The first thing I notice when I open my eyes is the harsh red light coming from what appears to be some sort of emergency lighting on the ceiling.
I'm a little surprised that there's electricity given how rundown it is.
Taking a few moments to adjust to the new lighting, I take a quick glance at my surroundings. There's some bookshelfs and a TV on one wall, a faded blue couch on another, and a washer and dryer on the other.
This place isn't too bad. It's a little dusty and old, but it's safe, secure, and has a soft spot to sleep.
I see Papyrus sitting on the couch reading a book. Looking closer, I can see that it's a book on puzzles. As to be expect of a Papyrus.
"He's the best puzzle solver I know," Sans says. It's easy to see that he adores his brother.
Papyrus hasn't noticed us yet, which is good because it gives me some time to check this place out and collect myself.
Taking a peek behind me, I snort when I see what Sans did to block the entrance to the basement.
'What's so funny, gramps?' Sans asks me in a mock serious tone.
'Sans, you literally have like a 3ft wall of bones in the way.' I reply mentally, making sure to project my thoughts so he can hear it
'Well, I had...' Sans is interrupted by a small body ramming into our legs.
Looking down, I see Papyrus has wrapped his tiny little arms around our legs. Guess I should have been more careful with my snorting.
I move my arm out to the side so the backpack we brought isn't in his way.
"SANS YOU'S BACK. I THOUGHT YOU'S NEVER COMING BACK." He cries, looking up at me with tears in his eyes.
Shit what do I do? 'Just act natural gramps,' Sans reminds me while giving me a mental shove.
I drop the backpack onto the floor before also removing the one on our back and putting it on the floor to, leaving just Sans' bag resting on our hip.
I kneel down in front of Papyrus and pull him into our arms, giving him a giant hug.
"Oh, kid, I'm so sorry. I went out for supplies like normal. but this time, I found enough supplies to get us out of here." I tell him gently. I never want to see him upset hes to precious.
I pull back from the hug and place my hands on his shoulders. He looks up at me, excited.
"We can finally leave this place." I smile brightly at him, hoping I've cheered him up a bit.
"REALLY!? YOU MEAN IT SANS?" He says, shaking with excitement.
'Look at him. My adorable little bro,' Sans says, smiling softly.
"Yeah, I do. We'll rest for tonight, and then tomorrow, we'll start heading out." I laugh at his excitement, glad to see some joy in this hell pit.
Papyrus dashes forward, hugging me again before pulling away. He starts running all over the place, saying goodbye to all the books and stuff in the room.
"Goodbye TV goodbye box of Legos goodbye book of puzzles goodbye oddly shaped stain on the wall." he nearly knocks over the table in front of the couch with all of his running
'Yeah, he is adorable,' I tell Sans smiling softly, 'cutest kid in the world.'
I stand up, pick up both backpacks, and walk over to the couch. Dropping both bags beside the couch, I flop back onto it and let out a quiet sigh.
'Tired gramps?' Sans jokes, but I can feel the underlying worry in the question.
'A little, but I'll be alright,' I say honestly. As long as Sans is here, we can figure it out together.
But for right now, I'm going to sit here and take a well-deserved break. I cover my eyes with my elbow as I listen to Papyrus run around saying goodbye. When he gets done with that, I'll let him change into some new clothes, and then we can have some dinner.
I'm glad we'll be leaving tomorrow, Papyrus shouldn't have to be in such a small dark place, especially at such a young age.
'How old is Papyrus anyway,' I ask Sans because I'm not sure how old he is right now due to my lack of memories, but he looks around six or seven. Given that he's a skeleton, I can't be completely sure about that.
'He's five almost six. His birthday is in a month.' Sans replies softly.
Huh. If what's left of my memories are correct, that means we are somewhere in June at the very beginning of the war.
'We can give him the necklace in a month instead of now, as a present,' I tell Sans. It would be nice to be able to give him a gift on his birthday. We'll have to keep an eye out for a Christmas present.
'That's a great idea,' Sans says audibly happier at the idea. 'Yeah, let's do that.'
'Alrighty. We'll show him the clothes when he gets done running around.' As I say that, I take my arm off my eyes and sit forward to watch Papyrus.
I look around and snort. He's saying goodbye to each individual bone in the barricade that Sans put up.
'That's adorable,' Sans say, snorting mentally.
'Yeah,' I hum in agreement. He's so cute. I'm glad he's my new brother, I think, smiling happily.
"Hey Papyrus, when you get done with that, I have something to show you!" I shout at him, dragging the backpack from the side of the couch around and in-between my legs.
He turns around and starts running over, "OK SANS," he barrels into the couch and climbs up. He scooches over and leans against my arm, "WHAT IS IT SANS?"
Laughing, I open the clothes backpack with my free hand. "I found me and you some clothes while I was out."
"REALLY? FOR ME?" He asks, looking down at the bag.
"O' course kid. Go ahead and find you something to wear for tonight." I smile at him and nod at the bag encouragingly.
Papyrus squeals and slides off the couch onto the floor. He starts pulling clothes out of the bag and putting them on the floor.
'You know, you're going to have to organize those all over again.' Sans tells me with barely contained laughter.
'Not if we manage to switch back. Then it'll be your turn to do it.' I remind him as I lean back and watch Papyrus have fun digging through the clothes.
'Fuck. Hey Ace... let's try that tomorrow,' Sans says jokingly. He doesn't really want to wait, but he also isn't looking forward to the work if we succeed.
'I don't think so, Sans. I'm tired of being in control.' I roll my eyes at him. Papyrus has found some pj pants that have spider designs all over them. He continues to dig in the bag.
"The shirt that goes with it should be in there somewhere." I tell Papyrus, as he digs.
"REALLY?" He asks brightly.
"Yep, made sure to grab both for you, kid." I spot the shirt. Leaning forward, I grab it and tug it out of the bag. "Here you go, kiddo." I hand it to him.
"THANK YOU SANS," he holds them tightly as he jump onto the couch and hugs us tightly.
I wrap our arms around him. "No problem, kid," I hug him tightly. "Now go put on you new clothes." I let him go.
"OK, SANS!" he runs to a different corner of the room.
I lean back against the couch and wait for him to run off before covering my face again.
'I'm glad you grabbed those. I haven't seen him this happy in a few weeks.' Sans says quietly.
'Im glad I did, too.' I tell him. Plus, they're fuzzy, so they'll provide some warmth in the winter.
'Thanks again, gramps, for taking care of us.' He says kindly.
'You don't need to thank me, Sans. It's my responsibility to keep us safe now.' I remind him. I am the one intruding on his life, so I might as well help as much as I can.
Before Sans can respond, Papyrus runs back over. "HOW DO I LOOK SANS?" He drops into a heroic pose. 'The mightiest worrior' Sans laughs.
"You look great, kid," I say with a short laugh.
I push the clothes to the side of the couch with my foot and grab the food bag.
"Come here and pick out something to eat for dinner." I motion Papyrus closer as I open the bag.
"WHAT DO WE HAVE?" he runs over excited.
"We have some monster candy, some canned stuff, and baked things." I point to each thing as I list them.
"I WANT THOSE," Papyrus says, pointing at a can of peaches.
"Alright," I grab the can.
'You ever make bone utensils Sans' I as him as I pull the can out.
'No, but it should be possible,' he says thoughtfully.
'Cool' I pop the top on the peaches.
I hand the can to Papyrus, "Hold this for a second" I tell him
"OK" he takes to can in both of his hands.
Ok, if our bone magic is like the shortcuts, then all I have to do is focus and I should be able to make whatever I want.
I focus on pushing little bouts of magic into my hand and imagine the form it should take. I can feel it pooling in my hand and taking shape.
'You did it gramps' Sans laughs 'first try to'
I open my eyes and in my hand is a four pronged fork. It has a few flaws, like the handle being slightly curved, but nothing that will affect its usage.
"Here to eat the peaches with." I hand it to Papyrus.
"THAT'S SO COOL. YOU HAVE TO TEACH ME HOW TO DO THAT SANS!" He says bouncing in excitement. Holding the can in one hand and the fork in the other.
"Whoa, calm down." I reach out and place my hand on the can as he almost spills it on the couch.
"I'll teach you on your seventh birthday, alright" I laugh. That should give me enough time to actually understand my magic if me and Sans can't switch back.
"Now eat your dinner" I say sternly, "it's getting late.
"OK SANS" he digs into the peaches, making a mess all over his hands.
This kid is going to be trouble. I smile softly as Papyrus eats. We'll have to make sure he eats as healthy as possible while we can.
'There's some wet wipes in my bag that I've been using to wipe his hands' Sans says, laughing at my misery.
'Enjoy your break it'll be back to you soon' I dig in his bag that's still across my shoulder. I pull out a pack of baby wipes.
'When's the last time yall took a bath?' I ask Sans.
'Last week, there's a bath that works in one of the bathrooms upstairs. I take us up there to bathe twice a week.' Sans responds 'I don't want to go up too often and put him at risk
'That's smart.' I nod at him mentally.
Looking over Papyrus is almost done with the peaches.
'Do you think we should spare the time to take one before we head out?' I ask Sans.
'We'll have to wake up early so we can leave before it gets to bright out, but yeah, I think we should' Sans says after a moment of thought. I nod in understanding.
"I'M DONE SANS" Papyrus says holding out the fork and can toward me.
I take the can and fork. There's some liquid in the can so I chug it.
'That's gross gramps' sans says snorting.
"SANSSSSS" Papyrus whines.
I laugh sliding the fork into Sans' bag and then toss the can beside the couch.
I look out the window and see it's starting to get dark. "Now let's get you to bed." I stand up from the couch.
'He sleeps on the couch with the faded red blanket that's on the end.' Sans directs me.
"OK, SANS," Papyrus says happily as he climbs onto the couch and gets comfortable.
I'm pretty sure the only reason he didn't try and fight is because he wants to sleep in his new pj's.
'Probaly' Sans says laughing.
I lay the red blanket over Papyrus and tuck him in.
"Do you want a story tonight?" I ask as I kneel beside the couch.
"NO THANK YOU" Papyrus says snuggling into the blanket.
I lean forward and press a kiss to his forehead. "Alright kiddo. Good night"
"NIGHT SANS" Papyrus mumbles back, already half asleep.
I stand up and move to the far corner of the room and sit on the floor.
Looking over I can see Papyrus has fallen asleep.
'Guess it's time to see if we can fix this' I tell sans anxiously.
'Guess so gramps' He also has some anxiety in his voice.
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A/N so I accidentally made this chapter 2125 words. Let me know if it's to long or if the writing seems wierd. I might end up breaking this into two chapters, so don't be surprised if I change it.
As always, if you see any mistakes, inconsistencies, or just want to say something, please comment. (I crave validation from strangers on the internet.)
I'm also going to try and incorporate my accent and some slang that I use because I want it to feel like me. I'm sorry if that ends up bothering some people it won't be a lot, just little things here and there.