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Dust.
Dust.
Dust.
It was everywhere. In the snow, in the air, lying thick on the ground like a secondary layer of snow; an iridescent silver against the crisp white, either in piles or blowing throughout the air.
Snowdin had been unofficially evacuated by now. What was once a happy town surrounded by snow was now a empty shell, the buildings that had once been homes left behind. Every monster was gone now.
... most of them, at least.
Despite his brother's rather odd and lowercase warnings, Papyrus had decided to stand behind and try one last attempt to befriend the human.
About ten minutes ago, the brothers had finished searching around Snowdin. Namely for survivors, but also to check who was dead.
"It's so unnerving to see Snowdin so quiet."
"tell me about it. i thought the most quiet it would get around here was nighttime."
With a stiff wind, another bit of dust in the breeze blew by. Both of the brothers paused, then continued.
"That human is rather weird, aren't they? I mean, they walked through my puzzles and ignored my explanations like I didn't even matter to them! And I spent weeks on those, too!"
"not to mention what they did to everyone else."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"c'mon paps. we should leave before the... 'human', comes back." Sans began to walk away. When Papyrus did not follow, he returned. "paps? what's the hold up?"
"I want to try and talk to them."
"...you can't be serious."
"I'm as serious as I've always been! And besides, maybe there's some bigger misunderstanding at play! Maybe, just maybe, I can reach them, tell them what they're doing is bad, and they'll stop."
"..."
"alright, fine. if you really want to do this, who am i to stop you." There was something defeated-looking in his eyes and his smile, like he'd somehow seen this coming. "just promise me this one thing, if you still can."
"come back safe."
Sans had ran for safety along with the rest of the monsters. As much as Papyrus didn't particularly like that, he did understand where his lazybones brother was coming from. After all... seeing one's neighbors be massacred right in front of them often made people flee for their lives.
...
Whilst he waited, Papyrus kneeled down to the snow... and the "snow", summoned a bone, and began to write down the names of the people he knew, crossing out the names of the dead.
"Doggo" - Given how there was now a pair of unwielded daggers at the station covered in dust, he was definitely dead.
"Lesser Dog" - An abandoned sword and shield was found in the outskirts of the woods. Though not covered with dust, Lesser Dog never went anywhere without their sword, or at least their shield.
"Greater Dog" - There was shattered armor with no dog to be seen. Unless Greater Dog had chosen to shed it (which he doubted)... Definitely dead.
"Dogamy" "Dogaressa" - All that remained of them were a pair of twin axes, placed together in death and covered in dust.
"Undyne" - She should still be in Waterfall, and since Papyrus was blocking the only way out of Snowdin and hadn't seen the human yet, she should still be okay.
"Sans" - ...He wasn't dead. Unless the rest of the hiding monsters were... if they'd been found. Even then, Papyrus knew Sans. Lazy, sure, but crafty and capable of using the same magic he could. If all else failed, Papyrus was sure he'd be able to slip away instantly.
...and even then, since he didn't know for sure... it didn't necessarily help his (metaphorical) nerves.
"Am I making a mistake by being out here? Should I have just hidden with Sans and the others? I know it's the duty of the Royal Guard to capture humans, but...
...
No, what am I saying? If I want to be part of the Royal Guard, I will prove myself to Undyne! Besides, I'm the only member other than the captain alive, so I have to make this count."
Somewhere in the distance, he could hear footsteps, coming closer to him... then fading. Only one thing made those exact footsteps, only one thing had a walk that stiff and grim. It was the human, somewhere in the abandoned town, and they were getting nearer to where he was. It took some time, but soon, they came into view.
Their skin was awfully yellow, swollen in some places and covered in silver dust. Their eyes were closed, yet their unseen eyes seemed to fix onto him with fatal intent. Their clothes were torn and ragged and stained with something that looked red. On their hand, they held a damaged orange glove, and in that hand a chipped blue knife.
"...It's them. Well... I suppose that it's now or never for the Great Papyrus. If they want the people of this town, they'll have to go through me."
"Halt, human!" he stretched out his hand in a gesture for them to stop... but they walked forwards nonetheless. "Hey- quit moving when I'm talking to you! I, the Great Papyrus, have some things to say.
"First, you're a freaking weirdo! Not only do you not like puzzles, but the way you shamble about from place to place, the way your hands are always covered in... dusty powder..." He decided not to point out the obvious. "It feels like your life is going down a dangerous path."
Crunch. The human was now significantly closer than they had once been. He decided to ignore that.
"However! I, Papyrus, see great potential in you! Everyone can be a great person if they try, and me, I hardly need to try! Nyeh heh heh!"
Crunch.
"Hey, quit moving! This is exactly what I'm talking about; you need guidance! Someone needs to keep you on the straight and narrow! But worry not, because I, Papyrus-"
Crunch. This time, he was forced to backpedal a bit.
"...will guide you towards being a... good... person."
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch- with no warning, the human began to sprint at him, their movements almost beastlike rather than human. They raised their knife hand to attack, their eyes opened to reveal a pair of pus-infested eyes and narrowed pupils-!
The human was fast, almost paralyzingly so. Fortunately, Papyrus, his bone, and his hand were all still faster than the human.
*WHACK*
In a single swing, the human was launched backwards about 20 feet, landing in a heap in the snow and going still.
"That was a bit harder than I meant, but you get my point! I think that even you, yes you, can be a..." The words faded from his mouth when he realized that the human seemed to be asleep with their head slumped back.
"Oh come on! Human, this is serious! First you ignore my puzzles, then you move when I'm talking, and now you're trying to sleep through my monologue? I need you to be awake and listening to me! (Honestly, this is worse than my lazybones brother...)" He stepped forwards and tried to give the body a shove to wake it up. When nothing happened, he naturally grew concerned.
"...Human?"
The child had gone utterly still, their expression now blank, their body now motionless, their eyes blank and lifeless. Though a rather bizarre sight, and something Papyrus quietly doubted that most humans did, his attention was quickly taken elsewhere, to what looked like a gigantic black box appearing and spreading out in the sky.
"That's odd. I thought it was still daytime." he wondered. "Did night come early? Am I simply seeing things?"
When he looked closer at the thing, however, it quickly became clear that it was no night sky overhead.
...
There was something, or someone, shrouded in darkness far above him. At least, he assumed so, given how it was so absurdly massive that he could hardly grasp what it was. All he could make out were a pair of gigantic eyes, bigger than the entire Underground, or Snowdin at the very least. Within those eyes, colors danced or held stagnant, countless hues absorbed into those inmonster orbs.
Bone white.
All-consuming black.
Fire red richer than even the deepest tapestries.
Ice blue that seemed more pure than even the finest powdered snow.
If he looked hard enough into those eyes, Papyrus could make out shapes reflected back at him; the human, the snow, the trees, the icy cold river... and himself. All the shapes were squarish and blocky, but still distinct. It seemed as though this being, whatever it was, gazed at a world far different than the one he saw; yet both worlds were at least similar. Every so often, the eyes briefly vanished, then appeared moments later. Behind those eyes were a silhouette, and below them was a gigantic, gaping maw filled with bone-white teeth.
The bones in his throat had long since gone dry, staring up at this infinite form before him. The words he had once been about to say seemed so very far away, now that this being had made itself known. He quietly braced himself for the creature to crush him, vaporize him, or turn him into dust like the rest.
...
...
...Nothing happened. When he uncovered his eyes, the creature was in the same position it had been in before, yet its eyes looked directly into his... or perhaps, his lack thereof was a better word. Regardless, it still looked at him.
"...It's not hurting me. Why...?"
Was it it waiting for him to make a move? He chose to interpret it that way. Gathering his wits, his courage, and his voice, Papyrus spoke aloud.
"Uh... Hello, large creature! I... uhm, presume you can hear me, or at least you can tell what I'm saying, right?" The eyes blinked. Papyrus took that as a 'yes'. "Listen, I don't know if you're a monster, and I very much doubt you're a human, but I hope you at least listen to me, since the human isn't right now."
The skeleton cleared his throat, feeling the bones in his spine rattle.
"I can... probably assume that your influence has something to do with the human; I don't think it's a coincidence that after the human appeared, I saw you appear.
With that being said, I think... I think you may have made some mistakes. A lot of them. Whether you know it or not, you have hurt a lot of people.
I know it might seem hard, but I believe in you! I, The Great Papyrus, think that anyone is capable of being a better person if they just try to be.
No matter how many mistakes you've made now, you can still move past them and become someone better.
Even if I have personally never made many mistakes, I could help guide you, keep you and the human on the straight and narrow!"
* Papyrus is sparing the human.
* Papyrus is sparing YOU.
"What do you say?"
...
...
One moment, he was staring up at something that looked down upon him. Yet, despite the difference, he could see the shift in the being's eyes; it was incredible how one tiny shift made them feel less eldritch and more... friendly? Sympathetic? The dust blew in the wind still, but it was forgotten by now.
The world grew quieter. Though he could hear no response, they were thinking over the potential idea.
In one fraction of an instant, Papyrus felt himself becoming nothing. Not dust, not bones, not a skeleton, but nothing. All but his mind ceased to exist, the last thought the hope that the being would make the right choice...
Reset?
Yes ❤️No
❤️ Yes No
Despite lacking lungs, Papyrus gasped awake, as though he had been jolted from a deep slumber. He clutched the front of his ribs, feeling the sensation of cold air upon his frame-
...wait.
Where was the dust?
When he looked around again, there was nothing in the air save for snow. If he listened hard enough, he could hear bits of conversations, noises of merriment, the voices of people he knew, even someone coming closer to him-!
"paps?" There were no footsteps, yet the voice came closer.
"Sans?"
Finally, from the edge of town, a familiar skull appeared! "papyrus?"
"SANS!" The larger of the two brothers went in, seizing his smaller counterpart in a massive hug. "SANS! SANS, I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH-!"
"gh- okay, thanks. but, uh... why the enthusiasm?"
The next few minutes were mostly just tearful blubbering. Within that blubbering, something about "dust everywhere" and a "child" and a "big pair of eyes that watched me, stared into my soul" came through.
At the end of it, Sans looked a bit questioningly at Papyrus.
"that's cool i guess. say, you didn't happen to be asleep, didja?"
"Obviously not! I was awake the entire time!
"hey, I just wanted to make sure you weren't..."
"...Sans."
"..." His already stagnant grin grew bigger.
"Don't say it. Don't make a single joke."
"...bone-tired."
Papyrus groaned. Yeah, this was definitely the Sans he knew and unfortunately loved and thank the Angel he was alive. If the day had been just a little less weird, he'd have chastised his brother for taking the low-hanging fruit of a pun.
"You... ugh, never mind. Even if I wish you made better jokes sometimes, you're still my brother." He made no further comment, just continuing to hug Sans. A couple of errant thoughts entered his mind about the being he had seen, but he dismissed them. If the being ever came back to Snowdin, Papyrus hoped that next time, it would be on better terms.
"y'know what? let's talk at grillby's, it's warmer there than out here in the snow. i know a shortcut."