Papyrus ran, as silently as he could, back to the echo flowers. He was a grateful the river was loud enough to mask his frantic footsteps.

He ran to where Sans and his new friends - Undyne and Alphys - stood, still whispering funny things to the echo flower.

"Hey Papy. What took you so long?" Sans asked, still looking at the echo flower.

No reply.

"Papyrus? Are you okay?" Sans asked again as he looked at his younger brother, eye sockets full of concern.

Papyrus snapped out of his daze and replied, "YEAH, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, IS FINE!"

No I'm not. I just witnessed our new step mom murder her children, he should've yelled.

"Doesn't look like it, but whatever. Let's find goat mom."

"Goat mom? I thought you're skeletons?" Undyne asked.

"Its a long story," Sans replied bluntly.

"C'mon then," he said afterwards, leading the search.

- - - - -

Toriel had just finished burying the bodies of her children when Sans, Papyrus and their new friends approached her.

"Hey mom," Sans said as he tapped her shoulder.

Toriel jumped at the motion, scared that she was caught red-handed. When she saw that it was only the skeleton brothers and their new friends, she calmed down a bit.

Or at least tried to be calm.

"Oh hi," she said simply.

"What's up with you? You looked like you've seen a ghost," Sans commented.

Toriel didn't manage to reply before Undyne spoke up.

"She must've seen Napstablook somewhere around here. Napstablook's a ghost by the way. He makes great music, even though he's as shy as Alphys over here," Undyne said as she wrapped an arm around Alphys at the last sentence. Alphys blushed.

Toriel just nodded.

"Hey, where's Asriel and Chara?" Papyrus asked, even though he knew the answer. He didn't yell for once, which shocked everyone.

Toriel turned as white as a sheet. She tried to make an excuse.

"They, um, went back to stay with their real father.

"Who?"

"King Asgore," she said, venom slipping off her tongue.

"Ok," Papyrus replied. Liar, he wanted to yell, but he couldn't.

Toriel heaved a sigh of relief in her heart and ushered the skeletons, not forgetting the picnic basket.

They all bid farewell to Undyne and Alphys before going back to Snowdin.

- - - - -

For some reason, the air in Snowdin felt colder than usual.