Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

(Y/N) Pov

A feeling of emptiness swallowed you whole. You could feel yourself being consumed, pressure surrounding your sides and pulling you deeper… Yet there was nothing.

Wake up.

It felt so real, yet so fake. Like a dream you had yet to wake up from. Confusion and anger lace your soul but you had no energy to put into it.

You need to leave.

Lost.

Hopeless.

So very, very… tired.

 Don’t give into it.

A pressure built up within your throat, you wanted to let it out. You could feel the walls of your esophagus closing, making it difficult to even breathe. Gasping and sucking in air like you were deprived of it, you felt as if you were drowning. Your distorted screams rang through the air, frantically looking for help.

No one will come.

…

.....

But no one came.

Everything you worked so hard for, gone in just an instant. You wanted so badly to tell them it would be okay and that everything would work out. Everyone could have a happy ending, it didn't have to be the way they said it did. Ultimately you knew it was inevitable. You were lying to yourself the whole time and you knew it. It was bound to end like this, and it left you with a choice. It was either you or them. You would've choose them, and you were going to but you hesitated. If you have just died then and there, would any of this have happened?

 It wasn't your fault.

You felt the warm tears drip down your flushed cheeks, but at the same time you couldn’t feel anything. It was so cold, it passed through your body like it was an empty husk. It in a way, it was. Pitch black engulfed you and yet you felt as if there was a spotlight on you. Displaying your crimes for the world to see. Bearing your soul for them to judge. You didn’t want this.

You need to break the cycle.

Your sobs fell on your own def ears as you curled tighter in a ball. The guilt the only thing grounding you as you floated aimlessly.

You couldn’t remember much at this point, the longer you stayed the more you forgot. Their names, what they looked like, who they were. It was a fuzzy memory, one you were slowly losing. You refused to forget anymore then you already had, anything you could think of. It was the only thing you had left of them. One particular memory you refused to let go. A nameless face talking to you, a smooth deep baritone voice hushing you in attempt to comfort. It was all so faint, except for a promise. 

"promise me, no matter what happens kiddo. you'll be happy."

You remember trying to object, trying to say something, but he silenced you with two words that both melted and broke your heart.

"for me."

You gut coiled. You felt sick.

They died for you…

You might've been able to stop it, you were so close and then… Something happened. What was it? An explosion? A hand?

You don’t want to remember that part.

Frisk.

You couldn’t even protect her.

Wait.

Who was Frisk?

They were your... your...

What was their name again?

How could you forget her?

You had just… just said their...

Why were you crying?

Uncurling yourself you drift without direction. How odd?  A feeling of heavy guilt washed over you, and you weren’t sure why. You had forgotten what you were doing. Looking around into the empty space you drew a conclusion. You didn't belong here. You did know if there was a way in, there was a way out. You just had to find it. You’re not sure why you hadn’t attempted it yet.

You have, so many times.

But you get the weird feeling you’ve tried.

Collecting yourself, you breath deeply and attempt to move on. Observing your surroundings you can only make out an endless expense of black. Deep and rich and foreboding. It unsettled you. It was so eerily calm and quiet.

ACT

*You looked in the void*

Squinting your eyes you could faintly recognize a shape of some sort, it was long and thin with noodle like appendages. The entity was moving in an oddly beautiful and distorted way. It was as if it was trying to stay in one piece. Falling apart only to collect itself just to deteriorate again. Looking slightly upwards you notice a flicker of light emitting from the figure, coming from what could only be described as their eyes? The Illuminated pin points settled on your figure.

*The void looked back*

…

Well fuck.

Frisk’s Pov.

The sun was setting on a beautiful starry lit sky, it almost looked as pretty as it did when they had left the underground.

Almost.

Truthfully it was sans idea to go stargazing, but once Papyrus overheard the mention of needing, "a little more light in your life.” he had jumped on board. Ignoring the pun in favor of making them feel better. To be honest Frisk had been pretty down for a while now and when confronted by all her friends, they really couldn’t deny it. The problem was, they weren’t sure why. They had gotten everyone on the surface! Even Flowey came this time. Had they missed something?

Their eyes dragged lazily over the soft blanket Toriel had brought from home. It was plush with hand stitched patterns. Frisk had helped Toriel when making it, the sloppy writing of the word family was forever ingrained into it because of that. It was a depiction of all of them, they even convinced Tori to add Asgore somehow. The soft pastel colors seeped into Frisks soul, it filled them with DETERMINATION, and a nagging feeling of being incomplete.

Breathing in deeply and sighing, they figured that they’ve moped enough for one night, anymore and Frisk would have a bunch of dorks dog pile her again. It was Undyne’s idea, because a dog pile was just a really intense hug, apparently. They giggled at the thought.

Looking up, their grin stretched a bit as they watched their friends run a round the yard in front of them. They had no idea what the goal was but Undyne suplexed a bolder in anticipation.

“I’m gonna throw this rock so hard, it’s gonna knock one of those stars down!!! Then, I can force it to give me a wish!!!”

“U-U-Undyne, that’s n-not r-really how this w-w-works…”

“YES, YOU ARE QUITE RIGHT ALPHYUS.!! WE WOULD NEED SOMETHING TO CATCH THE STAR OR IT WOULD BREAK! UNDYNE! PERHAPS YOU COULD THROW ME INSTEAD!!!”

“Pap’s you’re a genius! Why didn’t I think of that?”

“THAT IS BECAUSE I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH-HEH-HEH!! THIS IDEA IS SO FOOL PROOF THAT IT COULD NOT POSSIBLY GO WRONG!”

Oh the irony.

The whole scene stopped as they heard the glass patio door slide open. Toriel poking her head out to interrupt the two hooligans. 

“That’s quite lovely papyrus but, dinner is almost ready and last time Undyne ascended you in the air, I had a very sizeable hole in my roof. We wouldn’t want that again, now would we?”

Everyone froze, Toriel’s smile was sweet but anyone around her knew otherwise.  

Last time something like this had happened, she had been furious. On Thanksgiving Papyrus came crashing in from the kitchen ceiling thanks to Undyne. He managed to dodge the cutlery only to land right on top of the turkey with his face smack in the mashed potatoes. Undyne had drop kicked the door down a few seconds too late in a miserable attempt to save him, but cautiously backed out when she met eyes with a very livid Toriel. Placing the broken door back as she went.

Thankfully, sans had calmed the situation by making a joke, “wow paps, they turkey’s all over you. didn’t realize my little bro was such a spud.”

“UGH. DO NOT DEFILE ME WITH YOUR PUNS, THIS IS HUMILIATING ENOUGH!!”

Memories like that are why Frisk stopped the resets, they wanted this. No matter how badly it felt they needed to go back. Besides, maybe if they couldn’t find what they were looking for in the resets, they could find it by going forwards.

“Now then, everyone come in before the food gets cold.”

“VERY WELL, WE MUST GET FRISK THAT STAR AFTER SUPPER.”

Frisk's head perked up to this, they had kinda been out of it. Looking at the ground and playing with blades of grass. Sans was asleep in the hammock, while the rest of their friends had their own star gazing blankets.A coy smile graced there lips. Of course, Frisk had faked only having enough for Them, Papyrus and Undyne. -Sans was already asleep on the hammock before they even had a chance to get the blankets- But frisk knew the former Captain just had to help a monster in need. So, she shared hers with Alpyhus to both her horror and delight. Behold, the shipping powers of Frisk! If only it didn't backfire when the lightening bugs came out. Undyne freaked thinking it was some weird magic attack and sent spears first with no questions later. It took a whole half hour to calm her down.

They giggled quietly to themselves. Standing up to bounce over towards her friends. She felt better, remembering what she had made her feel more complete. Regardless of the nagging in her soul.

“FRISK! ARE YOU FEELING BETTER TINY HUMAN?”

They could physically feel gravity as Papyrus picked them up and brought them to his eye sockets.

Oh boy, that one was a head rush. He must have been more wired up then usual. Must have been the sweets Toriel had laid for the occasion. Nodding despite feeling woozy, giving their best smile up to the cinnamon roll.

“COME THEN! THERE IS FOOD INSIDE! THEN WE CAN DO OUR FESTIVITES!”

Paps put Frisk on his shoulders walking steadily as Undyne dashed ahead.

“Beat ya to the grub nerds!”

“W-wait! Undyne! Toriel said no running by the b-b-buttercups!”

Frisk and Papyrus watched as Alphyus speedily waddled after Undyne. It was like watching a frantic penguin. However Papyrus didn't pick up the pace to catch up to the two lovebirds.

“Human, are you sure you are feeling better?”

Papyrus used his quiet voice. He only did it when he was serious, but it hadn’t been the first time he’d used it. Frisk folded their arms on top of his skull and plopped their head into it, leaning into the skelly. There really wasn’t anything you could hind from Paps. They hummed as if agreeing but not wanted to outright say it. Papyrus stayed quiet for a moment. Frisk found these moments very calming, being carried under a starry lit sky as the lightening bugs were floating about. The very last traces of the sun disappearing into the depths of the earth, It made them tired.

Papyrus coughed a little and spoke up.

“MAYBE, MAYBE YOU COULD MAKE A WISH ON ONE OF THOSE STARS WHEN WE CATCH IT FOR YOU!”

Frisk giggled and smiled, her friends all cared about her so much. She wish she could just accept whatever she thought missing and move on, but it bothered her so much.

She replied ever so quietly.

“Alright, thanks paps.”

This seemed to please the skeleton greatly as his strides became longer and he perked up. Almost reaching the patio door to Toriel’s house. In that moment Frisk sat up and looked back into the endless starry night sky.

Everyone was inside, sans wasn’t sitting in the hammock anymore but at this point Frisk doesn’t even question that they didn’t see him pass both them and Papyrus. San’s is as san’s does and the more you try to reason with it, the more it hurts your brain.They figured that out the hard way, if you ask him all he says is ~magic~. They huff.

Looking back up into the sky they see the twinkles and shimmers of thousands balls of light.

A wish huh?

Maybe that wasn’t a bad idea, after all, what was the harm?

They closed their eyes and took a deep breath trying to figure out what to say. What did they want? Maybe it's best not to get to specific.

“I wish, I could save everyone.”

They had said it so quietly they didn’t even think Papyrus heard them. What they did see however, was a bright streak in the sky as a star fell from above. Something in them felt excited, as if it worked. But that was ridiculous. They giggled as the sliding door was heard opening and the warm smell of cinnamon -butterscotch pie rolled over them.

Guess they just had to wait out one more day, hopefully things would be better tomorrow.

But maybe that as just wishful thinking.

Chapter Text

Your POV

In a single moment, you had realized you had gone and fucked up.

Ah yes, because screaming in a place like this is how you get killed first in horror movies.

Now, you could have been fine or at least better than the situation you found yourself in, but you just had to get emotional about something you couldn’t even remember and start screaming bloody murder to some sort of space ghost

If there wasn’t enough problems for yourself, boy howdy you could sure make em’.

So what now?  Surely nothing that looked like THAT could possibly have good intentions.The black figure recoiled, almost as if insulted. It couldn’t hear you could it? Hell, could it even understand you?It swayed from side to side and you swore you had never seen something so interesting and terrifying in your life. Like a child and a burner, your mom kept telling you no, but that just made you want to touch it more.

So logically, you needed to touch it.

Curiosity killed the cat.

But satisfaction brought it back.

In the staring match between the you and the figure, you had come to the conclusion that it was very hard to move without making yourself look like an idiot.

This would be so much easier with some kind of jet pack.

At least it hadn't moved. Was it waiting for something or was it facing the same problems you were currently?

If it started flapping like a chicken, you don’t think you’d have the heart to take it seriously. Besides, if you couldn’t get to it, it couldn’t get to you right?

The thing hadn’t moved besides the very visible recoil it gave you earlier, but it does look like its judging you. Which is kind of rude? But fair. You’d imagine solitude without sound leads to screaming being louder than it usually is. Or maybe it was because of the little panic attack you had over here. Or because your human? Probably a combination.

Okay, so you need to clearly state you don’t mean any harm. If it knows you mean no harm it won’t attack you right? Right.

This is a stupid idea.

You close your eyes. The action is submissive enough and leaves you defenseless so that should show your intentions, right? Your cheeks are puffed out as you hold your breath, after a second you take a peek. It’s just staring at you now. Less menacing but a whole lot more judgmental. Peachy. This whole thing is peachy.

You run your hands over your face into your hair and take a glance back over at the entity. Is it writing down notes? It totally fucking is! You huff. It’s documenting your behavior. The audacity of this guy. You lower your hands and stare at your palms, I mean there was nothing you could do to stop him.

There had to be something you could do. 

Maybe throw something to push you backwards? That's not a bad idea.

You take off a shoe and hurl it in the direction behind you with exaggerated grunt. pushing you in the direction of the thing. Hazzah! It was a success! However, if you planned on doing it like this, you would need a lot more shoes...

Suddenly something hard connects to the back of your head. It makes a fwack noise and tips you forward.

"Ow."

You look back the figure and it seems to be amused.

"Hey, what the fuck?"

Rubbing your hurt skull and pride you observe the object that assaulted you. Your shoe. The hell even? You had thrown it in the opposite direction hadn't you? Yes, you were sure of that. Grabbing the shoes before it floated to far you decide to test something. You throw it again and turn around. Sure enough you manage to catch it before it hits you again from the other direction. You're assure the look on your face is indescribable by the chuckling of the entity.

Foul. This is a foul play. Laws of gravity may not apply here but not including physics is just wrong. No matter how far you managed to go you would always be the same place you started. It made you feel trapped, but you couldn't give into that. You were DETERMINED.

You felt this familiar sensation in your chest as your muscles reacted almost like clockwork.

Deep within your soul.

You reckignized something in your bones, a concentrated feeling, a strong emotion.

You’ve done this so many times, you just need to remember how.

It was bound inside of you, constricted by your skin. It felt hot and cold and much to large for your body to contain. It was a pleasant feeling though. It didn’t hurt but it was so hard to suppress, like a reflex.

Let it out.

You decide not to repress it any longer, lifting you hands outward and pushing it towards your fingertips.

Sparks fickler and dance, like golden ambers over a bonfire. It’s unfocused and wild, flaring up and simmering down. The sparks glow for a while but die out into dead ashes for the abyss to swallow. It’s stunning, you can’t fid the words to describe it.

 It fizzed around you as you tried to keep it in your hands. Then with one swift motion, you balled your hands into tight fists and snuffed it out, leaving a sizzling noise it its wake. You looked over to the unknown entity to judge their reaction.

You had to stifle a snort.

He had an obvious look of awe smacked across his face if only for a brief moment. Looking a bit more off guard then he had a moment ago. When meet with your gaze, he quickly fixed his expression.

Ha.

Now then, what was it you were saying before?

Jetpack.

You needed a Jetpack. Huh. Maybe you could use this somehow?Quickly you took off your other shoe, stuffing both the socks inside and tying the laces together through your belt. Focusing you tried to create the same feeling through the soles of your feet, it was odd. The sparks trailing behind you as you moved ever so slowly to your target. You probably looked like a firework only far slower.

Lame.

You decided to constrict the flow of energy less. That as a bad idea.

Suddenly you shot forward advancing fast, whizzing by your destination. You readjusted by flipping your feet in front of you, pushing you back the way you came. Trying to suppress the feeling, you decide it's better to quickly drift closer to the target who was now completely visible and very weird looking. The pale faced pile of goop was both shocked and appalled by your display. Part of you could say he was impressed but that may just be your ego talking.As your approach you realize you hadn’t thought this completely through. Thankfully you didn’t have to as the thing started to open its mouth to address you, slightly hesitating.

“I see your slightly more competent then I originally presumed, not by much however.”

You stare blankly at this thing. That’s the first impression its going make? He’s not completely wrong, but damn that’s hurtful.

“I have never been so insulted by something I completely agree with.”

The creature smile twitches, releasing a puff of air in a small amused laugh. He coughs and begins to speak again.

“Do you know where you are?”

"Not a clue."

"This is the void. Nothing and everything exists here, I am surprised you managed to navigate any of it."

Navigate? He's trying to tell you there's a whole lot of nothing to navigate in here?"

"Yes. It defies a lot of principles as you tested back there."

"Okay thats nice but I neer said that out loud?"

"Thoughts can be heard in the void, so real sound is quite... much for me.'

Well shit, that explains a lot.

WAIT.

Was that why he was laughing at you?! Why didn’t he just tell you!?!

This prompts another amused huff.

“I do apologize, It has been some time since I have been in the company of another sentient being. I was not always graceful in social situations before I was trapped here either.”

“Trapped?”

“Ah, yes I’m afraid so. One of my experiments didn’t quite go as planned. I am stuck her now.”

So, he was trapped here too then. Looks like you have a cell mate.

When you put it that way it sounds really depressing.

“There is something I would like to know however.”

“Shoot.”

“Uh, yes. Do you know how you had gotten here to begin with? My research was extremely advanced and forgive me, but you do not seem proficient enough to have gotten here without some type of assistance.”

“Sorry goop man, can’t remember a thing past getting here and freaking out over something.”

He looked disappointed but proceeded to shot you a glare.

“Gaster.”

“Huh?’

“That is my name. Please do not address me as what you said.”

“What about Goopster?”

He looks like you just personally insulted him, face full of horror.

“Absolutely not.”

You frame his head with both your fore finger and thumb. Closing an eye and squinting from different angles. The sides of his face are mostly intact, a crack line from top from the top right of his head to his eye, his left eye ran a split from the bottom to his socket. But as you go down the more it seems his body melts, like ice cream on a hot day. His name was Gaster huh? A smirk came to your face as a brilliant nickname came to mind.

“Yeah, I’m definitely getting a Goop-ster vibe from you.”

He stops and looks at you with a dead expression and pain in his eyes. Either he really hated puns or he'd heard too many, but you had the feeling he actually liked the joke.

“You’re going to address my as ‘Goopster’ regardless of what I tell you aren’t you?"

He puts air quotes around the nickname. Ignoring his visible disdain you can't help but chuckle.

“Yeah.”

You smile warming at Gaster.

“Yeah I think I am.”

He visibly sighs in defeat but the small twitch of his lips betray him once again. Even if he didn't like it there’s not much he could really do to stop you. So that was revenge for earlier.

At this point he’s only a bit more than an arm’s length away front you. You were steadily still drifting but extremely slowly.He glances at your shoes tied around you belt and studies them.

“What is that?”

“My shoes?”

Did this guy really not know what those were? How long had her been here?

“No, no! The device attached to you belt. “

You glanced down, sure enough there’s a square box latched onto you belt next to your shoes. You unhook it, studying it closely. It as sleek black with clear tube like lines making patterns into it. They looked like symbols; you weren’t sure what it meant.

“That device, looks to be operational. If it is what I presume it is. That could be used from molecular travel using rifts throughout the void. But something like that would need a quantum stabilizer to operate…”

You stared.

Then stared harder.

“I did not get any of that.”

Without breaks eye contact with the device he shoots back with amusment in his voice.

“Somehow I don’t doubt that.”

Oh.

OH.

“Well then sassafras, you wouldn’t mind if I yeet this thing into oblivion?”

He frantically looks up to you.

“Whatever you just said, do not do that.”

“I’ma do it.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

You turn around reeling the object back from launch.

“I could fix it!”

And you stop.

“Say what now?”

He sighs in relief.

“It can take you home.”

You both stare at each other.

Unblinking.

You aren’t sure if this would be right? You just meet him, why would he want to help you? What motive could he possibly have?

“Why would you want to help a complete stranger?”

He looks at you, uncertainty radiating from the look he gives you.You don't completely trust it.

CHECK

ATK 999

DEF 999

LUV 999

*The Royal Scientist. Means no harm but his actions lead to many different consequences. You remind him of someone.*

He looks worried, which makes you believe he knows that you preformed a CHECK. He didn't want you to see something, most likely his stats.You weren't quite sure how you knew to do this but it just came so easy. You were suspicious of him then before, with stats like that he could be a threat. He seems to speak up trying to reason with you.

“I know what it's like to be trapped here, you do not want that. Please, let me help you.”

You don’t really say anything. His voice is coated in sincerity but it was overlooked by your suspicions. You decide you need more information and you do something Gaster hadn't expected.

JUDGE

 *While morally questionable, solitude has effected him. He is sincere and harbors no ill intentions.  JUDGEMENT: NEUTRAL*

If that was the case then...

“How long?”

He slowly looks down as if this answers the question, like acknowledging it makes it true.

“How long have you been here?”

He looks up, and you see what you first felt when you came here. He looked so tired, lonely, afraid. You decide to trust him. Without even thinking you gently extend you hand to meet his. He grabs the device and quietly mutters,

“You don’t need to suffer the same fate I have.”

You realize what he had to go through in order to become like this. It presses you into silence. You're grateful he has changed but your soul aches for him. Instead of letting go of his goopy hand, you fully grab it. Before he can argue or process what your doing he’s already pulled forward into your arms. You hug him tightly, and you feel his gelatinous mass quake.

From sadness or happiness you cant tell, but you hold him tight.

You feel wet trails cascade down your back.

You ignore them.

After a moment he seems to get his bearings and clears his raspy throat. You try not to think of how long its been unused in the void.

“I, I should be able to rewire, this device for you. It looks as if the coordinates that were in here are no longer available.”

You look sympathetically at him and nod in understanding. He starts to tinker with the cube. Pulling up some type of data hologram. He hums in acknowledgement.

“The reason you’re here is because you could not fully pass through from place to place, the only reason I can logically concur why this happened is wherever you were headed no longer exists.”

Oh.

“So, I can’t go back.”

He looks down at the cube thoughtfully, and starts to thinker.

“No, I am sorry. But...”

It’s tubes start to glow and the cube disassembles and comes to life.

“You can still leave.”

He hands the cube to you., very gently.

“Where would it even take me?”

He looks at you with a forlorn sadness, distant and bitter sweet.

“My home.”

Without hesitating you extend your arm to him.

“Then come with me.”

His smile brightens but the grief still reaches his eyes.

“Only one of us can use that device, and we both know it’s you.”

For the second time you feel hot tears scream down your face. The familiar feeling of not being able to do anything while the people around you were left behind. It felt surreal. You couldn’t abandon anyone else. Your grip tightens on the machine.

“Press the center button when you are ready my dear. My son should be able to help you, just do not refer to be as ‘Goopster’ to him. I will not be able to hear the end of it if I do manage to get back. Both of them are the only skeletons besides myself. However, you are looking for sans.”

A small chortle emits from deep within his chest and you try to give a chuckle, but it comes out as a weak sob.

He looks at you apologetic. It only strengthens your resolve.

“I’m going to come back for you, I promise.”

You see his expression shift, the faint glimmer of hope etching his features, only to be wiped in an instant.

“If you remember.”

He says as a final remark.

“It doesn’t matter if I don’t remember, I don’t break my promises.”

With that, your thumb meets the button and you’re blinded by an unholy amount of light. The smells of fresh pine assaulted your nose. A gentle breeze on a warm sunny day.

Thinking back you tried to remember the conversation. What was his name? He had said…

Gaster.

Gaster.

You felt like you forgot something important though.

Chapter Text

The wind gently caressed the lush patches of flora, rolling alongside it like a wave. A sweet and tangy taste drifted through the upper atmosphere carrying the smell of the cool spring air. Glorious rays of sunlight poured in from the canopies and shifted with the rustle of bountiful leaves. Yes, birds were chirping, flowers were blooming.

On days like this, people like you…

…really hated the sun.

Throwing an arm over your eyes to shield it from the heated sting the gassy ball produced, your senses were overloaded. Everything was so loud and noisy. The stream, the birds, even the trees. You would have found it beautiful and calming if it hadn’t felt like you’d been murdered.

Everything felt like shit. As if you just ripped every atom apart of your body and slapped it back together in a random order. That may have been because that’s actually what happened, not like you care about the specifics.

A static like pain started blooming throughout your limbs.

You took shallow breaths, making sure not to push out your ribs too far. A dull throbbing in your upper ribcage took hold. Your mind was running on autopilot. Had someone used a jack hammer to your head while you were out? Breathing hurts, thinking hurts and existence is awful.

So a normal day?

Maybe you’d just lay here for five more minutes? Yeah, five more minutes.

You keep your eyes closed and try to take deeper breaths. Which felt bad. Really bad. Yeah, you definitely fractured something at the least. You tried your best to diagnose yourself from your current position.

Wiggling your toes, you flexed the muscles in your legs the best you could without bothering your chest. Nothing seemed to be broken or sprained, but your legs were stiff. How long were you out? Better yet, why the hell were your ribs cracked?

Flexing your arms and fingers prompted the same result. So the severe pain in your chest seemed to be the only thing wrong with you besides the massive headache you’d endured.

It was probably the worst thing that could’ve happened, if it had been an arm you could’ve walked somewhere. If it was your leg you could have made some type of crunch, but your ribs? Depending on how bad it was, it could puncture those important squishy things inside you. Is it that bad? Well it’s definitely not good.

Just your luck.

Alright, you’re going to had to move eventually, you need to get up. Just, really carefully. Besides, you managed to get out of the void right? An endless abyss between time and space, you can handle a tiny crack, right? It’s fine. Everything’s fine. You got this. You opened your eyes to glare directly at the offending light.

Alright, count to three and sit up.

One. Two. Ooooh, Nope. your muscles spasm and twitch through the pain as you lean up.

Ow.

Fuck that hurts.

This does not feel good.

This a really bad idea.

Your elbows sat back holding up your torso as you continue to ever so slowly get into a sitting position. Your muscles around your ribs burned as if the were dipped in acid. Several loud cracks could be heard from your back at once. For a moment you thought you may have fully broken it.

You immediately clutch your chest. You realize it’s not your ribs that’s causing you this pain, it’s much deeper than that. A distant empty feeling paired with an intense version of acid reflex. The sensation was starting to spread out through your body, stiffening your muscles.

Getting some Tums would be great right about now.

There’s no way this was natural though, it was pulsing- Gross - through your veins leaving phantom shocks in its wake.

Hot tears pooled in your eyes and you started to choke as it moved to your throat, closing up your air ways. You could see through watery eyes the same golden amber color from the void. It was coursing under your skin. Moving and pulsing through your veins in a rhythmic motion. Wiggling and contorting your skin in unnatural ways.

Maybe you were in some sort of freak experiment where they decided to make a human glow stick. 

Could you not feel this in the void? It was a horrible burning sensation, like you were thrown in lava. Every nerve in your body was shot as it consumed you.

You needed to find a way to suppress this somehow and fast. But you couldn’t even think. Everything was starting to become black and white static. You weren’t able to hear anything. Your sense of touch left you as dead fingers grazed the grazed the grass at your waist. Were you going to die?

You felt something tug inside you knew it needed out. You felt trapped.

If you keep repressing your magic it will consume you.

You needed to stop resisting.

The last thing you saw before you embraced the darkness you fell into was a small golden heart. Followed by an overwhelming surge of those shimmering golden ambers. It pulsed out of the little heart until it was the only thing you could see.

Even through the pain, you realized you recognized what it was. Something in the back of your mind nagging you, telling you it’s importance.

Your soul.

Your soul.

You fall backwards. You can’t remember if your head hit the ground or not.

________________________________

“U-u-um, h-h-hey…”

There was a slight pause as the caller waited for an answer.

“what’s up?”

“L-look, I know you d-don’t care for this s-s-stuff anymore, but this is urgent.”

“if you’re talking about the thing we’ve been getting the same ole readings since day one. ain’t no tampering i do gonna fix that.”

“B-b-but that’s it! I-It’s picked u-up on s-s-something!”

“…”

“…”

“whatdya mean?”

“T-There’s been a surge. A h-h-huge one.”

“that’s impossible, the anomaly has been dormant for years now.”

“N-n-no r-really! Come see for y-yourself.”

“…”

“ya sure this ain’t just some type of fluke? Could jus’ be anoth’a false readin’.”

“Please. Just… trust me, okay?”

“aight, i’ll be over’a soon. but one thing first...”

“W-What is it?”

“where’s it coming from?”

…

 “Mount Ebbott.”

“what. “

“W-W-what’s wrong?”

“i’m coming over. if what you’re reading is true, paps is in danger.”

________________________________

Sharply breathing in any oxygen you could get, you coughed up to be what looked like flecks of gold. You steadily recalled what had happened. Jesus what was that? You sat up, trying to get your baring’s.

You looked around; you were in a forest. Or at least, it looked like a forest?

It was covered from head to toe in a powdery like substance. It was all a golden hue, and so overwhelmingly bright. It flickered and shimmered as some of it was raining from the sky.

It looked like the fallout of a nuke, and you were sitting in the crater.

The feeling in your chest was released. You’d felt fantastic. A little wound up but otherwise great. It left a feeling like you had drank too much coffee. It was to be expected however when you were hit with a sensory overload from the change that had occurred. Jumping from the void it was like getting hit with a cold bucket of water.

The sights, the sounds, the little floaty thing in front of you.

Oh. Yeah. That thing.

You’d called it your soul?

It bobbed up and down, wobbling to it fro. It reminded you of a bouncy ball. It seemed to be a more solid version of those fire, like ambers. It had a glassier like texture to it.

You poked it.

It tickled you.

Okay, so you can feel things that touch it. Weird.

As you sat up it moved with your body. You walked left and it floated left. You took a step right and it matched your pace. You spent a moment trying to trip up the floating heart into taking the wrong direction from you, but it always stayed. The only thing you managed to do was look like an idiot in the middle of the woods.

If it was you soul, then why was it outside of your body?

Oh god.

Did you die?!

You certainly felt like you were dying, but there wasn’t a body on the ground?! Can you see you’re body when youdieandwhatifyoucantwhatifyouredeadandyoudiedbuthtisworldislikedarksoulsorsomethingandyourgetanotherchanceoryouramagicghostnowbutactuallythatsbecoolandyoudbetotallyokayifthatwasthecase…

Remember to breath.

In your term oil, you decided that this was okay. You could be dead, but that’s fine. You’d make it work as a ghost, it’s probably better then the void anyhow. Besides, it’d be cool to pants people without them knowing. Maybe stand in front of automatic doors all day so they never close or take a shit on someone’s car.

Could people see ghost poop? How many ghosts have pooped on you in your life without knowing?

Sneaky bastards.

You really had no way of testing to see if you were dead though… So maybe you should be careful?

Nah, it’ll be fine.

Now to find the nearest town to terrorize until you actually realize all the things you missed out on in life and get really depressed.

Walking along the stream was probably the best idea, it had to lead to some type of civilization sometime or another. Alright then.

Onward!

…

A little while later you noticed the sun overhead and deducted it was noon. It was interesting to think if this was a different dimension, time could work differently here. You wondered if there was more than one moon here. Ooh! Maybe this world had a variety of intelligent lifeforms!

Actually, that brought a whole bunch of questions into perspective. Gaster wasn’t human, who says any living thing here is either? In fact, what if they’re all goopy monster like creatures? Did they function like humans? The chances of that weren’t very favorable but if that were the case, would this planet even be habitable by humans? That… would actually explain the whole reaction you had to walking up in this place. Maybe they had no oxygen or really toxic plant life.

Huh.

Further proof that you are in fact, dead.

The trees were starting to die down in density. A new area opened up; you could see a meadow up ahead. You steadily picked up your pace. Gaster had seemed pretty knowledgeable so they must have some type of society. At the very least he seemed to speak your language, maybe even in this form you could be able to talk to someone.

As you entered the clearing you could see a small town like area the tree line had been blocking. You stumbled ever so slowly to view from afar. It had seemed you were right. They were all types of creatures. Bunny like monsters to slimy balls of goo, and a werewolf? Okay. That one’s on fire. Is he aware that he is on fire? Why is everyone else just okay with that?!

Thankfully, you were a way’s away from the town,  so you could be mistake for some type of wild animal if they did see you.

Maybe you should think of a plan?

You turn around only to be startled by a little floating heart. It was still following you. Right.

If it really was your soul wouldn’t your consciousness be carried with it? Maybe it wasn’t a great to just leave it … or have it exposed in the open like this…  You’d be the only person to lose your soul simply because it wasn’t attached. You cupped the small thing with your hands.

Where would you even put something like this? Your pocket?

You held it close to your chest, thinking. I mean, what if you were mugged? You’re still not confident you’re a ghost.

Until you heard a ‘shump’ noise. You looked down.

It had sank inside your chest. Interesting.

Could you get it back out though? You made a grabby motion with you hand, beckoning it forward. It then made a very satisfying ‘plop’ as it floated outwards to your palm.

This was kinda fun.

‘shump’

‘plop’

‘shump’

‘plop’

‘shump’

Giggling you reach towards your chest again. Getting ready to pull it back out.

“HUMAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Chapter Text

You shot forward failing your arms about, your mouth gaping like a fish. Spinning around accusingly to the figure that had just scared the living crap out of you. You felt as if you’d been caught doing something you shouldn’t.

Maybe they didn’t see anything?

When you face their direction, you tried to confront them. But you were only meet with a torso. Now, you weren’t the tallest of giants, but you certainly weren’t small either. So, as you slowly tilted your neck backwards you hadn’t expected it to keep going, because dear god, was he tall.

Here lay before your very eyes a behemoth of a creature. Towering above you in what looked to be some off brand Power Rangers costume.

Gawking at the gigantic skeleton you could not grace yourself with anything dignified to say. So, you muttered the only thing that came to mind.

“Holy shit.”

“WHILE THAT IS AN APPROPRIATE REACTION TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS, PLEASE DO NOT SWEAR. IT IS VERY RUDE.”

He struck a pose and the nonexistent wind blew a flowing red and tattered scarf behind him. Maybe if we had some exploding grass it could confirm he was indeed, a Power Ranger. At least after disregarding the very non-human appearance. In a weird way you could’ve swore you saw it before, but there were too many things processing at once for you to consider it too long.

There were so many questions you could ask him. About the races here, about cultures. Hell you could find out if there’s any edible food here for you.

Instead you do what you do when you think too much about what you could say.

You say nothing at all.

Fortunately, he seemed to take this as a cue to speak.

“SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE HUMAN?”

Well he knows you’re human. At least that answers a lot of questions. If there are humans existing here already that means this place is habitable for humans, so you can survive here. It seems you speak a common language too, so double plus.

Oh! Right. He spoke to you. You should probably say something.

Guess I’m not dead then.

Unless they could talk to ghosts? You weren’t really sure what traits these creatures possessed. Maybe you should’ve prodded Gaster for more information before you felt instead of being so dramatic. He speaks up before up can respond.

“WHAT, NO? OF COURSE YOU ARE NOT DEAD! WHY WOULD YOU THINK SUCH A THING?”

Oh, you said that out loud didn’t you? Maybe you should explain?

“Uh, well I think I fell down from high up cause my ribs hurt but I passed out from this really intense pain. I woke up and then I was fine. But I originally came from this place called the voi …”

You were rambling out disordered details as this large skelly man’s face looked on in horror. He seemed deeply saddened and before you could even continue to elaborate, he knelled down and gave you a hug.

Were you missing something here?

“PLEASE, YOU HAVE NO NEED TO END YOUR LIFE IN SUCH A WAY.”

Pardon?

“Say what now?”

“I’VE READ THE STORIES OF HUMANS GOING UP TO MOUNT EBOTT TO ‘FALL DOWN’.”

What?

“THERE IS A TIME AND A PLACE FOR THESE THINGS BUT YOU ARE SO YOUNG, YOU HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR.”

Wait. Did he think you were trying to kill yourself?

“I’M SURE THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO ARE DEPENDING ON YOU. THEY NEED YOU, AND YOU HAVE COME TO FAR TO GIVE UP NOW.”

“Hey, woah, it’s okay. I’m okay.“

He starts to sniffle, and you can practically feel your heart break as you watched this stranger cry over your wellbeing. He must have cared a lot. It naturally made you want to protect him.

“IM SURE SOMETIMES PERSONAL MATTERS MAY FEEL LIKE A BURDEN, BUT THERE ARE TRULY THOSE WHO WANT TO HEAR WHAT BOTHERS YOU AND, AND…*SNIFFLE* … THEY JUST WANT TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER. *SNIFFLE* B-BUT WHEN THEY TRY YOU LOCK YOURSELF IN A ROOM ALL DAY A-A-AND I-I-IGNORE Y-YOUR ATTEMPTS TO H-H-HELP… NYO-HO-HO-HO…”

This situation didn’t really pertain to you, he must have started to self-project some of his situation into the speech he was giving you. Rubbing his back, you held him as he sobbed. He kept going on about someone, who he explained was his brother. His sibling had grown distant from him regarding any emotional struggles for a while and now he really wasn’t sure how to approach him anymore with his concerns. It seemed all his attempts backfired and made the brother more reclusive.

You tried to be reassuring, stroking his skull as the massive skeleton collapsed in your arms. Oh the poor baby. All he wanted to do was help.

You couldn’t really say anything to him, you had been trying so desperately to calmly breath as he physically said the word ‘SNIFFLE’ and ‘SOB’. Dear god was it hard. He was in a state of emotional crisis and you were trying not to wheeze. You almost chocked a few times. It made you feel horrible. You really didn’t want to but the absurdity of it caught you off guard.

You had the impression he believed you were crying along with him as your body as shaking. You don’t think you could have the heart to correct him and explain the real situation to him, your sympathy for this sweet guy wouldn’t let you. It was as if you just watched some asshole kick an abandoned puppy on the street, but you’d be sure as hell that you’d take that puppy home and keep it safe by any means necessary. Also, you have to go fuck up the guy that made Papyrus cry.

This is how you decided you were adopting a skeleton.

As he finally got a hold of himself and let go, he looked thoroughly embarrassed. Most likely because he started off trying to console you and it ended with you reassuring him instead, It was endearing nonetheless. He bashfully looked at the ground and dragged his finger in the dirt, making patterns. You take this moment to lean back and actually confront Papyrus.

“Want to try this again?”

“I… yes. That would be nice. Thank you human.”

He was surprisingly quiet from his earlier boisterous self. That just wouldn’t do.

“(Y/n).”

“(Y/N)?”

A small smile graced your features.

“That’s my name. It’s also the name of your new best friend.”

“BUT I DON’T HAVE A BEST FRIEND BY THE NAME OF-“

His eyes sprung up to look at yours and you immediately knew you made the right decision. You could see literal stars in his eyes as they became glittery and sparkly. Weird, but priceless.

“OH MY! YES, WELL THEN. AS MY NEWLY DECLARED BEST FRIEND COULD I ASK TO DO SOMETHING WITH ME?”

“Shoot.”

“I SAW SOMETHING ON TV CALLED ‘A BLOOD PACT’. IT WAS A BONDING RITUAL FOR HUMANS. COULD WE PART TAKE IN IT?”

Ho boy. You’re pretty sure he didn’t know those were usually reserved for cults or rituals. This may be difficult; he was so innocent it hurt. However, you were DETERMINED to make him both happy as well as protect this precious bean.

Quick make up an excuse…

“Um, but you have no blood?”

Good one.

“OH, YES. THAT DOES SEEM PROBLEMATIC...”

He seemed to deflate a bit. Uh, crap. Maybe improvise? What looked kind of like blood you could drink?

“Why don’t we just use spaghetti sauce? It’ll be so much feta.”

You attempted to lighten the mood with a pun. Everyone likes puns right? His eye lights light up and as he physically vibrates. However, he doesn’t seem to react to the pun. Shame.

“YOU HAD ME AT SPAGHETTI!!!”

Before you can process anything, he’s up and he’s taking you with him. You are now on the shoulders of a very large skeleton. Okay this was happening then. He’s surprisingly sturdy with a thicker bone structure then what it first appeared to be. It doesn’t stop you from latching on to the skeleton in shear panic though. Currently, you were about double your normal height and if you had been under some of the trees beforehand you would have had a nasty bruise on your head accompanied by scratches and scrapes of the tree’s limbs. At least you got a better view from up here.

“IT WILL BE MUCH FASTER THIS WAY HUMAN FRIEND!!! FOR YOU SEE THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS AN EXCEPTIONALY FAST RUNNER!!!”

He’s done a complete 360 from earlier and it brings a warm smile to your face. The familiarity of this big guy made you feel comfortable. Like seeing an old friend for the first time in a while, not having to reconnect again because the chemistry never left. It was like a distant memory you had forgotten.

Maybe you’ll remember it in time.

You had the weirdest feeling of something on the verge of reminiscence. Like a person you used to know that acted so much like Papyrus… loud and confident but too caring for his own good. Putting his own worries aside for the sake of others. What was is name? You distantly remember a conversation… something about ‘bad to the bone’? It had gotten him really riled up for some reason. It was just so distant…

“ALL RIGHT! HOLD ON TIGHT THEM.”

Ah, right. Papyrus.

Wait what did he say again?

With no time to collect yourself you felt the full weight of the G force’s caused by Papyrus’s launch. The blood in your head rushing to the back of your skull made it heavy. The skin being pulled taunt across your face. It took all of your strength to hold on for dear life, trying to keep your skull from tilting backwards fully knowing you wouldn’t get it back up I it did.

But as fast as it started, it stopped. Papyrus hitting the breaks as he approached town. Lurching you forward in the abrupt halt. You would have gone flying if it weren’t for Papyrus’s hold on your legs. It may have been a twenty-minute walk to town for you, but it was a 20 second run for him apparently.

“HERE WE ARE. THIS IS NEW NEW HOME!”

It came out faster then you could stop it, almost like the vomit you were trying to swallow.

“That is a horrible name for a town.”

“YES. OUR KING IS QUITE BAD AT NAMES.”

The tall skeleton gently picks you up and sets you on his feet. Much more reserved and relaxed then he was prior to his little run. The other creatures didn’t seem to care at all the at this guy had just charged into town with a body on his back. You wondered if it happened often?

“LET ME SHOW YOU AROUND MY HOME!”

He started briskly walking across town explaining the different places to you but started to slow down when he saw how disorientated you were.  The other creatures he explained to be monsters walked by blissfully ignorant that you were, technically, an alien. With Paps here by your side it made you feel like you were in area 51 or something. A shiver crawled down your back, but you weren’t cold. You felt like you were being watched but everyone seemed to being going about their daily routines. Odd.

Actually, because you weren’t from this world, they would want to do tests on you wouldn’t they? Not like a lot of people would believe you if you had told them but if the humans here were too different from the humans where you were from it may not be unbelievable. You looked up at Papyrus sympathetically. You probably shouldn’t tell him, or anyone for that matter. You really wanted to trust this guy and you felt like you could. But telling him could also mean possibly putting him in danger.

Another pang of guilt washed through you as you realized something. The reason he was so upset before is because someone was keeping secrets from him… Could you really do that? No. That would make you as bad as his brother was.

Maybe you could tell him a part of what you knew. After all, you yourself couldn’t remember much before the void so it’s not like there was a whole lot of information you had right now. Besides, he may even be able to help you find Gaster’s son’s! You decided you wouldn’t tell anyone else though. You couldn’t have too many people know. Then it really could put the both of you in danger.

Ugh, look at you. Already putting the first person to reach out to you in danger. Hopefully this wouldn’t snowball into some type of disaster later along the line.

You already know the answer to that one.

With a resolution in mind, you tuned back into what Papyrs was saying. You had been distantly paying attention to what he was telling you.

Grillby’s was a Grill & Bar, Muffet’s was a Bakery, there were a few shops here and there, one by bunnies, and another of cats… would it be weird to ask to pet them? Probably. He stopped briskly and grandly gestured to a cozy looking building.

“AND THIS IS THE LIBARARY!”

“You mean library?”

“UNFORTUNATELY NO.  IT WAS MISSPELLED IN THE UNDERGROUND AND IT SEEMS THE SAME MONSTER DID IT ON THE SURFACE. IT WILL FOREVER IRRITATE ME. “

He glared light heartedly at the sign above the Library. Sure enough, it was there. Hung for everyone to see. You wondered if it was spelling lost in translation or if someone skipped vocabulary lessons.

You wondered what he meant by underground though? Had they lived there beforehand? Why? Well, he had shown you a library, you could probably research it yourself in depth. But wouldn’t it be easier just to ask it from a source? You couldn’t ask additional questions to a book after all and there's no time better than the present.

“You said underground, did you live there then?”

His eyeballs pop out of his head comedically. Did he even have eyes a minute ago? How is that physically possible? He gave you a look of confusion and shock as he gawked at you, bewildered.

You almost wonder if you said something to upset him before he goes on.

“HUMAN, I CANNOT STAND IDLY BY MY FRIEND POSSES A BLANK SLATE FOR A MIND! I WILL TELL YOU THE MONSTER’S HISTORY, DETAIL BY EXCRUCIATING DETAIL! COME! WE WILL MAKE SPAGHETTI!”

Alright. I guess that’s one way to figure out what’s going on. Maybe you should’ve thought over it before you said it. You try and tranquilize the situation by joking it off.

“Heh. Sorry, guess I’ve been living under a rock.”

He grabs your hand to pull you and speaks in a serious monotone.

“CEASE AND DESIST.”

A laugh courses through you at the sight of a Papyrus. He’s trying to act upset by it but the twitch of his smile gives him away. He’s a secret sucker for puns.

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“BUT IT WAS.”

“I think it rocks.”

“UGH.”

“Come on pap, don’t be mud about it. Besides, it’s getting slate.”

He seems exasperated but his smile keeps stretching. It fuels you to continue on. However it really is getting late... you decide to show a little MERCY. You cave in and let him win this one.

“Alright maybe it was, how about I give you my super-secret Lasagna recipe as a peace offering?”

He looks smug as he smiles to your admitted defeat.

“THANK YOU HUMAN BUT I AM ONLY INTERESTED IN SECRET SPAGHETTI RECIPES!”

You look at him baffled. That didn’t make any sense, it was basically the same thing but in a different format.

“Papyrus, lasagna is just spaghetti cake.”

He abruptly stops and turns to you, grabbing your shoulders with his eye sockets blow for the seconds time today. Leaning down to look you in the eyes he looks as if heard something that will change his life forever.

“PLEASE TELL ME HUMAN (Y/N), THAT YOU ARE NOT LYING.”

A sly smile snakes its way across your face.

“Why would I lie?”

There isn’t a being alive that could compete with the unholy shriek he gave accompanied by exaggerated twirling and flapping of his arms. Ah yes, the fan girl version of the chicken dance. This was a sight to behold. Your ears were bleeding but the precious baby was happy. You could live with this.

He whips his skull to you with enough force and speed to break the sound barrier and quite possibly his neck.

“AND YOU WILL HELP ME MAKE IT?!”

You scoff.

“Of course.”

He picks you up and throw you over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

M’kay, guess you’ll have to adjust to being a rag doll. Less walking you had to do anyhow, although it did damage your pride.

“TO THE STORE THEN!!! THIS IS URGENT!!!”

“You know I can walk just fi-“

He speeds off before you can get another word out. The takeoff rendered you winded. But not before you catch a turquoise glow in the corner of your eye. You could have sworn you saw something in  the back of a nearby alley way. It felt as if it was staring at you.

Weird.

Chapter Text

Sans found himself walking through the woods in the middle of the day with a small yellow lizard. While he knew why, he still didn’t want to be there.

He had gotten a call from the Doctor Alphys ranting on about the machine again. It never changed, ever. But because of his wonderful luck he got stuck accompanying the doctor to the literal grave they were buried under just a short year ago.

Now the mountain wasn’t the reason he dreaded this trip. Oh no, it was because of anomaly spike. It was a huge waste of his time. He already knew it was because of the resets Frisk had made before, after all they were the anomaly. What else could it be?

He shuffled his slippers in the rocky earth and he dragged his frame up the mountain side forest. He eyes were lidded, and he knew he had deep bags underneath of them. He wanted to go home and at least try to sleep, but he knew he couldn’t do that. The only reason he came is because he knew Paps had stormed off into the woods for a hike like he always does when something frustrates him. He blew off his steam into something productive. He was awesome like that, unlike him. Sans was just so tired of everything.

He knew the resets would continue regardless of what Frisk had promised him. They were never just happy, so he couldn’t be either. Not when he knew his happiness could be stolen right from underneath his feet. He tired once, twice, who knows how many times. They all ended with him waking up at that forsaken sentry station underground. So what was the point?

It was also the reason Paps was upset. He didn’t want to tell him about the timelines of his ability to really be happy anymore. Besides he’d just forget the next reset again anyway, sans had tried it once before. But he may have taken it too far, he locked himself away from Papyrus earlier that day, just to get him to stop pestering him about it. That seemed to be enough for the poor skeleton to crack, just a little bit. He wanted to apologize but by the time he came out of his room Papyrus was gone, and it was all his fault.

“T-T-The r-readings are c-coming from up h-here!”

Alphys had taken a considerable stride ahead of him. He’s just take a short cut to the site if she got too far. He wasn’t really worried. His face stayed the same neutral smile as he talked through his teeth.

“yup. right behind ya alph.”

She waddled up ahead of him, excited about something new. He had dealt with a lot of different reoccurring events, but never this. This was new,even for him. He scolded himself for allowing his emotions to get the better of him, he was excited .

He didn’t like it.

Paps running off into the woods this upset was new. The call from Alpyhs was new. And as he approached the sight ahead, he realized whatever this stuff is, was definitely new.

He teleported behind a tree up ahead. The area was surrounded in a golden blanket of something. A crater laid in the thicket of it all though, it’d looked like someone dropped a massive dyed water balloon from thousands of feet up. Alpyhs approached cautiously, excessive amounts of test vials in her arms and bags.

“W-What do you t-think it is?”

He hummed. It was probably something stupid like a meteorite. Maybe it had gold ore it in?

“dunno. a meteor?”

“C-Come on now s-sans. W-We both k-know its not.”

She was right, but he wanted to take the easy way out of this. He wanted to go find Papyrus and apologize and he definitely didn't want anything giving him hope of a future he could control. He sighed as he squatted down to take a closer look.

He grazed the golden dust with one of his phalanges. It reminded him of the genocide runs the kid used to do. Not a pleasant memory. He tried to focus.

“well. it’s got magic in’t. s’probably what caused the spike. case closed.”

“Y-yes, but this is a highly d-dense amount of magic. I-it couldn’t p-possibly be a m-monster.”

Again, she was right and he hated to admit it. This stuff was potent, he was actually getting a contact high just standing here. No monster or human mage for that matter could live with all this stuff inside their body, it’d kill them. So it had to come from a foreign source, and with the crater it really would seem like a meteor.

“it really could’a just been a meteor al.”

“B-but sans! T-The reading’s-“

“were probably because of the punch this stuffs packin. look, how’s about we grab some samples, take it back to the lab and test’em. we’ll find traces of meteor metals and everthing’ll be dandy, plus ya can add a new element to the periodic table in the process, m’kay? “

He tried to sound less demanding and more reasoning. He knew it didn’t explain where the source of magic came from, but it was space. Space was endless. So there’s gotta be some up there somewhere or something. He just really wasn’t in the mood for this today. Especially with how cool this stuff was, he wanted to get invested but what would be the point if it just got erased?

There wouldn’t be one.

“O-Okay.”

“aight, i’ll see ya tomorrow then.”

She looked down shyly, bending over to put up a few samples inside the crater.

“Actually, I-I’ve got a d-d-d-date t-tommrow…”

“it’s okay, another day then.”

“T-Thanks sans.”

“no prob.”

With that he started walking away. Ducking past a tree he took a shortcut to the base of the mountain. He started walking towards the meadow, there was a small trail down there he used to get back to town. If he shuffled quickly enough he may have been able to make it.

Now instead of seeing his endearing little bro frolicking in the forest, what he did see made his magic boil.

A woman, a human women no less, consoling his brother. They were hugging and he seemed to be very comfortable with her.

Did Papyrus know her? Because he didn’t, and any human who wanders over to ‘New New Home’ has only ever meant trouble. No human wants to be in a Monster dominated population.

He could feel his magic getting the better of him, wanting to protect his brother. He also knew how useless it would be in the end. None of his actions ever mattered, and they weren’t going to start just because some mysterious new homewrecker showed up and started swindling his brother.

But he was awful close to throwing them across the field.

He instead opted to watch this human from a distance. Papyrus had seemed to calm down, very sadden by something, undoubtedly him. He couldn’t see your face at all, just limbs and a few other things poking out from shield papyrus unknowingly made you.

He watched as Papyrus spring back to life from something you said, it just infuriated him all the more. You were going to use him. All humans were selfish and greedy, but Papyrus was too sweet for his own good. All those humans saw it when they first surfaced. They all wanted to be his ‘friend’. He chased them away and he’d chase you away too. As much as he didn’t want to get involved a part of him knew he couldn’t sit by and watch as you swept him off his feet. Maybe it was frustrating because this time he was the one to hurt his brother and someone else comforted had to comfort him. He’d looked after paps since he was a baby bones. So what right did you have?

Was he being selfish?

Absolutely.

Did he care?

Not at the moment.

His rage blinding him. He reached out to grab your soul. Once he thought he had it within his magic, he yanked.

A bolt of electricity shot up his arm. It felt like acid, he clutched it tight. Huffing and curling around it. He looked up to find you and Papyrus gone. He had taken you into town, great.

Sans looked down at his arm, there was sparks of golden amber fluttering about, but it didn’t see any cracks or damages. How was that even possible? He checked his stats.

CHECK

ATK 1

DEF 1

LV 1

HP 1/1

*Despite everything, It’s still you. *

It hadn’t hurt him, but it really hurt him. How was that possible? To have intent to hurt without intent to hurt? He needed to check your soul and get you the hell away from Papyrus.

He teleported behind the alleyway to Grillby's. Studying you very closely as Papyrus showed you a variety of different shops. He could get a clearer view of you now. A normal looking human, you wore jeans and a hoodie. He couldn’t make out many facial features in the setting sun, but he knew you’d look like most humans do. With their weird nose’s and puffy lips. Humans were so fleshy and gross.

He briefly wondered why you had a pair of shoes tied onto your belt. Were you running around barefooted before? Did you not want to be traced? Were you related to the magic spikes in the woods?

The more he thought about you the more suspicious you became. Nothing he observed about you seemed to make sense. He’d have to scare you away properly, maybe get enough samples to do some tests for Alphys and get you out of his nonexistent hair for good.

First things first.

CHECK

ATK ???

DEF ???

LV ???

HP ???

*Their soul declines. It seems they do not trust you.*

That’s… that’s not possible…

He tired again, they couldn’t resist a JUDGE.

JUDGE

*Unstable and unsure. Intentions unknown. Suspicions unknown. Beliefs unknown.  JUDGEMENT: UNDETERMINED*

…

She needed to go.

She could be incredibly dangerous. The only 'person' he was never able to JUDGE were those without souls like the weed frisk brought up with them. There was another possibility too, but he wouldn't entertain that idea.

While per-occupied in his thinking he heard Papyrus’s shriek. Turning to face him in horror only to find him squealing like a little girl. His soul stilled a bit, his magic rushing from a sudden burst. He needed to breathe.

He looked back over to the human; he could feel his left socket burning with magic. He didn’t trust this human at all, how did Papyrus?

How could a human not know enough about themselves to perform a proper JUDGEMENT?!

Papyrus threw the human over his back and ran off. He was going to have to follow them. He prepared for another shortcut, but as he did, he made eye contact with said human. Their eyes a lighting a golden hue, glowing like the sun and stars he dreamed of seeing so long. They seemed to shine in the ever-increasing darkness, like a beacon. Calling him. Beckoning him to her.

In a single moment, he forgot how to breath.

Chapter Text

The stars twinkled in the midnight sky as fireflies gave the illusion the heavens had descended below. A small-town fluttering to life in the midst the cool summer air. It flourished in the presence of passion and magic from the monsters habituating this place. They were content with their little spot in the world. A world of new hope, and peace.

Among these monsters there was a child. A child who knew more then anyone should ever know within their own lifetime. That child’s name, was Frisk.

Wide awake in the middle of the night, they stared blankly in front of them only to be meet with a blank wall. Having been put to bed by their adoptive mother, they knew better then to go find her. It was already way past their bedtime.

Normally, Frisk would brush past this unsettling feeling in their stomach. Only to not worry the family and friends around her of their unease.

But today was different.

Today wasn’t offsetting in the slightest. They had felt so odd beforehand but suddenly it had just, stopped.

Nothing prompted it, no action or medicine. In the middle of the day they just felt a massive wave of relief. An electric feeling of rejuvenation. That was it. All of it just disappeared afterwards.

It was just so… anticlimactic?

Their eyebrows furrowed intensely as they continued to stare ahead.

Did something happen? Could something happen, that was different?

They flung their sheets off themselves, abruptly sitting up. They needed to figure it out, there was something else, something more. They just knew it!

Walking friskily to the window. They inhale sharply.

They needed to see this through, they needed to know. And if anyone knew what was going on here, it would be sans. As much as they loved their dunkle, sans was kind of an enigma, through the timelines they figured out a lot. But there was always something he had to hide all the time…

He had trust issues.

Although it was kinda their own fault for that…

Anyway.

Frisk unhooked the windows lock and slowly lifted the pane. Thankfully while being on the second floor Frisk’s window was right next to the porch, which pleasantly had a roof. On the side was an orchid fence trailing up the house. It may have broken under a teenager’s weight, but not a child’s.

Their feet scurried off the siding, skipping as many steps as they could manage. As long as they were careful, Frisk could be back before Toriel even knew they were gone!

If not…

They decided to SAVE.

Just in case.

Reaching out into their soul they found…

Nothing?

A small oppressing fear took over them. They couldn’t SAVE?!

Could they RESET? They didn’t want to have to test it. What would that even do? Was this the feeling Frisk was getting over the past month? Losing their ability to SAVE? They didn’t understand.

Frisk needed to find sans. Now.

_________________________________

“I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW NOODLES CAN BE FLAT. IT IS NOT NATURAL.”

“Because they grow so very naturally to begin with.”

“DO THEY NOT?”

You tried to explain to Papyrus the ingredients to lasagna. You more you spoke, the more confused he got. Which lead to your current conversation of noodles. Apparently, no one had told him noodles were made, not cultivated.

“Have you ever seen a noodle farm?” You tried to reason.

“NO BUT I WOULD LIKE TO!”

You snort. Oh stars, is he for real? Well at least now you realized he didn’t comprehend sarcasm. Good to know for future reference.

“Alright, but we still need them.”

He eyes the box warily then swept his arm across the shelf knocking the boxes in the cart. He’d done this with most of the ingredients, taking excessive amounts. Giving you the realization that you had no money and that was a lot of food. He had told you he’d cover the expenses but even then, you tried to explain there wasn’t a need to grab so much. Papyrus however had other plans…

It was imperative that there be enough for later. How much later you didn’t know, but he said he was babysitting and would like for the kid to have some. It was really considerate. It made you wonder how monster kids looked?

“You know I’m gonna pay you back for this.”

“I HAVE ALREADY TOOK YOU IT WAS FINE, AFTER ALL THIS IS FOR OUR FRIENDSHIP LASGANA!”

He smiled sincerely at you. It was sweet but..

“I’m not a mooch. Gonna pay you back one way or another bud.”

His smile seemed to drop at this. For a moment you were worried you had disappointed him but it was replaced by something more sincere. Something less energic and more heartwarming.

Had he expected you to just use him? Of course you were broke… you needed a way to get a job and this worlds currency but… using him for money didn’t feel right. He was your first and only friend. For the short time you’ve known him he’s seemed nothing but genuine and something in your soul told you that held true. He needed to be protected, and that meant from yourself as well.

“YOU ARE A VERY NICE HUMAN. I’M SURE SANS WOULD LIKE YOU VERY MUCH, HE HAS… NOT LIKED MANY OF MY PREVIOUS FRIENDS…”

Ah, this was the brother that made him cry. Papyrus seemed to really care for him though, so you’d do your best not to punch him in the face, but at the very least you were gonna prod this cattle until it caved in. One way or another, sans was going to consult his brother. You were hellbent on it.

“Eh, If he likes me or not doesn’t matter.”

You turned to face Papyrus dead in his eye sockets, a assured look on your face. DETERMINED.

“What matters is I’m not leaving my best friend.”

He practically glows as he hugs you. Wrapping around the large skeleton you have to wonder.

How many other people did his brother chase out of his life?

No wonder the poor guy practically broke down in your arms. Did he do this to everyone Papyrus reached out to? Or just people he didn’t like.

“THANK YOU.”

“No prob big guy.”

“NOW THEN, LET US GO!!!”

He springs up to turn on his heel, pointing dramatically towards the exit.

“After we check out.”

He turns on his heel again in the opposite direction.

“AFTER WE CHECK OUT!”

You had felt bad terrorizing that poor cat monster at the register. He nametag had said BP?

You didn’t question it.

The poor guy looked incredibly stressed out and seeing his face contort at the massive amount of lasagna items. His expressions were obviously faked in the most strained costumer service voice he could manage. Voice springing to incredibly high pitches in attempt to be friendly. Papyrus seemed oblivious to it.

What retail horrors has this man seen? You look into his eyes and only see a man who has lived to long on this earth. He has seen too much.

As you and Papyrus walk towards the exit, you abruptly turn around. BP seemed more relaxed but once he realized your gaze held on him again, he went back to being very tense and awkward.

You salute this warrior.

“God speed to you, while I may never understand your pain, I admire your services. You have my respect.”

You turn back towards the door, sprinting after Papyrus. In the background you can hear a quiet,

“What the fuck?”

Catching up to Papyrus long strides was no easy task, but you managed. You hobbled alongside him, carrying some of the bags.

“MY HOUSE IS JUST UP HERE.”

You followed Papyrus and really got a look of the town this time around. It was quiet and cozy. Lined with streetlights and buildings. It looked like a town square out of a typical fairytale. Everything was just so perfect.

Up ahead you could a see a round about in the middle of town. It had larger shops around it as it branched off into four major roads. The center of the circle had a statue of what looked to be two giant goats and a child. A human child. Interesting.

Your eyes focused on the child. Their hair in their face and while the statue didn’t have any color you knew their hair was brown for some reason. A striped sweater enveloped most of their body. Since they had shorts on you could see he added detail of band aids on their knees. What an odd thing to add in a statue?

What was odder was you knew the name of this child you’d never meet before, you were so sure. It was on the tip of your tongue. Whisk? Risk? No. Something -isk.

Fri-

“WE ARE HERE!”

Papyrus stopped abruptly and you managed to run directly into his back in your concentration. Backing up a big you stare at the house in front of you. It was two stories with a front deck. It looked like there was another door on the side too. It had a wood aesthetic of a log cabin with Christmas lights attached. It was beautiful and yet-

Why was there snow on the roof? In what seemed to be Spring?

Your face pulled in a concentrated look, puzzled. What in the absolute-

“I CAN TELL YOU ARE IMPRESSION JUDGING BY THE EXPRESION ON YOUR FACE.”

You nodded, slowly talking.

“I am, definitely impressed.”

You pause.

“Tell me, how does one manage to get snow on your roof like that?”

“OH! SANS AND I HAVE SHAVEN ICE CUBES TO LAY ON OUR ROOF.”

Your face pulls in tighter.

“Why?”

Papyrus seems to contemplate this. Looking thoughtfully.

“I DO NOT KNOW…”

You both look on in thought.

“i dunno, seems like a good ice breaker to me.”

You turn slightly to find-

DAMN BOI.

He thicc BOI.

THAT’S A THICC ASS BOI.

“UGH, SANS THAT WAS HORRIBLE.”

This was sans? He was an absolute unit. If you tried to punch him, you’d probably break you hand. Hell, you’d probably break your arm!

“it’s okay, i can shave some for later.”

He winked in your direction. He wasn’t trying to hit on you was he? People just don’t wink at everyone. Was he for real? The nerve of this guy.

“NOT IN FRONT OF MY NEW FRIEND. YOU’LL RUIN THEM WITH ALL YOUR INSUFEERABLE PUNS.”

“Yeah, that’s not very nice.”

“THANK YOU-“

He looks at you betrayed, but you can still see him smiling. At least he noticed it this time.

He begins to ramble on about proper introductions being important. However, it seems to be more directed towards sans then you.

You looked him over. He was wearing a large light blue parka lined with a fur hood. His wore shorts and, pink slippers?

You’ve seen weirder things today.

Studying his face, you noticed how smooth and rounded his skull was compared to Papyrus more human like one. He had a rounded relaxed smile etched into his face accompanied by lidded eye sockets. However, you did miss the eye bags he had underneath of him. He looked tired.

Part of you wondered if he was suffering as much as Papyrus was? Maybe this was all a result of miscommunication? Your heart softened. Maybe you could help them both.

“HUMAN FRIEND! I WILL PUT THESE IN THE KITCHEN PLEASE COME INSIDE!”

He opens the door and walks off, you’re about to follow him when your blocked by sans. Oh god he was hitting on earlier wasn’t he? You really hoped he wasn’t some type of creep.

“look, paps seems ta like ya and there really ain’t nothin i can do ta change paps mind.”

Okay? And…?

He then looks at you, with this weird flame in only his left eye socket. You have a feeling he’s trying to be menacing but like you said earlier, you’ve seen weirder things today. You really just wanted to touch it at the moment.

“but i don’t mind scarin some home wrecking human into wanting nothing to do with eithe’a of us.”

His tone is deeper and more menacing. One thing sticks with you from his little one sided conversation.

He’s racist.

He backs off and walks inside, and you follow hot on his heels.

Maybe you were just angry at the moment, but you really wanted to stick it to him. More determined then ever to stay, the spite you felt for sans was like dumping gasoline on a fire. If he was going to a bitch then fine.

You were going to make his life a living hell.

Chapter Text

You’ve discovered two things in the skeleton’s house, the first being Papyrus could not cook to save his life… The second, is sans didn’t seem to care about anything but puns and his brother. That had been tested when Papyrus managed to set water on fire…somehow? Sans was knocked out cold through the whole process of extinguishment. You think…? Of course Papyrus believed adding more water to the situation would help. (It didn’t). You tired to inform him that you didn’t boil lasagna but reconsidered it since it may be a better option then letting Paps use the oven.

You had laid out the ingredients and all your utensils were set in place. It was time to educate.

“Alright, lets start with the sauce.”

“RIGHT.”

Papyrus took a tomato and gently set it on the cutting board, adjusting it precisely.

Okay, this isn’t so bad.

He brought his fist down unto it, splatting the innards everywhere but were it should be. It splattered across your face as you looked away and shielded your eyes from the incoming projectiles.

Who had taught this guy to cook?!

You heard snickering from the Livingroom. Well your glad he thought it was amusing. He’d be eating it later after all…

“Jesus Paps, did it owe you money or something?”

“NO, I DO NOT LEND MONEY TO FOOD. IT IS UNETHICAL THEY WILL NOT PAY YOU BACK. I HAVE TRIED.”

Okay?

“Look, you got the right idea, but you need more control.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“You want the insides out, but you want them to come out into the bowl. “

“BUT THAT WOULD NOT TASTE AS GOOD! IT HAS NO PASSION!”

He… he wanted passion in the food. By beating it up…

Yeah, Okay.

That sounded like Papyrus.

“Okay, but you can be passionate, without violence. They say love is a secret ingredient.”

“WHAT??!!”

He looks thoughtful, then slams his fist onto his palm, confidently proclaiming;

“UNDYNE MUST HAVE KNOWN THIS INFORMATION WOULD SURPASS MY COOKING TO UNIMAGINABLE HIEGHTS!!! SHE WAS PROTECTING HER TASTE BUDS KNOWING AFTER SHE ATE MY FOOD WITH THIS, SECERT INGERDENT, NOTHING WOULD EVER TASTE THE SAME AGAIN!!!”

“Yup, that’s gotta be it.”

“SHOW ME HOW TO COOK WITH THIS, ‘LOVE’!”

You properly instructed Papyrus to dice the tomatoes adding to the bowl. Trying to explain the stem was not an “extra ingredient”. You let him have some room to concentrate and begin to mince the garlic. The entire time you felt the presence of two beady eyes on your back.

Was he just going to watch you? I mean if that was the case he might as well do something to help.

What could you possibly say to convince him to actually help though? He only seemed to respond to puns…

Oh~.

You smile coyly and put your own dignity aside, glancing over your shoulder briefly to address him.

“If you’re that interested in buns you could make the garlic bread.”

Refocusing on the knife in your hands you didn’t manage to see his face, but you heard an undignified strangling noise. It brought a wonderful smile onto your face.

“YES, SANS IS VERY INTERESTED IN BUNS! HE HAS MADE MANY BREAD RELATED ITEMS. I BELIEVE THE LAST ONE HE HAD MADE WAS A QUICHE.”

Oh, you cinnamon roll. It almost made you feel guilty.

Almost.

 “but you were bread for this paps. i’d crumble under the pressure.”

“SANS DO NOT PATRONIZE ME.”

“come on bro, you know i look up to you.”

With a blank expression he stopped and looked up to face sans, stating in a matter of factly tone.

“THAT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE SHORT.”

You sharply breathe out your nose.

You put the knife down and rest your elbows on the countertop. Holding your head between them. Trying to contain your laughter at the blank expression Paps held that was directed at his brother. Because yes, sans was quite shorter then him, but it was how he said it.

“HUMAN ARE YOU CRYING?”

You manage to wheeze out a response.

“It’s the garlic.”

Papyrus seemed to make a face at sans to which sans quietly said no. He then made a more intense face at sans. It was indescribable.

“i suppose i could help…”

He says it with the least enthusiasm he could muster and begrudgingly rolls off the couch onto the floor.

You stand back up reforming some type of pride and scrap your minced garlic onto a plate. Also adding Papyrus tomatoes as you walk to the stove top. Finally tossing both together in a skillet to simmer. Sprinkling different herbs into as stirred. Papyrus stands closely next to you as he jots down notes furiously.

“Do you know how to cook?”

He couldn’t possibly be worse than his brother right?

“NOT AS WELL AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS BUT IT IS PASSABLE.”

Ah. So you were going to get food poisoning.

“Well that’s not reassuring.”

“come on, it’s just half baked.”

You face scrunches up. Ooh. That one was cringy.

“I AGREE WITH THE HUMANS FACE.”

You decide to offer a solution.

“Can we put duct tape over his mouth?”

“I HAVE TRIED, HE JUST TALKS THROUGH IT.”

“s’true.”

Damn ventriloquist.

“Alright, the doughs over there. Knock yourself out.”

“literally, or…?”

“Both.”

As you finish, up the sauce you add only a dash of grape jelly. Letting it dissolve into the sauce before removing it from the stove top. Adding your newly acquired sauce to the line of ingredients, you instruct Papyrus in layering the lasagna. Adding specific measurements for each ingredient. He had been observing you like a hawk the entire session but he opted to set his notepad down as you had him do more hands on tasks.

You risked a glance at his notes.

Which were written in Papyrus…?

-SQUEEZE LOVEINGLY, ONLY A SMALL AMOUNT OF PEER PREASURE. BE ENCOURGING. THIS IS A VERY STRESSFUL PART OF ITS LIFE.

-THE GREEN BITS ARE EXCLUDED FROM ITS FRIENDS. I AM SORRY GREEN LEAF; YOU MAY BE WITH THE OTHER GREEN BITS THOUGH.

-BLEND APPROPERATLY. (MAY AQUIRE MORE AGGRESSIVE TATICS BY SMACKING THE SPOON ONTO THE BOWL. I AM STILL UNSURE HOW THIS STIRS THE SAUCE HOWEVER…)

It continues a bit longer.

Interesting…

“HOW MUCH CHEESE THEN?”

Oh, yes.

“All of it.”

“ALL OF IT?”

“All of it.”

He dumped the multiple bags of shredded cheese into and on top of the lasagna. It was covered. But it was nearly enough.

“Do we had more cheese?”

“YES.”

Without question he runs to the refrigerator and carries out another arm full of cheese.

PERFECT.

You both continue to add cheese until you no longer can see the lasagna. This is flawless.

“HAVE WE DONE IT?”

“Yes. Would you like to put it in the oven?”

He kneels in front of you, like a knight tasked to a quest. Deeply bowing he lowers his head.

“IT WOULD BE MY HONOR.”

You pick up the lasagna and hold it above to the kitchen ceiling light in a grand gesture.

“Behold! The forbidden lasagna! It is banned throughout the world!”

He looks up in awe at the metal dish pan. As if it holds the secret to life.

“BECAUSE ITS TASTE IS SO HEAVENLY?!”

You close your eyes lowering it slowly into his own awaiting ones.

“Because it is so diabetic.”

He receives the precious food baby. Cradling it in his arms like a first born. He stands abruptly as you back out of his way for him to access the oven. He walks towards it and swiftly places it onto the rack, shutting the door. He turns around and looks to you, tears in his eyes.

“SHE WAS SO BUEATIFUL!!”

You feel emotional yourself. If there was a soul mate out there for you, you knew you had already found it. It was food. You could feel the tears gathering in yours eyes.

“I know.”

Clinging to each other you cry joyous tears. You remember something important.

“Paps did you set the timer?”

“AH, YES. IT IS ON THE WALL.”

You look over to see a judgmental sans stare at the both of you and a smoke detector placed directly above his head.

“That?”

He turns and confirms the location of the “Timer”.

“That’s a smoke detector pap.”

“YES.”

You squint at him deciphering what he had just said.

“Papyrus no.”

Chapter Text

“NOW THEN HUMAN FRIEND! BECAUSE IT IS YOUR FIRST TIME HERE IT IS ONLY PROPER FOR US, SANS GET OVER HERE, TO SHOW YOU OUR ABODE!”

Sans stumbled over to Papyrus. He had somehow magically finished making the garlic bread before you… without using the oven? There were some small scorch marks on the edges that looked to be from a flamethrower, so you decided not to ask. Although you did have several questions and a few concerns.

“AS YOU WALK AROUND SANS AND I –“

“yep.”

 “-WILL EXPLAIN-“

“yep.”

“-THE ROOMS-“

“yep.”

“-PURPOSE AND INTENT.”

“yep.”

“WOULD YOU STOP THAT?”

“yep.”

Sans just kinda nodded with whatever his brother was saying, and it seemed to infuriate him.

You really wanted to laugh at the two’s comedic display, but you also didn’t want sans to win this silent war Papyrus was oblivious too. However, with sans shit eating grin stretching a little wider, you may have accident let a small smile slip. Damn it.

You try to distract yourself by responding to Papyrus.

“Neat.”

Would you really win a battle by just ignoring the enemy though? No. You have to confront him head on, but it would be on your terms not his.

You walk out of the kitchen into the main room looking around. It was long in width then it was in depth, fitting a couch and a tv comfortably, there was a small staircase located at the far corner of the room and a bookshelf directly beside it. A lot of photos were hung of different looking monsters. It may do you some good to learn about the species as a whole, Papyrus did after all promise you a lecture of the monster race.

He seemed to notice you staring intently at the pictures on the wall.

“AH YES, THOSE ARE OUR FRIENDS!”

Papyrus lunges forward to point of the people in the photo.

“THAT IS ALPHYS AND NEXT TO HER IS HER GIRLFRIEND UNDYNE!”

“uh, they’re not dating pap.”

“SHE IS A GIRL FRIEND IS SHE NOT?”

“got me beat there.”

You stare at the two. A large looking mermaid fish woman with legs stares back at you, menacingly. Her eye was sharp and precise, slit like a cats. The opal was a bright shade of yellow and stuck out from her smooth navy scales, along with her wavy red hair that honestly looked like it could be a very large fin flopped over to the side. She looked beautiful either way, if it weren’t for how terrifying she was.

Her other eye was covered over by an eye patch as a long scar ran through it. On top of that this girl was beefy, but damn did she have a nice body. Stacking on double cakes with muscles that could quite possibly rip you in half. If it weren’t for the fact she was sporting a tank top you may have mistaken her for a dude and considering the scars that littered her body, that may have not ended well. Papyrus said this was Undyne.

Her arm was wrapped around a rightfully terrified lizard. She was small, smaller than sans which was saying something. This was apparently Alphys.

A small yellow lizard sporting glasses and a cute sundress. She was nearly as muscular as the girl above her but she did have nice curves. She seemed awkward but happy at the same time, although she did give you a nerdy vibe sporting a kitty head band. She was a weeb wasn’t she?

“UNDYNE IS A POLICE OFFICER AND IS ONE OF HIS ROYAL ADVISORS, SUCH AS MYSELF!! ALPYHS IS THE ROYAL SCIENTIST!”

Did that mean they lived in a monarchy?

“well, that’s just a title really, tha’ king isn’t a king anymore paps.”

“WELL… YES. BUT! MOST OF MONSTERS STILL REFER TO HIM AS SUCH BECAUSE HE IS THE GOVERNOR OF NEW NEW HOME.”

“fair.”

That, didn’t make too much sense?

“What?”

“AH, YES. I HAD ALMOST FORGOTTEN YOU DID NOT KNOW THE EVENTS OF MONSTER RACE BEING FREED.”

You almost break face looking at sans disgruntled expression. His “eyebrows” were furrowed down in concentration and his perma smile twitches just a bit. It seemed his eye lights were dilated too, however it had sharp quality to it. You felt as if he was trying to evaluate you properly but every time he tried, he only seemed to look through you. Odd, but you didn’t mind. You personally didn’t want him to figure out anything about you. You had a growing suspicion even if he did begin to trust you, it’d be too dangerous to give him that type of information.

Papyrus cleared his throat to continue his story. Your eyes refocused on him unaware you had been staring at sans with the same look of concentration.

“YOU SEE (Y/N), WE WERE SEALED UNDERGROUND TWO-HUNDRED YEARS AGO BY SEVEN MAGES.”

Mages?

“THEY WERE AFRIAD OF US AND CAST A SPELL TO TRAP US INSIDE A CAVERN TO BE OUR DOOM!”

Mages?

“HOWEVER A YOUNG CHILD CAME ALONG AND BEFRIEND ALL THE MONSTERS INSIDE THE MOUNTAIN CAVE, THEY WERE FRISK. THEY ARE ALSO MY BEST FRIEND!”

Mages?!

“OF COURSE THEY ARE NOT A BESTER FRIEND THEN YOU!”

Papyrus starts to sweat.

Were they going to kill you because you had magic?! Were you a mage then?!

You tried collecting yourself. Letting your distress slip through your appearance for a brief moment.

“I-I MEAN TO SAY THAT YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND BUT THEY ARE ALSO MY BEST FRIEND AND I DON’T WANT THE TWO OF YOU TO FEEL LIKE THE LESSER FRIEND BECAUSE BOTH OF YOU ARE WONDERFUL FRIENDS WHO SEEM TO CARE ABOUT THOSE AROUND YOU AND YOU ARE INVALUABLE TO ME PERSONALLY AS I FIND YOU TO BE A VERY DELIGHTFUL HUMAN-“

“the story pap?”

“RIGHT.”

Oh god you made him self conscious accidentally. Now you felt awful and extremely anxious about your safety, but I mean, as long as you didn’t use magic no one would find out right? Right. Okay.

“It’s okay, we’re part of the pasta pact remember?”

“AH YES, THE SPAGHETTI SAUCE! I HAVE SET SOME ASIDE FOR LATER AS LONG AS SANS DOESN’T DRINK IT!”

Who drinks spaghetti sauce? Why would you want to drink spaghetti sauce? It has a thick sludge feeling going down your throat and a pungent smell of tomatoes. It’s disgusting.

“I’m sorry did I hear you correctly?”

“UNFORTUNATELY…”

“hey don’t dis me like that, it’s good.”

“NO.”

“It really isn’t.”

“eh, suit yourself.”

“That’s beyond disgusting.”

“ENTIRELY SO.”

“It’s like chugging slugs.”

“OR CONSUMING WORMS”

“Oh! What about expired room temperature jam!”

“YES, EXACTLY!”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

“i feel like i’m a target of a hate crime.”

“What you’re doing is a hate crime.”

“AGREED.”

He just shrugs and manifests a bottle out of his coat pocket that is far too large to actually fit in there. Having the audacity to uncap the bottle and begin to drink it in front of the both of you.

The nerve.

“ANYWAY.” Paps angrily blurts out at sans undignified response.

“THE STORY.”

“Yes.”

“FRISK USED THE MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP TO RELEASE US.”

“Wait seriously?”

Sans doesn’t stop chugging as he speaks up.

“Well, nobody actually knows, everyone just passed out or something like that. When we woke up the barrier was broken. So we just gotta trust what the kid says.”

“YES. ALTHOUGH I WISH FRISK WOULD HAVE WOKEN US UP FOR THAT PART. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL TO WATCH THE BARRIER SHATTER AFTER BEING TRAPPED FOR SO LONG.”

“What would even cause something like that?”

“alph thinks it was the release of an intense amount of magic, which would make sense. even if some people didn’t really believe it, they didn’t question the kid.”

An intense amount of magic? Could you do that? If you could randomly put them to sleep? It would definitely make you feel more comfortable knowing you had some way of protecting yourself without having to hurt anyone.

“IT’S A GOOD THING THERE ARE NO MORE MAGES UP ON THE SURFACE NOW! WE WERE WORRIED THEY WOULD JUST PUT US BACK UNDER THE MOUNTAIN AGAIN.”

“That’s awful.”

Maybe sans hatred in humanity was justified? You should be more sympathetic to him, maybe at some point he’d realize you didn’t mean any real harm.

At least as long as he didn’t.

“WE HAVEN’T EVEN LEFT THE LIVING ROOM, COME NOW. WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ON A TOUR.”

“Oh. Right.”

You shuffle away from the wall to a sock on the ground. Surrounded by sticky notes?

“Why?”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

Papyrus seems to be looking at everything but the sock on the ground.

“The sock?”

“WHAT SOCK?”

“he’s denying it even exists now.”

“THERE IS NO SOCK I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE TWO OF YOU ARE EVEN TALKING ABOUT!”

His eyes are bulged out of his skull looking around in a frantic manner. You looked down at the object of Papyrus’s offense, squatting down you begin reading the sticky notes.

SANS PICK UP YOUR SOCK

okay

ITS STILL HERE

okay

SANS YOU NEED TO PICK UP YOUR SOCK NOW, I WILL NOT HAVE YOU DO THIS AGAIN!!

okay

OH MY GOD SANS, WHAT IF WE HAVE COMPANY!!!

language

NYEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Were they for real? They were definitely brothers. However…

You looked at sans, he was still drinking ketchup.

Yeah, he wasn’t going to do it was he?

Like, ever.

Okay then.

“Hey paps, where’s the laundry room?”

“OH, YES. IT IS THE DOOR NEXT TO THE STAIRCASE ON THIS FLOOR.”

“Thanks.”

ACT

*You pick up the sock. It smells worse than you thought it would have. *

You walk over the laundry room and drop it in what you hope is a dirty clothes bin, guessing from the smell, it was probably Sans’s.

“Right then, want to show me someplace else?”

“uh, you didn’t have to do that…”

“What are you talking about?”

“THE SOCK.”

You look at paps with a smug expression.

“What sock?”

“THE SOCK THAT WAS RIGHT THERE.”

“i dunno pap, i didn’t see a sock.”

He bends down gesturing wildly to the spot where the sock was sitting beforehand.

“THE SOCK THAT WAS RIGHT THERE FOR A MONTH! IT HAS LEFT A VISIBLE IMPRESSION FROM THE STINK SANS.”

“eh, i dunno bro. i didn’t see anything.”

“I mean, you said it yourself. There’s no sock there paps.”

“NOT ANYMORE.”

Sans smile grows wider as he leans in.

“does that mean there was one there before?”

He wiggles his eyebrows at the deeply set frown on Papyrus face points angrily to him.

“OH MY GOD SANS!!!”

Papyrus picks him up effortlessly and hurls him out the window, smashing it in the process.

“NYEH!”

You hear a loud thud followed by silence only for a moment. Papyrus looks pointingly at the window as if daring it to move, while exaggerating his huffing and puffing as if he spent of his energy in his sheer rage. You wonder if you’ve made the right decision but before you can actually contemplate it you hear a noise from outside the window you recognized as sans voice. He speaks up, no longer in view.

“language.”

“NYYYYEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Papyrus grabs your hand and starts dragging you up the stairs in a daze.

“ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE GOING UPSTAIRS TO HANG OUT IN THE GREAT PAPYRUS’S ROOM! YOU ARE NOT INVITED!”

“s’cool, I’ll just hang out right here.”

“I WILL CALL YOU IN WHEN THE FOOD IS DONE.”

You look downstairs and you’re pulled upward. Slight worry crossing your face.

“Isn’t he going to freeze out ther-“

“DON’T SAY IT.”

Why not?

A deep chortle comes distantly from the broken window below you.

“it’s okay, cold goes right through me.”

Oh. Never mind.

“I WILL SHOW YOU MY ROOM HUMAN! USUALLY IT IS ONLY SHOWN TO DATE MATES OR VERY CLOSE FRIENDS. HOWEVER, IT ALSO IS THE ONLY PLACE THAT IS SAFE FROM SANS HORRENDOUS PUNS.”

“That’s fair. What’s a date mate though?”

He seems to blush an orange hue over the eggshell white of his bones. You can’t help but admire the contrasting colors and how pretty the shade is. He rests his hand on the door handle as he fidgets.

The door being decorated with signs saying keep out or only cool skeletons allowed. It seemed very much like papyrus, although you were more interested in the room at the corner of your eye with blue flames coming from underneath it.

“WELL IT’S WHEN TWO PEOPLE LIKE EACHOTHER VERY MUCH, MORE THEN FRIENDS.”

“You mean like dating? Boyfriend and girlfriend stuff?”

You had said it nonchalantly but Paps seemed to freak out over it, placing a hand over your mouth as his blush deepened.

“YES BUT BE QUIET, SANS DOES NOT LIKE HEARING THAT TYPE OF THING.”

You mumble through Paps hand.

“Whath’s tha mattur, he can’ta get ah dathe?”

“PROBABLY. BUT I HAVE ALREADY TRIED INTERVENING IN HIS LOVE LIFE AND THAT DID NOT END WELL.”

“Shoooooo… “

“HE LIKES THE QUEEN.”

“Tha queem?!”

“SHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“WE WILL TALK ABOUT THIS INSIDE!”

He quickly opens the door and shoo’s you inside. Are you really about to gossip like a bunch of teenagers? Surely you’d be above this. Are you really going to talk about secrets of people you just meet and are clearly not on good terms with?

Yes. Yes, you are.

Chapter Text

You’re dragged haphazardly into the bedroom as Papyrus shuts the door. It’s not so surprising decorated like a teenage boy’s room. It’s fairly decent in size, although overrun by countless action figures and other trinkets. Most noticeable is the large pirate flag hanging up next to a bed frame shaped like a race car.

There were so many indecent jokes you could make with that kind of material, but it was Papyrus’s after all. You couldn’t possibly do that to him.

“NOW THEN.”

Oh yeah. Gossip.

You didn’t particularly enjoy gossiping with other people, but you seriously knew nothing about this world or the type of people in it. At this rate any information is good information.

“So, he’s got a big one for the queen?”

Wait did magic skeletons even have dicks?

“I’M NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHAT THAT MEANS, BUT IF YOU MEAN TO SAY HE LIKES HER ROMANTICALLY THEN YES.”

Oh. That was good black mail. You pester him for more information.

“Who’s the queen?”

“OH MY STARS, YOU REALLY DON’T KNOW ABOUT MONSTER CULTURE AT ALL DO YOU?”

You try to hide your embarrassment. It was a little awkward having the equivalent of a man child tell you that you were uneducated. I mean it’s not like it was your fault! You couldn’t even remember a lot of anything about yourself let alone a world you came into literally this morning. Anything you did or knew about yourself was only because of memory muscle or habit.

“Um, not really? Like anything? I’ve been…away. Far away. Didn’t know about any of this until I got here actually.”

You walk around a bit, stopping in the middle of the flaming patterned carpet to sit plop down ungracefully.

Papyrus seems to process your response for a moment, then he proceeds to light up as if understanding the situation.

“MONSTERS HAVE BEEN FREED FOR OVER A YEAR NOW. WE STIRED UP QUITE THE TROUBLE WHEN WE CAME TO THE SURFACE. HOWEVER, IF YOU WERE JUST RETURNING HOME IT WOULD MAKE SENSE.”

He looks over to you a little sunken.

“SOME PLACES HAVE CUT OFF OUR EXSISTANCE ENTIRELY. THEY PRETEND WE DO NOT EVEN EXSIST. IT IS ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WE HAVE NOT LEFT.”

That was, really sad actually. I mean it would make sense. Trapped underground for who only knows how long and when the monsters did reach the surface they were shunned by society. You could only assume this society was composed of non-magical humans. Paps already said there were no mages left anymore, on top of that the only race you know that lives on this planet are humans. You did have a question though, a personal one.

“Do you want to?”

This perks up his attention. He seems to consider it.

“POSSIBLY. BUT I WOULD NOT GO WITHOUT MY FRIENDS, SOME THINGS ARE NOT THE SAME WHEN YOU ARE ALONE. “

You reply without hesitation.

“Then let’s do it.”

“WHAT?”

“Travel the world. Maybe not right now, but I promise you we will.”

His eyes light up in a dazzling effect that physically hurts your eyes. You’re also pretty sure the tears welling up in his sockets are composed of face glitter.

“YOU MEAN IT?!”

“Course, I don’t break promises.”

He gushes and rushes over, picking you up and twirling you around. You try your best not to throw up on him, but by the fifth spin it’s proving to be difficult. Thankfully he sets you down on your feet soon after.

“OH! YOU MUST COME MEET OUR FRIENDS THEN! WE’RE HAVING A SLEEP OVER TOMORROW!!!”

“Sure bud. Is it Undyne and Alphys?”

“YES!!! ALSO, FRISK. “

“The human that broke the barrier?”

“YES!”

Okay, so you understand what was going on now. Recapping to yourself; someone named Frisk got into the mountain (somehow) and freed the monsters by breaking a magical barrier placed by human mages way back.

Jesus Christ was this Dungeons and Dragons? This was some shit you either had be high to believe or see it for yourself. I mean you were hearing it from a magical talking skeleton, so maybe you were high? Was this entire thing just one giant acid trip?

Believing that you were tripping balls made the processing of whatever the hell was happening to you a whole lot easier. I mean it was ridiculous.

Skeletons. Magic. The Void. Mages. Gaster.

Oh shit, Gaster.

You had to still find his sons and you’ve been wasting the day befriending Papyrus.

Well, no. Papyrus had honestly been a lifeline thrown out to you. You had no idea what to do, or where to go. At least with him here you could have someone you could depend on. You just couldn’t get to distracted. You had to figure a way to get Gaster back to his own world. Besides, finding his kids was more or less to help yourself anyway. Get you a free ticket to food and shelter. It may be smarter to take up them up on that offer, but it felt wrong. Like you’d be using them.

At the very least you would find them to inform them of their fathers’ whereabouts. That while he was stuck, he was okay. You owed them that much.

“HUMAN?”

You looked up to Papyrus. Had he always been that height? He seemed shorter. Glancing downward you realized he was kneeling in front of you.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT? YOU SEEMED TO, HOW DO THE HUMANS PHRASE IT, SPACE OUT?”

You shook yourself out of your stupor.

“Yeah, I’m good paps. Just thinking.”

He nods but doesn’t pry any further. It’s almost reassuring if you weren’t so sure it was a skill learnt to handle his brother’s situations. He seemed to read a room quite well, even if it didn’t seem like it. He broke the tension between you and sans the entire time you’ve been here so far. He cared so much you would almost be worried it was a trick.

“BESIDES THE RELEASING OF MONSTERS THERE IS NOT MUCH TO KNOW. HOWEVER, THERE ARE MANY HUMAN LIKE LAWS WE NOW FILE UNDER! SUCH AS EQUAL RIGHTS! WE ARE LIMITED IN MAGIC USE HOWEVER.”

Huh. Magic.

“Magic, what can you tell me about that?”

“WELL IT IS VERY SIMILAR AND VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT HUMANS BELIEVED IT WAS A FIRST. MAGIC IS THE ESSENCE OF A MONSTE BEING, WITHOUT IT WE WOULD SIMPL CRUMBLE TO DUST.”

“Dust?”

He seems a little nervous at the mention of it but continues regardless.

 “A MONSTER TURNS TO DUST WHEN KILLED. ATTACKING A MONSTER WITH ILL INTENT HARM A MONSTER AND COULD CAUSE CERTAIN AREAS TO BECOME DUST IF THE INTENT IS STRONG ENOUGH, EVEN IF THE MONSTER IS ALIVE.”

“Does that mean you could take dust and give magic to make a monster?”

A befuddled expression settles on his face as he begins to process the question you’ve asked him. It changes back after a moment as he seems to find the answer he was searching for.

“I DO NOT KNOW FOR CERTAIN, HOWEVER DOCTOR ALPYHS MAY BE ABLE TO ANSWER THAT. SHE HAD SAVED A FEW MONSTER FROM DUSTING BY ADDED MORE MAGIC AND DETERMINATION INTO THEM. THERODICALLY I BELIEVE ITS POSSIBLE, HOWEVER I DO NOT BELIEVE THE MONSTER WOULD HAVE A SOUL.”

Oh yeah, souls. Maybe you should ask him about yours?

“So souls, everyone’s got a soul then right?”

“WELL YES, IT’S THE COMBINATION OF OUR BEING. IT CAN BE USED FOR BATTLE OR OTHER THINGS.”

His face flushes in color as he says other things, wringing his hands. How bad could it be?

“I BELIEVE I HAVE A BOOK ABOUT SOULS WHEN I WAS GIVEN WHEN I WAS A BABY BONES I CAN GIVE TO YOU. “

Papyrus beelines towards his closet, throwing the door open to discover…

A dog?

A dog.

The cutest, fluffiest dog you’ve ever seen is in front of Papyrus with a bone three times the size of its body. It’s white a fairly medium to large dog wagging his tail profusely.

…

Would Papyrus be mad if you stole his dog?

It seems to stop when and it notices Papyrus and they both sort of just stare at each other. If its possible, the dog looks away and starts to… sweat?

“YOU!!!”

Papyrus booms at the small canine. It bounces back and forth violently as if it was caught doing something bad.

“STOP TRYING TO EAT MY SPECIAL ATTACK!!!”

Papyrus lunges at the dog to grab it. The pooch easily hops over his hands and lands on his head.

“NYEH!”

Should you do something?

Flailing his arms around, the extra weight on his back sets him off balance as he crashes into the closet. You’re about to ask if he’s alright when one of his arms catch onto a clothing rack, pulling it down on top of him.

 Clothes, socks and a pair of underwear that read ‘cool dude’ on them fall on top of him to add insult to injury.

Papyrus now covered in a pile of clothes seems to be vibrating in what you can only assume is mock rage. He’s staring directly above him where the dog is still sitting on his head with his bone, smiling happily.

You’re conflicted about what you should do so you just stand there.

You want to laugh, but that’s probably not the best thing to do right now. You also, really want to pet this dog. You decide after a moment of just standing to make sure he’s alright.

“You good down there?”

Papyrus makes a face at you but doesn’t say anything. Instead he makes a motion with his hands, cupping them together.

He wants you to catch the dog.

Okay. It’s only a small doggie, how hard could it be?

____________________________________________________

It was pretty fucking hard apparently.

This canine was the Houdini of dogs. Every time you and Papyrus cornered the mutt, he just slipped on by like a naked baby in butter oil.

It was infuriating.

You both had been running around half an hour without managing to even come close to catching the little shit. Papyrus had given up, opting to just make a new special attack. But you refused to lose.

Your pride wouldn’t let you.

So here you stand, alone. Face to face with a small beady eyed, baby faced demon. You know under that playful exterior is a sadistic pup getting their rocks off from high of the thrill of the hunt. Except he thought he was the hunter.

The dog rocketed behind the couch, so you jumped over the sofa effectively cutting him off. You watched as he skidded to halt charging the other way.

Nope.

You leaped over cradling the dog in your arms, refusing to let go as you hit the ground.

“Ha! I win.”

The dog, which Papyrus appropriately named ‘Annoying Dog’ could only respond by licking your face.

It was so hard to stay mad at this adorable little shit.

You’re resolve was wavering. Thankfully Papyrus spoke up before you could let the pup go and ruin all your hard work.

“DINNER IS ALMOST READY I SHOULD GET SANS AND-“

He stared down at you in remarkable awe. You smile up blissfully tired.

“YOU HAVE DONE IT HUMAN! BUT… WHERE IS THE BONE?”

Crap. You knew you’d forgotten something.

“IT IS ALRIGHT. I SUPPOSE IT DOESN’T MATTER ANYMORE. I FIND IT IMPRESSIVE YOU HAVE MANAGED TO OBTAIN THAT ANNOYING DOG AT ALL.”

“He’s… difficult for sure. Isn’t it your dog though?’

“STARS NO. IT ONLY RESIDES HERE TO PESTER US FOR BONES. BESIDES THAT SANS MAY FEED IT A FRY OR TWO BUT IT NEVER USUALLY REMAINS HERE LONG.”

Oh. So, he’s never been trained. Or had an owner? Poor little guy.

“Well why don’t I train him for you? If you don’t want him after that I could still always keep him. He’s troublesome, but he probably just needs a good home.”

You stand up now with the pooch in hand. His fluffy tail wiggles back and forth and you’re certain you’ll be covered in dog hair for a while.

Papyrus contemplates this for a moment, looking at the cute bundle of death. Tentatively, he rests his hand on the crown of its head. Reacting as if it was going to take off with one of his fingers, which to be fair, may have already happened. He only responded by wagging his tail faster to your relief. You notice Paps smile get just a bit softer. It was a cute sight to see.

“THAT SEEMS FAIR ENOUGH. IT WOULD BE NICE FOR ROCKY TO HAVE A PLAYMATE TOO.”

“Rocky?”

“OUR PET ROCK.”

Why do you even ask anymore.

“Right. You going to get sans now?”

“OH YES RIGHT!”

Papyrus bolts out the door almost knocking off its hinges. It’s enough force that when it hits the outside wall it slams shut.

Geez.

Everything around you was flying by. You knew you should be concerned about other things. Where were you going to sleep tonight? You needed a job. You needed food.

Then here you were adopting a dog?

Some part of you, felt like it was okay though. Like the familiarity of everything here was normal. You felt like everything here was so weirdly normal. You set the pup down squatting beside him. He just sits in front of you smiling happily.

Weirdly enough, you had the strange desire to call him Toby. Like that was the name of a dog you’d had before. Did you have a dog before?

“Toby.”

His head whipped up to you as if waiting for you to say something. You didn’t.

It was a weirdly odd feeling, like a memory. As if this exact thing had happened already and you stood here talking mindlessly to this dog. Then, sans just popped out of nowhere, he’d asked you if you were dog-gone crazy.

It felt like a vivid dream. Something you almost believed was going to happen, like in a moment of deja-vu.

Toby barked, startling you out of you trance and running to the door. He started jumping up and scratching at it. Was Paps locked outside? You made your way over to the door.

“Get down little dude.”

He stops suddenly and sits next to you. Didn’t Papyrus say this dog wasn’t trained? Weird.

You open the door to find…

Absolutely no one.

You swing the door close and glance beside you to Toby with a hint or mirth in your voice.

“You fucking liar.”

Spinning around you find a large body of mass waiting right behind you.

“Jesus Fuck!!!”

You trip backwards, the door behind you being the only thing to keep you up. Looking towards the object that certainly was not there a few seconds ago, you see a dipshit of a skeleton. Sans the skeleton to be exact.

“language.”

He chuckles, his shoulders follow as he seems to find amusement in your disheveled state. Fuck this guy.

“Shut up Micheal Myers.”

“who?”

He genuinely doesn’t seem to know what you’re talking about. You try to steady yourself and get your breathing straight before you reply.

“Never mind.”

He stares you down, a different look in his eyes then before. This was the first time he’s encountered you without his brother isn’t it? Fantastic.

Given the uncomfortable air between you two has intensified tenfold, you’re expected he’s going to threaten you.

Crap.

Play it cool.

“we need to talk.”

“About what?”

You try to say as causally as you can. Leaning your back against the door for ‘cool points’.

He sockets become pitch blank and his grin stretches to almost look painful. His voice is husky and hallow when he speaks. A cold chill ghosting down your spine.

“ w h a t    w e r e    y o u    d o i n g    i n    t h a t    f o r e s t . “

Double crap.

Chapter Text

Sans POV

Stars were always fascinating to sans. The concept of infinity lying just above his reach was overwhelming. He could only dream of the multitude of planets and habitats flourishing and dying all at once. There could be a new species born this very moment and he’s be none the wiser.

There was something about looking at space that made him so content. Maybe it was because the vast endlessness made him feel small compared to everything out there. Which made his problems feel tiny and insignificant, or he just liked looking at the stars. Of course, he already knew which one was true.

After Papyrus had thrown him haphazardly, he decided it wasn’t worth the effort to move. He’d been watching the way you interacted with Papyrus in a childlike manner. He chuckled to himself as he recalled the little skit you two had done to annoy Paps. He honestly didn’t believe a human that ridiculous was capable of doing any real harm.

He may have jumped to conclusions when he first saw you, although he still had quite a few questions left unanswered that bothered him.

Who were you? Just popping into a city full of monsters wasn’t something humans did unless they wanted magic spiked food. Small doses were healthy, but in higher doses it worked like human alcohol, so measurements had to be exact. You didn’t seem like an alcoholic, maybe a foodie? You really liked your food…

Why the woods though? He couldn’t shake the feeling that you were connected to the residue him and Alphys found further back in the forest. It was too much of a coincidence. Plus the way your eyes reacted when he looked at you from the alleyway, but when he meet you in person you looked normal. Nothing glowing and he didn’t feel any magic from you. It was odd.

What really sealed the nail in the coffin is when you asked Papyrus about monster history. Were you playing dumb or were you actually dumb? From the way you acted he suspected the latter.

Something just didn’t sit right with you. The way you looked and acted. Worst of all was the weird sensation he got around you.

A familiarity.

A sense of trust.

Something else that he really didn’t want to address at the moment.

He rubbed his eye sockets furiously. As if that would clear his mind.

He remembered almost every reset; some were so identical they got mixed up together. However, he definitely wouldn’t forget a face and he’s positive he’s never met you before. In any of the timelines.

You confused him. He didn’t understand you.

So like all things sans didn’t understand, he wanted to put you under a microscope and analyze you.

He knew he couldn’t, at least not without breaking a few laws, but that’s only if they caught him. Not like he would ever get sloppy enough for that to happen.

Sans just didn’t like the automatic connection you seemed to have with Paps. It was like getting whiplash. Sure his bro was friendly to humans and monsters alike, but he had just met you in the middle of the woods. Surely even Paps would see some red flags? Nothing was making sense to him and it’s not like he could use JUDGEMENT on the human.

That was a whole other subject too, one that made you peculiarly suspicious. Couldn’t even read your soul normally. Even mages like Frisk can’t hide their souls away like that and as far as he was concerned Frisk was the last mage left.

So what was your deal?

Dragging his hand over his skull he groaned. He couldn’t even rely on his soul at all, given it wigged out every time he glanced at you.

What was his deal?

Maybe there was something wrong with him. He dropped his hand off to the side looking back up to the stars.

Guess he could only trust his brain on this. He needed to approach this logically.

Out of the corner of his eye he managed to catch a glimpse of Papyrus’s warmly lit bedroom window. He could see shadows moving around the room back and forth rapidly.

Oh, they must have found the dog he planted.

Good.

A soft smile reaches his face before he can scold himself.

No, them getting along shouldn’t make him happy, it’ll only make things more difficult if he deems you a threat and scares you away.

Suddenly a terrible fear creeps over sans. He just realized the last time he used magic on you he basically got electrocuted. It may have had to do with the substance back in the forest, but if it wasn’t…

Could he actually use magic on you at all?

No. No, it probably was the residue back in the forest. Sans magic never failed him like that. He’d have to inform Alphys in a… subtle way. Telling her he tried to toss a human like a horseshoe wouldn’t be the greatest idea…

But he’s had worse.

Before he can continue his train of thought his phone starts buzzing in his pocket. Not before he hears something shatter inside the house. Maybe he should actually check up on them? It’d be a shame if they had to rebuild part of the house again because he left Pap unsupervised.

Digging in his pocket past his ketchup packets he finds his outdated Nokia phone Alph had slightly upgraded for him. He was too lazy to go back and let her finish, or just go buy a new one. Pulling it out he clicked the green phone button to answer.

“sup.”

He could already tell it was Alphys by the heavy breathing.

“S-S-Sans! I really d-don’t get why I can’t just t-t-text you… calls a-are so a-awkward.”

“too lazy for that, what’s up al?”

“W-Well, I got some of the t-test results back. You might want to come over here…”

Right then, that meant whatever she was on about was important, and she definitely wouldn’t talk about it over the phone. So much for having a house to sleep in tonight.

“yeah, m’on my way.”

He dropped the line. He found it saved Alph the pressure of saying goodbye over the phone and not wanting to hang up first but embarrassing herself in the process. He wouldn’t say they were the best of friends, but they got along well enough.

He stood up and brushed himself off. Walking towards the back of the house to take a short cut.

Arriving in front of the doctors lab at neck breaking speed he let himself in.

“sup doc?”

Alphys seemed to perk up at the 30’s cartoon reference. She’d been binge watching any type of animation style since they had gotten to the surface.

“Come look at this!”

She didn’t stutter that time, she must’ve been excited about this. He shuffled closer to the testing area. It was lined with tubes, microscopes and ramen noodles. Alphys was looking at a machine analyzing the makeup of a golden power. He recognized the power from this morning, the one she had asked sans to help analyze and he so helpfully assisted her.

“The substance from this morning, it’s borderline radioactive.”

He blinked twice.

“you sure about that alp?”

“Yes! I’ve redone the data over ten times now. It all shows extraordinary high levels of magic.”

“okay so it was a monster havin a tantrum then?”

She shakes her head furiously, sweating nervously.

“T-that’s the thing… I-If a monster possessed this much magic, it would die instantly. A-And this i-is only a small dose of it. It’s much stronger then any boss monster I’ve ever recorded, e-even any of the re-remain records from mages w-we were able to f-find didn’t compare to this stuff.”

“so it’ borderline radioactive magic, but that don’t mean it came from a living thing right? s’possible to produce artificial magic. s’just hard.”

Alphys starts to pale.

“T-T-That’s the thing sans. This magic, I’ve already analyzed a signature, i-it came from somebody’s soul.”

“shit.”

“Y-Y-Yeah.”

“I figure if anyone can track that kind of magic down, it’d be you.”

He understood now. She wanted him to use his ability as judge so they could find this person.

“y’think that’s the anomaly too?”

“At this p-point I’m confident. If it goes unchecked… who knows what those implications would have on our reality.”

Great. This was fantastic, first Frisk and now when things start to settle down, he’s gotta worry about the very fabric of time being bent.

“I’ll try to get what I can, but for now I think we should keep this to ourselves. It would cause a widespread panic. We still don’t know what kind of effects this could have; it could do n-nothing at all. I’m just talking w-worst case scenario.”

He’d have to back track to the woods, it was the only place he could find something to go with. Maybe Papyrus had seen something over there and-

You.

You were in the woods.

You were with Papyrus.

Why were you in the woods?

He suddenly really didn’t like the idea of you home alone with his brother. Regardless of his own soul trying to quell his mind, he didn’t trust it.

More importantly, he didn’t trust you.

“right. just focus on what you’re doin alph. i’ll find em’. think i already have a lead too.”

“T-That’s great! Let me know what you find. J-Just be careful.”

He swiftly walked to the exit, when the doors opened he walked out of his own bed room door. Both you and Papyrus were downstairs, he could see you from the balcony. He hears you speak up quietly.

“Right. You going to get sans now?”

“OH YES RIGHT!”

Sans watches silently as his brother bolts out the door abruptly. The door took a beating but at least the house wasn’t in shambles this time.

He looked down at you, you’re entire interest in the annoying dog he had left to keep the two of you entertained. You look to focused on it and then you said something that surprised sans.

“Toby.”

The dog whipped it’s head up to you.

How did you know that? No one knew the dogs name and he didn’t have a tag. It took sans hundreds of resets to figure out a name he responded too, and on your first try you seem to know it just like that?

While all your actions may have been coincidental on their own, this was just getting too odd for his liking. He could only deal with one time abomination at a time, and that was Frisk. He didn’t need you messing with things too. Maybe he should come out the front door instead? It would be less suspicious, he was outside after all.

Or he could just walk down the stairs and make a joke about you be dog gone crazy. Puns always broke the ice, it would be an easier approach. Then again, you were just silently staring at the Dog. It wouldn’t make much sense if he didn’t catch you in the act, then you’d know he’s been staring at you this entire time.

Front door it was.

He took a short cut outside to the front door about to knock. Wait. This was his house.

God this was a such a stupid idea. As much as he knew logically you should have something to do with the anomaly he just wanted to believe you had nothing to do with it.

Was it awful that he felt you’d make a good friend for Paps? Maybe even at some point you’d want to be friends with him? Was that too bad?

Actually, yes. It absolutely was. His soul was having outbursts from being exposed to such high levels of magic. He could only trust his mind right now, so he pushed those feelings aside.

He hears Toby barking on the other side and panics shortly. Crap he had just been standing here, it’d be weird if he was just standing here the entire time.

He quickly cuts back inside the living room only to find you directly in front of him answering the door. Swinging it open to find absolutely no one.

You shut the door briskly and turn to the Dog.

“You fucking liar.”

He has to hold in a laugh at the absurdity of it. It only intensified the weird feeling in his chest again. He aggressively suppressed it. He’s supposed to be interrogating you. You’re suspicious and possibly very dangerous. Why did he need to keep reminding himself of that.

Your body briefly collides with his before he realizes this is probably one of the worst way he could have encountered you.

Way to go sans.

“Jesus Fuck!!!”

You trip backwards into the door with a terrified face. Honestly, it probably seems like something straight out of a horror movie.

Okay, think. Break the tension. Joke. They had an inside joke, he could use that.

“language.”

He briefly chuckles, hoping you’ll join in and laugh it off with him as a prank jumpscare.

 “Shut up Micheal Myers.”

Ah. You did not take it as a joke, or did you give him a joke in return? He actually didn’t know who that was.

“who?”

“Never mind.”

He stares at you, actually getting the time to look at you. Humans were so weird with all the fleshy bit they had. Although you did look squishy, but then there were the bones underneath. Sans didn’t know if that was interesting or disgusting to be honest.

Maybe he should just cut to the chase.

“we need to talk.”

“About what?”

You propped yourself against the door frame crossing your arms. Were you trying to look tough or just hold face?

Would intimidation work on you? That’s all he ever really used to question humans. They were always so uncooperative, but you seemed different. Maybe, if he just asked you…

No. There’s no way you trusted him.

He threatened you earlier before you even came into his house. There’s no way you’d just understand why he did that. You probably already had a grudge with him. It was too late for pleasantries.

He needed to cut to the chase.

Extinguishing the lights from his eyes and grinned to you uncomfortably feeling as though he was once again in the judgement hall.

He knew you were there.

You’re eyes seemed to widen slightly at him, a flash of fear crossing your features. It made him feel more in control. Especially since his soul was protesting everything he was doing right now.

He didn’t know why, it was just a human. Just take a deep breath.

You were just another human. A human he needed information from.

“ w h a t   w e r e   y o u   d o i n g   i n   t h a t   f o r e s t . “

Chapter Text

You stared at him and a Halloween decoration looked back at you.

The texture of his bones looked smooth and fake. You briefly wondered if touching him would have the same consistencies with plastic?
The lights in his eye sockets had gone out and a vague creepy expression was plastered on his face like a slap on sticker. He looked ridiculous trying to threaten you. Did skeletons have testosterone? Maybe his manliness was being threatened by your undoubtedly alluring charm~?

Honestly it relieved you a bit, you were worried his face was permanently stuck with exactly one type of emotion. That emotion being as expressive as a potato.
You couldn’t help but notice him trying to mask the awkwardness he was clearly showng as he tried to intimidate you. Sans suppressed it well but not well enough to hide it from you.
For some reason you have a suspicion it would work on most people. Maybe it was just the context clues?

Despite how much you detested sans, it felt like you could read his non apparent emotions pretty well. Maybe that’s why you’ve been so livid with him, he thinks your stupid and can’t read past his facade. This is all a show of power hoping you’d fall back into submission so he can keep peer pressuring you to promptly fuck off.
PFF, like fucking hell you would. He was an asshole. You just don’t go around threatening people like you own the place.

I mean he did, but that wasn’t the point.

The point was he was getting on your nerves with his little standup act. Repeatedly threatening you when Papyrus was away and play nice when he was here.

Honestly with this guy.
You propped yourself off the door and stepped closer to the skeleton. He didn’t seem to expect this as he leaned back slightly as you approached. You needed to show him you wouldn’t take kindly to his hostile advances. Otherwise he’d think this kind of behavior is acceptable.
Great, now you had to train a dog and a skeleton.
At least you know one of them is potty trained…you hope sans is too.

You ready a response, but hesitate, actually thinking about his question. He wanted to know what you were doing in the forest with Papyrus while you two were alone. Emphasis on alone.

How did he know you were in the forest?

“You were spying on him, weren’t you?”
The question seems to catch him off guard for a moment. It was a logical conclusion; Papyrus was in the woods and seemingly upset when you encountered him. His brother was following him. It’s not like Paps could’ve told him, you’ve been locked at the hip with him up until a few moments ago.
A cold chill cascades down your back as you remember being watched in town, a pair of white lights in a alley way you had brushed off. Did this guy have any decency?
“this ain’t about me.”
“Oh, It’s not is it? So following us into town isn’t about you either I guess?”

At the mention of that the lights in his eyes come back. An expression torn between shock and his default resting bitch face settled nicely across san’s face.
“what?”

Busted.

You scoff in response. He wasn’t trying to play coy now was he? He picked the fight, you were just going to finish it.
“You know what I’m talking about.”

His face drops in realization. The fake smile he was holding wiped clean off his face. A deep settled frown making him seem for once like he wasn’t hiding his emotions behind a mask.
For some reason he looks more intimidating like this. It’s a slight upgrade from dollar store Halloween decoration to Walmart band. Not much difference but there’s progress.

He doesn’t open his mouth when he speaks, his tone turning hostile.
“look, i’m just looking out for my bro. don’t need some human tell’n me what’s right n’ wrong.”

What a load of bullshit.
This guy thought he was doing Paps a favor? Stalking him? Hiding things from him? Pushing anyone who got close to him out of his life if it didn’t fit his agenda. He really didn’t understand that all this was wrong? Was he really giving you all this crap about it because you were human?!
If it was a bad idea to raise your voice, it didn’t reach your brain in time. Maybe hoping the volume would get through that thick skull of his.

“Apparently you do. You can’t just go around judging people-“
He spoke over you, his entire body vibrating silently. Like he was restraining from reaching out and trying to choke you.
Go ahead and try me. I’m down for throwing hands.

“that’s my job! i judge souls and you’re makin it real difficult for me.”
A judge?
Like in court?
Is he serious?

“Oh! You think you’re just give me a verdict? For what?! All the crimes I’ve apparently committed in the past, what? Five hours I’ve been here?! Because you and your opinion alone is the only thing that can determine what anything I’ve ever done is meant. You don’t even know me! Yet here you are condemning my very existence.”

You blurt it out, like word vomit. The two of you just staring at each other from your outburst. He goes to what you can only guess is to defend himself, but you’re not having it. You cut him off.

“Tell me something, behind that mask you wear do you really think you’re any better than the people you judge?”

For a second you see a look of recognition on his face, like he actually thought about it. You take a moment to treasure it because that’s probably not an expression you’re going to see often.
Coming down from your adrenaline high, you speak steadily and sternly to the now silent skeleton.

“Let me tell you how I see it. You’re an asshole sans, a racist. With the way you’ve been threatening me so causally behind Papyrus’s back I’m sure you’ve done it to other people. Hell, you could’ve done it to other people and I’d be none the wiser.”
You ignore the shift in his expression at those words.
“Don’t you dare think some self-proclaimed bullshit puts you above all the crap you do. Karma’s a real bitch you know.”

And you stop with that.
That’s enough, if he hadn’t gotten the point by now then he wasn’t going to. There was no point in dragging this conversation any longer. You stepped away, noticing the two of you had gotten awful close in your argument.

Sans honestly looked conflicted. At the moment you were just tired of dealing with his crap, but a part of you really did hope you actually got something across to him. Maybe you had been too strict?
His face refocuses on you, a bit softer than before. He looks genuinely upset, maybe even sorrowful? You weren’t completely sold. It was apparent he was good at holding faces, plus people just don’t have a change of heart all at once. If he really did have a grudge against humans then it’d take more than a single conversation to get him to accept you.
You can’t but take in his expression when he doesn’t have on a resting bitch face. Despite the everything he actually looks… pleasant. Softer and sweeter.

A overwhelming amount of guilt hit you. Yes he was an asshole, but he at least had a decent reason to hate humanity. Maybe you should’ve been nicer?
No, wait. This whole conversation started because he was a racist dick who had been stalking his brother. So why were you so willing to make excuses for all his actions?
You know exactly why.

Sans clears his throat (He doesn’t have a throat though?) and turns to you.

“i- “

Before he can continue, sans is cut off by a crash.
The source being a crazed Papyrus throwing himself into the already broken window from the outside. After a barrel roll and some frantic movements to get up he eccentrically looks around the room until he finds the two of you.

“I CAN’T FIND SANS!”

Huh?

“What do you mean you can’t find sa-“

Sprinting over at horrifying speed Papyrus grabs your shoulders and wildly shakes you.
“HE WASN’T AT GRILLBYS! HE’S ALWAYS AT GRILLBYS!”

Oh god you were gonna be sick. Sans interrupts the unintentional blending of your brain.
“did you try his room?”
Papyrus stops shaking you thankfully before you throw up.

“I DID NOT! THANK YOU SANS!”
He lets go of you in favor of bolting up the stairs and kicking down the door with those blue flames under it. It almost breaks the hinges, but from the sound he definitely broke some type of lock.

“SANS ARE YOU IN HERE!?”

You try to grab your bearings keeling over hoping whatever was in your stomach would stay there. Through the nausea you manage to smile. Paps really was a breath of fresh air, but god he needed work on his people skills.
A very agitated voice can be heard from upstairs along with shuffling, something metal crashing, a horn and… a rubber chicken? Is that what that squeaking was?

“I CANNOT LOCATE HIM NOR ANYHTHING ELSE WITHIN THIS PLACE, HIS CLEANING ABILITES ARE NON-EXSISTANT.”

You look at sans for any enlightenment about what was upstairs. He graces you with shrugging his shoulders sheepishly.
“s’n organized mess.”

Yeah, sure it is.

“OH FOR THE LOVE OF ASGORE, I TOLD HIM TO GET RID OF THIS TRASH TORNADO A MONTH AGO!”

Trash…
Tornado?

“I’m sorry what?”

He starts to sweat more. Just shrugging his shoulders again and looking anywhere but at you. If that wasn’t the signature look of a suspicious person, you don’t know what is. You squint at him making sure he knows you’re not buying whatever he’s selling.
“s’pretty self-explanatory.“
“Uh huh.”
So this guy didn’t wash any of his clothes himself, he seemed far too lazy for that. On top of that he had random miscellaneous objects accompanied by a trash tornado in his… bedroom? How does that even work?
Magic.

You’d probably contract new types of diseases just walking inside.
It’s so much worse than that.
Just happily living among your own garbage?

Nasty.
Nasty.

“Do have some type of like, trash fetish?”

Sans face contorts in a way you hadn’t seen it move before. Didn’t know it could do that. He looks mortified you’d even consider it. It makes you feel very proud of yourself.
“what is wrong with you?”
“Everything, but you still didn’t answer my question.”
“stars, no.”
“Not even a sock fetish?~”

Sans face completely broke into a beautiful bleached white. How does a skeleton turn pale exactly? It was rather odd.
Not too long after his entire face was a lovely shade of teal and sweat poured down his skull like you’d turned on a faucet. Ha! This is definitely a welcomed turn of events.
You had a shit eating grin on your face but you couldn’t care less. Looks like you managed to find gold. Malice in your veins and a newfound adrenaline, you decide to poke the bear that was just put to sleep.

“Wow. You got the hots for socks and goats, odd combo but whatever grows your bone.”

He clamps a hand over your mouth and says in a slightly shaky and faint voice.
“please, for the love of whatever you care about… shut up.”
He looks at you pleading, almost desperate. You can only smile wider at the confused skeleton.

“wait, how do you even know about the goat thing?”

You lick his boney ass hand noting that it tastes undoubtedly like chalk and blue raspberry. It reminds you of a trip to the dentist. You were honestly expecting ketchup.
“So you admit it!”
His face lights up like a Christmas tree. It had a glowing hue to it, an other worldly feel. You decide that you really like this color.

“what? no. i’m just asking… for a friend.”
“A lovely goat friend I’m sure.~”

He takes a hand and smashes it against his face moving it up and over his skull in exasperation. His face seems to reset after that. Shame.
“okay, look.”
“I’m looking, but do I have to?”
He stares deadpan at you and you attempt to imitate him the best you can, which isn’t too long before you burs into giggles. Sans fixed expression relaxes a bit and you hear a few small chuckles.
“you’re right ya know.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. What was that?”
He looks around to you and settles to stare at an object distantly behind you.
“ya right, m’sorry. bout the whole thing, i’ve been a bit of a bone head.”

Wow.

You were honestly not expecting that.
“Say it better.”
“huh?”

You try your best to imitate his voice. Gesturing wildly during your stupid performance.
“You need to be like; oh my god! I’m SO sorry! I’m an ignorant fool and you are the most gorgeous person to walk the earth. Not even Venus compares to you! I am utter TRASH in the presence of a goddess! I do not deserve the air you breathe, please forgive me!”

You end up batting your eyelashes looking up to sans from down on one knee. You hold his hand pretending to cry fake crocodile tears . At the very least, he’s amused.
“well, since you said it so nicely.”
“Oh, fuck off.”
“i mean, i’m a skeleton. not really anything there.”

That was… a valid point.
“Touché.”
“so, we’re boneified friends now?’
That actually gets a laugh at out you. Sans seems… worried to say the least. Oh, he should be.

“Oh hell no. We have a truce, but I still have a score to settle.”
“heh, and how do you plan on doing that pal?”

Snickering you walk towards the stairwell while addressing sans.
“Karma.”

By the time you turn around he has the same old expression once again plastered on his face. You shout up the stairwell to Papyrus.
“Did you check the living room?!”
Thundering steps hurry down the stairs as Papyrus scurries down back to you. Craning his neck over the arm rail he shouts.

“I HAVE FOUND HIM.”

“Oh yeah, where was he?”
“EXACTLY WHERE YOU HAD SUSPECTED! WONDERFUL!!”
Scurrying past you, Papyrus beelines for the kitchen almost running into the door frame in his haste.

“IT IS TIME FOR DINNER!”
Walking over to sans you both head over to the kitchen. It feels much more comfortable between you two. Sans leans over a bit to say something.

“ya gotta stop cussin so much round paps though.”

So a solid second your brain stalls in attempt to reply. Sounding concerned and upset as sans walks past you when you slow down.

“But that’s half my vocabulary.”

Chapter Text

You should’ve been ashamed with the amount of drool that was cascading down your jaw, but you lacked the ability to care, instead transfixed onto the bubbly mess of golden cheese. You lean in unconsciously only to get a whiff of what you could only presume heaven smelt like.

It was too perfect to eat.

The slight crunch giving in the top melting away into thick layers of noodlely goodness. The spatula breaking the surface let out another wave of hot and savory smells. Steaming and emanating garlic, parsley and herbs, it was just beckoning you closer. The was a slight hint of something ever so sweet into the mixture to balance the salty sweet combination.

The haze clouded your mind as it rose from your glorious creation wafting around the room and glowed with an angelic aura.

Papyrus’ (glowing?) sweat collected on his skull as he operated on this god given creation. Unwilling to spoil its pure bliss by uneven slices.

You watched intensely.

Cheese stretching as it was elevated into the air, it continued to stretch.

It kept going…

And going…

And going.

The steam wafted around the frame of your face as the fork inched towards your awaiting mouth. Drool pooling to the bottom of your mouth in anticipation. The heat greeting you like an old friend, caressing your face in a shared embrace to your bittersweet reunion.

Parting your lips you indulge yourself as if you and this delicious pasta were the only things in existence. Slipping the fork out of your mouth, you savor the explosion of flavors. Relishing in the cheesy goodness you so desired.

Romance was overrated, who needs love when it couldn’t compare to the sensation’s food brought you? The flavor, the texture, the lack of ability to leave you. Yes, food was truly the love of your life.

An undignified moan left your mouth as cherished this moment.

Fuck that’s good.

You close your eyes in shire bliss, shielding you from sans disgusted looks and Papyrus confusion. Imagine not being able to enjoy the complexities of such a gorgeous creation, honestly it was beyond you.

Heathens.

Then again, you guess you were being a little crude in your behavior, weren’t you? Whoops. Sorry, not sorry.

“HUMAN YOU WERE MOST CURENTLY RIGHT! WE SHOULD MAKE MORE CUSISNES TOGETHER SOON! OUR CREATIONS COULD BE LENGENDARY!”

“s’alright, nothin compared to your spaghetti though bro.”

“MAYBE NOT, BUT THAT IS QUITE ALRIGHT! IT IS HARD TO BEAT PERFECTION AFTER ALL! NYEH-HEH-HEH!”

While the banter between the two brothers was cute, your stomach demanded your attention. As soon as you took your first bite you began to realize just how hungry you actually were.

It felt like you hadn’t eaten in years.

Paps was excited to see someone eat so much of the food he helped prepare, sans was amazed you hadn’t choked, but a good joke could fix that.

The rest of the night was spent between bickering, eating and jokes. Although it abruptly ended when you realized how late it was.

“alright paps, time for bed.”

“BUT IT’S NOT ITS ONLY SIX O’CLOCK!”

“paps, that clocks, broken. it’s a waste of time.”

He winked as you and Paps groaned. You decided anytime without sans was time well spent.

“I’ll be headed out then.”

“DO YOU HAVE A WAY HOME HUMAN (Y/N)?”

“I-“

You didn’t have a home, you realized. They two just stared expectantly, waiting for a reply.

Shit.

You’d never found Gaster’s kid, you didn’t have anyone to help you… should you ask to stay? You just got on goodish terms with sans, and you knew he wouldn’t even like the idea. Paps would be ecstatic though. Besides, he asked you to come to their sleepover right? Then maybe-

“course paps, she wouldn’tve taken the pup if she wasn’t nearby.”

Sans cut in coolly, obviously sensing your hesitation. Crap. But what could you say to that? He had a point.

“Uh, yeah! I’m…nearby. I’ll see you guys later.”

You turned and stepped out the door almost tripping on Toby as he weaved between your legs. You forced yourself forward, too late to turn back.

Should you have done that?

Walking off the front porch you could feel a sudden chill in the cool spring air as the light posts emitted a dull glow. The temperature had nothing to do with your sudden unease though. You had a question you didn’t have the answer to.

Where do you go now?

Without a detection in mind, you simply begin to walk.

Since you’d been here it hadn’t crossed your mind that you would need to do more then simply find a civilization. Everything had happened so quickly and eventfully there was no time to think about what would happen afterwards. It only now you realized how uncomfortable you were in general with this whole situation.

You had ben dumped into a new reality without as much as a thought of how absurd this entire condition was. You knew at least a little about monsters in general as a species, but only basic information and even that was iffy at best. You’d yet to meet a human as well in this world. Considering you had only come across monsters it wasn’t hard to believe humans would distance themselves from things that differed from them.

Hugging yourself tightly, you hunched your frame in to try and preserve some type of warmth. Looking up you found yourself in awe as the dark sky revealed thousands upon thousands of sparkling stars. You could make out the moon clearly as well as larger planets much further behind it. Even further you could see clusters of stars packed so tightly you could have sworn you were looking at another galaxy. The air and light pollution here must be nonexistent.

You don’t know how long you had been staring, it could’ve been a few seconds, a few minutes, but the giggling of children reeled you back into reality.

Tearing your eyes away from the scene above you, you took note of two things.

1. Your neck hurt
2. Was that a snake with legs?

You examine the monster in question further and realize you had misinterpreted its appearance. Of course you had, a snake with leg would be ridiculous. It was obviously a small dinosaur without arms. The small dino seemed to be a child playing around the main square. The dinosaur kid was playing around with a few other monsters. One of the group being a large mouse and something you had no idea what it was. A scarf covered almost all of its face and the monster in question was fully clothed. The only reason you knew it was something else is because its eyes peaked out from underneath it clothing.

They children were running around playing tag ducking in between benches and light posts trying to evade each other. It was rather cute. Mindlessly you start walking over towards the group hoping to get some kind of directions. Maybe a hotel? You could work for shelter over the night. A hot shower sounded heavenly right now. You probably smelled like methane gas or something. Stars knows how long you were in the void for.

Before you got too close to the party the dinosaur child had his feet slip up underneath him causing him to fall forward. A normal kid could’ve caught themselves in time but, he had no arms. Wait. He didn’t have any arms!

You sprinted forward in a mad dash to catch his poor armless noodle. At least he was trying to live his best life and not let his condition get the better of him. Going out and making friends and playing.

Your knees hit the pavement and you can feel a bit of skin tear on you kneecaps. That’s going to sting. You slide a bit as you catch the scaly figure in your arms, however you realize he has no arms to grab onto and he falls through your waiting ones.

Well shit.

Instead he plants his head comfortably in your lap face first as your arms just kind of, hang out in front of you.

* Task failed successfully. *

“Um, hey kiddo. You alright?”

He makes a mumbling noise before whipping his head up to look at you from your lap. He beams at you with a wide smile and sparkling eyes. He looked at you as if you were the coolest thing in the world. His forehead had a red spot and there was a large band aid across his freckled nose. This doofus didn’t seem to have a care in the world as he looked up to you practically glowing in excitement.

He almost reminded you of paps but this kid… was a tiny adorable baby and you wanted to squish his little chubby cheeks. You had to restrain yourself from physical crushing this adorable boy in a hug.

Calm down, calm down.

“That was AWESOME!”

He practically yelled at you in his excitement. Like you had just saved him and you were some kind of superhero. He reminded you of a puppy.

You noticed movement out of the corner of your eye you noted his tiny baby tail actually was wagging back and forth as he looked at you.

Be still my poor heart.

“U-uh, it was nothing. You alright?”

“YEAH! Don’t worry, I got a really thick head.”

You restrained the laugh by shutting your mouth tight, but a snort escaped instead.

One of the smaller monsters spoke up in the group gesturing to the child in your lap.

“Um, mom said we had to be back soon MK… but, wanna meet here tomorrow?”

“Yeah! We can finish our game!”

The other two bobbed happily and sprinted off towards the direction you had just come from.

“Okay!”

“Bye!”

He was still in your lap as he waved his friends off with his tail. Maybe it was a coincidence but, they sure left fast once you got here…

“Hey!”

The boy, who you’ve presumed to be MK snaps you out of your stupor. You look to him and help him up as he continues to talk.

“Thanks for catchin me! I fall down a lot… but I’ve been getting better!”

You smile to the cheerful dork, thinking this would be the end of your interactions. Which is a shame because your really wanted to hang out with this little dude.

“No problem, you gonna be okay walking home by yourself?”

“Of course! I’m going to be one of the royal guard one day! I’m super brave!”

He puffs out his chest in an attempt to look bigger. You almost wonder if he’s trying to impress you, since you did rescue him. You can’t help but giggling at his pure hearted childish antics. His face turns a little red while you do.

God he’s too cute.

“I’m sure you’d make an awesome knight.”

He beams wider at that, wagging his tail again. His smile falls when he notices your leg however. You glance down with him to find out it torn your left pant leg by your knee. It was bleeding a bit, but only enough to sting, nothing life threatening.

“You got hurt though…”

He seems to wilt at this and you scramble to find something to say to cheer him up. Inside he surprises you with an overwhelming look of determination.

“I can’t let you go home without making you better, as a future member of the royal guard it’s my duty to protect everybody!’

You’re so relieved he’s not upset now you don’t catch on to what he’s actually saying.

“That so?”

“Yup, come on!”

He grabs the helm of your shirt with his mouth and tugs you forward, beckoning you to come with him. At this point you’re positive you are legally obligated to comply. He releases you once you start walking and darts forward as you trail behind him.

He stops and waits for you to catch up or starts running circles around you occasionally. He’s such a cute kid.

He walks up to a door and before you can help him knock he smashes his skull into the frame a few times.

What the fuck!?

 Did he always do things like this?! This child was an accident waiting to happen and there was no way you could physically allow yourself to let him hurt himself in your presence, intentional or not. You seriously needed to keep a better eye on him. Like a puppy wanting to eat chclate without knowing it’s bad for them.

You had to protect the baby.

Before you can question the boy if he’s hurt (again), the front door opens.

Before your eyes is a large lizard lady, similar to the lizard standing next to you. Her scales were glossy and she had very pretty eyes. Her tail was also much longer and leaner then MK’s. What stood out to you the most though was the apparent genetic trait of armlessness his mother had shared with him.

You only had one question.

How the fuck did she open that door?

“Is this a friend of yours sweetie?”

“Yeah ma! She got hurt helping me, do we have anymore of my special band aids? “

“The power rangers? I think so. Come in you two it’s getting chilly.”

MK ran past his mom and collapsed onto the sofa with a ‘oofhp’ noise. Using his tail and face to sit up waiting expectingly.

You looked up to MK’s mom for permission, but she just gave you a smile as she held the door open for you with her foot. She nodded her head to let you know it was okay.

Were all monsters this nice?

You walked in to find a very homey looking environment. Everything was cozy, the furniture covered in quilts and the walls littered with smiling family photos. You ploped yourself right next to MK as his mother excused herself to go get some of their medical equipment. It was only a scrap though.

“So I never told you, but I’m MK.”

“MK huh? What’s that stand for?”

“Monster kid.”

You had to giggle. Original.

“MK, sounds cooler though. What’s your name?”

“Y/N.”

He giggled to himself.

“That’s a funny name.”

You dramatically mocked disbelief, putting a hand over your chest and recoiling back gasping.

“You wanna give me a better one?”

His face scrunches up in concentration, brightening instantly when he responds.

“Buttercup! Butter for short.”

“Butter? Then I get to call you cream, it’ll special code names.”

He rolls back giggling, kicking his feet slightly. You felt a sense of pride blossom through you making this kiddo happy. What a cute little dork.

You giggle alongside him as his mother returns with his band aids. As many times as your protested that, you were a grown adult who could handle a small scrap, they fell on deaf ears and you lost not only the argument, but your dignity as well.

She used her tail quit skillfully as she cleaned up. The both of them were quite sweet interacting together. She nuzzled MK and sent him off to bed as you were about to get out of their hair, or lack thereof. He practically jumped on top of you in what was supposed to be a hug. So you picked up the little dweb and twirled him around. Plopping him on the ground firmly, he sprinted up the stairs. You heard a bang not shortly after he was out of sight and in response you scrunched up your face. You needed to put a cation sign around his neck.

Turning towards the door MK’s mother spoke up to you suddenly.

“I’ve never quite seen MK so friendly with anyone besides Frisk.”

Frisk? That name was so familiar… where had you heard it…?

“I know we just met, but I need to go on a trip for work in the city. Unfortunately, I cannot bring MK with me and there hasn’t been anyone able to stay here with him… My point is, you seem to get along with MK very well and I was hoping you would consider, house sitting?”

“I…”

This lady had just met you and she wanted you to look after not only her house, but her child as well? Your face must have displayed some of your emotions, mostly you were perplexed.

“I know it is odd to ask this of you, but, we monsters, most of us at least, can decipher the intentions of humans from their soul.”

“Soul?”

“Well yes, the soul is the very combination of your being, your consciousness in other words. Monsters seem to be more attuned to magic, so we possess the ability to see the emotions of emitted by your soul. Somewhat like a broadcast from a radio.”

You suppose that made sense. Maybe sans could tell how hostile you were when you two had first met. It wasn’t the greatest first impression to be honest. At least it’s been cleared up for the most part.

“The emotions you gave off with MK were protective and nurturing, I don’t believe you would ever want to hurt him. Of course, I’d still like to see you watch MK before then to see the dynamic between you two.”

Well, I mean you needed money. And having a place to stay wouldn’t be so bad really.

“I-uh. When?”

“Two days from now MK has a playdate here, if you can watch those two munchkins without too much trouble the following day I leave for the city for the next week.”

Honestly, this was great! You’d have to hold out for two days but this could definitely work. You’re definitely sure she could feel your excitement with what MK’s mom had told you about souls and broadcasting. She smiled gently at you.

“Yeah! I mean, yes. Should I show up in the morning Mrs.-?”

“Call me Lilith dear. Nine works just fine with me. I’ll let MK know in the morning, I’m sure he’ll be excited.”

You step out the door and call back ecstatically.

“Thank you so much Mrs. Lilith. Have a good night.”

You could hear a cheery ‘you too’ as you shut the door. Releasing the doorknob you released the breath you didn’t even know you were holding.  Excitedly tiptoeing on the doorstep of your current employer. It wasn’t permeant, but it was a whole hell of a lot better then nothing. You were giggling like an idiot as you hopped down the steps only to find-

Toby.

His eyes look up to meet yours holding malicious intent.

“And where have you been you little shit?”

Your voice holds no real threat, but you attempt to be fake mad at the pup for taking off down the street blindly.

Without another word he bolts off again in another random direction, this time you won’t lose him.

“Come back here right now Toby!”

Did you own this dog or did he own you?

You were running out of breath, but every time you did he would slow down just enough for you to catch up, then take off again. At this point you were fueled only by spite to catch this mutt. You’d lock him up as he watched you eat bacon in front of him. Or maybe some pizza? Seafood sounded pretty good in theory, but after running so much you couldn’t stomach the idea of eating it right now.

How could you be hungry again? You just ate like, a fourth of a lasagna an hour ago.

Toby had ran off into the edge of the forest and it was getting fairly hard to see, you’d almost considered turning back and heading into town but… How would paps react if you told him you’d lost the pup? I mean he himself had said Tobs was prone to leaving for days on end and then just, showing up. But, to leave him in the middle of the night in the woods? You’re not sure your consciousness could handle knowing you did that.

But you were so tired…

You steady jog turned into a shuffle as you trudged forward behind the chipper dog.

“When you give up let me know.”

He only yapped in reply to you plea. He began just to walk slightly ahead of you, far enough you couldn’t make a mad dash, but close enough you wouldn’t lose him either.

Could dogs be sadistic?

In the distance you saw a small cabin, and the closer you got to the cabin the more convinced you were this was the destination Toby was going to.

You wondered. Did he have owners? Or was this an abandon house?

Before you knew it he was off again, sprinting to the little doggie door in the log cabins door.

You followed blindly behind, too tired to really process anything. You just wanted somewhere to sleep.

The Cabin itself was otherworldly in lack of other words. It was surrounded by glowing mushrooms and flowers of different shapes and sizes. Purples and blues took root around the cabin repealing the darkness with faint light they projected. They air was filled with fireflies as the trees parted in the clearing the house stood on. The moonlight flooded down from the sky above and you could hear the symphony of crickets as you made your way to the door.

You were almost confident you were dreaming right now, but, you could feel each grain in the wood from the door in front of you.

Squatting down you poked your head in through the doggy door Toby had bolted through only to have him staring back right in your face. He greeted you with a long-wet lick across your face.

Gross.

Turning tail he gunned it for what looked to be the living room, lifting up his leg-

“Toby!”

You whisper yelled. He stopped and turned back to you.

“Get back here right now!”

He put his leg down, but took off into one of the open rooms. You could hear something shatter.

“I’m gonna kick your ass when I get my hands on you!”

Your head popped out of the doggie door as you made your way to the living room window. Trying to pry it open, but only managing to get it up by about a foot and a half. Squeezing yourself through you feel ungracefully and quite loudly on the floor. You’d make a horrible spy.

You checked you surroundings in the living room to find the coast clear. Now, to get your dumb dog before you were charged with breaking and entering.

“Toby!”

You continued to whisper yelled as you follow the trail of dirty paw prints into the master bedroom.

Lying on the queen sized bed you found the mutt sprawled out on the bed. Lady luck was on your side tonight though, it seemed there was no one home. The bed was empty expect for one rotten pooch.

You were totally gonna chew him out of the way home.

“Come on, we’re gonna be in so much trouble if we get caught here.”

And he just looked at you, blinked, then rolled over facing away from you.

Unbelievable.

Marching up to the bed you snatched him up under your arm and made your way back out to the Livingroom.

“Honestly, is this what you do all day? Break into random houses?”

He was wiggling and yapping under your grip, trying to squirm his way out of your hold.

“No! We’re not doing this again!”

But just like a cat, his bones disappeared, and he popped out of your arms like an oiled baby.

“FUCK.”

He ran to the opposite side of the couch and crouched down, waiting for you to make a move. You charged left, he ran around to the right. You swung left, he bolted right. So you jumped across the sofa. He wasn’t expecting that, but neither was the fire mantle when you hit it head first. Knocking a few things down in the collision.

“Ow.”

Maybe MK wasn’t the only one who needed that cation sign. Holding the pup under your arm, you use your other hand to cradle you poor throbbing skull. Opening your eyes to see scattered mementos across the floor that were disturbed by yours truly.

You’d have to put everything back, you had no idea what order they’d been in before but you were praying the resident here didn’t notice. Reaching out you pick up one of the frame that fell and stand up, dog still under your arm, but surprisingly silent.

About damn time he settled down. If it wasn’t for those cute puppy eyes he’d be mince meat. You looked down at the frame you’d picked up hoping there was no damage, but as you checked the glass your heart stopped beating.

You stood in shock as you held the photo in front of you. It was a group photo of friends, maybe family? They seemed close, smiling and laughing. There was a fish lady, a small lizard similar to MK, but with arms this time. An older looking goat maybe? Those people didn’t quite stand out to you.

However, paps was in this picture with sans standing below him. The entire group was huddled around a small child. A figure hugging the child in question smiling brightly at the camera drews your focus. A ripple of fear soaks into your bones.

That was you.