//------------------------------//
// Presents in Pink 
// Story: To Save a Life 
// by Infernity Zero 
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Sans and Sunset kept walking through the snow and out of the forest. Or rather, Sans walked and Sunset hobbled. Before them lay a large banner unrolled across the ground that read Welcome to Snowdin Town. Next to the banner lay two buildings. The sign atop the first building marked it as a shop, and the second one was marked as an inn. Sans pointed at the latter.

"heya. so before we keep going, you took a bit of a beating from the royal guards. so i'd suggest heading to the inn before you do anything else. you might feel better."

Sunset wanted to ask how exactly a good night's sleep could heal severe injuries to her SOUL; but based on everything she'd already seen, the Underground clearly operated on its own logic and physics that put even Equestria to shame.

No wonder the entrance was in the Everfree Forest.

She turned back to Sans to ask for more information, but the blue skeleton had already vanished. Shrugging, she entered the inn. The instant she crossed over the building's threshold, a soothing blanket of warm air gently lifted cold off of her body. The relief was so great that her legs nearly gave out from under her, and she almost missed the receptionist waving her over.

"Hey there." The bunny woman smiled at her. "Welcome to Snowed Inn. Snowdin's premier hotel."

"Thanks." Sunset gave a weak smile. "How much for one night?"

"One night is 80 g."

She checked her inventory. 80g was a little pricey, but if it could heal her, she needed it. "Here you go."

The bunny took her money. "Here's your room key. Don't forget to bundle up."

Without a word, she took the key and headed upstairs, collapsing onto the bed immediately. Everything went black.




Sunset was so exhausted that she didn't even have the energy to dream. But eventually, she opened her eyes once more. With the underground constantly changing and no source of sunlight to speak of, her internal clock had long stopped working. Still, she made the bed back up as she'd found it and headed back downstairs.

"Heya," the bunny woman was sitting at the desk. "You look like you had a great sleep."

A look down at her SOUL told her that statement was accurate. Not only was her heart fully intact but there was also a yellow barrier in front of it. She wasn't just healed; she was MORE than okay.

"Wow. Sans was right. One night here did patch me up."

The woman shook her head. "One night? I'm afraid you're mistaken. You were only up there for a couple of minutes."

The only response Sunset could muster to a revelation like this was an utterly numb. "Wait...what?" This was followed by something being shoved into her palm.

"Here's your money back. You can pay me if you're going to sleep overnight."

Sunset returned the money to her inventory and exited the inn.

Now that she was healed, she could take in the town at her leisure. There were several houses scattered through the area ahead of her along with several monsters gathered around a decorated tree. Some were eating cake while others held presents.

Funny. I didn't know the Underground celebrated Christmas.

As she approached the three, one of the monsters turned to her. "Hey there. Welcome to the town."

"Thanks." She stared at the tree. "What have we here?"

"Some awful teens tormented a local monster by decorating its tree-like horns."

She shook her head. "Oh, that's terrible."

"Yeah." He nodded. "That's why we started giving that monster presents to make it feel better. And now, it's something of a tradition to put presents under a decorated tree."

Somehow, she wondered if it would have been a better idea to just take the decorations off of the monster. As she moved closer, she saw a little dinosaur monster without any arms standing in front of the tree. And standing next to him holding a sack full of presents was another monster in a Santa Claus outfit. With a large, red hat and a big, golden beard, she had a hard time figuring out where the costume ended and his face began, but the two giant horns on his head meant he was definitely a monster, As she watched, he took a present out of his sack and handed it to the monster kid. "Here you are."

The Monster Kid grinned and picked up the present in his mouth. "Wow! Thanks, Mr. Claus!" He ran off with the gift but not without tripping over his own two feet.

Sunset watched him go before turning toward Kris Kringle. "So, did you put all these presents here?"

He knelt down so he could meet her at eye level. "Not all of them. But the monsters around here love the tradition we started, so I like to give them presents sometimes."

She didn't know if it was the cold or the sweetness of the act, but she felt her cheeks get warm. "That's really sweet."

Reaching into his sack, he pulled out another one. "Don't forget yours, little Human."

She stopped dead in her tracks. "A present for me? But...but I didn't do anything."

He pointed a finger behind him at the building labeled Grillby's. "That's not what the royal guards told me. They talked about how you encountered each of them and showed them mercy even when they tried to attack you. That was a very kind thing to do. So, you deserve it." 

Sunset stared at the box she'd been given before slowly opening it. Inside was an enormous sandwich in the shape of a sword, filled with lettuce, tomatoes, roast beef, bacon, ham, and a giant slab of steak. "Oh wow. This is nice. Wonder how long it took to make."

"It's a Legendary Hero," Santa replied. "One of the best sandwiches in the entire Underground. I'm sure you'll love it."

Sunset added it to her inventory. "I'm sure it's delicious, but I'm still stuffed from Papyrus's spaghetti and the Nice Cream I ate earlier. If the sandwich is as good as you say, I think I should wait until my tank is empty." She looked at Santa. "Speaking of food, I'm looking for a friend of mine who loves to make pastries and cupcakes. Her name is Pinkie Pie. Have you seen her?"

Santa nodded. "As a matter of fact, I have. You just missed her. She was here earlier, sharing a bunch of cupcakes. But when little Monster Kid talked to her about Undyne, she ran off. I think she mentioned something about throwing another party." He pointed past Grillby's

Sunset shook her head. "Yep, that sounds like Pinkie Pie all right. But who's Undyne?"

"She's the captain of the Royal Guard. She doesn't like humans very much. So I'd avoid her if I were you."

"I see. Well, I'll keep a lookout for her. Thanks for the present."

"You're welcome." Santa turned away to talk to another monster and handed him a new present.

Sunset headed onward in the direction he'd pointed at a brisk walk. If what he said was true, then she was within shouting distance of Pinkie Pie right this minute. Though the pink-haired party planner could grind her last nerve at times, her neverending optimism was something Sunset could really use right now. But at the same time, she couldn't just charge forward without a plan. She'd be useless to Pinkie Pie if she got hurt herself. And with how different the Underground was compared to the surface world, she could really use some more information. Fortunately, the next building ahead of her appeared to be a library, albeit with the sign misspelled as 'librarb.' More monsters were inside, reading newspapers or doing word searches. She also noted that each one had a cupcake nearby like the ones Pinkie would make. Grabbing one of the newspapers, she began to read.

Love, hope, and compassion. This is what people say monster souls are made of. But the absolute nature of SOUL is unknown. After all, humans have proven they don't need these things to exist.

"Ouch." She muttered to herself. Then again, most monsters probably didn't have much experience with humans besides her. She kept reading.

While monsters are mostly made up of magic, humans are mostly made of water. Humans, with their physical forms, are far stronger than us. But they will never know the joy of expressing themselves through magic. They'll never get a bullet-patterned birthday card. Because they are made of magic, monster bodies are attuned to their SOUL. If a monster doesn't want to fight, its defenses will weaken. And the crueler the intentions of their enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful SOUL struck with the desire to kill...

The sentence petered out after that. Sunset frowned. Well, that would explain why she'd been able to beat Toriel so easily. The goat clearly hadn't wanted to fight her, so her single attack had done much more damage than she'd anticipated. She'd have to remember that for the future. After finishing the rest of the articles, she got up and left the library, continuing to head East.	The only other building in town was a well-decorated house. She tried the door only to find it locked, as was the shed next to it. So she kept on.

Upon leaving the town, the first thing she noticed was that she could barely see herself. A thick layer of fog had formed before her in the blink of an eye. But while she still couldn't see her hand in front of her face, it wasn't actually pushing against her or slowing her down. As she moved further in, she caught sight of a silhouette before her and moved closer.

"HUMAN." Papyrus's voice reached her ears. "ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS."

Yours or mine?

"FEELINGS LIKE...THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE FIRST PERSON WHO ACTUALLY ENJOYS MY COOKING." He laughed. "THE ADMIRATION OF ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS, EVEN IF YOU DID USE SOME VINES TO DO SO."

She couldn't bring herself to correct him with how happy he seemed.

"THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FEELINGS. THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW!"

Only a Herculean effort kept her from bursting out laughing right then and there.

"I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY. AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE." Papyrus leaned toward her. "I PITY YOU, LONELY HUMAN. BUT WORRY NOT. YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR..."

He left his sentence unfinished and turned away from her. She took another step forward only for him to whirl on her.

"NO. NO! THIS IS ALL WRONG! I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND. YOU ARE A HUMAN. I MUST CAPTURE YOU. THEN I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM. POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS! THAT'S PAPYRUS. THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"

With the snap of his fingers, a bone appeared in his hands, and he twirled it like a staff. She drew her knife in response. "I don't want to fight you, Papyrus. But I don't want to get captured either. So bring it on! Show me what a royal guard is worth!"

Blade locked against bone as the two of them pressed against each other, their wielders grinning madly.

"NYEH HEH HEH!"