Chara seemed to be wary of something. The sensation was like that of a dog perking up its ears at a strange sound. Rain found her eyes straying more than once thanks to the detached predatory desire to peel back the forest’s shadows and see what was hiding in them.

“What’s wrong?” Rain whispered.

“We are being followed. Watched.”

Rain felt her heart skip a beat. She tried to stop and look around but her head would not turn. It was like a hand had taken her by the chin and forced her to look straight ahead.

“Don’t stop to and try to look at it!” Chara snapped.

They both tightened their grip on the fire iron. Its handle was cold but its weight remained comforting. At least this time she would not be defenseless. She didn’t want to think about how things would go if all she could do is throw snowballs at whatever this thing was.

“It’s moving. Stay calm.”

“Do you think it’s the guard?”

“Shut up. Just think the words. I’m not sure. It doesn’t sound like the ones I have encountered before. Usually they employ huge dogs to guard this point because their fur is great for the cold weather.”

Rain could hear the snow crunching behind them now. It sent shivers down her spine. She gripped her fire iron until her knuckles were white. Images of a massive werewolf twice her size kept coming to mind. A feral beast holding a long sword and dripping hot flecks of steaming drool into the snow plagued her imagination.

“Alright. Stop.” Chara ordered. Rain’s feet sunk into the snow and her knees locked up. She nearly tripped due to the sudden change.

The footsteps continued to creep ever closer.

With a final messy crunch their stalker stopped directly behind them. A low voice droned at their back. “human. turn around. don’t you know how to greet a new pal?”

Ever so slowly they shuffled around to face the voice. Rain was certain the monster could hear her knees shaking.

She was surprised to find that her stalker was not in fact looming over her as she had feared but instead several inches below her eye level. She couldn’t see his face because his head was bowed and the hood of his coat was up but his hand was extended.

She was easily a head taller than the broad shouldered creature in the blue. Hell, she could probably escape him by going on any amusement park ride with a height requirement. But that didn’t stop her heart from beating like the wings of a frightened hummingbird when she saw him.

“Accept his handshake and be ready.”

Rain reached out and shook the monster’s hand. She flinched in surprise when a sloppy farting noise pierced the chilly silence the moment their hands touched. She drew back with a start when she felt cold bony fingers brush against hers.

The figure lifted his head and she got her first good glimpse under the hood. For a brief moment she thought she saw a flicker of blue before she realized she was looking straight into the eye sockets of a skeleton. His already grinning face seemed to somehow widen and something deep within his sockets blinked.

She reacted poorly to this but Chara glued her mouth shut, causing her scream to come out as more of a gulping whimper. Her imagination ran wild with the thought of Grim Reapers.

The Skeleton chuckled, choosing to be oblivious to her reaction. “the ol' whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it’s always funny.”

Rain remained frozen, locked in internal combat. “Well it’s not a dog.” Rain managed.

“Curious. I don’t remember ever seeing him around here before. He must be new.” Chara was still gripping the fire iron.

“Do you think he’s one of the guards?”

Both entities looked him up and down. Old blue coat, a faded sweater, pants that were way too short for the current tempter and of course, the crowning glory of this ridiculous sight, a pink pair of fuzzy slippers adorning his feet. He was looking at them expectantly now, starting to notice their awkward silence. “hey, that’s uh, that’s your cue to laugh.”

“No. No he’s not a guard. He couldn’t be. If he was we would be dead by now.” Their grip on the fire iron relaxed a bit.

“You let him just walk up to us knowing we would be dead if he was a guard?” Rain mentally shrieked.

Chara scoffed. “I would have had your back.”

The skeleton’s smile fell a little. “or, uh, emote at all?”

Rain and Chara were too wrapped up in their own conversation to hear him. He scuffed the ground and muttered. “gee lady; you sure know how to pick em, huh?”

One of them noticed this comment and blinked. Rain had a hard time deciding which one of them actually ended up speaking. “What’s that?”

He shrugged. “eh, not important. its fine, everyone has their own sense of humor. say, you’re a human, right?” His smile returned upon having gotten a visible reaction out of them at last. He rolled his eyes off to the side. “that’s hilarious. my names’ sans. sans the skeleton. i’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now,” he leaned forward and much to Rain’s surprise, confusion and slight horror, he winked. “but, y’know, i don’t really care about capturing anybody.”

“So what do we do now? We don’t have to hurt him if he’s not a guard, right?”

“I don’t know. I have never seen him before. I don’t know what he is capable of yet. If anything he could still run off and tell someone.”

Rain felt her grip try to tightening again. “No!” She snapped, forcing Chara’s grip to loosen. “I’m not letting you handle this one. Not after what happened with Toriel. We try this one my way. I am in control and unless someone flat out attacks us it will stay that way. ”

A rattling sigh like a cold fall breeze washed over her mind. She nearly dropped the fire iron when Chara released her control over Rain’s hand. “Fine. May as well. I don’t know enough about this guy to help you anyway.”

Sans cleared his nonexistent throat to try and regain her wandering attention again, earning another weird look from the both of them. “now my brother on the other hand, Papyrus, he’s a human hunting fanatic!” Sans glanced behind them and waved to someone. “hey, actually, i think that’s him over there. i have an idea, follow me.” He slogged past them, pink slippers kicking up puffs of loose snow as he went.

“Should we…follow him?”

“I thought you said you didn’t want my help?”

Sans looked back at them and waved them on. “you coming or not? don’t worry, i won’t let anything bad happen to you. if you play along i’ll even point you towards the nearest town when we are done.”

Rain peered farther down the road. Sure enough not too far ahead the silhouette of another figure could be seen approaching down the long snow laden path.

Rain cursed Chara’s sass under her breath and stumbled after Sans. She felt like a toddler that had just been pushed out onto a skating rink without anything to hold on to.

“that’s him. quick, go hide behind a tree or something.” He nodded to the tree line and gave them a reassuring wave.

Rain plodded off into the trees and hid under the thick evergreen umbrella of a pine, clutching her makeshift weapon close to her chest and shivering.

While they both tried to keep their teeth from chattering too much, the sounds of another approaching monster grew louder and the once distant shape began to take form. The wind whipped his scarf back and forth behind the new monster like a tattered banner. He was tall. Much taller than Sans or Rain. Taller even than Toriel had been. He wore a well-polished silver-white piece of chest armor and red gloves. He had knee high boots with pointless metal buckles on them that Rain was instantly jealous of when she saw how easily they kept the snow out. Her own shoes had become so wet that they made gross sloshing sounds every time she took a step.

By now it came as little surprise that this being who she assumed to be the brother Papyrus, was also a skeleton. A much more intimidating one.

“Sans!” He shouted over the wind, marching ever closer.

Sans turned around to lean against the nearest tree. “sup, bro?”

“You know what’s ‘sup’ brother! It’s been eight days and you still have not re-calibrated your puzzles! What if a human comes through here? You’re not even at your station! What are you doing?”

Rain smiled despite herself. Papyrus had a voice that reminded her of a cheesy villain from an old cartoon her dad used to watch.

Chara hushed her before she could make any audible laughter. “Watch and observe. Try to understand them so we will have a better idea of what to do if they cause us trouble later on.”

Beyond their little hideout, the conversation between the two skeletons carried on. “oh i’m just staring at this tree line. it’s pretty great, want to come see?”

Papyrus put his foot down. “No! Sans, we don’t have time for that right now! I appreciate a well maintained tree line as much as the next guy but we have work to do! What if a human comes through here? We must be ready. I have to be the one to find them. I must be the one!” His expression softened a little. “Sans, it’s the only way they will let me into the Royal Guard. This sentry point is important to me.”

“Well that’s just great.” Rain and Chara thought in unison. A human hunting fanatic. How fun!

“really? that important?” Sans snickered. He looked over his shoulder and Rain made eye contact from her hiding spot. Both Chara and Rain frantically shook their head, begging him to keep his mouth shut.

“Of course. Haven’t you been listening at all?”

“sorry bro, guess i have been being kind of a-”

“Don’t say it.”

“numbskull?” He winked at Papyrus over his shoulder.

“I told you not to say it!”

“well if i’m not a numbskull then i guess that means i must be a total bonehead, right?”

“Sans!”

“come on, i can see you smiling.”

“I am and I hate it!”

Chara gave Rain a mental poke. “Seeing as this new guy is some sort of weird fanatic and his brother is just using us as a toy, unless you would like me to crack his skull open for you perhaps we should try to get out of here while they bicker?”

Rain pushed herself away from the tree and nodded, already exasperated by the encounter. “Agreed.”

“hey, i have an idea.” Sans was smirking at the tree line again. “maybe something over there under that tree will help you get into the royal guard.”

“Sans, I don’t have time for this!”

“you sure?”

“Yes.” Papyrus was brushing snow off of his shoulders with obvious care and readjusted his orange scarf with a great heir of self-importance. “If you are not going to go fix your puzzles then I will have to fix them for you. If you really want to help me then you will stop staring at those beautiful trees and go put a little more… backbone, into your work!” He spun around on his heels and marched off; destroying any bite the remark may have had by laughing at his own horrible pun.

“nice one, bro.” Sans called at his back.

Papyrus waved a hand in farewell without looking back; one final “nyeh” of laughter echoing through the forest while his scarf danced against the wind in rhythm with the crunch of his footsteps.

Sans turned around and called back to Rain. “alright, it’s safe to come out now. that was pretty funny, wasn’t it?” He approached Rain’s hideout and his smile began to slip. She had managed to get up and put several yards between them; leaving an obvious trail of disturbed snow in her wake.

“He’s following us.” Chara warned in wary annoyance when Sans entered the tree line in search of them. She did not seem to know what to make of the skeletons yet and this annoyed both of them.

Rain kept her head down and marched, always trying to keep a tree between herself and Sans. She was worried that someone was destined to get hurt if he kept following her but she wasn’t sure who that someone was.

“Let’s just keep our head down. Maybe he will realize we are not interested and just leave us alone.”

As if the universe itself wanted to assure her that that was not how things were going to go down, she heard Sans calling her the second she finished talking.

“hey lady, wait up!” He was coming after them at a semi determined pace; his stupid slippers kicking up snow behind him. Eventually the benefits of not having the basics of a human body weighing him down in the snow overpowered Rain’s sluggish march.

“where are you going? it’s going to take you all day to get to snowdin if you go this way.”

“Leave us alone.”

“us?” Sans paused for half a step to gawk at her. “you got a ghost friend out here or something? buddy, there’s only one set of tracks and they’re yours. you sure you’re feeling okay, pal?”

“I’m fine.”

“look, i’m sure this is a lot for you to take in; recently fallen and all. maybe it was insensitive of me to play with you like that. but you don’t have anything to worry about. Papyrus isn’t dangerous. even if he tries to be.”

“I don’t want to deal with this Royal Guard of his right now. I just want to go home.”

Sans thought for a moment. He was taking on at a leisurely pace now, always two steps ahead and in her way just enough to force her to adjust her path.

“look, i don’t know much about humans but most monsters don’t like the cold. and by the looks of it neither do you.” His eyes darted to the charred hole in the side of her shirt and she quickly tried to hide its burnt edges with a cold hand as a new wave of guilt washed over her.

Both entities watched Sans closely, paranoid that he may somehow make the connection between the singed edges and Toriel.

“that’s a big hole in your shirt. how’d you get it? looks burnt.”

“I slept too close to a fire.”

“really?” He smiled, amused by this. “wow lady, i gotta give you credit for your survival skills.”

“Shut up.” She huffed.

“no, really. i’m surprised you were able to get anything to ignite at all out here. soggy evergreen trees are tough customers. especially for someone who can’t use magic.”

Chara caused her to smirk against her will. She seemed amused. “The cheeky shit knows we're lying.”

“so how long have you been out here anyway?”

“I don’t know.”

He seemed to be considering something again. Rain tried to avoid looking at that black, grinning gaze of his but something kept pulling her back to it. There was a little voice, an instinct in the back of her head making her eyes dart into their corners so that she could always keep an eye on him even when she wanted to look away.

She sensed the subtle changes in his expressions. Curiosity, friendliness, doubt. Something else was hiding behind that grin too. What was it? Cunning? Evil? Fear?

“Oh come on Rain.” Chara was amused again. Apparently she was starting to dismiss Sans as a physical threat, even if his awareness continued to make her wary. “Look at him. Of all the things you should be afraid of out here you choose this guy? I don’t think even he takes himself seriously. As long as he doesn’t blab I don’t think he’s big enough to be much trouble. We should be more worried about his brother.”

“I wish he would just leave us alone.”

San’s coat rustled as he pulled it off. Rain nearly walked right into it when he held it out to her. “here.”

She took a step back and blinked in surprise. She looked at the inviting blue coat held out before her and then looked at Sans like she was trying to understand a confusing question asked in a foreign language. She studied him, brow furrowed and wary. He still had that friendly look in his eye, although it appeared to be more concerned than before.

“What?” She finally managed to squawk.

“here. you can borrow it. i mean, the wind blows right through me but i think between the two of us you need it more than i do.”

She kept her eyes locked on his when she accepted the coat, wary of some sort of trick. She managed to mumbled a “thank you” despite her suspicion.

“don’t sweat it.”

She put on the coat. To her surprise it was vaguely warm. She sighed with relief and zipped herself up tight and tugged the hood up over her eyes. That was a little better. At least it wasn’t as obvious she was human now. “Really, thank you. I mean it. It’s… been a rough day.”

He shrugged. “its fine. i get it.” It was now that he looked down the road and Rain realized that the casual way he had been in there way just enough to force them to step around him had slowly adjusted their course so that they were right up alongside the road again.

“welp, i can see that you don’t really want me sticking around. so i guess i will let you go now. i need to go meet up with my brother again anyway. good luck getting to wherever it is you're trying to go. just keep in mind what i said before: Papyrus is not dangerous. even if he tries to be. he’s never seen a human before so seeing you might just make his day.” He stepped back out onto the road and waved goodbye. “he guards the fastest route to snowdin so if you change your mind and head our way i will be sure to keep an eye socket out for ya.” He winked again and turned on his heels, leaving in the wrong direction without another word.

Rain stuck her hands deeper inside her newfound coat pockets. She felt sticky wads of plastic inside. With a grimace she pulled out several crumpled ketchup packets. One of them had sprung a leak and covered her hand in red. “Ew.” She discarded the packets and wiped her hand in the snow. “So, now what? Which way do we go?”

Chara sighed. “Well I suppose we do need to get you to Snowdin. I can protect you from the cold for a while longer but sooner or later we will need to find someplace warm to rest. I can probably find a safe place for us to hide in town if I have to. I guess Sans seems harmless enough. So as long as he keeps his mouth shut we should be ok. Whether or not he is telling the truth about his brother on the other hand, I have yet to decide.”

“Sans seemed nice.” Rain agreed as she picked at the coat.

“Well, so did Toriel and look what happened there. Keep your head down and just hope we don’t run into any real Royal Guardsmen. Once we pass Snowdin we will have a much better chance of getting out of here alive.”

Rain smiled a little despite herself. “Alright then. Let’s go.” They resumed their dreary march with their head bowed to the wind.