PROLOGUE
Sans stood on the front step of the house he shared with his brother, the breeze was cool, the only light coming from the lamp overhead. It was late, nearly ten, and it had been a very long, stressful, tiring day… Still the skeleton monster hoped his brother was still awake. He’d have liked nothing better just then, then to grab some rewarmed leftovers and crash on the couch with his sibling and watch mindless tv till his eyes glued themselves shut.
“heh, finally home… i can finally just kick back, watch tv with paps and just relax and pretend today never happened…”
Fishing in his pocket for his keys, he put them in the lock and tried to turn them, only to find the door unlocked and swinging open at the barest of touches.
The Door.
Unlocked.
On the surface.
At night.
In a human city.
Unlocked.
When only his overly trusting, human-loving, pacifistic younger brother was home... Alone.
“huhn? that’s strange… doors unlocked… did paps forget to-” Sans asked as the door hit the jam. “w-what…?”
It took a moment for the scene before him to register.
The door had opened into their living room.
Their normally pristine living room.
The living room that was now completely destroyed.
Sans just stopped. Mind trying to process this.
His living room was trashed, furniture and keepsakes laying smashed and broken on the floor. Pet Rock missing entirely.
And there was no sign of Papyrus anywhere.
Where was his brother??
“Welcome home~” came a warm, cheery voice. Looking down, the shocked skeleton caught sight of a small, fluffy white dog. Toby.
“Your Papyrus made spaghetti. But then They threw it everywhere.” Toby said brightly wagging his tail, “Its okay though, it was burnt anyways.”
Sans head spun, not really allowing him to truly quantify what he was being told. They? They who? Spaghetti?
“oh… is that right? well all the better it spilled then…” Sans muttered, feeling light headed, soul racing, “and where exactly is papyrus right now toby?”
“Oh they’re all in the kitchen trying to kill each other… or they were…” Toby replied calmly pointing at the door beside the staircase. “Maybe they succeeded? Its gotten really quiet…”
Sans froze, the lights leaving his eye sockets, as his soul gave a painful lurch.
Without anther word to his friend and housemate, he sprinted across the room and threw open the door to the kitchen.
“Papyrus!!!??” Sans cried, his whispery voice hitting normal speaking tones before breaking.
He froze in the doorway and just stared at the mayhem…
____________________________
Sans stood looking around the ruins of what had once been his and Papyrus’s kitchen, at the broken dishes, cracked cupboard doors and the splintered remains of the small table where the two had become accustom to eating breakfast at. And more importantly he looked around at the ones responsible for all the destruction.
“OH BROTHER!!! WELCOME HOME!!! LOOK WE HAVE GUESTS!!! THE GREAT PAPYRUS NEVER KNEW WE HAD SO MANY RELATIVES!!! NYEHEHEHEE!!!” His sweet, beloved younger brother was sitting on the ground covered in scrapes, with a crack over his left eye socket he was beaming brightly, ridiculously happy and proud of himself despite the chaos around him. Beside him sat a mirror image of Sans, only larger, and darker, clad like a biker, with shark-like teeth, a gold tooth and glowing red eyes. The other Sans had frozen in the middle of trying to tend to Papyrus’s wounds, ignoring his own more serious injuries in favor of insuring the younger skeleton was alright… Yeah, definitely a Sans…
And speaking of Sanses… Sans turned his eyes to eye the other TWO clones of himself. The nearest, being both smaller than him, and more energetic, seemingly incapable of remaining still, fidgeting in a very Papyrus-esque manner as he stared at Sans, with large blue eyes. The diminutive Sans was clad in an equally Papyrus-like costume, consisting of a blue bandanna, gloves and boots with a white t-shirt and darker blue pants with an all too familiar black bodysuit below.
In front of his tiny doppelganger sat two more Papyrus clones, one clad in an orange hoodie and all stars, the other sporting a black and red version of his brother’s Hero Costume minus the body suit and adding more tears and edges… Everything about this version of his brother seemed more “Edgy” the skull belt, black leather pants and Mettaton-esque high-heeled boots.
Over in the far corner of the room were two other clones, one looking like a miniature version of “Edgy Papyrus” only with purple accents instead of red, and the other looking like a mix between “Hoodie Papyrus” and the darker version of himself, complete with gold tooth and- wait was that a dog collar??
Sans looked back at the larger Sans sitting beside his brother.
Yup.
Dog collars.
Spiked dog collars…
He didn’t even want to know.
He turned his attention back to his Papyrus, who was fidgeting nervously now, no doubt finally starting to “sense the mood” due to his brother’s continued silence.
“S-SANS? A-ARE YOU OKAY?” Papyrus asked wringing his hands fretfully.
“what? oh, yeah i’m fine, just came home to find the front door unlocked in the middle of the night-“ Sans said, his voice low and calm.
“SANS-“ Papyrus started.
“-and the living room looking like a tornado hit-“ Sans continued pleasantly, ignoring him.
“B-BROTHER I-“ Papyrus whimpered, the others glanced between the too, Hoodie and Edgy’s eyes narrowing at Papyrus’s sudden nervousness.
“and i was pretty sure someone must have broken in and kidnapped or dusted you-“ Sans said smiling widely.
Papyrus sniffled tears welling in his eye sockets.
“but i am just fine. never better. really.” Sans shrugged nonchalantly, “fact i was just about to go clean the living room-“
“WAIT SANS!!” Papyrus cried.
Sans spun on his heel and headed out of the room, “y o u h a v e f u n.”
With that he slammed the door behind him and Papyrus leaped to his feet.
“BROTHER WAIT!!! DON’T BE MAD PLEASE!!!” he cried.
Out on the other side of the door Sans slid to the floor, and just sat there staring blankly ahead.
He’d had a terrible day at work… his house was trashed, and there was now eight versions of his brother, and himself standing in his kitchen…
“Coulda been worse.” Toby said sidling up, tail wagging, “They could brought the Lusttale bros or Fresh with em!”
Sans buried his face in his hands, “i can’t take this.”
“Ink might not have been so bad… or Geno… But imagine if they’d brought Error or Cross?” Toby continued brightly.
“i’m done.” Sans muttered.
And then he cried...
CHAPTER ONE: CO-HABITATION
Papyrus stood leaned against the door, listening to his brother’s soft sobbing on the other side, his own eyes filled with bright orange tears, soul aching. He felt so horrible… He had been so concerned Sans would be mad at him. But his brother wasn’t angry, he was upset and crying, and Papyrus didn’t know what he could do, or say to make it better…
“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT??”
Papyrus scowled, and turned back at the tall, scary looking skeleton, with the cool black battle body. At the same time as the tiny Sans look alike he called out “LANGUAGE!!” in a scolding tone. The taller skeleton rolled his red eyes and looked over at Papyrus.
“WELL?”
“IS… Is he mad at us…?” the tiny Sans asked nervously.
Papyrus shook his head, and the other tall Skeleton in the orange hoodie spoke.
“i think overwhelmed would be a better adjective… at least i am, i imagine it must be even worse for him…”
Papyrus nodded, and moved away from the door, “l think he just needs a few minutes…”
He shot another worried look at the door, before turning back to the others. The hoodie wearing skeleton was giving him a gentle, understanding look, (which looked nearly identical to the sympathetic expression Sans gave him at times.)
Papyrus, shifted nervously, still horribly embarrassed by his earlier blunder. How exactly does one go about apologizing for accidentally kidnapping someones brother?
_____________________________
Papyrus had just gotten out of the grocery store and was heading down the street passed the local park when he saw SANS just standing out in the middle of the field staring at the sky. (Hardly a strange scene. His brother’s favorite direction to stare in since coming to the surface was up. Not that Papyrus blamed him.) No it wouldn’t have been a problem. Except for the fact that it was currently RAINING. And his brother wasn’t even wearing a jacket. Stopping his car he’d hopped out and jogged over to his sibling, hardly noticing the bandanna, gloves, shoulder pads and boots. Sans had started wearing a lot of different outfits since they’d come to the surface, so seeing him without his blue and grey hoodie and slippers wasn’t as jarring anymore.
Sans had blinked as he came to a stop in front of him.
“BROTHER!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING OUT HERE!!? COME ALONG NOW!! YOU’LL GET SICK!!” Papyrus had then scooped his tiny brother up before he could say anything, and run back to the car, never noticing the five skeletons coming running out of the woods behind them.
He’d gotten in, setting his shivering sibling in the passengers seat, and took off driving to their house, never knowing anything was off until the small monster beside him spoke, in a voice much higher and louder than his brother’s had ever been.
“E-EXCUSE ME BUT… WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME??" a young, high pitched voice asked nervously.
Papyrus immediately slammed on the breaks, ignoring the honking and shouts from the humans in the cars behind him as they raged at the suddenly stationary red convertible. All he could focus on was the large pair of blue eyes staring up at him from the little round face.
The tiny skeleton (and he was tiny now that he looked at him, much smaller than Sans.) Did indeed resemble his older brother, but he was definitely younger. He currently was curled up in the seat, back pressed against the door as far from Papyrus as possible, shivering, (not with cold Papyrus now realized, but with fear.) Tears welling up in his bright eyes.
“P-PLEASE, I JUST WANNA GO BACK TO MY BROTHER! PLEASE LET ME GO!!” the tiny blue eyed Sans sobbed.
Papyrus felt overwhelming guilt well up inside his soul, he’d kidnapped a child!! He was a criminal now!! What would Undyne say!? What would his brother think!!? Oh this was horrible!! Hot orange tears welled up in his eyes, “OH NO! I’VE DONE SOMETHING HORRIBLE!! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY BROTHER AND SO I JUST TOOK YOU WITHOUT THINKING!! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!!!”
A car horn blared behind them and Papyrus jolted back to look at the road and the tangle of traffic his abrupt halt had caused around him. “OH NO!!” Papyrus cried, he rolled down his window and stuck his head out, “I AM SO SORRY!! I DID NOT MEAN TO CAUSE PROBLEMS!!!” he pulled his head back in orange tears streaming down his face, he quickly maneuvered himself off to one side of the street and parked so that everyone could pass, and then rested his head on the steering wheel.
“So… wait…” the tiny blue eyed skeleton in a soft, much more Sans volumed tone, “You mean you did not mean to kidnap me?”
“No… It was an accident!! I have never seen any other skeletons besides my brother… So when I saw you standing there, I just naturally assumed you were him. I did not even know there were any other skeleton monsters aside from Sans and I.” Papyrus whimpered.
A look of shock, quickly followed by realization overcame the blue eyed skeleton.
“Sans is your brother?” the little skeleton asked.
“Yes.” Papyrus sniffled.
“And you… you are Papy? -er- Papyrus?” the little skeleton asked, tripping over Papyrus’s name, mispronouncing the y(eye) as y(ee) at first.
“Yes.” Papyrus said seemingly calmly- only to burst into a fresh wave of tears in the next moment, “NOW KNOWN AS A DIRTY KIDNAPPER!!!”
The little skeleton giggled and petted the other skeleton’s arm consolingly.
“I THINK I UNDERSTAND NOW!” The small skeleton said raising its voice back up, “ITS OKAY! YOU JUST MADE A MISTAKE. EVERYONE MAKES THEM. NO ONE WILL BE MAD AT YOU I’M SURE. ESPECIALLY NOT YOUR BROTHER!”
Papyrus sniffled, eyes glistening, “YOU- YOU ARE SURE??”
The tiny skeleton nodded, “IT WILL BE OKAY. I WILL EXPLAIN TO MY BROTHER THAT YOU DIDN’T MEAN IT. SO HE SHOULD NOT GET ANGRY EITHER.”
“OH NO YOUR BROTHER!!! THAT IS RIGHT! I MUST TAKE YOU HOME! WHAT STREET DO YOU LIVE ON?” Papyrus said, instantly springing into action and restarting the car.
“Oh erm…wedon’tactuallyhaveahouse.” the small skeleton murmured.
Now that was definitely Sans volume. Papyrus strained to try and hear it all.
“I AM SORRY WHAT DID YOU SAY?” he asked.
The small skeleton blushed, “We don’t have a house…”
Still low, but a little better.
“An Apartment in downtown then?” Papyrus asked, thinking of the other zones monsters had been permitted into.
The tiny skeleton blushed, “No. We just got here…”
“OH MY GOODNESS YOU MEAN YOU ARE HOMELESS!!!?” Papyrus cried. The tiny skeleton blushed darker, “WELL THAN PERHAPS YOU COULD STAY WITH US!”
The little one looked up at him in surprise, “W-WITH YOU?”
“YES! SANS AND I HAVE A VERY BIG HOUSE NOW, WITH FOUR BEDROOMS! WE HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN DISCUSSING POSSIBLY FINDING ROOMMATES! AND IT WOULD BE WONDERFUL GETTING TO KNOW SOME OTHER SKELETONS!!” Papyrus said enthusiastically, the smaller skeleton looked equally excited bouncing in his seat.
“SO WHERE IS YOUR HOUSE??” the younger skeleton asked curiously.
Papyrus looked out through the windshield and blinked, “OH! WE ARE EVEN CLOSER THAN I THOUGHT. IT IS THAT WHITE ONE AT THE END OF THE CUL-DE-SAC!”
“CUL-DE-SAC?” the other skeleton asked.
“The circle of houses up ahead.” Papyrus pointed, pulling up a short street and rounding a circle to stop before a modest two story white townhouse covered in Christmas lights. “IT IS EVEN NICER THAN OUR HOUSE IN SNOWDIN! …At least I think it is… BROTHER DOESN’T LIKE HOW CLOSE THE OTHER HOUSES AROUND US ARE.” Papyrus said.
The smaller skeleton stared up in awe at the big building, but did notice the houses next to it were very close.
They sat there and spoke for a few more minutes, Papyrus enthusing about having a real full sized kitchen and dining room, and telling about how he and Sans had planted tomatoes in the backyard with help from King Asgore. His new small friend had been very excited, wanting to see them.
A knock suddenly sounded on the passenger’s side window, startled, the little skeleton rolled it down, and then bounced gleefully. “BROTHER!!! YOU FOUND US!!!” he gushed happily.
A very calm, low voice sounded from outside.
“sans get out of the car now.”
“Sans…?” Papyrus blinked in confusion, the tiny skeleton looked back at him bashfully, looking strangely guilty about something all of a sudden. Before Papyrus could ask what was going on however, his door was suddenly violently wrenched open, and clawed hands suddenly ripped him out of the car and tossed him, sending him skidding across the rain soaked ground. Behind him he heard the tiny sans cry out in shock.
“NO STOP!!! DON’T-“
“sans stop struggling-“
“NO!!! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!! PLEASE-“
Papyrus felt a jolt of fear, were they hurting the little guy??! Why was he begging!!? Papyrus pushed himself up as fast as he could, and turned to look back towards the car, only to take a boot to the ribs and be sent flying like a rag doll. He hit the ground head first, and there was a sickening crack and pain flared through his skull.
“NOOOOOOO!!! STOP!! STOP!!!” shouted the other skeleton. Papyrus barely registered it, the pain was horrible, and all the wind had been knocked out of him. He just lay there dazed, and confused. Barely able to suck in a breath without pain shooting through his ribs. He whimpered softly as the cold rain soaked through his clothes. Footsteps cut through the haze, and he glanced up to see a dark figure coming toward him, he managed to roll to his feet, and by some miracle ducked past the blurry shape of his attacker.
The other skeletons voice drew closer as he approached the house.
“YOU HAVE TO STOP HIM!!! PAPY PLEASE STOP THEM!!!”
Wait.
Them?
Pain flared through the back of his neck as a small foot connected with it, sending him face forward, skidding across the pavement once more. He ended up on the lawn near his house, staggering to his feet he stumbled backwards, trying to clear his vision, his left eye wasn’t working properly, add that to his already admittedly poor sight, he wasn’t doing well. He managed to find his small blue friend, standing over with a taller fellow dressed in bright orange. Little Blue seemed to be fine, if irate beyond belief, screaming, and gesticulating wildly in Papyrus’ general direction to the tall fellow, who was holding him in place, Papyrus frowned, and started toward them just as another blow landed knocking him up against his door, fumbling he unlocked it, and fell inside, just in time to be grabbed again and tossed, crashing hard into several items, and falling to the floor. His brother’s pet rock rolled to a stop before him. Concerned he picked the poor thing up and looked it over. Luckily Sprinkles did not seem to have sustained any real damage, and wouldn’t you know, emulating its master to the last, the dang thing had slept through the whole ordeal… Oh well, it was probably for the best. Papyrus pocketed the pet rock and rose to his knees woozily, before turning his head only to see a tall dark figure looming over him.
“b-boss, blue’s sayin he’s harmless. we should stop now.” came a soft, all too familiar voice…
“Brother…?” Papyrus blinked, swaying as the vision in his right eye went in and out of focus. His left eye stayed blurry, which would have been concerning if he’d had time to think on it. As it was he barely had time to register his brother’s voice, and wonder who he was calling Boss, while beginning to feel slightly frightened on his frail sibling’s behalf.
Sans should not be here right now! He could get hurt!!
With enormous effort Papyrus had rose the rest of the way to his feet, his eyes level with his attacker’s chest.
“jeez boss he’s just a kid!” Sans said sounding distressed.
Papyrus tried to locate his brother… he had to protect him. This was seriously bad.
Sadly gravity, and his consciousness had other ideas, and just as he finally laid eyes on his brother’s tiny form huddled against the door frame, trembling, his vision went black and he slid sideways, unconscious before he hit the ground…
_________________________________
The hoodie wearing skeleton noticed the younger papyrus’ nervous fidgeting and instantly felt equally bad. Most of this unpleasantness could have been avoided if he’d just not been lazy for once and kept better track of his baby brother…
To be fair though the whole situation had been very disorienting…
________________________________
The last thing Papyrus remembered doing was being in the Hall of Judgement, slowly dying of his wounds, the human already long gone on with their vendetta. He slowly reached into his pocket, pulling out the small, dust covered bandanna.
“don’t be scared bro… i’ll,” he coughed, more red fluid dripping from his mouth, “i’ll be with you again soon… i’m sorry…” Just as the world faded away, and the darkness pulled him under, he felt a sudden tug at his soul, a feeling he had never felt in any of the resets. And suddenly…
There was light. All around him. And the sound of birds, only ever heard from a great distance, now surrounded him, loud, and vibrant. Almost as if they were right there beside him.
“WHAT DEVILRY IS THIS!!?” a gruff voice screeched off to his right.
Papyrus turned toward the sound only to find himself laying on a thick green carpet, across from him, perhaps two yards away (leaning against a tree??) Was a tall, sinister looking version of himself, clothed in some sort of black and red leather armor, and brandishing a bone spear, he was staring straight up, ignoring everything else around him. Papyrus just gawked, jaw falling open in shock.
Was he dreaming?? This had to be a dream! No way was this real!!!
“i… i think this is the surface boss…” a low, gravelly voice said, Papyrus turned his head slightly to see- SANS!!?
But no, this monster, while similar to his beloved baby brother, was much different, he was older, a full adult, and his eyes were blood red instead of baby blue. He also had rather horrific looking teeth, and was dressed in black and red like his own doppelganger.
Papyrus just sat their staring between the two demonic looking skeletons, as they argued back and forth snipping one another with vicious insults, and, in the case of the smaller skeleton, well timed puns.
Blinking and feeling dazed at the surrealness of it all, Papyrus was about to speak up, when another voice sounded slightly further away from them, grabbing all their attentions.
“Mine!” came a young, rather petulant voice from nearby. Papyrus finally sat up, startling the demon brothers, and looked in the direction of the voice, that sounded like his brother! But it couldn’t be… if it was, then the demon brothers must have redressed him. Cause while the size and age were about right, the black leather armor and purple bandanna most certainly was not. True Sans did own a purple bandanna. But certainly not this ratty. If their was one thing Papyrus did, it was make sure Sans was adequately dressed. No brother of his would ever wear the rags this little waif seemed to be sporting.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a little more specific M’Lord, what are you claiming?” yet another Papyrus asked walking into view. He was dressed similarly to the red eyed Sans, though no less dirty and raggedy then the undersized urchin before him. He had a pleasant smile on his face, eyes closed, seeming in no great distress over any of this insanity.
“All of it you incompetent lout!!! Every last bit of it!! We are conquering it all!!” the little guttersnipe snapped, stomping one tiny foot empathetically. The child was scrawny, and poorly dressed, and yet to listen to him speak, he might as well been wearing golden armor.
The Calm Papyrus just smiled indulgently at the bratty child, seeming horribly amused by its antics, rather than annoyed, “As you wish M’Lord.”
Were they serious??
“How should we begin going about this than?” the placid version of himself asked.
Apparently yes...
“First we must gather reconnoissance.” the waif said primly, “And find a base of operations.”
The mellow Papyrus nodded amiably, the smile never once leaving his face, as though it were a permanent fixture.
The Dark version of Papyrus from earlier growled menacingly, glancing between Papyrus, and his very complainant counterpart.
A soft murmur from beside him had Papyrus turning away from the Demon Brothers and the Waifs to the look to his left, only to nearly tear up. There, just out beyond the tree line, standing with his face pointed straight up, blue starry eyes wide with wonder, and childish delight, was Sans… His Sans… Papyrus rose to his feet just as the first few drops of water started to fall.
Wait… water. They weren’t in Waterfall...?
Though, by that token, there were trees, but this place was far too warm and green to be Snowdin. Papyrus looked up, and gasped. An endless blue expanse, the same color as his brother’s eyes loomed above, dark grey wisps of smoke? Floating in to cover it and water continued to drizzle down faster and faster.
The Red eyed Sans words came back to him then... he'd said this was the surface...
The surface...
A commotion behind him broke him out of his wonderment.
“Its a flood!! We need to get to higher ground Papyrus!!” the waif-ish Sans cried.
“Yes M’Lord, mayhaps up the side of the mountain?” came the far too amused reply of the little ragamuffin’s ever serene companion. Seriously, even Papyrus was becoming annoyed by the other skeleton’s far too nonchalant airs.
“Better than drowning I suppose! but what about shelter!?” the runt demanded.
A hand on suddenly landed on Papyrus’s shoulder, forcing him to turn away from the Raggedy Brothers and face the demonic ones instead.
“YOU! JUST WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? WHERE ARE WE?” snarled his fanged doppelganger, taking him by the front of the hoodie roughly. Papyrus bit down his anger and tried to remain nonchalant.
“i think you already know the answer to that first part buddy... as for where… by the look of things… on the surface…” Papyrus trailed off noticing that the other set of brothers had wandered over, the scruffy Sans now being carried in his brothers arms, swaddled in the unflappable Papyrus’s fur trimmed leather jacket. Said Papyrus was still smiling brightly, his eyes, Papyrus noted, were still closed. He also noticed, that this close, both the raggedy brothers looked very similar to the more demonic bros behind, fangs and all. Still, these two seemed much less intimidating then the others.
The tranquil doppelganger of himself was sporting a worn out old canary yellow turtle neck.
‘is that to match his “sunny” disposition?’ Papyrus wondered idly. The "Dark" Papyrus, released him, and moved back to stand beside his brother "Red" Sans, and seemed to be trying very hard to not look as though he were trying to protect the smaller skeleton, while obviously trying to protect him.
Papyrus almost smiled.
His cheery "Yellow" doppelganger's next words however knocked any humor out of the situation.
“So there seems to be several copies of us here.“
Both Papyrus and "Dark" nodded.
“That being said, we all seem paired with a Sans save for you.” said the yellow shirted Papyrus blithely, facing Papyrus. eyes still squeezed shut. “Unless the tiny blue one out in the field with the white hero is yours. In which case I think we may have a problem~” he ended brightly.
White Hero?
Papyrus spun to look out at his brother in the field, just in time to see him be snatched up by yet another doppelganger dressed in white costume armor, with red accents.
“sans!!!” Papyrus cried, running full out toward the field, the other sets of brothers chasing behind him. Papyrus put ever last once of strength into trying to catch up to the lithe white clad skeleton. However before they could, the dirty kidnapper jumped into a red car and drove away.
“Oh my… I was afraid of that…” the annoyingly calm Papyrus, for once not sounding so damn cheerful.
Papyrus dropped down onto his hands and knees in the mud, hardly registering "Red" laying a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.
Sans was gone.
He’d only just gotten him back, and now, he was gone!!
Yellow magic flared up from his left eye, and he felt the hand leave his back as the adult Sans rapidly back peddled away from him. Standing again, he took off resolutely down the road the car had taken. He would get his brother back, and then, the one who took him would pay, Papyrus or not.
The others followed, he glanced back at them, the demonic brothers seemed no less hostile (or skittish in the case of the anxious adult version of his brother.) and the smaller Papyrus in Yellow certainly did not seem the least bit perturbed, just humming a cheery tune as he jogged behind with his own tiny Sans safe in his arms. (Papyrus felt a pang of jealousy, which was almost instantly smothered by self-loathing at his own stupidity. His Sans could have been safe in his arms too, if he’d just walked out and gotten him when he’d been no more than three yards away, safe and sound.) but it seemed that in this strange place, despite all their differences, the common enemy had drawn them together.
The falling water only became heavier as time went on, luckily, the street was one way, and they only encountered one intersection.
“GREAT. NOW WHAT!? WE CHASED THAT FUCKING RED CONTRAPTION ALL THE WAY HERE, BUT NOW WHERE DO WE GO!?” snapped Dark irritably.
Yellow’s Sans popped his head up out of the jacket and glanced around.
“We will go straight.” he answered primly.
“OH YEAH? AND WHY SHOULD WE DO THAT YOU LITTLE WRETCH?” growled Dark in challenge.
“Because you stupid blind bastard, there is a red car parked at the end of that street!” sniffed the tiny Sans disdainfully, he then disappeared back into the folds of Yellow’s jacket.
Yellow simply smiled up at the dark Papyrus serenely, before turning to Papyrus- himself, “Shall we continue?”
Papyrus nodded and so they headed up the street at full speed, upon reaching the car, Papyrus went to the passengers’s side where he could see Sans tiny form, while his demonic counterpart rounded the car to subdue the kidnapper.
Papyrus knocked on Sans window, in order to cause a distraction, (all too willing to break it if that bastard dare try and hurt his brother in anyway.) Only to be shocked himself when the window was rolled down in the next instant.
“BROTHER!!! YOU FOUND US!!!” cheered Sans happily bouncing in his seat.
…Trust his brother not to realize when he was being kidnapped…
Papyrus called on every last ounce of patience he possessed, and as calmly as possible he he spoke. “sans get out of the car now.” His brothers eyes went wide in shock.
“Sans…?” came a confused voice from within. Sans turned away, perhaps to speak to his kidnapper, only to scream in the next instant as Papyrus’s darker counterpart ripped open the driver's side door, and pulled the bastard out, tossing him several feet, Sans dived out the driver’s side door and ran toward the fallen monster, in his normal stupid, heroic attempt at Mercy.
“NO STOP!!! DON’T HURT HIM!!”
Papyrus was having none of it and teleported over behind him, and grabbed him before he could get himself hurt. Sans thrashed wildly, nearly striking Papyrus three times.
“sans stop struggling-” Papyrus snapped. Sans immediately stilled, turning to look up at his brother with tear filled eyes, “NO!!! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!! PLEASE PAPY MAKE THEM STOP! HE DIDN’T MEAN IT!!! HE’S NOT BAD!!!”
A small twinge of doubt began to grow inside, Papyrus shoved it down, “still why was he holding you here?”
“He wasn’t!! We were just talking-” Sans began, only to stop mid sentence and cry out in horror.
The white clad Papyrus, had risen back to his feet, and turned toward the two brothers, only for Dark to once again strike, kicking the other Papyrus in the ribs sending him flying. A loud crack sounded, and Sans lost it.
“NOOOOOOO!!! STOP!! STOP!!!” he screamed, breaking free of Papyrus’s hold and running forward, jumping between Dark and the fallen skeleton, and spreading his arms wide at his side to try and block the larger monster.
Dark simply arched a brow at the tiny Sans, before grabbing him up by the front of the shirt and chucking him back at Papyrus. Who bulked trying to figure out a way to catch his brother without the momentum dusting him.
Yellow as it where, solved the problem via intercept, easily catching, and cradling the little one, before turning, and calmly handing him off to Papyrus. Looking around, Papyrus noticed Yellow’s Sans sitting primly in the driver’s seat of the car, still draped in his brother’s jacket.
Papyrus nodded his thanks to Yellow, and then teleported to the other side of the car with his now sobbing brother. He noted the white clad skeleton was still down, and felt his soul churn uneasily, this was going a bit too far wasn’t it? They’d subdued him, and he wasn’t even fighting back… Just as he thought that, the skeleton once again rose to his feet, Dark bared down on him, but the smaller skeleton teleported past him, and staggered toward the house. Dumbstruck, Dark just stood there, slowly turning to stare at the fleeing monster. The white clad Papyrus was nearly to the curb before Dark shook free of his stupor, and started forward, motioning to Red Sans. The nervous little monster fidgeted for a moment uncertainly, than nodded, and went for the attack. Papyrus winced, and Sans went wild again.
“YOU HAVE TO STOP HIM!!! PAPY PLEASE STOP THEM!!!” Sans cried out again, once again struggling free of his brothers arms.
Red teleported into the air above the staggering monster, and subdued the White clad Papyrus with a soft hit to the back of the skull, that sadly still sent the heavily wounded skeleton skidding across the yard. Sans was outraged, and bolted forward once again to try and defend his abductor. Annoyed Papyrus once again teleported, grabbing his brother again, and struggled to keep him still.
“bro knock it off!! this guy kidnapped you!!” Papyrus reminded him, through gritted teeth.
“I TOLD YOU ALREADY THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!! HE MISTOOK ME FOR HIS BROTHER!!! THERE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ANY OTHER SKELETONS AROUND SO HE NEVER EVEN THOUGHT TO CHECK THAT HE WAS RIGHT BEFORE LEAVING!!!” Sans flailed.
Another twinge of doubt. “if he’s such a great guy than why didn’t he bring you back?? why hold you prisoner in his car!?” Papyrus demanded.
“I TOLD YOU WE WERE TALKING!!!” Sans retorted angrily.
“talking about what!?” Papyrus snapped finally loosing his patience.
“TALKING ABOUT HOW HE WAS OFFERING US A PLACE TO STAY, SINCE I TOLD HIM WE JUST GOT HERE, AND HAVE NO PLACE ELSE TO GO!!!” Sans screeched, gesturing to the white clad skeleton, who was slowly making his way towards them. Or at least he would have been had Dark not caught up and tossed him into the nearest building. And yeah there was the guilt. Full on guilt.
Papyrus watched as the beaten skeleton tried to retreat into his house, only for Dark to once again attack him. And suddenly he got angry. Why was Dark still attacking? The other skeleton was retreating, they’d already won, a fight that if Sans was to be believed, had never needed to be fought.
“so wait, then he didn’t try to hurt ya?” Red asked.
“NO! He was very upset when he realized he’d taken the wrong Sans… He cried and was afraid everyone would be mad at him… and I promised they wouldn’t be. I SAID I’D EXPLAIN IT SO YOU WOULDN’T BE ANGRY BUT YOU DIDN’T LET ME AND NOW HE’S HURT!!!!!” Sans screamed, bursting into tears and sobbing into Papyrus’s hoodie, all the fight going out of him.
Red bulked, “shit. I gotta stop boss!!”
He ran off up the drive way as fast as his short legs would take him.
Papyrus glanced back to see Yellow now sitting in the car with his brother, the docile skeleton waved cheerful to him, and Papyrus suddenly felt the urge to kick something. Did that idiot even notice what went on around him?
Scooping his brother up, Papyrus went up to the house.
“-harmless. we should stop now.” Red was saying as he arrived at the doorstep.
A young, high-pitched voice sounded from inside, “Brother…?”
Red suddenly fell back against the door frame like he’d taken a physical blow, “jeez boss he’s just a kid!”
Shocked Papyrus moved forward enough to see inside and instantly felt guilty. The white clad skeleton was tiny, smaller than Yellow. The top of his head barely reaching Dark's chest. As he watched the young skeleton looked around, dazed and confused, his left eye socket was cracked at the top, and as they all watched, his eyes finally locked on Red, widening in recognition, before he listed to one side and slumped to the floor in a dead faint.
"Oh my..."
Papyrus nearly leaped a full foot in the air at the sudden voice from behind, he glared back at Yellow, who as always stood there smiling benignly, his eyes still shut.
Papyrus felt a strange twinge, he had yet to see the skeleton open his eyes once... it was very strange. A flash of a small human child with closed eyes flashed in his mind's eye, but he shook the image away. Instead focusing on Yellow who was speaking.
"-quite a mess! I do hope the native Sans won't be too upset with us-"
Oh shit.
That was right, this guy's brother was somewhere around here. Was the little guy home!? Had he seen them attacking his brother!?
Moving inside he set his brother down, who immediately bolted over and dropped down beside the prone Papyrus on the floor.
Papyrus continued on, quickly scanning the house for any signs that the other Papyrus's Sans might be home.
______________________________
The search had turned up nothing, four empty bedrooms, a bathroom, dinning room, kitchen, storage closet, basement, and attic, out back the rain was still falling on a small vegetable garden, and the back shed was padlocked on the outside, so unless he'd teleported in, there was no way he was in there.
Papyrus had come in to find his brother, Yellow, and the revived native Papyrus all sitting together on the floor. Yellow's brother was sitting nearby on on the TV stand as though it were a golden throne, and the Demon Bros were standing over by the door, Dark's eyes never leaving the small white clad Papyrus, despite his brother attempts to hold a conversation.
"TRULY I AM VERY SORRY FOR TAKING HIM, I HAD NO IDEA THERE WERE SO MANY OTHER SKELETONS AROUND!!! THE WHOLE TIME WE LIVED IN THE UNDERGROUND I ONLY EVER KNEW OF MYSELF, SANS AND-" the young skeleton stopped abruptly and rubbed his head, looking suddenly dazed. "Huh... That's funny... I swear there was another one... but I can't recall their face or there name..."
"its okay kid, that's normal." came Red's voice by the door.
"YOU LOOK AND SOUND JUST LIKE MY BROTHER SANS!" the young papyrus chirped beaming up at Red happily.
Red blushed darkly, and let out a fond chuckle, "that's also ta be expected..."
"REALLY? WHY IS THAT??" the native Papyrus asked innocently... honestly this kid was was too naive.
Yellow giggled, "Of course we look alike, its Family Resemblance~"
"FAMILY!?? WOWIE!!! I NEVER KNEW I HAD SO MANY SIBLINGS!!!!" the young Papyrus cried leaping to his feet, "THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!! I'LL MAKE A BIG FAMILY DINNER!!!"
He dashed into the kitchen, with little Sans hot on his tail.
"WAIT!! I'LL HELP COOK TOO!!!"
Dark followed them in, looking suspicious, although rather it was incredulousness over their ability to cook something edible, or he still didn't trust the white clad Papyrus, was anyone's guess.
Yellow stayed seated placidly in the center of the destroyed living room, seeming as though that were the most perfect place in the universe to be. His brother was busy trying to look regal.
Papyrus couldn't help but smirk a little. It was like when his Sans played at being a Hero, (Only much quieter, and nondestructive.) The tiny skeleton, despite his diminutive size, and scruffy appearance, still had a lot of pride. It was as annoying as it was endearing. The little one wasn't hurting anyone with his game though, so Papyrus decided to just leave it be. Yellow seemed to find it amusing... though then, Yellow seemed to find everything amusing... Though like his tiny sibling the smaller Papyrus didn't seem to mean any harm by it, so Papyrus supposed he should just accept his counterparts annoyingly cheerful continence...
...Even if he did find it freaky how the other Papyrus never seemed to open his eyes...
Red wandered over shyly, keeping his distance, as though unsure of his welcome.
Papyrus turned his full attention to the adult version of his brother.
Red was still small, though was no where near as tiny as Papyrus and Yellow's little brothers. He was much sturdier looking than either of the younger Sans' as well, his bones being quite thick. He had a gold tooth, and his demeanor was obviously supposed to be tough and aloof, though from what Papyrus has witnessed so far he was actually much more caring and sensitive than anything. Even the sniping the demon brothers had done back in the forest at one another, while vulgar, had had an underlying hint of playfulness and affection.
In the end brothers were brothers.
Papyrus smiled encouragingly, and Yellow beamed up at the short skeleton, electing another bright red blush.
"Oh for fuck sake! They're not going to eat you! Just get your ass over here already!" snapped the kingly waif.
Papyrus blinked back at the little skeleton, frankly shocked at the language. His Sans never swore. These two rougher versions seemed to have no problem mouthing off however...
