The soft snow that fell upon Snowdin's groaning woods silently crunched beneath the weight of something small, yet all too taxing.
Its body was akin to a bug's in size, a strange mess of bugged sprites and confused crackles as reality wrestled with an unseen glitch.
Then, quietly this tiny being began to wither away, the air closing around it as if trying to drown out the static its existence was causing.
That is, until a small beetle, was lowered from a gray being's molten hand onto the dirt. It crawled to the static shuddering of the world's rejection and let its antenna fall upon it.
The beetle leapt away as the snow crackled with dissatisfaction, but slowly, almost reluctantly, the bug's existence steadied.
The trees swayed with a frosty wind as a humanoid shape peeked past the static – a head adorned with inky black hair that stained the snow with darkness where it touched – her body hidden beneath a veil, a pitch black cloak.
She cried out softly in pain, her small body freezing in the snow as white breath escaped from her purple lips.
Her skin cracked at the bite of reality, revealing the sea of shuddering textures lurking beneath the surface.
It was then that a loud, eccentric voice could be heard.
"OH GOODNESS! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" The one and only Great Papyrus shouted, rushing to the being's aid.
He knelt in the snow and picked her up, watching as she shivered in his gloved hands.
"YOU NEEDN'T WORRY! I SHALL SAVE YOU!"
Papyrus then rushed as fast as he could, his bones could give no warmth, so he fled to his, and his brother's home.
People glanced at him as he sprinted past, a strange shimmering sound trailing behind him as he forced the door of his home open.
"SANS! COME HERE!"
Then, a calm yet lazy voice could be heard coming from the couch.
He was not there when Papyrus entered, but that did not matter now.
"Hey no need to shout paps…" Sans began, only to notice the strange creature he was cradling.
"Who's that?"
"I HAVE NO CLUE! BUT THEY MIGHT FREEZE TO DEATH!"
Sans hollow eyes blinked, if that was even possible, in surprise.
"Oh sh- Well I mean, put them next to the heater for now… Maybe put a cloth over them or something."
Papyrus felt a flash of irritation in his soul at his brother's apparent apathy, but the fact he was doing anything at all about this was relieving to him to begin with.
Thus, he swallowed his frustration and moved as his older brother instructed.
With the little one now next to the heater, Paps grabbed a large, snug blanket from his room and planned to cover her with it – but Sans stopped him.
"Woah woah woah bro, slow down. Its small and winter blankets are super heavy! It would make it hard to breathe. Get something tiny, like… I dunno, a rag or something."
"AH. SILLY ME! THANK YOU BROTHER." Papyrus facepalmed, and quickly stood up, moving swiftly to the kitchen and grabbing the nicest, most fuzzy piece of cloth he could find.
Then, he carefully placed it atop the creature, and the static that came from deep within its body grew louder – notably so as its skin glitched at the seams.
Sans immediately moved the cloth away with a flash of blue in his socket.
"Don't touch that thing again okay bro? I'll take care of it."
"ARE YOU SURE BROTHER? WILL IT BE OKAY?"
Sans nodded reassuringly, even if he wasn't sure. But his brother's nod was enough for Papyrus to calm down. After all, Papyrus had never seen Sans fail when he tried.
"Yeap. It'll be good, I can feel it in my bones."
"UGH!"
Sans continued as his grin grew wider, "I just have to take it to the back alright? I think something's up with its… Stuff. Oh yeah, speaking of which, you feel alright?"
Papyrus nodded, standing proud and tall, puffing out his chest.
"NYEHEHE! OF COURSE BROTHER! I AM AS GREAT AS ALWAYS!"
Sans chuckled, "You're so cool bro, just tell me if anything is up."
Papyrus nodded, and Sans quietly levitated the being's body with a glance, moving it with him as he walked outside and around their house, making his way to a mundane wooden shack.
The doors creaked open after he gave the password, revealing a large well kept room with a large machine covered by a large cloth.
The room had a large gray table and walls that seemed to be made out of stone from the inside.
The table had four drawers, but Sans ignored them.
Instead, he closed the door shut behind him and lowered the being onto the cold, rough table.
"Sorry its cold, but you'll have to deal with it for now." He spoke to himself, noting that it seemed to relax at the table's hard surface.
'It got loud when Paps put something soft on it, and calmed down when we removed it. And now that its on a hard surface, its even calmer.'
Sans noted to himself, carefully wrapping his blue magic around the creature's soul and slowly pulling it above its body so he could see.
What he saw made him sweat, figuratively.
A strange buggy mess of a soul-shaped thing that had no color nor any light to it, instead, it was as if everything about it was hidden behind a firewall of bugs, glitches, and messy errors.
They all shimmered relatively quietly, but could still be heard now that Sans had interacted with them.
"What the hell?" Sans muttered, thoughts racing.
'Is this the anomaly? But… No, I don't think this is it right? I mean maybe… But its soul is like that of a monster, and if it nearly froze to death in the woods…'
"Well bucko… I guess I'll have some babysitting to do now."
Sans would observe it, once it wakes up, he would have questions to ask it too. Its hair had evens stained his table, but he didn't feel like cleaning that up right now.
"You'll clean that, deal? Silence means yes by the way."
Obviously it didn't talk back.
"...Well... lets get you to paps for now, its cold here anyway, you won't die but its better to get you comfy."
With that, Sans carried it back to the house.