Undertale: Short Stories to Pass the Time

To The Bone Part 2

“Not bad,” I say after swallowing it thickly. 

“Of course it's not. It was made by me! The coolest skeleton down here,” he states, closing his eyes and holding his hand to his chest. So prideful, not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. 

I glance over at Sans, not touching his bowl in front of him. Papyrus opens his eyes again, dropping his hand back down. “Sans-” he begins before a phone begins to ring. Quickly, I look towards the source, a phone hanging on the wall. 

“Saved by the bell,” Sans whispers over me, making me laugh once again for the umpteenth time in the past half hour. 

“So,” I begin, Papyrus talking to the person over the phone, “what are your roles down here?” I ask, beginning to warm up, quite literally, to the two monsters. Papyrus looks away from the phone for a moment, covering the bottom. 

“I’m the mastermind, he’s my accomplice,” he answers for his brother, which in return makes Sans shake his head. 

“Bro, that’s not what she meant,” Sans says, but Papyrus pays no attention, going back to his conversation. Sans chuckles, turning his attention back to me. “I’m a sentry, I keep watch for humans, whenever I’m not on break. Papy over there is royal guard in training.” A soft click is heard from off to the side, Papyrus setting the phone back on its holder. 

“I might as well be a royal guard already, considering at how great I am at it!” He smiles, before waving to me. “I have a lesson with Undyne, in fact. Sans, don’t do anything stupid.” He glares at his older brother, who gives a shrug. The white fur lining his hood shifts with the movement, some of it still wet from the snow outside. 

“It depends from whose standpoint you are looking at it with,” he replies, Papyrus’s pupils seeming to roll. 

“Whatever! I’ll be back soon,” he says, walking off and out the door. 

“Here, come on, kid. I’ll take you over to Grillby’s and buy ya some food,” Sans offers. I nod, looking back at the plate. 

“It’s not that it’s bad. Just not a fan of pasta,” I explain, cheeks turning a soft shade of red as I try not to embarass myself. Or talk about his brother in the process. He seems to be really protective of him, and for some reason, I am getting a sneaking suspicion that Sans should not be messed with. Despite how lazy he may seem. 

“Stick with me, I know some shortcuts around here. You can lose your mind when you wander for hours,” Sans smiles, walking out the front door of the warm house. Do I really need to go back out into the cold. I just thawed out. Reluctantly, I follow him back into the cold outside. “Hell, you might even decide to start talking to flowers.” My blood runs cold at his words, remembering that damn golden flower that tried to murder me. While monsters did, yes, there was something else about him that just made him seem...completely heartless and insane. Maybe it was just that laugh that I still haven't been able to get out of my head.

Sans, in the midst of him leading me over to Grillby’s, looks back and gives me a questioning look. “You seem to know what I’m talking about. Strange, you haven’t been to the Waterfalls yet. There are echo flowers there, repeat what they last heard. Can be kinda startling if ya hear voices whispering when you’re by yourself.” He holds the wooden door open for me, allowing me to walk in first and into the warmth once again. 

“They sound interesting,” I reply, looking around nervously at the monsters who had previously attacked me, the dogs all sitting at a table with food. One sits alone, playing checkers by itself. It seems to be losing. 

“Don’t worry about them, no fighting in the bar. Come on,” Sans says, walking past me and sitting at the bar on a stool. Monsters greet him as he walks by, saying hello and making small talk. He smiles a little wider and nods there way, sitting on a stool. I sit beside him, shivering once again. The bartender, Grillby, walks over and looks at Sans with a look that can only be described as annoyed. “Hey, Grillbz, can we get two burgers?” Sans asks him, messing with the ketchup bottle, “Just put it on my tab.” The fire-man grumbles in front of me, setting the dishrag he had in his hand down. 

“Sans, pay your goddamn tab,” he says, as I notice the dogs getting up and leaving. Tension rises, making me quickly speak up. 

“I’ll pay what I can,” I say, looking up at Grillby. “It might not pay for everything, but it will keep some gold off his tab.” The man looks down at me, eyeing me for a moment. 

“You must be the one my patrons have been talking about. Saying you didn’t even try to harm them. I’ll tell you what, your burger is on the house,” he says, a thin yellow mouth smiling at me. His eyes wander over to Sans, the yellow orbs sharpening, “but not for you.” Grillby walks off and into the back, supposedly to cook our food. Sans chuckles, shaking his head. 

“My dad and him used to be good friends,” he says, before shaking his head. “Anyways, seems like we are the last two in here. For now anyways.” Glancing around, I nod. The other three customers left as well. Strange, I didn’t even see them leave. “Look, if I’m bein’ honest, my brother ain’t nothin’ but harmless.” His eye begins to glow blue again, looking straight at the bottles of liquor in front of him. “I know you and all that you want. The deeper you go into this hellhole, the messier it gets. Your morals get challenged, I have seen humans like you change in a split second, started murdering monsters left and right. They got a lot more from Sans than a font. I had made a deal with the woman behind the hidden door not,to hurt the next human that walked through that door. If I had it my way you’d already be dead.” He stops for a second, my heart beating at an alarming rate. I don’t think he was joking this time. He was tense, and he still didn’t look at me. “I hate risking it, you seem like such a good kid. No doubt, but I don’t know how many more times I can watch my brother get slaughtered by people like you.” What was he talking about? 

“Down here, you’re all alone. If you manage to survive this prison, you will know nihilism. I’ve got my eye on you, so you just watch it. I can find any skeletons inside your closet.” There is an unnerving silence about the diner, my eyes glancing to the side away from the monster next to me. 

“Uh, pun intended?” I ask, giving a nervous smile. He gives a soft laugh, looking my way. The blue pupil is gone, replaced by just empty sockets. Not even his white pupils are there to ease the tension.

"Nope."