King Papyrus

Chapter 5: The Aftermath

The air seemed crisp, cold, and cruel. Sans looked around and noticed that he was in his old home town, Snowdin. He looked around for signs of monsters, but the whole town seemed to be completely empty. Sans felt tears coming to his eye sockets and he fell to his knees and began to cry in the snow. He tried to wipe them away but more would come. He soon gave up on that tactic and just let his blue tears fall on the pure white snow. Sans soon felt extremely empty; no more tears willing to come to his sockets.

Sans stood up and looked around again, but less frantic than before. But something changed. This time, it seemed like Snowdin was suddenly given life again. Monsters were walking around, enjoying a nice chat or eating some take out food, probably from Grillby's. Sans tried to touch someone but his hand faded through them. Sans sighed with sadness and looked down at his hands. Suddenly, he heard his brother's old, happy voice, along with his own voice. Sans turned around and saw himself along with his brother on a walk.

Sans thought, "Oh... I guess this is a memory, huh?" Sans trailed behind the memory Sans and his old brother. They walked into Grillby's and took a seat at a table. Sans, the one in the memory, began to say to his brother, "P%#^+€$, I wanted to talk to you about something." Sans, the one experiencing this, couldn't hear the first word the other Sans had said, but he guessed it didn't matter. The memory Sans continued, "I'm having a bad feeling... Like something's coming... Something bad." His brother said, "No need to worry, brother! I, the great P&@$=#, think you should not worry so much!"

Sans once again didn't hear that word that, this time, his brother said, but he still thought it didn't matter. The memory Sans sighed with worry and said, "Yeah... Maybe you're right..." His brother said, "The great P*£¥€^% is always right!" Sans was getting annoyed with that word, not wanting to hear whatever it was anymore. Memory Sans smiled at his brother and said, "Yeah, bro. You're the coolest, after all." His brother groaned and said, "Enough with the snow jokes for one day, brother." Memory Sans said, "Sorry, but I just can't chill out."

Sans opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around at his surroundings and sure enough, he was still in Papyrus' room. Sans sighed with relief that Papyrus was nowhere in the room. Sans also noticed that he wasn't wearing his clothes and quickly found them in the room and put them on. He then teleported to the cabin he had built out in the woods for Lorn. He knocked on the door and, lucky him, the child asked, "Wh- who's there?" Sans lightly chuckled and thought, "Oh, I haven't done this in a while." Sans said, "Kem Yu." The child, praise the heavens, asked, "K- Kem Yu wh- who?" Sans snickered before saying, "Kem Yu please open the door?"

Sans heard a explosion of laughter behind the door. Sans chuckled, feeling better now that he had made the kid happy. The door soon opened and Lorn stood slightly behind it, wiping their eye from tears of laughter. Sans stepped in and closed the door behind himself. Lorn said, "H- heya, Sibby!" Sans chuckled and said, "Hey, kid. Miss me?" Lorn nodded and said, "It's s- so boring w- without you here." Sans ruffled the kid's hair and said, "Yeah. Well, being alone gets pretty boring after a while." Lorn nodded and asked, "So, what're w- we gonna do to- today, Sibby?"

Sans shrugged and said, "Whatever you want, kid. As long as it doesn't involve going near any monsters." Lorn said, "B- but you're a m- monster." Sans nodded and said, "But I told ya, didn't I? I'm not like them. I'm a lot different than every other monster." Lorn shivered and asked, "Are th- they mean?" Sans nodded and said, "They're a lot more than 'mean,' kid." Lorn ran to their bed and curled up in the covers. Sans walked after them and asked, "What're ya doin', kid?" Lorn said, "They s- sound l- like bullies! A- and bullies are scary!"

Sans said, "Well, I won't let any of those bullies getchya, ya hear?" Lorn nodded with covers over their head like a hoodie. Sans chuckled at Lorn, them looking silly to him. Lorn asked, "H- hey, S- Sibby? W- what's that under y- your shirt?" Sans looked down and noticed that he hadn't pulled his shirt down all the way. He also noticed that his wounded rib was showing and, heavens, did it look horrible. Sans felt his face heat up and he quickly pulled his shirt down fully. Sans rubbed the back of his skull nervously and stuttered, "U- uh... W- well it's..."

Lorn stood from the bed, leaving the blanket behind, and walked toward Sans. They lifted his shirt and looked more closely at the rib. Sans lifted his hands and said, "K- kid!" Lorn said, sounding worried, "S- Sibby... D- did one o- of those m- monsters hurt you?" Sans let his hands fall back to his sides and he sighed with defeat. He said, "Yeah..." Sans looked over at Lorn and noticed that they had tears in their eyes. Sans asked, "Woah, kid! Are you okay?!" Lorn said while sobbing, "I- I don't w- want them t- to hurt you, S- Sibby! It's wr- wrong!"

Sans sighed and said, "I know it's wrong kid, and I'm sure they do, too... But they just don't care anymore..." Lorn pulled the shirt down and hugged Sans tightly, almost as if their life depended on it. Sans hugged back as the child began to sob hard. Sans rubbed their back and whispered, "Shh shh shh... It'll be alright. I'm fine." Lorn took in a few sharp breaths and sniffles, then said, "B- but you're n- not fine, Sibby! You're h- hurt! A- a- and what if something worst h- happens?!" Sans said, "I don't know, kid. I'll just have to manage."

They stood silently in their embrace, Lorn taking in a few long breaths before letting go of Sans. They said, "I w- wanna go ex- explore the f- forest t- today, Sibby." Sans looked outside, it only looking like the afternoon. Sans looked back at Lorn with a smile and said, "Sure, why not? It's a beautiful day outside, after all." Lorn jumped with excitement and ran toward the door; Sans followed after them. Sans opened the door and they walked outside, Sans closing the door behind them. Lorn looked around and smiled in the afternoon sunlight.

Sans smiled and suddenly got another memory burst; Papyrus when he was almost out of his baby bone years. Papyrus stood in the snow, letting the light of whatever they had in the Underground fall on him. Sans closed his eyes and forced the image away. He opened his eyes to find Lorn squatted on the ground, poking something. Sans walked up behind the kid and leaned over them, trying to see what they were doing. Sans asked, "Whatcha doing there, kid?" Lorn said, "P- poking this c- caterpillar." Sans got a glimpse of the small, fuzzy, black caterpillar.

He said, "Cool. What's it do?" Lorn said, "I- I guess it j- just sits h- here." Sans shrugged and leaned away from the kid. He looked around with his hands in his jacket pockets.