"You have a brother named Papyrus, then?"

Blue seemed to be the most corporative out of the three, so asking him was her best options to get a fair understanding of how exactly this situation came to be. Gwen had to understand how they got to her universe before she could find out how he got to the house, then find out how the situation with the knife even happened. It was obvious all three of these skeletons had become partners in crime, the murderer having convinced the other two to keep quiet. If she could get one of them to open up by finding out how this all happened, she could continue to solve this case.

But her gut coiled lightly. Something felt off about that. Why would they end up in this universe, why would that skeleton kidnap them?

"Yeah, we all do."

If they all had brothers named Papyrus from their own universes, then the victim Papyrus should have had his own Sans.

Why would he go around kidnapping other Sanses if he had his own Sans?

Was it simply out of obsession to collect all of them from different universes? But then why would he only have three? And why wasn't his Sans with the others?

"How exactly did he kidnap you?" Gwen asked.

Blue looked to the side, sighing gently. The memory wasn't a good one, it seemed. But were any of them?

"I had arrived home from training to find my brother!" Blue had said, "I thought Papyrus was well, my Papyrus. But when I had gotten a message from my real brother..."

~~~~~~

The house was cold, which was rather odd. Snowdin had the best heaters in all of the Underground, as it was located in the coldest climate. Of course the residents would work their hats off to get the best heating, advancing the technology to its limits. So why was his house so cold!

Nothing the Magnificent Blue couldn't fix!

Blue had been pressing up on the thermostat, aware of his brothers gaze on his side. It was nothing new, not like this cold air that hung in the living room, right where the lazy bones was seated. What was new was the intensity of the gaze. Papyrus did look up to Blue, even if he was shorter. It wasn't new to find his brother looking at him with admiration, glad he had such the coolest brother in the world.

But this gaze was different. Intense, focused in as if Blue was the only interesting thing in the room. And perhaps, he was the most interesting thing in the room for the other.

"Mweh heh, there we go!" Blue had said, clapping his hands together. "The Magnificent brother of yours has turned up the heat!"

"Of course," Papyrus had hummed out, not removing his gaze from him.

That was the first warning sign that Blue had been too oblivious to notice. Anyone else would have noticed the sound of his voice was obviously different, as if Blue would try to replicate his brothers low toned voice. And what he said wasn't like Papyrus speaking, it was like someone else trying to speak like him. Trying to act lazy and disinterested.

What Blue did notice was the change in temperature, almost causing him to stumble on the stairs when he had gotten further from Papyrus. Skeletons could sense change, and while they weren't affected due to their lack of skin, Blue did have to retain a warm house for any visitors who had the misfortune of having skin.

It was as if he had broken through a barrier, warmth suddenly smacking him in the face. It was rather disorianating, causing him to briefly lose his footing. Why was it suddenly warm up one stair higher?

Only when he received the text message had Blue finally pieced together the clues, staring down at his phone with shaking hands in his room.

'Sry for being late bro, onw home now'

Which didn't make sense, as he was already home. He was downstairs, wasn't he?

There was a startling amount of unease building in his body, bones clattering softly against the screen of his phone. Why did he suddenly feel so caught off guard, so scared?

Only when he felt himself shiver did Blue realize, his body having unconsciously connected the pieces together before he had realized.

The room had become extremely colder in the last second.

~~~~~~

"I guess I had known something was off when I had walked in and saw him, that there was just something, just a tiny little thing wrong with him," Blue admitted, fingers connecting his hands together.

"He had posed as your brother to get close to you?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, he had," Blue said, "I was the second one to be kidnapped. Sans had been kidnapped before me."

"Do you remember what it was like? Where you had been taken to?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, I can answer that," Blue had said, "But it wasn't this universe. Papyrus had taken us here because, uh... The first house was always cold. Us three didn't belong there, so we always made it cold."

Blue looked like a child who had almost said a bad word in front of their parent, retreating back into his chair. Obviously, whatever happened at the first house was not fun for him.

"So, when you woke up, Sans was already there?" Gwen asked, "And then Red was brought in?"

"Mhm."

Okay, this was progress for Gwen. She had a start of the timeline going. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing. Blue wasn't being fully cooperative, it was obvious he shut himself down whenever he almost said something he didn't want to say. If anyone was going to crack first, it would be him.

"Do you know what happened to the victims brother, that universes Sans?" Gwen asked.

It was almost like she had just set off a bomb in front of him, his reaction was rather fierce. Blue's eye sockets went wide, his body jerking backwards as his hands went up to pry at his face, as if trying to tear the memories of this event right out of his body, never to be remembered again.

"No no no no no-"

Now he was ranting, whatever she had made him remember obviously not the right move to do.

"No, wait, it's fine-" Gwen had tried to say.

"No no no no no no no-"

The no's continued, Blue starting to pull at his collar like it was on fire.

What happened to the victims brother? Was it so bad that Blue was freaking out just remembering?

Or did her asking that question a different memory, one that he had suppressed before?

Either way, even after she managed to calm Blue down, it was pointless. The poor, abused skeleton simply sunk back into his chair, shaking his head whenever she tried to ask a question. Gwen felt a surge of pity and regret climb within her soul before she shoved those emotions down, trying to ignore the way the skeleton looked. He didn't look like a murderer, he looked like a victim.

If he was the murderer, she couldn't be acting that way around him. That would mean she was giving a sinner pity, she couldn't be doing that.

"Look, Blue," Gwen said, adjusting the folders. "I need to find out who murdered Papyrus, and-"

"I don't care!" Blue suddenly snapped, "He deserved it, and I'm glad he's dead! He hurt us, he tortured us, he played with our emotions and pretended like it never happened! If he wasn't dead, we would have ended up like his brother!"

The outburst was sudden. Blue was obviously the most emotionally unstable of the group, and she could see why. He was an optimist, he must have tried to look on the bright side of his situation the entire time. All of them were coping with their emotions differently from this. Sans was reclusive and didn't answer anything. Red lashed out and made an act to hide behind. Blue felt betrayed, and while he did want to be nice, he didn't want to help Gwen find the murderer. In the end, their goals were the same. Protect each other, and have no one talk about who committed the crime.

Gwen decided not to make Blue break down again, repressing her need to ask exactly what happened to his brother, and why Blue was so afraid of ending up like the brother of the victim.

No wonder they made names for each other, all of these Sanses and Papyruses was getting confusing real quick.

"Thank you for your time, you've been helpful," Gwen said, closing her files. "I'll send you back so you can calm down."

~~~~~~

Even with the emotionally breakdown, Blue had been helpful. Now she knew how they had all been kidnapped, Papyrus had posed as their brothers and simply struck when their guard was down. Not only that, she knew how this all began. It was a good start.

Cooper watched Blue be escorted out of the room, his coffee forgotten in hand.

"Uh, you going to drink your coffee?" Gwen asked him.

"I- yeah, yeah," Cooper muttered softly, turning away when Blue was taken out.

"You doing alright?"

The monster sat down across from her, slumping against the table like a useless bag. His face looked strained, eyes wondering gently.

"I don't think Blue did it," Cooper said, stirring his coffee absentmindedly.

Gwen paused her movements, looking at him. "Why not?"

"He just looks so... nevermind."

This wasn't the first case Gwen had where the murderer had played like a victim. She could remember her gut screaming at her that case, every fiber of her being yelling against her turning in that file. It was like deja vu, the feeling replicating itself, but more quietly. Waiting to build up, waiting to strike her.

She wouldn't admit she saw those files in her sleep, and she wouldn't admit to anyone that she felt the guilt of that previous case from so long ago having set within her. Not when so many had clapped. Not when they had looked at her like that.

Gwen could tell him the same words her previous partner had told her. That a murderer was a sinner though and through, that the pity they tried to bestow was a lie. Just like their training had told them, just like they had been taught by their government. A sinner was a sinner, the moment they committed a murder, they lost that piece of their soul that connected them to their humanity. They were no better than possessed bodies, demons using it to enact more sins on the world.

The person from that case, so long ago, was a sinner. She had sent them to their death, she had been rewarded for it.

So why, whenever she remembered that case, she felt wrong?

No, no. Gwen was the savior, this was her job. She was going to find the filthy murderer from these three, and send them back to hell. It didn't matter what Papyrus had done, it didn't matter how pitiful Blue had looked. If he was a murderer, he wasn't a person. He was a corrupted soul, one which had to be sent down to hell. If he was the murderer.

Or, he could just be worried for his friends. They all had motive, they all had evidence. Sans was covered in blood. Red was a previous killer. Blue hated Papyrus and wished him dead. They all had evidence, all had motive.

They were all a part of the crime, hiding the suspect, the murderer. A sinner was among them, and Gwen was going to weed them out.

Even if it was the last thing she did.

《》《》《》

Yeah, basically the government in this world is really screwed up. After the war religion became a bit too important and it just spiraled out of control to the point where killers are considered to be working with the devil and have to be killed, and anyone who does that is like a saint. They've all been raised to believe that, but when you work with a bunch of killers, sometimes certain cases can cause doubts.

The Government just conditions people into believing this is true by rewards. You follow their rules and kill a 'sinner', you get a nicer house, lots of money, so you're rewarded for following them. The Government is composed of people who also believe in what they tell, so they're convinced they're rewarding saints for doings gods work pretty much. Everyone was raised to the system, so they all believe it. It's a really messed up system where a primary religion takes priority of the government and it just spirals out of control. It doesn't help that the killers are also conditioned to believe this, so they just affirm the beliefs of everyone else when they do admit to being a killer because they actually believe they had been tainted by the devil and don't deserve forgiveness, due to how they've grown up. 

And people who do start to have small doubts have been taught to basically beat them down and pretend they never had thought about it. So when Gwen and Cooper had previous, small doubts in the past, they shoved them down and went on with their jobs truly thinking they're doing the right thing.

But what happens when people from different backgrounds who weren't raised this way get thrown into their lives?

Well, doubts are going to be hitting the two harder, that's for sure.