What Is This?

This time, it was the kid who woke me up. They were already bumbling around in their coat and boots, all strapped in and ready to go. A pang hit through my chest, but I shook it off. I got up and saw the kid had gone to the store and bought some cinnamon buns. and they had a bandanna around their face, covering their nose and mouth. It had a strange pattern on it but I didn't think about it too much.

"You got everything?" I asked as we left downstairs, they thought for a moment before nodding. We waved good bye to the bunny receptionist.

When we got outside, we found an excited and happy Papyrus waiting for us. The kid let go of my hand to run over to Papyrus, He wasn't the only one that was there to greet us. Sans was standing calmly next to his brother, When we came outside. he was watching me, but now with a different look more suspicious than hate, as if he's trying to figure something out. I quickly glanced at him before watching the kid again who was standing next to Papyrus, he smiles brightly to the kid.

"NYEH HEH HEH! I hope you are ready tiny human! I have very specific plans for your japing. Are you prepared?" The kid giggles then nods. Papyrus looks over at me for permission and I give him a smile, Papyrus has shown that he can be trusted.

"Have fun!" I waved widely at them as Papyrus whisked the kid off who knows where. I yawned and stretched, I noticed I wasn't the only one that Papyrus and the kid left behind, Sans stood off to the side, watching where the kid and Papyrus went. I turned to him and looked at his face, he cast a look at me, the same suspicious look. I continue looking straight into the eyes, unwavering even if his eyes make me weary.

"I'm sorry." I say. Sans' eye sockets widen as if he wasn't expecting that. He looks as if he was about to say something but I look to the ground, the snow next to his slippers and continue. "I must have done something to make you hate me, and look at me the way that you do. I hope you can forgive me for whatever horrible deed I must have done."

When there was only silence, I look up to see him looking at me strangely. Soon he noticed I was looking at him and shook himself out of his thoughts.

"no, no. you shouldn't have to apologies. i should, i- uh ahem i'm the one that assumed things from the start. i-... i'm sorry."

I smile at him but at the same moment a feeling of deja vu crowded me, A foggy memory surfaces, Once again it was from my point of view but a younger voice was speaking.

"B-but... sigh I'm sorry sissy..." I must have said from my past. I hear another young voice, seemingly younger than my own, "No! I should applojize, I is sowwy." There was no faces, just voices. but once again, a spike of pain flashed through my head. It leaves me dizzy and I lean a hand against the wall to the Inn to stable my self, I groan softly. Sans notices and concern flashes across his skeletal face and he reaches forward and sets a skeleton hand on my shoulder, looking at me worried. I pop on a smile and force my self to stand straight till it wore off. I shake my hand in a manner as if saying 'don't worry, everything's fine.' when in truth, my worry for my mental and physical health grows.

He removes his hand after I shook off the remaining dizziness. But his worried glance still stayed. Papyrus chose that exact moment to make an entrance. I see him running from afar, at first I was worried that the kiddo was in trouble but then he gets closer and I see an excited smile on his face and the child on his shoulders waving at me.

He skidded to a stop in front of us hopping softly in place. Excitement brimmed around them, finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! Sans! Taller Human! The littler human has agreed to be my friend! OH my GOSH! SANS CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!"

Sans' smile got brighter as he watched his brother hop around excitedly.

"pal-ease. i knew it'd happen." Sans said. At first I didn't understand but then it dawned on me. I stifle a laugh which seemed to egg Sans on. But before he could make another pun, Papyrus lets out a frustrated yell. The kid giggles from his shoulders.

It makes me worried that their all the way up there, I mean, if they fell. It could cause some serious injuries. Papyrus was basically a giant compared to the kiddo, and to me. But I trust that Papyrus wouldn't let them fall.

I glance up at the kid and wave, they giggled again and waved back.

"That's awesome Papyrus!" I flick my eyes to him, tilting my head a bit and smiling brightly, his cheeks strangely flushed orange which made me worried for a second. But it was gone as fast as it came. Must've been a trick of the light.

"so you guys gonna do more puzzles?" Sans asks them, The kid looked at me with puppy dog eyes then Papyrus did the same, I look between the two genuinely confused.

"What're you guys looking at me for?" I ask. The kiddo started wiggling on Papyrus' shoulders, Papyrus struggled to keep them on there. But the kid kept moving, they held something in their hands and didn't have a really good grip on the guy. I watched them confused at first, then it grew to worry.

Then the kid slipped. They fell backwards, their back to the snow, Papyrus didn't notice anything happened until it was too late. Panic spread through my veins and I felt my heart leap to my throat. I could hear their yelp of surprise and see their eyes widened in fear. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and with speed I didn't know I had. I ran over to papyrus' side and caught the falling child. I could feel them trembling when their entire weight slammed into my arms. It was enough momentum to send me to my knees. I sat on the ground, clutching to the child to my chest, the cold snow melting into my pants' knees. I stuffed my face into their hair, they trembled and grasped my shirt tightly, as if they were afraid they were going to fall again.

I understand why, they must still be afraid from when they first fell into the underground. The long fall into the darkness, grasping for something to hold onto but not finding anything. Not knowing when you're going to land, or if you'll even survive the fall. Endless falling, the wind whipping at your face and hair, your doom is set. The impact of the ground against your body, thudding against it. Breaking bones, causing head trauma. I'm lucky I can't remember, the kid must then.

I brought one of my arms around their back and comfortingly rubbed their back. I moved my head and pressed my cheek to the top of their head. Sounds faded back in and I could hear Papyrus sobbing, I look up at them and breath a sigh of relief. When Papyrus saw,, he inched forward, I could see orange streaks of tears staining his white bony face. Which I questioned but wasn't really surprised.

"I-I am so sorry! I didn't mean to drop them! Is the tinier human okay? Are they going to be okay?" I smile softly at them and look at the trembling child, their shaking slowed but was still there, I look back at Papyrus before answering.

"They're going to be okay, maybe no shoulder rides for a while okay?" He nods then apologies again, when I tell him its okay he nods but still apologies again and again.

"I am so so sorry taller human! I swear I didn't mean to!" He sniffles. he looks at the ground in front of me, ashamed.

"Papyrus." I say, "Look at me." determination creeps into my voice. He slowly looks up and sniffles again. I can't stand this sight of him, I might have only known him for a day and a half but I felt different about it.

"I trust you Papyrus, I know you didn't mean to drop them, I know you would never purposely hurt them. Its okay. I forgive you, No need to be sorry."

Papyrus slowly smiles and leaps forward wrapping his long bony arms around us. "Thank you Taller human!"

I reach my hand out and pat him on the back, He gets back up and looks at Sans, who Is staring at us with another look that I can't identify. I take my hand and trace my fingers through the kids hair, for some reason this calms the kiddo down. I continue running my fingers through their hair till they're completely calmed down, their breathing slowed against my chest. Their trembling nonexistent.

"You okay now?" I whisper in their ear, They nod but don't make any effort to actually move. I move to stand up but stumble forward after the numb feeling set into my legs. I chuckle weakly but set the kiddo down softly onto their own feet.

They take a step back and smile up at me, They start bouncing with newfound energy. Papyrus shuffled nearby, I look over at him and instantly understood.

"More puzzles?" I ask with a smirk on my face. Papyrus' face lights up and he bounds forward excitedly.

"Oh yes Please?! Taller human?" He looks at me with puppy dog eyes and I give him a small smile.

I shrug. "Why not? I'll even join you this time, if that's okay?"

I wanted to watch the kiddo, even if they are acting as if none of that happened. I felt that it'd be important to tag along.

Papyrus nods furiously, "YES! That makes it even better Sans?" He turns to the shorter skeleton, Sans was staring off into space and snapped back when Papyrus turned to him.

"hm? oh, yeah 'course bro. could never say no to you... whater we doin?"

Papyrus face palms at Sans blank face. "Puzzles, with the humans." Papyrus says in an obvious tone.

"oh, oh right! yeah sure, got the next one all set up."

Papyrus looks at his brother with astonishment and surprise, "Really Brother?!" Sans nods and rummages around in his jacket pockets, he pulls out some papers and hands one to the kid and one to me.

I look at the paper and see its a type of crosswords kind of thing. The questions were strange and unusual, and the optional answers were even more so. I furrow my eyebrows and look around the page, I find an answer but didn't have a pencil to mark it. I look up at the skele-bros.

"Uhh..."

Papyrus looks at Sans with a slight glare, "... Sans..."

Sans grins and looks at his brother with a sparkle in his white pinprick eyes. "yeah bro?"

"Why?"

Sans just smiles and winks. He looks back at us and shrugs, "oh well."

Papyrus sighs and shakes his head. He looks over at me and the kid. "Come! There are more puzzles to be solved!" He starts leading the way back to the entrance to the Town of Snowdin. I follow, smiling slightly. The kid shuffles up and sticks their hand into my own, I look down at them and give them a soft look. They lifted their head and met my look with a reassuring smile.

Sans was walking close by, I could see him out of the corner of my eye. Papyrus led us to a snowy path littered with X's. He started explaining how the puzzle worked but flew right over my head. The kid got it right away though and sped right through the puzzle. I congratulated them with a smile and a pat on the head, they giggled and smiled at me. Papyrus was happy as well, and quickly guided us to another puzzle, this one consisting of colors. He tried to make me do it, but every time he explained it, it didn't make any sense so he just gave me the instructions to do it myself and twirled away. I looked at the instructions but it was in words I couldn't understand.

And my head throbbed when I tried, I just stuffed it into my back pocket and followed. He continued showing us around, Papyrus introduced us to some Snow drakes and Ice Caps. Papyrus gave a present to a Deer saying it was tradition. But the deer complained. So I convinced Papyrus to take some off to save for later, and the deer was so grateful.

At one point we had taken the longest time on a puzzle, it was one of the X-O ones. The kiddo was determined to do this themselves. So I sat behind on a fallen tree log free of any wet snow, and watched. Sans sat next to me, grinning eternally.

I look at him and smile with a little wave, he nods and continues to watch Papyrus. I felt the emptiness of my stomach and heard the small beginning of a growl, So I slipped off the bag and pulled out the food. One container left. We'll have to stock up on money somehow, maybe I can get a job at that bar. If they need it, I don't even know if I have any skills that'll contribute to them.

But hey, gotta make money somehow. I opened up the container and saw it was the pie, I figured that if the kiddo hasn't eaten it yet, they're probably saving it for something. So I put the lid back on with a 'snap' and shuffled it back into the bag. I hit something with a solid 'kunk' and felt it, it felt like a book. I pulled it out and looked at the cover. 'Oh yeah! The book Toriel gave us.'

It read 'The Beginning' I furrowed my eyebrows and opened the cover to the first page, ignoring the protests of my stomach. Sheesh so needy.

'Long ago, monsters and humans lived in peace, till one day. War broke out between the two.'

'The humans forced the monsters into the mountain and then mages sealed the monsters in with a magical barrier.'

I widen my eyes. "You're kidding."

Sans looked at me with a look, "no, i'm sans." I look up at him and then snort but shook my head.

"I said that out loud? oops"

Sans chuckles and looks at my book. "whatcha readin?"

I look back at the book then turn it over to the cover, "Its called The Beginning. I'm not really sure what its about. Toriel gave it to us when we exited the ruins."

Sans gave me a confused face. But before he could ask anything the kiddo ran over excitedly, hopping in place, looking up at me.

"Did you solve it already?!" I ask in disbelief. They nod with pride, their chest puffing out. "Wow you're good." I encourage. They looked at the book with question in their eyes and I shrug putting it back into the bag and zipping it up then sliding it back onto my back.

"Eh, I'll tell you later. Who knows, maybe it'll make a good bedtime story." They squeal at this then hugged me for a second before running over to Papyrus.

I stand up and stretch with my arms in the air, onto my tippy toes. I let out a groan and then relaxed. Sans stood up beside me and stuck his hands in his pocket, or maybe they were always there and I didn't notice.

"I'm proud of them, they're getting along well." I smile watching the kiddo. "Heh, I don't even know their name." I hmm'ed under my breath in a monotone tune.

Sans kept watching me, "how'd you two meet?" I look at him with a soft smile but a distant hurt and confused look in my eyes. Feeling as if I had met the kid before the fall, I felt I had to say.

"Who knows."