The air was cold, but there was no wind. A fresh blanket of snow covered the ground, as well as the trees along the wooded path. Ruby walked through the snow, wondering how there was snow underground- or trees, for that matter. Looking up, she couldn't see a ceiling- only blackness. So where was the light coming from?

The cavern seemed to stretch for miles in all directions, except for the cliff face behind her and the door that led back to the Ruins. Ruby shook her head and kept walking, drawing her cloak around her for warmth.

She went through the path for several minutes. A loud snapping noise shattered the tranquility, causing Ruby to turn her head toward the source of the noise. A large tree branch that was sitting in the path had been broken in half, but there were no footprints around it. Ruby turned around slowly and kept going, weighed down by the feeling of being watched. Her hand drifted down to her scythe.

She came to a large chasm in the road spanned by a wooden bridge. Four wooden posts stood on the other side, far enough apart for her to walk through. As she was looking, she started to hear footsteps behind her.

She turned around to look, but there was nobody there. The footprints kept coming closer, but they were still behind her. No matter which way she turned, she couldn't pinpoint the source- they always seemed to be behind her. Finally they stopped.

"Human."

Ruby immediately turned around at the voice speaking behind her, pulling out Crescent Rose and pointing it toward the speaker, who held up his hands and grinned. "hey, woah, easy." said a baritone voice.

Ruby's stalker appeared to be nothing but a skeleton. He was short and stout, wearing a blue hoodie over a white shirt, his hands ending in bony fingers. Black shorts revealed bony legs and white slip-on shoes. His face had a big, silly grin, and tiny white lights glowed in his eye sockets. Ruby relaxed and put away her weapon; her days of playing video games had taught her that skeletons were among the least dangerous of monsters. "Don't scare me like that!" she said.

The skeleton chuckled and put his hands in his pockets. "sorry 'bout that. i was just messin' with ya." He held out his hand. "hey, don't you know how to greet a new pal?" Ruby stepped forward and shook his hand. A wet farting noise filled the air, and the skeleton laughed. "heh, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it's always funny. anyways, you're a human, right? that's hilarious. i'm sans, sans the skeleton."

"I'm Ruby Rose." Ruby said. She was starting to like this guy.

"ruby, huh?" Sans responded. "i gotcha. i'm actually supposed to be on guard for humans right now. but, uh, i don't care about capturing anybody. now, my brother, papyrus, he's a human-hunting fanatic."

Sans looked past Ruby and narrowed his eye sockets. His grin never faltered. "hey, actually i think that's him over there. i have an idea, go through this gate thingy." He gestured to the four posts on the other side of the bridge. "yeah, go on through. my brother made the bars too wide to stop anyone." Sans led Ruby across the bridge before putting out his hand to stop her. "hang on, papyrus is coming. quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp."

He gestured to a lamp standing in the snow to their left. Its shape was, for some inscrutable reason, a perfect profile of Ruby's silhouette when she stood still. She stepped behind it and held her position, and before she had time to contemplate the existence of this incredibly conveniently-shaped lamp, another skeleton ran into the clearing. He was much taller than Sans, and skinnier. He wore a white and orange suit of armor, as well as a grouchy expression.

Sans kept grinning. "sup, bro?"

Papyrus scowled. "YOU KNOW WHAT'S "SUP", BROTHER!" he yelled. "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?"

Sans shrugged. "staring at this lamp. it's really cool. you wanna look?"

Ruby froze. Was Sans ratting her out? But Papyrus shook his head. "NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE?" He stamped his foot as he ranted. "I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!" Papyrus struck a dramatic pose, his red scarf fluttering in the wind. "THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT, RECOGNITION… I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK TO BE MY "FRIEND"? I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING!" He blushed despite his lack of blood.

Sans looked knowingly toward the lamp. "hmm… maybe this lamp will help you."

"SANS!" Papyrus yelled. "YOU ARE NOT HELPING! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!"

"hey, i've gotten a ton of work done today." Sans responded. "a skele-ton." An image of Yang floated through Ruby's mind as she let out a slow sigh through her nose.

"SANS!" Papyrus was clearly trying to hide the grin forming on the corners of his mouth.

Sans seemed to notice it too. "hey, come on, you're smiling."

"I AM AND I HATE IT!" Papyrus admitted. Then he just sighed. "WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH TO GET SOME RECOGNITION…"

Sans leaned against a tree. "wow, sounds like you're really working yourself… down to the bone." He winked and held out his arms to both made a mental note to never introduce her sister to Sans.

"SAMS! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! I'M LEAVING." Papyrus prepared to storm off before turning back around. "AND AS FOR YOUR WORK, TRY TO PUT A LITTLE MORE… BACKBONE INTO IT!" He walked off, laughing maniacally.

Sans turned back to the lamp. "ok, you can come out now." As Ruby stepped out from behind the lamp, Sans winked. "you might want to hurry. if he comes back, you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes. actually, there was something i wanted to ask you."

Ruby turned back to Sans. "Yeah, what is it?"

He stepped a little closer. "my brother's been kinda down lately. he's never met a human before, and seeing you might just make his day. so, uh, if you could 'run into him', i'd really appreciate it."

Ruby nodded. "Sure, I can do that." Seeing Sans caring about Papyrus like this reminded Ruby of how protective Yang was of her. Her mind flashed back to the time Yang tried to bake cookies for the two of them after a particularly bad day. They came out horribly overcooked, and Yang said the whole plan "crashed and burned."

"thanks, ruby. i'll go on ahead. don't worry, papyrus isn't dangerous… even if he tries to be." Sans turned around and walked back over the bridge the way they had come, disappearing into the treeline.

Ruby pulled her hood up and continued the path near the trees, another golden light just like the one in front of Toriel's house glowed invitingly; a SAVE point. Ruby touched it, and the familiar warm feeling washed over her, before she stepped into the forest proper.