Lost In The Echo (Arc 1: UNDERTALE)

Chapter 11: Into Dangerous Waters

"It just goes on endlessly!" exclaimed Magic, surfing through what one could consider the world's largest joke book, "How many joke books and quantum physics books do you even have?"

The lackadaisical skeleton shrugged at her from the couch with a response that could best be described as 'eh', sitting beside Frisk as they slurped on some of their spaghetti. They weren't exactly fond of the mushy texture of the overcooked pasta, but it wasn't completely inedible like Papyrus's previous attempt. He appeared to be very hit or miss with his cooking skills. The two humans had been staying at the skeleton brothers’ house for at least a day now, under Magic's suggestion. As rough a start as they had with the two monsters, she didn't want to take any chances with the scare that Frisk had during their earlier confrontation with the taller skeleton. It was surprising she even made such a suggestion in the first place, given her own less-than-ideal start with Papyrus's brother.

Actually, to Frisk's amazement, Magic got along rather well with Sans. Since discovering the mutual feelings they shared over looking out for their younger siblings, the older human and skeleton gained a newfound respect towards each other. Much to Papyrus's chagrin, Magic was slowly beginning to reveal her own funny bone as she randomly threw puns at Sans mid-conversation; the kind that were almost as bad as his own jokes and the shorter skeleton couldn't be more proud. It was practically written on his face. (No seriously, he got a dry-erase marker and wrote "proud" on his forehead just to mess with Papyrus.)

"I don't even understand how you managed to pull this off." Magic continued, a mischievous smirk forming on her face, "This book completely defies physics."

Frisk signed a mellow 'boooo' at the terrible joke, but couldn't help the few quiet snickers that escaped their body. Sans, on the other hand, let out a hearty laugh that broke into a hysterical fit, especially after hearing his brother's groans of dismay from upstairs.

The taller skeleton peeked out from behind his bedroom door, an intense scowl on his face as he yelled, "ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU AREN'T SANS'S LONG LOST HUMAN TWIN!?"

"pap, i think i'd know if buddo here was related to us. it ain't rocket science." the smaller skeleton replied in the middle of his laughter.

The face Sans got from Papyrus just before he slammed his bedroom door shut sent the stout skeleton over the edge. He fell off the couch and clutched his ribs throughout his bursts of laughter, blue tears pricking at the edges of his eyesockets as the two humans joined in with him. It was weirdly fun seeing Papyrus react to their stupid jokes so dramatically.

"As fun as this has all been, I'm not sure how much longer we can stay." Magic expressed apologetically, recovering from her laughter first, "It's been great hanging out with you guys, but our journey wasn't just to make it to the end of Snowdin. We’ve still got a ways to go to get out of the Underground."

Before Sans could give his input, the door to Papyrus's room had been kicked open yet again, startling both humans. Papyrus may be full of boundless energy, but one thing that still baffled them was how he didn't immediately snap the door off its hinges. Seriously, how could that door possibly still be intact with its frame?

"FEAR NOT, HUMANS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN BE YOUR GUIDE ON YOUR TRAVELS!" the taller skeleton proclaimed after rushing down the stairs and striking a heroic pose.

"Are you sure, Papyrus..? Won't you get in trouble for helping us..?" Frisk signed, a questioning but worried look on their face. Judging by what they heard of the captain of the Royal Guard, who enlisted Papyrus as a rookie-in-training to capture humans, it was clear that they weren't exactly as open to the idea of making friends with humans as easily as Papyrus.