YOU (Undertale/Deltarune AU)

13

It was about midnight when Undyne woke up to someone knocking on her door. She pulled herself out of bed, trying to flatten her hair down, and slouched downstairs. She opened the door to one of her neighbours, who looked like he'd just ran six miles without break.

"Officer Undyne? I'm Birdly, I might have some information. Not on Kris, but on Susie."

Undyne looked him up and down and almost went insane. Who the hell was this little kid and why didn't he contact her during the day? She almost slammed the door in his face in anger, but recomposed herself quick enough.

"Do your parents know you're here?"

"Do they need to?" Birdly answered back, almost sounding like he was mocking her. "It's just a small piece of information. A couple days ago-"

"Can you come back tomorrow?" Undyne stared at this small child like he was Hellspawn.

"Don't you need all information urgently?" Birdly nodded like a little shit, with a smug look on his face. "A couple days ago, I saw Susie smoking behind the general store."

"And?"

"And the owner of the store, overweight skeleton, walked out and saw her. Underage smoking is illegal, right? So why didn't he tell her to leave. He even spoke to her a bit."

"Your point?"

"General store guy knows Susie. So he'll know something about her. Maybe you should ask hiiiim?"

Undyne slammed the door in his face and went back to bed. She didn't get back to sleep, though. For all she knew, this kid could just be wanting to get in on the action and be completely lying. For the rest she knew, Sans had seen Susie breaking the law and didn't do anything about it, implying they'd met before. But Sans was new in town, right? How could he know Susie well enough to spare her from the law?

Undyne picked up her phone, but hesitated when she realised she and the skeletons never exchanged numbers out of friendship. Undyne stood and got dressed instead. She wouldn't be able to sleep until she got answers. She didn't get into uniform, just made herself look presentable. She started walking to where the general store was. Her best guess was Sans and Papyrus lived in the house next door. She had this feeling because Sans and Papyrus were quirky. And their house had snow on the roof.

Undyne knocked on the door. She had to wait a while in complete silence, before deciding to knock again. This time she heard yelling behind the door.

"SANS, GET THE DOOR!"

Undyne didn't hear what sans said in reply, but Papyrus claimed he was closer to the door so he should do it. Eventually, after much argument, the door flung open, and there was Papyrus, looking as cheerful and smily as ever.

"HELLO, OFFICER!"

"Just- just call me Undyne. Can I speak to Sans?"

"OF COURSE YOU CAN. HE'S ASLEEP, THOUGH, SO GOOD LUCK WAKING HIM UP. DO YOU WANT A DRINK?"

"I'll only be a minute, but thanks." Undyne steppes into the house, which was the cleanest mess she'd ever seen. There was a random sock on the floor, and a joke book on a desk, and some things just seemed randomly scattered around, and there was a small white dog sleeping in the corner (Undyne could've sworn she'd seen it at the library before), but other than that, it all seemed good.

Undyne saw Sans curled in a ball on the couch, watching her lazily with one eye open.

"hi."

"Hi. Can I ask you a question?"

"knock yourself out."

"Do you know a purple girl called Susie?"

"not personally. see her sometimes, she's okay. she's missing too, right?"

"Yes. Have you ever caught her smoking behind your store?"

"many times, yeah. she doesn't bother me, i don't bother her. was i supposed to turn her in?"

Undyne hesitated. She'd only known Sans for a few days, but she trusted him. She closed her eyes. "Sorry to bother you." She said, smiling and opening them again. "I'll leave you alone." She left with that.

Sans watched her leave, turning his eyes away. Every time he looked at her, he saw something he wished he wouldn't. It was burned into his memory, though he couldn't be sure it ever happened. Then, every time he looked at anyone, he saw it. Every time he closed his eyes, he had flashbacks to something he never experienced.

"i wonder what happened to 'em?" He said, not actually meaning to say it out loud.

"WHO?" Papyrus asked, heading back upstairs in the process. Sans didn't really know how to answer. How was he supposed to tell him what was going through his head?

"uh, susie and that other guy. really weird, isn't it?"