Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cold. So cold, was all the small skeleton thought as his brother dragged him across half of the underground. They had finally ended up in an area that his paranoid brother had finally deemed safe, the land was covered in a white substance that they could easily blend into and the buildings were surrounded by tall...green things?

He didn’t know what they were but his brother said they would help them hide from the mean person. He trusted his brother, his brother was smart and managed to get them away from the bad place.

A low grumbling noise came from under his shirt where his stomach would have been if he had one. He stopped and dragged his brother to a stop. “Papy I'm hungry...” He wined. They hadn’t eaten anything since the wet place.

Turning around to face him, his brother replied “shhh. Sans I’m sorry bro. I know. I'm hungry too, once we find a place to rest I’ll go out and find us some food ok?” Sans nodded his head. “Ok Papy!” He said, eager to find a place to call home, like in the stories that Papyrus used to tell him to make him feel better after the mean person had separated them for...no.

No Sans. Bad. Don’t think about that now. You and Papy are safe. Breathing deeply to clear his head he noticed his brother looking at him with a worried expression on his face. “Sans, you ok, bro?”

Careful not to do anything that would upset his brother he nodded his head and started walking towards the place his brother had pointed out. They were going to be okay, he thought. If only he had noticed the eyes watching them from the shadows.

Chapter Text

It had been a busy week at Muffets café. Monsters had been pouring in from all over the underground, guards mostly.

They devour food like beasts, thought Muffet as she wiped away another mess some idiotic guard visiting from hotland had made. At least the increase in numbers had been good for her business...however it was a bit unnerving when she overheard the reason why they were out here in snowdin. Apparently some experiments had escaped from that weird royal scientist again, but this time they were extremely dangerous to monsterkind and had to be hunted down and captured quickly and quietly as to reduce the amount of panic that could be caused by the spread of information of the danger to the public.

Muffet had been concerned with the safety of her friends and neighbours so she had asked a couple of her spiders to be looking out for anything suspicious.

Humming as she continued cleaning the table she saw one of the spiders that she had assigned to be on lookout, Jenny, enter through the back door. “Dominic.” She called to the spider currently working the bar, “I need to step out for a moment.” He responded that he would keep an eye on things for her and she headed towards the back to find out what Jenny had to report.

Chapter Text

The lab was in chaos.

Dr Styx was ...running? Floating? Hovering?...as fast as they could trying to reduce the panic of their employees...the panic that was causing the lab to fall into disarray.

Ok, So maybe it was a foolish idea to inform their assistants that the sentient, unpredictable and dangerous weapons that they had created with their...ex...partner had somehow escaped and were running around somewhere out in the underground. And ok, it may have been their fault that they had no way to track them. But how were they supposed to know that void magic and cameras didn’t mix?

They stopped moving when a frenzied humanoid monster bumped into them. The monsters eyes opened wide in horror. “s-s-sorry sir,ma’am,Dr Styx!” They stuttered, quickly turning to walk back the way they came. “Tra la la. It is ok. Everyone seems so strung up lately.” Styx replied cheerfully.

They didn’t know why everyone was so nervous around them. What was it about covering your entire body in a dark cloak and speaking about what is to come that sets monsters on edge?

The monster looked back to Styx. “Any news on the missing weapons?” They asked, eyes skittering to each area of the room as if the mysterious creatures would jump out at any second. “Tra la la. Fate is not giving us any clues as to their current location.” The monster nodded and quickly speed walked into another room.

Really, thought Styx, why must everyone be so jittery? I have to make sure that the experiments are contained again soon. Humming a tune Styx walked through the door into Hotland.

“This time they will not be able to get away. Tra la la.....”

Chapter Text

Papyrus rolled up the sleeves of the large hoodie he had found during their journey through the underground, the sleeves had to be constantly rolled up and it was so long that it covered his knees. However, the pocket it had on the front was big enough for the food he had been able to pick up on the way to Snowdin....

Snowdin a place filled with happiness and people that cared for each other...yeah right, like in the story’s that....someone...used to tell him about.

Until they disappeared,and only that horrible hooded demon and their idiotic assistants were they only monsters that he and his brother had any contact with. He knew that if he and his brother didn’t get out soon they might disappear next.

He knew he had to act, so he did. When the hooded demon was distracted and left the testing area for a longer time than usual he quickly left the room and sneaked through the maze of corridors until he found his brother, then they ran.

Past the land of fire. Past the place with falling water. Until they had found the town from the story’s. It was much colder here than the other places he had been, so whilst Sans was setting up a small shelter hidden by the snow covered trees Papyrus searched around behind a couple of the brightly lit building until he found some clothing that would keep them warm.

For Sans he had found a plain grey sweater that was clearly too large for him, a striped sock and a star patterned sock and a blue piece of cloth that he had tied around his neck like a cape. For himself he had found a baggy red hoodie and a pair of long green shorts which functioned as trousers. He disliked the bright colours but he would take what he could get.

Looking towards their shelter he found Sans curled up asleep in his blaster form, half buried in the unusable fabric that had been declared bedding. With a quick glance around his surroundings he shifted into his blaster form and disappeared into the night. He was on the hunt for food.

Chapter Text

Styx was a fool.
How could he have not intervened sooner, if he had he might have been able to find and convince the children to come with him instead of hiding who knows where in the underground.

They could be in danger! They could get sick, or injure themselves, or a stranger could kidnap them. Gaster was worried, his plan was failing, his kids were somewhere out there in the underground.

They had no experience whatsoever with the world outside the lab. All he wanted was to distract Styx long enough for them to forget what they were doing, as that idiot is prone to do, long enough for him to find the children, grab them and run to the safety of his home in Snowdin.

And in the unlikely chance that Styx manages to find them, his house was near the river, so he would be able to get a quick getaway. One of the many perks of the job of the Boat guy.

But his plan had failed....wait....his house in Snowdin! He used to tell them stories of his home town! They must have gone there! Gaster's eyes lit up in happiness. He would find his boys and he would keep them safe.

No matter what.

Chapter Text

Looking at the spider in front of her, Muffet could see that they had important information.
They were constantly moving around, jittery, agitated.

“Jenny, dear, please calm down and tell me what you’ve found out.” She said in her motherly voice, she truly cared for each of her spiders, they were her family and it would not do if they became ill from stress.

Slowly, the spider stopped shuffling around and focused its direction directly on Muffet. It explained, through the language of movement that spiders use to communicate, that it had seen two children, they were skeletal in nature, however they couldn’t get a clear look at them, as they worked hard to keep unseen from the residents of Snowdin, the little ones had not even had any clothes to protect them from the cold until hours after they had arrived, the slightly larger one, much likely the older had been searching around a couple houses near here whilst the other had disappeared into the woods. They had kept up surveillance until the child had just vanished into thin air.

Muffet propped her head up on her upper left arm as she listened to Jenny's tale of what they had found out. Those poor children, she thought, probably runaways and terrified out of their minds of the sudden increase of guards in the area.

But also not only is it dangerous to sleep out in the woods, there is also the danger of those escaped experiments of the royal scientist. She was determined to find away to convince those poor darlings to stay with her until she could find out more about the situation.

But first, this café wasn’t going to run itself. Back to work.

Personally, he thought their nest looked awesome!

Sans was proud of what he had been able to do with the things that Papy had brought him, a large brown box with parts that moved and were fun to chew on, and lots of soft tube...things...clothes?
Like the pretty ones that he wore on his feet to stop feeling so cold.

He poked his head out of the pile of bedding he had been napping in when he heard someone approaching. Blinking sleepily, he saw the bright colour of his brothers clothing...his brother had called it a ...hoodie?

He got excited and jumped up, still in blaster form and ran over to his brother. “Hi Sans.” He said calmly smiling at his brother, “I found us some food.” Sans barked excitedly and taking a piece of his hoodie in his mouth dragged his brother into their nest.

Papyrus slowly sat down cross legged and emptied his pockets of his findings, a half eaten sandwich, some old pastries and an apple with a bite taken out of it.

They happily ate, splitting the food between the two of them. Afterwards Papyrus shifted to his blaster form and curled up with Sans to sleep...

Chapter Text

Styx had been strolling around the underground for hours, at first they were searching for the two missing experiments, however... they got distracted.

Once they had entered Waterfall they couldn’t help but notice the beautiful and entrancing way the water flowed,and how could they not say hello to each of the Floweys in Flowey town? And by the time they had finished having a lengthy discussion about certain human historical documentaries with one of the younger guard recruits, a short yellow lizard, enough time had past that they had forgotten the reason they had left the lab in the first place.

The shining grey doors of the lab buzzed open, the sterile white walls of the lab coming into view. “Tra la la...” Styx said, but as they stepped inside they stopped.

Seeing the chaotic state the lab was left in brought back the memory of what they had left the lab to do in the first place. Find the escaped experiments. They brought their black featureless arm from out under their cloak and slapped their face. “Tra la la...I should probably leave this to the guards.” Styx announced to themselves.

Suddenly they noticed other members of staff in the lab staring at them. They cocked their head to the side. “Tra la la. Is something wrong?” This was strange, thought Styx they did not seem to look nervous as they normally do, instead the look on their faces is one of...wonder?

One of the gawking lab assistants cleared their throat and said, “you have arms?” Styx nodded, confused as to why others always found that strange. Sure, I keep them hidden most of the time but that is best for everyone, thought Styx.

They truly did not understand why everyone they met had stared at their arms whenever they were visible. Turning towards the corridor leading to their office they glided through the corridor, humming their tune. The guards would get their experiments back soon, they just knew it.

Then they could find a way to break that infernal barrier and finally achieve their true goal, what they had wanted to do since the barrier had cursed them to this place.

They could finally......

Chapter Text

Papyrus was still comfortably curled protectively around Sans as the Underground changed its lighting to simulate the morning on the surface, but like all good things it had to come to an end.

Still asleep his brother started hitting him in the face with his tail. Getting slightly annoyed at being disturbed during his rest Papyrus slowly started getting up and stretching his tired limbs, it had been hard wandering through the underground and harder doing it without gaining any attention from the one hunting them.

Turning his head he gazed lovingly at his smaller sibling, for Sans he would do anything to keep them safe...anything. Yawning, he carefully climbed out of their nest trying his best not to wake his brother, he may have had more energy than Papyrus most of the time, but the escape had affected both of them and they needed time to recover from the long journey.

Shifting to his humanoid form he scanned the area, looking for anything different from the night before, when it came to his brothers safety he would take no risks. Mentally declaring it safe enough he stealthily headed towards town.

Passing through the snow covered trees he felt proud of himself for finding such a well hidden hiding place for himself and his brother, the snow the area was covered in was cold but they could easily blend into the veil of white, and the dense amount of trees would make it harder for the ones following them to chase after them if they were found.

However, this location also had its drawbacks, the woods had little to no sources of food, so he would have to enter the nearby town to find things for him and his brother to eat, risking the chance of being discovered.

Nearing the edge of the tree line he spotted the colourful, flashing lights that adorned each of the buildings. He stood there for a few seconds, mesmerised by the patterns before snapping out of the trance.

Glancing at the main street for any signs of life and seeing no one he stepped out from his cover, quickly rushing to the shadows behind the closest house. He crept over to one of the shiny containers of food that he had discovered the first time he had come to this area of the underground and peered at its contents.

Inside was some cardboard, a blanket riddled with holes, which he picked up and held in one arm close to his chest with the intent to give it to Sans, and torn pieces of paper. No food. Sighing, he went on to the next house. No luck there ether. And the next. Still nothing.

At this rate he was becoming scared, what would he do if he couldn’t find any food for his brother or himself? Slightly panicking he looked behind the final building, it was larger than the houses he had searched behind before, he hoped that maybe here he would be able to find something. Slowly he stared into the container. He let out a breath of relief, inside were some of those nice sweet things that he sometimes found thrown out half eaten, and some of these looked like they were intact! Papyrus was filled with happiness.

He quickly grabbed the pastries and stuffed them in the large pocket of his oversized hoodie. Suddenly he heard a noise coming from inside the building, it sounded like it was coming closer.

Alarmed he shifted into his blaster form, grabbing the blanket in his mouth the shot away towards the trees and melted into the shadows.

He had not seen the concerned spider monster watching him through the slightly ajar back door of the café.

Chapter Text

Muffet watched the child through a slim crack in the door. She had noticed that the monsters of snowdin had been careful with what items they had decided to throw away, from conversations she had overheard they assumed that a feral animal must have wandered into town and that was the reason why the number of guards had increased.

Muffet had used this information to her advantage, she made a plan. With a limited amount of places to find food hopefully they would be drawn to her cafe, then she would regularly leave out proper food, which she hoped would allow them to eventually feel like they could trust this area. And soon she would be able to introduce herself without scaring the poor dears off.

But she hadn't been expecting the child to be able to change shape. That had been an unexpected surprize. One of which she wished her spiders had informed her of...however if the little darlings were as afraid and wary as she was told they had been then she had realised why.

Still they were just children, no matter what abilities they had. Poor homeless children that she needed to find a way to help.

Stepping outside into the frigid Snowdin air she looked over her trash can. Good, the food had been taken. At least she knew that they had something to eat. Turning around to go back inside she looked out into the distance, wondering where these children had come from.

Chapter Text

Sans woke up alone in their nest.

This wasn't an uncommon occurance, Papy normally left earlier than Sans usually woke up to go off to find food.

Sans was glad that his brother had been so productive lately, when they were at… that place... Papy would just shut down most days, those days he was an empty shell and it terrified Sans that he could loose his brother forever.

The only way the mean person would be able to get a reaction out of him was to threaten to harm Sans.

But that was the past.
Now his brother was constantly coming and going, gathering things for them to eat or add to their small shelter. Sans was proud of the improvement his brother had made, however he didnt like how much more protective his brother had gotten out here.

Due to his fragile condition his brother had told him not to leave their nest, Sans protested this but Papy would hear none of it. He knew his brother was looking out for him but he felt restless, he had so much energy to burn. All he could do without ricking the wrath of his brother a pace around the shelter they had built.

Shifting to his humanoid form he stood up, rubbing sleep out of his eyesockets and walked over to one of the bushes that they had used as a support for the nest. Peering through the leaves he looked for Papy.

Not here yet.
Sighing he sat down and started pushing the snow by his feet into piles to pass the time until his brother returned.

Chapter Text

Over the next few days Muffet felt like progress had been made.

Each night before she closed the cafe for the day she would leave out a decent portion of food for the children, slowly and carefully placing the plate a short distance away from the back door as not to frighten off one of the children if they were watching from the shadows.

She had also asked the spiders to watch the area to find out, if possible, where the child that gathered the food went.
Muffet knew that there was another child and wanted to find out its condition, why the other child left them to gather food alone.

So every night her spiders lurk in the shadows behind the cafe watching the child come and go.

So far they haven't been able to track where the poor dears are hiding but Muffet was happy.

Each morning when she opened up the cafe she found an empty plate.

Sans was really happy!

The food Papy always brought now was amazing.
Sweet sugary treats that were completely intact. His eyelights were permanently star shaped due to the sugar in his system.

Vibrating with energy he sat twitching next to his brother's sleeping form. Lately when Papy found a large amount of food he would spend most of the day sleeping unless Sans kept jumping on him to wake him up.
Such a lazybones.

He had decided that today he would let his brother rest, after all he had done Sans thought he had deserved it.
Today he would be the one to get food for Papy!

The past few days as they curled up together to sleep his brother told him about the place he found the food. The brightly lit building, slightly larger than all the others, with monsters constantly coming and going.

Confident, Sans stood up and raced past the trees that hid their shelter from prying eyes. When he was close enough to Snowdin to see the monsters going about their day he suddenly halted.
Fear paralyzed his body.

He was alone.
Papy was not here.

He didn't know what to do if one of these monsters decided to take him back to the mean person.

Glancing down the street he saw the silhouette of Muffets cafe and calmed down. The brightly lit building, slightly larger than all the others, with monsters constantly coming and going. This was the place Papy had told him about. This was where he would get some food for Papy.

He slowly approached the cafe, careful to keep a large distance between himself and the monsters walking down the street.

As he walked he noticed that people would occasionally glance his way. Nervous, he started walking faster until he stood directly in front of the door of the cafe. Turning his head to scan the area, he noticed nothing that would cause him to panic further.

Turning back towards the door he pushed it open and walked inside.

Chapter Text

When Papyrus woke up something felt off.
Lifting his skull he glanced around the nest and noticed what it was.

Sans was gone.

He leaped up, rapidly shifting to his other form, for once grateful of its abilities to expertly hunt down his target.
Exiting the nest he hastily ran through Snowdin forest scanning for any sign of his brother.

He stopped, panting, near the treeline that bordered the town.
If Sans had been foolish enough to enter the town...

Papyrus was worried.

His brother was too kind to be able to defend himself if...

Thinking of all the bad things that could be happening to his brother Papyrus was filled with dispair.
He couldnt give up.
Not until he found Sans.

Breathing deeply he wandered into town. He stealthily lurked in the shadows to avoid the attention of the monsters on the street.

As he passed the building that never threw out any food, he had heard that it was called the library, he overheard the conversation of a pair of passing monsters.

“Wonder what that kid was doing on his own wandering around town like that?”

“Dunno. Hopefully Muffet can convince the cute little guy to tell her how to contact his parents, they must be worried sick.”

At this point Papyrus stopped listening. Muffet. Sans was with someone named Muffet. It sounded familiar, but from where?
Not the labs, the names there were formal.
Not during the journey, they hadn’t stayed anywhere long enough. Maybe here? Wait...Muffet. Muffets.

The place that he always got their food.

He felt like an idiot. He remembered telling Sans that he got most of their food from Muffets.
Papyrus came to the conclusion that Sans, being the caring brother that he is, went to find him food.

Papyrus was touched by the gesture however…
Sans didn’t approach carefully.
He walked through the middle of the street in full view of everyone.
And worst of all he didn’t go for the discarded food by the back of the building.
He entered through the front door.

Papyrus was full on panicking as he raced to Muffets, terrified of what could happen to his brother if they were found.

To say Muffet was surprised at the small skeletons entrance was an understatement.

She looked up from the bar when she heard the door open and saw a small skeleton child enter. The little one was dressed in an oversized grey sweater, mismatched socks and a blue...cape?

She thought it was strange that this child would right in when the other had been so careful to remain hidden, but looking closer she noticed that this child was smaller, younger possibly?
Perhaps he had wandered off as young children tend to do.

He seemed to be nervous, giving quick glances to each area and fiddling with the ends of his cape.

This was the chance she had been waiting for. A time when she could directly communicate with the children and find out more about them.

Slowly and as non threateningly as possible she walked over to the child and knelt down to their height.

“Hello dear, is there something I can help you with?”

Chapter Text

Styx had been having trouble focusing on their work lately.

They weren't experiencing their usual problem of doing multiple things at once then forget what they were doing in each situation. No. They were worried about the escaped experiments.

If anything damaged them or in the unlikely event killed them, they would have to start back from square one
...without their old partner
...which may not be possible.

Placing their hooded head on their cluttered desk they sighed. Ever since they started working on the currently escaped experiments their already fragile relationship with Gaster had started to decay.

What a funny choice of word they thought, placing one of their blackened featureless arms beside their head.

The void was such an interesting thing, an unexplored realm of unknown magic that connected between many worlds. Although it had corrupted their being, Styx missed the void.

So calm, so peaceful.
Unlike this world of monsters struggling for their freedom.
Or the worlds that they had seen before, such as the world that they had accidently pulled their partner from.

Thinking about their partner they remembered, they had seen him the day the experiments escaped...maybe he had seen where they had gone? Styx raised their head from the desk and stood up.

“Tra la la. See you soon Gaster, I hope you know where they are. Tra la la.”

Chapter Text

Papyrus was crouched in the shadows behind Muffets.

He knew he needed to get to his brother, but he was afraid.
He could hear loud noises inside, which he knew meant many monsters were there.

Monsters that could be hurting his brother this very second. Breathing heavily he sank to the ground.

He needed to get his brother.

His brother that he left alone.
He had failed his brother.
Now they were going to be caught and sent back to the labs and it was all his fault.

As his mind started listing these dark thoughts papyrus curled in on himself. His arms covered his eyes as he started scratching at his skull.

His whispers of pain hid the startled gasp of the one that found him.

Sans happily sat alone in a quiet corner of Muffets.

His legs swinging rapidly as he ate the food the nice spider lady had given him. He had been scared when he first got here, but after the nice spider lady, Muffet, she had asked him to call her, talked to him he felt much calmer.

She had asked him about his brother and if he wanted anything.
Sans thought she was really kind.

She had led him to this table and told him to wait there while she got him something to eat.
It wasn’t like the time when mean person had told him what to do, this wasn’t an order.

When she came back she had brought him something called a chocolate cake. It was the best thing he had ever eaten!

He liked Muffet. She sat with him even though she probably had other things to do. As they sat together they talked about things, his favourite colour, his brother and the food that Muffet made at her café.

In the middle of an explanation of how to make a cake shaped like a food called a pizza a spider approached their table. Sans didn’t know what it said but Muffet told him she had to leave for a few minutes.

Sans smiled and continued eating his cake.
He wondered if his brother would like it.

Chapter Text

Muffet sat with the small skeleton, thinking about what he had just told her.

Things were worse than she realised.

They were living in the forest.

Besides what she had managed to give them they ate only what monsters had thrown away.

They had no parents, or if they did Sans wasn’t mentioning them.

And worst of all, they somehow thought that the guard was after them.

No child should have to go through this, thought Muffet.
As she started explaining the various forms of cake to Sans she was approached by one of the spiders that had been watching the alleyway for her. She could barely understand its frenzied movements but it was enough to tell her that he had seen the other child.

“Please excuse me for a few minutes dear” She said to Sans as she got up and approached the back door to the alleyway.

Opening the door she didn’t know what to expect. Looking out she saw the other child, Papyrus, Sans had told her he was called. He was in his more animal like form, making small noises and he scratched at his skull.

She had to be careful to not frighten him, which could potentially scare him away or make him hurt himself more. Slowly she walked towards him and knelt down on the snow covered ground. “Hello dear.” She said calmly. She slowly raised her arms to snow that she meant no harm. Hearing her voice Papyrus stopped what he was doing and looked at her with a panicked expression.

Oh no.
This could be bad.

She had to diffuse the situation. “Your brother is inside is you want to see him.” She said hoping that the mention of his brother would calm him down enough to let her lead him inside.

Chapter Text

Papyrus glanced at the spider woman warily.

Her statement had confirmed what he already knew.

Sans was inside.

She must be trying to trick him into letting his guard down, like the hooded one sometimes used to do. But if he didn’t they might hurt his brother.
He hesitated for a moment, thinking of anyway he could find sans and escape without the monster in front of him knowing.
He could think of nothing.

Slowly, he rose up to all fours and walked towards the spider hoping that this wasn’t a trick after all.

Muffet stood frozen in place as the child approached her.
This was good.
Turning around she walked back to the door, holding it open for Papyrus to walk through.

Inside she was met with Dominic, the spider that was the most reliable to run the café when she was busy.

She could see from his movements that he was curious about the child sitting alone and the child that had followed her inside.

She waved him off with the promise to tell him about it later, though she doubted he wouldn’t know by then.

Everyone in the family always shared information with each other so she assumed that when ending his shift he would exchange information with Jenny, the spider that oversaw the surveillance of snowdin.

She had seen those two together most of the time they weren’t working recently, it was obvious that they had a thing for each other. Except to themselves apparently as nothing had happened about it yet.

Going back to the task at hand she lead Papyrus into the café and towards the table his brother was at.

Oh, Muffet is back, thought Sans as he spotted his new friend reappear.

He waved at her as she headed towards him.

Looking closer he could see that there was someone coming with her.
Wait.
Is that?

“Papy!” Sans energetically yelled as he jumped out of his chair and tackled his brother into a hug.

Hmm? Papy hasn’t shifted to hug back? How strange, thought Sans.
His brother usually loved his hugs.
But Papy looked nervous.
Afraid.
Like the times when they had to wait for the tests.

Why was Papy afraid? Maybe he was shy? They hadn’t met a lot of people outside the bad place but Muffet was nice! She gave him cake! His brother was so silly!

“Papy come on! Say hi to Muffet! She’s really nice! She gave me cake!” He tugged at his brothers hoodie to try to get a response out of him but his brother just kept looking at the floor, ignoring him.

“How about we all have private talk in the back?” Suggested Muffet.

Chapter Text

Muffet sat on a box in the storage room of the café. She was glad she had decided to talk with the boys in here.

In the quiet atmosphere Papyrus seems to have calmed down. He had changed to his more humanoid form upon noticing the lack of other monsters.

It had been quite a thing to watch. She wondered if it had been painful, it sounded like it could have been.

“Alright then, sweetie, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?” She hoped that he would answer her. He just stood there, silent, holding his brothers hand.

Well, this was akwar- “Come on Papy! Stop being so quiet! Talk to our new friend!”
New friend?
Well at least she had Sans' trust.

“I-I...I’ll go back if you leave my brother alone.”

Wait.
What?
Go back where?
And why was he concerned about her and his brother?

Maybe she had misheard him, his voice was much quieter than Sans's.
“Sorry sweetie, I didn’t quite get that.”

“I said...if you leave Sans alone I'll go back...without a fight...”

Looking up at the spider monster Papyrus saw an expression he didn’t expect.

Worry.

But why would they be worried?

Surely they would be rewarded if they brought at least one of them back? Or maybe they would be punished for not recapturing them both. That thought scared him.

That would mean that it lured them into this room for a reason.
It was a trap.
It had to be a trap.

“I believe there may be a misunderstanding here. I want to help you two.”
“Why?” He asked. Why would anyone want to help them? They were just experiments.

“Because dear, I don’t believe in leaving children to survive on their own.”

Chapter Text

Bent over and panting for breath Gaster regretted his plan of running aimlessly around Snowdin until he found any traces of the boys.

Why did he even try it?
He was better than this, smarter than this.
He had spent too much time around Styx lately.

Glancing around at his surroundings he tried to ignore the curious stares of the local monsters. He wouldn’t let anything distract him from his task.

He thought back to when he had last interacted with the boys, what would they do if they didn’t know the area?
Where would they go?

Sans had always seemed anxious in any new situation and shadowed his brother and Papyrus was usually paranoid, which was to be expected with how they were treated.
So...where could they be?

He really should have tried to find a way to tell them to meet him somewhere instead of this pointless game of hide and seek.
Wait.
He had an idea.
If they wanted to temporary hide somewhere until he found them the best place would be the woods.

Plenty of places to hide and far away from any unknown monsters.

He frantically raced off in the direction of the woods not hearing the hushed talks of a skeleton child hanging around muffets.

Chapter Text

To anyone that would have seen him Gaster looked like a madman.

Diving in to various bushes and climbing trees, as he muttered under his breath “They have to be here somewhere. Just haven’t found them yet...Soon... Soon....Very soon....” Followed by occasional giggles.

Any monster that somehow managed to witness this quickly and nervously speed walked away, assuming whatever was happening was probably to do with those experiments that escaped a few weeks ago, that or the boat guy had finally lost his mind.

Though that would be expected since there were rumours that he used to work as a royal scientist.

And as with most of the scientists in the underground working with Styx could do things to a monsters mind.

Gasters rigorous search through the woods continued for sometime.
He would not eat.
He would not sleep.
Not until he found his boys.

After what felt like days of searching he finally had a clue!

Propped up against a tree was a worn cardboard box, the surrounding bushes covered some of it, hiding it from the sight of those with less observational skill than himself.

Gaster was amazed that the small structure was still somewhat intact in the freezing weather of Snowdin.
Bending over to peer inside he could see a small blanket and many tattered scraps of fabric and...a variety of...socks?

His last find had him puzzled however...
THIS IS A CLEAR SIGN THAT THE BOYS HAVE BEEN HERE!

Coughing into his hand he calmed his excitement. They had been here but they are not here now. He had noticed a lack of food in their hideout so maybe they had gone into town?
Turning towards the directing to Snowdin he started walking, it wouldn’t hurt to have a quick look? Maybe ask around?
And if he didn’t find them by then he would return here.

He had a good feeling about this.

He had a bad feeling about this.

Even after what the spider woman said Papyrus didn’t trust her. He doesn’t understand why she claims she want to help them if she gets noting in return.

That doesn’t make sense!

He was shaking where he stood. This monster was lying. They had to be!They just wanted to lower his guard so it would be easier to take him and his brother back to the lab.

He couldn’t go back to that awful place again!
And he wouldn’t let them take his brother either!

As he panicked about what what happening he started to change into his blaster form. The change was almost complete when he heard “PAPY!” He stopped changing and looked towards his brothers face.

His brother looked scared. Papyrus must of worried him. He changed back to his more humanoid form and attempted to calm Sans by hugging him.

Muffet coughed and both their heads turned to her.

“If you don’t feel comfortable talking to me today you could always come back another time...?”
She hoped that if she gave them time to talk to each other alone Sans would persuade his brother that she meant no harm and they would return.

However if Papyrus is as paranoid as Sans told her she still hoped that they would still take the items she left out for them.

Sans didn’t really know what was happening.
All he knew was that Papy was worried again.
After Muffet said they were free to leave Papy grabbed his arm and dragged him back through the way he had came. As he was pulled out the back door he had one last glance at the greatest place he has ever been in his life.

He walked silently beside his brother holding his hand, not really paying attention to his surroundings. His brother suddenly stopped and dropped down to the ground, pulling Sans with him.

Hmm?They cant be back already. Then he saw what Papy was looking at.

Someone had found their hiding place.

Chapter Text

They were given a way out and Papyrus would not refuse.

Grabbing his brothers arm he hurriedly exited the building.
He wasn’t going to wait for the monster to change their mind.

As he lead Sans back to their nest he noticed something odd, the area leading towards it was disturbed. It wasn’t like this when he had left to look for his brother.

It could have been an animal...but he had a feeling.

They were getting closer and suddenly he spotted movement. He ducked and pulled Sans down with him.

Someone had found them.

As he looked closer at the figure he thought he recognised them. Maybe someone from the lab?

That monster must have sent them!
But they just got back from there, when would they have been able to call...?

Maybe that monster really wanted to help them. From what he saw when he was there they treated his brother well. And anyway, they couldn’t go back to their nest if the people from the lab had discovered it.

In Papyrus's mind it was decided.

He would rather trust an unknown monster rather than risk any chance of his brother or himself going back to the hooded demon.

He poked Sans in the arm to get his attention. “Bro, we're going back to that spider lady. But we gotta be quiet, ok?” He whispered.

They were going back already?
But they just left.

Sans was confused but he trusted his brother.
And if they went back to Muffet he would get to eat more cake! He nodded when his brother said to be quiet and followed Papy's lead to change to his blaster form.

They silently walked back to Muffets.

It was getting pretty late and Gaster believed that he should put his investigation on hold.
If he went around in the middle of the night asking random people if they had seen two skeleton children...they might not answer him truthfully.

But tomorrow!
That was when he would get answers!

Knowing that soon he would find his children he happily strolled home. Or at least it started as a happy stroll until he spotted...Them.

What was that idiot doing out this late at night?

Avoiding work?
Going for a walk?
Or...looking for the boys?

If they were looking and they discovered what he had...
He had to distract them.

Which wouldn’t be difficult.

“Hello old friend.”

Chapter Text

“Hello old friend.”

Wait.
What did he just say?

Oh stars that idiot had noticed him.
Oh no they were coming closer.

Gaster felt dread as he realised he would have to have a conversation with the one he despised.

“Tra la la. Hello Gaster! I haven’t seen you in a while, not since our experiments escaped! How have you been?” Styx said cheerfully, waving as they came closer to him.

Their appearance was the same as he had seen them last, hooded cloak, hidden face and badge showing their status as royal scientist.

Although he himself had not changed much either, still wearing his grey jumper, black trousers and long black coat.
He should really try to update his look, sometimes monsters got confused as to why someone that steers a boat would dress so formal.

Thinking about it, changing his clothing might make him more approachable to the boys.
He would think about it later.
Back to the subject at hand, the idiot.

“For the last time,one they are not experiments they are children and two they are not MY experiments I quit, remember, if you can even do that you idiot.” Gaster replied trying to keep his voice calm.

Then the argument started.

“Tra la la. I'm not the one that fell into his own creation.” Styx said in their irritatingly cheerful voice.

“We both know that your the one that pulled me in!”

“Tra la la, you know that the void was lonely and that machine of yours was calling to me.”

“That was never my intention, you ruined my life!”

“Tra la la and how did I do that again?”

“You pulled me into the void with you, thus trapping me with no way to get back to my world, and then you give me hope by telling me that getting to simple worlds like mine is no problem then what do you do?

You take us to the wrong world and get us stuck here after we discover that we need the magic of the void to survive.

And then what do you do?

You create children with both of our magic hoping that we can use them to return to the void, but no its not that simple because the only way to make your plan happen was to torture them. And you wonder why I call you an idiot!”

At the end of his rant Gasters face was red with rage.

Styx just looked blankly at him and said “Tra la la, still your fault your the one that built the machine.”

He couldn’t take it any more. Gaster started screaming out in annoyance, head in his hand he mumbled insults to Styx under his breath.

Styx made a gesture of checking their watch, even though they did not own a watch. “Tra la la, well I have to go. Got me some important sciencing to do.” They turned and started heading towards Hotland.

As they left Gaster yelled after them “WHAT KIND OF SCIENCE DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING I'M THE ONE THAT GOT YOU THAT JOB! YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HOW AUTOMATIC DOORS WORKED! YOU CALLED IT WITHCRAFT! HEY GET BACK HERE DONT IGNORE ME! CHARON! DONT IGNORE ME CHARON! HEY!”

Well...at least he had distracting from the boys.
...Stars he hated that idiot.

Gaster turned around and started his slow walk home.

“Wow those guys really hate each other” Said Alphys from behind a nearby bush. Next to her Undyne spoke “They argue like an old married couple.”
“Do you think we should start heading home now?”
“...”
“You forgot to check the time and we're gonna get grounded aren’t we?”
“...yes” Undyne slowly nodded.