Chapter Text
“SANS! MOVE FASTER!”
“Hey, we’ve been walking a ton today. A skele- ton.”
“ SANS!”
“Oh come on, you're smiling.”
“I am and I HATE IT! We need to keep walking. Stop being such a lazybones.”
The shorter skeleton yawned. “Sorry. I wasn’t planning on waking up at six AM this morning.”
“The earlier the better! Besides, we’ve got guards on our tails!”
“We don’t have tails.”
“It’s an expression!”
The shorter skeleton laughed. “Can’t help it. Hey, come on, I’m funny.”
“Hmph!”
These two skeletons were traveling the country, falsely accused of a crime. They royal guard was on their tails-unfortunately lead by their old friend Undyne-and they had to hide away. Flyers of them were everywhere. The money for their heads had gone up. At this point they were good at avoiding the guards. The dog monsters weren’t so great at their job anyway.
Traveling from town-to-town was a nuisance, but it had to be done. It was Papayrus’ idea to go to the king to try to clear their names anyway.
Sans thought it was a terrible idea; but he couldn’t say that to his brother. Never.
Making money was a bitch too. It either had to be done through pickpocketing or begging. Mostly pickpocketing. And Papayrus hated pickpocketing.
“It’s not right! It’s stealing!”
“It’s that or starve, bro.”
At this point Papayrus was used to it, but he still felt guilty. He let Sans to most of the work.
Sans yawned. “Bro, I’m tired. Let’s stop and sleep for a little bit, yeah?”
“No! The more we walk the closer we get to the king. And then I, the great Papayrus, shall clear our names! I’m such a genius!”
Sans just gave him a thumbs up. “You go, bro.”
After a little while of walking (and Papayrus listening to Sans’ complaining) they ended up walking by a fence. On the other side of the fence were cows and a large barn and farmhouse. Some sheep walked around in the barn.
Papayrus beamed. “Sans, look! Aren’t they cute?!”
Sans nodded. “Yes, bro, they’re cute. But you know what this means?”
Papayrus turned to him, still beaming. “What?”
“We’re near a town. We can finally get food, water, and a place to sleep. Where there’s a town, there’s an inn. So come on, let’s go. It’s probably not far—Papayrus!”
The taller skeleton was trying to climb the fence.
Sans pulled him back by the scarf. “What are you doing?”
“They’re so cute!” He cried. “I wanna pet them!”
“You’re the same way with Temmies. Come on, let’s get moving.”
“Oh come on!” Papyrus whined.
Sans tried to think of a way to get his brother to keep moving. “You know, there could be a cool weapons shop in town.”
Papayrus turned to him quickly, his eye sockets wide. “You never let me go into a weapons shop.”
“Yeah, well, this is a special occasion.”
“Ok!” Papayrus beamed. “Thank’s bro! You’re the best! After me!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sans grinned. “Now let’s get moving.”
“Ok!” Papayrus walked ahead quickly, making his brother run to catch up to him.
“Don’t make me run,” Sans panted.
“You could use the exercise brother!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means.”
“Hey, I’m not fat. I’m big boned. No pun intended for once.”
“Yeah, that’s what they all say.”
“Ah, shut up.” Sans pushed his brother playfully. Papayrus laughed.
After a few more minutes of walking, the town was finally in sight.
“Oooo, Sans! This town is booming!”
“That’s good, nobody will notice us.”
Papayrus sighed sadly. “I miss being noticed. I’m so great, and now no one will notice.”
Sans patted his brother on the back.” There there, brother, there there. I think you’re great.”
Papayrus smiled. “Aww, thanks bro! You’re great too!”
“But not as great as you?”
Papayrus’ eye sockets widened. “Gasp! Can you read my mind?”
Sans grinned. “No, just used to it.”
The younger brother turned back to the town. “Wow Sans, so many people! You think we could make friends? I mean, there are humans and monsters! So many places and-”
“Down, Papayrus.” Sans said.
“Sorry. I’m just so excited!” Papayrus was bouncing.
Sans smiled. His brother was so innocent and nice. It was adorable. He remembered it annoyed Undyne a little at first, but he grew on her and she learned to love it. He always does.
He wondered what Undyne was doing now.
Still looking for us, I bet. Traitor.
“Sans! Come on, let’s go!”
“Alright, alright. I guess this town doesn’t look so bad.”
“Yeah, yeah! The people, the sights, the shops, the animals-”
A delicious smell wafted through the airs, and both their stomachs growled.
“The smells.” Sans drooled. He raced ahead. “Bye, bro.”
“Hey! Don’t leave me behind!” Papayrus ran after him. “And since when are you so fast?! You hate running!”