Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sans was afraid. Very, very afraid but also extremely tired. They were dead. In just one day, in just a few minutes, he had lost them all. Parz and Saz who’d gone through hell and never fully recovered; Pyru, who fought so bravely and passionately even while he was turning to dust to stop the human. Little Suny and Papyrus who’d never done anything wrong, the two of them were harmless and wouldn't hurt a fly. And yet, all of them were now dead, turned to dust.

All of them by the hand of the human. Uncle Fellby was most likely dead too. If they were lucky, Grillby and Swabby were hidden away somewhere, surviving.

This would destroy them too.

He had fought this damn human for so long. He was so tired.
That damn human looked at him, eyes red with determination.

He would die.

Just... just one minute. Please.

The knife came down. Dodge. A second knife. Hit.

It didn't matter how much. One HP, One Def, no matter how much damage the human would have inflicted, he was done for.

“W...welp...”, he said, still grinning. There was no way he’d go down crying. He would die brave like his brothers. “I... I'm going to Grillbys... P...Pap...?” He could almost see him.. no, not just Papyrus. He swore he could see them all standing in front of him. “B...Brothers... do... you... want... anything?”

Parz and Saz with their fiery red eyes but subtle love, Pyru with his lazy smile and kind eyes, Suny with his bright smile and big, blue eyes full of wonder and in the middle of them, Papyrus, holding his arms open for him, waiting. There too was Fellby standing behind them, his hands resting upon Parz and Saz shoulders. His family.

“G...gu...ys...” He reached out to them though he couldn’t quite …

He collapsed. Everything was black. It didn't hurt anymore.

And then he woke up.

“AAAAAAhhhhh!”, Sans came up from sleep like a drowning man to the surface. His scream rang out, loud and clear. After a second, he noticed that he was not the only one screaming.

Everything hurt! What just happened, what was that? ohgodhewasdead, everybodywasdead, help!

Suddenly, there were arms around him. Warm magic he knew like his own hummed against his core. A soft voice, he was sure he wouldn’t ever hear again, spoke to him.

“Sans, its okay, shhh... calm down, calm down, I'm here...”

“P...Papyrus?”

Whatever miracle gave him his brother back, he wouldn’t question it. He just hugged him, vowing to never let go. Papyrus held on just as strong. Sans just hoped that Papyrus wouldn't mind the tears that soaked his shirt.

It lasted quite a while before the world begun to expand to more than Papyrus' arms. He could hear soft whispering from the other end of the room. His siblings were here too.
Pyru had Suny in his arms, holding on to him and shaking so badly that Sans thought he would break down at any moment. He kept mumbling soft words and Suny, looking spooked but with great resolve, did his best to comfort him.

On his other side were Parz and Saz. Saz was sobbing. It wasn't a pretty sight. He was bawling his eyes out, holding onto Parz, shaking hard and looking at so much in despair broke Sans' heart. Parz looked completely weirded out. Sans couldn't hold it against him. Three of his sibling just woke from sleep crying and freaked out and Saz looked like he was breaking down FAST and HARD.

It just was hard to do something about it when he himself was feeling on verge of another breaking down. He just hoped that Parz would keep himself together... god, why did the other even freak out like this? Why was Sans himself so freaking out?

White noise was filling his head again as the pictures flashed in front of his eyes. Dust and Snow. Water and Lava. Watching as everyone died. It seemed so real. But... it couldn't be, they were all here!

“Shhh... Sans, it’s alright. I am here, we are all here...”

Voices filled in slowly. Sans blinked and his focus shifted again to his brother, who was still hugging him.

“Papyrus?” he questioned, voice hoarse. Had he screamed that much?

“Sans!” There was so much worry on Papyrus' face. Oh god, he felt bad all over. “Sans, shhh... calm down, okay? What happened? Was... was it a nightmare? You and Saz and Pyru just started screaming and we couldn’t get you to wake up… we didn't know what to do!”

“I...” begun Sans but he didn't know how to explain. He looked at his brothers again, Pyru looking calmer but still high strung with tear-tracks on his cheeks and Saz still very much in the process of breaking down. At least Parz was still with him.

“I... I think it... was a nightmare?” he mumbled. “But... it was so real...”

“A night terror, bro?”

Sans could hear Pyru mumbling something about being sorry that he couldn't protect his family, couldn't keep them safe and Saz was muttering incomprehensibly but a few words could be understood. Sans got the impression that Saz was apologising that he couldn't avenge them, that he was to weak and he was sorry… it broke something inside of Sans to see his brothers in this amount of distress.

It also broke him because it rang all too familiar. He had to talk to them as soon as he could, but he had the suspicion that they had the same horrible dream.

“Come on, Sans... let's make a pile...”

Sans blinked. The world moved around him as he was picked up. Somehow, Parz and Saz were suddenly at his side, Pyru and Suny at the other. And Papyrus still at his back. Sans felt himself relax a bit. They were all here, his siblings were all here and alive and he could feel their magic encircling him. They were there and not dust and everything was all right and... and...

He would not let anybody touch his sibling!!

The next day was... awkward. They were still in a pile, half of them shifted. Saz was still a mess, teary-eyed and whining; Suny was alternating between hugging him and Pyru before finally settling with wrapping an arm around each of them tightly. Parz still seemed weirded out, consistantly looking over to Papyrus and Suny for help. And Pyru was still uncharacteristically high-strung. He would jump at the smallest noises, shake all over and rattle his bones at any given moment and would become paranoid as soon as Suny left his vision.

So, of course, they talked about it. Saz was hesitating at first, but finally joined in halfway through their conversation. It seemed like their dreams matched. A human fell into the underground and started killing monsters left and right. The dream ended for any of them at the point they were killed, brutally so. It all came together as one big story.

But how could that be? Something like this… was impossible... right?

“Wait!” growled Parz, frowning harshly. “You mean to tell me in this... shared dream thing, I kicked to bucket after little Marshmallow-puppy here?”

“Hey!”

“I don’t believe you! I am strong!” Parz huffs, puffing out his chest. “I wouldn't fall that easy!”

“Dude, that was a human.” said Sans, sighing. “And they killed all of us.”

“I would have killed them! You all dreamed me wrong!”

“I don't know if it was a dream...” mumbled Pyru, his shoulders trembling. “It seemed to... real. To detailed.” There was a beat of silence. “I... I really need a smoke soon.”

“Urgh, do that outside.” grumbles Papyrus.

“Okay.” Pyru sighed out softly, grinning lazily.

Parz was standing up too, looking a little to glad to escape the death grip that Saz had on him. “I'm coming too. I need a bit fresh air after all the crazy in here.”

Pyru just shrugged.

Pyru took out one of his cigarettes and lit it up, taking a deep drag. Being a skeleton had its ups. No lungs meant no danger of hurting them. And he could already feel how the herbs and magic calmed him down. He looked sideways at Parz, who seemed to be a mix between angry and confused.

“Hey? Want one?” he offered and Parz took him up for the offer. They smoked for a while in silent, both of them watching the smoke slowly rising between them.

“You know, you should talk to Saz” Pyru commented after a while. “I think he is really freaked out right now”

“Prissy little idiot could take some manning up.” Parz scoffs, squaring his shoulders as he glared at the rising smoke.

“Dude, I was freaked out! I’m still freaked out! This isn't something you just walk away from.” protests Pyru frowning. “Do you have any idea of what it feels like to watch your family go up in dust?” he begun shaking again. “I was the one who found Suny and you...”

“It shouldn't have been me, dammit!” Parz shouted. “I should have been able to kill one stupid human.”

“You didn't.”

“BUT I AM THE STRONG ONE!” Parz screamed. “WHY DO YOU AND SANS REMEMBER BUT NOT ME? WHY DOES MY BROTHER REMEMBER BUT NOT ME? I SHOULD BE ABLE TO KILL THIS FUCKER!”

Pyru was still starring at him. “Parz...”

“Shut up! Shut your stupid mouth, I don't wanna hear it! I am as strong as you and Sans, so why was I the second one to die? Why didn't I protect you?!?”

“I... I think you saw or found Suny.” said Pyru slowly. “You had his scarf...”

“It should have been me who remembered...”

“Dude, it is like it is.” Pyru sighed out as looked at Parz, his face becoming serious. “And you know that Saz is strong.”

“He got killed! He is weak! He will always be weak! He just has one HP and...”

“Did you ever consider, that he can't help his one HP?” questions Pyru. “We will never understand what you two went through, but Saz isn't weak. He’s pretty strong. He has magic like me and Sans.”

“WHY DON'T I?”

“...Parz?”

“WHY CAN'T I PROTECT HIM?”

“... dude, you... god, you have issues.”

“SHUT UP!”

“No, seriously. The two of you should talk. Like… yesterday. I'm telling you, Saz is pretty strong but he is spread out thin. He doesn't have as much control like me and Sans so he… holds back. He loves you and what happened in that dream… it really messed with him. Just do the good thing and be the brother you’re supposed to be!”

“W…what?”

“Oh for stars sake, have you ever looked at Saz? He is exhausted all the time! His magic is putting a strain on him and he is an emotional mess. He loves you and I'm pretty sure you love him to, but you know what? He needs to hear that from time to time! Just hug him and tell him you are there for him, its not fucking rocket science! God, he’s worse off than Sans and you KNOW how he gets sometimes! Just... just go to him, give him a damn hug and be there for him!”

“Do not tell me how to live my life!”

“I'm not telling you how to live your life, I'm telling you how not to fuck up somebody you care about, you numbskull!”

“But...”

“NO!”

Pyru was seething with anger and Parz had to confess, he was a bit afraid now. He had never seen his brother looking like this.

“Listen to me for once in your damn life!” Pyru hissed, dangerously close to shifting. “You are hurting Saz and not in a way that will ever heal if you don't get your shit together. I’ll tell you right now, this is dangerous. Saz could fall down from this shit! It has nothing to do with him being weak or you being weak, it has everything to do with being hurt a LOT of times and this could be the last straw! So get a bag and start collecting your shit; get it all together, pack it all up and you take your shit and go to your brother! Just… just sort your shit out. I want that you both have the best organized shit in the whole Underground by the end of the day. Understood?”

“... what?”

“Oh for god sakes! JUST STOP BEING A COWARD AND TALK TO HIM!”

Parz stared in the glowing orange eyes of Pyru, who looked completely different from his normal ‘chill’ self. He got up quickly and hurried inside. Damn, his brother could be scary when he wanted to!

He found Saz sitting in their room. Papyrus was with him, trying his hardest to cheer him up but he still looked pretty stressed. Parz swallowed heavily. Despite everything, yeah, he loved his siblings. Each of them. And Saz... Saz just understood, okay? He didn't need to say all that mushy stuff. They went through hell and back! They been through it all… together. But...

Was he somehow hurting Saz in a way that wouldn't heal? What was that suppose to mean?

Papyrus noticed him and waved him over. “Oh, Parz! Come here, we have just started to read a book together!”

He held up a book about some astro-science stuff and Parz opened his mouth to commend that he wouldn't do this nerd shit but stopped short when he saw Saz's expression. There was a small glimmer of... hope? Did he really like those sort of books? But... hadn't Saz always said that he hated science and all that stuff, that he wasn't a nerd like Sans and Suny? He always went along when Parz expressed his opinion of...

oh…

oh shit.

Oh goddamn shit! Did... did he take away the things his brother enjoyed?

You know, like the science..?

“P-2, what do you have there? Do you enjoy that? Well, we can't have that!”

Uh, shit.

“Uh... that’s nice.” he finally says and sits down beside Saz who looked so... afraid. Was he afraid he would disappear? Or was he afraid of Parz? Oh shit, since when? When did that happened? Was he really that bad?

Saz looked at him confused and a bit upset, surely asking himself why Parz was staring at him like that.

“Saz? “ Parz began, voice shaking a bit. “Tell me... am I… a bad... brother?”

Parz was glad that Papyrus opted to stay in the background.

Saz was starring at him. “What? No!” he cried out. “You... you are cool and strong and you were always there for me and you gave me my name and… and in... in the lab you were there and... and...”, he stuttered and Parz saw how shaken he really was. There were tears again and shit, shit, shit, he couldn't DEAL with this! Why had his brother become such a crybaby, but... but he had to.

“Get your shit together.”

“No, bro.” said Parz quietly. “... did... did I ever make you stop doing things you really enjoy?” Saz paused and that was all Parz needed to know. “Did I… hurt you?” Saz looked away. “Did... did I things like...”

Saz was hugging him, crying again. It was disgusting and so weak, but Parz could feel himself tearing up too. He wrapped his arms around his brother’s waist and held tightly. There was no way he’d let anybody see him like this! “Saz... I... I really care about you” he mumbled. “... you know that… right?”

“I'm sorry... I’m sorry… I'm so weak... I'm sorry... I’m sorry…” Saz cries out, beginning to repeat himself. “…sorry… sorry… I’m sorry…”

Oh shit, oh shit, had he broken his bro? Parz really was beginning to panic now. What was up with him, he was never like this, not even in the lab!

“It's... it's okay, bro. You're… not weak. You are my brother after all.” Parz said. “I don't have weak brothers. All my brothers are strong. You... you too, okay?”

He didn't get anything more out of him until Saz was asleep. Parz was still holding him, feeling completely out of his element. What should he do? Papyrus wasn't there anymore, surely having went to the others hours ago... god, this was so awkward!!

He really, REALLY hoped Uncle Fellby would be over today.
Surely, the fire elemental would have some sort of advice… He would know how to deal with this… right?

Chapter Text

Fellby was running, his core trembling with panic. His magic was screaming, “Faster, faster! You are not fast enough! You are going to be late!”

He was running because there was a human in the underground and at least four of the children were dead. “Oh Stars, they’re actually dead!”

Why of all days had he to choose this day to go to New Home for some stock for his cousin’s bar? Why today of all days wasn't he THERE.

There was a phone call, a frantic one… He heard Saz, in full out panic mode, saying there was a human killing monsters left and right and that both Suny and Parz were dead; that he didn't know if Pyru was alive or not and that he couldn’t find Papyrus anywhere. Saz mentions something about evacuation going on, saying that he should hide.
There was a crash and a small yelp. Something that sounded to much like “I love you”, then static as the call cut out…

Saz had not answered his phone since.

He called Grillby and the few words they exchanged spoke of pain, loss and grief. Swabby was with him though they didn't speak. So Fellby told them to stay out of sight and help with the evacuation, he would find the other children. He would find them and bring them to safety... he HAD to find them! If only he could be a BIT FASTER!!

God, it was the whole Waterfall Incident all over again…

Saz and Parz had been practising their magic when an earthquake caused a small cave-in. The two boys were trapped in a small room; alive but hurt.

Fellby just... ran into Waterfall ignoring how dangerous it was… how water bit and burned his flesh, how his flame dimmed with every new drop...
He helped dig them up with his bare hands and got them home. He was terrified at that time.

Saz and Parz were dead.
He would never see them again.
He would never get to tell them how sorry he was for not being there…

Shit, shit, no, this was not the time for something stupid like tears! He never wanted to fell like this. He never wanted to care this much!
He is Fellby! He is the black sheep of the family! He does not have “emotions”; he does not have “feelings”! That stuff… that stuff was for wimps like Swabby!

Suddenly, the human was standing in front of him. It was a small thing with messy hair and a stripped shirt though they held a knife in their hand. And was grinning. Fellby felt his flames rise, the tips changing from blue to violet.

“So you are the human that kills monsters, huh?” he questions in a dull hum. He would not let this human take anyone from him again. His flames were now hissing, he would assume that he himself barely looked like a normal monster by this point. He would end this human… if it were the last thing he did. “This is your end, you scumbag!”

The human just grinned. It lunged at him and he, surprised, could barely escape.
His sunglasses fell to the ground, broken. He glared at the human and attacked.

The fight was brutal. The human was FAST; they dodged most of his flames easily. Even his lava projectiles did not do much. The few that made contact with the human only managed to do very little damage. Nevertheless, Fellby was holding his own; twisting his flames and keeping away from the knife to the best of his ability.

The sand came out of nowhere. He had managed to land a solid hit on the human. They let out a horrid scream and fell to the ground. For a moment, Fellby thought that it was finally over.

However, instead of dying, the human threw a hand full of sand at his face. He screamed as his sensitive eyes, normally protected by his glasses, where doused with sand.

IT BURNED! He couldn't SEE shit!

He uselessly rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, shaking away what he could of the sand and ever so slowly, the human came into focus. They were running up to him, a widening smile on their face, knife ready to strike.

It was like these moments when you life flashes before your eyes.
Fellby knew he would not get away. With this killer intent in the human, he would die.

Well… at least he was going out in a fight.
Who knows, maybe him distracting the human for a few minutes did some good and managed to save a few monsters.
He had a decent life. Not good, mind you, but decent.

But damn, he already missed the children.
He missed Suny and Papyrus, perhaps two of the sweetest monster in existence.
He missed his two boys. Even if Grillby was more the father figure, Fellby just... felt a connection with them. Saz and Parz were HIS! And yet… he LOST them and… damn. Just... damn!

He hoped that Sans and Pyru have found their way to Grillby and Swabby. They could help each other with their grief. Hell maybe they'd even remember him… hopefully as someone who wasn’t such an ass. Yeah… this really wasn't the worst way to go.

The world seemed to move in slow motion yet there was nothing Fellby could do. The knife was aimed right for his core yet for some reason, he felt himself grinning. “Do your worst human,” he thought smugly. “I’m ready.”

Then… there was a scream. A flash of yellow. Something heavy landed in front of him.

The human was … running as yellow flames leeched onto their clothing, burning their skin.

All thoughts he had came to a screeching halt.
The only monster he knew whom had flames of that colour was… Swabby… Why the hell was Swabby here? Why wasn't he with Grillby? Why hadn’t he evacuated with the other monsters? Why was he...

… why…?

… why…?

…WHY??????

Why did he jump between him and the knife?

The wound was deep yet Swabby just grinned and collapsed against him, his flame growing weaker and weaker with each breath.

“S...swabby?” he gasped out, hating how weak his voice sounded. No… no there are not tears. He does not cry… he cannot cry… he… he… felt so miserable…

Swabby looked like hell but he was still smiling. Why was this idiot smiling? He was falling. He was dying! Why did he do that? Why…

“Hey... found you.” Swabby stated, his voice so weak, barely even a whisper yet he looked happy...

Fellby didn't understand. He was so angry; white-hot anger, pulsing through his veins. His head was throbbing, feeling like it would explode. “You...” he choked out, falling to his knees with Swabby held firmly to his chest. “YOU IDIOT!” he screamed, feeling lava-like tears sting his eyes. “What... What have you done? Why the fuck are you here?”

“Couldn't let... you get killed,” Swabby wheezed out as though the answer was obvious. “Family... family sticks together… you know?”

It hurt… it hurt so much hearing that.

“You idiot!” he hissed, the tears freely falling from his face now. “I was okay with dying! I was ready to... to turn to dust but you... what the… the actual fuck! This whole family stuff… its stupid! You know that? I... I would have never… never done that for you!”

Yet Swabby just kept smiling causing Fellby to fell worse.

“It doesn't... matter,” whispered Swabby, his flames now a pale glow. Fellby could almost see his core. “I would do... it all over. You are family. Take... please… take care of them. And I'll… take... care... the ones we lost…”

“No,” whispered Fellby. “Don't... don't do this shit you... you jerk.”

“Love you,” Swabby all but sighed as his flames went out. His soul quivered in the open air momentarily before his core turned to dust, his clothes falling to the ground in a heap.

Fellby was left alone… sitting on the ground covered in the dust of his... his... friend… his family… cousin… the person who mattered so much. SWABBY! All over him.

No. No. Nonononononononono!

“NO!” he screamed, turning the short word into an inhuman screech, a wail of pure rage and hurt and grief. There were tears. Maybe he was already past tears. It didn't matter, it hurt too much. Maybe… maybe ‘hurt’ wasn’t the right word… this feeling… was something he NEVER felt before and… and…

“COME BACK YOU IDIOT!” he screamed at the dust, at the stone ceiling above him, at anybody listening. “COME BACK YOU STUPID FUCKING SAD EXCUSE FOR A LIGHTER! YOU CANNOT BE DEAD! YOU CANNOT JUST FUCKING UP AND DIE AND LEAVE... LEAVE ME... leave me... alone… alone again…” his screams turned into sobs. “Please… come back... please don't be dead. You stupid idiot… it was supposed to be me! I was the one… who was supposed to die here not… not you… I… what am I… suppose to… you can’t be… no… please… come back.”

He didn't know how long he was sitting on the ground, how long he could not move.

Swabby was dead. He would never , ever come back. He was dead just like his boys, like the others.

This idiot and his family talk and... and they were... they were happy and he was so happy that someone had just accepted him and for once wasn't afraid of him and... and…

There will never be any more pointless, stupid arguments. Never again would there be blackmail hanging over his head via embarrassing photos and videos. Never again would he have to hear Swabby’s laugh and see his catlike grin… or those damned tickle fights… or…

No. Swabby was never coming back.

The human just killed one of his best friends. No… his best friend, fuck his only friend. Swabby was his friend; he was his family. He was dead. The human took him just how they took the boys and all these other monsters.

That fucking human. That damn fucking human. He would make them pay. He would fucking kill them. He would hunt that bastard down and BURN THEM until there was nothing not even dust left behind!!

Fellby rised to his feet. His flames were now blazing an angry violet not just at the tips but all the way through. He gathered as much of Swabby’s dust as he could; storing the remains of the younger elemental in an empty bottle.

“Sorry, Swabby,” he apologized. “I'll get you a funeral as soon as I’ve dealt with the human.”

He left a trail of molten stone wherever he stepped.

He would find the human. He would MAKE THEM PAY. And then he would kill them.

He found the human in the castle, standing in the beautiful hallway. Golden light was streaming through the halls. Outside, it was beautiful. Blooming flowers, singing birds. But here… There was a fight going on.

The human was covered in the dust of who knows how many fallen monsters and laughing manically, dodging between bones and blaster beams. Sans was standing in front of them, looking more serious than Fellby had ever seen him; his left eye was aflame with blue magic, his grin looked grim and he had his left hand outstretched, encased in a blue glow. The soul of the human turned blue and Sans smashed them around : up, down, left, left again, right, down. It was hard to keep track.

The human took damage but kept on laughing.

Then they were swinging at Sans. He dodged, barely. The small skeleton seemed exhausted.

Without even thinking, Fellby ran up besides Sans. “YOU!” he hissed, his flames shoving Sans back. He could hear the boy screaming his name and asking why he was here, but he ignored him. “YOU WON'T TAKE ANY MORE FROM ME!”

He summoned his power. The human looked at him with mild interest.

Fellby screeched in rage and threw the fi rst fireball.

No holding back!

He threw fireball after fireball.

He summoned lava and sent it in all shapes, every form he could imagine against the human. Spears and bones, round balls and sharp spikes. He created them all with his own flames.

They dodged. They lunged at him again. The knife was coming for him again.

“OH NO YOU DON'T!”

This time he was prepared. His hands gripped the wrists of the human, burning them. There was a howl of excruciating pain but Fellby ignored it.

He took the knife from the human’s now useless hand and concentrated. The metal began to melt within his grasp, filling the room with the smell of a forge.

“No More!”

Then he grabbed the human, engulfing them in his flames. The scream was blood curling; if he had any that is. It was over really quickly… perhaps too quickly.

The black, charred body of the human hit the floor; a little red heart was flowing in the air.

The soul of the human. Pure determination.

It quivered.

This damn human killed his family; killed the few people who mattered most.

He was still so angry, still wanted to m ake somebody PAY for this.

Those fucking humans!

Humans trapped them here! Humans drove Grillby half mad during the war! Humans were the reason everyone turned their backs to him so long ago! Humans caused all that pain all that suffering when all he wanted was to help… humans… a human nearly killed them all… not just his family, not just his children… but everyone! A single human killed nearly every monster…

So…

Wouldn't it be polite to repay them?

If he took the soul and made them pay?

His hand reached out.

“Fellby! NO!”

He took the soul. Everything went WHITE.

Bluish purple flames filled the room.

He felt the power. Determination! It felt AMAZING!

Then the rage. Still burning bright, giving him strength and resolve.

He looked towards the door leading to the throne room. He would have to be a bit smaller in order to fit… Oh well. He recalled his flames noting how they were all violet, shades of blue and red mingling towards the tips. He silently wished he had more yellow… he wanted the humans to know why he killed them... Though red was nice. Red reminded him of Saz and Parz. Red like the costume Papyrus loved to run around Snowdin in. Red like Pyru’s hoodie. Then the blue… the same colour as sweet Suny’s eyes.

“Fellby, Stop!” begged a voice. “Please!”

Fellby blinked. Sans was standing in front of him, holding onto his left arm. The boy looked scared… why? He killed the human. He was safe now.

“Please, please, don't go! Don't do that!”

Why shouldn't he?

The humans took everything away. They would take what little was left if he didn't do anything!

He gently pushed Sans aside and made his way to the barrier.

“NO! FELLBY, NO!”

He would understand later.

Rage let him burn brighter.

He could almost see the barrier.

“Fellby.”

A new voice and another person stood before him. It was Grillby. He looked a bit worse for wear but alive.

Good. Sans and Grillby survived. That was good to know. They had each other now.

He had humans to kill.

“Fellby, stop this!” Grillby pled, “You can't just... start a war on the humans.”

“We are already at war.”

“What about us? What... what about Sans and Swabby?”

“SWABBY IS DEAD!” he roars out.

Grillby was staring at him now. At least that shut him up.

He began walking again when he heard Grillby's voice again.

“Please, Fellby... Swabby wouldn't have wanted that.”

“Well, we can't ask him anymore, can we? Seeing that he is dead! Because of them...”

“Fellby... Please...”

“No, Grillby! These humans! They took them from us… from me! I won't rest until they paid for this!”

“Fellby, this isn't the way! You can't just...”

“Oh, this is rich!” Fellby cries out, noticing how Grillby flinches a bit. “Coming from the same monster who fought in the war… Who was burning to go and defend monster kind… Who killed more humans than anybody else in the army!”

Grillby was looking at him but said nothing. Good.

“Just stand down.”

And he walked… right through the barrier, to the surface.

He stayed for a moment, at the top of the mountain, blinking at the sun and the sky. It was beautiful. A soft pink with brushes of purple mixed in.

He looked down at the forest. There was a little village nearby.

They would burn beautifully.

The flames where high and nearly drowned out all of the screams.

Fellby did not care. He just wanted them all to burn.

He was practically a god now, a denizen dedicated to fire and rage and killing. One swipe of his hand and a house catches fire, one thought and the flames were forming into any shape he wanted...

The humans were running from him, screaming and dying. It was so satisfying!

A human in front of him tripped, falling to the ground. They turned to face him as he strolled forward. Tears pouring from their eyes… They were afraid.

Something about them... reminded him of Swabby.

Swabby was dead. Just dust remained in a small bottle in his pocket… Swabby, whom would never come back… who he lost…

It was just too much.

There were tears again. A slight sizzling sound as they fell upon the ground.

He broke.

He broke down and cried… cried and screamed.

Swabby was dead and Fellby couldn't do anything!

He could kill humans as much as he liked, but he would never get him back.

It was almost a relief when he started turning to dust.

He didn't even really know why.

Had it begun to rain? Was it the humans with their water or some sort of weapon?

… Or did his heart simply break at the realisation that he would never get back what he lost?

His last thought was…

“Damn… I’m really shit at keeping promises… sorry, Swabby.”

He hadn't taken care of what was left at all.

When Sans awoke he was already in a pile together with his siblings. He slowly registered that Papyrus, again, was hugging him and that he was holding on to Papyrus like a lifeline. There were tears, but he hoped that he managed not to scream this time.

Beside him, Saz and Pyru were not doing much better.

“Sans?” asks Papyrus. “Are... are you awake?”

“Y...yeah..” whispered Sans, taking a deep breath.

“Another nightmare?”

“Seems like it, bro... one of those we have together.”

He didn't need to say more. Papyrus understood and held him a bit closer.

“Sans!” chipped a voice beside him and Sans felt small arms hugging him.

“Hey, Suny...” said Sans, smiling a bit.

“You were out so much longer than the others,” Suny mumbled with a small pout. “I am so glad you are back!”

That was... interesting information.

“Huh?” was Sans’ very intelligent answer, question and explanation all in one.

“It's true,” said another voice. Pyru was sitting down behind Suny, hugging the overly cheerful skeleton again. “Saz and me came out of it like… maybe three hours ago?”

“Three hours?!?” exclaimed Sans, alarmed. That was new, that was really new!

Wait, something new had also happened in the dream...

“Yeah, do you have any clue how? What had happened?” questions Pyru.

Sans was still spacing out, his mind racing over the events within his nightmare.

Swabby died, Fellby breaking down, Fellby taking the soul... and… and…

“Sans? SANS! Dude? Come on, come back!”

“Brother! Hey, Sans, Shhhh... Sans?”

“SANS!”

He felt himself shaking, terror vibrating in every bone.

Oh god, oh god, he took the soul and he went crazy! Fellby left and he lived alone with Grillby for YEARS, neither of them ever recovering and so many were dead… so much dust. The Underground was falling apart and breaking. Then one day, years later, everything collapsed and he saw Grillby turn to dust in front of him and NO!

“No. No. Nonononononononononono...”

Something was whimpering. Was it himself? Or something different?

Sans felt himself shifting, curling in on himself, sharp claws digging in his skull as his mind tried to absorb the magnitude of years worth of life and hurt.

“SNAP OUT OF IT!”

Sans blinked.

In front of him was Parz, he was holding onto one of his hands and glaring at him. Saz was in his other form, holding his other arm down. Papyrus was still holding him, preventing him from curling in fetal position again. Pyru was in his other form too, holding his legs down along with Suny.

Even in the hold of his siblings and their added weight, his body was still shaking violently.

“What is up with you?” asks Parz. “Keep it together!”

“Did something happened?” Saz questions as he shifts back. “Up until... I… died, it was almost the same as always.”

Papyrus continued to make shushing noises at the back of his skull, gently petting him.

He was still shaking but also started to shift back. He was glad nobody commented on the wetness he felt streaking his face. “Y...yeah,” he said finally.

Pyru shifted back too and more weight was added to Sans' back. It felt as though Pyru simply flopped on top of Papyrus who was still holding him down. Suny's weight was practically non-existent so the younger skeleton could have been lying on him as well for all he knew. Saz was sitting up, leaning a bit against Parz who had his arms crossed and was glaring at Sans.

“What?” he asked.

“Maybe we should start from the beginning,” Sans mumbles.

“Okay... uh... the human got me in Snowdin,” Saz states, trying to remember exactly how the events happened. “I tried to warn Grillby and Swabby early, but the human got me like always… There wasn't anything strange there...”

“Suny and Parz… died like always,” added Pyru, sounding mournful. “The human was a bit faster this time around. I couldn't grab them and take them away like in other dreams.”

“Fellby must have been searching for us like always,” Sans continues. “But this time... he told me… that Swabby died...”

Pyru and Suny gasps. Both of them had a strong relationship with Swabby, seconded only by their relationship with Grillby, so hearing he died was pretty distressing.

“How?” questions Saz. “He and Grillby should be safe at that point… right?”

“I think... based on how Fellby acted... I think the human killed Swabby in front of Fellby,” Sans replies slowly. “Fellby... didn't take it well. He... He kinda totally flipped. He killed the human before it could kill me and... and… then he took the soul.”

“HE DID WHAT?” screeched Parz, eyes wide and full of shock.

“Yeah...” said Sans. “I think he... he was kinda crazy. Kept mumbling some pretty disturbing stuff...”

“Well, the soul would make him badass... but...”

“He left Underground. He... I think he wanted to kill humans...” states Sans, a faraway look in his eye. “He... didn't come back. Grillby and me… were alone for a long time.”

“How long?” asked Papyrus, sounding almost afraid to know the answer.

“Years,” whispered Sans, feeling fresh tears coming up. “Years. I thought I’d never see you guys again...” He sobbed so hard his core began to shake. “Oh god! I thought that I would never ever see you again!”

It was good that his brothers already decided that they would sleep in a pile. It was good feeling the magic of all of his siblings hum against his own. It felt good knowing that he wasn't alone.

“I really, really don't like these dreams you are having,” whispers Suny after a while.

“Me too,” Pyru sighs out. “I think we all don't like the dreams.”

If there only was a way to stop them...

When Fellby came over later in the day, he was in a reasonable good mood. He slept like shit for some reason, but the day in and of itself was actually pretty nice and everything seemed to be going his way…

Things quickly turned around when he stepped into Grillby's.

“Hey, cousin, I...” he could not say another word when six bone-dog-children-beast (?) were charging at him, pinning him to the ground rather forcibly. There were a lot of waving tails, happy and excited yips and other little dog-noises. And he was dragged over to the rug, where all of the beasts decided to make him the middle of a rather uncomfortable cuddle pile. “What the fuck?”

“Language, Fellby,” Grillby states frowning, while he was cleaning some glasses within the kitchen.

“Screw you,” he shouts back. “What is this supposed to be?” he tried to gesticulate to the children, but couldn't. His arms were utterly trapped under the mass of bones.

“Hmmm I have no idea,” answers Grillby, barely able to keep the grin off his face. “They just woke up pretty nervous, but seemed happy when I told them that you'd come around sometime today.” Grillby sits the glass down and takes off the rubber gloves protecting his hands, walking into the living room. “Sometimes they get like this. Just wait a bit.”

“You... you're just leaving me here?” there was a tiny pitch of desperation on his voice.

“Oh, come on,” Grillby sighs out, shaking his head. “They won't be like this for long. Just wait it out.”

And with these words Grillby turns away, entering the kitchen once more, unable to keep the smile from his face any longer.

With that, Fellby was left alone with the blaster beasts until they fell asleep.
Well, sleeping like this... they were somewhat cute, he supposed.

One hand found its way to Saz's head and started petting him.

Saz made a happy sound, one of his hind legs kicking at the air.

Fellby felt his soul jerk – a thing it sometimes did whenever the kids did something cute or if Swabby or Grillby did something surprising.

He shakes his head roughly, trying to rid these mushy thoughts from his mind and tries moving again.

It didn't work. Suny made a distressed noise and Fellby held still.

All of them had settled down on him comfortably. He couldn't bring himself to try and stand up again.

“Damn,” he mutters, sighing softly. “I’m in trouble here…”

He drew the line h alf an hour later and stood up.
He made it to the couch before he was cornered again… but this time, he would at least have some sort of dignity!

Unfortunately… it was already too late to prevent blackmail-photos from be made…
One of these days, he swore to himself, he would find out how Swabby pulled that off.

Chapter Text

Grillby frowned when his alarm goes off, waking him from his sleep. He reached over quickly, killed the alarm and looked at the time. The little clock shined 6 AM sharp. With a sigh, Grillby left his bed and let his flames stretch a bit, abandoning his humanoid form momentarily before returning into their proper place.

He didn't need to turn on the lights; the orange-red glow from his body was light-source enough. Besides, he wouldn't want to risk waking the other people in his home whom were more-than-likely still sleeping.

He put on his glasses and fresh clothing before leaving his room being as quiet as possible and made his way into the kitchen. He had a lot to do before the children woke.

The soft sounds of bickering coming from the living room indicated that Fellby and Swabby were at least partially awake. Well, that was good. Now he wouldn’t have to waste any time trying to wake the two fire elementals. He paid the two no mind; after all, it was usually better to leave them to do their thing… It worked out great most of the time, even if he ended up having to replace some furniture sometimes.

With a small smile on his face, Grillby got to work preparing coffee, pancakes and hot coco. He worked silently and methodically, knowing the preferences of all of his children by heart by now:

Suny liked everything that was sweet whereas Pyru liked honey on everything.
Sans would eat just about anything you set before him, but loved ketchup for some strange reason.

Papyrus had a liking for fresh fruits like sliced apples, oranges and kiwis in the mornings.
Saz would deny that he liked sweets but Grillby knew better. The boy enjoyed mini marshmallows floating in his hot coco way to much, especially so when Grillby dyed them red and yellow with cherry and orange juice.
Parz on the other hand was a bit of a conundrum… he wasn’t really fond of sweets yet he liked dry pancakes. With salt. As well as some of the fruits Grillby had the boys all try. With salt. Yes, Parz was quite the conundrum…

Normally, it was a bit too much for him to handle considering everybody's favourite foods each and every day. Most of the times, however, the kids were okay with pretty much anything they could eat. However, today was a special day.

Whatever Fellby and Swabby were bickering about seemed to come to an end or at the very least a standstill as he could hear them moving closer, coming for the kitchen and soon enough a soft yellow intermixed with harsh blue light were flickering into the room.

“Coffee!” exclaimed Swabby happily, taking a cup of it all the while grinning like a fool. “Ooooh, that is good. Perfect!” he sighed out, taking a huge swig from it. “I so needed that.”

“Why? You are usually so damn energetic that nothing can shut you up,” grumbles Fellby while taking a mug of coffee for himself.

“I've been awake since 2 AM!” Swabby argues back, his voice serious. “Not by choice, mind you. Pyru had a bad dream... We talked about some things and by the time he went to bed it was far too late to sleep.”

“That explains why everything was set up when I awoke,” Fellby grumbles back, stifling a yawn. “Shit I didn’t know where I was there for a moment…”

“Not everybody is a lazy-flame.”

Fellby sputters the coffee and glares at Swabby. “What did you just call me?”

“Would you please keep it down?” intervened Grillby pleadingly. “You’re going to waking the children.”

“Fuck you,” curses Fellby, crossing his arms and glaring at Swabby who just grins in return before turning his attention to the stack of pancakes piling up beside the stove.

“That sure are a lot of pancakes.”

“We have a lot of children.”

“Awww,” Swabby coos, giggling excitedly. “They will be so happy! I can't wait for the photos!”

“You mean blackmail,” Fellby adds, grumbling.

Swabby waves the fire elemental off. “Shush you!”

“How the hell do you do that?” questions Fellby, lighting a cigarette. “Taking pictures of… everything without anyone noticing?”

Swabby laughs and grins at him slyly. “That,” he whispers, “is a secret.”

Fellby lets out a frustrated growl. One day, he swore to himself, he would find Swabby’s stash and burn it all! Taking a deep swig from his coffee cup, he turns his attention to Grillby. “You better be making some of those for us too, Grills.”

“I will,” Grillby answers while feeding magic fire to the pan once more. Sometimes it really was handy being made of fire. “You said you have everything ready in the living room?”

“Yeah,” Swabby replies, his flames shining brighter at the thought of the joy it will bring to the children. “I just can't wait! Oh, can't we just wake them now? Please, Grillby?”

“No, let them sleep,” answers Grillby. “You said yourself that Pyru didn't sleep well last night.”

“Yeah... you're right...” mumbles Swabby, sighing deeply. He took another swig from his coffee. “I sometimes wish they would tell us more what happened to them,” he says after a few moments. “I want to understand better and help them. Though… on the other hand, the little snippets I'm getting? They are horrifying... Yet they let those slip like its nothing!”

“So… what have they told you?” asked Fellby, grinning a bit smugly. “You are so squeamish I bet one of them could have told you that they stubbed their toe and you would find it horrifying.”

“Pyru said… that they made him watch recordings of what they did to Saz and Parz,” Swabby answers, his voice a lot colder than usual and a dark look in his eyes.

There was a beat of silence, both Grillby and Fellby staring at Swabby.

“Those bastards,” Fellby curses, cracks forming in the coffee mug within his hand. “I’ll kill them!”

“He didn't tell me WHAT he saw, but I'm assuming it was bad considering YOUR reaction,” frowns Swabby.

“The brats don't tell me shit,” hissed Fellby. “But I'm not an idiot! I can read between the lines. I saw what they looked like the first few days… even I can piece two and two together.”

“They are both pretty prideful,” Grillby states, looking towards Fellby with an oddly soft expression. “Like somebody else I know. But,” he adds, clearing his throat, “I'm sure some day… they will entrust us with more information.”

“The dogs told me last week they had a new lead to where whoever did this could have put his logs and recordings, maybe even the location of... wherever they came from,” chipped Swabby, “maybe we'll get some information pretty soon.”

“Yeah... maybe,” mumbled Fellby, now staring into his coffee.

A loud yell ended their discussion.

Followed by a yelp, a crash and something that sounded like crackling magic.

“I think the children are awake,” states Swabby grinning.

“Very well,” said Grillby, putting the pan down. “Let's get them.”

Upstairs was a large room that once was a guest room but was recently upgraded and renamed as the official “Room of Bones”. It was named such because Sans had the strongest magic amongst the children and was fast enough to paint the name in blue lettering on the door before any of his siblings could protest.
There were still some yellow, red, orange and other shades of blue stains on the door and on the wall surrounding it… Some of them were hidden behind signs and posters; most of them with inspiring sentences such as “No girls allowed” or “No boys allowed” as well as “Flames are cool”, “Bones for real” and least not forget “Papyrus, Suny, Sans, Pyru, Saz and Parz allowed” below which a smaller sign read “Grillby, Fellby and Swabby are allowed, too.”

The room behind the door showed signs that there had been need for some reparations in the past; part of a wall that looked a bit newer and was half-hidden behind a big poster about space; an actual hole in the wallpaper that was hidden behind a pirate flag found in the garbage dump. The floor was made out of a soft tapestry; one that was at one time a mint green but now looked faded and like it had to be cleaned in various places multiple times… There was still this one patch that looked like something burned there, covered slightly now by a bookshelf.

They did not have multiple beds, just one large mattress big enough to fit all six little skeleton children plus a ton of soft blankets, pillows and an assortment of stuffed animals. A door led to a big walk-in closet which sometimes doubled as a hiding space after a very bad dream or a prank they all knew they would get in trouble for.

A big shelf housed all kind of books and games for them. Little tables and shelves were placed around the room, not for storage space, but for creating little hiding places for all of them with the help of old bed sheets and a handful of safety pins, each of which were filled with soft blankets and whatever they liked. Grillby knew there was also a stash of food hidden around somewhere... He made it a rule that they could only keep non-spoilable and pre-packet foods in their room and as far as he knew they were keeping their promise so he let them keep their little safety net.

There were still several toys and some books lying around the whole room despite Grillby's (as well as Papyrus' and Suny's) best efforts to keep them picked up. Sans and Pyru were both pretty messy yet somehow always knew where they put their plaything.
Saz was pretty passive in making messes though the boy could be a bit clumsy in his other form resulting in a few mishaps added to his tendency to fall asleep at all times in the most peculiar of places… He seemed to prefer to watch the others do their thing, sometimes randomly be drug into whatever Suny and Papyrus were playing.

Suny and Papyrus loved to re-enact their favourite scenes from Grillby’s and Swabby’s bedtime stories. (Fellby had been forbidden from giving bedtime stories since he could not seem to keep them appropriate for small children.)

Parz loved to rough play and would initiate a playful fight whenever he was in a mood. He often was cast as the villain in Suny's and Papyrus' plays and this was the only instance in witch he would lose to anybody willingly and with a shard of dignity.

Sans loved reading. If he wasn't keeping an eye on his siblings or playing with Papyrus and Suny, he could be found sitting in one of the many hiding places with a book. It had been the cutest thing ever when Sans announced that HE would read the bedtime story for his brothers once night randomly. It was a bit slow and some sentences were clearly made up, but he went through all of “Fluffy Bunny’s Adventures” on his own without help of Grillby or Swabby.

Pyru had more similarities to a cat than a dog. He would laze around, let his brothers use him as a playground and preferred warm places to lie down and sleep. The only two things that seemed to get him excited were music and crayons. He could spend hours just drawing or colouring something; Pyru created over half of the pictures on the fridge. He held a great passion for music, often listening to the same song on repeat for what seemed like hours on end; much to the annoyance of Fellby and Parz.

Overall , the room looked well lived in.

Five minutes earlier, they were still asleep, all of them curled up together in their bed. It was usual that they would place Saz and Parz in the middle reflecting back upon their time on the run when the both of them were seriously injured and dangerously close to falling so the others would keep them in their middle to protect them from outside forces that would try to take them from them. Suny and Papyrus were still very small compared to their siblings so they would sleep either on top of or between the others whereas Sans and Pyru would usually lie on either end of the pile being physically the oldest and largest of the six.

This day Pyru was sleeping at outermost end of the skeleton-pile, very close to the edge of the bed, his nightly trip to Swabby having cost him his previous spot.

A ray of light shining through the big window fell onto Suny ’s face. The light awoke him and he lifted his head, yawning. The blue light in his eyes had shown a bit brighter as soon as he was awake enough to register that he was in fact awake. “Guys!” he exclaims excitedly, shaking Papyrus who just happened to be the closest to him. “Wake up! Wake up! It's morning! It's morning!”

His excited ‘waking up’ of Papyrus had consequences. Papyrus yelped, startled by being awoken in such a manner and jumped back. This action shoved Saz into Parz who turned around pretty roughly which then tipped Sans, who was lying on Parz’ side. Sans' legs collided with Pyru's hips and ended up shoving Pyru out of the bed.

Pyru yelped loudly as he fell onto the ground, his bones rattling.
There was a beat of silence until Suny and Papyrus tried to climb over their sibling, wanting to see Pyru.

“Pyru! Pyru, are you okay?” asks Suny, leaning over the edge and looking down at his brother.

“Pyru?” questions Papyrus, looking over Suny’s shoulder.

Pyru was sitting on the ground, looking a bit disgruntled up to his brothers. “Yeah...” he said while rubbing his skull. “I … think so…”

Sans grabbed Suny by his shirt, preventing him from toppling over too and looked over to Pyru, grinning a bit. “Hey, Pyru. What are you doing down there?”

“Trying to not stay up,” mumbles Pyru as he lets out a large yawn.

“But brother!” protested Suny. “It's morning! We should play! You said we could play when it's morning!”

“Yeah... I did say that, huh?” said Pyru and yawned again.

“Hey, you really okay?” asked Sans. “You should maybe come back here... hey, let me...” He held out his hands towards Pyru and concentrated, furrowing his eye sockets. His left eye became bright blue and Pyru was surrounded by a blue aura before slowly being lifted in the air while Papyrus and Suny stared on with pure fascination as Pyru was placed back in the bed.

Sans grins. “Pretty cool, huh?” he questions. Then he promptly flops over.

Papyrus was at his side in a flash. “Sans?”

“I'm okay, bro… Magic is hard.” Sans chuckles and pets Papyrus’ skull.

“Okay, can you shut up?” growls Parz while trying to hide his head underneath a pillow. “You are so annoying!”

“But its morning!” chirped Suny. “We should be up!”

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation and, despite all the time they were here, Pyru shoves Suny behind him as he and Sans shifts to stand between their siblings and the line of sight from the door. The door opened and Grillby came into the room causing Sans and Pyru to instantly relax, their shoulders dropping with soft sighs.

“Good Morning, Children,” greets Grillby, smiling. “Did you sleep well?”

“Pyru fell out of the bed!” shouts Papyrus.

“I'm okay,” mumbles Pyru but Grillby was already at his side, looking him over.

“Does something hurt?”

“No...” Pyru says and tensing a bit. He really liked Grillby, but he still hated it when somebody came to close without him initializing the action.

Grillby, noticing his discomfort, backed up. “Okay. As soon as you hurt somewhere or feel bad, you tell me, okay?”

“Okay,” mumbles Pyru again.

“Good...” Grillby replies, smiling and looking over all of the children. “How about you get clothed and come down stairs for breakfast? I have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise?” asks Suny with huge eyes, his magic activating to form little stars in his pupils. “What is it?”

“It won't be a surprise if I tell you, would it?” replies Grillby chuckling. “You'll find out soon enough.”

“Ohhh! Brothers, fast! I wanna know!” exclaims Papyrus. Together with Suny he was out of the bed and off to the closet.

“Only one skeleton in the closet at a time!” Grillby reminded them.

Giggling was the only response he received.

Sans and Pyru were climbing out of the bed too and even Parz and Saz were looking curiously towards Grillby.

Grillby was smiling at them. He just loved their antics and quirks. He loved these CHILDREN so much.

After a few minutes of general confusion over which clothing belong to whom (with the children all roughly being the same height and age and have a lot of blue/red/orange clothes that get mixed up easily) everybody was ready to face the day. Even Parz and Saz looked a bit more awake, Saz even smiling a bit.

Grillby smiled as he watched both of them walking easily behind the others. Both of them were hurt the most and their recovery was a long and difficult one. Seeing them free of their pain and lively like their brothers was just wonderful, even if Saz kept his strange habit to fall asleep frequently at random times and places. Grillby pouts at the thought. He would have to look into that at some point…

He herded the children downstairs and into the living room, barely able to contain his grin.

“SURPRISE!” shouts Swabby as soon as all of the children were gathered into the room, his body burning a bright yellow and illuminating the banner that read “Happy 1^st Year with Flames” and the impressive birthday cake on the table.

Fellby was standing by his side, not nearly as excited, but burning with a friendly blue and giving a somewhat nervous smile.

All six children stopped dead in their tracks and took it all in, obviously surprised.

“Happy Birthday,” said Grillby, moving in front of them too.

“We didn't know your actual birthdays,” explains Swabby while he was coming over, a set of party hats in hand. “So we thought we’d just celebrate the day you came here. This year sure went by fast, huh?” he questions as he places the party hats on their heads.

“Yeah... Congratulations, squirts,” said Fellby, coming over too. He pauses when he notices that the little skeletons have not moved or said a word. “Hey, what's up with you?”

“Uh... Grillby?” began Suny, looking at him with big eyes. “What is a birthday?”

Three flame elementals were staring at six skeleton children, blank looks upon their faces. Each of them felt their heart breaking.

“Well... it's a celebration,” began Swabby, kneeling down so he was closer to Suny's height. “We celebrate once a year, on the same day that the person who the celebration is for, is alive and there.”

“There is a celebration for that?” asked Parz sceptically. “Really?”

“Yeah,” replies Fellby, nodding. He pets the skulls of Parz and Saz while grinning. “It's the only time where bright frosting isn’t so bad.”

“And what does one do on a birthday?” asked Sans.

“Well, we eat cake together, have a lot of fun and you get presents,” explains Grillby while moving down to Sans' height too. “As Swabby said, we don't have the real date of when you came into this world, but you came into mine exactly one year ago and that is all the reason for a celebration that I need.”

Sans was tearing up at that and Grillby soon had two Skeletons hugging him. Swabby and Fellby were the same as far as he could tell from their or rather Fellby’s startled yelp. Grillby himself hugged Sans and Papyrus tightly. They were HIS children. He would always protect them.

Things went a lot more smoothly from there.

With Fellby's and Swabby's help, all children were fed their pancakes and seated at the large table with the cake placed before them. They had put six candles on the cake due to the lack of knowledge of their real ages. Grillby guessed that they all raged from 6 to 9 years, but none of the children could give him an actual age since they never had seen outside of the lab before breaking out…

“What do we do with the candles?” asks Papyrus, looking at them curiously.

“They look a bit like you,” giggled Suny, watching the flames on the candles flicker.

“Yeah... only two of you though,” comments Saz. He still had a light lisp after he lost a tooth and had it replaced with golden tooth moulded to resemble his other teeth.

For some reason, both Parz and Saz had sharper, more fanglike teeth compared with the other children. During the tooth incident, Fellby looked at the broken tooth and noticed that they had been manually sharpened at some point. The boys never talked about what had happened or how Saz suddenly had a golden tooth, but Grillby found a spot behind his house where all snow had been melted away and the ground underneath scorched.

“Where are the blue flames?” Saz continues, glancing up to Fellby.

“Ugh” Fellby chokes and quickly looks away, his face becoming a soft purple.

Grillby chuckles, one of his hands covering his mouth when he receives a glare from his cousin. “Normal flames aren’t blue,” he explains softly. “Fellby burns hotter than myself and Swabby. If we were to put that on the cake,” at this Grillby motions to the cake sitting on the table before them, “then the candles and icing would melt and it would become uneatable.”

Saz nods lightly. “Oh.”

“Well,” Swabby cuts in, returning to Papyrus’ earlier question, “the tradition is to blow out the candles, all at the same time, and make a wish. And it's said that this wish will come true one day.”

“Does the angel grant the wishes?” asks Papyrus, looking up at Swabby. “There IS fire. And the angel is asso... asososo...uh...” he struggled with the word.

“Associated,” whispers Sans.

“Yeah, that!” Papyrus nodded and continues, “with fire, aren't they?”

Grillby exchanged a look with Fellby and Swabby. This was not the first time the children started to talk about the “angel”, more than likely meaning the one from the delta rune story. That they would be drawn to a story about a benevolent being that freed monsters was not surprising, but isolated as they were in the lab and most likely terrified on the run after, Grillby asked himself where they would have came across the story of the delta rune angel.

Well, at least they never heard the... darker interpretation of the legend. Let them have their hopeful story.

“Uh... sure,” answers Swabby after a drawn out pause. “Nobody really knows who grants the wishes, but I suppose that it could be the angel.”

“So we have to blow out the candles and get a free wish?” asked Parz, grinning. “Sweet!”

“You bet, badbones,” answers Fellby grinning. “So think hard, a birthday wish is something special.”

There was some excited giggling from the children as they thought about the wishes they could get.

Getting them all around the cake was a bit challenging, but doable. Grillby was left holding up Papyrus whereas Swabby held onto Suny so that they two boys were at even heights with their siblings.

“Okay, on the count of three,” Swabby begins, a large grin on his face. “One... two... THREE!”

All six of the children blew with all their might. All six candles went out in a puff of white smoke, earning the children a cheer from the three flame monsters.

“And now the best part,” exclaims Swabby happily, moving to cut a slice of cake for each of the boys but is interrupted before the knife can even touch the icing-

Fellby steps up to the table, between Saz and Parz chairs. “Yep for once Swabby’s right,” he adds, giving the children a wink over the edges of his sunglasses before reaching out and swiping his finger across the side of the cake, coating it in icing.

“Hey!” Swabby yelps as Fellby licks the icing off.

Grillby lets out a long sigh as all six children follow suit and swipe their fingers through the icing. “Quit corrupting the children.”

The rest of the day went along happily as well.

They took the kids out into the forest and let them have a snowball fight; participating only with the protection of special suits which had cost a good amount of gold but the magic infused into them kept them safe from water burns for up to four hours. The fight shifted from bipedal snowball fight to playful wrestling in their dog form more than once.

Saz and Parz successfully tackled Fellby earning them one of his rare, honest laughs. While Grillby and Swabby held themselves against the force of nature that was Suny and Papyrus, Sans and Pyru occasionally helping the younger boys out, but finally surrendered as they too were tackled to the ground.

Overall , it was a great day.

The small beeping sound from the suits, a warning of the spell that kept them safe beginning to fade, finally ended the fun. After all, nobody wanted one of the flame elementals turning to dust during a harmless snowball fight.

Back at home, Grillby started some hot coco while Swabby and Fellby got the children out of their warm clothes. It did not seem as if the skeletons could actually feel the cold, but they didn't want to take a risk.

“What do we do now?” asked Saz while Fellby put him into a dark red and black stripped sweater, making sure that his teeth didn't catch in the fabric.

“Well, I think Grills had some stuff planed out,” Fellby answers thoughtfully. “But I'm telling ya, the best part on the program will be the presents.”

“We get presents?” asked Parz, trying hard (and failing) at holding his excitement back.

“Yep,” chirps Swabby while getting Suny into a blue and white stripped, long sleeved shirt. “But first: warm coco.”

It was a relief to know that these children did not have problems with monster chocolate similar to that of the other canine monsters. Their reaction to their first cup of coco was just too funny!

Finally, after all of them were changed into warm clothes and had a warm drink, they all went to sit in the living room, waiting for Grillby to come back with a basket full of colourful wrapped packets. One for each of them.

Sans got a new book, which a friend of Swabby found in the trash a few days ago. It was a colourful book full of pictures of space and the stars, looking almost like an atlas for the night sky.
Papyrus got a red scarf. A beautiful thing, made from the softest material, however it was about three times as long as he were big. He loved it the instant he saw it.
Suny was gifted with a stuffed bear that made a soft noise when hugged tightly. The soft noise could be heard constantly for days afterwards making it very easy to locate Suny whenever he seemed to have disappeared.
Pyru got an empty notebook and new set of colourful crayons. With an extra green, orange and blue crayon added in since he seemed to prefer using those colours.
Saz got a few comics (not manga Grillby had insisted) about superheroes. He seemed to like it after Parz commented that some of them looked cool.
Parz himself got an action figure which spoke random phrases at the press of a button. The voice coming from the toy had startled him at first but the fact that he carried the figure with him wherever he went for the following days showed how much he adored the toy.

The rest of the day was spent eating the remainder of the cake, playing with the gifts they received and being told some funny stories from Swabby while they sat around the fireplace.

It was during this “story time ” that Grillby noticed Fellby looked more and more restless; the blue fire elemental finally standing up and exiting the room trying not to draw the attention of the children.

And Failing.

“Huh? Where is Fellby going?” questioned Parz, looking after the fire monster.

Grillby stood a soft smile on his lips. “Just continue the story, alright?” he tells the gently. The sound of Swabby’s tale fades as he follows the blue shine of Fellby’s flame to the front door.

There he was, putting on his coat, mumbling quiet curses under his breath.

“Fellby,” calls Grillby, worry in his voice as he watches him. “Are you leaving so soon?”

“Yeah,” replies Fellby, half-glaring in Grillby’s general direction. “I just need to get away from all this... lovely-dovey shit. Look, I kept my promise,” he states, pulling on his coat. “I played nice little house with you, the brats and the ninny, but I just can't take it anymore! I need to get away for a bit.”

“... It meant a lot to the children for you to be here,” Grillby states gently, trying not to add any more pressure. “I thank you for staying.”

“Well...” Fellby mumbles, clearly not knowing how to respond.

It was a reminder of the situation the night before. The children were already in bed when Grillby noticed some noise coming from the front door only to find Fellby trying to leave the house.

--

“What are you doing, Fellby?”

“Ditching this place. There is no way in I'll gonna stay here and play fucking party guest for your little circle of bullshit,” the flame monster growled out. “Fuck I'm not a family man; you got Swabby for that shit.”

“No,” Grillby commands, glaring at him. “Listen. T his means the world to them. YOU mean the world to the kids. So you stop being a coward this instant and stay put. Face the birthday of these kids that idolize you like an adult that you claim to be!”

Fellby blinked at him in shock. The promptly looked down at his boots, muttering to himself, “I hate parties.”

“You don't have to like it,” said Grillby, a bit softer. “Just be there. Just humour the kids a bit. Be civil for one day. If you want to leave after that, go ahead. But please don't ruin this for them. They’ve had enough bad things in their life without your bullshit.”

It took a long while until Fellby answered. “Fine,” he cursed and glared at Grillby. “But as soon as this shit is over I'm out of here.”

“Very well.”

---

“I... I have to thank you,” Grillby repeats, his eyes still on Fellby. “For being here today. It meant a lot for the children.”

“Well...” said Fellby, awkwardly. “I'm sure fucking glad that the show is over.”

“Will you come back?” asked Grillby, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

His cousin had been the first to show up on his doorstep after he had found the children. Due the seriousness of their injuries at the time, Grillby had texted both Swabby and whom he had meant to be his older sister however due to an inadvertent misdialled he instead phoned Fellby for help. Yet, for reasons unknown to him even now, Fellby had shown up just hours later, in the dead of night no less, asking whose head he needed to beat in… though if it had not have been for the harsher flame, Grillby hates to admit it, but they could have very well lost two of the children within the days that had followed. Therefore, he decided back then that perhaps it was best to allow Fellby to stay despite his protests of disliking children and, as his cousin would say, “Lovey-dovey” things.

“Maybe,” he states seemingly in deep thought. “I... don't know.”

“I see,” whispers Grillby before smiling softly. “You are always welcome here, you know?”

“Yeah, sure,” said Fellby without any elan, shrugging. “I'm out.” And with these words he opened the door and stepped outside, his blue flame fading slowly into the distance.

Grillby sighed and closed the door, returning to the living room. The story seemed to have been concluded and six pairs of eyes fell upon him, an unspoken question about Fellby within their depths.

Grillby felt himself smiling, speaking in a calming voice. “Fellby just needs a bit fresh air, children. He is very tired so we will not be seeing him again today.”

“Really?” questions Saz, disappointment clearly in his voice. “Aww...”

“Don't worry,” Swabby tells the small boy, petting over his skull, “he'll be back.” A small chuckle escapes him as he leans down and takes Saz into his arms. “He’s a big softy at heart after all. Come on, I'll tell you one last story before bed time, okay?”

Putting the children to bed was exceptionally easy this day. The day had been long and exciting, so much so that even Suny and Papyrus seemed all tuckered out.

“Grillby?” asked a very tired sounding Sans after a while. “Do... birthday wishes really come true?”

“Well... it is said so,” answered Grillby diplomatically, smiling softly while he tugged Sans in. “Why do you ask?”

“I really want for my wish to come true...”

“I wished for a fun day, I guess that came true,” comments Parz barely able to stifle the yawn. “It was the best.”

“Yeah,” agrees Saz, giggling. “It was fun playing with Fellby.”

“What did you wish?” asks Sans, looking over to his brother.

“I wished for Fellby to have fun with us,” Saz replies quickly, then blinks a few times as a large smiles spreads across his face. “Wow that came true, too!”

It became very hard for Grillby to not laugh at that statement.

“I wished for more birthdays! Like... everyday!” exclaimed Papyrus.

“Uh... pretty sure it doesn't work like that, bro...” Sans chuckles.

“Well, you don't know until you try!”

“ok...”

“I wished for... some peace and quiet,” yawns out Pyru, his eyes closing as he falls asleep.

“And I wished for Fellby and Swabby to get along better!” chipped in Suny, crossing his little arms. “They need to hug more. Grillby and Fellby too!”

“Yeah,” said Sans, smiling.

Grillby laughs and continues tucking the kids in.

Saz was already asleep as well, having nodded off somewhere during the conversation. Parz was following him soon after, being exhausted from the day of trying to coarse Fellby into playing in the snow with everyone. Suny and Papyrus settled down after a few gentle pets and kisses to their skulls. Only Sans was awake now, his eyes tired but he looked so very happy at the moment.

“What did you wish for?” asked Grillby, petting his skull softly as well, hoping to send him off to peaceful dreams.

“Hmm… that we could stay here... forever,” mumbled Sans in between drifting off.

Grillby wasn’t sure how long he sat there simply watching the children sleep, but he promised “Forever” soothingly.

Chapter Text

One of Sans' earliest memories was that of a voice. A gentle voice telling him a story while something warm surrounded him and his brother. He came to associate the gentle voice with the warmness, the feeling of being safe and content.

He could not remember the stories the voice told completely, however he remembered the important parts, which he later on filled in with details of his own whenever Papyrus (or much later on, his other siblings) asked for the story.

There was an angel. A gentle spirit from the surface; shrouded in light and warmness. They would come down the mountain, come down to the Underground, and would free all monsters, giving them back their hope. Give them back the sun and the stars in the night sky. The angel would be made of light, love, and compassion just like a monster’s soul. They would take away all of the darkness, all the pain and sadness. The angel would offer them love and hope.

Sometimes, much, much later, Sans would lay awake and wonder if the voice he had heard back then was actually an angel. An angel that gave Papyrus and himself warmness and light and hope. Taught them knowledge of the world outside the lab, gave them the stories that told them of freedom and how every monster deserved this freedom…

When the door opened that fateful day, Sans could swear he had heard the voice of the angel and felt its warmth. Papyrus believed that the angel had come to free them and give them a hope which neither of them could remember having.

Sans held onto this hope during their escape. Refusing to let it slip from his hands.

If not for himself then for his young brother… or rather “brothers” now.

It was stressful.

He had suddenly five brothers instead of one. Two of them were so hurt they could barely stand on their own let alone walk. And Papyrus and Suny were still so little, still needed warmth and shelter they did not have. Pyru, on the other hand, was healthy as far as Sans could tell, just incredibly scared and worried, they all were. Pyru helped him in carrying the two injured brothers and looked after the younger two while Sans went out searching for food.

They ran as fast and far as they dared.

They left the lab, making it into a city. There were so many houses and monsters, Sans had not known there could be so many monsters! They stayed within the city only for a night; stealing food and clothing whenever they could, careful not to take much, they did not want anybody finding them. As soon as night fell once more, they left the city feeling unsafe when they spotted a man in a lab coat just like... that man.

They ran through a very hot place with glowing lava all around. It was a dangerous place. They passed through as quickly as they possibly could; their white bones would be far too easy to spot against the red landscape.

Next came upon a dark, wet place. They stayed here for a few days allowing the younger ones to rest and trying to tend to the injuries of Saz and Parz. There was a lot of water in this area but hardly any food. It seemed as though not many monsters lived here and most of the ones who did were aquatic. However, Sans managed to find an old turtle who was selling apples and tea at a stand. He stole a few apples when he thought the monster wasn’t paying attention, he did this often for the few days in which they stayed, though one day the old turtle surprised him and handed him a small basket filled with food. Sans was hesitant but the old monster seemed friendly enough and did not try to follow him when he ran, leaving the food behind. It was just too much; the old turtle stared at Sans with a knowing look and... it terrified him.

What if he told the man in the lab that they were here…

They ran again.

Running aimlessly through a dark place, bumping into walls and getting several scraps along the way… until they were able to see the light again. And a lot of white! It was quiet beautiful; light shimmering off untouched ground, trees and other plants all around them.

The memories of the gentle voice told him that he was looking at snow. Frozen water.

The place was cold.

Fortunately, there was a little town. Not too many monsters but enough that there was plenty of food in metal cans out to the side of the houses. The forest nearby gave them shelter where Pyru and Sans could safely leave their brothers for a few hours if need be.

He wasn’t sure why, maybe it was because everything was white, but Sans liked this place. They were so far away from the lab that it seemed like a distant bad dream. They had shredded their gowns, ones they had been forced to wear in the lab, as soon as they got out, using the material to make makeshift bandages for the wounds of their hurt brothers as well as something to secure them along with the younger brothers on their back when they run in their quadrupedal form.

In Snowdin (Sans had heard some monster calling the town this name), Pyru found a few scraps of soft cloth and Sans gathered twigs and branches from the nearby trees, as heavy as he could manage, with which they built a nest out of. It was not the best shelter out there but it kept their bothers warm, hidden from the falling snow. Pyru and Sans took turns in hunting for food and standing guard over their brothers.

They spent a few weeks doing this.

…Until

“Sans?” asked Papyrus one evening when Sans came back with a cup of what could have been old noodles, looking up fearfully. “S… Saz won't talk to me anymore. I... I'm scared.”

That sign was bad, worse than he had feared. Saz's and Parz's breathing had become erratic. Like this, they would not be able to take in enough magic from the air to sustain their form much longer… His brothers were starting to fall down.

Suny begun crying at one point, trying in vain to wake the still monsters, get them to eat or do ANYTHING.

Pyru tried his best to consult him but he looked haunted himself, barely holding himself together.

Sans dropped the cup, turned on his heel and run into the town.

Sure, it was risky but there must be SOME way. He wanted to find a way to help them. He NEEDED to find a way. Some way, any way! They were his brothers, nearly identical to him and Papyrus. Only… they were hurt… they were dying…

Yet… there was no angel. No one showed up to help.

But… if the angel wouldn't show themselves to them, Sans wanted to give them hope and warmth. Sans really, really wished he could! However, he was not an angel. He was not made of light or warmth… He was only bones and magic.

So he was searching for something... anything. Anything was better than being useless, looking on while somebody else got hurt, being unable to help somebody while they were in distress...

It was beginning to get dark yet Snowdin was a glimmering with light. Some houses had turned on their lights. One house, Sans knew well because it had the most food he’d ever seen out in the metal bins, even had letters on one wall that where shining bright in the night.

But what caught Sans' eyes was a person standing in front of the building that night.
Sans had never seen anything like that before.

The person had a vague humanoid shape: two legs, two arms and a head. They were clothed in shoes, pants, and a very nice shirt. However, their body was blazing. Orange-red flames were flickering and forming fingers, hair… a whole body!
The light emitted from the man was enough to brighten up their surroundings, making the snow sparkle like thousands of tiny diamonds.

A person made entirely out of warmth and light!

For the first time in seemingly forever, Sans smiled. He was sure of it, he just found an angel!

--

Grillby was a pragmatic person. His schedule was pretty much set in stone day in and day out. He woke up early, prepared the bar for the breakfast rush and worked until after lunchtime. Then he would clean up the bar and reopen at dinnertime until his last guests left to go home then he would close and lock the doors before heading to his home. And do it all over again the next morning.

There was not much excitement in his life. To be honest, he liked it that way.

It was peaceful. The people of Snowdin were very friendly and his business let him live comfortably.

The only downside was that he had not much social contact outside of his regulars; a good barkeeper knows to stay silent and let the costumers do the talking. However, often he would catch himself looking at his phone and having impulses to call his family. Though the only one he had regular contact with was a sister of his, whose child sometimes came over to Snowdin for a mini vacation.

Nevertheless, he would not complain. This was a good life for him.

There was not much here that had reminded him of his LOVE.

Though something had rifted through his trash twice this week. Grillby was still a bit baffled at that. As far as he knew, there were not any large animals living around here and the dogs usually behaved themselves. As far as he knew, there weren’t any monsters in Snowdin that went hungry because he and the Innkeeper both would let monsters eat even if they had no money… They just had to ask for it.

Grillby still remembers the days of the war. Children in tears, covered with the dust of their parents, trying to hide during the day and sneak out after sunset, searching for anything that could pass off as food.

He remembers starving himself, feeling his flames burning low and his magic struggling to keep his humanoid form. He remembers eating human foods that tasted horrible but gave him just enough energy to get going. He remembers eating wood and pinecones in the hopes that it would keep his fire burning just a little longer… It didn't help much.

He remembers seeing some monsters turn to dust in front of him due to the lack of healing magic and food. He remembers the mass-produced “Dog residues” that was literal garbage, yet was the only thing keeping most monsters going…
That’s why he decided to fight. Why he became a solider.

Thus the culprit remained a mystery but the Guard dogs promised him to keep an eye open.

He was in the process of locking up the bar when he heard something behind him. There were steps in the snow, but something was odd about them. At first, it sounded like two-feet-two-feet, typical for monsters who prefer to walk on four feet, but it changed mid-way into a shuffle of only two sounds like a monster that was bipedal.

Grillby turned and saw a small child come running towards him. A skeleton child, barely as high has his hip, with a rounded skull and white pinprick eyes. The few cloths that it was wearing were barely scraps. And on its face were a track of blue tears.

“Hello?” asks Grillby, looking at the child who was staring up at him. “I don't remember seeing you around here.”

“P...Please you got to help my bros, angel,” pleads the child, the voice sounded male (?) and what they said was the most confusing thing Grillby had ever heard. During his long, long life, he was never called an “angel”.

But there was a young child in front of him and they looked so cold and... were those CRACKS in his bones? Had they just said something about brothers?

Grillby crouches down to the boys (?) eye-level. His flames illuminating the body of the child. Yes, there were many cracks, some signs of healing without proper magic. Yet the child continued to stare at him with a mix of wonder, hope and… fear.

“What kind of help do you need?” Grillby a\questions as gently as he could. “And... your brothers? Where are they?”

“They... they got hurt,” mumbles the child, fresh tears shimmering in his eyes. “Please... I... I'll do anything! Really… I'll be good. I don't even need anything. But please help my brothers!” he continued to beg. “Please!”

This child’s little speech alone was enough to break his heart.

“Calm down,” whispers Grillby, trying to soothe the boy. “I'll help you. Just show me where they are.”

The boy lit up and begun running towards the forest. Halfway through something incredible happened. The boy made a long jump and his bones begun SHIFTING, rearranging themselves and reforming, exchanging humanoid features for more beastly ones. At the end of the transformation, a small dog like bone creature was running in front of him at an impressive speed.

Grillby nearly stumbled from the surprise.
Skeleton monsters were pretty rare these days, as far as he knew, due to their difficulties in conceiving and the fact that the humans had pretty much killed all of them out of fear of their strong magic and the fact that most of the skeletons at the time were guards within the royal army. From Grillby’s unit, only one skeleton returned home with him. He had been heavily damaged and fell down shortly after the barrier went up. Their name was Gautami; they had been a tiny little creature in life yet Grillby considered them his friend. He had never felt so sick as the day when Gautami’s mate, a fragile looking cat monster, came to him with the sad news and thanked him for being such a good friend for all these years.

Even more shocking was the display of the shape shifting ability. A magical talent that was thought to have been brought to extinction by the human armies.

Yet here was a child who changed into a bone dog beast like nothing right in front of him!

His mind racing, Grillby followed the child to a small, obviously self-made, shelter.

Another skeleton child seemed to be standing guard in front of said shelter. This child seemed to be a bit taller than the first and had more of an oval shaped skull with a prominent jaw.

Through an opening in the shelter, Grillby could see at least two other skeleton children. Those two looked almost like tiny replicas of the two outside. Upon further inspection, Grillby could make out an unmoving mass lying behind the two held within the shelter.

The first child just shifted back and run up to their brother, who looked up in shock.

“Sans? Are you- “ the boy stopped mid-sentence as soon as he saw Grillby. “W...Who is that?”

“He said he would help!”

“Really?” the taller boy questions.

Now there were two pairs of hopeful eyes on him.

“Yes.”, said Grillby, because really, what else should he say?

Later, after he got the children into his home, he quickly fixed them something to eat yet the two children who had been lying down upon his arrival at the makeshift shelter refused food. They were too tired to even try to eat, their bodies far to injured… The two were on Death’s door.
Grillby fought back his panic, putting the children to bed in his guest room.

He had no idea what to do.

He had very little experience with children, even less so with ones who had seen such abuse…

Grillby stood by the stairs, staring at nothing.

He would need help. But who could he trust when he didn’t even know where these poor children originated from?

His family. Yes, family helped one another at times like these.
Grillby pulled out his phone and sent out two text to two family members that might be able to help: the first to his sister who would know how to handle young children and the next to his cousin, Swabby, who ran a high end restaurant and knew how to make food items with high quality healing properties.

There wasn’t much he knew about the children. They were literally six mystery kids that came out of nowhere; all of them hurt in some way or another. There were some implications that were made, there were signs Grillby recognised easily for a heavy past trauma that went deeper than a ‘bad fall’. They were confused over everyday things and so very tired.

What got him most was the begging of the two oldest, Pyru and Sans. Begging him to help their brothers, the two who were hurt and the two smaller ones. They begged, said they would do anything, they would sleep outside to not be a bother, they wouldn't need food or anything, they just wanted for their brothers to be safe and well.

It took a while to convince them that he did not expect any sort of repayment for his kindness and that his home and food extended to all six of them. The disbelieve on their faces nearly broke him completely.

Nevertheless, they were sleeping now; huddled together in a pile on the bed in his guest room.

Whatever had happened, it would be a long, hard way for all of them.

He closed the door, slowly walking out of his house and into the small backyard. He took a deep breath and let his flames shift in colour. Red-orange to red, to blue, to nearly white. He didn't scream or cry. He just… let go. He felt his LOVE heavy on his soul; the desire to HUNT and to HURT whoever had done this to these children!

But Sans, the first child, called him an angel…

And there was only one legend about an angel.

The Angel of the Delta rune, a symbol of hope that would set all monster free one day. But there was a dark side to the story, too. Freedom could be archived one of two ways; the barrier could shatter or they could all die, freed from the burden of existing.

In the last few years, more and more monsters seemed to believe that the second interpretation was the most likely one.

Grillby asked himself what he was supposed to be in the great scheme of things.

An avatar of destruction or the hopeful entity?

Sans' eyes had been large and hopeful. No doubt, in the boy’s mind, he had found the angel he was searching for; somebody that would help them, despite everything.

Grillby would do his best to live up to the name.

His flames called down until they reverted back into a gentle red-orange flicker within in the darkness.

He was not a “hero” or a man of war anymore.

He left that behind.

He didn't do this anymore.

He had a new identity and apparently, a new task.

Being a Guardian Angel seemed to be a good job alternative.

He swore to himself that he would protect and help these children in any way he could.

Chapter Text

It started with a cave-in. He would have never thought that something like this would change his entire life as he knew it.

Fellby was an adventurous kid and loved exploring, fantasying about being a famous explorer and discovering of the secrets of the earth. He loved caves and old mines the most, his bright flame illuminating the dark and causing the minerals and crystals within to glitter and shine in his glow.

His parents had warned him from going near the human territories ever since the battles broke out but he felt pretty safe that day, venturing deeper and deeper into a cavern he had discovered only days before.

He was getting farer into the mountain than ever before, believing to be halfway through when he heard some strange sounds and felt a vibration coursing through the stone around him. Was it an earthquake? He stumbled to the floor, holding his hands over his head until he felt the vibration stop.

When he rose to his feet, Fellby saw light coming from behind a turn in the tunnel he had not realized was there previously and, curious as he was, he risked a look.

He left out a soft gasp, quickly covering his mouth so that no noise would escape him.

Humans!

There were at least five humans, all of them armed with a pike, mining in the cave.

Fellby had never seen a human in his life! His village was hidden away in the mountains, not even most monsters knew about its location or so his parents had told him. Moreover, with the recent news of the battles spreading across the land, he knew it was dangerous, that humans were dangerous but... his curiosity got the best of him.

Maybe, if he kept himself hidden, he could at least watch them a while. They didn't seem very dangerous to him anyway.

Another tremor shook the ground. The humans looked up, worry on their faces. One of them spoke, “It’s too dangerous here. We should leave before the whole cave collapses.”

Three of them agreed, stopped work and made their way to the exit.

One last human stayed behind, looking around the area. For a slit second, he looked over where Fellby was hiding. Their eyes met. The human looked surprised, opening his mouth.

The earth shook, a great deal stronger than before, and there were stones coming from the ceiling. The human begun to scream and ran. Fellby too rushed back in panic but there was dirt and dust everywhere impairing his vision.

For a moment, there was chaos. Large chunks of rock falling to the floor, scattering thick dust into the air and rolling with the vibrations of the tremors. The dust blacked out the light and, even with his own flame, Fellby could barely make out anything before him.

Then… everything stopped. When the dust finally settled, there was a wall of stone in front of him.

A little noise, filled with pain, gained his attention.

The human had not made it out of the cave. They were lying in front of him, half-crushed by the fallen stones. A thick, dark liquid was seeping out from under them turning the floor red.

Fellby knelt down, looking the human in the eyes. The human stared back.

--

It all started with a cave-in. A very stupid cave-in, but it... changed things.

Parz and Saz wanted to train their magi c. Seeing that is was pretty strong and destructive, they opted to go into Waterfalls so that no monsters would be harmed should something go wrong.

And, of course, something went wrong.

The cave they were practic ing in came down on them after a mild earthquake.

Fellby did not even know about their adventure until one of the ghosts that lived in that area came to Snowdin looking for Grillby. However, they found him instead.

“Fellby!” the ghost exclaimed, floating over to him in a panic. “Fellby, oooh... it's terrible! Awful!”

“What do you want now?” he snaps, already annoyed with the ghost. “I'm busy. ”

“No! Fellby, it's the kids!”

“... What?”

“There was a cave-in and...”

“WHAT?”

“They are alive, we think, just...”

“Tell. Me. Where.” He had trouble keeping his voice calm.

He ran as soon as he knew the location.

Waterfall was beautiful. A dark maze made out of caves and tunnels, rivers and waterfalls. The glowing crystals illuminating everything in a fine shade of blue. They reminded Fellby of the stars at night on the surface and like shimmering minerals in the old mines he explored in his childhood.

The water hurts.

It was always raining in one of the main tunnels and most of the caverns were doused with a fine spray of water from the waterfalls. Yet Fellby paid them no mind.

There were kids (Grillby’s kids, his kids!) in danger and he had to get to them RIGHT FUCKING NOW!

There was no way that something like a little water would stop him!

He ran , water sizzling when it hit him and his flames hissing in protest.

He found the cave, a massive wall of loose stone blocking the entrance. He felt his core, his soul constricting painfully as he feared for the worse.

“Brats!” he shouted. “Kids! Parz, Saz! You had better answer me! Can you hear me?”

For a few terrifying moments, there was nothing. Complete silence.

It froze him to the core. No, no, no, please no...

Then there was a faint shuffle behind the wall and he heard a small whine.

“F...F ellby?” asked a faint voice.

Fellby knew by now what somebody in pain sounded like. In pain and afraid… maybe even in tears. Despite everything, he felt relieved.

“Fellby, h...help! Its... Parz, I think he's... he's...”

“Calm down kid! I'll get you! Just... just stay calm, alright?”

There was no reply.

Fellby looked at the massive stones in fro nt of him. A solid wall between himself and the children.

“Fuck,” he cursed. “God fucking damn it!” His flames were burning brighter, turning his hands and the tips of his head purple. The air hissed from the heat and Fellby let out a cry as he focused his magic into his hands. “GIVE ME MY KIDS BACK!” and he begun melting the stone away.

--

Fellby was staring at the human and the human was staring back, pain in his eyes. The human was strangely silent, opting to glare at him.

Fellby wondered why this human’s eyes were brown. They should have been orange for bravery.

His felt his magic stirring; his flames were beginning to change. Soft green begun spreading from his core, slowly seeping into his extremities.

The human kept watching silently. The green of Fellby’s flames was a stark contrast to the red blood on the ground.

Fellby crouched down and looked the human in the eyes, tried to smile and seem friendly. “I can help you, human,” he said, voice soothing and soft like the tiny flame of a candle. “But you have to trust me.”

The human was still looking at him for what seemed like eternity, in silence. Then they gave a light nod and Fellby sighed in relief.

He reached out and begun moving the stones away from the human, freeing him. It took a long time but he managed it. His flames stayed gentle green.

--

He was digging at the stones like a maniac and cursing as his magic flickered, but damn it he wanted his kids back! This stupid fucking world had taken so much from him; he will not let anything or anyone take anything else from him ever again!

Finally, finally, he found a hollow room behind this one stone and he quickly pulled more rocks free so that he could look into what was left of the collapsed cave. The room was not very big, in fact there was barely enough space for the two skeletons that were in there.

He could barely make out Saz laying on the ground, the boy clearly in tears, the red glow of his left eye dimmed and watered down. He was holding onto Parz, who was in his other form, all long and strong boned with terrifying might, but now still and silent.

Saz looked up when the light fell into his eyes and noticed Felly. His face betraying his anguish. “He... he shielded me,” he shuttered out, trying so hard to suppress his sobs but Fellby could hear them in his voice. “He shielded me. I... I would have been dust.”

Three of the children would never have a HP count over 10. Fellby knew that Parz knew that. He had most likely taken the damage because he had a chance of surviving it whereas his brother did not.

Fellby always told them not to be hero es…

Nevertheless, they were alive and he was glad.

“Hold still,” he mutters softly, trying to calm the boy. “I get you out.”

Saz kept looking at him, his eyes shimmering with hope.

It gave Fellby the resolve to go on.

--

He freed the human but they were badly hurt. Cuts and scrapes parts that were... squashed. They made strange noises full of pain and fear, but they kept watching him. Perhaps they were afraid they were going to die here and didn’t want to be left alone?

“You humans are very strong,” comments Fellby while he was moving one of the large boulders away, “and determined. You won’t die here, human.”

The human said nothing.

Fellby crouched by the human’s side once he had pushed what he could away. “Just... hold still please. This will... uh... I have no idea how this will feel. But it'll help, I promise!” he said, closing his eyes and concentrating.

The green aura overtaking his flames grew stronger, engulfing him before concentrating in his hands. Deep within his core, his soul begun to shine with a green light; the pure green of kindness.

Healing magic was a rare talent amongst monsters. Even rarer amongst fire elementals; fire was suppose to burn and cause destruction not heal. However, somehow, Fellby had been blessed with the ability and was actually quite good at it. He often healed the other children within the village whenever they got injuries while playing and had once even healed Pullix’s, the village’s oldest farmer, cow when it broke it’s leg climbing the mountain side looking for clover. He rather liked healing others and his parents expected him to become a great healer in time. (Maybe it was even something he could combine with his desire to explore? Fellby had many, many dreams about this possible futures.)

Though… He never healed a human before. He wasn’t even sure if a monster’s magic would work on a human’s body. But it was worth a shot. He just had to try! He wanted to help them. And maybe, with this bit of kindness, even the battles would stop... and monsters could live peacefully beside humans once more.

He concentrated more and PULLED at his magic, pouring it out onto the human, forcing it into their body and soul.

The human shuddered but didn't seem to be in pain any more.

Fellby felt encouraged by that and continued.

The cave wall was glowing with green light.

--

He finally, finally got to the chil dren.

Saz was shaking and now Fellby could see he was badly hurt too. Broken bones and a cracked skull.

Fellby ’s check ability was rusty after years of non-use but even an idiot could see that both of them had precious little HP left.

Parz had clearly taken the brute of the force; his back was a mess, his skull was missing a few edges and protrusions, his tail was smashed as were his feet.

Fellby was never so glad that monsters did not bleed. He could not panic now; he had to get them to safety. Back home. He had to get them home. But…

They would not make it as they were. He had to do something NOW.

He hesitated.

He had sworn to himself that he would never use his ability again. Never let anyone know that he had such an ability… though he had already broken that promise once with the children, more than once… However, if he were to do so again, then this time the kids would know.

He looked at them. It really did not matter anymore. This was important. THEY were important.

He closed his eyes and called for the seldom-used magic. To the colour closed off to his soul.

Green light answered him and he concentrated what little he had on the skeletons before him.

Bones melted together. HP was filling up. Not much but it was enough to last them until they got home.

He poured all he had left of his kindness in to healing the children.

He would not let them die! He would not let anything take what little happiness he had left from him!

The cavern was glowing in a green light. Fellby’s soul was fuelled with desperation.

--

Fellby healed the human as best as he could, feeling a bit light headed from using so much magic. It was strange but it seemed to have worked and he was very happy about that.

The human looked surprised, but smiled a bit. They shook his hand repeatedly and Fellby felt as though this was the start of a good friendship.

They walked out of the mountain together, talking to one another as Fellby showed them the way. The human still had a limp so Fellby loaned them his shoulder until they managed upon a branch that the human deemed the right size for a walking cane.

They spoke of many things.

The human came from a village on the other side of the mountain. They spoke of their wife whom they loved and their child who was a bit younger than Fellby himself. And in turn, Fellby told them about his village, hidden away in the mountains, and of his own family.

The human thanked him for healing them and Fellby felt his face break into a huge smile. He told the human about how he wanted to become a healer like his great grandfather was said to be.

They only stopped when they got to a clearing on the mountainside, both of them shielding their eyes from the sunlight.

The human shuffled awkwardly with his feet, looking over the treetops. “I uh…” the began, rubbing the back of their head, “should really get back home. You uh… your village far from here?”

“No,” Fellby replies innocently, smiling up at his new friend. “We’re just over that hill there. Maybe we can see each other again?”

The human chuckled. “Sure kid.”

They parted ways and Fellby went home, a skip in his step.

Maybe this was how it felt… being a hero.

--

He had them healed enough to risk moving them. Parz was still out of it and Saz was very weak, so Fellby let Saz hold on to his back while he carried Parz, being grateful for them only being made out of bone and light as hell.

As soon as he was sure that they were secure against him, he begun running.

The shortes t distance between them and Grillby’s home was through a rain-tunnel, but he did not care. He did not have enough arms to grab an umbrella and he did not want to waste time trying to hold onto one while carrying the children. He braced himself and ran right through.

Water burned his body like acid (It hurts, it hurts so much.) but he gritted his flame-teeth and kept running, concentrating on not dropping the boys, not letting them see his pain… not screaming. He could do this. He could take it.

This was not the first time water had touched him.

--

For the next two weeks, life went on normally.

Fellby helped his parents around the house, attended class at the small schoolhouse, played with the other children of the village and so on. Though he had not gone back to the mines in this time, still a little spent from using his magic yet he remained proud of himself for doing so even if he could not tell his parents about the event. He did not want them to worry after all.

The attack came during the night.

No one was prepared.

There was a smash outside which woke him with a jolt. He was confused at first, hearing shouting and people crying outside his window. When he dared look, Fellby saw that humans were running through the streets attacking who ever got in their way. Monsters being turned to dust… so he hid, afraid.

It was not long before he heard his own door creak open and he was yanked out from under his bed where he had hidden and was drug to the living room. The first thing he noticed was that his parents were bound together on the ground, both of their HP in a critical zone, looking up panicked as the men forced him into the room.

There was a large human standing in front of his parents, glaring at him and Fellby felt himself tremble under the harsh stare. “Is that it?” the man barked out and only then did Fellby notice that there was another human standing behind the man.

His eyes widened as he recognised them, feeling his soul and heart break. The human from the mountain, the one he healed just weeks before, that he thought was his friend…

The human looked towards him, not meeting his eyes, and gave a nod.

The harsher looking human in front of Fellby grinned widely. “Good. I hate to waste resources on a wild goose hunt. Get rid of the rest.”

“NO!” screamed Fellby as he watched two other humans attack his parents. “NO! NO STOP!” He couldn’t understand what was happening, why the humans were doing this to them… He continued to beg, watching in horror as his parents HP lowered bit by bit. “PLEASE STOP!”

They did not listen.

His parents turned to dust, raining down upon the ground.

Fellby felt hot tears streaming down his face.

No… this could not be happening… this had to be a nightmare! He would wake up and his parents would be there, still be alive! His mother would sing a lullaby to him… they… they couldn’t just die!

His flames burned brighter, more purple than blue, as he screamed in grief and disbelief.

“Oh, a feisty one, huh?” grinned the harsher human, taking something out of his rucksack. “Maybe we should teach it some manners.” He moved closer, reaching out to Fellby.

Water sizzled against the flames of his arm and he screamed out before he could stop himself. He had never felt such immense pain before. He screamed for anyone to help him, to make it stop…

But… nobody came.

He lost consciousness.

That was the last time he would ever seen his home.

--

He ran all the way to Snowdin. His mind and soul was screaming.

He took a lot of damage and was once more reminded that, despite everything, his LOVE was not very high.

The sensation of burning water sizzled in his mind, pulling out unwanted memories. He kept it bottled up as best as he could, screaming at himself to move, to get the children home. Now was NOT the time to fall apart!

It was snowing today but in the distance, Fellby could see two lights: One a soft yellow and the other a red-orange in colour.

He felt himself stumble over something on the ground and fell down, only having enough thought to keep the children from being crushed or otherwise hurt under his weight.

There was a scream in the distance. He didn’t have enough energy to see what had happened.

“Grills… Swabby…” he calls out for help, his voice weak and quiet even to his own ears.

The lights were coming nearer.

But…

He lost consciousness.

--

Drip

Drip

Drip

Fellby lost all sense of time.

He was kept in closed off rooms all the time, always with a source of water nearby. It terrified him, didn't let him sleep.

Drip

Drip

Drip

Most of the time, he was bound. Held with something that cut into his magic, making it so that his flames would not burn the material that kept him captive.

Sometimes, a human would come and give him something to eat. It was human food at best and bare wood at worst. The humans laughed as he choked on a piece of bark, calling him horrible names. The lack of real food and having his magic bound took its toll, leaving his body weakened.

He was still waiting, hoping to wake up from the nightmare.

On the fifth day, the humans brought other humans to him; two children and five grown men all of which had serve injuries. The men were all decked out, they looked like soldiers.

“Heal them!” ordered the human who seemed to be in charge, the same human who had issued the deaths of his parents. Fellby never found out his name, instead he named him “Red” in his head due to the fact that the man’s face would turn an ugly shade of red whenever he shouted something.

Fellby’s hands were released and he was forced into a kneeling position before the first injured human.

“HEAL THEM!” screamed Red.

Fellby shutters, trembling in fear. He felt tears willing up in his eyes, making everything go fuzzy. “I... I can't!” he sobbed. “I can't. I don't have the magic, there’s to many... I… I'm sorry...”

A spray of water burned his back, causing him to scream again.

The injured human in front of him looked worse than before, hanging their head while the others were looking angrily at him, making fists with their hands.

Red stormed over, kicking Fellby’s shoulder. “I said you fucking heal them!” he shouted into his face. “Heal them or I dust you worthless monster, just like I did with the others!”

Fellby sniffed, trying to stop his trembling as he reaches out to the injured human. Calling for Kindness, calling for his healing magic was hard. Extremely so. It felt as though he was trying to rip his very soul apart. He healed one human and moved on to the second, collapsing shortly afterwards, barely alive.

Drip

Drip

Drip

They forced him to heal again and again.

More and more soldiers came covered in wounds that were inflicted by magic.

Fellby tried his best but he was very young and his magic was not properly trained and he tired quickly… he could only do so little.

They moved him once more.

This time it was a larger room. He was in a cage, his hands and legs free. In addition, there was someone else with him, in a connected cage. It took Fellby a moment to realize it was another monster.

“What… why are you here?” he questioned the monster, half crawling towards the other cell.

The monster, dressed in a red and green stripped shirt, just a kid even younger than Fellby himself, met him at the connection. Large tears streamed from the kid’s bright emerald eyes as he reached towards Fellby.

Fellby gasped, feeling the kid’s healing magic seep into his body. And Fellby could FEEL. Understanding hit him with a brutal force.

“You…” Lava like tears fell from his eyes, hissing as they made contact with the metal bars. Fellby took hold of the kid’s hand, stopping them from healing him. “I… I’m sorry.”

With the last bit of his energy, he engulfed the monster in flames. Then began sobbing, watching as the dust covered his outstretched arm.

He did not want that kid here.

He did not want any monster to go through the same torture he had experienced.

This was an ACT of MERCY.

He was punished when the humans found the ashes. He wished they would just kill him.

He was moved again.

Drip

Drip

Drip

Heavy rain echoed through his new prison, small droplets falling through cracks in the ceiling.

He lost count of the days, the weeks… He couldn't sleep, not with the water all around him and it HURT so much, every day.

Then, one day, he overheard the humans talking outside the door.

They spoke about a terrifying flame monster, a soldier who burned through an army of men all by themselves.

Fellby felt his HOPE rise. Hope for somebody noticing that he had been taken; hope that somebody would come for him. He fantasised that somebody from his family would come, some long lost relative, and take him away, give him hugs and make everything better.

Yet…

NOBODY CAME.

--

Gr illby was the first to be by Fellby’s side, his flames calm and strong as he lifted his cousin up with no effort. Swabby ran nearly, panicking as he tended to the children. Several other monsters came running up as well, worry clearly written upon their faces and doing whatever they could to help.

Fellby remained mostly unconscious, unaware what was happening, only trapped in his own mind. Everything hurt. Everything burned like acid. He was in agony and shaking, he almost could hear the voices again, feel the beatings and water.

Then… He was being lifted, pressed against something warm, something with a magical pulse.

He slowly came to, blinking his eyes open weakly.

Red-Orange flames filled what little vision he had and Fellby realized that Grillby was carrying him, his face pressed against the other monster’s neck. Despite himself, Fellby felt himself nuzzling into the welcomed warmth.

He could almost feel the magic running just below the surface of Grillby’s body. Fellby was sure that it would be yellow in colour. Justice. It was... nice. This was okay.

He felt saf e. He felt at home.

He lost consciousness again.

--

The humans were cruel.

They bored quickly and were always in search for something they could project their aggression onto… and Fellby was there and, worse, he was a monster. A fire elemental just like the soldier who had taken down so many. That was all they needed.

They doused him with water, soaking his legs, his back and his arms interchangeably. They had taken his clothes in one session so that he had no protection against their assault, and then left him chained within the cell, completely nude.

Each time, they laughed as he was screaming in pain, when his flames would shrivel and cool down so much they almost lost their blue colour. They laughed as he pleaded and screamed, as he cried and begged them to stop, to kill him, to show him MERCY and just kill him…

One day the human he had healed in the mine came into the darkened cell. It was the same human, Fellby was sure of it, but he looked different… He smiled cruelly down at him and Fellby asked himself why he was such a fool for ever thinking that they were his friend.

Two other humans followed him into the cell shortly after, encircling Fellby. The two men grabbed at his arms, forcing him into a standing position and yanked his head back as the human he had at one time healed placed something cool against his lips.

Fellby felt himself whine involuntarily, “Please… no…”, he pleaded, terrified.

The human he almost called a friend looked him directly in the eyes as he forced the bottle into his mouth, the other two laughing as they held him still.

Translucent, cold water filled his mouth. Fellby tried to yank away from the pain but the humans held him in place, forcing every last drop down his throat.

It was the worst pain he had ever known. It was white hot, burning acid eating him from the inside out. He could feel the heat leaving his body, his vision blurring as his flames died down changing from the pure blue to red, then to orange, then a sickening yellow.

At some point, the humans must have released him. He fell to the floor, trying to scream out yet only smoke rose from his lips. He couldn't even cry. He couldn't do anything, the pain consumed everything, every part of him. Pain and coldness.

A part of him wanted to be saved; a part of him hoped that the water would reach his core and turn him to dust.

Anything was better than this pain! Death could not be so bad…

He pleaded to any god, to anyone that may or may not be listening, ‘mercy… just kill me, just end it. Please’.

Still…

NOBODY CAME.

His HOPE began to diminish as his core cooled and convulsions took over his body. He felt thick foam bubbling from his throat, heard the humans laugher, then… nothing.

--

Fellby awoke in an unfamiliar room with pain coursing through his body. It was not horrible pain, but for a split second, he thought that he was back in one of the various cells, back with the humans, helpless and naked, still waiting for somebody, anybody, to come for him.

He chilled at the thought, the memory he had long since buried.

‘No,’ he told himself. There was no way he would be back there. The humans had locked every monster in the underground… himself included. There was no human around here.

He was not lying on hard ground, rather in a soft bed. It smelled nice of wood and a hint of smoke. The room was decorated sparsely; only a few pictures hanging upon the walls, yet on the nightstand were many photos of six little skeletons and three flame elementals in various positions.

His sunglasses were lying there too.

He took them, placing them on before he noticed a strange light source, not that of his own, next to him.

It was his cousin, Grillby, fast asleep in the room’s only chair; his head rested on his crossed arms that were lying upon the bed beside Fellby’s torso. Grillby was still wearing his glasses. He must have fallen asleep in that position which meant… Grillby most likely guarded over him?

That thought filled Fellby with a strange, warm emotion and he looked down humbly.

His wounds had been bandaged and he could feel the tingling of healing items in his flames. Grillby and most likely Swabby had taken care of him…

It felt even stran ger knowing that... somebody came for him... Someone actually…

No! No one would give a shit if he were to kick the bucket! If he were to turn to dust…

But...

Something about that line of thinking made Fellby afraid and he shook his head harshly before looking towards Grillby, now deep in thought.

Not for the first time he asked himself, what would have happened if Grillby found him during the war? Who would he be today? Would he still be the same? Or would he be someone totally different?

His musings were interrupted as Swabby entered the room, his yellow flames illuminating the small space even more. Fellby would never admit it, but he kinda liked the younger monster. He could brighten the room in an instant, not just with his light. He was a sappy and annoying blackmailing idiot, but... he was just as “his” as the kids and Grillby himself.

“Oh, you're awake!” chipped Swabby as he came over, a huge smile on his face. “I'm so glad, Fellby. We thought you were in serious trouble there for a while… Why did you run through Waterfall without any protection?”

“No time,” mumbled Fellby, before one little detail rushed through his memories. “The kids!” he calls out worriedly, trying to sit up. “Swabby, where are the kids? Are they okay? What happened?”

“Don't worry. The kids are okay, they-”

A loud shuffling and a bark interrupted him, and then there were two bone beasts charging into the room at top speed. They jumped, shifting mid-air, and the next thing Fellby knew was that he had his arms full of Skeleton-children. Crying skeleton children.

“FELLBY!”

“You’re awake!”

“We thought... we thought you were...”

“I'm so happy you are okay.”

Maybe there were more words but Fellby did not hear them. He just pulled both Saz and Parz against his body, allowing himself this little moment of weakness. They were alive. They were both alive and well and their magic was strong again inside their bones.

He held them close and concentrated on his breathing. There were still tears. And strangely, he didn't care.

Grillby must have been woken from the noise. When Fellby looked up for the first time, both Grillby and Swabby were standing in the door, smiling. At that moment, it didn't matter to Fellby. He was to occupied by holding on to the children.

“Oh god, boys...” he just said, his voice still hoarse. “I thought I lost you...”

“We're okay,” mumbled Saz. “You... you saved us.”

“You came for us,” whispered Parz, his eyes big and shimmering with unshed tears. Fellby had seldom seen him like that. “Thank you, thank you...”

Saz was holding on to him pretty hard too, sobbing quietly and damn, he wasn't one for mushy stuff, but he was so GLAD that his kids were HERE and nothing took them away. They were here and okay. He was HOME with his children and they were safe, he was not too late, he had... he had saved somebody, it did not end in a fucking disaster… and the kids were OKAY.

“I love you kids,” Fellby muttered, not even aware what he said as he held the boys close to his chest.

--

He endured for a long, long time.

Weeks… months… he wasn’t sure.

He was weak, his body barely functioning but still forced to heal humans.

They had not made him drink water again. It nearly killed him the first time and they knew better than to break their plaything.

Then, on one day, as the humans laughed while hurting him and telling him about the war that was going in their favour, something inside of him clicked.

Nobody was coming for him. Either they didn't know he was still alive or they didn't care.

If he ever wanted freedom, then he would have to achieve it himself…

He was weak, barely enough magic inside him for the basic stuff, but he had resolve. He would get out. He would get out and get back to... He would find the other monsters.

He would not let them break him. He would survive.

The next time they forced him to heal a human, he snapped.

His hands were free and he let his form go for a moment, engulfing the room in bluish purple flames. He shoved his kindness away, letting Justice and Bravery and Patience and RAGE and Fear and Hurt take over. He burned hotter than ever before, using every bit of himself to fuel this inferno.

The humans screamed as they burned. They sounded a bit like Fellby himself when they tortured him. However, the human’s pain lasted only a few seconds…

When the screams finally stopped and Fellby crouched on the ground, he was the only thing alive left in, what had once been, the room.

He did not waste any time.

As soon as he had the energy, he ran as long and as far as his leg would carry him.

Only to be captured once more by the humans and locked away in a new prison… a prison in which every monster shared.

--

The other children joined Parz and Saz at some point. Fellby was now buried under the skeletons, but he did not say anything against it. It actually felt great having the kids around him.

He even had a bit time to look Parz and Saz over.

Saz had still a few bandages on his skull and legs, but seemed okay for the most part.

Parz had one leg in a cast and bandages around his head and spine. Damn, if anybody else had found them, P arz would be most likely been unable to walk for the remainder of his life… or worse, turned to dust.

This thought alone made him hold on a bit tighter to the children piled on top of him.

“Fellby?” mumbled a voice.

Fellby looked down and saw Saz blinking up at him, looking tired but aware of his surroundings. “What?” questions Fellby. Normally, he would not care whom he woke but these were the children, so he would be careful and keep his voice low.

“... You healed us,” Saz states. “I know. I saw the green magic.”

Fellby starred at him. For some reason he suddenly felt fear deep within his core.

“It's okay, it's really cool. Without that... Parz would have...” Saz stopped talking, looking away. “So... thank you.”

Fellby shook himself out of his stupor. “No problem. Just... uh... don't tell anybody I can do this, okay?”, he asked, barely managing to mask the fear he still felt deep inside his core.

“Okay!” chipped Saz. “But it's really cool.”

Fellby didn’t know what to say about that.

Maybe he should tell the others about his magic. About his abilities... Grillby and Swabby both have proven more than once that they could keep their mouth shut. And there weren't any humans in the underground, nobody to take advantage of him and his power...

(And they both came when he called out for them... He could trust them, they... they would care. They wouldn't hurt him.)

Nevertheless, old habits die hard.

Lessons learned this painful ly would take a lifetime to unlearn.

Cruelty can only be healed by kindness.

Looking around him self, seeing all the children trusting and obviously loving him so much, seeing some food made by Swabby on the night stand and realizing that Grillby had given him his bedroom as long as he was injured, knowing that these people CARED about him and would come for him...

Well, maybe it did fill him with kindness… and a HOPE he had long since thought lost to him.

Chapter Text

Family sticks together.

Swabby did not remember where or when he heard this for the first time but these three simple words were part of him, of his core and magic, for as long as he could remember. It became his mantra, his way of life, even when he was too young to actually understand what that really meant. It was integral to him, a simple understanding.

Birds fly, grass grows and family sticks together.

Sometimes it was hard.

Swabby knew that he was one of the weaker flames within the family though he did not really mind. Personally, he liked his yellow flames; he liked being able to brighten up the room by standing in it alone. Of course, having yellow flames also meant that he did not burn very hot, but why should he? He was not a fighter and had no desire to be one; he was not very interested in being a scientist, despite his interest in everything that explained the world to him. He had not had a great magical talent and his natural soul colour, yellow, made him just but he never wanted to enforce his believes upon other monsters.

He had a knack for making high quality healing food items, so he opened up a little dinner in the Capital offering food and a place for families to go, much to the irritation of the family who had expected more of him. Why should he strife for “more”? He was happy like this. It did get a bit lonely at times, but he was happy.

As long as he lived in Hotland, minding his own little family dinner, he did not have many worries. He had everything he needed and was quite safe there. There wasn't much that could harm a fire elemental who was completely surrounded by lava, even a relatively weak one like himself.

It was good. Really. Just a bit... routine. Stale at times. Not always. It was okay, really.

However, one day, he got a vague message from his cousin, Grillby, asking him to come to Snowdin. Some sort of emergency… and despite knowing that the trip alone could be very dangerous, he packed his things and went on his way.

Family sticks together, after all.

Moreover, Grillby had never asked anyone for anything for as long as Swabby could remember.

Meeting Fellby, another cousin he had not seen for... well he wasn’t sure he had ever met Fellby before, was strange. He had HEARD about him. Usually not very nice things. But Swabby was sure that Fellby couldn’t be as bad as he was made out to be by their family.

However, getting the door slammed in his face as greeting perhaps was not the best “first meeting” one could wish for… Whoever said that things had to be easy? Nobody.

Nevertheless, he stayed by the door until he was finally allowed inside. He talked with Grillby, got the whole story and was shortly introduced to the kids. He was in love with them the second he saw them.

Grillby gave up his old study, turning it into a room for him to stay in while he was over helping with the kids. Fellby, it seemed, preferred sleeping on the couch during his stay with them. Though why Grillby would even allow the harsher flame near the kids in the state they were in surprised Swabby and left him with many unanswered questions at that time.

There was so much to do the first days; two of the children were horribly hurt, the rest were weak and starved and so, so frightened. He tended to them as best as he could and played with the little ones under the watchful eyes of the two older children who seemed the most paranoid.

They all had to help out.

Fellby showed talent in getting the two injured ones, Saz and Parz from what the oldest two told them, to eat and rest without sending them into a full out panic attack.

Whereas Grillby seemed to be a safety blanket for the children… He had opened his home up to them, he was the one bathing them seeing as how it was to dangerous for Swabby to even stand near the water and Fellby flat out refused to set a foot in the bathroom, and he was the one the children ran to whenever they had a bad dream which was almost every night as far as Swabby could tell. His cousin did his best but quickly came to his wits end, slowly breaking on how hurt these children were, how much help they needed…

Swabby did his best to hold him together. Him, the children and even Fellby. Because he knew how, he knew he could help them. He played with them, he improvised clothes for them, he cooked for them whenever Grillby was at work, and was there for nightmares when his cousin needed the sleep. He had brought them some toys and an armful of books three days after he arrived and found it adorable seeing Papyrus and Suny play with a colourful ball, chasing it around the house in their canine form.

It was nice. He felt very happy in helping out. It felt nice being part of a family. Sure, he had contact with most of the flame family, but most of them had their own thing, mates and even children of their own. Sometimes, it got lonely all by himself.

It was maybe his fifth week or so at Grillby’s; the kids had settled into the home quiet nicely, Fellby was still there as well and surprisingly doing a decent job helping with the kids. Of course, he was not allowed to tell bedtime stories anymore but for all his nonchalant acting, Fellby seemed to care for the children just as much as Swabby and Grillby themselves. Swabby even captured him letting the children use him as a pillow and the children seem to get better faster whenever the harsher flame was around.

Swabby was helping Grillby setting up some new furniture in the guest room, when he decided to ask. “Grillby? Say, you were here on your own all this time?”

“Yes.” Grillby never was a flame of many words but Swabby was still determined to get him to open up a bit.

“Isn’t it lonely for you, being by yourself?”

“I'm not lonely anymore,” answered Grillby with a small smile on his face.

“I meant before.”

Grillby hesitated, looking down at the bookshelf he was assembling. He picked up something made out of metal and heavy reminding Swabby again just how strong his cousin had to be. “When I came here, I was relieved by the solitude,” explained Grillby after a long pause. “I felt uncomfortable near people who would just see... the soldier from the war in me.”

“Ah,” Swabby replies, unsure of what he should say.

He was still but a child when the war began and could not really remember much other than living in the underground. He practically grew up hearing the stories and tales about the hero Grillby who went off to war, fought the humans and returned home to tell the tale.

When he finally saw Grillby for the first time, long ago, he was not at all like what he had imagined a war hero to be. Just this red-orange flame monster that looked uncomfortable the whole time. He never told a single tale about the war… Never. It was always somebody else telling the stories. They were all great stories; full of danger and about how Grillby single-handedly took out hundreds of human soldiers. At one point of that evening, Grillby had turned yellow, nearly becoming white, before disappearing for the night. He did not come to any other family reunion ever since…

Even now, it was hard to picture Grillby on a battlefield.

“And being here helps?” asks Swabby.

“Yes,” answers Grillby, continuing assembling the bookshelf. “It is too dangerous for most flame elementals to be here but not for me. I like the town and the townsfolk. It's... peaceful.”

That sounded about right, thought Swabby. The town was very peaceful. Swabby had visited the town only once before, when most of the family migrated from what was now called the ruins to the Capital beyond Hotland. Snowdin was barely a settlement at that time however. Now it was beautiful.

“So you don't get cold here?” he asks.

“No. In fact...” Grillby stopped with his task to look out of the window. “I like the cold. I... have a very high LOVE. Should I ever loose control of myself, there is enough cold and snow out there to stop me from hurting anyone.”

That was pretty dark when Swabby thought about it.

“Hey, who is losing control here?” he questions cheeky, grinning at Grillby. “The only one losing control would be Fellby when he loses one of our friendly verbal duels!”

Grillby looked at him and Swabby could swear he saw a smile. “You really shouldn't rile him up that much.”

“Pshh!” Swabby waved away Grillby’s concerns “Fellby is a big old softy, he just doesn't know it yet. He just needs a bit time to see how good family can be. I'll get him out of his shell, just you wait.”

That earned him a small laugh and Swabby beamed. Score for him! Fellby was not the only one who could use a bit family-magic.

“You have your work cut out for you.”

“You think he's not so bad yourself,” Swabby points out. “Otherwise, you wouldn't have let him stay.” By the way Grillby hesitated at that statement, he knew he was right.

“Maybe...” Grillby mutters. “The kids seem to like him... Saz and Parz especially so.”

“See? It will all come together one day.”

“You still shouldn't make him angry... he COULD hurt you,” warns Grillby without hesitation and a look that told Swabby that Grillby was being serious.

Stars, this family needs some serious self-esteem boosting.

Just because he was not that strong did not mean he would just break!

“Yeah, but he wont,” replies Swabby and grins a bit more. “I grew up with five siblings and a ton of other monsters that were like family too. I can handle myself. I can handle even worse them him. So, even if he wanted to, he won't hurt me.”

Grillby looked at him a bit sceptically, but did not say anything.

Swabby just went back to work, grinning as the plan in his head took form.

--

Swabby grew up in a sort of sanctuary for monsters. Ironically, it was located on Mount Ebott. It was a small village where monsters ended up fleeing to during the war.

It was a sad affair, most monsters were very young or old, and many of them had lost everything. Swabby’s parents helped these people as best as they could, but often, it was not enough.

Swabby had learned very early in his life what a funeral was.

Dust was a funny thing. Okay, no, it wasn't funny; just... it was a thing. It was sprinkled over the thing in which the fallen monster loved most in their life so that they would, in a way, live on in the thing. However, dust... kind of made the thing in question look grey, faded as though a part of it had died too. At least, this was what Swabby thought about the matter.

But it wasn't all bad living there. There were many children whom had lost their parents in the war and, together with Swabby, they formed a small squad who regarded each other as sibling. Swabby learned that family was not just held together by shared magic but by something much, much greater. He did not have a word for it but whatever it was, it was sticky and held them together. Did that make sense?

Swabby was one of the smaller children with the lowest stats, but he was resourceful and found out early that his wit was his best weapon, especially because it could not be measured in numbers. It was this experience, along with the many habits he gained during his early years, that he knew exactly what to do to get Fellby to do exactly what he wanted him to.

“Fellby! Come on and help me with that!” huffs Swabby, struggling to get two chairs into the kitchen.

Grillby had ordered a lot of new furniture for the skeleton children, seeing that they would need it. Unfortunately, it was a LOT of heavy stuff. Grillby went for durability apparently. The children would be a permanent part of this household.

“Why should I?” asks Fellby, still sitting lazily on the couch which he had declared as his preferred place of resting.

“Because Grillby asked you to.”

“Pff, as if Grills could tell ME what to do.”

Swabby sighs. He didn't want to use his ammunition this early, but Fellby didn't leave him much choice. “Okay, how about this: You help me and I won't show anybody the interesting pictures I took,” he replies, crossing his arms and looking Fellby in the eyes.

As he expected, that got Fellby’s attention. He looks up to Swabby with a mixture of disbelief and curiosity. “Pictures?”

“Oh nothing special… just you playing with a bunch of bone-dogs... or perhaps the one where the children placed little bow-ties in your head flames. Or the one where Grillby made you wear that cute little apron in the kitchen, then of course I still have-“ begun Swabby, counting each item off on his fingers, a small smirk upon his lips.

“WHERE DID YOU GET PICTURES OF THAT?” sputters Fellby, shocked. “Wait... are you BLACKMAILING me?”

“You got it,” answers Swabby, giving his best evil grin. “I have all the blackmail material. But… if you help, I may be convinced to hand over these items… once you’re finished that is.”

Fellby kept staring at him for full five minutes and Swabby grinned the whole time. This situation alone was blackmail material!

After a long pause without any movement from Fellby, except the gentle flicker of his flames, Swabby reaches into the pocket of his vest, pulls out a photograph, and shows it to Fellby.

It was a very nice shot of Fellby, his blue flames glowing brightly with a nice purple blush on his cheeks, sitting on the floor of the children’s room with four skeleton puppies sleeping in his lap while another was draped over his shoulders and the last, little Suny, was sitting on his head. The photographer even managed to capture the little smile Fellby let himself have at that moment.

Fellby blinks and lunges for the photo. “GIVE ME THAT!” he shouts.

Swabby just laughs, dancing out of the way, his flames flickering joyful. “Nope. You have to earn it!” he states, grinning and waving his index finger in front of Fellby’s nose.

“What prevents me from simply taking it?” hisses Fellby, his flames betraying how flustered he is over the whole thing.

“It's easier doing the job than catching me?” guesses Swabby, still grinning and putting the photo away. “That and I have a LOT more where that one came from.” Swabby could tell that Fellby was glaring at him, even through the sunglasses Fellby insisted on wearing indoors.

“What do you mean ‘it's easier than catching’ you? I can get my hands on a scrawny little lighter like you any time.”

Swabby laughs. Fellby had so no idea what he was saying. “Nope. Trust me, you won't catch me,” he replies, winking at him. “You can try, but you won't get me.”

There was a beat of silence between them.

Fellby makes another grab for him, this time even faster.

Nevertheless, just like last time, Swabby laughs and dodges, seemingly dancing out of the way, his movements smooth and graceful. He takes a few steps backwards, Fellby following him. He can’t help but to laugh harder when Fellby becomes frustrated, trying to grab him again and again; always failing, always missing.

“STAY STILL YOU BRAT!” Fellby screams out, frustrated.

“Never!” he giggles, having the time of his life. It was true that he wasn’t a fighter, but he had learned to hold himself in sticky situations.

So what if his flame wasn't the hottest? So what if his stats weren't the best? So what if he was small, wimpy, and weak when compared to other monsters? He could still make it! They could not hurt him when they never catch him!

The world was bright and colourful like this, nothing was greyed out, nothing was sad!

However, everything good has to come to an end at some point…

Swabby made the mistake of ignoring where he was going. He dodged and danced backward until hard wood was pressing against his back. Fellby had finally cornered him, pressing him up to a wall, both of them a bit out of breath.

“SO!” he huffs out, glaring at Swabby. “What do you say now?”

Fellby looked angry but Swabby continues to smile playfully. He had lost the fight, yeah, but he had not lost the argument. That and he really enjoyed getting Fellby to react so emotionally to things.

“That if you think I have the only copy of the photo on me, you give me not enough credit,” chirps Swabby. “I've done this for years now. I have ALL sorts of experience in blackmailing people.” It was fun watching the words sink in.

Fellby finally let him go, huffing. “Fine,” he growls out. “You annoying blackmailer.”

“That's right,” Swabby continues, still grinning. “I'll even help! Really, I will only blackmail you if it's for your own good. Come on, with the two of us, this will be done fast.”

Fellby grumbled the whole time but they managed to get everything inside the house and set up long before Grillby returned.

A few new photos of Fellby carrying kitchen chairs and looking particular goofy in one pose, clearly not knowing how to handle the thing, joined Swabby’s massive stack of blackmail material.

--

Blackmailing people was always the best strategy if you are a lot smaller and physically weaker than those around you are. It was even better with people full of false pride like Fellby.

The best part of his strategy, however, was that it was still fun when Fellby began to adjust.

“HA! Do you really think you can blackmail me with that?” scoffs Fellby, pointing at the photo Swabby was holding out. “I have no shame in that. In fact, let’s frame it and hang it on the wall. It deserves a fucking place there.”

The photo in question was a wonderful shot of Fellby sleeping on the couch with Saz in his canine form curled up on his stomach and both Suny and Pyru standing behind the couch’s arm grinning and in the process of putting a colourful hat with the words “Uncle Fellby” stitched onto it on his head. An adorable picture that Swabby had been proud of taking at the time.

“Oh, I see,” pouts Swabby, trying his best to keep the smile off his face. “I guess that means that I have to reorganize my blackmail material.”

“Looks like it,” Fellby states grinning like a mad man.

As much as it was annoying to lose a good stock of his material, the fact that it couldn't be used anymore was much more precious. He still had a lot of stuff in backup, so he would be okay.

“Okay then, what about this photo from the last time you tried to drink Grillby under the table?” he questions, grinning.

Fellby flushed deep purple. “YOU HAVE PHOTOS OF THAT?”

--

Life was pretty good for Swabby, all things considered.

He slowly got Fellby out of his shell.

He was there whenever Grillby needed extra help comforting the children after nightmare and fixing meals.

He got to know his cousins fairly well over the years, not too surprising in and of itself. However, he was always surprised at how quickly he grew attached to the children considering that they regarded Grillby as the father figure with him and Fellby as the “uncles”.

He was there when Pyru had a nervous breakdown lasting for over three hours; hyperventilating, shaking, and trembling so much he was afraid the young skeleton’s bones would break.

He was there when Saz broke his arm and Parz fainted because nobody knew if Saz would loose his last HP or not.

He was there when Suny was told that he could not join the Royal Guards with just 10 HP no matter how much control he had over his magic and how good he was in solving conflicts via friendship.

He was there when Sans came down with a nasty infection of his bones that left him bedridden and emitting a strange magic slime, reducing his HP to 1 for several weeks.

He was there when Papyrus hurt himself badly while trying to help some monsters during a bad blizzard and had to stay in his dog-beast form for a few days so that his bones could heal properly.

He could not heal them or absorb damage. He was not physically strong and didn’t exactly know how the world worked. Nevertheless, he was always there when somebody needed him, offering hugs and gentle words. He was there when any of them needed somebody to cry on, even if they didn't really want to.

Family sticks together.

It was a sticky mess that drew people in and held them close. Not that Swabby would ever complain.

Out of all the children, however, he had a special bond with Pyru and Suny.

--

Suny was a delightful little ball of sunshine. The boy smiled and laughed with all his heart and had an air of innocence to him. He was always the first one to notice when somebody needed a hug and gives this hug to everybody.

It came with a great surprise when Swabby was the one receiving one.

It was during their second year staying with Grillby, during a period of the year where it is much colder than usual in Snowdin. There wasn't really weather in the underground per say, but Sowdin would suffer periodically from blizzards and cold temperatures during this time.

This made it impossible for Swabby to leave the house. He would die out there. Of course, this did not mean he was stuck inside alone… Fellby would not leave the house either, though he could if he really needed to. Grillby was the only one who would leave the house daily, going to work and doing the shopping in his place.

While Fellby stayed as far away from any windows as possible, Swabby found himself sitting at the window overlooking the main street of Snowdin, looking outside at the storm feeling... not so hot, pun intended.

He had intended to go back home, back to Hotland, for a few days to look after his diner and make sure that everything was in order. As much as he loved staying here with the kids, being constricted this much in the house and being reminded every day of his endangerment by simply BEING in Snowdin, wasn't very fun. It made him feel a bit melancholic…

He missed Hotland, in a way. It was familiar and safe there. The sudden cancel of his trip made his melancholic mood worse.

In short, he felt useless. He was a decent cook but that was nearly all he could do now. He couldn't go outside to take some stuff out of Grillby’s hand when he came back home loaded up, he couldn't even help out at his bar seeing as how he would turn to dust before he even reached it.

The children enjoyed his plays and tricks, but they often preferred to play amongst themselves and frankly, it was a good thing. They needed the bonding.

And Fellby was... difficult…
Just after the blizzard set in, Fellby had a sort of mental breakdown disclosing some pretty gruesome details of his childhood which had broken Swabby’s heart and, he knew, caused Grillby to blame himself. Ever since then, Fellby made himself pretty rare. It was understandable, overall. Swabby was sure that only the bad conditions and Fellby fragile state concerning water held him in the house. Moreover, the harsher flame acted just as cold as the snow outside now.

Nevertheless, there was simply nothing he could do other than to wait it out. He could just sit there and watch as the world was slowly sinking into grey.

He was rather suddenly yanked out of his thoughts when he felt two small arms wrap around him.

Swabby blinks, looking down to see little Suny, wearing a blue and white stripped onesy with a little blue hood, looking up to him with his big, glowing eyes and an serious expression on his face.

“Uncle Swabby! Stop being sad!”

It was so unexpected that Swabby didn't know what to say to that. Instead, he chuckles a bit helplessly and returns the hug, cuddling the little skeleton to himself. “I'll try...” he mumbles.

“Good,” chirps Suny while digging his little fingers into the fabric of Swabbys shirt. “Because it won’t do if not everybody is happy!”

“Not everybody is happy all the time,” mumbles Swabby.

“But I want them to be! As much as possible,” Suny states. “They were all sad for so long. And when everybody can be sad, so can everybody be happy.”

“I'm happy most of the time, Suny.”

“But you’re not now. And you are very happy most of the time so that means you are extra sad just to be normal sad. And Pyru said my hugs make all sad go away, so, there you go,” states Suny seriously.

There were tears in Swabby’s eyes but he didn't care. He just hugged this little precious child closer.

“Uncle... Uncle Swabby? Why are you crying? Did I make you sad?”

“No... No, Suny,” sniffles Swabby. “Not at all, you just made me very happy.”

“oh...” Suny didn't let go for a long time. But it was alright.

--

His brother Pyru was... a different matter. He was a very nervous and paranoid child when Swabby had first met him, constantly looking out for Suny and his other siblings. He became especially skittish and paranoid whenever Parz and Saz were concerned. At first, Swabby thought it was just because the two were so hurt that they had started falling down, but Sans, as paranoid, tired, starved and down right exhausted he was, did not act like him at all…

Pyru’s behaviour mellowed out over the first year, reviling his natural relaxed personality. He still had panic attacks and bad nights that left him shaken, nervous and rather clingy to his brothers.

The night before the first “birthday” was... a revelation. It was not the first time Pyru came to him in the night, seeking comfort, but it was the first time he actually told him something.

“They made me watch,” he started, barely audible from the tears. “They... they hurt Saz and Parz and it was horrible and they made me watch. Please I don't wanna, I don't wanna...”

Even after years, Swabby would still remember clearly how Pyru cried into his chest that night, shaking and rattling.

It was a hard night for both of them.

After Pyru finally parted for bed again, preferring to sleep with his siblings, Swabby had to much pent-up… something! He wasn’t sure what to call it exactly.

He was not a fighter; he was not a healer. He could not take the pain away; he could not inflict pain on those who had hurt these precious, wonderful children.

Instead, he did the only thing he could think of at the time: decorating the living room for the upcoming celebration while trying his best not to wake Fellby whom, like always, was sleeping on the couch.

A few weeks later, he witnessed the breakdown of Fellby and to an extent Grillby.

They all gained some knowledge about what had happened to the children.

He learned from the other two that there were tapes… Thousands of tapes! All of them were recordings of experiments, no the torture, done to the children. Swabby never saw the tapes himself, but he saw the aftermath of what they did to his cousins and he knew that whatever could reduce Fellby to a sobbing mess would surely kill him.

It was a week or so after that, that Swabby was awoken in the middle of the night again by his door creaking open and a small body running across the room. Pyru looking up to him, eyes big and dark. Swabby just lifted his blanket for him to slide under.

He felt the trembling child pressing himself onto his side, as if Pyru was trying to disappear within his flames. Swabby knew better than to ask too many questions to soon, instead opting on hugging him, holding him close and petting his skull.

“I had a nightmare...” whispers Pyru after a while, his voice barely a ghost of a noise.

Swabby hums, still softly petting Pyru, letting his warmth dance over fragile bones. “Do you want to tell me about it?” he questions after a short silence.

He felt Pyru taking a deep breath, his bones and magic around him tensing before relaxing once more.

“It was... it was what they did,” Pyru mumbles. “I... I was back there. They... they showed me what they did to... to Saz and Parz.” He was in tears again. “I saw... I saw him hurting Saz. He was screaming. He broke his skull. He broke it and put something in and he did something with his soul and everything was glowing red and Saz SCREAMED. His... his eyes were blue once, like Suny. It... it was like watching them doing that to Suny and they said... they said they would do that to me and if I'm not good, they would do that to Suny. And... and he hurt my soul too and took a piece and put something back in and it hurt so much and... and... and...”

Swabby had stopped listening halfway through. He just pulls Pyru to his chest, feeling his own tears building up while Pyru's voice became garbled nonsense. He let the child sob and scream, holding onto him and petting his skull all the while wishing like never before, he could go back and change time, change faith. But he couldn't. This was all he was capable of doing…

It was all worth the next day, when he woke up to a sleeping Pyru, cuddled against his side, the little one looking relaxed and peaceful in sleep.

Pyru showed him his soul one day.

It looked normal, a small inverted, white heart. However, with the knowledge Swabby had of what had happened to Pyru, he could see the damage, could see where somebody had taken a piece and put something else in.

They never found out why this was done or what it did exactly to Pyru.

Time and love healed most of the wounds and Swabby, and his cousins, provided him with as much as he could.

After all, family sticks together.

Yeah, it did make Swabby a bit proud that Pyru and Suny would come to him for comfort.

There were many nights where he had to hold one or both of them, keeping the darkness at bay with his flames and the bad memories with his stories. It seemed to work at least.

They were happy.

They were his little family, all of them.

It was a gradual thing, but it happened.

The final realisation, that this was something that was going to stay however, came much, much later.

--

It was a few years down the line.

The children grew up nicely.

Pyru and Papyrus were already towering over Swabby and Fellby. Grillby still had an inch or so on the two. Parz had just started his own grow spurt, whereas Sans, Saz, and Suny remained quite tiny. They theorized about them having so few HP caused their little stance, but really, it was no issue.

Swabby pretty much lived permanently in Snowdin now, making the trip to Hotland once a month to look after the family diner he owned.

On this particular day however, he wasn't feeling very hot, no pun intended.

It was just a bug that seemed to spread amongst the residents of Snowdin. The children, or rather teenagers now, seemed to be immune and both Grillby and Fellby were lucky to not have caught it, but Swabby felt himself becoming pretty weak, his flame burning colder and smaller than usual, his magic feeling sluggish and sticky.

He was sick, simple as that and probably should have stayed in bed.

However, he had planned the trip already and had to go through with it. That being said, he searched for his warmest clothes, making sure that his body was as good as possible protected from elements.

… and was intercepted by Fellby, who looked pretty pissed for some reason.

“Where the fuck are you going?” he questions, blocking Swabby’s path to the front door.

“Hotland. Like every month,” replies Swabby, mumbling through his scarf.

“In your condition?”

“Are you worried about me?”

“What? No! Don't be an idiot!” Fellby practically shouts back. “I just... happen to have to go to Hotland too. And I don't want to have to wait forever on the Riverperson. So... come on, let's go, we’ll take the boat together!”

With that, Swabby was shoved out of the house and onto the boat before he could fully comprehend what was happening.

Fellby sat down with a huff beside him. He argued with the Riverperson (well, more like AT them seeing that they always replied with “Tra la la”) and complained about the water the entire trip, but that didn't distract Swabby from noticing that Fellby seemed to hover around him the entire time, making sure that Swabby sat in the exact middle of the boat.

When they finally arrived, Fellby proclaims loudly, “Damn it, do you have to go so SLOW?” before picking him up and carrying him to the land, setting him down a good distance away from the water.

Needless to say, Swabby was confused.

And the confusion just kept on going…

Fellby followed him the entire track to Muffet's bakery, insisting he had some business in the same area. He seemed a bit more relaxed in the warm climate but still, something was... off.

Once they reached Muffet's little bakery and café, a nice place Swabby really liked even with the spiders, Fellby just sat down in one of the corner booths, leaving Swabby to tend to his own business.

“SWABBY!” shouts Muffet excitedly, grinning her unnerving grin, and waving at him with three hands. “My, my, it's been to long!”

He could not do anything against the hug except wince. Muffet was stronger than she looked.

“And? Do you have some new... material?”

“Muffet!” Swabby cries out, glaring at her. “He is right here,” he hisses, feeling his cheeks heat up. “And I really don't want to think about the moral issues about... that.”

“Oh come on,” pouts Muffet. “Throw a girl a bone here. Well, not a bone, just a few photos. I know I can't have him, so at least give me something hot to look at.”

“Could you PLEASE stop talking like that about my cousin?”

“Pshhh,” Muffet waves him off. “You, Swabs, are a boring borer. A bore-borer. And I don't know if I could do favours for lame borers.”

Swabby sighs deeply. He really, really should have said no when he had the chance. “Alright, alright! I have something for you,” he mumbles, taking a picture out of his coat pocket. A simple shot of Fellby wearing his coat and sitting on a bench in Snowdin, looking at something beyond the frame.

“Uuuuh,” moans Muffet, looking over the picture. “Scenery picture.”

Swabby lets out a heavy sigh.

He wasn’t sure how it happened, but apparently Muffet and Fellby had known each other for a while. Apparently, his cousin came to eat here from time to time and somehow Muffet had developed quite the crush on him. It was mostly harmless and, from what Swabby gathered, she respected that Fellby didn't really do the whole dating-thing, but as soon as she found out that her long-time business partner was related to and currently living with said object of affection AND some kind of genius with a camera nobody ever saw...

Swabby really, really hoped that nobody would ever question him about it. He could say that he needed the money… and he had standards! All pictures he took were classic, just to please the eye. There was nothing lewd about them!

And he was so dead if Fellby ever found out.

“The usual price?” asks Muffet grinning, lazily waving one of her hands in, what Swabby could only assume, Fellby’s direction.

“The usual,” agrees Swabby before sighing deeply. “PLEASE be discrete about this.”

“Oh, I am always!” giggles Muffet, storing away the photograph before pulling out a little black notebook. “Here is everything about the diner. There wasn't much of a problem this month. The new cook does his thing well and the profits are peaking.”

Swabby took the notebook, flipping through it. His sickness made it a bit difficult to read though Muffet did not seem to mind that he took a bit more time than usual, opting for observing Fellby while she waited.

It was about half an hour later, Swabby was nearly finished with everything that Muffet had written for him, when Fellby came over, irritation written clearly on his face.

“Do you HAVE to take this much time?” he grumbles, crossing his arms across his chest. “I don't have the whole day, you know.”

“I'm almost done,” answers Swabby before a yawn forced itself out of him. “Just... one more page, I really have to look that over.”

“Why are we even here reading in Spider Lady’s little black book?”

Muffet makes a giggling sound, holding one hand in front of her mouth in mock scandalization. “Oh my, Fellby!” she giggles. “Do you really think I would let somebody read THAT in public?”

Swabby really did NOT want to know.

Fellby, on the other hand, just seemed to be more frustrated. “Can it, cupcake,” he groans. “Really, I don't have that much time. Why are we even here?”

“Don't you know?” questions Muffet a bit surprised. “I'm looking after little Swabs business while he is with you in Snowdin. In exchange for… a cut from the profit.”

“It's a good deal,” adds Swabby, choosing to not tell his cousin that most of her cuts were exchanges for some pretty pictures of a blue flame monster looking nice in the snow. “And... I think I'm finished,” he says, closing the book and handing it back to Muffet. “Thank you... I just...” A new yawn escaped him and he felt his flames shutter for a moment.

He really didn’t feel that great all of the sudden…. He felt really tried.

He blinked when blue filled his vision.

It took half a minute until he realized that he heard everything as though through cotton.

“-bby? Swabby? Hey, are you still with us?” questions Fellby, shaking him a bit. Fellby sounded worried. It was… different.

Swabby himself just felt tired. Tired and cold and Fellby was standing before him, the heat coming off of him felt so warm. Swabby just let himself fall forward.

“SWABBY!”

Arms circled around him, holding him upright, pulling him against something warm.

Yeah, that was nice. He could sleep like this…

Everything after that was fuzzy.

He woke a few times, or at least he thought so.

He saw parts of Hotland, a dark cave, heard the Riverperson singing and he could swear he saw snow… though strangely, he never felt cold.

When he woke up later, he found himself lying in his bed, unable to move. Curious, he lifts his head and smiles.

All of the children were lying around him.

Pyru in his canine form was curled up against his left side; Suny was lying across his chest still in humanoid form. Papyrus in his canine from was draped across his stomach, his long legs hanging off of the bed; Sans laid, curled up, by his left shoulder also in his canine form. Parz and Saz, both in their humanoid forms, were on his legs, pinning them down.

They were sleeping. It was... adorable. Moreover, warm.

Speaking of warm, something or rather somebody else was there with him in the room…

Turning his head, Swabby could make out Fellby sitting in one of the chairs, arms crossed and head turned downwards as he slept.

He really, really wished he knew how he got here. Everything was confusing.

He was in Hotland last time he checked, in Muffet’s bakery… He remember feeling not so well, first cold, then warm. Hmm. Now it was warm too. It felt really, really nice. Swabby could not resist falling asleep again.

The next time he awoke, he heard voices.

“... should have never let him go there...”

“He is an adult.”

“He is an idiot! Just... just look at him! A fucking candle has better odds of survival in a snowstorm than him!”

“I never knew you worried so much.”

“WORRY? Who’s worried? I'm not worried, I'm just a realist!”

There was the sound of amused chuckling followed by a very frustrated sounding noise.

There was more, but Swabby had difficulties of understanding as darkness took over.

The next time he awoke, he felt that there was no weight on him, but something else was happening. Then there was blue in front of him. Blue mixed with a soft green, he felt warm and amazing.

Healing magic.

His eyes shot open when his mind connection the two colours.

“Fellby?” he questions, his voice coming out small and weak, so much so that he had to question himself as to why he sounded so… weak.

Fellby flinches violently, the magic cutting out suddenly. He stares at him, unmasked, a sight that was rare to see. There was still a hint of green within his flames…

A shutter ran through Swabby’s body, turning his flames orange momentarily, interrupting his thoughts.

“Swabby!” Fellby cries out, grapping hold of his shoulders and pressing him back into the bed.

Swabby hadn’t even noticed that he had tried to set up…

“Stay down!”

Swabby takes a deep, shaky breath. His vision sharpening a bit. He still felt… weird. “Did you... just try to heal me?” he asks after a moment. His mind still felt sluggish. “You know that healing magic... doesn't do much for sicknesses… right?”

“Shut up,” growls Fellby, face turning slightly violet. “I know that! I just...” He stops, looking away.

“Wait…” Swabby mumbles, deep in thought.

He had never heard Grillby mention anything about Fellby having healing magic… Wasn’t that a rare talent amongst monsters? Weren’t all the healers known to the Capital? As far as he could remember, none of those healers had been flame elementals…

“You…” he still felt weak. “You have healing magic?”

“WHAT OF IT?” came the return question.

“Why… how…” he wasn’t sure exactly what he meant to ask.

He did not understand why Fellby would use this magic on him. He was sick not injured. His HP count was fine; the sickness just messed with his magic and his max HP for the time, not his actual HP. He would be better in a few days with rest. So why would he do that? Come to think about it, Fellby was acting strange the whole day…

Wait.

“Fellby?” he asks, looking at the harsher flame, feeling the puzzle pieces in his mind click. “Did... do you worry about me?”

“What? No! I--”

“You were acting strange the whole day... and now you tried to heal me, even though I don't even really need it and...”

Was Fellby really turning violet?

“F...FINE! Okay, fine, I'm worried about your stupid ass! You are sick and you are just a little yellow flame, you could go out from a bad gust of wind! And you are too stupid to do the intelligent thing and STAY IN THE FUCKING BED AND LET YOUR FAMILY TAKE CARE OF YOU!” he finally shouts, glaring at him.

Swabby really, really did not see that coming. Perhaps it was just a hallucination but he felt himself smiling, despite the thought.

“Why are you smiling, idiot?” Fellby grumbles. “There is nothing to smile about! You're sick... Stop trying to creep me out, you're stuck with me until Grills comes back!”

“It's alright,” Swabby answers, still smiling. A smile that turned into a giggle that turned into a laugh.

“Why are you laughing?”

Fellby seemed very confused now and somehow, this made everything hilarious for Swabby.

“You... you really...” was all Swabby could say, feeling tears on his cheeks. “You... This is family. You said family!”

“Yeah? So?” questions Fellby, still confused, still not sure why his rant had sent Swabby into hysterics.

“Do you...don't you see?” asks Swabby, after he calmed down a bit, wiping away his tears. The world was colourful and beautiful. There was no grey as far as the eye could see. “We stick together!”

The children wouldn't let him leave his bed for the next few days. In reality, there was always someone sitting on either his legs or on the chair next to him, giving him a look whenever he even sat up a bit.

Grillby would show up a few times a day, bringing him food and light company, telling him about the bar. And Fellby would stay in the room most of the time, talking about anything and nothing in particular, or just sitting there in a comfortable silence.

It was nice. Really, really nice. There was no dust covering his vision anymore.

He had a family and they would stick together.

It felt nice not only to support them, but also to be supported.

--

When the day came, when the barrier was broken, they stood together at the exit of the Underground.

Fellby in the middle, looking a bit afraid.

Grillby to the left, a determined look upon his face.

Swabby standing to the right, simply smiling.

They held each other’s hand and looked at the sharp line a ray of sun drew onto the ground before them.

Outside, the birds were singing, flowers were blooming.

And together, they stepped through the barrier, into the sunshine.

Following their six children and the human child that lead them to freedom.

Chapter Text

There was a saying from the surface “The only thing more obscure and vague than the future is the past”.

Gr illby had heard humans say this in the brief times when there wasn't fighting. He could not remember the exact circumstances of the conversation, but it did make him pause in thought. After all, shouldn't the past be known to those who’ve lived it?

It would take him a lifetime to understand the meaning of the quote.

--

Grillby felt relieved when Fellby finally reappeared in his home nearly a week after he had left the children’s birthday party. He refused to tell them where he had been or what he had been up to, but Grillby did not want to press the matter for fear it would drive his cousin away once more.

Fellby was a strange flame but had his own life and private matters. A good bar tender never pries and as family, as strange as their little arrangement was in itself, he did not want to interfere with his cousin’s personal life.

Needless to say, t he kids were overjoyed when the harsher flame walked through the door.

Fellby had maybe half of a second to brace himself before six little skeletons tackled him to the floor, shouting “UNCLE FELLBY” in unison.

“Urgh... Wha...?” he grunted out, seemingly more surprised than hurt, before the chatter of the children interrupted him.

“You’re back!”

“You’ll never guess what we did!”

“Uncle Fellby, Uncle Fellby!”

“We have missed you sooooo much!”

“We did colouring!”

“Uncle Fellby, are you going to stay with us?”

“Don't go away again.”

“We built a tower thiiiiiiiiiis big!”

“-and than Saz said that-”

“You have to come see our room!”

“Suny and I got to help cook!”

“Can we go play together?”

Grillby couldn't help the chuckles that escaped him and it seemed as though Swabby was not even trying to hide his own laughter.

Fellby blinked down at the children, clearly a bit overwhelmed and unsure of what he should do.

The children settled down after a while, allowing Fellby to stand but did not let him out of their sight. Especially Saz and Parz seemed to be glued to his side. It seemed to irritate Fellby quite a bit, but he did not say anything against it.

Grillby could not be fooled however. He knew how much these kids meant to Fellby. His cousin got the same look upon his face as he and Swabby did whenever the children were hugging him.

After dinner and tucking the kids in, Fellby red them the bedtime story this day. The kids practically begged for him to and Grillby insisted on providing the book for said story, opting to stand beside his cousin while he red. Nobody wanted a repeat of the last Story related Incident.

Nevertheless, the kids finally went to sleep, looking quite happy and Fellby claimed the couch in the living room as his own again. Grillby noted that Fellby fell asleep almost instantly that night leaving him to wonder if Fellby had slept unwell the previous night.

Overall, routine returned to how it was just weeks before.

Work, caring for the children, making sure Swabby and Fellby didn't do anything stupid… The last part was pretty hard to do, in and of itself. Yet it all melted together into something comfortable.

The phone call came out of nowhere a few weeks later.

The blizzard season had already begun, so they all stayed inside, including Grillby himself when he wasn't working.

It was naptime for the children, so he was in the living room, sitting on one end of the couch reading a book while Swabby went over some paperwork from his diner in the lounge chair. Fellby, on the other hand, was lying on the couch, taking up all the remaining space, with his head in Grillby’s lap and completely asleep. It felt... peaceful.

At least until the phone rang, jousting Fellby from his slumber and causing the other two flames to glance up from their tasks.

It was a brief call but it left Grillby feeling as though his head was spinning.

“And?” questioned Swabby, worry in his voice.

Grillby wondered for a second if he looked as worried as his cousin sounded. “ That was... the dogs,” Grillby began. “They and the royal guard have found a laboratory. It matches what little we know about... where the children came from.”

It was precious little but none of them had the heart to pressure the children into talking of their pasts. They were safe here; nobody would dare to try to mess with Grillby. Moreover, they kept them hidden as much as they could. Nevertheless, it still did not change the fact that somebody had hurt them badly and had yet to be brought to justice.

“They are going to raid it and asked that I join them,” he finished.

“Really?” asked Swabby, eyes wide.

Fellby quickly sat up; looking at him with an expression Grillby couldn't read. “Where? When?”

Grillby stood up, walking to the front door. “Today,” he answered while getting his coat. “As soon as I get there.”

“You’re just going alone?” questioned Swabby, standing up himself. “Grillby, that’s-”

“The hell he is!” exclaimed Fellby cutting Swabby off and before Grillby knew it, his cousin was standing beside him, grabbing his arm and looking him in the eyes. “I'm going with you.”

Grillby could not suppress a surprised “What?” but the look on Fellby’s face told him that this was not a joking matter. He had not misheard him. Grillby let out a heavy sigh. “Do you really want to come?” he questioned, hoping his cousin would take this chance to back out.

They both knew that whatever they were going to find would not be pretty.

That and Fellby made it clear in the past that he and the city guards did not mix. For him to accompany Grillby would mean he had to interact with them at some point.

“Like hell I’m letting you do this alone,” Fellby stated passionately. “Where is this place even?”

“Hotland, near the Core,” Grillby replied while getting Fellby's coat for him. “It's in fact a laboratory with a direct link to the Core.” The thought alone made him feel... queasy. He could not describe it but the Core just screamed bad news. He handed Fellby his coat and while his cousin got dressed, he turned around, looking at Swabby. “Can you stay with the children?”

Swabby nodded once, smiling confidently. “But as soon as something happens, I want to know about it,” he stated.

Grillby chuckled a bit, but agreed. “Of course.”

Fellby was waiting impatiently for him, already out of the door.

It was silent in Snowdin, the sound of snow crunching under their boots was the only noise that could be heard.

“The Core, huh...” mumbled Fellby after walking a while. “Shit, isn't that the King's lab?” he questioned as the river came into view. “Think Asgore is connected with all this?”

Grillby felt his eyes on him and, honestly, the thought of King Asgore knowing something about whatever had happened to the children terrified him more than he’d like to admit.

“I very much hope that the king does not know about it,” he replied solemnly. “If he did...” he trailed off, letting the sentence hang in the air between them. He did not know what he would do if King Asgore had known and allowed it to continue. The King, after all, was a very gentle monster.

But Grillby had seen him during the war. He also knew that the king had killed the six humans who had the misfortune of falling into the underground. Onces perception of a monster could change with that knowledge.

“No. I really don't want to think about it,” Grillby muttered, stopping his own thoughts.

Fellby looked as though he wanted to say something, but they reached the end of the road, coming to stop at the frozen shoreline.

Water sloshed lazily in front of them and the Riverperson gave a friendly wave as they pull up to the dock.

“Tra-la-la,” the Riverperson sang out. “Hello, Grillby, Fellby. Where would you like to go today?” they asked, surely, maybe smiling. It was hard to tell under the thick robe that the Riverperson wore every day.

“UGH!” Fellby rolled his eyes. “Do you have to be so… cheerful all the time?” he questioned clearly annoyed.

Grillby never understood Fellby’s apparent dislike for the Riverperson.

“Why not?” they asked, amusement in their voice.

Fellby just frowned harder in response.

“Take us to Hotland, please,” intervened Grillby, hoping to defuse the situation. He really did not want an argument breaking loose now.

The Riverperson just made a hand gesture and both he and Fellby got into the boat, sitting down beside one another in the tight space.

“Then we’re off. Please hold on,” said the Riverperson, gripping the ore of the boat a bit tighter. “And watch out for the S in the number four,” they added cryptically.

“For... what?” questioned Fellby, confused. “The hell are you going on about now?”

Grillby just shrugged.

“Tra-la-la,” sang the Riverperson again, as their boat begun to pick up speed.

There was silence between them for a while.

Grillby watched the walls surrounding them as they speed through Waterfall. Fellby's and his flames were illuminating the small tunnel nicely. Red and blue flickered and was sometimes reflected by an odd crystal in the wall.

Fellby looked troubled, his flames a bit lighter than usual and his gaze cast to the floor of the boat.

“How are the boys doing?” Grillby asked awkwardly after a while, remembering how Saz and Parz had not let Fellby out of their sight since he returned.

“How the hell should I know?” mumbled Fellby, his eyes still fixed on the ground.

“They talk to you more than to me or Swabby,” answered Grillby, smiling a bit. “And you care about them.”

Fellby’s flames turned a touch violet in his face, which prompts Grillby to smile broadly. However, instead of answering him, Fellby lifted his head and glared at the Riverperson. “Hey, can't this damn boat go any faster?”

“We’ll arrive soon,” the Riverperson stated before returning to humming their strange little song.

“You still have this frustrating habit to not answer questions,” sighed Grillby.

Fellby ignored him still.

And soon the boat began to slow, coming to a docking station.

“We arrive. Thank you for traveling,” chirped the Riverperson as the boat stops. “Come again sometime. Tra-la-la.”

Fellby just sneered as they both climb out of the boat.

“You really don't like them?” asked Grillby, amusement in his voice, as they walk towards the elevators.

“He's too damn cheerful,” he grumbled back. “UGH, why couldn't you just be normal and live here like the rest of us?”

Grillby shrugged. “I like Snowdin,” he replied softly. “It's nice, it's hard to catch on fire and the people there only know me as a bartender with six children.”

It was true, but only half the reason he stayed there.

He did not want him to know about how the heat in Hotland felt like it was fueling his flames, how his LOVE lay heavy on his soul here. Snowdin and the cold just... soften the pressure a bit.

Fellby was looking at him skeptically before letting out a frustrated sigh. “Whatever, let's just get this over with,” he grumbled while Grillby called for the elevator.

“Would you rather live here instead of Snowdin?” Grillby questioned as the elevator arrives and the two of them stepped into the confined space.

“Of course!” stated Fellby quickly. “Fuck, I hate the cold!”

Grillby laughed slightly, shaking his head before asking, “Would you rather live here alone or in Snowdin with us?”, his voice sounding a bit softer.

There was a long pause.

The lift made a loud DING sound and the doors opened.

They stepped outside, making their way up some stairs and into the central building of the Core.

“I'd rather be back above ground,” Fellby remarked grimly.

“Yeah... I think every monster would like that...” mumbled Grillby as he led the two of them towards the royal guards waiting ahead.

“You must be Grillby,” the head royal guardsman, a big, dragoon like monster, greeted him, moving to shake his hand. “I’m sure you know why we-“ the head guardsman paused, looking over Grillby’s shoulder at Fellby with recognition. “What are you doing here, Fellby?”

Fellby let out a growl, about to make a snide remark, but Grillby cut in before he got the chance. “He’s with me. And yes, I understand the circumstances.”

The other guards in the room seemed to be having a hard time deciding on whom they should look at and it was not hard to become aware of the hushed whispers between them. They all seemed rather nervous about his cousin being in the area.

Grillby did notice that Fellby too seemed to be uncomfortable around the guards within the room.

Nevertheless, they were led deeper into the Core.

It was unimpressive to say the least. One random door in the massive complex, marked by a small “out of order” sign. The maps just listed this part as one of the side-laboratories of the Royal Scientist Complex. It did not mean much, most of the laboratories here were used by the Royal Scientist and many of them appeared to be empty now.

The brute force of the Royal Guards opened the door.

The laboratory was dark and empty. Nothing alive was here. Many of the doors lining the hall were closed, though a few looked to have been opened with powerful force. There were signs of fighting here, illuminated by Grillby’s own flame, but nothing that indicated something major or gave a clue as to what was going on.

“Shit,” whispered Fellby as he enters the corridor behind Grillby, looking around at the destruction. “Think their rooms are somewhere in here?”

Their ‘rooms’.

The children had told them that they were in rooms before. Two of them per one room at all times.

“I would think,” he replied as his own flame shine upon the glass shard from a broken door.

The room behind this door was bare and strangely dark given that the walls were an off shade of white. Upon closer inspection, there were scratches ranging from diminutive to deep in size on just about every surface of the room.

“These rooms are like cages,” Grillby mumbled more to himself than anyone in particular, disgusted.

“I looked around,” Fellby stated, heading further down the hall. “There are several rooms down this way though it’s hard to tell if any of them were in use… Three of them were broken open, this one included, at least. So... maybe there were only three.”

“I'm... a bit glad there weren't more. At least I hope so,” whispered Grillby, still looking at the room in front of him.

Nothing was here. No bed, nothing to play with, not even clothing. He couldn’t help thinking back at the scraps and makeshift bandages the children wore when they first came into his life. He thought about how they were amazed by the concept of a bed, overjoyed by any toy they received, of... well anything. He thought about two tiny children alone in bare rooms for years and years…

His flames flickered and he took a deep breath before turning away and walking down the corridor along with Fellby.

They came upon a closed door at the end of the corridor. It looked remarkably different than the other doors as it had no observation window in its center.

Grillby reached out, taking the handle within his hand and turned it, though he is met with force. “It’s locked,” he stated blankly.

“Then we melt it,” Fellby suggested, coming up next to him and reaching out. He begun melting the metal around the knob before gaining any sort of response.

Grillby placed his hand next to his cousin’s and together they melted the metal until there was nothing keeping the door barred.

The room behind the door was vastly different. There was a hefty desk sitting in one corner together with a chair. The rest of the room was covered with shelves full of marked binders, stuffed to the brim and papers flung about almost carelessly.

Fellby stayed at the door, not daring to enter the room. Maybe it was for the best, they would need any evidence they could find here and it would be bad if Fellby’s heat caused something to catch fire.

“Looks like they kept their documents here,” Grillby mumbled while carefully going up to the desk. He lowered his flames to the best of his ability before picking up a random sheet of paper and skimming over its contents.

“Oh great paperwork,” grumbled Fellby with an annoyed tone.

“Documents,” corrected Grillby without taking his eyes from the paper in his hand. His could feel his flames trying to heat up the more he red. “These are... reports about... about the boys.”

“What do they say?” asked Fellby.

“Not much that I can understand,” he admitted, “But there are names... Sans and Papyrus... the others are only labeled as S-2, P-2 and S-3, P-3... and there is a reference to some... video?” He quickly surveyed the room. “Do you see any video tapes around here?”

“Video tapes?” questioned Fellby skeptically while glancing around the room.

Grillby placeed the papers back on the desk and went to step back into the hallway beside Fellby.

The Royal Guards seemed to have noticed their exploring and quickly entered the room to begin their own search, causing Grillby to back step back into the room.

“Fuck who knows,” Fellby cursed. “Maybe there’s a... I don't know... some sort of video room or something?”

“Maybe,” mused Grillby, looking around. “It can't be to far away.”

The flickering from his flames revealed another door, half hidden away behind a shelf that looked as though somebody had forcefully shoved it over the door in haste.

Grillby stepped up to the odd shelf and easily pushed it aside. “What do we have here?” he mused out loud. The door was not locked and opened with a soft click when he tried the handle. Grillby stepped inside, motioning for Fellby to follow.

Their combined flames were enough to light up the entirety of the room. It was, in fact, a video room. A large white screen took up the bulk of one of the walls and three rolls of seats stood before it. Shelves lined the two side walls filled with tapes, all of which were neatly labeled. A small desk was cramped into one corner of the room upon which a small monitor was stood along with a stack of papers. Opposite to the white screen was an old, black projector.

Fellby walked up to the projector, seemingly studying it for a moment before glancing towards the seats and Grillby followed his look.

There were thick hide straps on a few of the chairs. Some others had chains instead; one in particular had nail marks in the arms just below the constraints.

“Think this could be where-“ began Fellby but stops himself. The sentence was hanging in the air between them, the implications clear.

Grillby felt his flames flicker. “... Pyru...” he whispered, Swabby’s words from the children's birthday still in his mind.

They had made Pyru watch. They more-than- likely had him strapped into one of the chairs and had forced the young skeleton watch... something.

Grillby walked over to the projector and, upon inspection, noticed that a video recorder is attached to it. “There is still a tape in it,” he stated quietly, looking at Fellby, leaving an unspoken question between them.

They were alone within the room. The guards were still in the connecting room going through the documents for clues and would most likely come to this room afterwards.

Fellby’s eyes locked his own and he gave a small nod, moving deeper into the room, closing the connecting door behind himself. “Damn it,” he cursed, coming over to the projector to stand on the opposite side of Grillby.

Before Grillby could say a word, Fellby pushed the ‘Play’ button and the projector sprung to life. A soft whirling sound came from the tape within and a video begun to play, lighting up the white screen.

There was a cut of static before a face appeared. A skeleton face not resembling anyone Grillby knew. Their skull was oval and smooth, their eyes contains a deep purple glow that sent a chill down Grillby’s spine. The room behind the skeleton was brightly lit and seemed to be one of the... cells they had seen earlier.

“This is Gaster with Experiment 766 on S-2 and P-2,” the skeleton, or rather this ‘Gaster’, began; his voice a smooth baritone, yet the quality of the recording was not optimal. Gaster stepped aside and the camera’s view focused on two little bodies behind him.

It was Saz and Parz. It could not be anybody else. However, they looked so… young in the video, much smaller than when Grillby had found them in the forest outside of Snowdin.

Both children were strapped into a metal chair, bound by some sort of magic. Parz, who barely looked old enough to be walking, was completely immobilized by the straps whereas Saz, just a head taller than his brother, had one arm free.

In front of Saz, barely within hand reach, laid some kind of complex jigsaw puzzle that looked to be made out of the same strange metal as the chairs that held the boys captive.

However, Grillby’s attention was focused more on Saz' and Parz' faces. Both of them were completely terrified. Tears were welling up in Saz' eyes and Parz had gone far beyond bawling by this point, though Grillby noticed that Parz’ eye had not yet been damaged in these ‘experiments’ this video documented.

“Please, I don't wanna do this,” Saz’ fearful pleading broke through Grillby’s thoughts. “I don't wanna do this!”

Gaster’s seemed to be explaining something about the scene, “As you can see, the subject has to solve this puzzle… with an emotional motivator.”

Grillby only heard half of it. He was fixated on the two struggling children.

“Please help, please help me!”

Grillby was not sure which was worse; Saz’ pleading or Parz' begging for his brother to help him. Or perhaps already knowing that all of their cries would be useless.

“We'll see the results of the setup soon enough,” Gaster continued to explain, turning towards Saz. “Two minutes,” was all he spoke before a crackle of magic was heard over the recording and the puzzle glowed in a strange white light.

With his free shaking hand, Saz tried to solve to puzzle. It was some sort of sliding jigsaw puzzle but more advanced than anything Grillby had ever seen.

Saz seemed to do well, his little fingers dancing over rectangular pieces held upon the table before him. At least until he moved a piece to the left causing the magic around the puzzle to flash a bright red.

Saz' eyes widened and he cried out, “NO! NO! PLEASE, DON'T!”

The same red magic flashes around the chair in which Parz was held captive, the boy’s bones lighting up as an electrical shock runs through him causing him to convulse, breaking his left arm in the process. Parz’ scream pierced the recording. I let Grillbys flames shutter in horror.

Saz’ sobbing could be heard clearly as the scream died down. “Please... Please...”

“Again,” came the command.

A little hand strained to reach one of the further away pieces but could not. The bonds kept him away.

“Use your magic,” Gaster’s voice echoed within the tape.

“I... I can't!” whined Saz and Grillby felt like crying too. Saz was obviously far too young for any specific magic to manifest, especially Telekinesis! Nevertheless, the boy tried.

There was a magic build up around his hand, clearly seen within the recording, yet nothing happened.

A buzz sounded as the timer rans out.

Another flash of red magic and Parz was shocked again. His screams were turning into gasps as he seemed to be going into shock.

“We shall add pain as an additional motivator,” stated Gaster on the video, making a hand gesture.

Before Grillby could comprehend what was happening, the magic around Saz crackled. Another flash of red and the magic broke Saz' right leg, causing him to scream out.

“Again. You have two minutes,” came the new command.

Saz continued to sob and plea d but tried his best to solve the task he could not possibly do.

Grillby, unable to watch any more, adverted his eyes. He glanced over to Fellby who had been strangely silent the whole time.

Something was wrong.

Fellby’s eyes were fixed on the video but he looked spaced out and his shoulders seemed stiff.

“Fellby? Are you alright?” asked Grillby.

Fellby’s breath hitched a bit but other than that there was no reaction.

Grillby pauses the video, the room was filling with silence once more.

Fellby did not move or make a sound.

Carefully, Grillby came nearer to him, placing his hand on Fellby’s shoulder.

Flames shoot up from the touch, turning purple and blue interchangeably.

It did not hurt but he was surprised by such a reaction and broke the contact.

Yes, something was very wrong here.

Grillby moved in front of Fellby, blocking his cousin’s view of the screen, even if there was nothing to see anymore, and took hold of his shoulders, looking the harsher flame in the eyes. There was something there he recognized.

“Fellby?” he tried talking to him again, still gaining no reaction from his cousin. Fellby’s eyes seemed to stare right through him.

In an effort to make clearer contact, Grillby carefully reached up and removed Fellby’s sunglasses.

Fellby blinked, his bright white eyes unfocused for a moment, looking strangely unguarded, almost afraid.

Come to think about it, up until now, Grillby had never seen his cousin without the dark sunglasses...

“D... d...” Fellby muttered, a strange sound like a fire struggling to gain oxygen. He still looked dazed, his flames changing into a bluish purple, burning hotter and stronger.

And Grillby realized what he was seeing. He could recognize a flashback anywhere.

There was no time to think about it right now, first h e had to get Fellby back to reality. He could think about the ‘Whys’ and ‘Hows’ later.

“Fellby? Please calm down,” he spooke as calm and gentle as he could, doing his best to keep eye contact. “Whatever you are seeing, you... you aren't there. Just concentrate on my voice. Relax. Come back from there, Fellby... It’s alright… I’m here…”

Again, he reached out and placed his hand on Fellby’s shoulder, letting his magic run through his flames, turning them from there usual red-orange to a softer orange-ish yellow color. He hoped that the feeling of familiar magic would help ground Fellby in the here and now.

Fellby gasped at the contact, his flames around Grillby's hands starting to cool, returning to their natural blue state.

Grillby felt relieved. He could do this; he could calm Fellby down. “Shhh... Fellby,” he soothed, coming a step closer. He could almost feel the distress in Fellby’s flames. “Fellby, hey... come on back...” he whisperd and, looking at the flames that were slowly cooling where their bodies made contact, he took a gamble and slowly, gently pulled Fellby into a hug. “Shhh... It’s alright. I’m here.”

Fi rst, nothing happened. They stayed like that, Grillby gently hugging Fellby who still stood rigid and unresponsive. Then, slowly, Grillby felt a tremble running through Fellby’s flames. After a second, he noticed that it was laughter. A creepy, broken sound. Fellby’s body was quivering and his flames slowly cooling down.

It chilled Grillby to his core hearing him like that. He felt himself shiver but held on, not willing to give up just when Fellby seemed to be pulling out of wherever he trapped himself in. “That's right. Just calm down,” he repeated softly. “Come back. Come down, Fellby...”

Then Fellby stopped. Stopped laughing, stopped shivering. His became still, his flames a calm blue once more.

A long moment of silence passed between the two of them. Grillby just continued to hold on, waiting for some reaction from his cousin.

“Wh...” came suddenly from Fellby. He took a deep breath, like he had been drowning, his whole body tensing and he jerked away from Grillby, looking around the room panicked. He did not seem to notice Grillby at all.

“Fellby? Are you back?” asked Grillby gently, taking one step towards Fellby.

“H-huh?”, sliped Fellby, startled. His eyes focused on Grillby for the first time since the tape started, wide like that of a wild animal and full of fear. “Where... what... fuck,” he stuttered, clearly trying to get a grip on himself.

“I think you had an... episode,” Grillby stated unsure. “You were spaced out and... freaking out. Calm down. The video was horrible. I shut it down for now,” he explained as calmly as he could. He just hoped that something that helped him during his own attacks would also help his cousin.

Fellby shook his head, taking deep breaths. He moved backwards, away from Grillby and nearly fell into one of the chairs. He cursed several times under his breath as he looked at the deep claw marks within the arm of the chair, running his fingers over them as though needing to prove to himself that they were real. “I’ll kill that bastard,” he growled out, his fist hitting the chair’s arm, causing it to crack.

“I want to as well,” whispered Grillby, a bit surprised by himself. It had been so long since he last felt the… desire to hunt, to hurt, to burn. He felt his flames flicker, some of them slowly shifting themselves into the hotter blue spectrum.

Maybe it was the heat of Hotland; he always disliked how it made him feel. How his LOVE would whisper in his mind. It was doing so at this very moment, telling over and over: He could do it. He could search for the horrible person who traumatized his children, he had a name and a face now. He could search for him and burn everything down that stood in his way and nothing or no one could stop him.

“How... how could he...” he growled out, his voice sounding more like the howling of a blazing fire.

How could he? How could anyone? This person was not a monster; this was a THING, an abomination that needed to be put down. For King and Monsterkin, he could...

No.

Grillby shook his head. No, that wasn't him. That was a long time ago. He did not want to hunt and hurt any more, that was just his LOVE talking. He wanted justice, yes. Not like this, however. Never like this. He took a few deep breaths of his own, calming himself down. His flames were changing back to their gentle red-orange glow. He was just a bartender in Snowdin. The war was long over. He had now six children to worry about. That was why he was here today. He had to remember to the children.

Grillby looked to his side where Fellby was still sitting in one of the chairs, clearly still struggling himself with... everything. “Are YOU okay?” he questioned. “What... what was that? What happened?” Never in the last year had he ever seen Fellby suffering from flashbacks. His own were rare these days but he still got them frequent enough for both Swabby and Fellby to have witnessed at least one of them.

Fellby did not seem to hear him at first, half looking away from him. He quickly covered his face with his hand, going still once more. “The fuck are my glasses?” he asked finally, his voice rough and sounding as though he was trying to sound angry. However, he sounded just as scared and panicked as before. It was... strange.

“I have them,” replieed Grillby, holding out the sunglasses in his hand. just now realizing he still had them and feeling a bit proud of himself for not crushing them during his own fight against his LOVE. “You were freaking out, I had to make eye-contact,” he explained. “Fellby... what happened to you?” He wasn't an idiot nor blind. Something had happened, something bad, yet he had no idea what.

Fellby looked away and took the sunglass back, putting them on. “Shut up,” he snaped harshly, looking as if he were about to flee.

“Oh no,” huffed Grillby, unwilling to let his cousin run away from this. “Fellby, please don't lock me out now. Don't do this now,” he half begged, placing himself before the chair. “What happened to you?” he demanded to know. “What did you see? You were completely gone for a minute there!”

“It doesn't matter,” hissed Fellby, getting angry for real. He shoved Grillby's hand away from him and stood up, but Grillby prevented him from walking away, settling again in front of him.

“Fellby, something like this DOES matter. Do you think I wouldn't recognize a flashback when I see one?” he asked, struggling to keep his own anger is check. He took a deep, shaky breath to calm himself before speaking again. “Look, you don't HAVE to tell me but... did you talk with anybody about this whatsoever?”

“FUCK YOU,” shouted Fellby, his flames flaring up dangerously. “JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“NO!” screamed Grillby back, feeling the grip he had on himself loosening, frustration and anger burning hot inside his core. Yet despite everything, there was still worry there. “You don't HAVE to be alone in this, you IDIOT!”

That was a major problem with his cousin. As soon as something got emotional for him or mildly distressing, he had a bad habit of turning tail and running. He would get upset over something trivial and disappear as soon as he could, turning away anybody who tried to help or speak or do anything with him. Most of the times he would just vanished for a few days, reappearing later and acting as if nothing had happened. And usually, Grillby let him do this.

But not this time. Grillby was willing to let this behavior slide with something like being uncomfortable with being around many people or feeling trapped in Snowdin. But not with something like a flashback and signs of some form of past trauma that was n't treated at all.

“Aren't we here for the damned kids?”, snapped Fellby, meeting his eyes through the sunglasses this time, but Grillby saw the quick look that traveled to the exit.

Grillby grabbed hold of Fellby’s shoulders this time, trying to hold him in one place before he could flee. “The kids are safe for the moment. You are a major concern at the moment for me,” he stated.

Fellby struggled in the grip, trying to push Grillby’s hands away. “I don't need your concern.”

Grillby noticed that the Guards have started peeking into the room, most likely from the noise they were making. The problem was that he really could not deal with them now. “I know,” replied Grillby, trying to keep his voice as calm and collected as he could. “But you need help and trying to deny yourself help will only result in hurting yourself.”

Fellby just glared up to him. For a moment he was wondering if Fellby had always been so much shorter than him. Had Grillby always towered over him that much? “I DON'T need help, not from YOU!” shouted Fellby, struggling again against the grip that held him.

“Why not?” questioned Grillby, frustrated. It was a small victory that Fellby seemed to agree to needing help of some sort. Yet it was a huge frustration point that he did not want help from Grillby specifically. In addition, it kind of hurt a bit hearing that statement. “Why don't you want me to help you?”

“I don’t want to get into this right now,” he hissed back, his voice deep, eyes still locked on Grillby. “Lets just get this crap over and done with.”

Grillby glared at him.

Fellby glared back.

And something inside Grillby just... crumbled. He had fought enough battles to see when there was a lost cause standing in front of him. He let go of Fellby, slowly, and backed off a step. “Okay,” he agreed. “But... please, if you don't want to talk to me, promise me you'll talk to someone.”

“Whatever,” grumbled Fellby, his gaze wavering until he completely looked away from Grillby.

Grillby would take this small victory for now. Fellby was right with one thing; they were here for the children. Fellby seemed stable again, but Grillby would press the matter as soon as they got home.

Sighing deeply, he turned around noticing that the guards have disappeared from the doorway. Maybe they had enough common sense to leave the flames to have their family drama in private. He returned his gaze to the tapes lining the walls.

“There are... over a thousand tapes here,” he whispered after a while. There was a tense silence in the room now and his voice seemed to echo. Grillby walked closer to one of the shelves, inspecting the labels upon the tapes held within. “Most of them are of… Saz and Parz it would seem. Though there are a few with Sans and Papyrus as well…” Their names were not noted as such on the tapes but Grillby recognized the codes “S-1, S-2, P-1, P-2” as the same that were engraved upon each of the children’s arms and legs. It made his stomach turn.

“Of course they'd be of those two,” Fellby muttered, glaring back to the chairs in the room before walking over to the tapes on the far side of Grillby.

“This... is a lot...” Grillby mumbleed, looking over to where his cousin now stood then back to the tapes. “We can't possibly watch all of them.” Not that he thought he could stomach that. He felt sick and shaken from just watching the first tape, yet his desire to understand, to know what happened to these precious children, was still strongly burning within him.

Fellby let out a snort. “It'd take a while, huh?” Grillby could hear his own emotions over the matter mirrored within Fellby’s voice.

“Indeed,” he answered. “I should inform the Guards of this... they could look over the tapes. There are still the reports of the... experiments but... well…” It would be the most logical option to have the guards, who had no emotional attachment in the matter, to review the files. He glanced over to Fellby again. “Do you want to keep watching?”

Right. They had a choice to do so or not. The chairs in front of them were standing as a reminder that there was once someone in their very shoes who did not have that choice.

“See any of Pyru or Suny?”, Fellby questioned, randomly taking a tape from one of the shelves and looking it over. “What the hell is with all the Ps and Ss? Shit the guy couldn't even name the brats,” he growled out.

“Yes... from my understanding Sans and Papyrus were given names but not by the man who hurt them,” Grillby explained. The little snips of information he got out of the children did not paint a very good picture, if any, but both Sans and Papyrus insisted that their names didn't came from the ‘bad guy’, but rather from an angel. Grillby never could make much sense out of that. “The others received their names much later from each other,” he continued. At least, this was what Suny had told him at the time. “But seeing this,” he motioned towards the various tapes, shaking his head. “I wonder about the cruelty. We monsters are supposed to be made out of love and compassion... where were these here?”

Fellby watcheed Grillby in silence for a moment with a expression Grillby couldn’t quite read.

“No... There are no tapes of Suny... no S-3 written here... but...” he reached out and took one of the tapes marked with the code P-3.3221 from the shelf. “Look, there are a few marked P-3.”

So Pyru had tapes for himself? No Suny... it would explain some of the boy’s comments about having protected Suny…

“Put it in,” stated Fellby stiffly.

Grillby hesitated for a moment, looking over to Fellby. He was unsure if his cousin could handle watching another video but he doubted that Fellby would just sit back and let the guards take over. He gave a small nod of confirmation before sliding the tape in.

The video started like the other did, only this time the camera focused on Pyru who seemed to be sitting in the very same room the flames were standing in now. Pyru’s arms, legs and forehead were strapped within the bonds of the chair, holding him securely, though they could not stop the boy’s trembling. Tears streamed down Pyru’s face yet he did not try to struggle or plead like his brother had.

Gaster looked towards the camera, explaining his plans, “Due to S-2’s lack of endurance, we plan on using P-3 as a replacement.” His eyes shone with something Grillby only ever saw on the battlefield long ago. Absolute coldness. It made him shiver. “The modifications done to the bodies of the secondary series will be implemented after P-3 is introduced to P-2.”

Grillby was not a scientist but that did not sound good at all. His core shuttered and he felt a chill crawling up his back.

“Experiment 3221 starts now,” stated Gaster.

Oh stars, 3221? There were so many? Even spread out over five children that was too much! Any number would have been too much, but this?

Gaster walked up to Pyru and sliced off the simple green gown that was covering the boy, exposing the shaking skeleton to the audience. A little inverted white heart was resting right under his rip cage.

“As you can see, the soul of this one is still intact and white. If we want to get him to the stage S-2 was before he began to fail, we have to make the changes directly,” Gaster continued and Grillby just now noticed the table full of instruments standing beside the scientist. Gaster’s long, white hand reached out and took what appeared to be some sort of drill from the table.

Pyru made a distressed noise, the first sound he uttered since the tape began. “N…. no…. please,” he pleaded and the sound alone broke Grillby’s heart. The boy was so scared and helpless… How could anyone place a child in such a state?

“Quiet,” hissed Gaster, cutting Pyru’s pleading off. “Or would you prefer I use S-3 as the replacement for this experiment?”

With those words, Pyru fell deathly silent.

Gaster placed the drill between two of Pyru's rips and pushed down, drilling right into the precious, fragile soul underneath.

Pyru let out a high-pitched scream, his body automatically falling into convulsions.

Grillby had to stop the video, breathing heavily and his mind once again filled with a blaze and the sweet whispering of his LOVE. Besides his fury, there was an ocean of sadness and despair over what he just witnessed. “This...” he stoped mid-sentence, unable to speak as he felt bile rising in the back of his throat.

His cousin had his eyes closed and looked shaken as well, but not to the same extent as before. “Damn,” mumbled Fellby, taking a deep breath. “Is that even... possible?” he asked no one particular.

“It's...” Grillby begun, trying to find his voice again. He shook his head. “How could he... do that to anyone? Less yet to a child?” he questioned knowing no one would answer. “To... To hurt a soul like that...”

Fellby made a sound of agreement, looking back towards the recorder. “Let’s keep going,” he muttered, his voice sounding zombie-like. Fellby moveed over to the tape players, removeed the previous tape and replaced it with another marked “S-1 & P-1 #378”.

The machine let off a soft buzz and the video starts.

It looked a bit glitchy as if it was older than the others and possibly corrupted by something. The image on the screen was a bit fuzzy but it was easy enough to make out a very young Sans and Papyrus. Both of the skeletons were clothed in some sort of rompers and looked happy. Some colorful stacks of blocks and other items one might see in a baby’s room were in front of them.

It was so... different from the other tapes.

Gaster was there too. He looked a bit... younger. However, it was always hard to tell with skeletons; the man could very well be 20 as he could be 118 and no one would know the difference.

Though Gaster did appear to be bored, perhaps frustrated… He was looking downwards into a notebook, reading to the camera instead of speaking freely as he had in previous videos. “This is Experiment 378. S and P were given multiple stacks of blocks. We will now observe which color they will use the most,” he droned, looking disgusted at the clipboard within his hand.

Sans and Papyrus seemed to have fun in the background, playing with the colorful cubes.

The video feed glitches suddenly, static shortly filling the screen before skipping ahead. Things were moved around when the picture became clear again, indicating a passage of time.

Gaster appeared even more bored as he watches the children play. Then there was a hint of a smile on his lips and purple magic flaring in his eyes.

The green block in Sans' hand glowed in the same purple aura and a moment later Sans let out a high pitched scream, throwing the block away, revealing a little blackened spot on his hand bones. Obviously shaken, he shifted into his canine form and violently blasts the remaining green blocks away before giving a soft whine and curling up on himself.

Papyrus seemed spooked as well, crawling over to his brother and quickly hiding behind the canine, looking at the blocks with fear.

Gaster laughed.

“The hell?” mumbled Fellby, blinking a few times and stopping the video. “This one isn't... well as bad I guess? I mean the last part was fucked up sure, but before... fuck”

“It seems to be pretty early... they couldn't be older than two or three years...”

“Right... so the guy wasn't a total dick at the beginning... Looks to me like he was bored with... normal stuff. This is messed up...” With that, he walked over to the shelf again, looking over all the labels. “Seems he didn't fool with Pyru or Suny too much... and he either gave up or got bored of Sans and Papyrus,” he mumbled more to himself than to Grillby. He reached out and picked up a tape with a label that Grillby couldn't see. Before he could ask what this was about, Fellby had already popped it into the recorder.

First, there was only static.

“What is that?” asked Grillby, confused.

“I don't know,” replied Fellby in a strange, far away sounding voice. He placed his hands on the back of one of the chairs, leaning forward to look at the static displayed on the screen.

Grillby felt himself narrowing his eyes too.

The static begun to clear a bit after a while and a voice could be heard but not be made out too well.

“……………… which of you…………….. P-2 you begin……”

Video cut in, static leaving the screen.

Parz could be seen in his transformed state viciously attacking Saz who was still in his humanoid form. He was guarding his head looking as though he were having a panic attack.

“The fuck?” exclaimed Fellby.

In the video, Saz’ magic glowed brightly, a sick looking red, and Parz backed off, seeming angry but confused, unsure of what to do. Saz barely manages to move away a bit before his magic faded and he passed out.

The video cut back to static.

“Did... did he make them fight each other?” Grillby questioned, horrified at the thought. Saz and Parz still had problems, that much he could see, but despite everything, they loved and cared for each other. They may be rough but Parz never did something like... that. Grillby just could not believe what he just saw.

A voice could be heard against the static again, too hazy to fully make out.

“…….. just children you c- …………. but the experiments aren't………….. I know that…….”

The voice sounded different from the one before. Moreover, it sounded furious.

A split second scene appeared after that. A flash of a young Sans alone in some sort of liquid but it was over before Grillby could make out details.

Static took back over.

“Wait... did you see that?”

Grillby paused the video and rewinded it a bit. “Was that Sans in a...” he couldn't say it. He played the video again, trying to pause at the right moment.

It was ind eed a very young looking Sans. He was unconscious, his body heavily injured with a breathing mask coving his mouth as he was held suspended in a tank of glowing blue liquid.

It is,” Grillby felt himself sigh out. “My stars…”

“But whose voice was that?” Fellby demanded, looking away from the sight displayed on the screen. “Didn't sound like the guy from the other tapes...”

Grillby just nodded, not having an answer for the question. Instead, he just pressed the play button again.

The static continued for a few seconds and cut away abruptly. This time they could see Sans and Papyrus in a similar room as Saz and Parz before.

“Do as you're told S-1,” commanded Gaster, though he could not be seen on the reel.

“N-no I... I won't hurt him!” cried Sans, his voice tiny and high pitched.

Papyrus could be seen shaking from fear in front of his brother.

“Very well,” Gaster replied.

There is a clicking sound picked up by the recording and Sans started screaming as a large shock rans through him, turning his bones an almost blinding white.

The v ideo cut back to static.

“Oh stars... what is he...” stuttered Grillby, his flames getting brighter again. “That... he forced them to fight and... why? What was the... reason for that? Why would anyone DO something like that?”

However, the tape was not finished yet.

A voice could be heard over the static after a few seconds. It sounded almost soothing, calm - a lot similar in tone of Grillby's own when he spoke with the children. Nothing like the harshness coming from Gaster in these experiments.

“………… of this test is to see how………… That's correct S-1. Wait, isn't that……… yes of your very own,” a light chuckle from the unknown speaker. “How about ‘Sans’? Do you like…….”

The videos cut to blackness as the reel finished.

“What?” exclaimed Grillby, still a bit shocked by the abrupt ending of the tape. “That last voice... who was that?” he asked, taking the tape from the recorder. “Perhaps a partner of this Gaster guy?”

“Don't know... think they were in on it?” answered Fellby skeptic.

“They sounded a lot more... gentle,” Grillby added, thinking about it. “I don't know. Their voice was not on the other tapes... and they seemed to argue with… someone earlier in the recording... However, they did seem to know about at least Sans and Papyrus. Maybe a partner who didn't approve of the methods?”

Fellby shrugged at that. They really did not have much to work with. “Right,” he mumbled, eyeing everything in the room. “Let’s have the guards handle this for now.”

Which seemed to be Fellby-speech for , “I can't handle this anymore”. At least, that was how Grillby felt about the matter.

They had not seen even a tenth of what was recorded here but it was enough to leave them both feeling sick and lightheaded.

He gave a nod before walking over to the guards who were still waiting just outside of the room and explained what they found. He felt Fellby stepping up beside him just as he reached the end of his explanation.

“Sounds like we got a lot of work to do,” stated the Head Guard. “Thank you, Grillby and...” they faltered, looking at Fellby before continuing, “Fellby. This... is a bit more than I was expecting here.”

“It was no problem. I’d gladly help you anytime,” commented Grillby honestly.

“I know,” the Head Guard replied with a gentle smile. “Just go home and rest for now. Both of you.”

Fellby scoffed and pushed his way past the guards, walking down the long hall before Grillby could say anything.

His cousin seemed stressed so Grillby made his exit short, thanking the Head Guard and hurried after Fellby. “We should take the Riverperson’s boat back to Snowdin,” Grillby remarkd after several minutes of silence. To be honest, he almost feared that Fellby would have tried to walk through Waterfall in his anger.

“Great,” mumbled Fellby sarcastically, but took the turn in the road leading towards the river.

“They’re not so bad,” Grillby expressed with a chuckle as they walked up to the dock.

“Tra la la,” the Riverperson greeted them cheerfully.

Fellby glared at them as he and Grillby board the boat. “Could you at least TRY to not be so goddamn cheerful?” he snarled, his flames flickering irritated.

“I don't know what you mean,” replied the Riverperson with a smile in their voice. “Where will it be today?”

Grillby shook his head, taking at seat on the beat. “Back to Snowdin please.”

“Please hold on.” As soon as they said that, the boat began to speed towards Snowdin.

Grillby held on as best as he could, quietly observing Fellby.

His cousin was still standing in the middle of the boat; his arms crossed in front of his chest and looking unamused.

The boat hits a small current causing the water to slosh against the sides. Thankfully, only a small bit of sprinkles of water enters the boat around the edges though not nearly enough to hurt either fire elemental.

It did not faze Grillby much. Water would hurt, yes, but his LOVE was high enough that he could withstand quiet a bit of it before he would die. Not that he ever wanted to find out how much it would take to kill him.

A look at Fellby however showed his cousin tensing up, his flames becoming a pale bluish in color compared to his normal bright shine. He didn't know what was going on in Fellby's mind but whatever it was, it seemed to distress him greatly and there was still a very strong urge to comfort him. He just doubted his prideful cousin would allow that.

Grillby was relieved when the boat slows down and finally comes to a stop. Cold air greeted Grillby and calmed his mind. He took a deep breath. He was home again

“Here we are,” the Riverperson announceed their arrival back in Snowdin. “Come again some time.”

There was some snow in the air already. The blizzard season had just started though, it was not too bad at the moment. Still, they should not stay out to long. At least Fellby should get inside soon.

Grillby climbed out of the boat, looking back at Fellby. “Come, we better get home soon,” he stated. “At this time of the year, snow storms can come pretty suddenly...”

Instead of an answer or reaction, Fellby just stood still, quite.

A few moments of silence passed and even the Riverperson looked a bit awkwardly towards the flame still within their boat.

“Fellby?” questioned Grillby, worry growing within him. “Are you coming?”

Fellby still did not react; he remained standing in the boat, not moving an inch. Grillby was not even sure if he had blinked.

“Fellby?” he tried again, walking the short distance back to the boat. “Is everything alright, Fellby?”

Up close Fellby looked a bit like he had back in the lab, dazed and not fully aware, completely silent and far away. Grillby took a deep breath. A new flashback, maybe? He had to get his cousin out of it before he could say for sure.

“Hey,” he remarked as softly as he could. “Fellby, what’s wrong?” He climbed back on the boat, grateful that the Riverperson kept silent and still, and moves to Fellby’s side. Very carefully, he touched his shoulder, hoping that the contact would once again bring him back from where he drifted off to. “Fellby, can you hear me?”

The reaction came promptly this time. Fellby jerked with his whole body, knocking Grillby’s hand away from his body, blinking rapidity and looking confused. “What...where...?” he stuttered, looking around before focusing on Grillby. A frown spread across his face. “What?” he asks with a harsh tone before quickly stepping off boat, leaving a very confused Grillby behind.

After a seconds pause, Grillby shook his head, clearing the shock from his mind before hurrying after Fellby. “Fellby!” he called out. “Wait!”

Fellby continued forward not slowing his pace.

Grillby let out a growl and crossed the distance between them in a few long strides. “Fellby! What was that?” he demanded to know. “You zoomed out for a minute there. Is everything alright?”

“Don't start this shit again, Grills,” Fellby hissed, increasing his speed as though trying to get away from him.

“What am I supposed to do? I'm worried about you!” cried Grillby, feeling his frustration and anger flare up again inside him.

“Would you just lay off it?” hissed Fellby again.

“I just want to help you!” Grillby stated as they come upon the house.

Fellby yanked open the front door and quickly stepped inside, trying to slam it shut behind him but Grillby cached it and came in as well, closing the door with a soft click behind him.

“Grillby? Fellby? Are you back?”, questioned Swabby, looking towards the door no doubt having heard their loud voices.

“And I said I didn't need it so lay off,” growled Fellby, annoyed.

The problem was, Grillby felt pretty annoyed too. “Why? Why do you not want the help you obviously need?”, questioned Grillby again, ignoring Swabby for now and concentrating fully on the harsher flame.

He could not understand why Fellby was so insist on turning his back to such a serious problem. A problem Grillby knew could not just be ignored and ran from. He would be damned if he let Fellby get away with ignoring THIS problem. He backed down in the lab, this time he would not.

Fellby let out another low growl though his flames remained the pale blue that they had changed to during the boat ride. He shoves past the confused Swabby, no doubt in effort to get some sort of barrier between them.

“Fellby? Hey, what's the matter?” Swabby worriedly questioned.

Grillby stormed past Swabby as well, following after Fellby. “Fellby!” he called out frustrated. “Why are you running away from this? FELLBY!”

“What happened?” Swabby questioned again, confused as to what was going on between the two.

“I don't know,” Grillby answered. “We saw... the tapes and that was horrible but he just... no, I'll explain later,” he added with a shake of his head as he continued to chase after Fellby.

Swabby did not ask again, just following Grillby into the kitchen after the blue flame.

It was testament to Fellby’s state of mind; the kitchen did not have a door of it’s own and only one entrance.

“GO BOTHER THE BRATS” he shouted, walking up to the fridge, yanking the door open and looking at it's contents. His normal color was beginning to return; even more so, Grillby could already see a bit of violet mixed in against the blue.

If he were not so angry and frustrated himself, he would have realized that this would not end well.

He walked up to Fellby and glared at him, not willing to back down. “You had an attack, you were completely gone!” he shouted, not caring who would overhear at the moment nor whether or not this would make Fellby uncomfortable. “Twice! This is not something you should simply ignore! You zoomed out and froze on the boat just now. You could have fallen out of it and... do you even realize how dangerous this is?”

Swabby, bless his yellow soul, tried to get between them. “Hey,” he mutterd hesitantly, looking between the two. “Lets just um… sit down a minute and calm down a bit? Okay?”

“Yes, Grills,” Fellby growled out, his voice harsh once more. “STOP.” With that, he reached into the fridge and pulls out a bottle of whiskey.

Grillby blinked, looking over the bottle. What was that doing there? Whiskey didn’t go in the fridge! Whiskey should not even be in the house! There where children here! Besides, Grillby himself was not a drinker.

“You too, Fellby,” mumbled Swabby gently, frowning over at his cousin. “Whatever you are planning to do with that, please don't.”

“But,” began Grillby, though his words are cut off by Swabby.

“Now could somebody please tell me what’s going on?”

Instead of answering, Fellby let the fridge door fall shut, opened the bottle and took a long gulp.

Grillby felt his anger flare once more. He would need to search the whole house if there is any sort of alcohol that he did not know of. “Fellby!” he hissed out. “There are children in the house!” He hoped that his cousin would remember their six little charges and hoped that they were all still sleeping. They did not need to witness any of this…

Swabby did not say anything, moving back slightly to stand within the doorway, most likely to block the exit in the case that Fellby would try to flee again. Grillby was thankful for that quick thinking.

Fellby finally placed the bottle down, letting out a staggered breath. His center had turned a bluish purple tone from alcohol. Great, Grillby really hoped he was not drunk now on top of everything else.

Frustration and anger burned within him. His flames taking a red tint to them now. Grillby really was not violent per nature, but his LOVE and his anger really urged him to hit his cousin for being the source of these feelings.

Fellby continued to drink a few more swigs, before turning a glare upon Grillby. “Finally finished?” he questioned mockingly.

“No,” Grillby hissed back, anger barely contained. “I haven't started. YOU hadn't even started.” His flames flickered a bit, wanting out, wanting to DO something...

“Grillby!” Swabby exclaimed.

Grillby struggled to get his grip back on himself, to push his anger away. He managed to calm a bit down, his flames back where they should be. He choosed to glare at Fellby.

“Fellby, would you please sit down?” continued Swabby, sounding more tired than anything else.

“You stay out of this,” growled Fellby.

“I don't even know what I am supposed to stay out of!” Swabby remarked, looking at both of them. “Please tell me what happened. Did you find anything?”

Grillby felt like air was leaving his body. He felt too tired for this. There was no sense in forcing Fellby to start talking, so maybe a change of topic would do some good. Moreover, it could help calm himself down a bit. “Yes,” he sighed out. “The place the guards found... It was a laboratory. The Royal Laboratory. There were a lot of… reports about them. And... recordings.”

“Thousands of them,” added Fellby before taking another swing out of the bottle. “The bastard.”

“What about the tapes?” asked Swabby.

“Recordings of.... experiments.... really... really bad ones,” answered Grillby, his voice barely above a whisper. He did not know what was worse. What he actually saw or what his mind came up with for what must have been on the other tapes, born from his own imagination and the tiny scraps he knew from the boys themselves. He knew this would haunt him in his sleep for some time.

“W-what?” asked Swabby, sounding worried with a hint of fear.

Grillby really didn't know if it was the best idea to tell him in detail what they saw.

“They were showing what the bastard did to 'em,” Fellby replied, his speech already slurred a bit. Yet he continued drinking, his fire burning hotter now, shifting more and more to violet. “What he made 'em do.”

“What did he do?”

Grillby really, really did not want to tell him. He wanted to tell him not to ask but knew it would not be fair.

What they saw… The life the children had before they got away. The fact that it would have continued being their life had they never got out. Some of them could very well have died… Saz and Parz were starting to fall when they arrived in his care!

It just really sunk in at that moment.

These children had endured so much and the worst part was, it was by the hand of an other monster. Nobody had known. Nobody had helped them. Moreover, nobody could ever take that back.

In a spur of the moment, Grillby yanked the Whisky bottle from Fellby’s hand and took a swing himself. He spoke once he finishes the bottle, his eyes stinging though not from the alcohol. “He tortured them,” he whispered.

It was torture, plain and simple. There was no other description that would do what they saw justice.

He felt Swabby staring at him, most likely shocked.

Fellby did not seem to mind much.

A part of Grillby, the part that still wanted to smash something and burn, was a bit disappointed by that.

“Though we knew that much already,” Fellby commented. His flames were now a solid purple, just the tips remaining his natural blue color. “But... it was really... really heavy. All the while making Pyru watch it.”

“He made them hurt each other,” added Grillby, his voice sounding as haunted as he felt. “He hurt them and pitted them against each other, forced them to do task they couldn't possible do.” A sob was forcing itself out of him, his anger returning white hot, his flames reacting and blazing. “HE DRILLED INTO PYRU’S SOUL!”

Oh god, the scream still echoed within his mind.

Who does something like that? Who would hurt the soul of a monster, of a child at that?

Through the haze of his helpless anger, he could barely hear anything, his flames a deep red.

Red like the cursed determination, red like the blood humans had in their bodies. So much red. They burned and screamed while he laughed as the red boiled and turned black in front of him. He had been their maelstrom, the inferno that took them away, a hellfire that came to earth because they made earth hell for his kin.

Yet they laughed too when they killed his fellow monsters, when they shattered souls and scattered dust and he hated it, he HATED it, and his LOVE just kept rising… He was screaming against it but nobody heard him over the storm and the blazing fire...

STOP!

It lasted only a second and Grillby was back, blinking. Thousand years of experience taught him how to pull himself out, to take the pictures and put them away.

At some point, Fellby had begun laughing.

“Fellby?” asked Swabby, concerned.

Grillby just shook his head and looked down, glad that nobody had noticed his little trip down memory lane. One crisis at the time. He could do that much.

Fellby crossed one of his hands over his stomach and covered his mouth with the other, his laugher dying down to a quiet chuckle. His flames slowly cooling back to blue. He seemed to calm down a bit and once he composed himself, he too shook his head before standing up, moving past Grillby, most likely intending to leave the kitchen.

Grillby reached out to him as soon as he notices what he was doing, but missed.

Swabby, however, was still standing in the doorway blocking the exit. He looked shaken but stood his ground, looking Fellby directly in the eyes. “Is that true?” he questioned, voice shaking slightly.

Fellby did not answer. Instead, he tried to move past him yet Swabby moved with him, not letting him flee.

Grillby ’s respect for the yellow flame only grew more at that. As much as he wished that it wasn't so, he himself had no idea what to do.

“Fellby, please stay,” Swabby commented, his voice a bit more solid this time.

Surprisingly, Fellby just stood there, not really looking at Swabby, swaying a tiny bit. “Swabby, move,” he ordered, his voice deeps and husky.

Swabby did not budge. He continued to stand in the doorway until Fellby’s eyes focused on him. “Why?” he questioned, oddly calm considering that Fellby could really hurt him if he lost control over himself.

Grillby prepared himself, ready to step in if needed. But he wanted to trust Swabby with this. Maybe he could do something Grillby himself could not.

Fellby reached out and grabbed hold of Swabby's shirt, yanking the monster to himself only to slam him harshly against the wall, his hands still balled in his shirt.

Swabby cried out, looking shocked up to Fellby. “F…Fellby?” he whispered out in disbelief.

Before anything more could happen, Grillby grabed Fellby by his shoulders and spun the younger flame around to face him. “Fellby, what has gotten into you?” he shouted at him. He glanced past Fellby, glad to see that Swabby seemed to be okay. A bit rattled, but all right overall. He looked back at Fellby, furious. His cousin should know better; Swabby was not like them, he was down-right fragile next to them!

Before he could chide him for this however, Fellby’s flame sparkled brightly and with a cry, he swung his right arm in a wide bow, punching Grillby right in the face with a surprising amount of force.

Grillby was surprised by the attack, taking the hit and staggering a bit backwards. Yet somehow, he managed to kept his hold on Fellby. Despite everything, he still had a very high LOVE. Fellby's best just slightly grazed at his HP. He regained his bearing, staring at Fellby, his flames shifting into a darker red.

“Fellby! Grillby!” Swabby tried desperately to call out for them but Grillby ignored him and he was pretty sure Fellby didn't even noticed him.

Fellby let out a low growl, his flames sparking back to a solid purple. He shoved his whole weight against Grillby, pushing his hands away from him with punches and magic lava. It was a forceful attack but his moves were sloppy. Some of the attacks missed their marks and hit the table and a few chairs, causing them to ignite.

All the while, Grillby did not move an inch, just taking in the damage. Nothing what Fellby threw at him could really hurt him. He just kept standing there, taking in the damage while trying to snap Fellby out of his rage.

“Guys! Stop it!” cried Swabby while he was putting out the flames in the kitchen. “STOP IT!”

Grillby would if he could. “Fellby!” he tried, shouting harshly over the sound of Fellby’s attacks.

”JUST SHUT UP!” yelled Fellby loudly in reply, still attacking Grillby though now his attacks had switched to mainly punches and kicks. It seemed as if Fellby finally concluded that fire would be useless. Not that the physical attacks did any more.

Grillby had enough. He was done with Fellby’s bullshit. He grabbed Fellby’s arms and held them still, forcing him to stop his attacks. His own flames were now deep red, a bit blue flickering here and there. “Fellby, stop,” he spoke; his voice sounding clam and even despite everything.

“FUCK YOU!” Fellby spit out, using a few dirty moves to try to break the hold Grillby had on him, yet it failed. “LET GO OF ME YA BASTARD!”

“No,” replied Grillby, glaring. “Calm down,” he added, using the best soldier voice he had, still holding on to Fellby’s wrist with an iron grip. “I'm not letting you go until you are calm.”

“Guys, please stop! Y… you are waking the children!” pleaded Swabby but neither flame pays him any mind.

Fellby continued to fight and struggle, screaming out like a wild animal until he burned through all of his energy. His harsh violet flames finally began cooling back to blue, a bit lighter than his normal color. His breathing evened out, his shoulders becoming lax but he continued to stand against Grillby. Occasionally his arms would tense as though he is going to start struggling again but a small shiver would quiver through them and he relaxed once more.

Slowly, bit by bit, Grillby pulled Fellby more to himself, slowly turning the hold into a hug. His flames calms down too, changing from the deep red to a gentle orange-red again. Fellby went completely silent in his arms and even Swabby seemed to be holding his breath.

For a few minutes, there was nothing but the sound of their flames crackling and their breathing, Grillby was feeling every rise and fall of the flame in his arms.

“Grillby?” asked Swabby, carefully walking closer to the two. “Fellby?”

Grillby felt Fellby tensing a bit again, his breathing becoming slightly erratic as he begun to daze off again, just as he had in the lab.

Grillby could not do anything except to hold on to him. “Fellby?” he whispered as gently as he could. “Hey...”

Swabby came nearer, standing beside him. “Is he… Fellby, are you alright?”

Grillby could feel how Fellby begun to quivering slightly.

“Hey... it's okay,” he begun to whisper, trying to be as gentle as he could manage. It seemed as if Fellby was in the beginning stage of a breakdown and it was not looking good. Still, Grillby held on, looking to Swabby for a moment before turning his attention back to Fellby.

Fellby breathing became more like panting; his whole body was shaking and oddly limp in Grillby’s arm.

Grillby was sure he was the only thing that kept the flame on his feet. There was not much he could do now other than to keep holding him. He just hoped that the things he told himself whenever he had an attack would also help his cousin. “Shhh... it’s okay,” he whispered, slowly beginning to run his hand over Fellby’s back. ”You are home. You are safe.”

Swabby moveed slightly, placing his hand gently on Fellby’s shoulder. Fellby’s shoulder jerked at the touch and Swabby pulled his hand back, surprised by the sudden reaction. “S…sorry,” he mumbleed.

“Ssshhh...” whispered Grillby again. “That was only Swabby. You know him. He will not hurt you. Calm down. Come back to us.”

“Where?” asked Fellby, his voice sounding strange, almost hypnotized.

Grillby knew his cousin was still pretty far gone but slowly coming back. Relief floods his core. He just hoped he could talk him down and out completely. “You are home,” he continued to whisper. Because, really, it was. This was home. Not just his home but theirs as well. Fellby always came back here. “You are home. In the kitchen. Swabby is standing next to me. It’s safe. Nobody here will... hurt you,” he explained gently, still more or less guessing at the problem and sticking with stuff he knew worked with him.

Fellby let out a hollow sounding laugh.

It left the flames on Grillby’s neck standing on end. “Why are you laughing?” he asked gently.

Instead of answering him, Fellby stopped laughing, releasing one shaking breath after another.

“You are safe here. You can tell me,” continueed Grillby. Very gently, he begun rubbing small circles on Fellby’s back.

Swabby was still hovering nearby, seemingly caught between the desire to comfort and to give space.

“Fuck you,” Fellby mumbled finally, not moving an inch from his position. His face still pressed in the curve of Grillby’s neck, his words sounding slightly muffled.

“Why are you so angry at me?” questioned Grillby after taking a deep breath.

“Quit acting all... heroic,” he mumbled, sounding... defeated, hopeless. It was so different from his usual tone that it caused Grillby’s core quiver.

“I'm not acting. Not heroic of otherwise,” he stated gently. Being called heroic always left a sour taste in his mouth. “I care about you. I worry about you.”

“I care about you too!” added Swabby.

“Lair,” was the only word that came from Fellby.

“It is not a lie!” Grillby informed him, moving his head a bit to get a better look at Fellby. “I do care about you! You are my family, I want to help you!”

“Why do you think we’re lying?” Swabby questioned, looking upset himself.

“That never matter to you before,” Fellby half growled out, cutting off Swabby’s words.

“What are you talking about?” asked Grillby, confused. “If you had ever needed help, I would have helped you. Even before the children came to me!”

Fellby just gave off the hollowed laugh again, his body shaking in Grillby’s hold. “You're doing it again,” he uttered, his voice even stranger sounding than before.

Grillby felt how he tried to pull away from him but he held on, not letting him go. Not like this. “No! What am I doing? Please explain,” he commanded, nearly begging. “What am I doing ‘again’? Why would I have any reason to lie to you?” He was getting more confused by the second and desperate to help his cousin, to do SOMETHING.

Fellby turned his head towards him, slightly tilted and glared coldly. “You never helped,” he accused.

“What are you even talking about? Help with what?” Grillby questioned, feeling more desperate than ever. When had Fellby needed help? When had he failed to provide something that was asked for? It had to be serious, something that could let his cousin sound so broken...

Fellby was again trying to shove himself away from Grillby, but Grillby continued to hold on. He did not use his full strength; he did not need to.

He felt a second pair arms joining him as S wabby comes up behind Fellby, hugging him and holding onto him just as tightly as Grillby himself.

“Stop trying to run away. We want to help you,” mumbled Swabby against Fellby’s shoulder.

“Fellby, tell me. What horrible mistake did I make that you won’t believe me? I have no idea what you are talking about,” Grillby questioned pleading.

Fellby squirmed at the contact but does not seem to be able to push Swabby away either. Grillby was still holding his arms down after all. “Get off,” he growled out; his voice was still pretty weak, as well as his struggling.

“No,” Swabby replied, causing Grillby to look at him from over Fellby’s shoulder, surprised again by the strength in Swabby’s voice. “You keep running and shutting people out and keep hurting. This stops now!” he declared. “You are family and I want to help! Grillby wants to help! But we can't if you don't explain what’s happening… or if… if you run off… so, no. I’m not letting go.”

There was a beat of silence after Swabby’s little speech, before Grillby himself spoke again. “When have you needed help that I denied you?” he questioned, still wanting to know what he did for Fellby to act this way.

“Stay out of this, Swabby,” Fellby grumbled, ignoring Grillby’s question completely. “What the hell do you know?”

“Not a lot,” Swabby confessed softly. “But you are my friend and hurting, so I want to help. Tell ME why you think Grillby left you hanging somewhere.”

“Screw you!” he spitted out, turning his head as far as he could in order to glare at the yellow flame. “We're NOT friends and all this ‘family’ crap you keep rambling on about is a bunch of bull shit!” With that, he continued struggling within their grasp, wincing after a while before turning his glare back on Grillby.

Swabby looked quite upset at the statement. “Do you really think so? That we are not friends?” he asked, his voice small and a little bit shaken.

“If you think so then tell me what I did wrong! Why did you even come here when you hate me this much?” Grillby questioned, trying to look at Fellby’s face.

Fellby paused. He fell silent, dropping his head onto Grillby’s shoulder, looking away. “Like you care,” he mumbled monotone.

And something just... snapped. All of his anger was back. Anger at Fellby for being so frustrating, for not seeing how much he actually cared. Anger at himself for somehow overlooking that his cousin had some pretty big issues. “I care, damn it!” he shouted, roared even, his flames flaring up again.

Swabby stared at Grillby in shock.

Grillby backed up a bit and forces Fellby to look at him while he continued to rant. “I do care, Swabby cares! We fucking love you AND YOU WONT EVER LET ANYBODY HELP YOU!” he practically screamed in his face.

Fellby’s face changed from apathy to confusion to anger in front of his eyes. “I WAITED FOR HELP!” he screamed back. “I WAITED AND SCREAMED AND BEGGED BUT NO ONE CAME... NO ONE EVER CAME. NOT FOR ME!” His words seemed to echo inside their little kitchen.

Grillby just stared at Fellby in shock, trying to process this information. “W... what?” he stuttered, all anger and frustration leaving him. “When... who...?”

“I WAS LEFT BEHIND!” Fellby continued to scream, his voice breaking a bit with every word. “I WAS ABANDONED! FORGOTTEN!”

“When? Where?” whispered Grillby, his voice sounding weak to his own ears. He had not known anything about this, but there was no way somebody could fake such pain in their voice. “I.... I didn't know... by whom?”

“THE TWO OF YOU ALWAYS ASKED HOW I GOT ALONG SO WELL WITH THE BOYS... WITH PARZ AND SAZ WHEN THEY BACK FROM YOU” he continued, ignoring Grillby. “I UNDERSTAND THEM. I GET THEM... BETTER THAN ANYONE!”

“Fellby,” whispered Grillby, staring at him. “I… I never knew,” Grillby mumbled, holding Fellby close to his chest. “What happened to you?”

There was silence for a while, Fellby looking at him with wild, angry eyes.

He lowered his head suddenly. “The same shit...” he stopped, his body jerking, seeming to loose what little energy it had. “The same shit...” he repeated. Grillby could feel Fellby’s flame cooling, could see his body turning pale blue once more. “The same shit happened to me...”

Grillby’s thoughts were out of control. What did he meant with ‘the same shit’? It could not be the literal same. In addition, even if Fellby was a very remote member of the family, in the Underground he had always been accounted for, somebody always knew where he was or what he was up to. He knew that much for a fact, he had asked not only his family but the guards as well soon after the harsher flame arrived on his doorstep.

Yet ‘the same shit’… it could not have been the exact same, but... pain? Helplessness? Being trapped? Being at the mercy of a being that would not give it? The only time period where something like that could have happened was before the barrier went up… No one knew where everybody was and Fellby was off the radar for... some time. When he reappeared, the others said he was very different...

The war. Something happened during the war.

“You... you were... during the war? But...” he shuttered out, still struggling to make sense out of it in his mind. “I... I didn't know...” He looked at Fellby’s face and it told him all he needed to know. Something had happened, something terrible and it was something that was linked to the war and to an extension himself. He felt tears prickling in his eyes, echoes from the frozen screams of his boys on the tapes still in his mind, overplayed with the idea that Fellby could have experienced something similar. He was struggling to stand, so he slowly led them all to the ground so that they were all sitting on the kitchen floor. He held Fellby close again, his mind still full of horror scenario after horror scenario of what could have possibly happened.

Whole villages burning. D ust piling up around monster settlements. Monsters being forced to run, to do anything to survive. Monster that came screaming, running to them crying and with a LOVE they never wanted to have pressing down on their souls, to heavy for them to bear.

Fellby must have been somewhere in there. Maybe on the run, hiding somewhere, waiting for some one who would not come because no one even realized that he was alive...

Grillby had seen so many destroyed villages, had tr aveled so far... He had sworn to protect his kin yet all he ever did was kill humans and discover dust wherever he traveled. Now it seemed that he had managed to even let his family down.

Fellby remained silent during all this just laying against Grillby, his eyes hollow.

“I didn't know,” whispered Grillby, his voice shaky and broken. “I didn't know. I'm so sorry.” He begun crying before he realizes it, his own body light shaking. “I would have come… I should have come for you. I'm so sorry.”

“You,” began Fellby, his voice still weak and hollow sounding. “You were close... the humans spoke of you...”

“The humans?” Grillby questioned. Well, that proved his theory about Fellby being somewhere bad during the war right. “I... I never knew you were near any conflict zone…” Because Fellby should have never been there. Stars, he wished he could turn back time, travel to whatever tragedy his cousin had to endure and help him.

“They raided our village shortly after the war began,” Fellby mumblesd “No one was prepared...”

Grillby could almost see the villages the humans visited in front of his eyes. Sometimes they would receive cries for help only to arrive much too late. Other times, they planed to stop and rest at a safe haven and arrive to a burned down ruin with dust scattered across the ground. Sometimes they found survivors in the wild, wide-eyed and scared, mostly children who would tell them about a human army walking through their home, taking everything and leaving dust in their wake. Grillby remembers holding some of them in his arms while they were falling down, broken by their trauma and quickly losing all HOPE.

He held Fellby close to him, trying to banish the memories from his mind. “How did you escape?” he questioned, because... he wanted to know. He needed to know.

“I…” Fellby began but fell silent after uttering the single word, his body giving a violent shake.

“It's... it's okay...” Grillby mumbled. “If you had to gain LOVE like that...” Because, really, it happened. Monster had to kill, gaining EXP and LOVE. Every new piece of LOVE pressed down on one’s soul, never going away.

It was silent for a long moment, before Fellby finally continued. “ I didn’t.”

“What?” asked Grillby confused. He didn't gain LOVE? But... “You... but... how? How are you alive?”

“Hmm?”

“Humans are strong and always went for the kill. If you didn't gain LOVE the how did you survive?”

“I didn't want to.”

“You... You didn't want to what?” he questioned, afraid of the answer he might receive. Still he held on to him with the slight irrational fear that something would come and turn his cousin to dust as soon as he let go.

Fellby spoke again, his voice still had his hollowness as he mumbles against Grillby’s shoulder. “There were many times I just... wanted to give up,” he stated. “Many times I should have died. Yet… I couldn't.”

Grillby felt an increase of weight against his shoulder. Fellby most likely had just laid the full weight of his head against him. His cousin was practically emitting exhaustion.

“I never knew where I was,” he continued without pause. “How many times they moved me... from one place... to another... so many faces...”

Grillby felt his heart breaking for him. The war took so much away from monster kind.

Swabby had tears in his eyes too, shifting so he could hug onto Fellby’s back.

It felt a bit like a group effort to hold their cousin together. To hold their family, their friend together.

“I am so, so sorry,” Grillby heard himself muttering. And he truly was. He had sworn to protect but failed to do so. “Who were they? Who moved you?”

Fellby shook his head slightly against Grillby’s shoulder. “I don't know. There were so many people, so many different places,” he whispers. “After a while it all just blended together... then they mentioned you.”

Grillby still held on to the broken fire elemental in his arms somewhat surprised that he was allowing Swabby and himself to practically coddle him. Grillby really didn't know if that was a good or a bad sign.

“You were close by. I thought... I thought...” Fellby’s voice broke a bit more at that, a strange sound escaping his throat. If it was a sob or something different, Grillby could not know.

It must have been terrible. To gain hope that family was fighting in the war, to know that the army that could save one was near just for it to be dashed when no one came.

“I'm so sorry,” repeated Grillby. “Wherever I went there was only dust. I never knew you were… I would have given anything to have known.”

They stayed like this for a while; Fellby still limp in Grillby’s and Swabby’s embrace, before Swabby broke the silence. “How did you get back to us?”

“I… I killed them… and I ran…”

So he had gained LOVE after all. Grillby never wished that burden on anyone. Worse still, Grillby slowly got the impression that his thought, that Fellby was on the run after his village was destroyed, was false... It sounded more and more as if he was held captive for some time until he could free himself. Of course, no one would have found him like this. Humans did not just capture monsters, they had killed them.

“I'm so sorry,” he repeated, knowing it would not help anything, it would not change the horrors his cousin went through. He could say it until the day his fire extinguishes, but it would not heal the wounds left on Fellby’s mind and soul. “But why did the humans took you?” he questioned. “They killed everybody. Whenever there was an attack, there was only dust left. They never captured monsters. We never found survivors...”

He would never forget the images. They haunted his sleep and sometimes his waking days. Dust that piled up and clothes that were scattered across the grounds. A large robe on top of an orange and yellow striped shirt, the sleeves entangled with it…

Fellby had fallen silent against them, eyes closed.

“Fellby?” Grillby asked gently, but does not get an answer.

“You don't have to tell us,” whispered Swabby. “But Grillby is right, we really care about you. I wish we knew so we could have helped you sooner...”

Swabby had only been a child when the war started. Just a striped-shirt-wearing child, hidden away in one of the monster settlements. He could not have known and he could not have done anything. Grillby was the one who joined the army, who had the power to fight, yet did not help.

“I didn't know that,” Fellby muttered. “I just... the others just... even when I returned I was alone...”

“But... there were still many of us left in the Underground,” stated Swabby. “Didn't... didn't they help?”

Fellby shook his head, burring his face deeper into Grillby’s shoulder. “It took a while to find everyone after we were cast down here,” he mumbleed, his hand clenched into the fabric of Grillby's shirt. “I knew my parents, my village wouldn't be amongst everyone... I thought for the longest time that there were no flames... then one of the guards found me and brought me to... what was left of… the family.” His voice lowers at this part becoming barely a mumble, barely understandable. “It was a mistake.”

Grillby barely remembered that time. After the war was... not a very good time for him. He felt suffocated by his family quickly, by their praise and demand for stories of the war. They did not understood the LOVE that kept pressing against his soul, they did not understood how war for him was not glory or adventure… He knew they tried to help, making him feel better and welcome but, ultimately, it pushed him away.

He did not remember anything about Fellby during that time. He knew him as a little child, shortly before Fellby’s family moved to a more remote place. He heard about him from the family since coming Underground, but never had personal contact with him until the fateful mistake of sending a text to the false phone and summoning the harsher flame to his doorstep.

“I think I remember but not much,” murmured Swabby, deep in thought. “I was still young... and... Yeah...” he mumbled awkwardly and Grillby had a hunch why. Swabby must have been still a kid at that time so it would make sense that he was not allowed to interact with somebody deemed ‘unsafe’ for the company of a child by the family. “What happened?”

“No one would have me,” answered Fellby. “Things were difficult for me. I was... really angry. All the time. And... well... I had nowhere to go so I just... ran. I found Hotland... before the city was built. The molten lava... I just... stayed there for a while.”

“And you stayed there all alone?” Swabby gasped, his eyes full of pity.

“Yeah,” he replieed softly, letting out a shaky breath. “Then others came... I'm not sure how long after... and the city was built. The other flames came too... it became so easy just… ‘being’ that I… I just didn't care any longer... I was still angry. Angry outburst led to fights... to petty crimes... I was always in trouble with the city guards. And yeah, family? They didn't want me when I was just a angry teen, now I was an angry adult with problems with the law. Did you think they... would take me in with open arms?” He let out a bitter laugh. “No, no they didn’t.”

“I didn't know,” mumbled Swabby, mimicking the words Grillby used earlier. Words that did nothing to make any of it better, but were still true.

Stars, t here was so much they didn't know and somehow Grillby had the impression that, even now, they did not know half of it.

“I knew you weren't bad because... I didn't want to believe that,” continued Swabby. “But... they wouldn't tell me anything and I never knew where you were...”

“I hated how they told me I was a hero,” Grillby confessed. “I only killed people. You needed them more than I did yet they did not help you. This... I can't really excuse this.”

“But... we know now,” added Swabby, hope in his voice. “We can be there for each other now.”

Fellby let out a snort. “I don’t need your help.”

“Do you want it?” Grillby questioned and he felt Fellby stilling in his grasp.

“We want to help!” continued Swabby.

“It is nice… having people around, isn't it?” whispered Grillby. “We three and the children?”

Fellby stayed silent for a long moment, seemingly thinking.

Grillby gave him this time. He would have to do so me thinking later himself. However, one fact stood clear, his own answer: He enjoyed this family. He really, truly, was happier this last year than... most of his life all-together. The children were a delight and each of them a challenge but also a reward. Moreover, as strange as it was to have guests in his house, he liked the company of his cousins. Swabby with his fun-loving and light personality. Fellby with his... strange ways but ultimately good soul. They both brought him joy, somebody to talk to, somebody to interact with. He loved them. He loved the children and his cousins and this strange little family they were building together.

And judging by the way Fellby relaxed against him and Swabby smiled at him, he was pretty sure they felt the same.

“It's…” begun Fellby, hesitating. “Annoying,” he finished, his voice back to it's usual sharpness.

A movement against his shoulder told Grillby that Fellby was smiling. He couldn't help himself, he chuckled for several seconds; so, so relieved to hear the usual Fellby in these words. “Yet you always came back,” he said fondly.

“And I take annoying over terrible anytime,” chirped Swabby, grinning himself.

“You're the annoying one,” remarked Fellby, his chuckles vibrating through Grillby’s body.

It made Grillby so happy there were barely words for it.

Swabby right-out giggled. “I’ll take that,” he agreed.

“Who am I if Swabby is the annoying one?” Grillby questioned, feeling a grin form on his face as well.

Fellby seemed to think on that for a moment. After a long silence, he lifted his head, looking Grillby straight in the eyes. “The servant,” he stated, completely serious.

Swabby erupted into laughter, leaning into Fellby to muffle the sound, his shoulders shaking.

“I walked right into that, huh?” Grillby sighed out, but continued smiling.

Fellby fell once again limp against him, chuckling this time. “Idiot,” he mumbled with a strange fondness in his voice, before letting out a yawn.

“That ‘Idiot’ would be you,” remarked Grillby dryly, grinning.

Swabby finally seemed to gain control over his giggles. “Our Idiot,” he muttered.

Fellby did not protest against the notion and his new title, so Grillby booked this as a victory.

They stayed a bit like this, comfortable and more than a bit worn out. There was not much resolved or talked about at the moment, but they got there, they got through the worst of the storm and they deserved the break.

Fellby yawned again.

Grillby risked a look at the clock on the kitchen wall. “It's late,” he mumbled. “Maybe we should go to bed.”

Fellby just mumbled a tired “Yeah”, already half nodded off.

It filled Grillby with a strange fondness. He looked over to Swabby who looked just as tuckered out and tired as Grillby felt. “Go to bed. I'll put him on the couch.”

Swabby looked as if he really liked the idea. He begun to loosen his hold on Fellby but paused, looking concerned. “Will you be okay alone in the living room?” he asked Fellby, his voice soft.

Fellby let out a half-asleep hum, barely a response. He couldn't even keep his eyes fully open anymore.

Grillby resisted the urge to chuckle at that, gently nudging Swabby. “Go,” he whispered.

Swabby, bless his yellow soul, understood and with a nod to them, he let go of Fellby fully and made his way to his room as quietly as he could.

Grillby waited a second before slowly standing up, shifting his hold on Fellby so that he was carrying him like an overgrown child. It was a bit awkward seeing that Fellby was a lot bigger than one of the skeleton children, but Grillby managed to keep him secure and did not jostle him too badly.

He slowly made his way to the couch. Roughly at the halfway point, Fellby fell asleep completely, his head slowly moving from Grillbys shoulder until he was resting against Grillby’s chest.

It was almost adorable how much his cousin resembled the skeletons at this moment.

Though Fellby was hardly a child anymore. He was only a few years younger than he was! Still, even without knowing his past, Grillby had felt some sort of... responsibility for him. Knowing now just what he went through...

Well, Grillby had already opened his home to him. He would never take that back. He could expand the promise he made to the children for Fellby. He wanted to.

There was not a force in the universe that would keep him from protecting his family.

He placed Fellby down on his couch, getting a blanket and tucking him in before he could really think about his actions.

Fellby did not stir, most likely to exhausted from the day.

Grillby allowed himself to pet through the blue flames on his cousin’s head. He should head to bed as well. It had been a long day.

“Sleep well,” he whispered to Fellby.

Fellby looked peaceful in his sleep, his body relax ed and his flame glowing softly.

Finally, Grillby turned around and headed up the stairs to his own bedroom.

Maybe he would never know the exact circumstances of the past, but Grillby knew that the future would be brighter for all of them.

Chapter Text

Today was a bad day for Pyru.

No that was not right, the day itself was okay. They were woken by Swabby early this morning and got to eat breakfast made by Grillby after which they played the whole day together and it was even better because Fellby was there. Saz and Parz especially liked him and Pyru always felt more relaxed when he knew that those two were okay.

Therefore , up until naptime, everything was great. However, after naptime, there was only Swabby, telling them that Grillby and Fellby had to go on some adult-trip or something…

Pyru loved Swabby. Really, he was... he was great. Moreover, Swabby was a bright yellow so whenever he had nightmares, he could just go to him and his flames would hold the dark memories back. There was no yellow in the place. They were just white walls and darkness.

Therefore, Swabby was the best! H e laughed, joked and played with all of them, but still, Pyru was still upset that the other two flames were missing.

Swabby did his best during the day but Pyru could tell that he was nervous too. Something was wrong, something was happening and they did not know what it was.

Sans seemed to share his nervousness about these things, but still put on a brave face. “I trust Grillby,” he had said. “And Fellby promised to always come back. So... So it's gonna be alright.”

And it really did calm him down a bit.

That day was spent inside, playing games and cooking with Swabby, trying not to think about when Grillby and Fellby will be back.

At least Papyrus and Suny had fun that day. Their little brothers were awesome like that.

Suny seemed always to know when he was upset and decided to be extra adorable just to make it up for him. Really, their little brother was great.

All of his brothers were great! He loved them very, very much.

T he day passed okay-ish from there. Swabby made them dinner and tucked them in, saying that the other two should be there in the morning and that the faster they went to sleep, the faster they’d be able to play with them.

However, things got bad…

He was awoken along with the others by shouting. Very loud shouting. It was even ANGRY shouting!

Sure, F ellby was loud most of the time especially when he and Swabby where mock fighting, but never like that.

The worst part was when they heard Grillby shouting too. Gentle, quiet Grillby who had never raised his voice against anybody… yet they heard him screaming with so much ANGER and... they were overcome with fear.

Where they fighting? Why? What hap pened? Something terrible? Where they fighting against something? Did the bad man do something? Had he found them? Did somebody hurt them? What would happen?

There were so many questions and no way to get answers and they were all scared.

They stayed in their bed, huddled together, most of them in their canine form, hidden under blankets and pillows.

Finally, after an eternity, everything went silent…

The shouting was gone.

After a few more minutes, they could hear the telltale sound of somebody coming up the stairs. The bright yellow light that seeped under their door told them it was Swabby and they were instantly relieved.

Shortly after him came the red-orange glow of Grillby. Therefore, things were most likely not BAD anymore.

Sans told everyone that this meant that everything would be okay. That if Swabby and Grillby went to sleep like that, they resolved whatever problem there had been. Fellby was most likely sleeping downstairs, as they had not heard the front door, so he was alright too.

Pyru c ouldn't argue with this logic so, one by one, his siblings went back to sleep.

Just... he could not. He wanted... no, he NEEDED to make sure Fellby was okay and still there.

So, here he was, sneaking out of their room, slowly making his way down the stairs in the middle of the night. He was nervous, even knowing that there was probably nothing to be worried about.

The stairs creaked under his feet and Pyru froze. For a minute or so, he did not dare move a muscle. Yet, nothing happened… Taking a deep breath, he continued his trek down and into the living room.

He was instantly relieved to see Fellby's blue flame illuminating the room and to see him sleeping on the couch, just like always. Slowly, he creeped closer to him.

He just wanted to make sure he was okay. Just... just a peek and he could go back to their room and go to sleep like he was suppose to.

“Kid?”

The voice made Pyru jump in surprise.

There was Fellby, slightly turned towards him, his eyes blinking tiredly and sounding hazily from sleep.

“Uh...” Pyru stuttered, shaken and unsure what he should do now. This was not in the plan at all. “I... I didn't want to wake you... s...sorry. But…” His bones began to rattle causing him to realize that he was shaking all over.

Fellby rubbed his eyes, sitting up a bit. The blanket covering him fell a bit, brightening up the room even further. “Kid... why... are you up?” he asked, still not fully awake.

“Uh... we... heard shouting and it sounded bad and scary and...” Pyru rambled out as quickly as he could. “I just wanted to make sure you are okay, but it was so scary… sorry.”

Fellby blinked at him for a moment before cursing under his breath. “Shit kid...” He ran his hand over his face. “Sorry about... all that... you uh... you really weren't supposed to hear all that crap…” He laid back down on his side, lifting the blanket and petting the sofa in front of his stomach. “I just... uh.... I'm an idiot.”, he mumbled as an explanation.

Pyru took the invitation gladly, jumping up the makeshift bed and cuddles against him. The blanket came down over top of them; it felt bright and warm. He felt better like this already. “So you’re okay? You’re not going away?” he questioned, looking up into Fellby’s eyes.

“Going away?” Fellby asked, arms automatically wrapping around Pyru's waist, holding him close and warm and it felt nice. He must have noticed him shaking, because Fellby blinked and looked down to him almost shocked.

“We... we thought something bad was happening and you would go away or…” explained Pyru. He struggled with his speech, snuggling against the welcomed heat of Fellby’s flames. There were tears in his eyes and he hoped that Fellby did not see them. “Or that the bad man found us and... and it was so scary and... and the screaming was like... was bad.”

Screaming was always bad.

Pyru began shaking harder.

Screaming often meant his brothers were getting hurt. His brothers who didn't even have a name when he saw them and heard their screams.

He really wished h e could forget what he saw… no matter how hard he tried, the memories would always reappear in his dreams.

“Don't struggle or I'll use S-3 as the replacement.”

The bad man was always saying that. Don't struggle or he would do that to Suny. The bad man had already done bad things to two others, just like him… and the one he called S-2 looked so much like his brother and knowing that he was slowly falling down as time went on...

He was so glad that they were freed by whatever miracle, random chance, angel or whatever it was, but what happened still stayed with him. Screaming was bad. Screaming meant that somebody got hurt...

“Shit, Kid...” Pyru felt himself being pulled closer to the warm body, arms wrapping themselves tightly around him though not locking the hold, being easily breakable for him but not for any outside force. “Shhhhh,” Fellby's voice whispered to him. “I... shit...”

Pyru just grabbed hold of Fellby's shirt tightly.

Screaming meant somebody got hurt or will get hurt! There were too many hurt already and he did not want to loose one of his new uncles.

”Please don't go,” he whined. “P... please... t... they screamed... so much and... and got hurt... please don't get hurt,” the last words may have been broken and scrabbled by the heavy sobs that shook his whole body.

“I... uh...” came from Fellby, his voice resonating through his body.

Pyru felt some hesitant pets against his back. They were... kinda nice.

“I'm um... its okay kid.... c-calm down now,” Fellby said, his voice a bit smaller than usual. Soothing.

It was not exactly the best pep talk he ever got, but Fellby’s words helped to calm him. His trembling slows down more and more. Fellby was still there and being pet by him feels nice. His hands are warm and soft, very different from the bad guy.

“It's okay, kid,” Fellby continued to mumble softly. “I ain't going no where...”

Pyru was still trembling, despite everything. He tried to focus on the voice but it just didn't work.

Then there was a new sound.

Humming!

It was just a few notes... but it was there an d… It was Fellby!

Pyru could feel Fellby’s flames vibrating with each note.

It was quiet, just barely there but it was something Pyru could latch himself on to. He felt himself slowly calming down more and more, his breathing matching the ins-and-outs of Fellby’s torso.

Fellby had a very nice voice.

After a short while, the humming began to turn into a melody. A simple one, similar to a lullaby. Calm and quiet.

It fascinated Pyru. He stilled more, focusing fully on the simple noise.

Soon, the humming turned into soft noise; not really words, just syllables to help carry the tune. It was a clear melody; a few parts repeating themselves with no great highs or deep lows. Just a calm, relaxing melody.

Pyru listened to Fellby, not daring to make a sound. He had never heard anything like this before! He snuggles closer to him and smiles, relaxing against the blue glow.

A few minutes later, Fellby actually began to sing, his voice low, deep and gentle.

The melody did not carry far but it was not needed and the lyrics where... words but Pyru did not understand them. Still, he was very enraptured now. His breaths were deep and slow, his body had long since stopped trembling. Everything just... went away. It was only him, Fellby and the lullaby.

“Es rüttelt sich der Blütenbaum,” sang Fellby, his voice rising a bit but remaining gentle, “er säuselt wie im Traum... Schlafe, schlafe, schlaf ein, mein Kindelein...”

It seemed to be some kind of refrain; the words repeated a few times. Whatever the words meant, it was beautiful and Pyru felt himself drifting off, barely able to keep his eyes open.

After a while, however, Fellby ’s voice faded out midway through maybe the third verse, not finishing the song.

Pyru stirred, looking up to Fellby. “T… that sounded nice...” he mumbled. “Can you... continue?” Normally he would not ask for anything like that but... it was so pretty. He really wanted to hear more of the song. Moreover, Fellby could SING!

Fellby’s face flushed purple at his request and he looked away. “Go to sleep!” he said, his voice coming out a bit pitched from... embarrassment?

“Pleeeeesase?” pleaded Pyru, looking with begging eyes at Fellby. “I'll sleep, promise. I just wanna hear the rest...”

Fellby stared at him for a second before looking away again, at something far away and over Pyru’s head. He still looked flustered but continued the song, this time even prettier with more volume in the notes.

Pyru felt himself grinning a bit and snuggles closer to Fellby, settling down. He closed his eyes and relaxed once more, concentrating fully on the song.

“Schlafe, schlafe, schlaf ein, mein Kindelein...“

With a deep sigh, sleep overtook him.

The next morning came a bit too soon for Grillby . His alarm clock woke him like always, but he did not feel particularly rested.

Ah, yesterday. That was the reason.

But there was n o time to think on that now, he had a long day ahead of him.

He quickly got himself ready for the day and headed out of his room.

The morning for Swabby started with the realization that he never knew just how much Fellby has been hurt. He really did not know what to think about the fact that his family had let him down so much...

He had decided the previous night that he would polish up his knowledge about trauma and it's aftereffects. He had red a human book about PTSD once and it applied quiet nicely to what he knew and witnessed from Grillby, so maybe he could use this knowledge to understand and maybe help Fellby too?

The only problem was, Grillby at least never denied that he was not okay all the time. Swabby had seen him walk into the forest a few times and had found a track of molten rock later. He had seen him sitting in the kitchen late at night sometimes as well, a cup of Sea Tea in front of him. They never really talked about it and Swabby did not want to pressure him.

Fellby on the other hand… He had looked so miserable. Moreover, Swabby had no clue how to help him. At least they knew now... even if Swabby feared that they did not have the full story yet.

Nevertheless, the past is in the past, they would have to work hard to make the future better. That means getting up, helping the kids and have a nice breakfast and see what would happen from there.

Grillby and Swabby met in the hallway, in front of the children’s door. They greeted each other and, seeing what had happened the last night, both peeked into the room of the children, wanting to make sure everything is alright.

They were greeted with a very cute pile of bone-children.

Parz was snuggled up to Saz and Papyrus. Papyrus, in turn, was holding Suny close to his chest, his head lying on Sans’ stomach. Saz looks very content in his sleep while Sans himself held on tightly onto Suny and Papyrus.

The little noise made by opening the door seemed to have stirred Suny a bit. He made a soft sound, something between a “meep” and a yawn, while burying his head within Papyrus' chest, which caused Papyrus to mumble something that sounded like it could have been something to do with puzzles and flowers. Parz jerked his arm to the side slightly but it did not seem to faze any of the skeletons around him, leaving the children to continue to sleep peacefully.

But somebody was missing...

“Where is Pyru?” whispered Swabby worried. It was not unusual for one of the children to have a nightmare and seek comfort from either of them, but usually Pyru came to him.

Grillby looked at Swabby, worry on his face. “He wasn't with you?”

“No...”

“You look in first floor, I take the second.”

Swabby nodded and hurried downstairs, while Grillby went to search the other rooms. He would have moved past the living room, not wanting to wake Fellby after what occurred last night, if he had not noticed the small movement coming from the couch. Curiously, he came closer and had to cover his mouth as to not squeal out.

On the couch was Fellby, still asleep and curled up in a baby blue blanket, little Pyru snuggled against him. Fellby was holding the little child, who had transformed into his puppy form, close. Both appeared very content and comfortable in this position.

“Oh my stars, this is absolutely adorable,” whispered Swabby, unable to contain himself.

Needless to say, a photo of this moment went straight into his blackmail material. Tons of photos were made actually. You could say a skele-ton.

Swabby really could not restrain himself; this was too good, too cute!

“Swabby? Did you find...” Grillby’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

Swabby turned around and hushed Grillby quickly, a grin visible on his face. “Shhhhhhhhhh!” he whispered, flames glowing bright with excitement. “Look!”

Grillby turned his attention to the direction Swabby was pointing to and instantly broke into a smile himself, warmth spreading through his core. “Come on, before they wake,” he whispered, taking Swabby by his biceps and gently guided, or rather forced, the small flame out of the room, directing them towards the kitchen.

Before they were completely out of sight, Fellby seemed to stir.

The y both stopped and looked to their cousin.

Fellby made a noise, something between a hum and a growl, before curling up more around the child within his arms, resting his head on the small skull.

Swabby made a quiet, high-pitched noise, taking out his camera once again and quickly took another picture.

Grillby did not had the heart to stop him, chuckling as Pyru nuzzled against Fellby more.

“I'm dying, this is too cute,” whispered Swabby, his flames glowing a happy yellow and almost vibrating.

“Come on, Swabby,” Grillby whispered back. “I'm going to start breakfast. Would you mind waking the other children?”

“Can I install a hidden camera in you living room?” questioned Swabby, looking Grillby in the eyes. “For future cuteness capturing.”

“No.”

“Awww.”

Grillby half-pushed Swabby towards the stairs, giving him a LOOK.

Swabby giggles and made his way upstairs as Grillby entered the kitchen to starting making breakfast and fresh coffee.

The children, mea nwhile, were beginning to wake.

Suny, usually the first to wake, blinked a few times, the light in his blue eyes becoming stronger as he looked around, registering that Sans and Papyrus were curled around him. “Sans?” he mumbled, poking at his brother. “Are you awake?”

Sans stirred, turning his head towards him and yawning. “Hmm... Suny?” he mumbled, clearly only half awake.

Before Suny could say more, the door opened and Swabby walked in, illuminating the room even more. Suny blinked, Swabby seemed to be a bit glowier than yesterday. Maybe the bad noises really were just a dream?

“Good morning, children!” he greeted them cheerful, coming up to their bed and smiling at them like always.

Saz was awoken by that but opted to snuggle against Parz, mumbling something about “five more minutes”.

Parz remained asleep, allowing the contact.

Papyrus stirred too but seemed much more awake than the others. He let out a yawn and greeted Swabby with a cheerful “good morning” too.

Suny sat up and smiled brightly at Swabby. “Morning! Is breakfast ready already?”

“Grillby is making some as we speak,” Swabby replied, sitting down next to the children on the bed.

Sans blinked and let out a long yawn. “Is Pyru still down?”

“Yes. He is with Fellby. Its adorable,” Swabby answered, unable to hide the giddiness from his voice, because, really, it was that cute.

Sans seemed to be happ y with the answer, relaxing once more and yawning widely.

Suny stood and ran up to Swabby, hugging him enthusiastic while giggling.

Papyrus got up behind his brother, hugging Swabby too. He quickly noticed both Saz and Parz still laying in bed: Parz fast asleep and Saz smiling, not willing to move a bit. “Look at Parz,” he stated, hands on his hips. “We have another lazybones.”

“Yes! I'm not it!” exclaimed Sans, throwing his arms into the air as if he just won an important race.

Swabby smiled at the antics of the children, patting both Suny and Papyrus on the head before standing up again. “Come on, boys. Let's get you ready for breakfast,” he said, picking up Suny and tickling him lightly. The boy giggled and laughed while Swabby carried him over the closet, where he helped him into his clothes.

Sans got out of bed slowly, still yawning and draped himself over Papyrus, hugging him tightly as he squirmed.

“Sans! Come on, you’re heavy!”

“Seems like I am big boned, huh?”

“No, you're a bone-head!”

“Hehe... good one.”

“Saaaaaans!”

Both of them giggled, Papyrus turning around and giving Sans a proper hug, before going and pulling out clothing for the others. He turned around, looking at Saz and Parz before turning his attention back to Sans. “Sans, can you wake those two?” he asked while looking over an array of sweaters and socks.

“Yeah, yeah,” mumbled Sans, chuckling. He climbed back into the bed, crawling over to Saz and Parz, and sat down next to them. Carefully, he poked both of them in the side. “Guys? Come on, it's morning. We gotta get up.”

“Do we have to?” mumbled Saz, still not quite willing to give up snuggle-time with his brother. Their relationship was still... strange sometimes. Better than ever, better than in the lab or the time they were to hurt to do anything, but still... moments like these were precious.

Parz grumbled in his sleep, pulling Saz closer to him like a teddy bear, prompting Saz to go still again.

Sans felt his resolve wavering. He knew those two really had a hard time with affection and it meant a lot for Saz to have some quality time with Parz.

“Guuuuuuys! It's morning!” chipped Suny, now dressed for the day in a blue and yellow stripped sweater. “You two have to get up or you won't get breakfast! And without breakfast, you can't play!” he exclaimed, coming over to looking sternly at Parz and Saz. The result was more adorable than anything else but it was the thought that counted.

“You should listen to him,” Swabby said gently as he dresses Papyrus. After all, Grillby would have to work soon and the children most likely would like to see him before he left.

Saz sighed deeply before shaking his brother. “Parz? Wake up,” he mumbled, but Parz just grumbled, trying to snuggle Saz and refusing to wake. A few wriggles, even shifting in his canine form, did not free him from his brother’s hold. Saz was truly trapped.

In Suny's eyes, this just would not do! Resolve on his face he turned to Sans. “Aren't you going to get dressed, Sans?” he asked, determined to at least get this angle of operation ‘get ready for day’ covered and moving.

Sans chuckled a bit. “Are you waking Parz?”

“Yes!” Suny chirpped. “You go change; I'll handle our lazybones brother.”

Grinning, Sans agreed.

Parz frowned at the noise around him. “Go 'way,” came the muffled voice, still snuggling Saz close.

Saz seemed to have given up on the situation, a ccepting his fate.

“Quit being a lazybones, Parz,” huffed Papyrus, just finishing dressing in a white and red striped sweater and, of course, his favorite red scarf.

Suny thought about the situation, no, the puzzle at hand.

Parz seemed to refuse the idea of being woken or letting go of Saz, so maybe he should start with freeing Saz! He took hold of Saz' hand and tried to help pull him away. It did not work; Saz did not move an inch. The only effect this had was that Parz grabbed a pillow with his free hand and covered his head with it.

Sighing, Suny sat down in front of them and frowned. This was harder than he thought. He turned around when he heared a giggle behind him.

Sans, who now was wearing a bright blue and white stripped hoodie, came over again with mischief glowing in his eyes. “Wait... Let me try something, bro,” he said, winking.

Suny nodded, curious what his brother was planning.

Sans' grin got a bit wider and his left eye begun glowing bright blue.

A blue aura surrounded Parz, lifting him up a bit, freeing Saz in the process.

“Paaarz!” Sans sang out. “Wake uuuuup!”

Parz' eyes flew open, clearly shocked. He let out a shout and released Saz fully. Saz himself gave a surprised shout and landed safely on the soft bed.

Sans giggled at him, clearly amused. “Woke you,” he stated cheeky, while letting Parz back down on the bed.

Parz growled at him, half shoving Saz away, looking very disgruntled.

Suny helped Saz up, a bit afraid that Parz would just trap him again.

Saz smiled a weakly. Even if he tried to imitate the more aggressive and rough behavior of his younger brother, nobody could be rough towards Suny… Therefore, he allowed himself to be lead towards Swabby with only the minimum of resistance, grabbing his clothes.

Parz, meanwhile, was still glaring at Sans and complaining about his methods of waking him.

“It's your fault for being a lazybones!” stated Papyrus finally, coming to his brother’s defense.

Sans just giggled a bit at the sight of Papyrus, who was still more than a head shorter than him, standing in front of him with crossed arms and a frown on his little face.

“You can come over too, Parz,” said Swabby, who was helping Saz now donning a red and black stripped sweater. Saz and Parz both had troubles with clothes due to having more edges and sharp corners on their skulls and joints. Swabby was already gently preventing the fabric of the sweater from catching in one of the protrusions on Saz' skull.

Parz frowned but finally rolled out of the bed, still glaring at Sans.

“Sorry, Parz,” giggled Sans. “But we had to rescue Saz.”

Parz just huffed and walked over to Swabby, holding his arms up, allowing the flame elemental to help him get into his clothes too.

Suny was running around the room by now, nearly vibrating with unused energy as he waited for everyone to get ready.

Saz reached out as Suny ran past him and grabbed hold of the smaller skeletons in mid-jump and hugged – uh trap held! – him tightly to his chest.

Suny, however, seemed excited by the contact and wrapped his arms tightly around Saz in a bear hug.

“You were very tired today, huh?” stated Swabby gently as he placed his hand over the ragged scars that ran over the left side of Parz' skull. Swabby was very glad that it did not seem to effect Parz' eyesight.

“There was a lot of yelling,” mumbled Papyrus. “So we didn't sleep well.”

“And Pyru went to look but never came back,” added Suny, looking over to Sans as if asking a question.

Sans shrugged and smiled towards the small skeleton. “He was with Fellby and they were okay,” he mumbled. “I checked,” he added when he notices Swabby looking at him.

“You heard that?” Swabby asked, feeling a mix of embarrassment and horror. Really, they were adults, they should have been able to handle things more quietly... on the other hand, he couldn't hold the whole thing against Fellby or Grillby. The ordeal was rather… messy.

“Yeah,” answered Saz, pulling Swabby out of his musings. “It was really loud and...” his voice trailed off and he looked down to the ground, looking uncomfortable as soon as Parz’ eye fell on him.

“It was scary,” finished Sans. “We thought something bad happened. But it went quiet and you and Grillby came up… so Pyru went down to check. He didn't came back so I checked an he was with Fellby.”

“Is… everything okay? Fellby isn’t going to leave again?” Saz asked, his voice tiny and concerned. It nearly broke Swabby's heart.

“Uh… no… no,” Swabby replied, trying to sound as optimistic and sure of everything as he could. “I'm sorry you heard that… but it’s okay. Everybody is okay.” Well, at least he told himself that.

“Well, Pyru was with him!” chirped Suny happily. “Pyru wouldn't let him leave! So he can't leave!” He took hold of Saz' hands and nearly spun him around in a full circle as he began jumping up and down, laughing all the way. “He stays, he stays!” he cheered.

Saz, on the other hand, seemed surprised by the sudden cheers and jumping, quickly becoming dizzy.

Despite everything, these children were still just kids.

“Yeah, Pyru wouldn't let him leave,” Sans agreed, smiling at his brothers.

“Yeah, me neither,” stated Saz, trying to hold Suny still. Or at least get him to stop spinning him around in his excitement.

Swabby finally managed to get Parz' shirt and sweater on without any accidents and patted him on the head, chuckling at the antics of the children. “So,” he began, ginning at them. “Are all of you ready for the day? Moreover, you are forgetting something: Grillby and I won't let that silly flame go without a fight. We are family after all!”

Sans smiled at him a bit, obviously happy about the comment.

Suny giggled happily, wrapping his arms around Saz in a tight hug in response to the other skeleton trying to keep him still. It is a double trap hold now!

Papyrus, on the other hand, frowned at Swabby’s words. “But we don't want you to fight each other,” he stated pouting.

Swabby paused for a moment before smiling. He moved to his knees so that he can speak with the children eye to eye, lowering his voice to a more gentle and calm tone. “Hey... Me and Grillby and Fellby... We are adult monsters. Sometimes we get a bit silly and fight. Yesterday... was an extreme situation.” One could say that about the matter. “But we resolved it. Fights happen but we are still family and we still love you.” He smiled at them, looking at each of them. “And now we are going to eat breakfast together, okay?”

“But why would you fight?” asked Papyrus, confused while his siblings walk over to Swabby; Suny taking hold of one of Swabby’s hands and Parz taking Swabby’s other hand. “Adults are weird...”

Swabby chuckled. “That we are...” he agrees, smiling before sighing and looking at Papyrus seriously. “But... fights happen. Sometimes we hurt each other without meaning to or knowing that we do so. And... Yesterday was not a good day for Grillby and Fellby. But they are better now so don't worry.”

Papyrus seemed to think about his answer, before nodding, accepting his explanation. He took hold of Sans' hand, getting ready to go downstairs with the rest of them.

“Okay, let's go!” said Swabby cheerfully as he opens the door, leading them downstairs.

Grillby in the meantime almost had breakfast finished.
He estimated that Swabby would come down with the children any minute; therefore, it was best to wake Fellby now, figuring that his cousin would not appreciate it should the more hyperactive members of the household such as Suny woke him…

Grillby entered the living room, the sight of Fellby sleeping with Pyru curled up next to him still managing to make him smile and he truly hated having to ruin the moment. “Fellby?” he called out gently, trying to hide his amusement.

“Hm?” is the only response he received from Fellby, nothing more.

Grillby could not suppress his chuckle and sat down beside the blue flame on the couch. “Good morning, Fellby,” he stated. “Come on now, wake up.” He reaches out and touches Fellby’s shoulder gently.

As soon as his hand landed on Fellby’s shoulder, Fellby’s eyes snapped open and he slapped Grillby's hand away, before really noticing who it is. His body tensed and his eyes looked wildly around before falling on Grillby. “Shit,” he sighed out but quickly relaxes once more. “What?” he mumbled, an annoying undertone in his otherwise tired voice.

Grillby continued to smile. “I thought you may want to be awake for breakfast. And before Swabby finds you,” he added, pointing down towards Pyru who was still sleeping soundly. “When did that happen?”

Pyru choose this moment to yawn and snuggle closer to Fellby.

Fellby himself looked down and seemed only now to register the little bone dog. He quickly yanked away from Pyru, his flames flushing a tiny bit violet, and sat up, causing the boy to fall forwards into the spot in they had be laying.

This, of course, woke Pyru causing him to look tired and surprised, making a confused sound before shifting back in his humanoid form, looking at the two flames. “Fellby? Grillby?” he questioned confused between yawning. “Is it morning?”

“It seems like it, little one,” Grillby answered.

Before anybody could say anything more, the sound of several feet on the stairs drew their attention to Swabby and the other children joining them in the living room.

Fellby sighed deeply, looking at them and trying very hard to look like his usual gruff self. “Morning brats,” he greeted them like always, earning mumbled and yawned responses as well as a very energetic “MORNING!” from Suny.

Pyru perked up upon seeing his siblings, jumping from the couch and greeted them as well.

Grillby smiled and stood, walking towards the children. “Come along everyone,” he told them gently as he lead the small herd to the kitchen. “Breakfast is ready.”

Swabby smirked down at Fellby. “Slept well?” he asked cheekily.

“Shut up,” growled Fellby, glaring up at the yellow flame.

Swabby giggled. “I'm the annoying one remember?” he asked before his voice took a more gentle tone as he continued. “How are you?” he asked, walking over to him and sitting down where Grillby just left.

“No shit, you're annoying,” mumbled Fellby in return, putting his hand on Swabby's shoulder and pushing him away, although not harshly. “I'm tired.”

“There is coffee and family in the kitchen,” Swabby offered, patting the hand that was still on his shoulder. “Don't push us away, okay?”

Fellby stared at him for a long moment before yanking his hand away. “Don't coddle me, ya ninny,” he grumbled, looking away. “I was drunk. That's it.” He stood and quickly headed into kitchen, his flames still a holding tint of violet in them.

“You keep telling that to yourself,” he said playfully, following him and sitting down across from him at the table.

Grillby had already gotten all of the children in their chairs and had a plate of food in front of everybody.

Sans was grinni ng happily over his breakfast, already stabbing away at the strawberries and trying his hardest to pin one on his fork.

Saz, on the other hand, had this look of resignation on his face. Suny would most likely use him as a rag doll for the rest of the day and there was little he could do against it. He took this fact with a stoic expression like a burdened hero in a western drama.

Suny was vibrating with unspent energy and Papyrus was digging in his breakfast with gusto.

Pyru yawned, looking much more happy and relaxed than the last few days.

Suny looked at him, pouting a bit “Pyru, you were gone all night! Why didn't you come back?”

“Sorry, I kinda fell asleep,” mumbled Pyru, smiling sheepishly.

Suny could not keep up the pout, looking at him with his default smile, kicking his legs back and fourth in the chair.

“Buuuuut,” continued Pyru, grinning widely. “I have something to tell you! The most amazing thing!”

“Huh? What?” questioned Sans while dousing his toast in ketchup, looking curious like the other children.

Pyru hesitated, looking towards Grillby and Swabby, before shaking his head. “Later, I promise!” he whispered, beginning to eat himself.

Grillby chose this moment to place a plate with food and a cup of coffee in front of both Swabby and Fellby. “Dig in,” he told the two before fixing himself something to eat and sitting down with the rest of the family.

Once they finish eating their breakfast, the children, or rather Suny, announced that they were all going to go play in their room.

No one even bothered trying to stop them as the child run up the stairs together, enter the room and practically slammed the door behind them.

As soon as they are inside, Sans flopped down on a pillow, mumbling something about softness and never getting up again.

Pyru curled up beside the heater, already missing the feeling of sleeping next to the warm flame body of his uncle.

Saz quickly sat down on a pillow next to Pyru, looking at him with an serious expression and crossed his arms. “You promised that you would tell us a secret,” he stated.

“Uhhh! I wanna know too, please, please, please!” chipped Suny, sitting down directly in front of Pyru and vibrating from pent-up energy.

Papyrus and Parz came over as well, curious about the secret their brother was keeping.

“Okay, okay! I'll tell!” chuckled Pyru, stretching and sitting back up. He grined at his brothers. “I discovered something amazing,” he stated enthusiastically, an orange colored blush appearing around his cheekbones. “Fellby... he can sing! Really, really pretty!”

The reactions from his brothers were great.

A wall of confused “WHAT?” and “ REALLY” hit him all at once.

Even Parz blinked at his statement and stared at him flabbergasted. “That... no way! You... you're serious?” he asked.

“Singing? Like music? But... But not even Grillby has ever singed to us,” mumbled Papyrus.

“I wanna hear!” stated Suny, bouncing excited in his spot. “I wanna hear!”

“Yeah he sung for me,” confirmed Pyru, snuggling a little closer to the heater. “I... got really upset and he calmed me down,” he mumbled.

Sans looked at him with understanding. “The screams?” he questioned, knowing that Pyru was just as prone to nightmares as he himself . Loud noises and screaming did seem to set him off…

Pyru nodded, but smiles softly. “Yeah... it... it was bad... but Fellby cheered me right up.”

“Now I wanna hear too...” mumbled Saz quietly.

“Are you sure it was Fellby and not Swabby?” Parz asked skeptically, his eyes still locked on Pyru.

“And why did only you get to hear the song?” Papyrus added, pouting about missing out on something this exciting.

“It wasn't scary at all?” Suny questioned, remembering the one time Fellby told them all a very scary bedtime story. None of them could sleep afterwards, not even Saz and Parz! So, for him to sing a sweet song was a bit of a stretch.

“Or maybe you dreamed it?” offered Parz.

“That would have been a nice dream,” mumbled Suny, smiling.

“But if it wasn't a dream, I'd like to hear it too!” exclaimed Papyrus firmly.

“It sure was Fellby!” huffed Pyru. “Well, I think he was shy with singing… But it was really, really nice and he has a pretty singing voice... so I don't know why he’s so shy about it...”

“If that is true... it would be cool to hear him,” mumbled Parz still disbelieving him.

“Yeah!” shouted Suny, standing up and raising his arms high. “It would be soooooo great and...” he trailed off, his eyes becoming huge as an idea crossed his mind. “Hey, hey! Do you think he'd sing to us too? If we asked him really nicely?”

“Maybe?” answered Sans with a shrug of his shoulder. “We could try it.”

“Let's ask him! Let's ask him!” chirped Suny excited and was halfway to the door when Pyru snatched him up and cuddled him close, earning some giggles from the tiny skeleton.

“Not now... Tonight!” he stated, smiling and struggling to keep hold on his brother. “I think he won't sing during the day. Remember, shy.”

“Oh... okay,” Suny giggled out, covering his mouth.

Parz thought about all of this for a moment, making a serious face, before nodding in agreement. “Okay,” he agreed. “After Grillby puts us to bed, we'll sneak out. Tonight.”

Suny cheered with excitement, pulling out of Pyru’s grip and took hold of Saz' hands before jumping around the room with the other boy in toll.

Saz had no other choice but to hold on, looking pleadingly toward Parz, silently asking for help.

Papyrus cheered both of them on, a huge smile on his face and almost glowing from excitement.

“Welp,” Sans stated, leaning backwards. “I guess we have a good plan.”

“I'm sure he'll sing for us,” stated Pyru, determined. “We just have to ask.”

“I hope so,” Sans said, giggling a bit before looking over to Pyru, observing him while he flops down again, looking more tired than before. “You okay?” he asked, concern for his brother rising in his bones.

Pyru smiled up at him and nodded. “I've slept soooo much better this night... but I'm still tired,” he mumbled, barely containing a yawn.

Sans reached down, giving his brother a light pet on the skull.

Both of them stayed like this for a while, watching the antics of their brothers, before Sans broke the silence. “I also wanna know why they were fighting,” he muttered. “Swabby said everything is alright... but Grillby was screaming. This... is something serious.”

“They need to give each other big hugs!” Suny exclaimed, laughing. He stopped dancing around for a moment and turned, hugging Saz tightly to himself.

“I don't think I've ever seen them hug one another,” Papyrus mumbleed thoughtfully. “Hmm... maybe that's why Fellby is always grumpy! No one ever gives him hugs!”

Parz looked doubtful as Suny continueed to cheer.

“That’s a great idea!” Sans smiled at Papyrus brightly. “Hugs make everything better. We should hug him tonight too.”

Even Pyru nodded sagely and grins.

“We should get Swabby and Grillby to hug Fellby too,” added Papyrus. “I bet he’ll feel better after that.”

“Of course!” exclaimed Sans seriously. “Hugs make everything better, after all.”

“Yes! That HAS to be it!” Suny stated dramatically, letting out an excited squeal and begun jumping around once more, dragging Saz with him

“Okay, okay, Suny! Come on, stop!” pleaded Saz, trying to stop his younger brother. “I'll play with you but stop dragging me around!”

This at least prompted Suny to let go of him, turning to Papyrus. “Papyrus come play with us!” he cried out excitedly.

Despite everything, Saz had to smile at his brother’s enthusiasm. He shifted into his other form, yipping at his brothers.

Papyrus let go of Sans and ran over just as excited as Suny.

Soon the three skeletons were running around the room, mock wrestling with each other as Saz barks happily.

Parz ignored all of the commotion, frowning at Sans and Pyru. “I don't know if that... hugging thing will work,” he mumbled.

“Ah, I'm sure our bros make it work,” Sans stated, smiling. “They are great like that.”

“SANS!” cried out Papyrus, still chasing Saz around the room. “Come on, brother!”

“Welp,” giggled Sans. “I have no choice, do I?” He floped back down on a pillow and begun messing with Papyrus and Suny with his magic, earning cheers whenever he helped them and protest whenever he held them back and allowed Saz to escape.

Parz and Pyru watched them for a bit; Pyru with an amused expression and Parz with a slight frown.

“Do you really think it won't work?” Pyru questioned after a moment of silence between them.

Parz sat down, half facing Pyru and rubbed at the crack in his skull over his left eye. “I don't know... it's just...” he pulled his knees up, hugging them to his chest. “Something about Fellby... feels familiar... sometimes.” He shook his head, not knowing how to explain.

“Huh? What do you mean?” asked Pyru curiously. “Familiar?” He crawled a bit closer but is careful not to touch him, knowing that Parz was a bit... difficult with the whole ‘physical affection’ thing.

“I don't know!” Parz thought hard on it for a moment. “He just... seems different. Like Grillby but... not...? I just... I just can tell, okay?” Parz mumbled, crossing his arms and sinking back a bit in the pillow he was sitting on.

“He... was pretty upset and weird yesterday,” Pyru agreed, deep in thought. He looked over to Parz. “Parz, do you think they are hurting?

“What do you mean? Was he injured?”

“No,” Pyru replied, shaking his head. “But... upset. A bit like... when you and Saz have a fight after a bad... night... and you were sorry but couldn't say it? A bit like this... but not exactly... He was a lot... quieter... you know?”

Parz frowned at him with confusion. Fellby being quiet was strange!

“What do you think we should do?” Pyru questioned, looking towards their other brothers.

Suny was still chasing around Saz, giving off a squeal whenever Sans would lift him with his magic.

Papyrus was half transformed at the moment. His bones seemed a bit thicker and he kept changing between running on two legs to four legs, his long tail was whipping around excitedly, whenever he came close to Saz who was still trying to evade them.

Sans was still keeping himself mostly out of the action, just using his magic to make sure the game stayed fair and nobody got hurt.

“UGH I wish they'd shut up,” Parz grumbled, laying down and rubbing his skull.

“I think it's cute,” stated Pyru, chuckling.

Saz tackled Papyrus playfully before bolting in the other direction, Suny hot on his heels.

“We never got to... play like this before. Suny and me were always alone and... they took me a lot so he was all alone...” Pyru could feel Parz' eyes on him. “I'm happy we're here, you know?”

Parz remained silent.

“Uh... if... it's to loud for you, do you want to go into a hiding place?” Pyru questioned, pointing at one of them randomly. “I could do with a little quiet myself.”

Parz stood up and walked to the hiding place without answering, Pyru following close behind.

This spot in particular was a little space between a bookshelf the end table, separated from the ‘outside’ via a few spare bed sheets. The floor was made up of a few pillows with stuffed animals scattered amongst them.

Pyru remembered helping build this one... That had had a lot of fun with Swabby going over ideas of how to decorate the room.

Parz curled up on the pillows and Pyru flopped down next to him.

“Are you thinking of... before?” he asked.

“Sometimes,” Parz mumbled softly. The pillows muffled the noise from the rest of the room and Parz looked a lot more relaxed. “I think Saz does too. We... we're not like the rest of you. I'm not like Saz... I can't be weak like him.”

“But... you don't have to be... all strong, you know,” mumbled Pyru, looking at his brother. “I promise I won’t tell anybody. But... you are not weak, okay? You are my brother. And the others are our brothers too. We are not weak, we are family and we stick together!”

“You sound like Swabby,” Parz stated dully.

Pyru giggled. “Do I?” he questioned with a smile. “Is that a bad thing? Swabby, he-“ Pyru stopped, looking away. “He helps me sometimes,” he muttered, curling in on himself a little. “When I have nightmares.”

“So it WAS Swabby you heard singing!” exclaimed Parz.

“Noooo!” protested Pyru, bouncing in his spot. “Swabby... can't really sing. He tries but he's not very good,” he explained. “No, it was Fellby. Fellby is blue, sleeps on the coach and sings.”

Parz was still looking skeptical. “I guess, but it doesn't really seem like him...” he pouted. “He has never sung for us...”

“Maybe you just didn't ask him? I'm sure he will. He loves you! He loves all of us!” replied Pyru smiling, though his expression quickly turned serious. “Do you think... he isn't allowed to be weak either? Like you and Saz?”

“He isn't weak!” Parz protested hotly. “He is strong and cool!”

“I know,” Pyru replied quickly. “But... it's like you said about... that you can't be weak. He tries hard to be strong but you can't ALWAYS be strong… Maybe he is like that too.”

“But... he isn't weak,” muttered Parz very quietly.

Pyru reached out and very slowly petted Parz on his back. “I know. He is pretty strong. And cool. And we’ll get him to sing tonight!”

Parz nodded lightly, not quite smiling but his frown clearing up, leaning a bit into the gentle touch.

Pyru took this as an invitation to snuggled up to Parz like a cat. He let out a long yawn and smiled lazily. “See? Everything will work out so don't worry... We’ll figure everything out together.” He loosely hugged Parz. “Love you, bro.”

Parz tensed for a moment before relaxing, looking away. “Maybe we can hide in here a bit... while they're all playing?” he mumbled.

“Okay. We are pretty good hidden so lets just stay like this,” Pyru agreed, amused.

Parz leaned a bit against him and, for the moment, everything was all right. Just lying there, listening to the muffled voices of their brothers playing.

Outside their little hideout, Papyrus had shifted completely and was laying half on top of both Sans and Saz, barking happily.

Suny jumped up and down around them, still in his humanoid form. “WE CAUGHT YOU! WE CAUGHT YOU!” he cheered.

Saz struggled a bit, before whining and shifting back to his humanoid form. “Yeah, yeah, you got us,” he mumbled, smiling tiredly.

Sans beside him just grinned, not even trying to get up. “Looks like it, huh?”

Papyrus shifted back too, releasing his brothers and sharing a high-five with Suny. “Now, now we have to show them MERCY too!” he stated, grinning at Suny. “It's the right thing to do after all!” He helped Saz and Sans up. “That's what Grillby always says.”

“Pap’s got it right,” agreed Sans, smiling brightly. “Sparing is the best option. Or not fighting at all.”

“Lets play some more!” exclaimed Suny as though not even hearing them and took hold of Sans and Saz again.

Sans promptly flopped down to the floor again. “Mercy!”

Saz, on the other hand, got dragged into more activities by his two overly hyper brothers.

Pyru was on the brink of sleep, smiling a bit at the sound of his brothers having fun, when Parz nudged him sharply in the ribs.

“Hey... don't fall asleep on me!” he huffed.

Pyru yawned and blinked. “Okay, okay, I'm awake,” he mumbled, leaning a bit more against his brother, who allowed the notion with only a minimum of grumbling. “You are getting better at this,” Pyru commented, remembering the first weeks when Parz reacted with aggression to any sort of physical contact as soon as he was strong enough to move on his own.

Parz half-shoved him. “Shut it.”

“Nope,” Pyru replied, giggling. “It's good! It's a good thing. You look happy. And you sound like Fellby.”

“S-shut up!” Parz cried out, shoving against him again though not nearly with enough force to push Pyru away.

“Nyeh heh heh heh,” laughed Pyru. “Come on, bro. Aren't you happy?”

They heard some rustling and laugher from outside, Suny's and Papyrus' high giggles and Saz' slightly deeper laugh.

“I'm... glad that we don't have to... hurt anymore,” Parz mumbled after a while, sighing deep. “Though I know some times I hurt him... and the others... I don't want to but... I do...”

“I know.” Pyru petted Parz slightly. “But you are getting better. You are sorry about it and get better the next time. That's all that's important.”

“I never even think about it though... Does that make me... evil... like in the stories?” Parz questioned, looking at Pyru. “I mean... I sometimes just... do things. I just get that I hurt somebody when you or Sans are telling me what I do... That... that is pretty evil, isn't it?”

“No!” exclaimed Pyru quickly, hugging the smaller skeleton to his chest tightly. “You are just... hurt. Like... like the hero who gets hurt and has to learn a lot so they can be better. Like... the story where that one guy lost his arm and he had to learn to live with one arm and then he made himself a cool metal arm. Like that. Not evil,” he closed his argument, nodding to himself.

“But the heroes never hurt people... I... I have... I've hurt Saz more times than I can count and...” He touched the crack running against his eye socket. “I just,” he mumbled, looking down and letting Pyru hug him.

“Saz forgave you, remember? It wasn't you, it was the... the bad man. He made you do it...” Pyru mumbled quietly. “And sometimes the bad guys make the heroes do bad stuff, remember? Like the story that Swabby told us where the heroes had to steal something to save their friend…”

“But I did it and never even cared!” argued Parz. “Saz always said he didn't want to do it... but I just... did everything without thinking about it...”

“You didn't know better. The... bad guy was really bad. He did really bad things… And you are sorry now.”

“Y-yeah... you're right,” Parz mumbled, sighing deeply and snuggling into Pyru’s side. “The... bad guy... He would have let us die...” he whispered. “He... he left us to fall down.”

“Yeah,” Pyru breathed out, thinking about what he had seen and heard in his last days at the lab. Seeing Saz looking hopeless and so close to falling down, hearing how he was supposed to be a replacement. Knowing that he had brothers who he couldn't protect, who were hurting and broken and who almost didn't know how to be brothers anymore. “I'm really glad you are all okay,” Pyru stated.

“Did... did bad things happen to you... and... the others too? Sans sometimes… he was hurt too... but you look strange sometimes too,” mumbled Parz, looking at Pyru.

Pyru looked away, unwilling to met his brother’s eyes. “They... I think they did something to Sans and Papyrus. I... I think I got them to leave Suny alone. But...” he halted, going silent.

“Pyru? Are... are you okay?” Parz questioned, unsure of himself.

“He hurt my soul,” whispered Pyru. “It hurt... very badly.” He hugs his knees to his chest and takes some deep breaths. He never told anybody this, not even Sans and they had talked about a lot of things.

Parz placed a hand hesitantly on his shoulder, but pulled back again quickly. It was just a helpless try to comfort without knowing how to do it but for Pyru it was enough. He snapped forward and hugged his brother, holding him close and trying very hard not to think about what happened to them. They got out, after all. The angel or whatever Sans had seen had rescued them and now they were a full family.

He felt Parz hesitantly wrapping his arms around him, very lightly and very shaky and to be honest, Parz wasn't very good in the whole hug-thing, but it was enough for Pyru. Enough to hold on to when he felt himself shaking.

“Parz?” he questioned, his voice very quiet and tense. “T...the guy... he... he can't come back... can he?” It was a recurring nightmare for him, especially prominent in the last few weeks. The bad guy finding them, taking them away again, making him watch while his brothers hurt each other and making him hurt his brothers. “I hate the nightmares,” he continued. “This... this guy... he did so many horrible things... To me, to you, to... to everybody and... and I'm scared,” he whispered. “He did so... so many bad things.”

“Do you want to go see Grillby or Swabby?” asked Parz, knowing that this was the go-to-option for any nightmare-related freak-outs.

“No... It's alright,” Pyru answered, taking several deep breaths, calming himself down like Swabby had taught him. Think about something here and now, take deep breaths. Everybody is here and well, the others are just outside playing, Grillby will keep them safe, and nobody can ever hurt them like this.

“P... Pyru?” questioned Parz after a while, sounding almost as nervous as Pyru felt now. “I... uhm...” He moved a bit in the hug.

Pyru understood and released him. “Sorry.”

“No, it's... Okay. I um... am not very good at this...” mumbled Parz.

“It's alright,” Pyru said, smiling weakly, still taking deep breaths. “You're doing alright. Thank you.”

Parz looked at him a bit uncomfortable but accepts the notion.

They stayed like this in silence for a while, listening to their brothers. It sounded like Sans was now talking the most, while Saz could no longer be heard.

“I think Saz has fallen asleep again,” mumbled Pyru.

“Yeah... he is lazy like that...” Parz agreed.

“He looks tired all the time,” Pyru stated. “And sometimes I think he really doesn't want to sleep.”

Parz looked away with a sigh.

Pyru yawned himself, snuggling a bit deeper into the pillows on the ground.

Parz watched him and poked his skull. “Are you... going to sleep?”

“I am tired,” Pyru mumbled, yawning again. “And... we will try to get Fellby to sing tonight so we have to stay awake for that... but...” His words were broken by another yawn. “I just don't wanna have nightmares.”

“Did... did Fellby singing help you?”

“...yeah. Normally Swabby is the best...” mumbled Pyru. “But Fellby... I didn't have a nightmare after he sung... I really want to hear that again.”

“What if we all just told him we had a nightmare? He'd sung for you last night so maybe... he will do it again?” he questioned. “...IF you hadn't just dream that.”

“I didn't dream that!” protested Pyru. “But... but it could work,” he continued. “I mean, we all have nightmares sometimes...”

“Yeah,” mumbled Parz. “But... you... uh...” Parz looked a bit uncomfortable again. “But you look really tired so... you can sleep now. You should even! At least as long as the others are distracted... And I... uh... I am looking out for you so there are no nightmares…”

Pyru looked at him surprised but the expression quickly turned into a smile and he curled up beside Parz. The gesture was... nice. Something he did himself with Suny and Papyrus. As long as somebody was guarding them, nothing could get them. Not even nightmares. “Thank you,” he mumbled, yawning again.

Outside of their little fort of solitude, Suny was looking at the sleeping Saz, still pouting. They were having such a great time and now his brother was asleep again! Nevertheless, Sans told him not to wake him so they ended up moving him to some pillows and tucked him in, playing only quiet games now.

Suny did not mind quiet games but it was so much more fun to play loud games! Loud was great, loud told him that his brothers were all around him and when they laughed it meant that everybody was happy! Silence told him nothing.

It was silent at the bad place. Just him and Pyru… even Pyru went away for long stretches of time, coming back exhausted and hurt only to stay silent, trying to hard to not let him see but Suny SAW everything. He just had tried to be extra loud and happy for him to make up for the silence…

Come to think about it...

“Where did Pyru and Parz go?” asked Suny, looking around, only now noticing that two of his brothers were missing!

“Oh, they’re hiding,” answered Sans with a giggle. “Just leave them be. Parz looked a bit down and Pyru seemed tired.”

“Oh... okay,” mumbled Suny, pouting even more. This was just like his brother, alright... always slacking! On the other hand... He was tired at the bad place, wasn't he? He often took Suny in his arms and would hug him, not letting go for a very long time… “Are they okay?” he asked a bit more subdued.

“I think so. Don't worry,” Sans replied. “Just give them a bit space.”

Suny nodded. Sans usually knew what to do, so he trusted him. Sans had led them through all the places, knew where to get food, and had carried him and Papyrus sometimes through long runs in the night. Moreover, Sans was the one who found Grillby. Clearly, his eldest brother was very wise.

“I have found the puzzle!” exclaimed Papyrus, running up to them with a big puzzle box in his tiny hands.

Suny looked at it skeptically. The picture on the box showed a pretty scene with many colors : Flowers, a little house and a rainbow. A number indicated that there were 500 pieces.

“That looks really cool, bro,” Sans stated, smiling. “Come, Suny... let Saz sleep for a bit and let's just do the puzzle, alright?”

Suny sighed deeply and flopped into Sans' lap, mumbling “Okay” while Papyrus opened the box and dumped all the pieces on the ground between them. It was not ALL bad, he supposed. The puzzle looked really nice and Sans was hugging him, leaning over his shoulder to look at the pieces himself.

Papyrus was busy scattering the puzzle pieces, frowning down at them. “I have tried this puzzle a few times already,” he informed them. “But it's so difficult! AND I can't get the pieces to go together.”

“Let me see, Bro,” said Sans, looking over the pieces himself. “How about we first sort them a bit? Everything that is a corner or part of the sides goes in one pile, the rest in another.”

“Okay? If you think that'll help…” mumbled Papyrus, starting to sort the pieces.

Suny felt himself reaching forward. Yeah, this was actually fun! “Oooh! This piece is yellow! It's pretty,” he exclaimed, placing the piece on the floor with a pile of yellow pieces. “Oooh! I like this one, too!” He held up a green piece. “Though this one is nice, too,” he added, picking up a red piece.

“That's all the pieces,” stated Papyrus, frowning. “Most of them are yellow, green and red!”

“I know!” giggled Suny. “I like all the colors!”

Sans chuckled at the antics of his little brothers. “Then let's see what we can make out of all of the pretty colors, huh?”

T hey did not made much progress.
Suny would try to match pieces together based on their color without much thought about there shape and Papyrus would try to force complete random pieces together.

More than once did Sans intervene and guide them to whatever they needed at the moment. Not that he minded. It was pretty cool to spend some time with his little brothers and they both seemed to be having a lot of fun doing this.

“Sooo... How far along are we?” he questioned after a while, having just wrestled a very stubborn piece into its right place.

“All the colors match up!” chirped Suny happily. “And we have... a bit of the outer part?”

“I just can't figure out how they go together,” mumbled Papyrus, glaring at two blue colored pieces in his hands. “They are the same color, they should go together!”

Sans chuckled and came over to him, looking at the small pile of blue pieces. “Look, you have to really look at the shapes. See?” he instructed, holding a piece up. “This here has a big hole and the part that should go in there on this piece is very small so it's not the right one. We need one with a big one.”

Papyrus listened intensely, looking at the pile and dived in with new gusto, searching for the right piece.

“How do you know all this?” questioned Suny with awe.

Sans already opened his mouth to tell him but stops himself. The answer was during a more harmless test, back before everything went bad, there were a few simple tests. Color and shape matching tests.

A gentle voice that praised when he was successful and gave advice when he failed.

He often asked himself it the voice was even real. There was only ever the bad guy. No one else… so maybe the voice was just a dream. Maybe the tests were just a dream?

Instead of an answering, he gave a shrug of his shoulders and smiles. “I like shapes,” he answered. “They come in SPARES,” he added, giggling.

“UGH!!! No puns, Sans!” protested Papyrus, which just made Sans giggle harder.

Little Sunny was giggling too.

This was perfect!

“But... but they’re so punny! Tibia honest, you could say they are humerous,” he continued, erupting in giggles again.

Papyrus screamed, throwing his hands in the air, while Suny rolled around, laughing.

“Were they that bad?” he asked, grinning at his brother.

“No puns!” declared Papyrus.

“I liked them!” chipped Suny.

“NO!”

“Awww but I wanna hear more,” Suny stated, grinning.

“SANS! STOP CORRUPTING OUT LITTLE BROTHER!”

Sans laughed and snatched up Papyrus, hugging the smaller skeleton tightly to himself. He then looked towards Suny, grinning brightly. “Look at that, Suny… Our own brother hates puns! How shall we ever live?” he questioned, striking a dramatic pose with Papyrus still struggling in his arms.

“It's very grave-ious to me!” answered Suny, giggling himself.

“UGH not you too!”

“What's up, bro? Can't stomach the puns?”

“But we have no stomach,” Suny stated, frowning.

“YES! Because we are skeletons!”

“SANS!! SUNY!!” shouted Papyrus, glaring at his brothers.

“Come on, Papyrus. Where's your funny bone?”

“AAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Papyrus' scream echoed through the house.

After the children left the kitchen to play, Fellby watched as Grillby started putting on his coat after wrapping a scarf tightly around his neck. “Are you seriously going to work today?” he questioned annoyed, looking outside where it was already snowing. Swabby would not be able to leave to house anymore due to this weather and Fellby did not dare to venture outside any time soon. “The weather is shit and what if the guards come?”

“I have to, money is still something we need,” Grillby stated, finishing buttoning up his coat. “And should somebody come here instead of the bar, you could talk to them or fetch Swabby for them.”

Fellby felt a small pang of guilt at these words. Shit, he felt kinda bad about blowing up at Swabby yesterday. Grillby could take punishment but Swabby... he hadn't deserved all of that.

“I'll be back soon. Should everything else fail, you can send for me,” Grillby added gently. “Just keep an eye on the children.”

“Oh come on, Grills!” tried Fellby one last time. “I don't wanna be stuck here with the ninny!”

Grillby just turned around with a tiny smile on his mouth. “You'll manage,” he said softly. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

And he left before Fellby could say anything else.

In fact, Fellby needed a few seconds to register that Grillby just walked out of him.

Welp, there was nothing he could do now. He walked into the kitchen and sat down, watching Swabby do dishes. It was fascinating, in a way.

Swabb y wore one of Grillby's aprons, a black and white classic, and long yellow protection gloves. He did his task methodically, working through the stack of plates, cups and silverware. He even SMILED while doing it!

Long story short, Swabby was weird.

Fellby looked towards the window with a sigh, watching the gentle orange glow of Grillby's flame disappear in the distance. “Damn it,” he mumbled.

Swabby did not turn around, continuing working on the dishes. “Everything alright?” he asked. “Grillby go to the bar?”

“Yeah,” he replied humbly, still looking out the window. It was kinda hard… just thinking about the whole thing yesterday. Geez, he practically cried into Grillby’s shoulder and... It was all so confusing! And conflicting! And a lot of things he really didn't want to think about! Nevertheless, that was the problem. He thought about Grillby and the issues he had with him and things got so confusing and muddled that he just didn’t want to think about it anymore.

The only other option was Swabby and, well, he wasn't as much of a ball of issues at the beginning but after a year? This was a fucking tiny little yellow flame! What was this idiot even DOING in Snowdin?!? He could literally die from something stupid like a snowstorm or a bad gust of wind if he didn't have magical protection on! Yet it was he who had hurt him...

Swabby never feared him, even riled him up and seemed to enjoy arguing with him even if he more often than not ended things with blackmailing… he was always laughing, no matter how bad some days were.

Yet he had snapped at him and hurt him… He could have dusted the guy if Grillby wasn't there…

Stars above , he wasn’t even sure if he had a conscience anymore! Why did he feel so fucking bad about this? It was Swabby’s own damn fault!

Yet it did not matter what he told himself, the bad feeling stayed and festered within him.

Fellby sighed, looking out the window again; half-wishing Grillby was still here, even if his musings about the other flame would not bring him a peace of mind either.

He was pulled out of his thoughs when he notices that Swabby just finished washing the dishes.

He placed down the last plate next to the sink to dry and turned around, sitting down opposite to Fellby on the kitchen table. “Hey... not calling me an idiot for ten minutes? That's not like you,” he stated, a small grin on his face. “What's on your mind?”

A whole fucking ball of issues and problems from which he was running away from all the fucking time. Welp, he couldn't say THAT to him, of course. Fellby looked at Swabby, to the yellow flames that seem to flicker so friendly. “Look, I –“ he begun but was interrupted by a loud cheer coming from above, causing both himself and Swabby to took to the ceiling. “Sounds like they're happy,” he grumbled, shaking his head. The thought he just had passed. “I need more coffee.”

Swabby stood and walked to the coffee maker, chuckling all the way. “Sounds like it, huh?” he said softly while searching for two cups they could use. “I'm so glad... It's a far cry from last year, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” Fellby mumbled, thinking back to when he first arrived here. Those kids were bad off. The two largest were paranoid and hostile towards anybody other than Grillby and the other kids, whereas the two smallest were playful but scared especially so of Fellby himself… the last two were on the edge of falling down.

They made him break his promise of never using his healing magic again. They were bad off but, somehow, Fellby felt he couldn't let them down. They knew what it felt like to be trapped, helpless in the face of pain and humiliation, to be forced to do things you never wanted to do, to lose all hope yet manage to get away, not feeling like this was the best course of action.

It wa s a small miracle that they were so well off now… Able to laugh and have fun. Enjoy birthdays and... well, with Grillby, they were sure to have a great life.

There was suddenly coffee in front of him and Swabby across the table. Fellby did not question this, just took hold of his cup and sighed happily.

“At least they are happy now, huh?” Swabby said, looking at him.

Urgh, he had almost forgotten they were in some sort of conversation now. He took a long gulp from his cup; damn, Swabby could make some really good coffee!

Yeah of course it was good knowing that the kids were alright. Especially after the tapes... stars, what sick bastard did something like that? The humans had been horrible but monsters were supposed to be better than that… Monsters are made up of kindness, hope, compassion and all that shit!

A shiver ran through his flames as bits and pieces resurface for a split-second. The burn of water, the look in the eyes of the human he dubbed Red, the horrible pain in his core and emerald eyes… The first EXP he acquired, feeling magic so similar to his own… sadness, fear, pain and hope that seemed to blend and mix together into a single emotion an ebb away into nothingness… Killing him was MERCY but the EXP lays so heavy on his soul.

Shit, he hadn't thought about that in... in a very long time. All this family crap just... drug everything back up.

Yet there Swabby was, still looking at him.

Fellby took another sip of his coffee, enjoying the taste. “I can't say I blame them for being... a bit loud...” he mumbled, sighing. Swabby was still smiling at him causing the guilty feeling to resurface and shit, shit, he really felt bad. “Look about last night...” he started before trailing off, searching for the right words. Hell, he searched for an entire concept. Was he sorry? Was he not sorry? Please forget everything you saw and heard?

Swabby shook his head. “Hey... I'm not...” he took a deep breath, looking back to Fellby. “If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to,” he stated, looking nervous himself. “But... I really want to know about... stuff like this. You and Grillby don't have to withhold things from me, okay… About the kids… or you.”

“You didn't see those tapes,” Fellby muttered out, adverting his eyes. It was for the best. Nobody like Swabby should see this heavy shit. “But that isn't it... you...” Fellby glanceds back to Swabby, at the flickering yellow flames, remembering how they flickered against his hands, how tense the body underneath became. “I didn't hurt ya, did I?” he questioned, trying and failing to sound uncaring about the whole thing.

Swabby looked at him a bit surprised.

Geez, did he really gave off this much of an an unfazed attitude? God, he felt WORSE about everything now!

“Oh no,” smiled Swabby, waving his hand. “No... you just... Uh... Grillby was between us before you could do anything and Grillby... yeah...” he trailed of and Fellby gave him a single nod.

Neither of them knew Grillby's actual LOVE but they knew it was high. He was ridiculously strong and being surrounded by the snow and ice did not seem to faze him in the least.

“You sure?” Fellby mumbled. “I mean, I was really... well drunk and...”

“You could have but you didn't,” interrupted Swabby. “That's what’s important.” He looked Fellby in the eyes. “I'm not afraid of you,” he stated firmly.

Damn. He had said this... what, a million times alr eady? But still, it was strange hearing it.

“So, what about the tapes?” he asked. “You and Grillby were very... uh... vague? I mean, what you said sounded bad but...”

Aw, fuck, he kinda hoped that Swabby had forgotten about those things. “They were horrible,” he grumbled, taking another swig from his coffee as if it was whiskey. He could almost feel the burn of the alcohol from yesterday... and yeah, that had been a bad idea. “And there are thousands of them, one of each time that bastard did something to them.”

“So many?” questioned Swabby quietly. “What did they do to them? Please tell me.”

“Horrible things,” Fellby answered vaguely, staring into his coffee.

“Fellby,” Swabby pleaded. ”Please. You don't have to go through to all details, but... I want to know what we are dealing with here. Some of the children come to me in the middle of the night and I have no idea what to do or say because I have no idea what they are actually going through. I just want to know what happened to them… Please.”

“Shit, Swabby, I thought they were horrible! Do you realize how fucked up that is?” he shouted before taking a deep breath and shaking his head again. “But damn if ya wanna know... he tried to get them to attack each other. Parz did. Sans refused.”

“Do what you are told, you worthless monster!”

Not the time for this bullshit, brain.

“I didn't see anything about Pyru or Suny... there weren't that many tapes with Pyru's name and I don't think there were any that had Suny on them... but from what I saw, the bastard kept them in groups : Sans with Papyrus and Saz with Parz so maybe Suny was with Pyru the whole time...”

“That makes sense,” Swabby agreed softly. “They do seem to share a stronger bond with one another than the others at times but... making them fight each other?” He shook his head, his eyes going wide. “Wait... Pyru said that they forced him to... to watch tapes about Saz and Parz…”

“Yeah, one of the tapes there showed him being held to a chair and forced to watch,” Fellby stated, the thought of the chairs alone made him shudder again. “The guy said he'd hurt Suny, I guess... he kept calling them by some code. Grills said that they all had numbers on them somewhere, but I... I haven't seen them.” He shook his head, trying to clear his own thoughts. He could almost hear the voice again…

Get on your feet, monster! Heal them! Heal them or be punished . Stay quiet, I don’t want to hear another peep out of you!

Shit, he went half-crazy during that time… these kids had this shit all their lives!

His knuckles begun to hurt and he glances down, only then realizing he punched the table in his anger. “Damn it all,” he hissed harshly.

Swabby was silent for a second and Fellby was thankful because, really, this was getting annoying. Years of telling himself that he was over all this shit and now it was all over him and shit, he wasn’t sure what to do about any of it.

“Pyru and Suny have theirs on their legs,” Swabby mumbled.

For a moment Fellby was confused about what he was talking about until it hit him. The markings. Shit, really? What sick bastard did such things?

“On the upper part of the femur,” continued Swabby. “They hide it. I don't know where the others have their numbers... I only know because I helped them bathe a few times.”

Wait, when did Swabby ever bathe them? He was a yellow flame, that was way to dangerous! Fuck, surely during the first few months. The times when Grillby looked like he would just... fall over. Ugh, he felt even worse now.

“But... it is the truth then? They made him watch whatever happened to Parz and Saz?” asked Swabby.

Fellby just nodded.

“Why?” he questioned. “Did... was there any reasons why?”

“In every video, the guy kept saying ‘experiment’,” Fellby mumbled. “Shit I think he just got enjoyment out of it. He... kept smiling and there was this one tape where it started off okay but then he did a fucked-up thing and SMILED about it and...” Fellby shook his head, shaking away the laughter he heard within his mind. “Swabby, this bastard is as sick as they come.”

Swabby shuttered at his words. “That sounds messed up,” he whispered, looking down at his own hand, the yellow flames flickering and glowing a bit stronger. “How could a monster be that cruel?”

Fellby had been asking himself that same question since leaving the lab. He knew humans could be fucking terrible but another monster? What ever happened with ‘made out of love and compassion’? Where the fuck was the compassion with this bastard?

“Do you think King Asgore knew about it?” questioned Swabby.

King Asgore... somehow in all the mess, Fellby had completely forgotten about him. The rooms were just a small part of the larger laboratory that was used by the Royal Scientist!

“It was happening at the Core,” he growled out, angrily. He felt his flames getting higher, though not changing in color. The fucking Core, the lab of the Royal Scientist... how could Asgore NOT know about this shit?

On the o ther hand... Asgore was one of the nicest monsters in the Underground. The King had even shown him kindness more times than he could count whenever he managed to get into trouble back at the capitol… He wouldn't ever let something like this happen. It wasn’t in his nature.

But what if?

“Shit,” he cursed. “They were in the fucking Core! There are... hundreds of monsters there every single day and NOBODY noticed SOMETHING?”

“Yeah,” Swabby sighed out sadly, looking down. “Did... did they arrest the guy?”

“No, they don't have him... not yet,” Fellby stated, feeling helpless in the matter. “The guy's name is Gaster and he… fuck,” he trailed off, trying to think of a way of describing Gaster. He found that it was impossible to remember him clearly. How... strange. Was it because of his flashback? He rubbed at his temples. “The guy was in the videos but I... I can't remember,” he continued, taken aback. How could he forget someone who hurt those kids that much in such a short time? He felt disgusted at himself.

“Yeah... that uh... that was something I wanted to ask you,” said Swabby. “You don't have to answer me but... it's important. What... what part of the tapes triggered you?” he questioned. “You don't have to tell me what memory you returned to but it would be good if we knew what kind of things we shouldn't do around here… around you.”

“Honestly?” he begun, looking at Swabby. “I have no fucking clue. That... that hasn't happened in a very long time.” He drank from the coffee again before continuing, “At least I don't think so...” Because, really, that was the truth. He had lived alone for quite some time and had not cared about anything during that time. If he were being honest with himself, his flashback scared him. No, not scare… it was damn right terrifying.

Swabby made a soft hum. “Just... if you are noticing something, can you tell us? I am serious with wanting to help you… even if it's just making sure you're okay.”

Fellby looked to Swabby and... yeah this... this was still the ninny that claimed not to be afraid of him and wanted to help... everybody. Nothing really changed… and that was okay. “I'm not going to break, ya big baby,” he stated, grinning a bit.

“I know,” he replied with an almost catlike grin. “There you are again,” he chuckled softly but quickly became serious again. “But really, can you please TALK to us if something is on your mind? If not to me then with Grillby?”

“What's with you two all of the sudden?” Fellby questioned, frowning. These two were suddenly all over the ‘Let's talk about shit’ and ‘I care’ stuff...

“What do you mean ‘All of the sudden’? I’ve always cared about you,” stated Swabby, his yellow flames glowing brightly. “You just never let anybody in this house do something.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why do you think I still invited you to MY family reunions? I didn't think you were as bad as the rumors say. Moreover, after getting to know you better? Of course I care. Grillby is the same. He just... wasn't around family and stuff for a long time… But he wouldn't have let you stay if he didn't like you.”

“I...” Fellby began, though has to pause, thinking about... everything. Grillby especially. About the first day he came here. “He asked me why I even bothered showing up here...” he mumbled, shaking his head, frustrated with himself, and, to an extension, with Swabby. “Ack, quit getting me off track!” His voice was raised but not quite shouting “YOUR family reunions would still be theirs you idiot.”

Swabby sighed deeply. “I know. Still, if I invite you, you are MY guest. If they have a problem with that, I would have make them leave,” he explained logically. “Why DID you show up here?” he asked in afterthought. “I mean, even if Grillby asked for your help, you didn't have to come.”

Fellby stared at him and Swabby stared back, a smile beginning to grow on his face as if he already knew the reason. The reason Fellby really, really did not want to think about.

“I just... needed a place to hang low for a bit. I got into a lot of trouble in the city,” Fellby begun to explain.

“We both know that this is the reason you justify everything with. You would have had a LOT of other options yet you came to Grillby. And you stayed and came back… several times.”

“I only came here because I got his text!” he argued back.

Swabby giggled. “Whatever lets you sleep tonight. I'm glad you are here.”

And damn, this was the reason Fellby didn't like to think about... shit like this. Whenever Swabby said something like that, his core felt all… weird. “You're too cheerful,” he grumbled.

“And you are a grumpy grump but I still like you,” replied Swabby, still smiling.

Again there was that weird feeling around his core. Damn Swabby, damn him to... to anywhere, somewhere far away from him! He almost missed the fact that Swabby was looking at him seriously again.

“Have the guards said anything about how things will go the next few days?” he finally asked.

“Not to me,” Fellby shrugged. “Don't think they really trust me...”

Ha! ‘Don't really trust’ him? They trusted him about as far as they could throw him and considering that he wouldn't let them touch him, it wasn't anything at all. The list of petty crimes he committed was rather long, as well as the list of crimes he did not commit but was the suspect for anyway… Besides, the distrust was more than mutual.

“Well, you kind of have a track record,” Swabby mumbled.

Of course Swabby knew about his tra ck record, the damned blackmailer.

“I just want them to find this person and take him away. I... I’m really uncomfortable knowing that whoever hurt the children is still out there.”

Fellby nodded in agreement. He was more than ‘uncomfortable’ with the thought himself.

He could hurt them again. He could c ome and take them just like the humans took me. He will drag them down into the dark... Darkness all around, blue flames to dim to see anything.

The glow of Swabby’s flames dragged Fellby from his thoughts; the darkness chased away by bright yellow magic. Swabby must feel pretty strongly about the matter. Fellby watched the other monster’s flames flicker for a while in silence. It was... nice. Bright and yellow. It really suited Swabby and… it kept darkness away.

“Uh...” Swabby was looking at him, his flames having since returned back to normal, a more subdued yellow, yet still shined brightly. “Is everything alright?” he asked awkwardly, a tint of green flickering over his face.

“Hm? Oh yeah… Just thinking about something,” Fellby mumbled, still holding the yellow against the darkness of his memories.

“About what?”

About what happened to him. How he always had fantasized about somebody saving him, about the flame soldier who was the only monster the humans ever spoke of in real fear… How he wished this soldier would find him… How crushed he was when nobody came. About how he projected the soldier image on Grillby and that felt good and bad at the same time. Good because he finally had a face to blame everything on, his frustrations and the feeling of betrayed. Bad because he knew deep down that it was unfair, Grillby couldn't have known and that he wasn't at fault, his cousin really was kind hearted.

About how strange it felt to hear that both Grillby and Swabby cared for him. About how strange it was to know that the children loved him. About how strange it was to be in a place where people actually wanted him around and regarded him as a person, not just some criminal from the capitol. About how much he wanted this yet at the same time feared it.

About how there was much about Swabby he just did not understand. His friendliness, his forgiveness… How he could even stand being here in Snowdin knowing that every step he took outside was a risk for his health or worse his life. About the flickering yellow that was natural on him and would most likely never burn any hotter. About how the elemental across from him was so fragile in comparison with himself.

“You, Grillby and the others,” he answered finally, pausing a moment as though trying to find his own thoughts.

Swabby waited patiently for him to say something, looking at him curiously.

Fellby did not even know where his thoughts were wandering at the moment himself. His gaze settled on the flickering flames of Swabby’s arm. “All of you... your fires...” he begun, making a hand gesture towards Swabby. “You burn so lowly. Even Grills' fire is hotter than yours and the others but...” He raised his own hand, looking at the blue flames. “Mine has always burned like this.” He lowered his hand once more, glancing towards Swabby again. “But...” he closed his eyes, rubbing his temples.

Quit struggling . Heal them! Oh, do you not want to? A little hothead, aren't ya? Maybe we should cool you down a bit.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Shivering against the cold and a darkness even his own light could not illuminate.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

He forced his eyes open and noticed that Swabby was still looking at him, a mix of worry and confusion written clearing on his face.

“Hey,” he mumbled, voice almost too soft to hear. “Your fire is fine as it is... isn’t it?”

“I...” Fellby shook his head. “It's normal for you but... I hated it,” he stated, his voice becoming inaudible. His mind still struggling to stay in the present, to stay here.

“Hate?” Swabby questioned, blinking at him.

A part of Fellby was thankful for the distraction, for Swabby’s voice to ground him in the here and now but, on the other hand, he dreaded it because it brought questioned.

“Why do you hate your fire color?”

“It's not that,” he replied. “I was just thinking... is all...”

“About what?” asked Swabby very confused. “That mine and Grillby’s fire spectrum is colder? It doesn't really matter, does it?”

“But... aren't you cold?” he questioned suddenly. He remembered. Cold water being forced into his mouth, being forced to swallow the burning cold acid. Laying on the ground surrounded by coldness.

Help me. Kill me. Please mercy!

Watching as his flames changed from blue to red to orange then green… and finally yellow, barely there. Unable to speak, barely able to breath. Everything hurt and was so cold. Worst of all, he couldn't even scream. Pleading in his mind for a god, an angel, for anyone to show him mercy and just let him die… Hoping for the Flame Soldier to come and rescue him…

A flicker of light pulled him back. Right. Bright yellow, not the same dim, barely alive he was.

Swabby looked thoughtful. “I don't like being in the cold for long.”

Stupid idiot could DIE from being in th e cold for to long. Fellby knew; he saw his HP fall a few times when he was outside for extended periods.

“But for the most part? No. I'm normally not cold... Why? Do I seem cold?”

A part of Fellby wanted to laugh. Swabby had no fucking idea. He had no idea how it felt and would most likely never have any clue. He was just a simple, yellow flame. He burned so cold that if he lost only a tenth of heat like Fellby himself had, he would die before truly feeling how terrible the cold was. Swabby would never have any idea how COLD really felt.

“Well... you're fire, so that was a stupid question,” Fellby mumbled.

Swabby gave a small chuckle. “A little, huh? But... what about me being cold?”

“It's... nothing. Like I said, it's stupid.”

“It had to be something, otherwise you wouldn't have started talking about it,” stated Swabby.

And damn him and his stupid friendliness. How did this guy survive? Yes, monsters are made out of love and compassion but not all of them are NICE. Fellby had seen on the tapes that even among monsters there were some that were as cruel as any human was. Grillby, he could understand a bit. Grillby could afford to be kind and friendly. He was freakishly strong! However, Swabby? Out here, anything on the outside could kill him!

“Shut up,” he growls, his voice not as solid as he would have liked it to be in that moment. He shook his head lightly.

“Fellby...”

Urgh! H e just couldn't let go, could he?

“Okay, fine,” growled Fellby, taking a deep breath. “Let's change the question. What's the hottest you ever burned? What made you get that way?”

“Uh... my hottest?” Swabby asked, thinking about it for a moment. “After... Pyru told me about the tapes...” he begun, voice carefully controlled. “I... couldn’t go back to sleep and I... burned pretty hard. I think it was... very bright? A bright green perhaps? I felt... ugh... desire to see this... person put away for hurting them, for them to get their justice. That and I was angry… Very angry...”

Oh stars... a bright green? That was barely halfway between yellow and orange. And that was his hottest?!? This was unbelievable… Shit, this guy was unbelievable!

“Just green?” Fellby questioned, a chuckle forcing itself out of him. “Wow, you're more of a ninny than I thought!”

Swabby gave a shrug of his shoulders.

“Okay then,” Fellby continued, getting a bit more serious. “What's the lowest you ever burned?”

That seemed to confuse Swabby a bit.

“I don't get much lower than what I already am,” he stated. “I can go a bit... less? So it is still yellow but less of me? It doesn't happen often.”

“And what is the lowest you ever seen the other flames go?” Fellby continued the questions. “Say... reddish orange ones like Grillby.”

Swabby thought about the question for a long moment, uncomfortable. “Some of them turn really light orange but most of them turn yellow... and lower than that...” he almost whispered.

Fellby was a bit surprised about that. He would ha ve guessed that Swabby had maybe seen green or light orange but lower than yellow? He... really did not know much about Swabby's life before he met him, come to think about it…

“I think Grillby turned white one time when he got really sick during one of the family reunions. He... didn't came back for a long time,” Swabby continued thoughtfully.

That got Fellby’s attention. “R eally?” he asked, thinking about that for a moment. What could Grillby have seen that would have caused him react in such a way? He was in the war, he fought against humans... Could his cousin have had experiences with water too?

“Yeah... it was a bit of a... big thing back then,” Swabby mumbled, sighing deeply. “But... what about cooling down?”

“When you cool down it feels... cold. God I hate it here,” Fellby stated, glaring at the snow outside through the window.

“You mean Snowdin? Do you get cold easily?” Swabby questioned. “I thought... well, Grillby burns hotter than me... and he likes the cold here... I thought maybe you would like the cold as well…”

Of course Grillby would like the cold. He said it himself, didn't he?

“Yes, I mean Snowdin,” snapped Fellby. “And no, I don't get cold easily.” He took a deep breath, eyes still focused on the window. “I just... don't understand him... Why can't he just be normal and live in Hotland?”

“He likes it here because not many of us are here,” Swabby answered, drawing Fellby’s attention back to him. Swabby looked thoughtful, gazing out of the window himself. “I think he felt crowded after the war and wanted some space. That and... have you ever checked his LOVE? Or asked him?”

He never had. Grillby said his LOVE was high, but how high could it possibly be?

“Do you remember yesterday? You... you hit him pretty hard and it barely did anything to him. I mean... I think he feels... safe here.”

“I know he killed a lot of humans,” mumbled Fellby. Who didn't know? “So it has to be pretty high... I uh... can't really sense it though,” he confessed, letting out a soft sigh. He could sense HP but not LOVE. “But... aren't you afraid to be here? It wouldn't take much to kill you and we're surrounded by snow and ice. That doesn't bother you at all?” Fellby questioned, pointing at the frost covered window for emphasis.

“Well, I know it's dangerous,” stated Swabby seriously. “I'm staying mostly inside because of it.” He shrugged and smiled softly. “And yes, I'm afraid sometimes. However, I still like it here. I love the children. I love spending time here,” he admits, his voice gentle and his smile becoming wider. “And if I'm in trouble, I'm sure you and Grillby would find a way to help me.”

Stars, he really was to trusting for his own good.

Fellby snorted. “And let your blackmail rampage continue? Unlikely,” he stated with a smirk while holding the coffee mug out to Swabby. “Better be useful and fill me up so I will have more reasons to rescue you.”

Swabby giggled at that. “I sure hope that there are more reasons for you to rescue me,” he said while refilling the cup. “And I only blackmail you when it’s for your own good,” he added grinning. “But really, I'm not really afraid. Why did you ask in the first place?” His grin turned devious. “Are you worried about me?”

And shit. Fuck no. No, he was not getting attached to the idiot, he was not getting attached to the children and this stupid routine...

Oh, who was he kidding? He got attached! And the worst part was : Swabby knew it. He knew it. He... Shit.

They sat together in silence for what felt like an eternity, Fellby unwilling to look at Swabby and Swabby just drinking his coffee, taking his lack of response as the answer.

The thing was, he had really begun to care about this whole family bullshit. He cared for the kids… otherwise it wouldn't really matter, otherwise he wouldn't be here. And he cared about Swabby and Grillby too, otherwise he... wouldn't be sitting here in the kitchen... He wouldn't still be feeling horrible over what happened the day before.

He liked them. He trusted them.

And it scared him.

“You want to know about those kids so badly? And about... my past?” Fellby asked, breaking the silence which had taken over the room. “It's... it's not pretty.”

“Yes,” answered Swabby, his voice solid and his eyes full of resolve. “I want to know... and understand. So I can at least try to help.”

Fellby took a deep breath. Of course he wanted to help. Swabby was just... made like that. “What would you say if I told you that once I became your color?” Fellby questioned. His eyes were on Swabby but he seemed to be looking past him.

“What? But...you're blue!” exclaimed Swabby in alarm. “You burn so hot... How could you ever get so low?” he whispered, looking at him with fear.

And Fellby understood. For flames such as reds to turn yellow, it would take some damage and major trauma. For a blue like Fellby? A lot more. “It was... a long time ago... back when the war first began,” Fellby begun his tale. “That's what my… freak out last night was about... a memory I had long since buried... or so I thought,” he mumbled, shoving the memory of said memory from his mind.

The constant dripping of water. Water on the ground all around him. Water on his arms and legs and back… Something cold against his mouth and burning coldness that ate its way through him, taking away his heat, bringing him down, down, down...

“Will you tell me?” Swabby whispered, not even daring to breathe too loudly, yet still managing to bring him back from the dark crevices of his mind. “What happened?”

Fellby took a swig of coffee, looking towards the ceiling. “I was captured... near the beginning of the war I think,” he continued. “There was fighting but I don't think it fully escalated to war yet... I was stupid. I did something stupid and was captured for it,” He lowered his head, looking at the dark drink in his hands.

Yeah, it was stupid. He was just as trusting as Swabby back then, huh? Just... heal the human, speak with them a bit and suddenly they were friends? Ha, good joke. Something stupid was a good one. He single-handily brought on the destruction of his village; all because he didn't listen to the most basic advise ever. Stay away from humans. Couldn't do anything right, even back then, huh? It is a bit funny that the family branded him as a black sheep for far less then that…

“I wanted so very much to die then,” he continued. “The humans... found enjoyment out of-“ he went silent, eyes closing against the words only he could hear. The laughter and the sound of water. He shivered against a wave of coldness that grabbed hold of his body.

“They hurt you, badly... didn't they?” Swabby asked but Fellby barely heard his voice over the memories of the humans’ laughter. “I'm so sorry.”

“Whenever I wouldn't listen to them or...” Or they were bored, or angry, or just wanted to see what would happen if they did THAT to him... he shook his head, pushing all thoughts aside. “They would let water drip to my flames. Drip... drip... I heard that sound continuously.” He let out another sigh. “I started to become... used to the pain. I wouldn't scream as loudly as they wanted or...” he trailed off again, shaking his head roughly. “So they added more. I numbed myself to it while they laughed and joked. One in particular... seemed to see this as a challenge. Then one day...” Fellby glanced to Swabby who looked absolutely horrified. Well, he asked for it. “I guess I really pissed him off. I couldn't do what he commanded of me...” his hands tightened around the cup, in his mind he could still see him, hear him. “He thought I was being 'difficult' so... so he had the others hold me down as he physically beat me over and over.” His flames flicker from the memory. Under their flames, they still were solid; they still had a core and dense flames held together by magic and the sheer energy of their souls. It had not hurt like water but it was still painful.

There was a gentle touch at his shoulder. Swabby had reached out and grabbed hold of his left shoulder, looking close to tears. This... this crybaby!

“You heard enough or you want me to continue?”

“Only if you want to,” whispered Swabby. “It could be good for you, talking about it... but you don't have to if it's too painful.”

“Fuck, reliving it was painful,” Fellby mumbled to himself. “No, you want it? You’ll get it 'til the bitter end. Where was I?” he thought for a moment. “Oh yeah… the beatings. They weren't so bad. Fucking hurt like hell, but nothing like... well...” he took a small drink of coffee again, trying to calm his mind. No more stalling. This is it. “Guess he didn't get enough pleasure out of it. Or maybe they had wanted to do it for a while and just didn't have strong enough reason to... or could have been that they just wanted to see what would happen,” he mused.

Swabby’s hand didn’t leave him and it was strangely comforting.

Fellby took a shaky breath. Time to dive. “Some men brought... a bottle,” he began. “Maybe this...” he made a motion with his hands, forming the size of a 2 liter bottle. “…big, full of water. I was terrified, fuck I was just a kid at the time, of course that much water...” his hands fell to the table, closing into fists. “But no, they didn't had plans to snuff me.” Fellby stopped for a second, looking Swabby over. His cousin looked horrified. “Do you know what water taste like?” he questioned finally, his voice is low and serious, his eyes never leaving Swabby’s face.

“N... no... no, they didn't... they...” Swabby stammered over his words. “They... how did... how did you survive?”

“Yeah they forced me to drink the entire thing,” he answered, letting out a sort of half-chuckle half-snort that sounded emptier than anything else. “My core instantly cooled to about your color. I... I was freezing.” It hurt; it hurt so much! Coldness and the feeling of his flame dying down… The fear and the horrible pain. “I didn't even know we were able to freeze,” he stated, chuckling a bit while shaking his head. “It was god awful but at the time... I wanted nothing more than to turn to dust. I just... I couldn't.” Please, just end this. Somebody kill me, please SOMEBODY give me MERCY!

There was a long silence, Fellby wrestling with his memories, Swabby still looking at him. The hand on his shoulder felt warm. How strange, it should feel a bit cold, with the differences in how hot they burned.

“My body felt the effects for weeks,” he continued after a while. “I think so anyways. I never could keep track of time especially after that. I was out of it for a good deal, thankfully. I didn't think my core would ever heat back up...”

“Oh my stars,” whispered Swabby in disbelief. “That... that’s horrible... awful.”

Fellby could feel his flames flicker.

“I am so glad you burn blue.”

Yeah... any colder flame would surely have died. Fellby did not know it he was lucky to burn blue or not...

“It was after that, that I overheard them speaking about Grillby,” he continued, staring at his coffee. “Though, at the time, I didn't know it was him. Fuck, I thought...” he stopped, shaking his head. What the hell was he even doing? “It doesn't matter.”

“You must have thought he was looking for you, weren't you?” asked Swabby

Fuck, why was this guy so good at figuring stuff out? Yeah, he had thought about it, dreamed about it. He had built his own little fantasy world in the depths of his mind whenever they did something to him, so that he had a place to flee from the horrible nightmare, if only for a few moments...

The sound of a chair moving across the floor and the feeling of warm arms around his body pulled him back. Swabby was hugging him and the strange part was, he was letting him.

“It's an awful thing, to lose hope,” mumbled Swabby.

“Actually... that thought... filled me with it. Hope,” Fellby replied. His eyes were locked on a wrinkle in the fabric of Swabby’s shirt. “Perhaps that was the only thing that kept me burning for all those months. I... I never told Grillby about this,” he mumbled. “I never told... anyone...” Why should he? There was nobody there to tell the tale to and now... no. No, why was he even talking about this?!? This was stupid and...

… And Swabby was hugging him harder and it felt good.

“Does anyone else know?” questioned Swabby. “About... what happened to you?”

“They killed everyone in my village when they captured me. The humans attacked us in the middle of the night. Before then there were some minor battles but the war had not broke out yet. When I escaped...” He paused, putting his hand on the arm that was still wrapped around him. He felt himself shaking a tiny bit. “When I finally escaped them, the war was already over. I don't know how long I was with them… People say the war lasted over a year but I...” he shook his head once more, pulling Swabby's arm down, away from his chest, breaking the hug. “You were young then, just a kid,” he mumbled before looking at Swabby’s face. “Do you even remember the sky? The sun? There are plenty of monsters here who were born after the barrier went up...”

“I remember, a bit,” Swabby answered, looking down and away from him. “I grew up in the sanctuary, ironically near... well... here.”

The sanctuary... Fellby remembered monsters talking about it from time to time. A tiny hidden village where monsters came in order to flee from the war. By the time Fellby came to Ebott, it was already gone.

“I don't remember much, but there were a lot of monsters,” Swabby continued, sounding as if he was far away. “Children who lost their parents and older once who lost... everything else. I don't remember the sky very well but I remember seeing monsters lose hope, falling down and disappearing... good, strong monsters who had experienced less than you. I don't remember when we moved, it was almost the same here as there. Monster loosing hope and falling down.” He looked up at Fellby, concern at his face.

“I'm not that weak, yet,” Fellby muttered, laying his head back against Swabby's shoulder. “But sometimes it feels as though I left one prison just to be placed in another.”

“Yeah,” Swabby sighed out, his hand moving against Fellby’s back, gently petting. “But it's not so bad here. We have each other, we have the children. And we will get out of here one day. I know it.” Swabby's flames crackled a bit as he smiled. “We fire elementals live a long life. We'll get to see the sky again. Until then, we are... safe at least.”

“Easy for you to say,” grumbled Fellby. What the hell was he even doing? “And what does it even matter?” He finally shrugged Swabby off, breaking the hug and leaning back. “Those kids went through hell...”

“You too. Many other people too,” mumbled Swabby, but leaned back, backing off. “But... you are right. They went through that... for no reason I can see. And by the hand of a monster...” he shook his head. “I still can't believe it.”

“At the core no less!” hissed Fellby. “Fuck, how long you think they were there?”

“I would say they look like... anywhere between four and nine,” replied Swabby with a frown as he thought on it. “But who knows? None of them had a concept of time... however long it was, it was too long.” His flames crackled, Swabby turns a bit brighter, his magic making itself known again. “Why had no one done anything? Did nobody really know?”

“Actually, I was right by the core,” Fellby hissed angrily. “Several times! Fuck, all the time and they were right there...”

“You didn't know they even existed,” Swabby interjected.

It was ironic. Grillby had said the same about him. Cannot look for something that you don't even know is missing. But shit, it hurt.

“I still think we should confront Asgore on this. I still want to believe that he had no idea.”

“And if he did?” snapped Fellby. “What if he knew all along? What would you do? Let him take them back and do more horrible things to them? Like hell! I'd kill them before it came to that.” Wasn't the first time he did it. He would take the EXP and LOVE if he would save them from that torture again. Mercy… magic screaming for mercy when he knew no one would give it. An understanding between healers and he gave it but he hated himself for it...

“Don't talk like that!” Swabby cried out, looking at him with wide eyes and shaking. “No, I would never let anybody take them!” he exclaimed, his flames burning bright yellow with sparks of orange beginning to fill them. “I would fight for the children. I wouldn't let anyone take them.”

Fellby almost laughed, because, really? Swabby was a wimp. Asgore could kill him without touching him. All of his guards could kill him. Heck, they just had to grab him and lock him out of the house for a few hours around here... Swabby was not a fighter.

However, the expression on his face told Fellby that he knew that. Nevertheless, he would fight. It was stupid but also... brave, Fellby guessed.

They stared at each other for a few seconds until Swabby’s flames died down and he looked away. “But... yeah... we... we should maybe wait a bit before telling Asgore...”

“I don't really like the idea of-”

A scream of pure frustration from above interrupts him, prompting both of them to look up.

“Sounds like the children are having a disagreement, huh?” Swabby said, chuckling weakly.

“And thaaaaat's for you, ninny,” Fellby replied dryly, grinning at him.

“Yeah yeah,” Swabby responded with a small chuckle, standing up. He looks back to Fellby. “Thank you for telling me,” he said softly. “I know it's not easy for you, talking about things, so... I appreciate it.”

“Shut up,” Fellby grumbled, turning back to his coffee.

There was a chuckle and amused crackling before Swabby left the room, taking his bright yellow light with him.

Fellby stared out of the window, trying to gain control over his mind and memories again.

Swabby, in the meantime, walked up the stairs and into the room of the children, where he was greeted by the sight of Papyrus stomping his little feet while Sans and Suny rolled on the ground, laughing. “Huh? What’s going on up here?” he asked with a smile, carefully entering the room. “Everything alright?”

“Papyrus doesn't like puns!” giggled Sans, grabbing hold of his disgruntled brother and grinned. “It's Ter-Rib-le!” he added and started tickling Papyrus, resulting in a half-laugh, half-groan sound from the smaller skeleton.

“Sans, please don't tease your brother,” said Swabby softly, barely suppressing his own laugher because, really, these kids were darn cute. A far cry from the scared, hostile children he got to know over a year ago. It warmed his core knowing that they could goof off like this freely now.

“But the puns are funny!” chirped Suny, still giggling.

“I know but not everybody likes them,” explained Swabby, finally deciding to rescue Papyrus from the evil hug and tickle assault of his brother. He took him from Sans, carrying him in his arms and petting his back gently. “What do you think is funny?”

“But... but puns...” mumbled Sans a little bit heartbroken, almost pouting as he looked up to Papyrus, seemingly mind-boggled by the fact that someone could NOT find puns funny.

“I liked them,” comforted Suny him, petting Sans.

“It isn't that I don't like them,” mumbled Papyrus. “But Sans goes over board. Always. And now he's got Suny doing it too!”

“Awwww, Bro, you like them after all?” asked Sans, looking up to Papyrus with an happy smile. He somewhat resembled Suny with that expression.

Swabby could not fight the chuckle that escaped him. “Well to much of a good thing can be bad for you,” he said gently.

Sans was completely boggled. “Really?”

“Yes. But don't worry, you will figure it out. Just don't make your brother scream whilst doing so.”

“I'll try,” promised Sans.

Papyrus seemed content with that. As soon as Swabby put him down, he ran over to embrace his brother.

All of the commotion woke Saz who looked up from his little nest of blankets that his brothers had built around him when he fell asleep. The little skeleton blinked and looked around, no doubt still disorientated, the red in his eye slightly dulled.

This happened pretty often, come to think about it... Swabby couldn’t help but to wonder if Saz may be some kind of narcoleptic. It was hard to tell for sure… The first months of them staying here both he and Parz slept a lot due to their injuries. Both of them were more active now, especially so whenever Fellby was around, but still, Saz tended to nod off multiple times during the day; sometimes he gave short warnings, other times he would just fall over. And after what Swabby had learned from Fellby, the very uncomfortable question of ‘Did this Gaster person do that to him somehow’ rose in his mind.

Suny had noticed the now awoken Saz and let out a little squeal. “You're up again!” he shouted out happily and ran over to Saz, hugging him tightly causing both of them to nearly topple to the ground.

Saz let out a surprised yelp as he caught Suny, returning the enthusiastic hug half-heartedly.

It was at this moment that Parz came out of the hiding area, looking around curiously.

Saz saw him and smiled. “H...Hey bro!” he stuttered out. “Uh...” Saz looked around, seemingly counting his brothers. “Where is Pyru?”

“He's... uh... sleeping,” grumbled Parz, surprisingly subdued and not meeting Saz' eyes.

Swabby blinked a bit at that.

“Uh... what did I miss?” he questioned, frowning like his usual self. “You were really loud.”

“Sans was helping us with a puzzle!” Papyrus answered, drawing the attention of everybody around him as he pointed to the puzzle pieces on the ground.

“And we were playing before that!” added Suny. “But Saz fell asleep…” He pouted, arms still wrapped around Saz.

“He was being lazy!” added Papyrus, nodding.

“I'm not lazy...” mumbled Saz in protest. “I just got really tired suddenly…”

Swabby sat down in front of Saz. “This happens a lot, huh?” he asked gently. “Getting tired suddenly?”

“Uh... hmmm,” mumbled Saz, looking away before hesitatingly nodding. “Yeah...”

Well, it was a point on his list of things they had to check out as soon as they found a doctor they could trust and the children would not be afraid of. For now, Swabby just layed a hand on Saz' shoulder, smiling at him. “It's okay... just be careful where you sleep when this happens.”

Saz nodded hesitantly.

Sans stood up at Swabby’s statement. “Don't worry, Swabby. I'll have a eye on him!” he proclaimed and showed off his magic blue eye.

Swabby chuckleed at that as Papyrus groans. “I know you do,” Swabby stated gently. “So... do you want to show me your puzzle?”

That earned him a few cheering sounds from Papyrus and Suny who explained excitedly all about their puzzle. The steps they already had done and what they already had fixed together.

Swabby joined in. It was fun. There were enough colorful pieces to go around for all of them.

Even Parz pointed out some missing pieces here and there and Saz, after looking at Parz and noticing that his brother was invested in the puzzle as well, decided to go on piece-hunting duty.

It was nice. Laughing children were around him and colorful puzzle pieces.

However, his thoughts were not so nice. Swabby kept thinking of the bits and pieces he had from the children’s past and what little he knew of Fellby’s own past… His heart was breaking for all of them. For Grillby with what he had endured during the war, that left him shaken and silent for days on end sometimes. For Fellby, who was broken by humans… Moreover, for the children, who had not done anything wrong yet were subjected to so much cruelty. And by the hands of a monster no less!

No wonder Saz and Parz had a difficult relationship. No wonder Pyru had phases of paranoia and nervousness. No wonder Sans and Papyrus were shaken and scared sometimes. No wonder each of them clung to one another. The wounds of the past were still visible in all of them. The worst was, Swabby was sure that he had not even a glimpse at the full picture yet...

Well, there was no use in lamenting about it . He just did the only thing he could : support the kids, support his cousins and try to make everything better, bit by bit.

He just hoped there were not any more bad surprises in store.

It was a busy day and Grill by was thankful for that.

The start of the blizzard season br ought snow and icy temperatures so people were desperate for some warmth and a hot meal or drink. Even the furred monsters, who normally liked the cold, came to him during this time, filling his bar and ordering his food.

Not only did a full house mean that they would have enough money for the next month, it also meant that Grillby was to busy working as to think about... everything else.

Seeing Fellb y this morning, rested and for the most part okay, was... good. Very good.

Still, the revelations about his past laid heavy on his soul. His cousin was just a child waiting for someone who wouldn't come... waiting for HIM specifically and he didn't even know it.

Rationally, Grillby knew that he couldn't have known. Even if he knew about the attack in time and had somehow known that Fellby's dust wasn't amongst the rest… He would not have had the first clue where to search.

Rationally, he knew that there was no way for him to have known or have rescued his cousin. But damn it, he hated it and his soul just couldn't accept that fact.

An other source of frustration was his family.

Everyone that was left had been so eager to take him in after the war. It was suffocating and he did not like the attention but he knew that there were people who cared about him. He still had a good relationship with his sister and her young daughter. He still had contact with some of them, even after he refused to attend to the reunions…

But that the whole family just... did not care for Fellby, who had needed the help more than him after the war… It left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

Swabby he could excuse, he was just a kid at the time. But everybody else?

His magic was crackling softly, mixing in his flames whenever he thought about it.

It just wasn't fair. It was not fair that anybody had to suffer like that.

What happened to the children was not fair either.

God, what messed up m ind had filled all these tapes?

Humans Grillby could see doing such things. He had seen his share of cruelties during the war. But a monster doing some thing like this to innocent children?

He was glad that he had not watched more of the tapes. His curiosity was more than sated and it was a relief to know that the royal guards would handle things from there even if everything in his soul was screaming at him to go out there and hunt this Gaster person down.

He would not make the mistake of rushing into a senseless fight ever again.

The bar was full, he had a lot work to do.

Yet he could not stop the thoughts from entering his mind.

He was serving a couple of bunnies when he noticed the sentries coming inside, grim expression on their faces. He excuses himself, making his way over to them.

Doggo seemed paler than usual, chewing nervously on a treat.

The other dogs looked rather uneasy as well.

“Grillby,” Doggo nodded as he approaches the group. “Good to see you. We would like to have a word with you. Can we talk… in private?”

Chapter Text

“Grillby,” Doggo nodded as he approached the group. “Good to see you. We would like to have a word with you. Can we talk… in private?”

Grillby nodded and led them into his kitchen, passing the stove and hot oil vats, taking them to an area mostly used to store the raw ingredients. He turned around when he was sure everybody was within the room; Greater Dog had followed them in without his armor, whereas Lesser Dog had chosen to stay outside so that it was just him, Doggo and Greater Dog. Grillby looked around for Dogamy and Dogaressa.

“They wanted to stay outside, have an eye and nose on things,” explained Doggo, removing his dog treat from his mouth and looking at it. “They were pretty shaken by the whole thing. It's very messy.”

Grillby gave a nod. He knew that the two of them have been trying for puppies of their own for a long time so seeing someone do such things to children as what those tapes entailed... it was enough to sicken anyone. He closed his eyes, trying to clear the thoughts out of his mind before looking towards Doggo again, his flames crackling curiously.

“Hey... better we come directly to the point,” sighed Doggo. “We are not yet finished with all of the tapes but... it's bad. I think you knew that already. We also found many written reports about the kids. It is a bit... strange and unusual, but... I think you should have this.” He handed Grillby a worn leather bound book. “It's a diary, we think. Though the contents are a bit… odd.”

Grillby took the book and looked it over . It seemed well loved and used; the leather is smooth but seems thinner in a few places and the inside is filled with neat writing. He looked up to Doggo noticing that he seemed more nervous than ever, Greater dog leaning against him in an attempt to comfort.

“We searched the laboratory and found the three rooms you already saw; bare but once used and opened. One most likely opened by normal means and two destroyed with force,” reported Doggo. “There was also... a door that was still locked. We found... monster dust in the locked room and in one of the rooms opened via force. It was enough dust for a single monster each… a small one... We believe it was a little skeleton each.”

Grillby stared at him, flames rising. Dust of two monsters? But... “There... was another set?” he asked, his voice crackling through his flames making a hissing sound.

Doggo gave a small nod. “Yes... we found some tapes labeled S4 and P4. We believe it is the dust of these children that we found,” he continued.

However, Grillby could not hear him over the thoughts raging within his mind.

There was a fourth pair of children that did not made it out. The others had not said anything about them, so more than likely, they did not know of their existence…

… or they already knew that the fourth pair were dead.

Oh star s, this was bad. This... who would do something like that? Who COULD do something like that to CHILDREN?

His LOVE whispered again.

He had a name. He had a face.

The Underground is a prison, meaning his prey could not escape.

He could hunt him, he would find him. Nothing could hide from him.

Even if the man would sit at the bottom of the deepest lake in Waterfall, he could find him, reach him, boil him…

HE WOULD KILL HIM .

Gaster!

Grillby felt himself shaking from the effort to holding himself still, while his soul and mind raged.

This burning, stinging , PAINFUL hatred.

“Grillby? Grillby! Grillby, please calm down!”

Grillby blinked, noticing that Doggo was looking at him with something between worry and fear. His fur seemed brighter, more blue-ish... what?

Oh.

Grillby glanced to his hands to find his flames were now a brilliant blue, pulsing and flickering and hissing.

It was a miracle that he still had enough control over himself not to spoil the diary or burn those within the confined room.

Okay, Grillby... deep breaths. Deep breath s. Think about something calm.

A forest. Burn the wood, don't let them hide, they killed your friend, they will not find sanctuary there. The ocean. They tried to use water against you; they screamed and were so surprised when you boiled the water, boiling them alive. A desert. Nothing around you, nothing to burn. No life, no plant, just nothingness. No LOVE to gain. Just you and your thoughts; the stars in the night sky and the sun beaming down in the day. Snowdin. Cold with snow and ice all around, subduing your heat, gently calming the burning hate and anger. Calmness. Breathing in the cold air. You are safe. Nothing can get you here. You are safe and you keep your friends safe.

You are home. Y ou are safe and you will keep your family safe.

He opened his eyes, his flames returning to their natural red orange color, his mind clearing and the screams of his LOVE returning to a quiet whisper behind his anger.

“I... must apologize,” Grillby muttered softly. “I-”

“Hey, it's no problem,” Doggo cut in, Greater Dog barking once in confirmation. “Some of us... uh... needed to vent some steam after seeing this too.”

“... Do you have him?” questioned Grillby.

There was no need in explaining who ‘he’ was, Doggo understood and shook his head solemnly. “No. He seems to have left the lab and is on the run but don't worry… We’ll keep our eyes open; he can't stay hidden forever. He won't escape, Grillby.”

Grillby nodded thankful . He would sleep a lot better knowing that this... person... was brought to justice. Maybe his damned LOVE would shut up then. “Thank you,” he replied, his voice closer to a hiss of a steam than actual words but the dogs seemed to understand.

“We'll keep you posted, Grillby,” stated Doggo, sighing deeply. “And if there is anything we could do for the kids... just let us know.”

Grillby nodded and saw them out, the little book still in his hands and his mind full of emotions and questions.

The rest of the day w as a blur.

There were orders to make and things to clean... It was even a bit of a relieve to have a distraction from what the dogs told him. Even if he also still had the desire to get answers.

It was during the afternoon break, when he closed the bar for a few hours that he sat down and looked through the diary.

The writing on s ome of the pages were old and faded, other paged contained newer entries. The writing was strange but Grillby could read it, mostly, without much problem.

The construction of the core comes along nicely. Very soon, we should have all the energy we need. Finally. Despite being in Hotland, I still have chill spells almost daily. But I refuse to wear something so undignified like a snuggie! XXXX be damned with this thing!

Something here was scribled out... a name perhaps?

The core has started producing; we are moving XXXX's project along now. I am intrigued. Sentimental reasons aside, it is a brilliant piece of work. I wonder about the possibilities.

Another word scribbled out, the letters behind the harsh markings unable to be read. Defiantly a name. A partner? Perhaps belonging to the unknown voice in the video?

The next few pages listed some technical details that Grillby could not understand. He skimed through the pages, brows knitting together in confusion at the strange words and complicated equations until something familiar caught his eyes.

S-1 awoke today. Its magic is strong but the readings indicate a very low health. Is there an inverted link between physical and magical strength? Maybe we should try a different angle. Experiment a bit. Skeletons are very strong and if this experiment comes through, we will revive this breed of monsters for real. They will become the foundation for the future, a tool of protection… so why not improve upon them? XXXX had an idea there with the shape shifting magics. I bet we could give them more power.

It seemed as though Sans was originally created to bring back a nearly existent monster breed… (Gautami flashed before Grillbys eyes, who expressed a desire to have children, but never was able to); though the phrasing, especially the part about ‘a tool’, led Grillby to believe there was a much darker meaning behind the skeleton’s creation. But what? And for what reason? Why did this Gaster feel that torturing children was a means to any end?

S-1 is in his room now. XXXX is a fool about things. His ‘tests’ are useless. He does not see what we have here at our hands!

P-1 was introduced to S-1 today. It went... well. XXXX is as sentimental as ever. He coddles them, and suggest ridiculous things in the name of “fun”. At this rate I need more time, but it shouldn't be difficult to convince this fool.

Grillby frowned and wished Gaster would have worked with dates. He still had no clue when Sans or Papyrus were born. He also wondered who this mysterious partner was and how exactly he and Gaster were connected.

These experiments are beyond useless. They make the subjects weak minded. If I wish to further our research then I need different subjects to study.

The SP2 series comes along nicely. The modifications seem to be standing well thus far. However, the SP3 series is on hold; something is wrong with them, the genetic traits seem to have somehow scrambled during their coding process. It does not matter. The SP4 series is still in stasis. Overall, things move along nicely.

SP4? As in S4 and P4? There really had been a fourth pair of children... and no one had known!

Grillby’s flames crackled violently.

Another pair of children who had faced living hell as the six precious skeletons at his home... yet they never received a happy ending... no, they were dust now. (Who collected their dust? Did the dogs gave them a proper funeral? He would have to ask later...)

Grillby skimmed through the pages again, not bothering to read all the minute details. He didn't want to read all details about what Gaster did to them just... yet. No, he wanted clues. Just a single clue to Gaster’s whereabouts... that’s all he would need.

They refuse to fight each other. The SP1 series seems to have bonded to strongly during their time with XXXX and the SP3 series may have been left to their own devices for far too long, now refusing to follow my orders. Nevertheless, I can still test my theories on the SP2 and SP4 series. I need strong subjects.

A small push was all it took. Under threat of punishment, the SP2 series did not hesitate to fight one another.

Grillby knew this happened, he had seen it on the tape, but reading about it like that sent a whole new wave of anger down his body.

S-2 has begun to fall. Weak. I may have to start thinking about a replacement.

A replacement...? A child was hurt, likely dying, and the first thought of this thing was getting them replaced?

The sample s taken from the SP3 series surpass my initial expectations.

A sample? Grillby tried to see if there was anything more about this, but the next entries around this one were mainly rants about the incompetence and foolish nature of the mysterious partner.

I hate him so much. That idiot. That stupid, trusting idiot.

There were a few pages that were nearly entirely blacked out, as if ink spilled on them. The next readable page was written in blue ink instead of black.

P -3 comes along greatly, however S-3 is a failure. I need to find of way of disposing of it without XXXX’s knowing.

Grillby really, really tried not to think about Suny, sweet little Suny, being... “disposed of”.

I believe the only way of improving the subject further would be to raise their LOVE. I shall test this with the SP2 and SP4 series… The receivers of LOVE will then be pitted with one another to see if they can coexist... The SP3 series shall either provide additional LOVE or gain some for themselves.

Today’s experiment was semi successful. S-4 took little coaching and quickly eliminated P-4. However, the SP2 series failed. P-2 seems unable to kill S-2 despite his falling process… for now I shall focus on S-4 and figure out what to do with the SP2 series later.

Grillby’s breath hitched at the sentence, hot tears gathering in his eyes. What had this maniac done to these children? What sort of creature would pit children against each other to kill? Who would be so... cold?

S -4 gained a good amount of LOVE but proves to be wild, unable to follow direct orders… instable. Though S-4 seems willing to fight and that is all we needed. I have decided to place S-4 within the units of SP2 and SP3 series… we’ll see what happens from there.

This was the last entry.

Grillby sat down with his arms on the counter top and his head resting in his hands. His precious children had to go through so much... In addition, they most likely did not even know that they had siblings that were already dead.

Nevertheless, there were so many questions still left unanswered.

According to the diary, Gaster had a partner. Somebody who was involved but most likely did not approve of his methods… The children never spoke of anybody else except the ‘angel’ Sans and Papyrus would occasionally talk about. So, who was this person? What was their role in this mess? Was he the “angel”? Did he help the children? What happened to him?

Where was Gaster now? What should he, Grillby, do now?

What could he possibly do to help his children?

He looked over to the diary, sitting almost harmlessly on his counter.

Well, he could only do what he did now. Give them a home, give them his love, protect them from anything that would want to take that little happiness away from them... and help them heal.

It was... good to know what they went through. It explained certain behaviors and made it easier to understand and avoid situations that might trigger them. Things Grillby had to learn bitterly over a thousand years could benefit the skeletons now without much trial and error.

He would leave the hunt for Gaster to the Guards.

And Swabby and Fellby... stars, he had to talk with both of them.

With Swabby about what his plans for the future were, if he really was willing to commit himself to this for the long run. The kids were already attached to him, as well as to Fellby, so if he wanted to leave, he should do it sooner than later. If he wanted to stay...

Well, Grillby would be glad. He enjoyed the company and presents in his life. Swabby was a very nice person and very understanding. To be honest, without his help Grillby would have fallen over during the first months. Moreover, yesterday surely was... rough on him.

Stars, he and Fellby both were really falling apart around Swabby and the poor guy got caught up in the middle of it all…

And Fellby... there were many things they had to talk about but Grillby wasn't sure if Fellby would be willing to do so. He felt... guilty. He was sure he could help his cousin at least with the flashbacks... if he let him, that is.

At least he had not found any more alcohol in the house. Moreover, the whiskey from last night was gone. Still, one point more on his ever-growing list of things he had to discuss with his cousin.

The kitchen’s clock chirps, letting him know that his break was almost over. Soon new customers would fill his bar, demanding his attention.

For a moment, Grillby entertained the thought of burning the diary. Destroying this witness to the disturbed mind of the monster that hurt his children. His flames crackle a big higher, but quickly die back down.

No. It was still the past. In addition, any bit of evidence, no matter how small, was pieces of the puzzle to locate this Gaster and bring him to justice.

--

The way home was almost refreshing.
Snow was falling all around him, hissing whenever it hit his flames, evaporating harmlessly without him even noticing, just leaving the refreshing coldness behind.

The diary was heavy within his pocket and his mind but the sight of his home, warm lights shining against the darkness and welcoming him, left him feeling lighter than ever.

He entered the house, hanging his coat upon the rack and looked around. “I'm home,” he called out loudly but paused as he noticed the odd smell in the air. It smelled... bad. Very bad. Not burned or rotten exactly, just... well, he could not explain the smell.

There were voices coming from the kitchen; a loud shout, a crash and, suddenly, there was Fellby coming at him full speed and throwing his arms around him, crashing into him and causing Grillby stagger backwards, surprised.

“Oh thank the stars you're back!” Fellby exclaimed, still clinging to him. “I can’t eat that shit!”

Grillby could just stare at Fellby with wide eyes, his arms having caught him and held him more out of reflex when he crashed into him. He had expected a lot of things but certainly not this. And seeing as how Fellby did not seem to be letting up, he gently patted at his cousin’s back. “Fellby?” he asked carefully. “Uh... What happened? What about food?”

Moreover, what was up about him throwing himself at him like that? Seriously... Grillby was used to Fellby randomly flopping down on him or Swabby and using them as pillows or setting up some ridiculous passive-aggressive plots to get some sort of physical affection, but this direct approach was... unusual at best!

“It's Swabby’s fault,” mumbled Fellby.

“Could you please start making sense?” asked Grillby, sniffing at the air again. The strange smell was stronger now that Fellby was here. “And what is that smell? It’s like... despair and bad decisions.”

Fellby shook his head, clinging harder onto him. “Just... PLEASE tell me you brought some food back with you from the bar.”

Grillby blinked. Well it was true that he would sometimes do such; p acking up some leftovers for them to eat at home… but he had no idea why Fellby suddenly caved burgers and fries. The whole situation was just... worrisome.

“No, I have nothing with me,” Grillby stated, seeing the despair that was forming quickly on Fellby’s face. ”But I'm sure we can work something out?” he added awkwardly, slowly coming to the conclusion that the foul smell was most likely a failed attempt at cooking. Which was unusual in itself... Swabby was an excellent cook and could handle the kitchen even with a few kids jumping around him. Therefore, he just patted at Fellby’s back once more. “Just let me see the damage,” he mumbled out softly.

This prompted Fellby to let go of him but instead of following him into the kitchen, he walked into the living room, a bit like a zombie in those old black and white movies that the humans seemed to love, and flopped facedown on the couch. He then pulled one of the cushions around his head, flames barely visible, and let out a sound of pure despair.

Grillby shook his head. Really, whatever was wrong, he did not hear any sounds of distress from the others. Surely, Fellby was just being overly dramatic about the whole thing… With one last look to his cousin, he turned and enters the kitchen, intending to find and solve the problem.

“Swabby, whatever happened to Fellby? He looks like-“ he began, but paused mid-sentence and took in the sight before him.

Swabby and the children were sitting at a table, each of them with a plate in front of them. However, on the plates was the source of the smell. And it looked… diverse. A blackish, bluish mess that seemed intertwined with other colors than even Suny could name and some parts which seemed more solid than others. Most of the children regarded their plate with an expression of distrust and the kind of fascination one could have after seeing a terrible disaster.

Sans had his food half hidden under a hill of ketchup and was now busy drinking it from the bottle.

Papyrus and Swabby were helping Parz drink a bit of water, a spoon with some of the goop still on it indicating that he had tried to be brave and eat some.

Saz and Pyru were watching Suny silently as the boy poked at his food with a spoon.

The food poked back!

This prompted Pyru to shift forms and shoot a blaster beam at the food on his own plate.

However, the food survived! (And growled.)

Only now did Swabby look up and took notice of Grillby, to many emotions on his face for Grillby to read but he was not paying much attention to the yellow flame. Instead, he was looking at something behind Swabby...

His kitchen…

The terrible goo…

His flames burned higher and hotter, brightening up everything within the kitchen as he screamed.

“OH MY STARS WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!?”

“Grillby?” questioned Swabby but had no opportunity to say much more as Grillby took him and shoved him out of the kitchen together with the children.

“OUT! EVERYBODY OUT!” Only when he was the last one in the room did he take a deep breath, looking out of the door to the others and trying to keep his voice as even and calm as possible. “Please give me ten minutes,” he said before turning around and closing the door behind himself.

Swabby glanced towards the children.

“OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SINK?”

Swabby looked at Fellby who was still screaming, abit muffled, into the couch. The back to the kitchen door where there were now some strange sounds were coming from within.

“Is Grillby going to get rid of it?” questioned Suny with a hint of disappointment.

“Are you sad about that?” asked Saz, looking at his smaller brother.

“Well... I thought... maybe we could keep it as a pet,” Suny mumbled.