking at them with an odd look on her face. It was unlike any she had seen before on the yellow monster, and it was rather hard for her to describe what it could possibly mean. The only thing Toriel could figure, is that Alphys was enjoying watching this tender moment between them. Sans straightened, and Toriel could feel him let go of her ear. Glancing back down at him, she saw him give Alphys a glare.

"Anyway, Sans, I won’t be too much longer. I'll meet you back in the room, alright?" Toriel said, giving him a nose nuzzle. Sure, they have an audience now, but she didn't care. It never stopped her when she was with Asgore, why should it now that she had a new love? Sans did seem more reserved about his displays of affection, but that only meant she got to see the occasional embarrassed reaction. That, on its own, was a treat to her.

Right on cue, after the nuzzle, she could see that faint hint of magic on his cheek bones as he looked at her with this half loving, half worried expression. His eye lights are far larger than they are normally as he looks at her, clearly trying to take her all in. And that classic mask of a smile had slipped slightly into and awkward grin.

In some ways, Asgore was almost the same. He didn't get embarrassed like this, which is fine. He did have his own awkwardness though, which was adorable. At first, he seemed lost in the affection department. Willing, but just as confused on the process as Sans. But after a few good years, that changed, and already she can tell Sans was getting more comfortable with her acts. While she doubted he would be as interested in all the public displays of affection her previous partner enjoyed, she was fine with that. That was her and Asgore. Sans was different, his love was different. When he chose to show it, it was far sincerer than the smaller acts of love that Toriel and Asgore shared throughout the day. Not that Asgore loved her any less. He just split it up, and spread it out through the day, making it more casual in the long run.

Though, Sans holds it all back. Even now, as she heard Sans mutter softly that he would see her back in the room, she could feel him pulling back his magic. Hiding it. Secretive as always. Because of this, she noticed that he ends up letting his feelings and magic build up until he is a ball of emotions. Which, is pleasant in its own way for her; provided it was positive energy, and not the negative he also carries around.

As she watched him leave, she resolved to keep this quick, wanting to return to cuddling him as soon as possible.

Though he had time, Sans wanted to get back to the room and finally figure out what that gift was.

Why not? He was already in a rotten mood, might as well top it off with... that

Besides, he didn't want to walk all the way back. Once he rounded the corner, and was out of sight of the guard, he felt his magic swell up within himself as he stepped forward. In a soul beat, he was in the room he shared with Toriel at the castle. The effort left him light headed, as if his empty skull wasn't already light. He chuckled at that thought as he steadied himself.

Sure enough, the present was still there, waiting for him. The sight of it made his nonexistent stomach lurch, and he closed his eye sockets, took a deep breath, then walked over. Over and over, he reminded himself that it was silly to feel so afraid of this simple wrapped gift. Exhaling the breath, he picked it up and walked over to a chair to sit down.

The room was filled with the smell of coffee and pine needles. It may have been an odd mix of smell to some, but for Sans, it was the smell of family, joy, and the holiday. The tree was decorated with a variety of things that vaguely hinted to the season, and could possibly be combustible. The figure sitting nearby, a shadow of what memory has forgotten, was important to both Sans and his younger brother. He, this shadow, was the source of the coffee smell, as he sipped from his mug while watching his children.

Sans smiled over at the figure before handing over the first gift he had bought for his younger brother. The wrapping job was a sorry affair, but that wasn't what mattered now. Long hours of chores had gone into earning the money to pay for this simple gift.

Little Papyrus, in classic Papyrus fashion, neatly unwrapped the gift. The wrapping paper could be reused with the amount of care he put into the process, except for all the wrinkles Sans put into it while wrapping the gift...

He stared down at it for a moment before sliding a finger under a small gap where one end of the paper overlapped the other. With an odd amount of care, he tried to lift the tape without ripping the paper as much as possible. Once he started opening it, it just became easier to continue until finally the contents was exposed and in his hands.

"WOWIE! PEEK-A-BOO WITH FLUFFY BUNNY," the little skeleton looked at his elder brother with magic sparkling in his eye sockets. Sans knew his little brother liked these books about Fluffy Bunny and his friends. When Sans saw the new book in the store he had to get it for his brother, and all the work to get it was worth it.

The old, well used cover of the book was more than recognizable. There was no mistaking this old book that he had read plenty of times, even after the story became repetitive for Sans. He always tried to be the patient and caring brother Papyrus deserved. Despite the fact they both could recite the story, word for word, both still insisted on using the book each night. They had switched it out a few times for a new book now and then, but it was the one they turned to when they had nothing else new, interesting, or good for bedtime.

His smile became taunt, as he ran his hand and fingers over the cover. Sans remembered where every bump, nick, and scratch came from. And just inside the hardcover was a story Papyrus had written as a child after the brothers had an argument. A story that the two would reread anytime they let anger get between them.

Staring straight ahead, Sans felt the world around himself fade. Other thoughts, memories, and sounds replaced reality.

"Thank you for opening up about all of that, Alphys," Toriel said, looking across the table at the scientist.

Alphys was still fidgeting, "T-Toriel, there is s-something else about th-those experiments that... y-you should know."

This surprised Toriel, "That I should know?"

Taking a deep breath, Alphys tried to calm down enough to speak. "U-Undyne knows," Alphys started, "a-and so does S-Sans. I-In fact, before I r-revealed the secret to Undyne, S-Sans helped me a-a lot."

That pleased Toriel to hear, and she couldn't help but smile. That caused Alphys to shift uneasily though, so Toriel tried not to "beam" so much. "I'm happy he was able to be a help to you. I do remember him talking about you."

"O-oh, um...," Alphys looked away, a very awkward look on her face. Toriel could have sworn she saw a little color in the yellow monster's cheeks. "A-anyway, there w-were some experiments on monsters with D-DT."

That caused a chill to come over Toriel, and she became more solemn, "On monsters? Did Asgore know?"

"H-he... um... he had monsters that had fallen down brought to my lab for the experiments," Alphys winced, "We, Asgore a-and I, had a theory th-that it was DT that kept humans from d-dying easily. And if we p-put DT in monsters, then m-maybe they w-wouldn't die easy. S-Sans found out after the experiments failed, s-so he didn't take p-part in...," She had that awkward smile on her face before she started talking nonstop. It took a while but Toriel got the basic information. What she did piece together sounded like a living nightmare.

"Alphys!" Toriel raised her voice to get the scientist to stop. Shocked, Alphys finally shut her mouth and sat there looking ashamed of herself. "If you want my opinion, I would have fired you had I known," to that, Alphys shrank down in her chair. Toriel sighed and looked away, "But you are not my Royal Scientist. You are Undyne's, and she chooses to forgive. I don't know how you, or your predecessor, got the DT, I can only guess. And I can see these experiments have already weighed heavy on you. While I would have forgiven you also, I personally expect more moral fiber from my scientist."

"I-I understand," Alphys squeaked out.

"That being said, I have also heard about many wonderful things you had invented from Sans. So, I know you have tried to do your best for monster kind. And Undyne seems to approve of having you as her scientist. Maybe my judgment would be wrong," Toriel smiled, "I guess we don't have to worry about finding out."

"Y-yes, though... after Undyne f-found out," the smaller monster looked down, "I think she... she l-looks at me d-different."

"But she hasn't abandoned you," Toriel hoped that would rebuild some confidence in the scientist.

"We'll see...," Alphys sighed.

Silence fell between the two, Toriel unsure what else to say to encourage Alphys; and, judging by Alphys's nervous behavior, she was scared to say much. It would be easy to blame all that happened to those monsters on Alphys, but she was not the only guilty party. Sadly, Asgore was unavailable to take his part of the blame.

"I-I don't suppose y-you'd be willing to, um, talk Sans i-into coming by the lab. There are a f-few things I... w-well, now that he's admitted to, uh... w-working at the lab before... s-somethings were left b-by the scientists before...," Alphys fidgeted while she said that. She seemed very nervous for some reason.

With a nod, Toriel said, "Of course, I see no harm in that. We need to head back and get our things if Undyne wants us to stay. We have nothing other than what is on our backs."

"O-oh, w-well if you want, I... um...," Alphys started but then stopped.

Toriel tilted her head, "Yes?"

"I-I have s-some spare clothes...," the scientist looked away, uncertain.

"Thank you, while I'm sure that could work for Sans, you two being around the same height, I don't think that would work for me," she appreciated the scientist's generosity and offered a friendly smile.

"A-actually, I... I s-sometimes... well, uh, m-make clothes? And I have some y-your size," again, Alphys looked away, embarrassed.

This was a pleasant surprise and Toriel smiled big, "Oh, that's wonderful, then. Do you have a dress? I would be honored to wear something you made."

Alphys flushed slightly and nodded, "I do, it is... uh... well... I'll b-bring it by later."

"Marvelous. Then I'll see about getting Sans out to your lab tomorrow on our way back to get our things. And in the clothes you provided," Toriel doubted Sans would object, after all, the two were friends, were they not?

Toriel finally returned, she breathed out a sigh of relief to be back in the shared room. She would far rather be home than here, but it was still better than nothing. It was quiet, and Sans was sitting in a chair by the unlit fireplace. He was very still, and must have fallen asleep, which is no surprise. She was ready to sleep herself. More accurately, she was looking forward to cuddling with him again.

She walked over to Sans, she planned to carry him to bed like she did yesterday. As she approached, she noticed his eye sockets were open but dark. He wasn't breathing, causing the stillness she noticed earlier, and he was holding something to himself. There was no acknowledgement to her being there, at all. The only other detail she had to go by was the shiny paper that had fallen to the floor.

Confused, she bent over to pick it up, and saw it was wrapping paper. That was odd to her, as far as she remembered, Gyftmas - or Christmas - wasn't for another few months. All of this gave her a very uneasy feeling that she wished would go away. Still there was no acknowledgement from Sans that she was here. The only sign of life she saw was the fact he wasn't dust.

"Did you get a gift?" she asked, puzzled, trying to get some reaction out of him. Anything would be better than now. His “dead” silence was giving her chills. But, he remained silent causing her to try again, "Sans?"

Finally. The palest of lights appeared in his sockets and he looked up at Toriel. He started to shiver and held the book even tighter to himself as tears appeared in his sockets. "it... was his favorite," was all he said before the lights disappeared again.

Worried, Toriel knelled in front of the chair, seeing the back of the book and reading the spine. Sans had told her about this book before, she knew about it and the meaning it held. "Sans, did someone give you this?" Toriel frowned. How did the book get here? He definitely didn't have the energy to go all the way to Snowdin and back, right?

The lights appeared again as his sockets narrowed. It went from a look of thought to anger, "someone was in his room."

With care, Toriel took the book from him and set it to the side on a table, "Maybe we can read it later, together. Or put it safely back in his room. You're tired, and I'm tired, so let's try to relax for a bit."

Sans's voice for a moment changed, there was a seriousness to it she had never heard him use before, "He was in my brother's room..."

"Sans?" Toriel asked while touching his skull, trying to ground him in the here and now.

Eye lights settled on Toriel and Sans's expression relaxed, "sorry, tori, yeah, let's rest for a bit."

Some Closing thoughts: I'm still trying to perfect my evil laugh. I know this chapter has a few good points for an evil writer to practice their laugh with, but I think I need to get it down pat for some future chapters coming up... Can evil people just giggle? Does that count? I don't know, but I know I need to practice to be a true evil master mind.

17 notes · View notes

galpalaven · 7 years ago

Text

I got tagged by @a-man-adrift!!!

The Last:

1. Drink: RC that I then proceeded to accidentally spill all over my closed laptop. Great.

2. Phone call: my dad

3. Text Message: my little brother

4. Song you listened to: Spider Dance from Undertale’s Soundtrack...

5.Time you cried: ???lmao probably relatively recently time is an illusion and im a baby with several mental illnesses

read more because this got loooonnnngg

Have You:

6. Dated someone twice: Not...exactly. Almost, once, but. meh.

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: Every time ☞( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞ thanks compulsory heterosexuality

8. Been cheated on: :)

9. Lost someone special: Not yet

10. Been depressed: :))

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: I don’t like alcohol enough for this

List Three Favorite Colors:

12. Blue.

13. Purple.

14. Black.

In The Last Year Have You:

15. Made new friends: Yeah!

16. Fallen out of love: ...Does...finding a new hyperfixation count?

17. Laughed until you cried: Yeah

18. Found out someone was talking about you: Yeah

19. Met someone who changed you: Yes.

20. Found out who your friends are: ??

21. Kissed someone on your facebook list: wait no i change my answer i havent been kissed in like 6 years

General:

22. How many of your facebook friends do you know in real life:

All of them

23. Do you have any pets: yeh. 4 cats, 4 dogs

24. Do you want to change your name: Not particularly. Do need a pen name tho 25. What did you do for your last birthday: Vegas!!! 26. What time did you wake up today: 11:30 am which is like Amazing for me 27. What were doing at midnight last night: mmmm i think i was editing

28. Name something you can’t wait for: me to finish my goddamn book

29. When was the last time you saw your mom: she’s sitting next to me. 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: I’d love to have a working immune system, no chronic illnesses, and a working brain. That’d be great. 31. What are you listening to right now: Mom’s watching a movie 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: My uncle is named Tom 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: fuckin. congress. and everything with this damn country honestly 34. Most visited website: Tumblr do i look like i go anywhere else. AO3 and YouTube are probably up there.

Random Info:

35. Mole/s: You expect me to fuckin know how many moles I have they’re everywhere??

36. Mark/s: I have scars from my gallbladder surgery. Also one on my shin from a...bruise.

37. Childhood dream: I wanted to work for NASA

38. Hair color: Now that it’s just been dyed it’s Blue, Purple, Turquoise, and Black

39. Long or short hair: I have half my had shaved and long hair on the other half so both

40. Do you have a crush on someone: Nope, but there’s lots of celebrities I wouldn’t turn down. A couple of friends I’d probably go on a date or two with too but nothing like Active. 41. What do you like about yourself: I’m good at writing? Also my hair.

42: Piercings: I had my ears pierced once but now I’m scared to do it again.

43: Blood type: i have no idea 44. Nickname: Kiki or Ki, usually 45. Relationship: Nope. 46. Zodiac: Scorpio! 47. Pronouns: She/her 48. Favorite TV show: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don’t watch a lot of TV 49. Tattoos: Yeah!!

50. Right hand or left hand: Right

51. Surgery: Last one was wisdom teeth

52. Hair dyed in a different color: YEAH

53. Sport: Marching band count? It should. I tried tee-ball, bowling, and soccer once. Oh and cheerleading. Was never good at anything but Marching Band.

54. Vacation: Leaving for Florida on Saturday, but Japan/South Korea was a good trip I’d like to repeat.

55. Pair of trainers: They’re the ones I got for band practice lmfao

More General:

56. Eating: Usually can’t go wrong with rice.

57. Drinking: Soda

58. I’m about to: idk try to write probably

59. Waiting for: idk??

60. Want: Me to finish my damn book

61. Get married: Not unless I can find someone cool with asexuality

62. Career: Writing books and/or video games

63. Hugs or kisses: Hugs

64. Lips or eyes: both? 65. Shorter or taller: Taller 66. Older or younger: Around the same age pls 67. Nice arms or nice stomach: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

68. Senstive or loud: Sensitive. 69. Hook up or relationship: Relationship. 70. Troublemaker or hesitant: Hesitant.

Have You Ever:

71. Kissed a stranger: No, but it might be fun

72. Drank hard liquor: Yeah I don’t like it much

73. Lost glasses/contact lenses: Ohoyeah.

74. Turned someone down: Yeah

75. Sex in the first date: No and never 76. Broken someone’s heart: Idk maybe 77. Had your heart broken: Nah 78. Been arrested: No. 79. Cried when someone died: Not...anyone I knew 80. Fallen for a friend: Nope

Do You Believe In:

81. Yourself: Not particularly

82. Miracles: Nah

83. Love at first sight: Nah

84. Santa Claus: I wish

85. Kiss on the first date: Depends on how long we’ve known each other I think

86. Angels: ...maybe

Other

87. Current best friend’s name: I can’t pick I love all my friends!!

88. Eye color: Brown. I’m Asian 89. Favorite movie: Wonder Woman (2017) dir. Patty Jenkins 90. Strangest thing in your room: I’m stuck in the guest room currently and uh well. there’s a bunch of jesus statues because my Nana used to stay in this room when she came to visit. 91. Ever visited any countries outside your own: Yep!

92. Favorite fantasy creature: DRAGONS

#about me

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jujyfru1t · 7 years ago

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Dear Markiplier

*throws confetti/blows noisemaker* HAPPY BIRTHDAY @markiplier YOU FABULOUS HOOMAN BEAN!!!! (ur 4 moths younger than me *quietly fangirls*)

I can’t art or anything but I can write, so. I’ve been a fan of yours since about 2013, and I’m really happy I discovered you. And it’s so heartwarming to read your video comments and see that you were/are a lifeline for so many people. I can’t claim the same, but I do know my life is a lot better with you in it.

I touched on some of this in my donation comment for AbleGamers, but I don’t know if it gets to you and I wanted to expand on it a little bit. (it’s so weird spending a happy b-day comment talking about myself but???)

(this gets ramble-y so have a read more and my apologies to mobile dashes)

I’m a twin. My brother David died in 2009, right before our 20th birthday, when his heart gave out from fighting Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic, incurable muscle-wasting disease. I will always be a twin. That’s how it works.Duchenne is a rare form of MD that only affects boys. Most DMD boys don’t live past 25, but my brother and I were born 3 months premature (I have moderate cerebral palsy bc of that) so that hastened the progression. By 7 he could no longer walk, though he could still use his hands and upper body.

D and I were lucky enough to be homeschooled by our parents and I am eternally grateful for everything that gave us. It also meant we were together nearly every minute of the day. We had differing interests, of course, but we also had a lot in common. Like... video games. My older-by-11-years sister got an NES for one of her birthdays, and we still had it when bro and I turned 8 (and still have it today actually). That year my brother needed glasses. Turned out the headaches he’d been having were a result of poor eyesight. At that point we’d watched my sister play NES for years (there’s a pic of toddler me derping around with a disconnected controller next to sis) but never played ourselves. The minute my brother wheeled into the front hall, brandy-new glasses on, the first thing he said was “I wanna play Nintendo.” So we fired up Mario Bros. 1 and he was 10000% hooked forever. I was the observer, sitting by biting my nails whenever the “running out of time” jingle played; I don’t think I started playing until we got Nintendo 64 for one of our birthdays, with Mario Kart. And I didn’t play by myself until Ocarina of Time came out. We even played that “together”, me consulting the strategy guide and using the “C” buttons during boss fights while he moved and swung the sword.

Pokemon arrived, I got a Game Boy Color with Pokemon Yellow when I was ten, next thing you know bro and I are Pokemon experts/fans/cultists and IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM THERE. We were console/Nintendo devotees for sure, though we had a handful of computer games later on too.

All this is to say that gaming was a huge part of our lives and still is in mine. I’ve branched out to PC gaming (still with a controller, as my hands are not dexterous enough for mouse+keyboard gaming), and several of those games I learned about through YOU, lovely Markimoo!! Dead Space (an hour in, too scared to go back for now) Undertale. To the Moon (the only one I’ve completed, also AUGH MY FEELS). Transistor. Even Outlast, which I haven’t even Steamstalled yet bc I’m legit terrified (D was the horror movie/game fan, I had to watch through my fingers at Resident Evil 4; he patiently put up with my screeching).

So, yeah. 2013 was year 4 of After David. The pain’s never going away, it will just dull. I found a lot to sustain me through the years. I don’t remember 99% of 09, 2012 was also awful grief-wise, for some reason. ’13 was more of an up year. I can’t recall how I discovered you, guess it was my YT account recommended videos. I knew about LPs for a while but never much cared until “ohhhh I can watch games I’m not gonna buy but wanna know about!!” pretty sure my intro to you was an Amnesia compilation and then Electronic Super Joy (where I tripped and faceplanted onto a massive crush on your voice and then you im so sorry). So I can’t say I’ve always been there or I’ve seen every one of your vids but *shrugs*

you made memories come back I hadn’t thought about much because they hurt. D and I screaming and hollering over whatever games we played, D patting my arm saying “it’s ok Juj” every time I freaked out trying RE4’s first level, attending our first Pokemon convention for its 10th anniversary… and so many memories didn’t hurt anymore bc your enthusiasm and joy and epic silliness reminded me of happiness, not sadness. And when you cried I could cry with you, over similar and different things. Which reminds me, your 6mil subscriber gift video? That one song and your reaction to it single-handedly made me want to play To The Moon. And also cry buckets bc the lyrics are… very relevant. I only joined Steam a few months ago, having got a new computer with better hardware and running into a freaking $1.99 sale of the Tomb Raider reboot which almost made me buy a new console just for it but yay I didn’t have to I DIGRESS SORRY.

So I refused to watch more than part 1 of your TTM LP, I wanted to experience it for myself and boy howdy that was the right decision. [spoilers ahead if anyone’s still reading *sweating*] By the time Everything’s Alright started playing in context? After everything that happened in-game?? I was a goddamn mess and didn’t go back until a week later and then!!! The big reveal of Joey being restored in Johnny’s memories in place of River destroyed my heart.. TTM brought up so many questions. If I could have D back, but lose another important person in my life… if it wasn’t even real… would I take the opportunity? And River coming back… maybe my memories too would restore that other person, but it wouldn’t change my life as I’d lived it. I can’t never bring David back, DMD-free or otherwise.

“He’ll only have one brother.” So many heartrending moments but THAT LINE. That one hit my soul because I’ve been through it. I knew TTM would be emotional but had no idea that it would speak to me more personally than anything I’ve ever played. And I probably wouldn’t have known about it if not for you, Mark.

I don’t even know if you’ll see this, or read to the end if you do see it. But I had to let this out, and hope you do see it and know you’ve touched yet another person’s life. And I really really think that if D were alive today, he’d be your fan too.

Love and appreciation,

JujYFru1T, aka RitsukaYukiLuvr on YT, aka Julia

#JujYblather #markisahero #markiplier #Markimoo #HERPLE BIRFLEDUR MARKIMOO U ARE VERY IMPORTANT AND A GOOD #and yeah i still have a crush on you for a boatload of reasons *hops into trashcan*

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themanicmagician · 8 years ago

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Papyrus Pairings Drabbles

I couldn’t decide on what ship to write for Valentine’s Day, so instead I offer these 100-word drabbles, containing Papyrus x Many (but not at the same time :P). All are in the Undertale-verse, unless otherwise marked.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody ❤️️

1. Papyrus x Grillby

Papyrus has kept Grillby after work long enough with his petty personal problems. He makes for the door.

“Wait.”

Grillby follows after him with a brown bomber jacket on his arm.

“…cold.”

“Oh, it’s not far—”

Grillby slides the jacket over Papyrus’ shoulders. It’s large on him, the sleeves ending well past the tips of his fingers. It smells like leather, like woodsmoke. Like Grillby.

As Papyrus steps outside onto the stoop, Grillby leaves him with a second gift—a sizzling kiss on the cheek.

The Snowdin night air is cold, but on his way home Papyrus is warm.

2. Papyrus x Gaster

Papyrus’ little white puff of a dog greets him at the door. Gaster gives it a few scritches before he moves deeper into the house.

He finds Papyrus in the kitchen, placing the finishing touches on their Valentine’s Day dinner.

Gaster hugs Papyrus from behind, plants a kiss on his skull.

Papyrus’ face scrunches up, and he sneezes into the sleeve of his shirt.

“You smell like flowers.”

He tenses. “Is that….bad?”

Papyrus sneezes again. He looks up at Gaster with watery eyes.

“I’m allergic!”

Gaster rushes back outside to return the three delivery trucks worth of flowers he’d ordered.

3. Papyrus x Flowey

“Flowey, look!”

He points to the pin on his chest.

“This pin shows that I am a member of the Flowey Fan Club!” Papyrus brings out a second pin from his inventory. “Now you can join, too!”

“I can’t join my own fan club, silly.”

“I disagree! It’s good to be a fan of yourself!”

Flowey’s smile dips.

“I don’t think I like myself that much, Papyrus.”

“We can fix that!” Papyrus tapes the pin to Flowey’s stem. “Whatever you don’t like, you can always improve! Don’t give up, Flowey!”

Flowey grumbles, but he doesn’t take the pin off, either.

4. Papyrus x Undyne

“Nyeh heh heh! Surrender, Undyne!”

Undyne is exhausted from six hours of training, but finds the energy to block Papyrus’ attack with her spear.

Bellowing, she surges forward and tackles him. They fall to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Papyrus raises his head, their foreheads bumping together, and hits her with that adorable, thousand-watt smile.

“Wowie, Undyne! If I was not a skeleton, surely the air would’ve been walloped from my lungs!”

They’re both flushed and sweaty. Undyne enjoys the press of Papyrus’ body against hers—too much. She scrambles up off of him.

“That’s enough for today.”

5. Papyrus x Frisk

Papyrus daintily wipes at the edge of his mouth with a cloth napkin.

“That was most exquisite! Excellent choice of risotto, human!”

Frisk steels their resolve. This is their 107th date. Now is the time.

They hop off their chair and bend down on one knee. From their breast pocket they pull out a stunning 24-carat ring, nestled in its box.

“Papyrus…will you…”

“Hold on, one moment.” Papyrus taps his phone screen. “I must tell my boyfriend about this place!”

Frisk feels their heart shatter.

“Human, what are you doing over there? Did you forget how to tie your shoe?”

6. Papyrus x Asgore [Underswap]

He’d been so excited to show Asgore his makeshift greenhouse, but now that they’re here he wants to turn around and go back home, suddenly too aware of the peeling paint, the spills of soil everywhere, and god, when was the last time he watered everything—

“The tomatoes look lovely.” Asgore cradles one in his paw.

Heat floods Papyrus’ cheeks; he tugs up his hood.

“Just followed your directions.” He murmurs.

He startles as Asgore wraps him in a hug. It feels like being enveloped in a warm, fluffy blanket.

“Thank you for showing me this,” Asgore rumbles.

“N-No problem.”

7. Papyrus x Ice Wolf (aka Jimmy Hotpants)

Papyrus joins the line for checkout, carrying new pairs of hotpants. He spots a familiar face from Snowdin.

“Jimmy?”

The monster turns.

“Papyrus! How are you?”

Papyrus’ gaze lands on the article of clothing held in Jimmy’s paw.

“A fellow hotpants connoisseur!”

The cashier clears her throat. Jimmy places his hotpants on the counter, but drops his wallet. He bends over to pick it up.

“B-Butt!” Jimmy looks at him questioningly. “I mean what. What! Are you doing next? I know how you feel about hotpants? But what about hot coffee? With a hot skeleton?”

Jimmy grins. “I’d love that.”

8. Papyrus x Toriel

Papyrus gingerly lowers himself onto a chair at the kitchen table. Sans is already sitting in his own chair, looking haggard.

“Brother! You are awake at a suspiciously early hour.”

“Pap, you know I love you.”

“Was that ever questioned?”

“But please, I’m begging you. Next time you an’ Tori feel the urge to—you know. Tell me first so I can not be here.”

“Impossible! Passion isn’t planned, it’s spontaneous!” Papyrus winces as movement pulls into focus the soreness of his pelvis. “But you need not fret for some time. We broke the bed last night!”

Sans groans. “Papyrus.”

9. Papyrus x Mettaton

It’s their first anniversary. Papyrus asked him out last February 14th, because he knew Mettaton would love the added drama that comes with a Valentine’s Day confession.

In the weeks leading up to today, Mettaton planned several potential dates strewn all across the city, tipping off different groups of paparazzi for each one.

“Ready, Mettaton?”

He looks at Papyrus—adorable in a short dress with dark stockings—and makes his decision.

Mettaton scoops Papyrus up in his arms.

“Nyeh?!”

“You look positively scrumptious, darling.” He carries Papyrus towards the bedroom. “Today, I don’t want to share you with anyone else.”

10. Papyrus x Sans [Underfell]

Papyrus is awoken by an elbow to the face.

“Augh, Sans,” Papyrus rubs at his abused nasal bone as he sits up. “What the hell—”

“Shut up a second, alright?” Sans presses Papyrus’ hand to his stomach, which is swollen with their growing babybones.

First, nothing. But then—beneath Papyrus’ splayed fingers, there’s a kick.

Sans is beaming at him.

“They’re…strong.” Papyrus manages, thickly. He’s glad it’s dark in their room. So Sans can’t see the tears he’s not crying.

“Heh, well, what’d ya expect? They’re your kid.”

“Our child,” Papyrus corrects, and pulls him in for a kiss.

#my fic #are you ready for all these shipping tags?#fontcest #fellcest #papyton #papriel #papgore #ice wolf #undyrus #nyehctar #papster #papby

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spacegate · 8 years ago

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Trust Ch 10

An Undertale Fanfiction

Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / AO3 LINK Characters: Sans, Grillby, Papyrus, Royal Doggies Setting: Baby Blaster AU Contains: SAD CHILDREN. Mentions of child abuse. Synopsis: In which the kids have a nice day with their BFF, Gnash is fed up with some shit, and good dogs are being good dogs.

TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of severe child abuse for this chapter

Bertram shivered, drawing the collar of his coat closer around his scaly neck. Of course, they would have to go to Snowdin, the bane of his existence. Scales weren't particularly warm in the snow and ice after all. He was still cold even when wrapped in several layers of heat enchanted clothing. Bah...to be a dinosaur...

There was a reason why scaled Monsters tended to live in Hotland. Still...Bertram was a little worried. He could almost swear that they were being watched from the shadows of the evergreen trees. He squinted into the darkness, but he could not see anything that proved they were being observed. Just flashes of white that could have easily been simple snowflakes in the wind.

“Are we there yet?” Alphys bounced about in the snow, barely able to stay calm as they walked. Alphys didn't seem to mind the cold so much in her excitement.

Since leaving their home she hasn't stopped talking about her friends. How nice they were. How cool they were. She was trying to talk them up, but every-time she mentioned the little bone children, Bertram felt a shiver of guilt creep across his soul. After all, his dear intelligent daughter had came to him for help and he had dismissed her.

Everyone in the guard had tried to comfort him about it, but in the end he still ignored a cry for help and he felt awful. His fault or not, it was his inability to trust his daughter that continued their torture. The conversation over the phone with their guardian hammered in just how fragile they were. It was stressed that they would all need to be VERY careful while visiting. So much guilt...it refused to leave him.

Under his arm he carried a present. Hopefully, it would be a good start to make amends with the skeletons. Inside were some cookies, simple butter and sugar ones. Bribery to the highest degree, but he hoped it would be good enough to at least make them a little more comfortable.

“Almost there.” He finally spoke. He reached out a clawed hand to hold his daughter close, a little paranoid with all this ice around. What if she slipped and hurt herself? That wouldn't do at all. He only wished that the 'being watched' feeling would go away. It had started ever since he set foot in the frozen town.

His old instincts flared nervously as he daughter held his hand and led him on, her ramblings a low buzz in his mind.

They were shortly directed to a pleasant little two story house. Seems that Grillby, the boy's guardian, was very well known and beloved in town. Just about everyone knew where he lived. The front of the house was fairly plain and simple. It stood out from the permanent Gyftmas decorations on the other houses for sure.

He hummed nervously, adjusting his coat and hesitantly knocking on the door. There was a sharp bark from inside the house before it went silent again. He had to wait a few seconds before the door opened and a warm draft of heated air spilled into the front step. Bertram's sigh of relief caught up in his throat when he realized who had opened the door. Despite knowing who he was, it was still a bit of a shock for Monsters old enough to remember the war.

Grillby, former Major General of the Royal Monster Military...Bane of Humans...The Flames of Vengeance.... ...was standing there, wearing a bright pink t-shirt with 'HOT DAD' written on it in a flaming font. Hot dad indeed.

“Hello...” The fire monster adjusted his glasses as he peered at the two dinosaurs before him. His gaze then turned to the smallest dino. “.....Alphys....I take it? Welcome to our home...”

“YEAH!” She squeaked and flailed her arms as much as they could under several layers of cloth. She vibrated slighted. “Are Sans and Papyrus in there? Are they okay? ARE THEY ALRIGHT? CAN I SEE THEM N-”

“Ah...yes....yes....they are fine...” The flame held up his hands to calm the overly excited child. “They are inside...but please....be careful as they are still regaining their strength...”

“Don't be rough with them, sweet pea.” Bertram smiled and patted his daughter's head.

“Please be aware...” The flame addressed Bertram next. “They do not trust strangers....it takes a long time for them...to warm up to people. And...no sudden movements...and no loud sudden noise. Don't try to touch them unless they...initiate contact first. And don't...stare at them.”

Seems there were quite a few rules, but understandable ones. “I understand, I'll do my best to not intimidate them.” The dino nodded his head. He'll do his best, even though his species were not known for being intimidating. Pastel friendly dinosaurs were the entire family line.

Grillby nodded and stood aside to allow the two to come in out of the cold. Both dinosaurs wiped their feet before entering the house. What greeted them was not children, but an empty living room. It was warm and pleasant enough and quite roomy. Scattered among the furniture were large cardboard boxes with holes cut into them. Holes big enough for a child to climb inside, he figured.

And then, one of the boxes wiggled and two pinpricks of white watched from the darkness of the hole.

Ah, there they were.

“Sannnnnsssssss Papyrussssssss!” Alphys ran inside, beaming behind her glasses. “Guys! I'm here!”

The box wiggled before two bone puppies burst forth from the cardboard! Yapping , they tackled the little dinosaur to the ground. Thankfully, her several coats cushioned the collision as she fell with a squeal. She laughed and giggled, trying to fend of the attack of happy licks and nuzzles. The two whined and snuggled up against Alphys, not letting her get up off the floor. She found herself trapped under the puppies!

In the end she gathered them both up in her small arms and hugged them. “Heehee I missed you guys.” She smooched them both on top of their bony crests, avoiding the bandage still on Sans's head. They whined in response and began to purr. Sans's tail was wagging so fast it could take out a small child walking behind him. And of course, Papyrus started screaming in delight. She hugged them closer, eyes closed to fend off emotions that threatened to spill over. Her very first friends were safe now...it was almost too good to be true. But here they were!

Both Grillby and Bertram watched the interaction, both ready to jump in in case there was a problem. But...they doubted they would need too. All three kids seemed to be fine at the moment.

Then, all three children jumped up and started chasing each other other through the house. Soon the house echoed with shouts and barks as the children were well...children. They ran about until they had worn away that brief burst of energy to sit with each other once again. The brief episode only lasted a few minutes, but felt like hours to the excited kids.

The children of course, completely ignored the adults in the room. Grillby took it to be a good sign.

“You guys look so much better.” Alphys smiled, panting to catch her breath as she sat on the carpet. “You guys have your own clothes and everything now! A WHOLE house! It's so big!”

“Yeah.” Sans had changed into his humanoid form (much to Bertram's shock!). “It's great here!” He sat shoulder to shoulder with Alphys, wanting to be in contact with her at all times. “And....you're okay too, right? You're fine?”

“Of course I am! See?” She shed off the layers of coats to reveal a pink simple dress. She held out her arms to show that there were no bandages or marks of any kind. She was whole and safe. Sans gave her a look over, before nodding with a satisfied smile. “That's good...”

“And now that I know where you live, we can visit a wholeeee bunch now!” She picked up Papyrus and cuddled him, who was still a bone puppy. Papyrus purred as he got held, closing his eyes and sticking out a manifested tongue. Alphys smiled and rocked the tiny pup. "We can have more than just slumber parties then!”

“What else is there besides that?” Sans tilted his head as he scratched at his bandage.

“Well, there's dancing parties and cake parties...oh! Maybe we can go out somewhere, like to the toy store! But I'd have to ask Dad and Mister Grillby first.” Alphys stole a quick glance over at her father and Grillby, before turning back to Sans. “Are you happy here with Mister Grillby?” She dropped her voice to a whisper “Cause if not...I can bust you out again.”

“Oh! No we're happy. See, Grillby is our dad now! ” Sans smiled. “This is the best place!”

“Heehee you have a dad now too? My dad is over there!” She'll point. Sans turned to look. Wow, the adult did look a lot like his friend, but more orange and...round?

Bertram turned away from a quiet conversation with Grillby , looking to the children. He startled. The eldest of the skeleton children was staring right at him. Sans stared with his wide white pupils...before suddenly his eye sockets went pitch dark.

The older dinosaur balked at the look. The action seemed to please the skeleton enough where he turned away and back to Alphys. There, they resumed their quiet conversation.

“Don't worry about that...it is...a defense mechanism.” Grillby explained. “He is...a nervous child. He relies on...intimidation to protect himself...”

“Ah well...yes of course. That makes sense...” Bertram swallowed. He did his best to tear his gaze away from the children, remembering the 'no staring' rule.

“If anything...he is accepting you rather well...” Grillby nodded. “He hasn't entered any...outright threat displays...lets keep it that way.” There was a soft warning undertone to the sentence, that one dad to another could understand. Bertram nodded with a swallow, watching the kids in the corner of his eye.

Alphys had taken out her phone and accessed her inventory. She proceeded to dump a large pile of building blocks and legos on the floor. Picking one up, she began to show the both of the skeletons how to snap them together. Papyrus was still too young to understand the concept of legos yet. But he seemed happy enough to turn some of the more brighter colored ones in his paws and sort them into piles. Sans picked up on it rather fast and he and Alphys laid on their stomachs and began to build a city together.

“Come, you can help me with lunch...and let them have some...quiet fun alone.” Grillby nodded to the kitchen.

“Ah yes...sure.” Bertram nodded and followed the fire elemental to the kitchen. He went slow as not to bother the children. To his relief, he was pretty much ignored as the children were far too busy with building to pay him any attention. It allowed him to catch a few snippets of their conversation as he passed.

“We need TWO candy shops, Sans.”

“Why two?”

“Cause two is better than one, silly!”

Smiling, he left the children to their playing. Time to help fix lunch.

It had not been a good time for Dr.Felix.

Confined to a jail cell ever since the laboratory raid, his only companions were his thoughts. Stripped of his clothing of status, he instead wore a simple orange jumpsuit, a mark of shame. Those he could deal with, but the harassment was a different story, from guard and prisoner alike.

Once it had slipped WHY he was in jail, the harassment has reached ungodly levels. Even murderers and thieves had no pleasant words to say to him once they found out. Even worse, he couldn't even rely on the companionship of his fellow scientists. They were all separated. Where the others were he couldn't begin the fathom.

Perhaps he was being given time to reflect on his deeds and repent...but that wasn't going to work. What was there to repent for? So, he festered in silence in the cold, dark cell, waiting for something to happen.

That is, until the captain of the guard came to 'escort' him to a interrogation room.

And that's where he found himself. His hands shook as metal cuffs dug into his arms. Cuffed to the arms of the chair, there wasn't any hope of escape. To prevent any further struggle, the metal of the cuffs hummed with magic. Magical runes woven in the metal were there to block all attempts of magic from a prisoner. Even his legs met the same fate, cuffed to the legs of the chair. And the chair itself remained firm, bolted to the floor. He was utterly trapped. They were not going to take chances with him.

He stared across the bare metal table at the fish monster sitting across from him. The room was dark. The only light came from a few bare light-bulbs scattered about. Their scant bulbs cast the sterile and gray room in harsh light. It was quite....uncomfortable. Felix kept blinking, after being in the dark for so long, the light was almost unbearable as he tried to adjust.

Gnash picked at his teeth with a claw, glancing at the imprisoned scientist. He was in his full armor, his polished sword sitting in hands reach. Clearly, if Felix did manage to try something, he would regret it.

“We've watched all the tapes.” Gnash finally spoke, breaking the silence. “We read all the notes. You and the others are looking at either life sentences, or if the king decrees, the death penalty. It depends on how good of a mood he's in...and I'll tell you now. Ever since he found about about this? His mood has been pretty damn poor.”

“It doesn't matter.” Felix's voice cracked, rough from not speaking for so long. Ever since his capture, Felix has resigned to his fate. There was nothing he could do to change any of it, so why bother? In the end he was a dead man no matter what he did. All it would chance was how quick and less painful that end would be.

“It does matter. Our King has sworn to protect ALL monster kind. And that includes the children you and your bastard of a leader made and tortured. He is not happy.”

“So? Let him not be happy. It doesn't matter anymore.”

“IT MATTERS TO ME.” Gnash slammed his fists so hard on the metal table, it left dents in it's wake. The sudden display of violence shook Felix out of his cool demeanor, causing him to gape in shock.

“IT MATTERS TO YOUR VICTIMS. Two which are still alive and WILL get their justice.” Gnash sucked a breath in through his sharp gritted teeth in anger. “You're lucky you are here right now and that I follow the law. Most of my men want you tossed to the Major General. Remember him? Flames of Vengeance? He'd annihilate you to the point where they won't even be able to find your dust. If he knew where you were, there would be nothing that would be able to stop him.”

Felix took a deep breath, despite himself he was shivering.

“Despite that, there is a chance for redemption.” Gnash casually withdrew his fists and checked over the armor, making sure they weren't dented. “We need to catch your bastard of a boss, and you can help. If you do, you'll avoid the death penalty for sure. That is the most we can do."

“No...I can't.” Felix finally spoke up, swallowing thickly. When did his throat get so dry? “I can't help you.”

“We need to know where Gaster is.” The Captain looked right through the cat, his yellow eyes narrowing. “And you need to tell us NOW.”

“I DON'T KNOW where he is!” Felix backed his ears and hissed. “He never told us about any other labs or houses he has. He could be anywhere!”

“Are you sure about that?” Gnash peeled back his lips in a silent snarl. “I've looked over your files. You've been working with Dr. Gaster for years. You were even in his same graduating class. You two were close. You must know something.”

“Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you.” Felix snarled back. He jerked forward in anger, stopped by the cold metal chaining him to the chair. His fur along his neck bristled from the interrogation. Seems he had found a sudden surge of bravery.

Gnash mealy regarded the feline coldly.

“Oh? And why not. He abandoned you and the rest of the team to face justice while he ran like a coward.” Gnash tapped his fingertips together as he started down the feline. “Odd, such loyalty for a...creature like that.” Gnash didn't want to quite call Gaster a man or a monster, he didn't deserve such terms anymore.

“Not so much loyalty.” Felix frowned, his ears pressed firmly against his skull.

“Ah, fear then?” Gnash leaned forward. “You know, we can protect you.”

“No...no you can't.” Felix chuckled, a bitter and deep laugh. “You can't. He can go anywhere he wants. He's a powerful mage. And, he has no conscious and only cares about the greater good...the BIG picture. What do you think he'd do to me if I spilled my guts about him? I'm surprised he hasn't killed me already. I am only a liability now.”

“But you're fine with him running loose.” Gnash quirked an eyebrow. “He's after the children, I'm sure of it, and you're saying you're are okay with that?”

“I'm fine with him doing what he needs to do.” The cat looked away.

“And that is?”

“Freeing us all.”

“Yes, free us all on the backs of tortured children. I'm sure our King would be delighted.” Gnash's voice dripped with sarcasm and withered patience.

“The King would rather us all waste away by waiting for humans to drop into our laps. At least Gaster has a proactive approach.”

“Hah! Proactive indeed! Tell me, what did he do to convince you that maiming babies was the right path to take?”

Felix grit his teeth and looked away, refusing to look the Captain in the face. He had no answer to that.

Gnash tsked. “Such a shame. A brilliant mind, wasted by following a psychopath. Keep lying to yourself enough and eventually you'll believe it. How long did it take for him to begin his experiments? You must have had an inkling of how wrong they were. We have the tapes you know...so we know about how much they screamed for help even as they turned to dust in their cages.”

Felix closed his eyes, wishing he could cover his ears and shut it all out.

“You must have felt something when you assisted Gaster in breaking their little bones. Or forcing them to train until some died of exhaustion. Or perhaps, you felt a little twinge of guilt when Gaster gave them injections. Injections that would make them scream for hours. Hours and hours of screaming. SURELY, that must have caused you some inconvenience, eh?”

“Stop.” Felix growled.

“Or how about when they started falling down or were born crippled? Gaster shoved them into tubes to prolong their suffering. Or how about cracking their heads open and messing around inside of it like you would a toy. How about the times you wouldn't feed them to measure how long they could last? Measuring how long it took for them to start dusting must have been a tough task."

“STOP.”

“How about when one of earlier children learned enough common to call Gaster 'Dadda''? And how he immediately killed them. You were there in the tape, you saw it all. That look on that poor kid's face when he pulled out the hammer-"

“STOP. STOP!” Felix roared suddenly. “SHUT UP! FOR ANGEL'S SAKE SHUT UP!”

Gnash scoffed. “Oh really now? Did I touch a nerve there, sunshine?”

“I'm done talking.” Felix leaned back, his face hard. “Take me back to my cell. I'm done.”

For a while they only stared at each other in complete silence. Gnash sighed and shrugged.

“That's fine. You don't have to talk to me. Instead, you can talk to him.” Gnash inclined his head towards the door. “A very, special guest indeed. Why, he even insisted he come talk to you and your buddies. But, we kinda wanted to keep you all alive for proper interrogation first.”

“Talk to wh-”

And then the door opened, the light washing out the figure, until they stepped forward. They had to duck, their great bulk and armor was not one made for smaller door frames. And then, stepping inside carefully to not his horns on the door-frame, was the King of monsters.

Dressed in his armor and cape, his trident clenched in his paw, the King surveyed the room. His eyes flashed blue and orange as he frowned. His aura of strong magic was enough to even make the Captain of the Royal guard flinch under it's power. King Asgore stood, regarding the disgraced scientist with both cold fury...and disappointment. It was almost like disappointing the best Dad in the world, and Felix felt his innards twist in icy discomfort.

Felix's breath caught in his throat. All bravado, all thoughts of the King being weak...a fool...died, paralyzed with fear.

Asgore walked forward, leaning down. His voice, deep and powerful, rocked with the undertones of sadness and restrained rage.

“Now....let's talk.

With two monsters helping in the kitchen, lunch was ready in record time. Grillby couldn't help but miss the children's presence as he cooked. Sometimes they liked to sit and watch, asking questions about cooking. For now though, it was important to let them catch up with their friend. Bertram proved to be a capable cook, explaining that it was just him and Alphys. SOMEBODY needed to be able to make food.

In time a simple meal found itself put together. Mashed potatoes, meatloaf, and some mixed roasted vegetables. Grillby set out glasses of milk and plates for the children. Satisfied with the placement, he went out to fetch the skeletons and dino.

And what a sight greeted him!

Sans and Alphys had on rhinestone encrusted skirts, glittery tiaras, and bows. In both their hands they had little plastic wands. Clearly, Alphys has brought plenty of items with her, including dress-up props. They were trying to stop Papyrus, who was crawling around their lego city. He stopped once in awhile to shove buildings into his mouth to chew on. He left a trail of colorful plastic collateral damage in his wake as he crawled. He babbled nonsense words as he picked up another building and started pulling it to pieces. Papyrus clearly was having the time of his life!

“Quick Sans! Use your Pup Power COSMOS ATTACK.” Alphys posed dramatically, spinning carefully to not step on a lego with her bare feet. “Or the city will be LOST!”

“Uhhhh.” Sans was clearly trying to learn this 'game' as he was going along. “Uh...uh....COSMOS ATTACK ACTIVATE! ka-powwwww! Whooshhhh!” He pointed his wand (both had hearts on the ends!) at his little brother.

Papyrus didn't seem to care. He spit out the building he was chewing on and reached over to grab another in his little hands. "Ababa Ba!"

“Pap, you're suppose to fall over!” Sans tried to whisper. “That's cheating!”

Papyrus simply started chewing on the legos again. “Bloo aaaaaahhh bab!”

“IT ISN'T WORKING! WE MUST COMBINE OUR POWERS!” Alphys went to strike another pose, before she paused. Sans looked up to see where she was looking, before breaking into a smile.

“Hi dad!”

“Hello Sans...what are you three playing?” Grillby smirked as he looked over the wreckage. Seems the building block city they were building has fallen to ruin. Papyrus of course was in the middle of it.

“We're magical girls...I think! With....with...” Sans frowned in thought, trying to remember the rest of it.

“Magical girls with superpowers we use to save the day!” Alphys chimed in. “We spin around and get wands and crowns and dresses and MAGICAL POWERS!”

“Yeah I'm a space magical girl, and Alphys is a mecha one!” Sans beamed.

“Oh I see. .” Oh no, this was too pure and innocent. Grillby's flames turned a warm golden color to reflect his mood. “And how did that go?”

“We were protecting the city but...I don't think Papyrus knows how to play too good yet.” Sans looked over at his younger brother. Said brother started smashing buildings down and scattering pieces everywhere. “He's a cheater.”

“I am sure he'll be...a more involving playmate when he is a little older.” Grillby chuckled. “Now, it is time for lunch. Little ones must eat....even magical ones.”

Grillby has spoken the magic words It seemed! Sans picked up his brother and all three children made their way to the kitchen. Being magical girls was hungry work! The mess of legos and building blocks lay scattered all over the living room floor. He would remind the children to pick them up and put them away after Lunch.

A flash of movement at the window caught his eye and breaking his current train of thoughts. When he went to look, there was nothing there.

There was a brief surge of paranoia...before he relaxed. The dogs were on the case. They were guarding the house. He had no choice but to trust them and he did. He has known the Canine guard unit since they were all puppies. All good and dedicated dogs. And if someone did manage to get through them, than they would sorely regret coming here.

With that, he left for the kitchen, prepared for whatever might happen.

After all, prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.

The Dogi crouched, hidden in the snow. They had traded in their usual black cloaks for white ones, becoming almost one with the snow around them. They were trained in the art of stealth, almost becoming one with the wilderness around them. They have stopped in their small patrol area to peek inside the house they are guarding. So far...so good. Grillby was burning brighter than he has for years. It was good to see him happy, him and the children too. They aimed to keep it that way.

They were sure that the adults knew that they were being watched.

Of course, they don't mean to cause discomfort, but they had a job to do. And that job was keeping an eye out over the family. They wouldn't put it past Gaster to attempt to retake his 'property', and if he tried, they would be able to catch him.

Dogamy glanced over at his wife. She was looking tired and he was feeling so too.

“Dear...we've been at this for a while now.” He began softly.

(“Yes. We have.”) Dogaressa's reply was short, her dark eyes scanning the area around them.

They have taken refuge in the shadow of the wood. It offered superior natural camouflage. It's position also allowed them to set up ambushes and trap if need be. Lucky for Grillby, his house was close enough to the wood to offer such natural protection.

“When Lesser and Greater come to relieve us, you are getting some sleep.” He looked over to his wife . “You haven't slept at all these past few days.”

(“How do you expect me to sleep, where there's....that thing...running around? He had no problem hurting these puppies, what makes you think he would have issue hurting the other pups in town?”)

“I know...but we're only two dogs. We have the whole canine unit out now. We can't do anything if we're too tired to fight!” Dogamy placed a paw on his wife's shoulder. “You know it, it's one of the first things they drilled into us at the academy.”

Dogaressa sighed. (“I know...I know...”)

Their conversation cut out when a low short howl echoed from town. The Dogi tilted back their heads and howled back. Two loud barks was the swift reply, drawing closer from the center of town.

Part of what made the Snowdin guard so effective is their long distant communication. In no time at all, Greater and Lesser Dog approached from the haze of snow. When they saw their two commanders, they snapped crisp salutes.

<”Lesser Reporting in!”> The shorter dog panted, his tail wagging in excitement.

<"Greater reporting in! News from the Big Captain!”> Greater loomed over the other three dogs. With his magical armor, he was the biggest and strongest out of all the canines in raw physical power.

(“Good news I hope?”) Dogaressa glanced at her husband. He looked back before squeezing her shoulder again.

<”Yes! Yes!”> Lesser vibrated, his neck extending a few inches. <”Bad scientists talked! Secret bad scientist holes are being found now!”>

“Excellent news!” Dogamy grinned. “See 'Ressa? Things are looking up.”

<”Won't be long now!”> Greater opened his small jaws in a wide doggy grin.

Dogaressa allowed herself a smile, a rare thing since the case began. (“Then I suppose you'll be taking our posts for the night?”)

Both Lesser and Greater saluted and nodded.

“Alright then, goodnight you two.” Dogamy took his wife's hand and began to lead her back to the barracks for some shuteye.

<”We will!”>

<”We'll keep our noses to the air!”>

Satisfied, the Dogi melted into the darkness and vanished from view. It was time for them to get some well deserved rest.

Lesser and Greater drew their weapons and assumed their posts. They weren't made for stealth, but their white fur and light armor helped them blend into the snow. If anyone came around, it would be clear that the house was being guarded.

There they would remain steadfast and faithful, watching over the house before them.

They are good dogs! Best dogs! Maybe if they were good, they would have time to go and visit the bone puppies! They liked the puppies! They were good dogs too!

They wagged their tails and panted, keeping a watchful eye over the house.

Good dogs!

Best dogs!

Hours had past since lunch and dinner, and the children had a blast. Of course they played some more, running around and yelling likes kids tend to do. Bertram had given the boys his gift of cookies, but to his surprise they didn’t eat a single bite. Sans briefly vanished upstairs with the box when he thought nobody was looking. When he came back down he was box-less.

Hrm.

The boys were then introduced to popcorn, anime, and dancing...in that order. Sans found that he liked the anime, but not so much the dancing. He wasn't quite used to all the noises and movement yet, and found himself getting a little anxious. Sans grew up in sterile gray walls and little to no stimulation...cartoons and music were still a little overwhelming for him.

Luckily Grillby seemed to have a sixth sense now to Sans's moods and casually suggested that they all sit down for a story. It was getting late after all, and the children were beginning to wind down. Sans and Papyrus had low energy to begin with, but even Alphys was getting tired too. To Bertram, she had played harder than she has for a long time and for once, was properly tired out.

So Grillby sat down, his flames crackling and popping gently like an old warm fireplace. He cracked open an old dog eared copy of 'Winnie-the-Pooh', a human book about little stuffed animals that lived in a wood. Like most books, it was recovered from the dump and restored at the local library.

Since taking in the kids, Grillby has found himself slipping there when he can. They had quite a few books that came from the surface about humans, but the children seemed to like them despite it.

Still a good story is a good story, no matter where it comes from.

Eventually, the stories were over and it was time to get ready for the 'slumber' part of the party. Grillby made a bed up on the couch for Bertram as the kids ran to brush their teeth and get changed for bed. Papyrus was still too young to brush his own teeth. Last time he tried he ate half a tube of toothpaste before Grillby could stop him. In time, teeth were brushed and PJ's were put on and good night's were exchanged.

And Sans was oddly excited despite his fatigue.

“Come on! It's time for bed!” He began tugging on Alphys's hand, trying to drag her to a room down the hallway.

“I know it is! Are we going to your room?” She was a little perplexed as she allowed herself to be dragged along. Papyrus had already ran ahead, seemingly eager for bed.

“Yeah! Wait till you see it!” The older skeleton could barely contain himself, his white pupils sparkling with joy. They didn't have long to go before all three were inside the room and Sans pulled back the curtains on his bed.

The lights were on and the stick on stars glowed a soft green, making Alphys gasp a little!

“This whole room is yours!?! Wow!” She looked around the toy and book filled room. It seems that the skeletons had begun to decorate themselves. Crayon doodles began to cover some lower parts of the walls along with the odd sticker or two. It felt homely. Much better than a cage that’s for sure.

“I knowwwwww! It's all ours! And we didn't have to do anything for it!” Such a concept was still a little beyond Sans, but he knew he was happy. He picked up his little brother and tossed him on the bed. Papyrus squealed and bounced on his side of the bed as Sans climbed in after him.

“Come on Alphys!” Sans beamed and held open the curtain for his friend.

“Ah! Coming!” Alphys quickly climbed aboard and Sans closed the curtain behind her.

Here in the darkness, the lights and the glow-in-the-dark stickers seemed to make the dark space into a whole other world. A warm and dark world none the less, but pleasant. Sans turned on a moon shaped touch-light and for a moment, banished away the darkness. Sans grinned, happy to finally show off something that truly belonged to him and his brother.

“Guys...this is so cool!” Alphys had ideas already on what to do with her bed when she got home. Curtains and lights were awesome!

“Heehee yeah...and if you get hungry...” Sans reached up into the wooden 'rafters' of the top bunk and pulled out the gift box of cookies. Seems that the wooden beams offered plenty of places to hide food and trinkets. Alphys could catch a glimpse of other hoarded treats now that she knew where to look. Thankfully they all seemed to be sealed in packages. She didn’t want to sleep in a crumb filled bed!

“Nah, I'm good, your dad is a good cook. I ate too much.” She giggled in response. Shrugging, Sans stuck the box back in with his other stash.

“He's the best cook.” Sans could only agree. It had taken time, but now he was able to appreciate all the new food and flavors now that he wasn't so sick anymore. Grillby had explained to him that after a period of starvation, it takes a while for someone to be able to eat well again. Luckily for Papyrus, Sans had always made sure he ate first, so his little brother wasn't burdened with such a problem.

He felt proud of himself for being able to ask for seconds today, much to his father's happiness.

“Yeah he is! I mean, my Dad is a good cook too.” She'll chuckle in response.

“I guess...Dads are just good...right?” Sans blinked.

She nodded. “Yeah! They are pretty awesome...heehee.”

For a while they sat together for a while, Papyrus crawling on them to seek attention.

“I'm...” Alphys started. “I'm glad...”

“Hrm?” Sans tilted his head, picking up his brother and cradling him on his lap.

“I'm just...so happy you guys are here now...” Alphys teared up despite herself. “I was just...so worried...”

“I know...but...it's good now right?” Sans for once, looked hopeful. “Dad said...he won't let anything happen to us...and I trust him.”

“True...Dad said that Mister Grillby is really strong.” Alphys wiped her face with a smile. “I mean, even if he doesn't look it.”

“Just what are you saying about my dad?” Sans quirked a brow ridge.

“That he's a nerrddddddddd.” The dino giggled.

“.....” Sans blinked. “What's a nerd?”

Alphys laughed and proceeded to explain the whole concept of 'nerds' to Sans and Papyrus, only to witness them slow blinking and nodding off after the five minute mark.

Well, she DOES tend to get a little long winded when explaining something.

“GOSH! Fine, I'll explain in the morning!” She giggled and grabbed the pillow she brought, laying down.

Only then to find herself pinned down by two purring bone puppies.

“NO! At least let us get under the covers first. Goshhhhh!” She struggled and giggled, trying to pull up the covers but the pups didn't want to move!

Outside of the door, Grillby listened with a smile until the laughter turned into soft snores. He wasn't quite spying, more like being a little paranoid, and wanting to be sure everyone was safe and sound. When he was sure the children were both asleep, he made his way down the stairs where Bertram was making himself comfortable on the couch.

“Thank you for staying.” Grillby began. “Are you comfortable?”

“Oh I am...thank you. And it's no problem...I mean...two adults keeping an eye out is better than one.” The elder dinosaur nodded.

“Mhmm...” Grillby walked across the room to look out the window again.

“So...still no sign of the guy...right?” Bertram pulled up the covers to his chin, but was still very much alert.

“No...but they will catch him….or I will.” Grillby sighed and closed the blinds, checking to make sure everything is locked up.

Bertram simply turned over on the couch, keeping his ear pointed towards the door. “...good night Grillby.”

“...Goodnight Bertram.” Grillby nodded, switching off the lights and making his way back to the stairs. “If you need anything, I will be upstairs. Sleep well.”

“Thank you, I'll try too.” Bertram sighed and settled down, watching as the fire elemental vanish upstairs. The absence of the fire plunged the house into darkness.

He knew that none of them will be getting much sleep that night.

Gaster stepped out of the rocky exit, frowning as his shoe crunched in the snow. So...they've run all the way out here, to the very edge of the underground? Hrm...Snowdin was still quite 'wild' after all this time, with more wilderness than town. It would make sense for beasts to seek out where they belong.

He glanced at his device, the blips on the screen pointing up to the Northwest of town near the tree cover. He was ready to step forward and continue his trek when a soft howl echoed through the cavern.

It was shortly answered by three short barks.

Ah yes, the mutt guard. Gaster wasn't a fellow who particularly liked dogs, but still admired their abilities. After all, he sought to emulate such traits in his creations, particularly the obedience and eagerness to please. But unfortunately, they have proved too willful for that. Failures, all of them.

Oh well, the E3 group should see some improvements, once he gains his experiments back. They would be the new basis for a new line, and maybe this time he will have a properly functioning group, moving up from alpha phase testing to beta phase testing.

He shook his head, he was getting ahead of himself. If he wished to regain his creations, he would need to find away around the guard. No doubt they have a special interest with his creations, due to their current puppy-like stage. And he knew better to cross such a bond unprepared.

Tsk. How unfortunate. He was already falling behind his time table with all these setbacks.

With no access to his main laboratory, he would have to start again, and he needed those two to do so. After all, does one not need a prototype before making a new version?

His musings were interrupted again by another howl and he frowned.

Well...looks like he must make a tactical retreat for now and come up with a proper plan before executing the extraction of his subjects.

He would need to find an opportunity to strike.

And thankfully, he is a patient man.

#trust #keetah writes #baby blaster au #gasterblaster au #undertale #fanfiction #sans #grillby #papyrus #alphys #gaster #babyblaster au #next chapter is going to be a doozy #happy valentines day to everyone #after one million years i rise from my grave

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