TLK part 9: Return to Doggertale Yet Again

Summary: Papyrus Squad seeks closure, but not even a swarm of Papyruses can wrangle an actual happy ending out of this story. unu

Tags/warnings: only attempted vore in this one Killing a skeleton in this fic would be far too upsetting! What? The first five chapters? An unspecified but massive body count? I don’t remember anything like that!

Besides, there were no bodies left, not even dust X3

Extra special thanks to @idontevenknowwhattoputhereugh for allowing this blatant vorish exploitation of her characters X3

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Papyrus didn’t invite Battle-Scarred Alphys on this mission. For one thing, it was likely going to be cold and snowy the whole time. And, maybe a little bit, he was annoyed that she hadn’t been more communicative about what her universe’s native Papyrus looked like. If he’d put together the facts earlier maybe it wouldn’t—well, it still would have been a horrible shock. But surely it hadn’t helped Mustard to be the one to break the news to him. He brought Thunder and Noodles, since they were already involved, and one more Papyrus nicknamed Cloudy for the cotton-candy-like ruff on his jacket. He was formidable in a pinch but not quick to cause trouble, which Thunder and Scarred Alphys sometimes were. The dog that said its name was Sans was sleeping at its sentry post, the same as the previous time Papyrus had visited. It looked up as they approached. It appeared nervous at the arrival of so many skeletons, but didn’t run away. Papyrus stalked purposefully up to the sentry post. “What are you doing back here?” the dog asked “Come to make another donation?” It was playing it cool, but experience with the dogs in his own Snowdin let Papyrus read the tilt of its ears. It was definitely nervous. “Er, no. We just want more information about what happened to the other skeletons who came here before me.” “I don’t know why you bothered. I told you what happened to the short one. I woulda thought you could figure out what happened to the tall one.” “Of course I suspect. But I want to know for sure.” “You came all the way here for that?” The dog sat up straighter. “You’re some kinda alternate universe version of my brother, right? I know you’re smart enough to figure it out.” He glanced around at the other Papyri. “Who’re your friends?” Papyrus paused. Apparently the similarities between him and the others weren’t enough for the dog to realize they were all interdimensional twins. From the dog’s point of view, the default Papyrus was a dog, after all, not a skeleton. “They’re also alternate universe versions of me and your brother.” Papyrus reasoned that perhaps being open with the dog would win his trust, but Thunder grumbled disapprovingly, leaning menacingly over the sentry station counter. “As was…” Papyrus continued, but he still found it hard to accept. “As was the first skeleton that came here, with the orange hoodie.” “So, what, you’re looking out for him out of a sense of skeleton-Papyrus solidarity?” The dog’s hackles rose a little. “Are you out for revenge or somethin’?” Papyrus was startled the dog had figured it out—well, he himself didn’t believe in revenge, but Thunder certainly did, and he wouldn’t entirely put it past Cloudy. “It may be four against one, but I’ve got a surprise or two up my sleeve.” The dog pulled something from beneath the counter of the sentry station—it looked like a ray gun from those science fiction magazines Sans had found in the dump in Waterfall. The dog fired it at Thunder, who disappeared—no, he was still there, on the counter, but miniaturized. Of course. The first skeleton had had a shrink ray, and now the dog had it. “What? No, no,” Papyrus rushed to explain. “We aren’t looking for revenge on you. It’s the—” “I’m not just gonna sit here and let you take revenge on my brother, either.” The dog fired the ray at Papyrus. “That isn’t what he meant.” Cloudy intervened as the dog pointed the ray at Noodles, stepping in front of the other skeleton with his hands raised. “The only monster we want revenge on is that other skeleton in the orange hoodie.” “Yeah, sure.” The dog fired the ray and Cloudy dropped into the snow, shrunken. “What’s a slightly different skeleton version of you gonna do that’d make you want revenge?” “I’ll tell you,” Papyrus piped up, having recovered from the disorienting effects of the shrink ray, “if you’ll tell us exactly what happened when the first skeleton came through.” The dog looked down at him. “I would, except you probably want to include me not eating you in that deal, and here you are all conveniently bite-sized.” Papyrus turned to Noodles. They had discussed the possibility of the dog’s appetite for bones getting in the way, although no one had anticipated the dog having a shrink ray. “Oh. Oh yeah. Wait!” said Noodles. “I have something you might find even tastier!” “It’s not spaghetti, is it?” The dog was unenthused. “No!” Noodles was indignant at the insult to spaghetti, but he recovered and produced a bottle of ketchup. “It’s this!” The dog lowered the shrink ray, eyes widening. “What is that?” “It’s ketchup.” Noodles handed it to the dog. “Wow.” The dog accepted it with the paw not occupied by the ray gun, staring at it in apparent awe as he figured out how to open it, then smirked. “I could smell it a mile away. You think dogs don’t know what ketchup is? But thanks! I do like this stuff!” The dog quickly splattered Thunder with ketchup, set down the bottle, picked up the skeleton, and raised him over his open jaws, lifting the ray gun with his other forepaw to point at Noodles. Thunder summoned a blaster and shot a beam of electricity at the dog, but it just made his fur a little frizzy. The dog smiled wider at its inefficacy, lowering Thunder toward its tongue. Noodles lunged forward, reaching for Thunder. The dog fired its ray gun. The blaster bit down on the paw holding Thunder, and the dog dropped him. Fortunately Noodles had distracted the dog enough that Thunder wasn’t lined up correctly with its mouth and fell onto the counter. Noodles landed on the counter, too, now bite-sized. “Get to Noodles!” Papyrus yelled. By the time he and Thunder had both reached Noodles, Noodles was oriented enough to teleport them all off the counter. “Back to the portal,” said Thunder, as they sank into the snow, which was extremely deep at this size. “Noodles, can you grab Cloudy and then stop for us on the way to the portal?” Papyrus asked. Noodles nodded and vanished, reappearing with Cloudy in tow a few moments later. As soon as the others had grabbed onto them, they were yanked through space into…more deep snow. “My sense of distance is really thrown off by being small,” explained Noodles. Papyrus worried whether they would be able to go through the portal. Wasn’t it raised a little off the ground? It had been easy to step through on the way here, but at this size… He needn’t have worried. Noodles’s next jump brought them within sight of the portal, and another threw them into it. *** “I didn’t know you could do that, Noodles.” “Do what?” “Manipulate horizontal momentum at the end of a teleport.” “Oh yeah. It’s necessary if you teleport onto a moving vehicle or something.” “So that’s it?” interrupted Thunder. “What’s it?” Papyrus found he really wanted to focus on the mechanics of teleportation right now. “The culprit is dead. There’s … nothing more we can do.” “That’s … Team Papyrus can’t … There must be something …” “You’re right, Lefty,” Cloudy spoke up quietly. “Even if our original goal is out of reach, an organized team of Papyruses ought to be able to accomplish something.” “Like what?” grunted Thunder. “I have an idea,” said Noodles. Everyone looked at him. “We could go rescue Gaster.” “Who’s Gaster?” said Papyrus. Alphys came in, walked down the stairs, and dropped her cup of ramen when she saw them. “How did you get so small?”

It's over! I swear this time. Because if I somehow feel the need to write any more I'll make it a separate story. Should I write further adventures of the Papyrus Squad? Should I draw character designs for all the random AU skeletons?

TLK part 7: Papyrus’s Mission

Aw, the vore fic thinks it’s some kind of whacky superhero team hijinks story. 

Consistent tone? Where we’re going, we don’t need consistent tone.

tags/warnings: nothing really; hints of various awful things in the past

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It was simply impractical for all the Papyri to go on every mission. A lot had wanted to come, especially since they were nearing the bottom of the list of universes to visit. Papyrus had chosen a small team to accompany him to the second-to-last universe on the list.

“Hello, Alphys.” Papyrus stepped through the portal into the creepy basement dungeon universe, which they called Swap, because everything was swapped. Two Alphyses looked up at the greeting, his usual Alphys fiddling with the interdimensional video-phone she’d built, and this universe’s battle-hardened and scarred Alphys.

“Hey, Lefty!” The scarred Alphys gave him a friendly punch in his remaining arm. “Who are we bringing today?”

“I’ve invited Thunder and Noodles.”

The bespectacled Alphys called up the Papyrus nicknamed Thunder for his electric-element magic, to be sure he was ready, and then opened a portal for him. Thunder stepped through, casting a stern glance around the room. He was one of the more different Papyri, with jagged teeth and a white scarf over spiky black armor. Papyrus wouldn’t have suspected they were interdimensional twins if he hadn’t answered to the name Papyrus and been missing a brother named Sans.

“Lefty,” Thunder said in greeting. “This is the second-to-last place, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I hope we find them!”

“Or whoever took them.” Thunder crackled with menacing energy.

Noodles stepped out of Alphys’s next portal. Thunder shot Papyrus a glance, annoyed at his choice of companions. Noodles, named because he seemed to like spaghetti the most out of any of them, was a bit flaky. But he was a very useful skeleton.

“Hello, Noodles! Are we all ready?”

The gathered monsters nodded, and Alphys opened a new portal.

***

It was another iteration of the same basement lab. Papyrus and Alphys (the scarred one) took the lead in exploring the room. It was a little dusty but it didn’t have the air of being abandoned for an extended time. There was no machine, but the space where the machine would have been was empty.

“Noodles, let’s go outside,” Papyrus said. Noodles took his and Alphys’s hands, and Thunder placed a hand on Noodles’s arm. Noodles teleported them to the other side of the door.

It was Snowdin, much like Papyrus’s own Snowdin. The decor seemed off, darker. He didn’t spend much time looking around; the others would alert him if there was anything important. He walked over to the front door of the house and knocked.

After a few moments, the door flew open, revealing a skeleton who resembled Thunder, if he’d worn red instead of white, and with more scars.

“WHO ARE YOU?” the skeleton demanded.

“My name is Papyrus. Wait, I know—your name is also Papyrus, right?” Papyrus tried to convince him not to slam the door closed again. “You can call me Lefty.” He held up his left hand. “And this is Papyrus and Papyrus, but because that’s very confusing, please call them Thunder and Noodles. Perhaps you recognize Alphys, but this is a different Alphys.”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” The native Papyrus yelled cautiously.

“We are looking for our brothers.” Papyrus stopped to see if the other would volunteer any information. He’d had this conversation a number of times, with Papyri who were also missing their brothers and eager to cooperate. But this Papyrus just looked at him, jaws tight.

“Forgive me for asking,” Papyrus continued. “But is YOUR brother—?”

“HE IS FINE!”

The Papyri looked at each other in relief.

“OH! GOOD!” Papyrus was so relieved he raised his voice. “CAN YOU TELL US IF YOU’VE NOTICED ANYTHING STRANGE? PERHAPS OTHER SKELETONS WHO DON’T BELONG HERE?”

The native Papyrus glared at him, evaluating. “COME INSIDE.” He stepped back from the door so they could file in. Then he folded his arms. “WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU?”

“I know this is very strange,” Papyrus said, “but as a Papyrus, you must know how much we care for our brothers. Even the tough guys like Thunder here.”

“Not all of you,” the other Papyrus said almost quietly.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

The native Papyrus just glared.

“HAVE YOU MET ANOTHER PAPYRUS BEFORE?” asked Noodles.

“No.”

“THEN HOW WOULD YOU KNOW IF—”

Papyrus placed a restraining hand on Noodles’s shoulder. “Are you saying there is a Papyrus that doesn’t care about his brother?”

The native Papyrus looked away. “IT IS A LONG STORY.”

“What’s all the racket, Boss?”

Papyrus’s soul skipped as he saw Sans emerge yawning on the upper level of the house. But it wasn’t his Sans. The Sans caught sight of him and immediately ducked back into his room.

“I’ve seen him before! That was the skeleton we found chained in the—” Alphys stopped herself, looking up at the native Papyrus.

“He told me what happened.” He looked appraisingly at Alphys. Perhaps his Sans had told him about her as well.

“Can we—talk?” Papyrus asked. “None of us knows what happened to our brothers. If yours came back to you, maybe he knows something that can help us find the rest of them.”

The other Papyrus fixed him with a hard look before answering. “You are not going to like it.”

“We would rather know than remain ignorant.”

“If he’s dead, I need to know what happened so I can avenge him,” said Thunder. Alphys nodded enthusiastically. Papyrus clenched his fist.

“You may not even get that satisfaction.” The other Papyrus didn’t emote much, but Papyrus detected a trace of sympathy. “Very well. I will tell you what I can. But first I will consult with my brother; it’s his story to decide how much he wants you to know. Stay here and do not touch anything!”

The native Papyrus stalked up the stairs and into his brother’s room. Papyrus looked at the others.

“Let’s call him Edge,” piped Noodles.

“We don’t know if he’s going to want to join our team,” said Papyrus.

“Depending on what he tells us, there might not even be a team,” added Alphys. “If you’re forced to give up on—if there’s no hope of completing our mission, a lot of us might just go our separate ways.”

“I can’t give up,” Papyrus insisted.

“We can still seek vengeance,” said Thunder.

“What if the monster who killed them is already dead?” said Alphys. “Or it was just a freak accident and no one was responsible? Or they’re not dead, just lost somewhere we can’t reach them?”

“The Great Papyrus never—”

Papyrus was interrupted as Edge reappeared. “Which of your Sanses has been missing the longest?” he demanded without preamble.

Papyrus raised his hand. “Mine was the first to go missing, that we know of.”

“All right. My brother wishes to speak to you. The rest of you wait out here.”

Tastes Like Ketchup Part 6: Return to Doggertale Again

Which skeletons are still alive? Let's try to kill them off too. (But he refused.)

Papyrus visits the morally questionable dogs.

(Would it help if I said that nobody dies for the rest of the fic?)  

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Tags/warnings: no real vore; dismemberment; bleeding magic

Alphys had stayed behind so that she could re-open the portal if it closed. It was just as well. The creepy abandoned basement was cold enough, but out here in the snowy woods was even colder, and she was a cold-blooded monster. But it was nothing the Great Papyrus was not already accustomed to! In fact, it seemed to be the exact same forest Papyrus was accustomed to patrolling back in his own universe. His patrols might have been sporadic since Sans’s disappearance, but he still knew this forest like the back of his glove. Looking around, he easily identified this part of the forest as just beyond Sans’s sentry post, on the Ruins side. He struck out towards Sans’s sentry post, and as he approached it, he couldn’t believe his eyes. There was Sans, sleeping on duty as usual. His soul skipped as he ran up to the sentry station, but something seemed wrong. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it until Sans lifted his head—it was far too furry. And now that he could see his face, he found it wasn’t Sans at all, but a Sans-sized dog. His soul sank in disappointment. The dog blinked in surprise as it registered his presence. “OH! GREETINGS!” He couldn’t be rude to the dog just because it hadn’t been Sans after all. “I WONDER IF YOU CAN HELP ME. I AM LOOKING FOR MY BROTHER!” “Your… brother?” The dog winced. “Uh. I don’t think I can help…” It paused and looked him over, licking its lips. “Actually, ya know, I might have some information.” “HAVE YOU SEEN SANS? HE’S A SKELETON, LIKE ME, BUT ABOUT YOUR HEIGHT.” “Sans?” the dog repeated, confused, then recovered its composure, crossing its paws on the sentry post counter. “I can tell you what I saw, but you gotta make it worth my while.” “WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT?” Papyrus wondered if he had enough gold. “I’ll trade information for one of your bones.” “ONE OF MY… WHAT?” “Maybe that one.” The dog pointed at his right humerus. “WHAT? I DON’T THINK THAT IS…” The dog’s request seemed rather beyond the pale, but when it came down to it Papyrus wouldn’t begrudge losing his arm if it helped him get Sans back. “Or I could just delay you here until my brother shows up. Believe me, you won’t have a good time.” “I DIDN’T SAY NO. BUT YOU UNDERESTIMATE THE GREAT PAPYRUS.” What made this dog think he could keep Papyrus here? “Your name’s Papyrus and your brother’s name is Sans? I’ll give you some information for free. I’m betting your brother has only one HP.” “HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? DID YOU SEE HIM?” “Well, my name is also Sans. Do you see what I’m getting at?” “YOU ONLY HAVE ONE HP?” That was a bizarre coincidence. “Yeah, and I’m betting you don’t want to dust me.” The dog lunged forward and sank its teeth into the bone it had been eying. “FINE, TAKE IT. JUST TELL ME WHERE MY BROTHER IS.” The dog pulled, but the bone didn’t come loose from Papyrus’s shoulder. Papyrus pulled too, consciously trying to relax the magic that was holding the bone in place. He thought he might have to take off his armor and pry it loose, when finally it came free with a pop and a spurt of liquid magic. The dog fell over backward, holding the humerus in its jaws. “NOW TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT MY BROTHER!” Papyrus hoped he wouldn’t bleed to death, or pass out before he could find Sans. The dog seated itself at the sentry post again, placing Papyrus’s arm on the counter. His ulna and radius were still attached, of course, so the entire arm had come loose intact. Papyrus felt a little queasy looking at it. Some orange magic was dripping sluggishly from the detached end. “You’re not gonna like this,” the dog warned. Papyrus waited for it to continue. “Two skeletons came through here. One was tall, like you—in fact, he looked just like you, except he was wearing an orange sweater or somethin’. And he gave me a bad vibe, not like you at all. Anyway, he’s dead.” “OH!” Papyrus wasn’t sure who this other tall skeleton could be, but it was still unfortunate that he had died. “The other one was just a few days ago. Shorter, about my height, wearing a blue bandanna.” “A FEW DAYS AGO?” That must be Sans—he didn’t normally wear a bandanna, but there could be any number of reasons he’d changed clothes during the time he’d been missing. And if he’d been through here only a few days ago, Papyrus could catch up with him! “Yeah.” The dog looked down at the bone on the table. “The thing is, he’s also dead.” “DE—ARE YOU SURE?” Papyrus felt as if his soul had fallen into his boots. “I saw it myself.” “DO YOU HAVE—WHERE’S HIS DUST?” Papyrus couldn’t believe that Sans was dead. But if it were true, there would be dust to prove it. And he would need it for a proper funeral. “No, no dust.” “BUT IF THERE’S NO DUST, HOW DO YOU KNOW HE’S ACTUALLY DEAD?” “Believe me, I was there. You probably don’t wanna know.” The dog perked up its ears. “And if you don’t wanna be dead too, you’d better get back to wherever you came from, like right now. I hear my brother coming.” “I CAN’T JUST LEAVE WITHOUT MY BROTHER—” “Look, it ain’t my business if you wanna stay and get eaten, but I left your femurs there so you could run away. Do what you want; I’m gonna go bury this. Don’t wanna share with him when he’s been hogging all the bones.” The dog picked up Papyrus’s humerus, turned around and trotted away, the hand dragging along the snow. Papyrus stood frozen for several seconds, trying to process what the dog had said. The dog looked over its shoulder and glared at him, nodding back the way he had come, before it disappeared among the trees. The dog had a lot of work to do to become a good person, but it did seem to care if he lived or died. It wasn’t like him to run away from danger, but he was in a weakened state. And if something did happen to him, he’d never find out what really happened to Sans. He decided to rejoin Alphys and regroup. *** “I’M GONNA SKIN THAT DOG ALIVE!” “Undyne, d-don’t get him worked up; it could make the bleeding worse.” Alphys had refused to let him talk until they got back to their own universe and she had started patching him up. They were still in the basement lab, Papyrus naked from the waist up, Alphys digging in the first aid kit. “I’m sure if I can just talk to him again he’ll tell me what happened to Sans,” Papyrus said. “And then I’ll skin him,” Undyne growled. “A-actually,” said Alphys, “even if the dog is telling the truth, we d-don’t know for sure that the skeleton he saw was Sans.” “Don’t give him false, hope, Al. How many short blue-clad skeletons do you think are wandering around?” “B-but if the dog saw another skeleton that looked like Papyrus, who’s to say there couldn’t be other skeletons that look like Sans?” “YOU’RE RIGHT!” Papyrus sat up. “EVEN IF THAT SKELETON IS DEAD, THERE’S NO PROOF IT WAS SANS! IT’S STILL VERY SAD, OF COURSE. BUT SANS IS ALIVE SOMEWHERE!” “That’s fair,” Undyne agreed. “If there’s a universe of only dogs, there could be a whole universe of little blue-clad skeletons somewhere. But Paps, that doesn’t necessarily mean—” “I KNOW. BUT I CAN’T GIVE UP WHILE THERE’S STILL A CHANCE!” “The machine in the first universe we went to had a l-l-list of all the other universes it had connected with. There were k-kind of a lot.” “WE CAN ALSO TRY TO CONTACT THE MONSTERS THAT LIVE IN THE FIRST UNIVERSE, OUTSIDE THE CREEPY BASEMENT LAB.” “Y-yeah. We have a lot of leads to follow now.”

TLK part 8: Mustard’s Story

Aw, the vore fic thinks it’s some kind of serious drama. Last chapter tomorrow.

tags/warnings: reference to lots of fatal vore :3

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Papyrus had some strong feelings about seeing Sans, even if it wasn’t his Sans. He wasn’t sure what feelings they were exactly, but they were strong. The smaller skeleton sitting on the mattress looked so similar to his real brother, and yet so different.

“You really do look like him,” said Sans, echoing his thoughts.

“What? Who?” He looked at Edge. Did he really resemble this universe’s Papyrus?

“No, like the asshole who kidnapped me. And your brother.”

“I do?”

“Yeah, you look identical. Except he always wore an orange hoodie.”

Something almost clicked in Papyrus’s mind.

“So … Guess I gotta tell you what happened, huh?”

“I can tell him,” Edge offered gruffly.

“No, it’s okay. I feel like I owe him that much.”

Sans stopped to gather his thoughts and the pause stretched on.

“Sans,” Papyrus addressed him. “Is my brother—dead?”

Sans looked away. “Yeah.”

“You’re—you’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“How did it happen?” Papyrus couldn’t accept that. His mind could comprehend the idea as an intellectual exercise, but not as something that could have actually happened.

“That asshole, he…” Sans sighed. “He ate him.”

“What?” Papyrus couldn’t make any sense of that statement.

“He had some kind of shrink ray. He actually shrank me first, as a test, but then when it worked he… He shrank Ketchup and then…”

Papyrus’s mind couldn’t keep up with any of this. “Shrink ray? Ketchup?”

“Ketchup was my nickname for your brother, since it was confusing if we were both ‘Sans.’ I’m ‘Mustard.’”

Papyrus staggered. Sans—Mustard reached out as if to support him, but he was out of reach. Edge took his arm instead.

“Ketchup never mentioned you only got one arm,” said Mustard, apparently trying to distract him.

“That is … a recent development.”

“What happened? I mean, if you don’t mind talkin’ about it.”

“No, we need to … pool our information … I will tell you. After Sans went missing, I searched everywhere. Eventually I convinced Dr. Alphys to help, but we had no idea—it took us too long. We eventually—I should say Alphys—I was utterly useless—she tracked him to the universe you were brought to, but there was nobody there. But Alphys was able to find out which other universes had been visited using the machine there. This was after you had escaped. The other Alphys told me about you, and the Sans who originated in that universe—he went missing after you left. Alphys thinks he was looking for you or his brother.

“Ah, but I did not know that at the time. I was only looking for Sans, and I thought he might have been the last one to use the machine. So I went to the most recent destination, and there I met a dog—he told me—” Papyrus realized the significance of what he’d heard earlier. “He saw a skeleton with an orange sweater. That must have been the kidnapper!”

“That doesn’t sound like the universe I ended up in when I—escaped,” said Mustard. “It had, um, tiny little houses and stuff.”

“Yes, that was the next universe down the list. It was listed twice. Perhaps the local Sans went looking for you there before the universe with the dog.”

“Did the dog place repeat further down the list?” asked Edge. “Maybe the local Sans went there looking for his brother.”

“Yes, that was the last one before the one with the tiny houses.”

“So that’s where that fucker ended up,” said Mustard. “I hope the dogs ate him.”

“I think—they might have. I met a dog there—and this happened—” He looked down at his missing arm. “—but it wasn’t entirely their fault. And they seemed adamant that I leave before another dog arrived, for my safety.”

“The dog that was concerned for your safety did that?” Mustard snorted with disbelief.

“Yes,” said Papyrus, not entirely convinced of the dog’s good intentions himself. “But as I was saying, the dog told me that the skeleton with the orange sweater was dead! When I told Alphys about it—not my Alphys but the other Alphys—she said it sounded like her own Papyrus. But it might have actually been the kidnapper!”

Mustard and Edge looked at each other. “Papyrus. The kidnapper was that Papyrus.”

“What? But—Alphys never—How could—?” Papyrus would have fallen if Edge hadn’t caught him again.

“I, uh, never told Alphys much of what happened. My bad,” said Mustard. “You mean the scarred-up, Royal Guard version of Alphys, right? I didn’t really wanna tarnish her image of her Papyrus, I guess. And things happened so fast, I didn’t tell anyone what happened until after I got back here.”

Some of the others had considered the Swap universe’s Papyrus a suspect—since it was his basement that had all those creepy chains. But Papyrus had dismissed the idea out of hand. And after meeting a dozen different versions of himself in a dozen different universe, he had only been more convinced that a Papyrus wouldn’t hurt a Sans—especially not in the unspeakable ways Mustard described as he filled in more details of his story.

Papyrus looked up at Edge, remembering what he’d said about “not all” Papyri cared for their brothers.

“You say he had a shrink ray?”

Mustard hesitated. “Yeah, that’s how he…” He trailed off.

“All those miniature clothes. They came from other Sanses he kidnapped.” Suddenly it all fit. The drawer full of doll-sized outfits, many of which the various Papyri recognized as belonging to their brothers, had been very, very odd.

“What are you going to do?” asked Edge.

“I think I will have to talk to that dog again after all. If the Papyrus from the Swap universe really was the kidnapper—”

“He was,” asserted Mustard.

“Sorry. I did not mean to disbelieve you. It is just hard to accept.” Papyrus lowered his gaze. “We will want to find out more about what happened to him. Meanwhile. Mustard, I know this is hard to talk about.” Papyrus felt very tired himself. “Can you give us details about the other Sanses you saw? Could any of them have survived?”

“Hate to disappoint ya but I’m 100% certain they’re all dead. You can identify them by the clothes. I’m sure he never brought anyone in naked, so they should all be there.”

“Ah. Yes.” Papyrus supposed Mustard didn’t want to think back on every individual death he’d witnessed.

“I barely got a look at you all downstairs, but who did you bring with you? I saw Battle-Scarred Alphys, one guy who looks pretty much like you but with two arms, and who’s the other one?”

“That’s Thunder.”

“He’s got, what, lightning magic?”

“That’s right.”

“His brother too?”

Papyrus nodded.

Mustard leaned over, covering his mouth with one hand.

“I think we have talked enough for now,” said Edge, moving to guide Papyrus back out.

“Thank you, Mu—I mean Sans,” Papyrus said before he let himself be led away. “I know that this was difficult to talk about.”

Mustard nodded without looking up.