Lost and Found

It had been some time since Sans' sudden disappearance. For almost four years, he could not be found by anyone. Not even his brother. Papyrus had enlisted every willing monster to aid in the search, across the entire underground. As days turned to weeks and weeks to months, more and more monster simply gave Papyrus their condolence and stopped looking. Even Undyne and Alphys, who had helped organize the search for their friend, stopped searching and started consoling. Papyrus would take years to break, but years it took.

Now, so long after losing the only family he had left, Papyrus had lost his cheery demeanor, his positive outlook. He had lost his hope. No longer bothering to build puzzles, no more dreams of joining the guard. He had even lost the will to wear his battle body outfit, choosing instead an old orange hoodie he had kept in the back of his closet.

Undyne and Alphys had decided to visit Papyrus at his home. His and his brother's. They spent increasing amounts of time in Snowdin, trying to cheer a cheerless Papyrus.

"I thought w-we could watch some, h-human history together" Alphys had said when she and Undyne had arrived earlier that day. Pap had agreed, but the girls could tell his heart wasn't in it. They had spent an hour on the couch, watching a show about cooking, when there was a sudden noise.

KER-THUMP!

"What the hell?" said Undyne, looking around the room for the source of the noise.

"Probably came from the show.", a half-hearted Papyrus guessed.

"No, it sounded like it came from below the floor." Undyne replied, looking at the floorboards.

"Maybe something in the basement fell?", Pap said.

"You, you have a basement?" Alphys asked. Pap hadn't ever told the two about it.

"Yeah," Papyrus admitted, "though the only one who used it was…" He was unwilling to finish the sentence, though the others understood.

Undyne jumped to her feet, startling Alphys. "Well, shouldn't we see what happened?"

Papyrus didn't say anything, looking at nowhere in particular, before getting to his feet and leading the others outside.

When the three had turned the corner to see the basement door, they were startled by a figure. Undyne, the first to recover from the shock of seeing someone she didn't expect, spoke: "Hey, who are you!?"

The figure jumped at the noise, clearly not expecting company, briefly turned to face Undyne, before bolting out. As the cloaked figure began his run, so did Undyne. "Get back here!" she yelled, alerting Alphys and Papyrus to the escaping figure. Alphys cried out for Undyne, before attempting to give chase. She wasn't a runner, so Papyrus huffed, before picking the doctor up and giving chase to Undyne.

Undyne followed the figure far out of Snowdin town, into the outskirts near the entrance of the ruins. Undyne was fast, but the figure was unnaturally fast. It seemed as though every time Undyne almost caught the figure, it would turn a corner and be far out of reach. But Undyne wouldn't give up. Even as it led her deep into the forest, she kept up the chase. Until, after seemly forever, Undyne made it around a downed tree, ready to grab the figure.

But it wasn't there. It wasn't anywhere. Undyne swore, and looked in all directions. She was deep in the forest, and didn't expect to find him if it had truly escaped her. She also didn't expect a house in the woods. Yet that was what she saw.

As Undyne made her way, slower now, towards the strange house in the clearing, Papyrus and Alphys managed to catch up. "Did you catch them Undyne?" Alphys asked. But as Papyrus set her down, she too saw the house in the woods. Undyne, so curious she hadn't even noticed the arrival of the others, continued making her way towards it. As she stepped in the clearing, looking around, she examined the house. It was two stories, with a simple slanted roof. The outside was the colour of birch, a light brown. And in front of the front door was a figure.

Undyne ran for it, and managed to grab a hold before it could escape. She hadn't paid much attention to what the figure looked like, but it was short, cover head to almost feet in a dark blue hooded cloak. "Just who do you think you are!" Undyne shouted as she turned the figure to face her. But as she did, it took mere moments to realize who it was.

"Sans?"

Alphys and Papyrus, left in the dust by Undyne sprint for the figure, caught up. "What about…." Alphys started, but was silenced when she saw the figure's face.

Pap almost didn't believe what he was seeing. He tried to wake up from this dream, but there was none to wake from. He stared at Sans incredulously, tears beginning to well. "Brother?"

Sans wriggled himself free of Undyne's grip, though she had lost it as soon as she had seen him. "You have to leave. Now" He said sternly. But before anyone could speak, a small 5th voice piped in.

"Daddy?" came the voice of small child.

Sans turned towards the front door of the house, concern in his eyes. The others looked, not sure what they expected.

Standing in the doorway of the front of the house, was a small girl. She wore a striped sweater, too large for her arms. Her face was bright, and her eyes shone blue. In her left hand, she held a ragged stuffed animal. With her right, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She was no older than 4.

And she was human.