Chapter Text
How did you end up in this situation? You were just with your research crew and a while later, somehow you had gotten separated from your flock. The topping of the cake? You had gotten snow blindness due to accidentally dropping your goggles into the depth of the freezing water and the ice under your feet could potentially crack and drag you under its frigid winter grasp that would surely spell your death. With no visual aid, this would be tricky… You could potentially fall into a crack that was already formed if you weren't carefully navigating the frozen ocean you were now standing on. You knew you should have gone back to base to get new goggles to block the sun from burning your retinas.
Suddenly you heard something not far away from you, it sounded like splashes of water and deep pitched whistling, it sounded almost happy. If you had been your past self, you would have put on your ear pieces to block the sound immediately, sirens around here could be deadly if not careful… but the one who came up from the water wasn't your usual siren as you recognized the deep whistling sound. Apparently his name was Sans and he had been following you around whenever you had to go on top of the iced over ocean for how long? You don't know but he was friendly enough… maybe perhaps a bit too much lately. He never tried to sing to you, except one time but he had asked for your permission first. Sans hadn't exactly been very friendly the first time you met him face to skull, even after you saved his brother one day, Papyrus as he was called had been stranded on top of the ice and couldn't get back into the water. You could clearly remember that day… and the turmoil that happened after…
𓆟 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝
You were out on the frozen ocean, gathering research data and that when you saw it, a big and bright orange fish tail? Specifically an Arctic Charr tail but it was massive, at the other end was a skeleton's upper body… so this is what they called a siren huh? You had seen some on televisions but they all varied in upper bodies and species. You quickly put your ear pieces inside your ear canal to block any sounds that could get you killed and then you approached the being.
They turned around to face you, it's face full of fear and uncertainty when their empty eye sockets looked at you, well you assumed they were looking at you, with those empty eye sockets of theirs, it was hard to know for sure. They tried to scoot away from you but with their heavy body, it didn't get very far. Suddenly not too far away, another siren popped up from a hole in the ice, another skeleton siren but you didn't know what species they were since they only emerged so you could only see their torso. They looked panicked as you approached the stranded one, it looked to be hissing at you but of course you couldn't hear it. When you arrived close to the stranded Charr, it looked up at you in helplessness. You looked towards the hissing siren that looked at you with rage, his eyelights flaring a dangerous sharp white and then you looked back at the orange charr… could you push it towards the hole? You didn't want to be anywhere near the hissing siren that was giving you the glare of death but… when they see you were trying to help they would understand not to drown you, right? Right.
You gently started to push the Charr siren towards the hole in the ice but to your utter dismay, they were too heavy for you to push and even with spiked shoes, the slippery ice didn't provide you any help either. You sighed and sat down on the ice to think, what could you do that could get this siren back into the water before they died of dehydration? As you were thinking, the Charr spoke to you now that you were level with them, or well tried. With your ear protection you couldn't hear anything and it wasn't like both of them spoke your language right? But you might as well try to speak, you weren't planning on taking out your protection from your ears, especially when there was another siren looking at you with those piercing eye lights of theirs, giving your snarls whenever your eyes locked. You didn't know what you found more scary, the siren with empty eye sockets or the one with the menacing pin pricks… probably the latter seeing as the Charr isn't even attacking you for touching them.
"I uh… can't hear you but obviously I'm not here to hurt you" You said as you pointed to your ears, they blinked at you for a second but quickly nodded, giving you a warm smile. Did that mean they could understand human speech? That was good for the both of you. Now back to your dilemma, how to get the heavy siren back to the frozen water… This would take all day and the Charr siren didn't have that much time left without water. If only you could break the ice somehow? That could work, you did bring your ice pick but the ice beneath you was too thick to penetrate… You stood up again, walking around the stranded siren and to say that the both of them were utterly confused at your behavior when you stomped around was understandable. A sudden crack rang out or so you assumed, you could only see it. This was perfect!
You walked back to the stranded siren and started to push them towards the small crack you had made in the ice, they understood what you were trying to do and used their long tail to gain more momentum. Luckily the newly formed crack was just a few meters away and you got there relatively quick with the help of the Charr siren. You could see that they were utterly exhausted, getting them to where the other siren was probably not a good idea if they didn't have strength left to even swim. Here comes the hard part though… breaking the ice. You equipped your ice pick, you saw the Charr flinch at your action and you're pretty sure the other one is screaming at you right now with the rumble you could sense from the ice beneath you. You brought out a thick nail, usually you used them as an anchor on ice walls when climbing but it'll be useful to break through the ice. You hammered the nail down just slightly so it stood upright without you having to balance it, the Charr siren now looked puzzled at the nail you just hammered down.
"It's easier to break through the ice with it" You explained, not sure if they could understand you. It was weird talking when you couldn't hear anything coming out of your mouth. You looked towards the seething siren, his eye lights warning you if that ice pick went anywhere but the nail, you would have a bad time. What a grumpy siren, if you wanted to hurt the Charr, you would have already done so but you had no qualms with sirens so you decided to help. You readied your ice pick, heaving it behind you and you smashed it down on the nail making deep cracks in the ice but you knew it wasn't enough, you had to go all around the Charr siren to control the breakage of the ice. You didn't want to accidentally slip into the dark waters below. And so you repeated the action until cracks were formed all around the siren.
"Last hit, this one should break the ice so ready yourself" You said to the siren but also to yourself, you didn't want to be anywhere near water when you broke the ice, not expecting the same mercy you had shown. For the last time (hopefully) you heaved the ice pick behind your shoulder and used gravity to drive the nail home, the ice cracks spread like a spider's web and abruptly the Charr's heavy weight breaks the ice and they fall through. You quickly retreated from the newly formed hole, your nail lost to the cold water below… oh well. Your job was done so you turned around, ready to walk back to the research station, it was getting late after all but before you could take another step, something hit your head. The collision wasn't too hard, not with the winter gear you were wearing after all but without it though? Probably would have caused a head concussion. You looked back and saw the same siren that had glared at you the entire time emerging from the newly created hole… now they were just scowling at you but then their eyes moved downwards and you followed their sight. There on the ice was your nail you had used, you picked it up, mentally chuckling. What a grateful siren, huh?
You wordlessly pocketed the damaged nail and turned back around and walked away from the grouchy siren.
𓆟 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝
Sans watched you carefully as you hammered away at the ice all around his brother, he found you incredibly suspicious. What human just strides up to a siren? Did you have a death wish or something? Whenever he snarled at you as a warning, you didn't flinch nor react in fear, you just stared back for a second before going back to helping his stuck brother. What surprised him even more is that you did manage to break the thick ice with your oddly shaped weapon, for such a tiny human you sure had some strength in you.
When his brother fell into the water, Sans immediately dived back down to see his brother, exhaustion clear on his body but no scratches were left on him. "Papyrus! Are you alright?" Sans hastefully made his way to him, examining him more closely… who knows, maybe you nicked his younger brother with a poisoned blade or something but he found nothing concerning. "SANS I AM FINE! THE HUMAN DID NOTHING TO HURT ME" Papyrus reassured him, this would definitely be the last time they see who could jump the highest out of the water… Papyrus had won of course. All of a sudden something glinting caught his eyesight, it was that thing you used to pierce the ice with… he dove down to the seabed to snatch it up. He held it near his face to examine it further, it was pretty weirdly shaped after all those strong hits it withstood from you or it probably was always shaped like that since humans weren't that strong. What Sans did next confused him, he swam up to where the newly hole had been formed and emerged from it. He saw you, your back turned… you could have been easy prey for him right then and there but instead he just threw the nail at you. He didn't use too much force and it hit you straight in the head, it bounced off of you with a loud clang and you looked back to see him scowling.
You showed no emotion whatsoever but he could tell you were beyond confused, stupid humans… He looked at the nail that had hit the icy ground and you followed suit. You finally got it and picked it up, you gave him one last look and for a second he thought he saw a small smile but you turned around before he could confirm that… and then you simply walked away without saying anything. Sans dove down again, his brother giving him a puzzled look.
"Sorry Paps for suddenly leaving ya, the human dropped somethin'" At that his younger brother smiled at him with such glee. "I AM SO PROUD OF YOU FOR APOLOGIZING TO THE HUMAN BY GIVING BACK THEIR LOST TOOLS!" Sans awkwardly laughed as he scratched his neck bone, that wasn't exactly what he did but it's not like Papyrus would ever find out what he did.
Oh how wrong he was.
❄️ ---------------------------------------- ❄️