Nothing But Dark

Their Secret place

Sans was sitting at the kitchen table and his eye lights nervously darted to the clock, which hangs at the opposite wall. It was far past late. Even the dinner was already finished, waiting to be served. But Papyrus was nowhere to be found. He didn't even pick up his phone. Sans began to think, that he maybe had too much honey at Muffet's. As always. When his other call was unanswered, he adjusted his bandana and exited their house. He headed straight to Muffet's.

It was a usual snowy day, here in Snowdin. The snow lazily fall down, making a calm atmosphere. It was pretty quiet. Just crunching of fresh snow under his boots was breaking the peaceful silence. People were hidden in their warm and cozy homes. A light breeze rose up and brought the unmistakable smell of sweets from Muffet's pastry shop. Papyrus loves sweets, especially honey. Sans himself must admit, that some of them were really good, but it always brought him a tummy ache.

When Sans approached Muffet's famous shop, he could already see her escorting the latest patrons. It was about time to call it a night. When she spotted him, she waved him friendly with one of her arms.

"Oh hello, Blue. What brought you here?" her voice was as sweet as her pastry. Sans couldn't help but smile at the nickname she gave him. Papyrus also calls him like that sometimes.

"Hello, Muffet. I just came to get Pap. It's rather late."

Muffet looked surprised. "Papyrus isn't home? But he left almost three hours ago."

Sans was caught off guard. He was prepared for everything. That he would have to drag him home or ask Muffet to let him sleep at the counter and he would come for him tomorrow morning. But this was unexpected. Where on earth can he be? Sans was thinking about every place, where his brother could go and reason, why he didn't come home.

"Did he mention where he would want to go?"

"I am sorry, deary. He looked kinda off, but he didn't say anything." Muffet seems to start worrying too. "If you want, I can send my spidery search party." she offered.

"Thank you, Muffet, but I think it's not necessary. I already have an idea, where he could be." Sans said with confidence. Muffet nodded with a smile and wished him good luck.

If Papyrus has been feeling down, there is practically only one place, where he would be.

It was getting really dark, he should hurry. Sans sprinted through the rest of the town and headed to the entrance of Waterfall. There he slowed down and walked along rivers. He listened to the fizz of water and sometimes he heard a silent wish of a lonely echo flower.

It wasn't long until he stopped in front a large field of echo flowers. Sans didn't have to look hard to spot the bright orange hoodie his brother wears constantly. Papyrus was lying on his back, arms folded under his head, staring at the glimmering ceiling above. A thin strip of smoke rising from a cigarette in his mouth. Sans slowly and very quietly - not wanting to disturb the peace of this place - walked to his brother.

Papyrus didn't have to turn his head to know Sans was coming closer, even if he didn't hear him. He could feel his presence. That's one of many mysteries of the monster soul. Every kind of monster has its specific type of magic. That's a well-known fact, but if you have some relatives or someone you love, you cannot just feel when they are approaching, but also their feelings. You can feel when they are happy when something is bothering them when they need comfort. And the stronger magic you have, the stronger the bond between you two is. And skeletons have one of the most powerful type of magic. Between the two them, it was like reading a book, even if one of them tried to hide their emotions.

"Sup, bro," Papyrus said when a blue figure appeared in the corner of his eye socket. His voice was raspy from the number of cigarettes he smoked during the day. Sans folded his hands on his hips and put on a serious and slightly angry face.