AU! Sans x AU! Reader: Under the Surface 2

Timeline X

This is a special chapter of an XTale timeline to show us X's past.
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「Cross Frisk POV」

The child stood by the town welcome sign and looked around as he assessed the area, his seemingly closed eyes making their way back to the words on the wood.

Normally they would have run into Cross this far into the timeline, but they didn't. He was missing.

"Snowdin looks more boring than usual..." XChara's smooth voice commented. "... A lot more boring."

The fresh snow they knew so well was not as bright as the flakes seemed to dance down in an organised pattern. It was so unnatural.

The whites were pale.

The blacks were faded.

The reds and purples were pastel.

It looked as if everything and everyone had been greyed in tone.

"This is where you wanted to go?" XChara blew his white bangs out of his face. "This looks like the most boring place in the Underground."

He was about to walk right in when he felt a light tug on his sweater and turned back to meet a closed-eye glare.

"Wait." XFrisk said with a soft sigh. "Something is not right about this timeline. It could be dangerous."

Next to the sign was a simple white flag with a purple X symbol on it, and his gaze wandered over the quiet town to see that all the monsters had a purple X sign restricting the upside down white hearts happily displayed over their chests. Their souls.

"Come on." XChara just rolled his eyes before walking ahead of him a step or two, and glanced back over his shoulder. "You coming?"

His boots sunk into the thick sheet of snow blanketing the pathway with a soft crunching noise each step as XFrisk trailed close behind him with his hands in his pockets.

"Welcome." The armless monster child greeted them with a wide smile upon entry.

"Welcome." The bunny monster in front of a shop greeted them in a very similar fashion.

"Welcome." The reptilian monster running the library greeted them just the same as everyone else with a smile stretching across his face.

They were quick to take note that the infamous librarby sign actually read library with flawless spelling, though it too, like other signs, was accompanied by a flag with the X.

Every monster they passed would greet them with a smile that almost looked... forced?

XFrisk shook his head and picked up his pace when he realised XChara had walked ahead while he was fixated on the familiar but foreign surroundings.

"Ugh, thanks a lot, Frisk." XChara complained as he trudged through the snow, when a long shadow fell over him and he looked up.

"Welcome!" XPapyrus greeted them, leaning down to be on the same level, and even he had the same smile. "Pardon my forwardness, but are you humans?"

"No, we're monsters." XChara sarcastically said in disinterest.

"Yes, we are humans." XFrisk confirmed with a nod and calmly crossed his arms over his chest. "Humans must be very welcome here, maybe a little too welcome..."

"We don't get visitors often!" XPapyrus cheerfully says with his gloved hands resting on his pelvis. "What brings you to our town?"

"We're not entirely sure..." XFrisk uncomfortably averts his gaze.