#d!bug

Twins eyes shoot open in the dim light of the underground, blinking only once before sitting up and twisting her face in confusion.

only a second ago she was…

in waterfall?

no wait,

Only a second ago she was standing at the entrance to Snowdin forest, staring at a very stressed out looking skeleton, and now she's back at the start of the entire mission. She turns her head again to find Blade and Hammer, already wide awake and speaking to one another below the angelic light of the distant sun above the mountain.

Blade's expression was beyond tense, her hands clenched at her sides as she spoke distant words through clenched teeth. Hammers expression holds a tense smile, her eyes creased in suspicion, her arms crossed over her chest in a contemplative fashion.

Twin watches them only a moment more before turning her gaze down to the brightly glowing petals swallowing her form.

“No”

Twin's face scrunches up at the distant voice in the back of her head, a pleading tone that worries Twin to the core.

…

What was she thinking about again?

“Ah whatever.” Twins bodies rise, patting the glowing flowers from her legs and torso, unaware of the dream fading from her mind.

As Twin approaches, Blade turns too suddenly and too sharply, as if expecting a stranger to appear there.

“Well look who's awake!” Hammer chirps “what you dream about?”

“Nothing but you darling!” Twin qupis, smothering her taller counterpart as best she could in a hug

“That musta been one hell of a nightmare.” Twins' unoccupied body peers down at the ground, spotting Collar nearly buried in flowers at Hammers feet, who kicks her in the head at the insult.

“Fuck you Collar!”

“No thank you.”

“HEY!”

The girls all turn their attention to a very agitated Blade, her fist engulfed in orange flames as she tries her best to calm herself.

“This is no time to be JOKING AROUND! We just got sent back to the beginning of the game, and I DIDN'T DO IT.”

Twin looks between Hammer, Blade and Collar's passive expression on the ground. Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she points at Blade,

“S-she didn't reset?” The question is directed at Hammer, who only shakes her head animatedly. “That's not possible, Blades the only one of us that can reset at all-”

“The only one of us that can reset.” Collar speaks up, emerging from the hill of flowers covering her frame. “We were thinking maybe someone got here before we did, screwed something up and decided to start over.”

“And I was thinking,” Blade chimes, annoyance clear in her voice. “That shouldn't be possible because they would have ended up here with us-”

“There's more than one entrance to the underground Blade, i told you how i got down there-”

“And I told you I don't believe you for even a second, besides you're telling me another determined soul just so happened to end up down here the same time we did? I don't think so.”

“You start fires at will and Twin can fucking turn invisible, so yeah, anythings possible.”

“But i had Twin run the code-”

“And they could have easily gotten here in the time it took us to get down here.”

Twin watches nervously as two of her friends bicker back and forth, Blade quickly losing her patience, while on the other hand Collar remained cool and collected, only the dark shadow over her blank expression giving away her irritation. Hammer only watches from the sidelines, her smile never wavering.

“You need to stop making excuses for shit you don't understand.”

“They're PERFECTLY LOGICAL EXPLANATIONS!”

“You can’t apply logic to our type o’ magic hothead.”

“AND WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? JUST ACCEPT WHEN SOME WEIRD SHIT HAPPENS AND WALK AWAY?!”

“....”

\-----------/

Twin turns a corner, a ridiculously tall cone of nice cream securely held in one hand, and an incredibly plush stuffed pig tucked under the opposite arm. She skips through the halls, conversing briefly with the friendly passerby of the ruins.

As she traverses carelessly through the ruins, she comes across a familiar dying tree, its branches bare, the leaves below it most likely belonging to the massive naked tree they surround. Twin skips a lap around the tree, the rustling of the leaves underfoot filling her with yet another surge of childlike energy, Twins foot catches on a root, sending her front body toppling into the leaves, her second following behind, depositing her nicecream into the dirt in front of her, her stuffed animal flying out of her grip as well.

“Awwe c'mon!” twin shouts, slipping several times trying to scramble out of the sea of leaves to mourn the untimely death of her favorite treat. Before she manages to do so, she spots a black figure standing in front of a building, unmoving as they stare up at the eerie building twin recognises as toriel's home.

Twin contemplates leaving them to stare motionlessly at tories strangely dark home, her curiosity winning over her in the end, leading her to hop over to the stranger to investigate. Twin wastes no time trotting up to them, standing on either side of them to stare at the home with them for a few moments before turning her attention on their face.

Twin nearly screeches at the sight of collar's deadpanned face staring at the front of the violet building in front of them, her eyes far away and empty. At that moment twins' expressions brighten as she remembers what she was supposed to be doing in the first place.

“ooOOOH COLLAR!” Twin yells, grabbing her shoulders and unintentionally shaking her out of whatever trance she was in "I'm so glad I ran int- found you! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Collar blinks once before looking up to meet twins elated gaze, blinking again before raising her eyebrows.

"Hm?"

"Hammer has blade and I searching the whole ruins for ya," twin makes no effort in hiding her search of collars figure, searching for any scratches or injuries she may have attained in their time apart.

"c'mon let's hurry up an' get back before she has my heads!"

Twin insistently pulls on collars arm, expecting her younger friend to just go limp in her grip so she could drag her along, as she always does. Instead, she cocks her head at the sight of Collar rooting herself to the ground, her gaze locked on the dirt beneath her feet.

Twin stares down at Collar, standing still and never breaking her glare from her shoes. Creasing her brow, twin leans down to study collars blank expression, rubbing her shoulders in an attempt to catch her attention.

"Collar."

She doesn't answer, doesn't even acknowledge twins voice.

"COLLAR."

"Hm." Collars empty gaze floats up to twins concerned face, her expression feigning indifference. "Whatsup."

"What's up? You've been staring at a wall for I don't know how long, what's the matter?"

Collar blinks slowly before shrugging lazily. "Nothins' wrong, why do you ask?"

Twin gaze cuts to the house before focusing back on collars deceivingly calm face.

"Collar what's wrong." Twin said again, not meaning it as a question this time. "I may not be the most perceptive gal but I know you well enough to tell when sometimes wrong."

Collar stares passively into twins eyes, before her expression darkens again, her fingers fidgeting in her sweater pocket.

"You can tell me." She reassurres. "Whatever it was, it had to have been pretty bad to mess you up this bad, so spill."

The path of collars eyes never wavers, cemented to twins concerned gaze. Twin can see the gears turning in her head as they stare each other down, her empty face somehow tense in nature. They stand there for what felt like hours before collar speaks.

"...I jus,..watched someone dissipate in front of me." Her eyes flicker between twins as if searching for something, for confirmation that what she saw was valid.

"Okay." Twin chirps.

"....okay?"

"Honey we've been exposed to so much magic an' strange stuff on the daily that that kinda stuff is completely normal so unless there's somethin else-"

Twin flinches as collar rises a few inches to match her height, leaving her to suspend in the air in front of twin.

"Don't you think I know that." Collar whispers darkly, her face nose to nose with a nervous twin, "I just watched someone evaporate with my own eyes twin. It wasn't as simple as 'magic'. There's something wrong down here." Collar stares into the depths of twins soul, wanting nothing more for her to understand, for her to believe what she's saying.

"And when they were gone twin." Collar breaths, her voice nearly silent.

"It's like they were never there in the first place."

Twin stares back At collar, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

"A-are you sure?"

Collar only stares into twins face a few moments more before slowly planting her feet back onto the ground.

"..."

They both stand in the cavern in tense silence as twin processes collars story, her jaw clenching and unclenching as she searches for words.

"I..uh.."

"Whatever." Collar exhales, her eyes lidded with indifference once again. " 'were not here to ask questions' " she mocks blades words, the bitter tone almost lost in the deadpan manner she always speaks in.

" 'jus get in an get out' " collar turns to lean against the cold wall of Toriel's home. "Go ahead n go get the other two. Before they have yer heads."

Twin frowns as collar tries to lighten the mood. "Whatever you say…" twin begins to stalk off when collar calls her name.

"Hey twin. Don't tell anyone about this."

Twin plasters a smile onto her face before nodding, and heading off to find the others.

\-----------/

Hammer doesn't miss the way twins eyes cut to collar as she and blade glare at one another, both of them too stubborn to admit the other is right.

"Collar,"

Collar hums at the sound of Hammers voice, not bothering to break eye contact from an agitated blade.

"Tell them about the snow." She chirps, her eerie smile widening as collars eyes dart momentarily towards her before staring somewhere past blade.

"What about it." She questions, no longer glaring at blade in favor of holding her composure. Blades expression shifts from agitated to only annoyed and confused at collars change in behavior.

Hammer busys her legs by striding in circles around blade and collar, her arms held behind her back, the flowers under her feet rustling quietly in the cave.

“Oh, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. earlier, before the reset…” Hammer prompts, watching as collars gaze remains locked on the wall farthest across from her, blade scowling as she attempts to read collars conflicted expression.

“i don't.”

Hammer does one final short lap before stopping abruptly, humming to herself and turning on her heel.

“twin!” twin perks up to the sound of Hammers voice, the wringing of her hands momentarily stopping as she acknowledges Hammer.

“would you do me a favour, and describe snow for me.”

Twins eyes brighten slightly at the request, stumbling over her words in an attempt to complete Hammer's simple task.

“well u-uh first off it's usually white, or brown,or yellow, depending on its surroundings, a-ands its fluffy. or sometimes crunchy, and uh, yer not supposed ta eat it,”

“yes,” Hammer pushes. “but you're missing one key detail. can you tell me what that is?”

“uh-uh” twin squints as she tries to recall any other simple characteristics of snow, tapping her foot rapidly in correlation, her eyes widening when she remembers one last thing.

“uH ITS COLD!” she shouts, to which blade is baffled by the time it took for twin to remember things about snow.

“what the everloving fuck does that have to do with anything.” blade breaths, lifting her hands up in a praying pose.

“yeah collar, whats that got ta do with anything.” twins eyes cut back to collar, who chooses to continue to stare down the wall of the cavern, her fists clenched in her pockets once again.

Hammer sighs and turns to an ever more irritated blade, who's trying desperately not to burst into flames.

“The snow here isn't, cold, blade.”she states, her eyes fixated on the aforementioned accomplice, gauging her reaction. “when you hit me in the face with that snowball, and when collar fell into it,”

“you dropped her-”

“shut up twin, when collar fell into the snow, it didn't feel like anything. it was, i would say room temp but,well, that would make it cold.” Hammer laughs dryly.

“alright.” blade whispers. “You don't know what youre talking about, because I'm the one who threw the damn snow at you!” blade takes a step past an unmoving collar as her voice rises.”when i picked the shit up, it was fuckin freezing!”

“Oh hush blade, everythings freezing to you your default body heat is a hundred and twenty seven degrees, you couldn't tell the temperature of dry ice from a grilled cheese sandwich.”

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TA MEA-”

“the point is,” Hammer chirps, “somethings definitely not right here, and the longer we stay the more evidence of that stacks up. You can't just ‘explain’ it, blade, but you also can't just ignore it, collar. Just because we live in a reality of magical beings doesn't mean everything strange that occurs is perfectly fine.”

blade breaks her angry gaze from Hammer to her feet as collar turns to stare blankly at Hammer, twin tugging at the zipper of her jacket.

“So! Rather than standing around at the beginning of the journey, I say we push forward and figure out what the hell happened, while also making progress, not one or the other. We can't turn against each other as soon as something goes wrong okay, we're stronger than that.”

Hammer makes her way to the archway connecting the first cavern to the second, the tense energy around her just melting away.

“Besides, there's no way anything going on can be that bad right?”

\-----------/

“hoe”

“lee”

“shit.”

three of our girls stare dumbfounded and wide eyed at the sight before them, collar napping once again in Hammers arms.

(wish i had time to sleep that much)

She fights magic beings and she makes time, what could you possibly be doing all day.

(yknow what, fuck you.)

no, thank you, I have standards.

(i- y- bwegwefdhweadfughwehgb)

“well this definitely wasn't here before.” twin stares down into the black abyss cutting off the path before her, the ground crumbling piece by piece only to be swallowed by the greedy darkness beneath her, reaching beyond the path around the corner.

“What the HELL IS THIS!?” blade runs a hand through her flaming hair, pacing between the width of the path.

“twin dear.” Hammer pipes out. “what would usually be across from us, bsides an enormous gaping hole?”

“oh, um,” the orbs in twins' hair glow for a moment before an incredibly messy, torn up spiral notebook appears in her hands. “hold on, gimme one second, lemmie find it.” Twin flips frantically through the pages of the book, trying to find the section where she wrote the notes on the terrain of the game, Blade tapping her foot rapidly behind her.

“oh, GIVE ME THAT!” Blade tears the book from twins ' grip, turning away from her as twin reaches to grab it back. “how do you even read this chicken scratch, is that a picture of tomata-”

“oKAY THAT'S ENOUGH!” twin manages to wrestle her notes out of blades hand, holding it unnecessarily close to her face to hide the embarrassed gold splattered onto her faces. She flips a few more pages, forcing down the color from her cheeks as she finds what she's looking for.

“OH! Oh, here, here it is,” twin jabs a finger in her notebook, angling it towards an ever frustrated blade as she reads the note out loud. “uh, room right after the spike puzzle, path, thing i-is the second salv in the game!”

“Did you touch the salvare while you were looking for collar?” Hammer directs the question at twin,who shakes her head rapidly.

“n-no it wasn't even there when i came through! … at least i dont think it was there…” blade huffs in exasperation as twin tries to remember her previous trek through the ruins.

“So why the hell is there a gaping whole in the middle of the damn- Hammer WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!” blade watches as a massive, reinforced malet materializes in Hammers left hand.

“hm?” Hammer squeaks absently as she twirls the weapon in her hand.

“PUT THAT THING AWAY!”

“put what thing away?” Hammer feigns innocence, smiling as blade glares at her with wide eyes. watching in frustration as Hammer lifts the unnaturally large weapon above her head, smiling wider as she swings it down onto the crumbling path in front of them.

“Hammer YOU IDIOT-” blade plants her feet as the ground beneath them rumbles, the cracks in the road lengthening to where the guild stands. Twin takes a few unsteady steps back as more of the path crumbles a few feet ahead of her.

“why the fuck would you do that?” twin squeaks under her breath, staring at the hairline fractures inching towards her feet.

Hammer doesn't answer, only peering into the depths of the pitch black abyss as violet rocks tumble in, watching as the rocks split up and are dragged in different directions.

“as i thought.” Hammer mumbles to herself, turning on her heels and walking back to where blade and twin stand, adjusting collar so that she wouldn't slip out of her hold.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?”

“to prove a hunch i had,” Hammer points to her right where the abyss continues to slowly expand. “that there my friends, is not a hole”

“Well what is it?” twin backs up as yet another crack finds her foot, the ground rumbling quietly as some of the chaos dies down.

Hammer only shrugs at twins ' question, “oh i have no idea. But I can tell you that this here is pretty bad.”

“So what now?” blade breathes angrily, “we just sit here and wait for the ruins to swallow itself whole?” Hammer presses a gloved hand to her chest, gasping and feigning hurt.

“Blade! you didn't think i already had a plan? i'm insulted! and after all we've been through together! Y'know, you think you know a-”

“just shutthefuckup and tell us the plan!”

“okay! hold this.” Hammer drops a sleeping collar into Blade's hands, nearly dropping her on her ass before Blade manages to barely catch her, skipping away towards the edge of the ruins once again.

“w- WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?”

“Not many places I can go!” Hammer chirps over her shoulder as she reaches the end of the path. She drops to a knee and pokes around the ground, watching as small pebbles drop and float endlessly in the dark below her, searching for a stable enough patch of ground to suit her needs. She pressed her palm into the point with the least cracks, sitting there a moment or two to allow more rumbling to subside.

Hammer raps her fingers on the ground, her smile tense as she tries her best to concentrate. Within a single breath, the edge of the path begins to grow, a thinner, lighter path stretching farther and farther away from her. She wills the path to stretch around the corner, not sure how far the pit reaches.

Hammer waves blade and twin over as she pulls her hand from the ground, standing on wobbly legs as she regains control of her breathing.

“m not sure how far the path goes, but it's not as stable as id like i'd like it to be, so we don't have too much time-”

“so stop talking and cross tha damn bridge!” blade pushes past a shaky Hammer, walking briskly across the empty black underneath Hammers makeshift bridge.

“Blade, you're an ass!” twin shouts, to which blade only throws up a middle finger to twin behind her, not bothering to stop.

Twin turns to Hammer, holding either of her arms. “you okay hun?” Hammer nods deftly, taking a shaky breath in through her nose before the smile returns to her face.”are you sure?”

“im fine twin, stop worrying about me. i can take care of myself!” Hammer announces proudly, sticking her chin up and striding around twin and onto her path. “now let's get over this thing before it collapses hm!” Hammer skips across the path, catching up to blades wide strides.

twin merely shakes her head, and follows after them, tripping over herself before catching up.

\-----------/

The top of the staircase crumbles away by the time the girls reach the doorway separating the ruins from snowdin, the deceiving chill in the air filling blade with more dread than nostalgia. twin reaches down and grabs a handful of snow, opening and closing her hands a couple times at the sensation of the stale, fake ice.

hmm Hammer was right, it's not cold. it's not warm either, but, it's definitely not cold.

blade stops to look back through the long corridor, her jaw tensing as she contemplates what to do about the abyss eating the ruins, and anyone in it.

how far could it spread?

“close the door.” blade utters, turning to continue heavily down the path.

“what?” twin deadpans

“close the door.”

“i don't really think a door is gonna stop this thing from-"

Twins mouth clicks closed at the sight of blades glare, turning towards the enormous velvet doors.

“aye aye Captain…” she mutters, trudging back through the snow to close the doors.

“so.” Hammer walks alongside a frustrated blade. “what are we gonna do about that?” she jabs a thumb incredulously behind her.

figured you'd have a plan for that.

“what?” Hammers head turns sharply towards blade.

“i didn't say shit.” blade drawls, keeping her creased gaze on the road ahead of her. “but, if it keeps spreading like it is now we don't have much time to get out of here, and that puts everyone underground at risk.”

“and our timeframe?”

“has been shortened exponentially.”

Hammer strides alongside blade, the snow behind them crunching as twin runs to catch up to them, collar hanging limply from blades arms, swaying with the motions of her heavy footfalls.

“hold on-” blade stops short, glancing at collar before promptly dropping her on her face, continuing on down the path without a second thought. Hammer continues behind her, carelessly stepping across collars back as she continues through the snowy forest.

“co-UGH COUGH, d-what the fuCk?” collar sputters out a string of curses as Hammers foot leaves her back, waking unpleasantly from her nap. “what the heLl is yer problEm?” collar wheezes as twin lifts her from the chillless snow, setting her on her feet.

“yo what happened?” collar rubs her face, trying to wipe the remaining sleep from her eyes.

twin pushes collar toward blade and Hammer, speaking as collar curses the fact that she's the only one in the group with tiny legs. “Well you're not gonna believe this, but we just narrowly escaped being swallowed by-”

twin backpedals into the snow as a lump of ice makes contact with her face, ending her sentence before she finishes. Hammer trots over to collar, tearing her from the grip of twins other body.

“lets not worry the girl huh? we’ve got more important things to focus on, like getting out of here.”

“eeeh that thing seems pretty important-”

“eh? y’here that? sounds like blades callin us we should probably get up there before she sets the forest on fire!” Hammer chatters as she widens her steps to put distance between collar and twin.

“what the hell is going on?” collar deadpans.

“nothing dear, catch up to blade, i'll be right behind you.”

“but-”

“byyye see you in one sec!” collar stumbles over to blade, tired confusion written on her blank face as Hammer turns to face twin, one of her wiping the snow off her face and clothes.

“Hey, I'd really rather you didn't bother collar with this, thing” Hammer gestures vaguely in the direction of the ruins. “I don't want anything like, impending doom weighing on her tiny little conscious.”

“well how come, she deserves to know just as much as we do, she can handle it shes an adult. I mean she's been through alot worse before-”

“twin.” Hammer takes a step towards her. “if she finds out this timeline is swallowing itself whole, she's gonna freak out, and we don't need that.”

“well maybe her freaking out is a good thing-”

“You know that you, and I, and blade, tend to lose our shit over little stuff, and collar is the most level headed of us, so if we lose our minds, and we need someone to think for us, she's our go to. we don't need collar barreling through the underground to get to the barrier. If she thinks we need to get out of here as soon as possible, she will take down anything in our way to get there. Even if it means hurting someone.”

“well who sais that's not the right approach, just speedrun through the game, get to the end and get out! hell we could just have collar port us to the end!”

Hammer sputters angrily through her tense smile, pointing a finger in Twins face. “you know we can't risk it-”

“the code is Stable!”

“obviously not there's a gaping hole eating the damn ruins and everything in its path!”

twins glare cuts from Hammer's face to a spot behind her, her eyes widening.

“oh, uh, Hammer,”

“No, listen, i know what im talking about, and i am the self proclaimed, hey would you look at me, i am the self proclaimed protector of that munchkin, her mind, body and soul are under my watch-”

“Hammer!”

“what!”

twin points to a spot behind Hammer, her brow furrowed and her mouth in a thin line. Hammer turns sharply to stare at the snow behind her, her smile thinning as she catches sight of the stout figure behind her.

“oh!” Hammer chirps, turning her body to face the timelines sans with a sweet smile etched into her features as twin covers her faces with her hands in embarrassment “Well hello agai- there, can we help you?”

Sans bounces on the balls of his feet as he looks up at Hammer, who has clasped her hands together in a patient manner.

"Oh, nah don't mind me, carry on." Is all he sais, continuing to bounce on his feet as he stares between Hammer and twin.

"....No thank you!" Hammer chips, staring back at him, her eyes never wavering from his tired eyes.

(Eye holes? Eye lights?)

You're such a disappointment

"...."

"....."

"Well this was nice but we've got somewhere to be! Gotta catchup with our friends and all! Twin come on!"

Hammer grabs both of Twin by a shoulder, pushing her in the direction of where Blade and collar were awaiting them.

Twin and Hammer trek down the path, their strides brisk as they make haste to Meetup with the others.

"... well that was fuckin weird."

"You think so?" Hammer chirps sarcastically as Twin stares back at where they came, not being able to control the unwarranted shiver, certainly not caused by the cold.

"Ohmy-i swear to asgore." Hammer speaks under her breath, drawing twins attention to her.

"Wha-"

"Oh hey," Twin flinches shamefully at the sound of sans' voice directly in front of her, his plastic smile barely moving as words left his mouth. Hammer's smile is barely maintained, her eyes slitted with restraint.

"What a coincidence, I'm goin up this way too. Mind if I walk with ya?" He continues on before Twin or Hammer could even answer.

"Yeah sure feel free." Hammer mutters before trekking after him, twin standing in her spot dumbly before scrambling to follow them, an unexplainable knot in the bottom of her stomach.

“names sans, by the way, sans the skeleton.” he drawls as his faded pink slippers trace memorised footsteps in the stale snow. “you guys are humans right? that's hilarious.”

“and why is that.” Hammer questions sarcastically, rather than carelessly laughing at his statement, keeping her eyes straight ahead of her where she can begin to make out the distant forms of an impatient blade and an apathetic collar.

twin silently watches Hammer and the skeleton converse from slightly behind Hammer, her hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket. She takes note of small things she would never have noticed if she hadn’t had a chance to study the guy. He fidgets with his left ring finger nonstop, scraping the dense bone with his thumb as his sentences fall out of his jaw, in a perfect, practiced flourish, as if routine had drilled it into his head.

hell, considering how long he’s been under this damn mountain, itd make sense that it would be.

The shadows beneath his sockets are nothing new, sleepless nights or waking nightmares a common theme for ‘sans figures’ in most timelines. The only strange thing about his eyes are the odd transparency of them, making them appear almost dim even in his dark sockets.

twin almost flinches when he turns slightly to look up at her, his almost empty eyes meeting hers effortlessly. she barely registers his sentence as the strange pit in her stomach grows with her uneasiness. Hammer notices twins' breath hitch, and her brow furrows as the skeleton speaks to her.

“...the other hand is obsessed with it, infact, he should be doing his rounds right about now.”

twin acknowledges his statement with a quiet hum, her footsteps slowing along with his and Hammers as they near the arch where the other two wait.

“Took you long enough!” blade throws her hands up as Hammer approaches her, her smouldering glare set on her before traveling down to where sans stood. she eyes him for only a moment before her eyes drift up to twins, her anger melting away to irritated confusion at the sight of the shadow over twins eyes.

she only grumbles before crossing her arms and glaring up at Hammer. “What the hell were you two doing back there?”

“well, if you can't tell, we met a new friend on the way here.” she gestures with annoyance to where the sans stood, trying his best to start a conversation between him and a strangely quiet twin, who only nods and grunts at the statements he makes.

“whats wrong with her?” blade eyes twins standoffish demeanor as Hammer answers her rightful question

“i'm not sure, she got all quiet halfway up here.” Hammer watches as one of twin pulls her fluffy hood over her head, effectively shadowing her face from the stout skeleton. “I don't think she likes the skel very much though.”

“tch, not possible, twin likes everybody. shes like an annoying puppy.” blade hisses as Hammers fist collides with the back of her head.

“don't insult puppies like that, what's wrong with you?”

blade rubs the spot in the back of her head as her eyes roll, “whatever, let's just get this over with, COLLAR! Get your dumbass out the damn snow!” blade glares at a snowpuff on the treeline of the path, watching as the snowflakes shift before collars dark figure rises begrudgingly from the pale ground.

”if you fall asleep ONE MORE TIME, i'm gonna leave you wherever you pass out.”

Hammer watches as collar lazily approaches blade and her, stopping to look to where twin stood awkwardly next to a faltering sans.

“eh i'll find my way back to ya.” she states confidently, waving in twins' direction to catch her attention. twin completely ignores sans as she glides to where collar stands, both of her stand on either side of her as collar glares blankly at the stranger, her eyes never leaving his form as he approaches the group of girls.

“she's not much ofa talker is she?” he drawls, the glint of suspicion in his eyes not lost to collars gaze as he greets her. “I'm sans.” he holds his hand out in front of him, standing awkwardly as collars gaze only cuts to his hand before her eyes settle back on his uncomfortable expression.

“collar.” she mutters, “this is twin” she nods behind her, and turns her head father to her left “the sparkly one is Hammer.” Hammer waves animatedly.“ and the one in the sweater is blade.” blade only glares at the skeleton.

Sans lowers his hand back to his side, his ring finger returning to scratch at his thumb awkwardly.

“Heheh, it's been awhile since we got a human down here, and never so many at once.” Sans eyes each of the girls individually, burning their nearly identical faces into his mind, his eyes squinting in further suspicion.

“Really? Thas crazy.” collar drawls as his eyes stop back on her form.

“I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now, as i told your tall friend there.” he shrugs. “But i don't really feel like capturing anybody today.”

“Lucky for us.” blade spits sarcastically. Crossing her arms over her chest before Hammer smacks her over the head again.

“Stop being rude!”

“If you HIT ME AGAIN!”

Blade and Hammers voices fade into the background as sans continues his conversation with collar and a silent twin.

“Yeah you don't hafta worry about me. My brother on the other hand is a human hunting fanatic. Y’see this lil archway right here? Yeah he made this. He wanted the ruins to look more ‘welcoming’. He's a real sweetheart.” Collar eyes sans as he babbles on about his brother, following him as he leads her beyond the archway, twin following after her in sync as Hammer and Blade argue behind them.

Collar didn't know what to make of the guy. He looked like a sans. Acted like a sans, as far as she could tell it was just another anatomically incorrect skeleton. But there was something about the way he carried himself, the way he kept his head up high and stood up straighter than the others. That didn't remind her of a sans role.

But the shadows under his eyes and the way he dragged his feet when he walked, and the painfully fake smile plastered onto his rounded skull.

That was all sans.

‘Its a different timeline, what do you expect?’

Twins words rang in collars head before she's brought back to reality, blade and Hammers bickering abruptly shooting back into collars brain.

“Hey speak of the devil, I think that's my brother right there.” Sans faces the path further ahead of them, a cloud of snow alerting him of his quickly approaching brother. Sans turns back to face the visitors, his brow bone creasing significantly when he finds that noone is there, only a few sets of footprints leading to where his unoccupied sentry station sits.

“What the-”

“SANS!” Sans doesn't flinch at the sound of his brother's deafening voice, only turning to face him as he approaches him with heavy footsteps.

“Sup bro.”

\-----------/

Blade's jaw drops from behind the wooden structure at the sight of Papyrus as she watches from a small hole beneath the counter of the shed.

“Holy fuck.” Hammer whispers beside her, her smile wide with recognition and amusement as Sans and his brother argue animatedly in the snow, trying not to laugh at the astonished expression painted on Blade's face.

“What?” collar breaths from below the other two. “What she see?” blade stutters at collar's question, her words lost as she scans Papyrus with stars in her eyes.

Standing tall only a few yards from where the girls hid, was Papyrus, an impeccable scarlet red scarf draped around his shoulders, the fabric forming a hood over his skull, the scarf still nearly long enough to reach the snow as it billowed out behind him majestically, the color of his boots and gloves matching the color of the cape he wore proudly.

The cuffs of his large gloves are dipped in gold plating, along with gold bands around both of his wrists.

A golden rune insignia was etched into the pale chestplate he wore over his broad ribs, black plates of metal covering his spine, the same metal he wore on his humeri. He wore a golden metal belt around his waist, its edges sharp, and a round, silver buckle in its center. The plates over his legs are also a shiny black, reaching down to his knees before meeting the golden metal on the rims of his boots.

“I-its pap.’’ blade finally forces the words out of her mouth, collar pushing her face out of the way to examine the new skeleton, ignoring his tangent about capturing another human.

another?

“Oooh fancy.” she whispers as Papyrus stomps his heavy boots in childish frustration. “Damn that scarf looks warm.” Blade rolls her eyes as collar daydreams about Papyrus’s clothes

“Of course all you see is the damn scarf.”

Collar shrugs nonchalantly. “What can I say, I've got a one track mind.”

“That's probably why no one will date you.” Hammer chirps quietly.

“What?”

“Nothing!”

Blade rakes her hand through her hair as collar and Hammer titter back and forth, shaking her head to rid the pesky stars from her vision as Papyrus runs off deeper into the forest,

Sans turns to his sentry station, where he guessed the girls had hidden when his brother appeared.

“Okay, you guys can come out now.”

Hammer is the first to pop up from behind the small structure, skipping over to stand in the snow a few feet from sans, peering at the mess of snow Papyrus had made on his departure. Blade stomps up next to her, placing her hands on her hips as collar rears her, staring in the same direction as the other too before looking back at sans.

“Hey weren't there more of yo-” blade watches sans’ sockets widen at the sight of footsteps making their way to where the other visitors stood, stopping behind collar as the figure attached to them melts back into vision. Despite twins' anxious mood. She can't help but allow a smug smile to grace her features as the skeleton stares her down with awe.

“I- i- uh-”

Collar coughs into her hand as sans sputters dumbly, “Well, best get going before he comes back. Wouldn't wanna sit through any more of your amazing puns.” she sais she turns to walk away, waving a hand behind her head as a goodbye, the others only looking at him as they begin to follow after.

“Hold on-” sans starts, prompting collar to turn halfway around to side eye him. “Uh, my brothers been kinda down lately, hasn't seen a human in a while, n’ im sure seein one will really make his day.” blades brows knit together at the phrase ‘in a while’, which sans interprets as concern.

“You don't hafta worry, he's not that dangerous, even if he looks like it.” sans chuckles dryly. “Thanks a million, ill be up ahead.” collar watches as the skeleton turns on his heel and disappears back the way they came.

Collar stares for a moment more before turning to face front again, continuing forward as the others follow.

\-----------/

"NOT THAT DANGEROUS MY ASS!"

Blade screeches as another large humerus rockets into the snow beside her, barely missing their target as blade bounds around the attacks aimed at her and the others.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fu-” twin scurries out of the path of a storm of bones, her arms flailing as she zig zags back and forth, stoping in her tracks as two towering humeri errupt from the ground in front of her, crossing at an X in an attempt to stop her path. Twin only thinks for half a moment before she runs towards it, using the momentum to propel herself between the upper apex of the blockade.

Twin howls in exhilaration as she soars through the frigid air, landing on her open palms and rolling back onto her feet, not stopping as she continues to run after blade, another wall of bones flying after her

“Now that's what i'm talkin about!”

“Jeezus youre so extra.” collar drones as an attack flies past her, dodging each of the bones effortlessly as they sail towards her. Another bone lands upright in the snow, collar twirling out of its way, her hands set securely in her pockets as another whizzes towards her. She simply jumps in response, flipping twice in the air before landing on her feet, running lazily with the others.

“You're one to talk.” twin deadpans.

“I say we just fight him!” Hammer yells over the sound of skeletal appendages plunging themselves into the snow below her as she runs over the others atop pillars of snow, erupting out of the ground in coordination with her strides.

“Hell no! We’re dont need to risk hurting him, just keep running!”

“We don't hafta hurt him, just, incapacitate him some!”

“You idiot that's hurting him!” Blade rolls to her left as another attack plummets into the snow where she once stood, jumping right back up to lead her pack of strange humans.

Papyrus rounds the corner behind them violently, stirring up snow behind him as he drifts to a stop, his cape wafting as the wind whips it to the side, the shadow of his hood illuminating the orange colored light of his sockets.

“He's so fukin badass-” blade mutters before being nearly mowed down by an armada of bones. “Stop ogoling and PAY ATTENTION!” she yells to herself as she continues to bound away from the alarmingly fast skeleton

“HUMANS!” Papyrus sings as he continues to pursue them relentlessly through the twists and turns of the snowy path. “AS MUCH AS I ENJOY CHASING YOU AROUND THE FOREST, I BELIEVE IT WOULD BE EASIER FOR BOTH PARTIES IF YOU JUST SURRENDERED! YOUR CAPTURE IS IMMINENT AFTER ALL!”

Papyrus plants his feet and launches two more attacks, aimed at blade and twin particularly, before continuing to rush after them.

“Well he's awfully cocky.” Hammer grins down as she runs, her eyes widening manically and her smile faltering a moment as Papyrus launches off the ground towards her. He twirls his body viciously, gaining momentum to swing the double bladed sword into Hammer with a terrorizing force.

Hammer barely jumps back out of the way as the weapon collides with her pillar of ice, the tower shattering on impact, her descent in slow motion as she catches sight of the determined spark residing in Papyrus’s sockets. Her smile falls a bit when she finds determined is the wrong word.

Hammer lands on her feet, fleeing on the ground with the others as Papyrus continues to fire attacks at them relentlessly, the sound of his heavy boots on the frozen ground reverberating through the trees.

“So!” twin tweets, panic lacing her voice. “How long do we keep this up!”

“Just until we reach snowdin!” blade bellows at her, “I assume he won't try and impale us around a bunch of locals!”

“Assumptions are often wrong!” Hammer chirps from beside blade, opting to run on all fours like some kind of animal as the wall beside them explodes, bones shooting out of the hole in the solid rock, twin stumbling forward at the impact.

Hammer can hear Papyrus roar in a sort of amused exasperation, as if he were playing a tiresome yet entertaining game.

“WELL WHO KNEW HUMANS COULD BE SUCH COWARDS!”

Hammer sputters at Papyrus’s meaningless statement, her smile widening as she sees twin do the same.

“Oh shit-”

Collar stops abruptly at the sentence, as if there was a wall blocking her from advancing further, the snow around her lifting a moment or two after she stops moving.

“COLLAR CMON!”

Collar only clicks her tongue in response, watching as the others continue to flee before turning to face the monstrous, well, monster. Papyrus’s grin widens when he sees collar has strayed from the group, seeing the smallest human as no more than a minor obstacle.

Papyrus raises his arm, palm open to the sky, sending hundreds of bones flying down onto the figure in the black hood, only to blanch when his attacks stop midair, only a hair from the miniscule form of his target. He takes an unsure step forward, his eye lights flickering as his attacks each turn a jet black color, wobbling a moment before tilting down to where he stood.

“WHAT IN THE-” Papyrus backpedals as the bones begin to nosedive into him in groups, the one responisble for the attacks only watching with lidded eyes as he twirls and bobs out of the way of the traitorous attacks.

“I THINK I MAY HAVE HIT A NERVE!” he laughs wryly as another attack is hurled at him, his hand glowing momentarily before his double sided sword materializes in his large palm. He twirls it in his hand, lifts it above his head and slices through the dense bone easily, doing the same for the consecutive cadaverous attacks.

Collar quirks a brow at Papyrus’s swift defence, impressed by the smooth yet forceful motions of his movements. His confidence is easily supported by his skill. The chips and dust of broken bones scatter over the two, the snow around Papyrus settling as he breathes in heavily. Collars head lolls to the side, a type of admiration to her expression.

“YOU'RE PRETTY GOOD.” Papyrus breathes. “FOR A HUMAN.'' Papyrus's foot pushes into the ground, propelling him forward to where collar stands lazily, his large weapon securely in his hand. Collar watches him rocket through the air towards her, her empty eyes lighting up with excitement as he advances. Her right hand frees itself from the warmth of her sweater, a long, thin handle melting into her palm. She twirls the handle of the massive scythe in her hand once, her blood boiling with excitement as Papyrus jumps high into the hair, lifting his weapon over his head.