Sans is stunned by the drastic temperature change when he steps out of the Ruins. His fragile bones are hardly able to detect temperatures. In the lab and ruins, he felt nothing at all. Here, the air is cool and crips. It doesn't feel nearly as bad as freezing water. In fact, Sans likes it. The ground makes a weird and loud noise under his boots when he walks.

     "SNOW", Papyrus is nearly screeching when he runs out from behind Sans and hurls himself off the beaten down path. He lands in the show and sinks down nearly a foot, leaving a Papyrus shaped hole.

     "Pappy! I missed you!", Sans squeals, throwing himself into the snow after his brother. It must be safe if his brother did it.

     The cold shocks him again. The snow feels so strange and fluffy against this bones. He ignores it in favor of crawling over to the brother shaped hole. Papyrus abruptly sits up and wraps his arms around Sans's neck when he gets close. The Monster squeals again when the Human pulls him back down into the snow. It flies up into the air or gets crushed down as the boys wiggle.

       "Sans! I missed you too! Toriel never left you alone.....", Papyrus is pouting now. The look is less intimidating since there's clumps of powdered snow all over his clothing. Sans is similarly coated and in awe over the fluffy powder.

     "Sorry Papyrus. I don't like it when you have to hide".

"It's okay. Miss Toriel was a lot nicer then Flowey. Do you think other Monsters are like her?".

"Maybe......".

Sans is too wary to let his guard down completely. Clumsily, he stands up in the deep snow and then pulls Papyrus up. They wade out of the snow drifts and back onto the beaten path. A road of packed down snow stretches away from the Ruins door and off into the distance. Trees surround the path on either side. Sans briefly saw far off trees on his way to Mt. Ebott, but they look much more imposing up close.

      "Where do you think the road goes?", Papyrus asks. He's standing to the right of the Monster and playing with the ends of the new scarf.

      " I don't know. The Barrier, maybe? Toriel said it was really far away", Sans sighs. He starts to walk down the path, and Papyrus follows behind while still hanging onto the end of the purple scarf.

     Each step away from the Ruins makes Sans sadder and sadder. Toriel's shown him more kindness than anyone except for his brother. He wanted to stay. He would've stayed if Doctor Gaster's emotionless face wasn't haunting him. What would Gaster do if Sans doesn't meet him at the Barrier? Sans doesn't realize that none of the doctors would be willing to come down here themselves. He thinks one of them could appear at any moment to take him back to his room.

     The woods around them are deathly quiet. In the lab, Sans got used to the constant hum of the air conditioner and other machines after he learned to hear. Complete silence is new. Only the sound of his boots crunching in the snow reminds him that he's even hearing at all. Sans is yanked back by his scarf when Papyrus abruptly stops walking.

     "Pappy?", Sans asks, confused.

      "It's them again. From the flowerbed", Papyrus mumbles, but then he speaks up louder, "Come on! We have to catch them!".

     "Wh-What? Papyrus! Wait!", Sans shouts after his brother when he suddenly bolts forwards. The Monster trips over his own feet before running after him.

      The human is in a dead sprint, chasing after something they've seen. Sans can barely keep pace a few yards behind. He doesn't have lungs to pant with, but physical exertion of any kind tires him quickly. Sans looks up from the ground to make sure that Papyrus is still in front of him. When he does, the skeleton nearly stumbles and falls in shock over what he sees. In front of his brother, there's a slight distortion in the air. An extremely faint figure is doing their best to stay out of Papyrus's reach. It's barely solid enough to see the faded red glow. Sans looks farther, to where they're all running, and his soul drops. He pushes his legs faster and desperately tries to grab his brother's flapping scarf.

     "Papyrus!", Sans screams, finally getting a hold of the scarf.

      The human wasn't looking where he was going. He was so focused on the strange presence that he didn't realize that he was running straight towards a deep ravine. His foot comes down hard on the edge, and the ground gives way just as Sans pulls back on his scarf. Papyrus falls back on his butt with his legs dangling over the cliff. He's panting with wide eyes as he realizes what almost happened.

"You scared me!". Sans pulls Papyrus back from the ledge and hugs him tightly. They're both shivering a little. "Don't do that again!".

"I almost caught them. I'm sorry, Sans. They got away........" Papyrus frowns and looks around at the trees.

"I don't care about whoever that was! You almost got hurt, Pappy. You mean more to me than anything else". The Monster can't believe that his brother is more worried about the pale red silhouette. Papyrus turns around in Sans's arms and hugs him back.

The two boys eventually stand up and back away from the ravine. Papyrus spots a bridge on the other side of the road, so they both start walking over to it. Sans whips his head around when a flash of yellow pops up in the corner of his eye. When he looks, there's nothing but trees and snow. He shrugs it off and looks back towards the bridge.

The ravine is very narrow, but it's deep. The small bridge is made of wood and lacks handrails. Sans can't help but look down as he and Papyrus walk across. He regrets it immediately, discovering his fear of heights. Sans walks a little faster and ends up stepping on the back of Papyrus's shoes a few times.

On the other side of the ravine, a run down shack is standing on the side of the path. It looks abandoned. No one's used it for a long time. It's not interesting or colorful enough to keep Sans's attention. He and Papyrus quickly leave it behind. The path eventually splits into a crossroads. The skeleton might have explored what was in the North, but a Monster is sleeping on the path again. They have a strange, bird like body with featherless legs. Sans doesn't want to get anywhere close since the last sleeping Monster attacked him. Papyrus holds his brother's hand, and they both tiptoe pass.

"Do you think the bird is sad like Napstablook?", Papyrus whispers once they've gained some distance. He looks back over his shoulder.

"Are all sleeping Monsters sad? I'm not sad when I sleep. Sleeping feels nice.....", Sans trails off. He doesn't understand other Monsters very well. Some are mean, some are nice, and some are sleepy like him. It's confusing. All the Doctors acted with the same professionalism, and Santos acts like what a Sergeant probably acts like. Papyrus said Toriel was a goat, but she didn't act like one. Nothing else interesting happens for a while as they walk. They pass another abandoned guard station, but the third is occupied.

     "Ewwww! What's that SMELL!?". Papyrus chokes on the air and has to plug his nose.

      "What smell? What's it like?", Sans asks, confused. Skeletons can use magic to hear and speak, but they have no way to smell.

     "It smells like..... burning dog food", Papyrus scrunches up his face, "You're so lucky! I wish I didn't have to smell this!".

      "MOVEMENT! Something moved!".

     The sudden deep, and scratchy voice makes both boys freeze. Neither noticed the third guard station while they were distracted by the awful smell. Sans recognizes some of the Monster's features from Papyrus's drawings of his old pet dog. The biggest thing is that they're standing on two legs with the height of an adult human.

      "I thought I saw movement.......". The dog's eyes slowly move away from the boys as they become unsure of themselves. That's when Papyrus sees their milky wight eyes. The dog is blind. They can only hear them when they move.

     "He's blind, Sans. He can't see us", Papyrus whispers as quietly as he can, "Stay here for a minute. I'll distract them".

     "W-Wait-". Sans tries to grab his brother to keep him back, but he misses. He's too afraid to let his feet shift in the snow and mess up whatever Papyrus is doing.

     To Sans's shock, Papyrus walks forwards and right past the dog who's still looking around. The Human doesn't speak. His boots are suddenly silent in the snow and don't leave footprints. Sans is confused. Papyrus clearly fell into the snow and made a dent earlier. Now, it looks like he's not even touching the ground. Papyrus walks to the other side of the guard station and pulls a large stick up from the ground. He then tosses it into the trees.

     The dog Monster perks up and bolts after it. Sans takes the chance to dart across the clearing and join his brother. They both turn and sprint down the path before the strange Monster can come back.