Chapter Text
Snowdin is a town of many different monsters living under perpetual snow. Here it was cozy, not as cramped as the main cities, but still full of several charming businesses and houses. It takes a village to come together, and come together they have. Despite being trapped under the knowledge of the barrier and their entrapment, they still tried to go about their days as cheerfully as they could. One of the cheeriest places had to be Grillby’s bar and grill, a quiet little tavern where most towners (And the gaggle of canine royal guards) spent their nights. Grillby had a reputation of running a classy establishment and he took pride in such.
Grillby for the most part, had to have had the most tidy and clean trash area of any Snowdin business. Whereas the Inn or other shops would just throw their trash out in piles, Grillby prided himself on having a professional business, no matter what end you looked at. He always put bags into metal trash bins, leaving them outside until the garbage dog (perhaps of the Greater clan) came to collect them. Clean, precise, and professional, Grilly kept those tenants on all things he did.
However lately, he had begun to notice that his usually tidy trash area was for lack of a better term, being trashed. Over the next two weeks, his cans were being knocked over, their bags ripped open and rifled through. At least the culprit didn’t spread trash everywhere, Grillby was sure nobody wanted to look at crusty old napkins and leftover dry dog kibble. Still, it was a pain to have to perform an extra clean up step before opening in the mornings. It seems whatever they or what was after was food, the contents of the bags were usually picked clean of anything remotely edible. It had to be some hungry animal or so, but Grillby wasn’t convinced that it was such a simple answer.
He had asked some of his more chatty patrons if they have noticed anything odd. Since many of them were royal guards, it would make sense that they would be hyper-vigilant of any strange going ons in the down. Dogaressa claimed she had seen what she thinks to be a small child in behind buildings, but they would run away before she could take a closer look. Dogamy claimed that it wasn’t a child, but some sort of strange dog like bone creature, slinking around in the dark. Others piped up to add that no, it was two children actually, an older and much younger child. Another to say it was the dog-like bone monster, but accompanied by a small child. Or even just two small bone monsters. Grillby had to intervene before the more excitable of his patrons get in a fight over who is right or wrong, literally erupting into barks as the canine population became over excited.
It still didn’t solve his problem, but it got him thinking.
Not every night were his trash cans knocked over. There didn’t seem to be a distinct pattern at all other than that he cans were never plundered twice in a row. Spread along the upset cans were tiny foot prints in the snow, impressions of little shoes that would fit a very young monster. Along the footprints oddly enough, were strange tracks, unlike what he’s seen before, looking like jagged paw prints of some animal. Sometimes the tracks would be interchangeable, stopping and starting and sometimes melding together.
Very puzzling indeed. It was troubling to imagine a young monster out all alone in the cold, rooting through trash cans for a meal. It was no secret that Grillby adored children, he couldn’t just stand by and let whoever this was suffer all alone in the cold.
Judging by the care this mysterious child took in raiding cans of garbage, they must be scared or clever. A combination of the two is not a good thing. Grillby decided to carry on his routine, eventually he would be able to catch them in the act.
It took another week before his patience was rewarded. He had taken out the trash and closed early, letting the back of the bar be completely dark. He waited inside by the back door, listening carefully.
It didn’t take long before the sound of scraping metal and tearing plastic could be heard. He sighed and steeled himself, and prepared to face whatever was out there.
Despite being made of fire, Grillby moves so quietly that his patrons often joke that he can teleport. Grillby stepped quietly out into the chilly air. It was times like these he cursed himself for being so luminous, his light cast out warm yellow and orange shadows on the snow. He was sure to be spotted…but maybe not. He crept as quietly as he could towards the rustling sound. There he could a small shadow digging into one of his trash cans. Grillby was close enough that his natural light alerted the stranger to his presence.
The shadow turned around and looked right at Grillby fearfully. The mysterious raider turned out to be a very short skeleton monster. They looked to be extremely young and dressed in a dirty over-sized hoodie. Judging by their cheekbones and the exhausted way in which he stood, he hasn’t had a good meal in a long time. They were in overall terrible shape. The way they shook in both cold and fear clenched Grillby’s heart in pity.
What made it worse that clutched protectively in the child’s arms, was a tiny toddler. A skeleton like the older child, siblings perhaps? The youngest skeleton was bundled up snugly in a thick, but tattered blanket and held close to the older child’s chest.
It was worse than he thought.
For a split second they stared at each other. And then the little kid began to slowly step backwards, never taking their eyes off the fire monster. Grillby took a breath, preparing to say something to the frightened child. Before he could utter a single word the child quickly turned and ran with surprising speed into the darkness.
He would have to try again.
Yet again Grillby was forced to wait, this time it took a whole week for the kid to feel brave enough to come back. This time he was prepared. This time when he walked out to confront the children, he was armed with a plate of hand cut french fries and a large burger, still steaming hot. Again the kid ran away, but this time didn’t completely vanish into the darkness. Obviously, they were curious at what Grillby was doing and the smell of of hot fast food goodness helped too.
Grilly took a breath and spoke in his usual soft whisper of a voice. “I’m sure this will be much more…palatable, then what is found in my trashcans.”
There was no response, but little white pupils watched him from the shelter of the darkness.
“This is for you.” he continued, and slowly set the plate down. Moving too quickly caused the skeleton to flinch and back away more into the shadows. Once the plate was set down, he carefully and slowly walked back inside, leaving the skeletons and the meal alone. It would take some time, he figured, to earn their trust. He just hoped this was a good start.
The next day to his surprise, the meal was completely untouched. It was left exactly where he set it. There wasn’t even footprints near it.
He didn’t know what could cause the children to reject an obvious act of kindness, but whatever it was it couldn’t have been good.
He began to leave a plate of food every night, occasionally changing up the contents. It was heartbreaking to him, to see the outlines of shoes get closer and closer to the plate with each new day. Eventually the prints became long smears, signs of pacing, as the poor kid agonized over what to do with a simple plate of burgers and fries. The trash cans remained un-raided.
Reports of strange children and creatures petered off during this time. Perhaps they were becoming more careful and taking greater pains to remain unseen?
It took two long weeks of untouched food before eventually, he came out to find an empty plate. A small victory in the attempt to help these poor children. He continued to leave food and conveniently ‘leave’ blankets outside. Those along with the food disappeared as well, much to his relief.
Eventually the older child began to linger around the bar with the younger in tow. Grillby didn’t always see them, but he knew they were watching him. It made him feel better to know that they were beginning to trust him enough to simply be near. Looking at them directly made them nervous, a thing which he understood himself. He occasional spoke soft words to them, attempting to greet them and try to establish some form of familiarity. Eventually they grew used to that as well, never coming out of the shadows but at least not running away.
One day however, the weather turned harsh and stayed as such for days. It became almost unbearably cold and fresh snow was falling by the bucketful. The children sometimes didn’t show up, obviously attempting to stay sheltered during the worst of the weather. He kept leaving food for the children, including hot chocolate and other warming dishes. If they didn’t trust him enough to come inside, he would find other ways to help him.
Things became more dire when the usually cleaned plates were suddenly turning up half eaten. After two days of the food barely being picked at, he resolved to do something.
That night he left a plate as usual and quickly found somewhere to hide. He had left some boxes out that would do well to conceal his light. He knelt by them and waited, glad that all his clothing was enchanted to be waterproof.
It didn’t take long for them to come, and judging by how badly the older child was walking, things weren’t going well. The skeleton was shaking as he slowly crept closer to the plate, his younger sibling clutched protectively in his arms. It seems that all the extra blankets went straight to the toddler, the eldest keeping none for himself. The toddler looked alright…but the older child was in some obvious distress. He trembled and shook in the frigid air. The lights in his eye sockets were dimmed and he just seemed to radiate exhaustion. In the dim light he could see that he had accumulated more scratches and dents on his skull and hand bones. Occasionally a deep cough would rip through his rib cage, making his eyes clench in pain.
The child wearily sat down next to the plate and carefully positioned his smaller sibling in his lap, not allowing him to touch the cold snow. He picked up a french fry and began to patiently feed them to the toddler, one by one. The toddler babbled happily as he was fed, seemingly unaware just how much in danger they both were in. The child dutifully fed his brother, occasionally looking to the food almost with longing. He didn’t eat a single bite. That solved the mystery of the half eaten food, the child was feeding his sibling before himself. Grillby watched and waited.
The child rested and when he struggled and failed to get back up again, Grillby knew it was time to move. He slowly stepped out from behind the boxes, his hands held out to show that he wasn’t holding anything that could be considered threatening to them.
“Hello.” he greeted softly. It was best to start out simple.
The older child started when he heard the voice. His attempts to get up continued to fail, snatching up his brother protectively and trying to scoot away in the snow. He wouldn’t be able to get far doing that.
“Please don’t ….run….I’m here to help you.” Grillby continued forward, one careful step after another.
The child looked up fiercely and actually growled at him. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but his teeth seemed sharper then before. Instead of the normal white pupils, there instead was round glowing cyan eyes.
Grillby continued his careful trek forward, trying to placate the terrified child. However his efforts were in vain, as the child growled again.
The little skeleton boy suddenly pitched forward towards the snow. Grillby though at first that the poor kid had collapsed out of sickness, but he changed his mind when the boy suddenly…began to change, accompanied by soft pops and the sound of stretching rubber. It was so smooth and so quick that one minute there was a young skeleton boy and the next was something he’d never seen before.
Still wearing the hoodie and shorts was a very small quadrupedal bone monster, looking like a cross between a dog and a lizard. His bottom jaw was bisected and his muzzle was lined with tiny blunted teeth. His shoes were kicked away to allow for his longer and somewhat bigger paw-like feet. The change of form didn’t change his situation, as he panted and shook, occasionally making quiet moan-like whines. Despite this, he looked at Grillby fiercely. Obviously since he was unsteady on two legs, he swapped them out for four sturdier ones.
He opened up his little jaws and let out a loud puppish growl, never once taking his glowing eyes off the fire elemental. His bony tail was held stiffly behind him, trying to look as threatening as a tiny bone monster could. It would almost be comical if it wasn’t for the dire situation he was in. He positioned himself directly between Grillby and the confused toddler, whom had rolled into the snow when his older sibling changed shape. The younger watched the going ons with wide eyes and with eerie silence.
Grillby was surprised at first. Well, that certainly explained the strange reports from the royal guards. He looked over at the still growling little monster. It was virtually unheard of to have monsters that could shapeshift, especially as smoothly and as skilled as the child before him. It didn’t change the situation, and he filed those thoughts away for later.
Grillby carefully and slowly kneeled down on the snow. Moving too quickly caused the little bone monster to growl louder and click his jaws in distress. He continued to protectively stand over his sibling, shaking and watching.
“It’s alright….” Grillby spoke slowly and softly, trying not to frighten the monster more than he already was. “I’m not going to hurt you or your brother.”
His words earned him another high pitched growl. The little monster dug his paw-like hands into the snow as he tried to appear more threatening.
“I was worried.” he continued to speak, “When you were only eating half the plate. I thought that perhaps, you did not like my cooking.” He tried adding a little humor to his words, wanting to put the distressed monster at ease. “I can see that you have obviously been too ill to eat much, am I right?”
The little monster whined in response. His shaky legs and labored breaths were testament enough.
“You aren’t well…” he continued. “Why don’t you and your brother come inside with me where it’s warm? I’m sure you’ll feel better then. ”
The little monster looked back at the toddler behind him and made soft confused noises.
“I know… I know…you’ve been very brave looking after your brother so well. I understand.” he nodded to the monster. “I have a little cousin, who I look after occasionally. It’s hard work, isn’t it?”
The monster gave the barest of nods. Tears pricked at the corners of his eye sockets. Grillby nodded back understandably.
“You shouldn’t have to do this all alone. If you like, I can help you both. It’s your choice.” Grillby slowly extended a warm luminous hand out towards the frightened children, making the gap between them only a few feet wide. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
The little monster stared, flinching back a step as the hand was extended. For a long time he stared at it as he continued to silently cry, agonized noises occasionally escaping his tiny muzzle. He rocked on his small paws as he struggled internally with the choice. Sensing his brother’s distress, the toddler babbled softly.
Grillby waited patiently, completely still. He offered gentle words to the monster, trying to help soothe his worries.
“It’s alright, come on now. It’s okay.”
Slowly the bone creature began to take hesitant stumbling steps forward, flinching all the way and occasionally backing up again as fear overwhelmed them. Grillby continued to encourage him as the distance between them grew less and less, until finally he was in touching distance.
Grillby stayed absolutely still, his hand still extended. Slowly and shakily, the creature reached out and touched his hand with the tip of his muzzle. He immediately closed his eye sockets and flinched, bracing himself as if expecting to be hurt. Grillby instead slowly and gently began to pet his skull. He frowned internally at the unnatural heat there, no doubt a fever. As Grillby petted the bone monster, they began to relax slightly as they understood that there will be no pain. He looked up at Grillby, confused that someone was being kind to them.
“There we go. See? I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help you. You don’t have to be alone anymore.”
The creature’s eye sockets bristled with fresh tears. He made a few strangled sad noises, but once again he transformed smoothly. Where once was a small bone monster there was a small barefoot skeleton child. He continued to cry as he abruptly pitched forward and hugged the fire monster around the middle, burying his face into his vest. Grillby could scarcely believe it as relief washed over him. He carefully wrapped his arms around the frightened child, rubbing his back comfortingly.
“There there, it’ll be okay now. You’re safe now.”
The child clutched at him like a life line as Grillby continued to soothe him as he continued to sob. Suddenly he felt a tug on his pant leg. Looking down in confusion, he was surprised to see the toddler there. Apparently he had shaken free of his swaddling and crawled all the way over. Judging by the look on his little face, he wasn’t too pleased that his brother was getting a hug and not him. Once he had Grillby’s attention, he held up up his arms in the universal 'pick me up’ gesture.
“Ablablt.” he demanded in a high pitched voice. “Bllpt blaplt.”
Grillby obliged and scooped up the toddler with one arm, which caused the little one to giggle happily. He picked both of them up, wincing with how light they both were. The older sibling continued his death grip, burying his face into his collar. It took some careful maneuvering but he got the back door open with his arms full. He carried them inside where the warmth washed over all three monsters. The toddler babbled, clearly pleased to be indoors and out of the snow and cold. He carried them over to the couch he kept in the back, attempting to set them down on it.
At first the older child didn’t want to release his grip. He eventually allowed himself to but put down after some more soft reassurances. Once free he immediately snatched up his younger sibling and held him close, watching Grillby again with white pupils. Grillby grabbed a throw blanket and began to wrap them up, causing the older sibling to sigh almost contentedly.
“Do you have a name?” he softly asked as he bundled them up.
The boy looked up at him. Perhaps he couldn’t speak? He looked around nervously, shooting glances into the darker areas of the bar.
“It’s just us, there is nobody else here.”
The boy took a few soft breaths, sinking back into the warm couch and blankets. Then he spoke in a rough, but painfully young voice.
“I…I’m Sans.”
Grillby nodded, pleased to see that the child…Sans…was speaking to him.
“And your…little brother?” Grillby tilted his head to the toddler, who was curled up in San’s arms and currently fighting sleep.
“Papyrus.” was the rough answer. Grillby had to suppress a chuckle. What was with skeletons and their love of fonts for names? Sans let out a soft yawn as his exhaustion crept back up on him, but he was fighting sleep.
“Why don’t you two rest.” Grillby suggested. “I promise I won’t allow anything to happen to you or your brother.”
His words seemed to put Sans at ease. “You…you promise?” he asked in a small voice.
“I promise.” Grillby replied. With that, Sans couldn’t fight sleep anymore. He closed his eye sockets and nearly asleep instantly, holding his sleeping little brother in his arms. Grillby made sure they were comfortable before leaving the room and heading to a cabinet. There he began to look to see if he had any cold medicine inside. Finding a bottle of liquid medicine, he took it in his hand and returned to the room, planning to give it to Sans tomorrow.
When he returned, he saw that Sans once again had transformed into the strange bone creature again. He was wrapped comfortably around his little brother, both buried snugly under the blanket. Both looked to be at peace and content, perhaps for the first time in their lives.
Grillby sighed and sat down on a spare stool. It was obvious they were more than what they appeared to be, but he supposed it would be a mystery that would take time and patience to solve. He had made a promise to the children that he would protect and help them.
And Grillby doesn’t break his promises.