He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

His own brother, his own flesh and bones, was standing right in front of him next to a serial killer. Right there, in the mall, right in front of him. Not once, but twice has there been a serial killer next to Sans, standing next to him as if they hadn't hurt someone before.

Papyrus was a big believer in redemption, that anyone could be a good person if they just tried, but they didn't try to be good people! Yeah, what Jeff had said to him was accurate, but Laughing Jack had almost killed Frisk.

When did this start? Was Sans always in ties with killers, and did Papyrus never notice? Or was it after they got to the surface, when he must have met Laughing Jack and Jeff. Maybe Sans was just threatened by them, they could have held weapons to his face and force him to be with them?

No, Sans had willingly called for Laughing Jack, and he willingly left with Jeff instead of go with Undyne and himself.

This was his fault, wasn't it?

To think that his brother would choose killers over himself had Papyrus sobbing into his hands, Alphys left speechless on the couch and Undyne digging her nails into her head from the realization.

They had screwed up.

Papyrus was a terrible brother. The girl was right, he didn't deserve to be called a brother after what he did.

"W-Wait," Papyrus said.

Everyone glanced over at him, the girl crossing her legs in front of her as she dragged them over the couch to better face him.

"He was w-with a girl, a little girl that he said he adopted but there were no documents," Papyrus said, "Her n-name was Sally. Do you think she...?"

"Sans said he was taking care of her because of her Uncle," Undyne said, rubbing her eyes with her hands.

"Brown hair, green eyes? Was she with a teddy bear called Charlie, wearing pink?" Bubbly asked.

"Oh Toby Fox no," Papyrus groaned.

"But she was only a kid! She was like what, six?" Undyne snapped, "No, I'm sorry girl, but you have to be off. There's no way a kid that young could have killed anyone!"

"Well, uh, when she was alive, she couldn't have killed anyone," She said.

"A-Alive?" Alphys asked.

They all stared in disbelief as the girl seemed to move for her phone before deciding against it, pushing herself back against the couch. She seemed uneasy and hesitant of everything she did, anxious even.

"Sally Williams was her name, when she was alive 30 years ago."

"Alive 30 years ago?" Undyne asked.

"I-I DON'T UNDERSTAND," Papyrus said.

"Sally was raped and killed by her Uncle 30 years ago," She said, "She was killed with a rock, I think, on her head. She died when she was a kid and is now like a ghost."

"YOU MEAN SHE DIED AS A HUMAN AND BECAME A MONSTER?" Papyrus asked, "LIKE HOW NAPSTABLOOK IS A GHOST? BUT HE WAS BORN AS A GHOST!"

"No, they're different, I'm not sure how to explain," She said, "Napstablook was born as a ghost, like you said, but he was born as that. Sally was killed as a human, but because her spirit wanted revenge on her Uncle, so her body died but her soul sorta lived on in the shape of how she died, if that makes sense. Basically, she lived past death and is stuck eternally living in her soul like that, I think. It's hard to explain when monsters have a species of ghosts, but uh, since she's technically older then all of us, and that she's immortal. I dunno how to explain, it's just something humans naturally kinda know since ghosts are pretty popular."

"So, she's actually... d-dead?" Undyne asked.

"Yeah, she died by her Uncle before," The girl said, "It's no coincidence that Sans happened to be with three CreepyPasta, he's definitely involved somehow."

"I-I can't believe that we... oh Toby Fox..." Papyrus's voice was quiet, shaking.

"All of the CreepyPasta people are sorta really powerful, since they're all killers and everything," The girl said, "There's a lot of them, and if Sans is interacting with three of them, he's bound to probably find more. Like maybe Liu, he's Jeff the Killer's brother. But either way, he's definitely in too deep now. Like, once you see just one CreepyPasta, you don't get out free. You guys said someone named Frisk was hurt after seeing Laughing Jack, right?"

"BUT... I-I... uh..." Papyrus was struggling between his loud voice and his quiet voice, trying to process all of this information.

"I should maybe take a step back," The girl said, holding up her hands. "Um, so basically all of these people are killers and Sans probably got involved because they tried to kill him or something. So it probably wasn't even his intention, like he didn't go looking out for them, but they probably tried to kill him but they didn't for some reason. So I don't think they're going to kill Sans for awhile, since he's hanging out with them."

"REALLY?" Papyrus asked hopefully, "THEN SANS IS SAFE, RIGHT?"

"I mean, maybe? They haven't killed him yet, so he could be useful to them for now, but if he ends up being useless... no, you guys said he had the box, so Laughing Jack probably gave it to him..."

She twisted in her seat, pressing her elbow against her knees so she could chew on her fingernails slightly. The girl didn't seem confident in herself, judging by how often she went back on her words.

"I don't w-want Sans to get hurt from t-them," Alphys said, "Is there any w-way for us to g-get rid of the CreepyPastas?"

"Well, Jeff the Killer is killable, and if you destroy Laughing Jack's box... but people like Sally can't be killed, not to mention Jeff and Laughing Jack are sorta... really hard to kill, especially if they're working together." The girl ran a hand through her brown, tangled hair. "You guys really shouldn't try to fight them head on, they're really dangerous. The government is going to be getting involved soon though, you guys should wait until they figure it out."

"BUT WHAT IF SANS DOESN'T MAKE IT UNTIL THEN?" Papyrus asked, "WHAT I-IF HE..."

"Like I said, they usually do things with reason when it involves real people," She said, "Like there's probably a good reason Sans was with the three of them. They usually just kill normal people and stick to CreepyPasta whenever they talk, so something's going on."

"But Sans told Laughing Jack that he could kill us, and he just sat back and watched!" Undyne said, "So they're working together somehow!"

"We deserved it..." Alphys whispered quietly.

Everyone looked over at her, unsure of how to respond. This poor teenage girl was just thrown into the middle of this, Papyrus realized; she had nothing to do with any of the situation. In fact, none of them even knew her name still.

"I don't think there's anything you guys can do, you guys won't even know where to find them, and if you do, you will all probably die," She said, "I really don't want to be mean, don't take any offense to this, but you guys... probably can't do anything right now."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" Papyrus asked, "OF COURSE THERE'S SOMETHING WE CAN DO, RIGHT?"

"Against them? No, not really," She said, "I think you guys just have to keep an eye out, uh, there's a lot of CreepyPasta that are dangerous and insane..."

"So we can't even help Sans?" Undyne asked.

"Of course we c-can't, he doesn't want us n-near him anymore!" Alphys said.

"The best thing you guys could do is just wait, if you go out and try to find him, you'll just find the CreepyPasta," The girl said, "And if you guys try to get involved, they'll kill you. You guys really shouldn't be talking like these are just some group of kids, they're actual undead and experienced killers who can escape from trained professionals. They can even listen in through electronics, so we have to keep them covered."

"Wait, they can do w-what?" Alphys asked.

The girl sighed. "Some of them can see and travel through screens, it's why I covered all of the screens. You guys really don't understand how dangerous these people are, you guys probably won't get Sans by fighting back against them. If you really wanna get him back, you should try waiting for an opportunity and getting information first before you just rush out and get killed."

"HOW DO WE GET INFORMATION? IS IT ONLINE?" Papyrus questioned.

"Well, yeah, but like I said, they're going to be watching you guys and your internet search history," She said, "We have to use the knowledge we can speak away from electronics."

She then stood up, her baggy clothes moving as she moved to where the phones were positioned and grabbed her own, slipping it into her right pant pocket.

"Wait, y-you're leaving?" Alphys asked.

"We still need more answers!" Undyne said.

"You guys really just don't get it, do you?" The girl sighed, her hand resting on the doorknob to the front door. "These people have a friend of yours, I don't really know Sans, but I know the CreepyPastas. They aren't going to let him go if they want him, and that means they might target his old friends and family if they get in the way. You all seem like nice people, you really do, but I'm dealing with my own problems right now, and I don't want a target on my head. I don't want to die."

"We still don't even know your name!" Undyne said.

The girl seemed to think for a moment before looking down at her hand, turning back towards them.

"I'm not going to use my real name," She said, "But call me Bubbly."