Chapter Text
*...
*that expression that you're wearing...
*...
*you're really kind of a freak, huh?
*how many times have we fought in this hallway?
*i've lost track.
*that distant look in your eyes...
*you're just going through the motions, too.
*blast, slash, dodge, repeat...
*it's getting a little old, isn't it?
*...
*what if I did something different?
...
... ...
... ... ...
My senses were dim and distant as I slowly regained consciousness.
Resets always made me feel weirdly detached from reality.
Dissociated.
I wonder if anyone else feels that or if it's just me.
...
It's too bright through my eyelids.
Did Pap turn the light on to try to get me up?
That's not entirely unusual but not for the first day of a new reset.
Weird.
...
I don't wanna get up.
I'm tired of watching him be so excited, only to be disappointed by that "human".
I'm tired of watching him die, helpless to stop it.
I'm tired of breathing in the dust as they shamble through the Underground.
...
Papyrus expects me to get up, though.
I groaned as I tried to open my eyes but my eyelids felt so heavy.
Everything felt heavy.
Sure, I was always exhausted but this was worse than normal after a reset.
Come on, eyelids, it's time to be awake now.
I groaned again as I expended way too much energy just to open my eyes, only to find my vision blurry at best.
Someone was next to me; I could barely make out a white skull and red scarf.
Papyrus.
He must've gotten worried when I didn't come down.
He's saying something but it's muffled, like he's a mile away.
I need to wake up.
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath, holding it while I willed my senses to focus on the present. Which also happened to bring a headache to my attention. That's unfortunate.
I forced my eyes open with a drawn-out grunt. There was Pap's worried face, alright, to my... left? The wall was supposed to be to my left, how was Pap on my left? Am I not in my bed? Where am I?
"Pap?" Was that my voice? God, I sound awful.
"Oh good, you're awake," he said softly. "I was beginning to worry."
Since when could Papyrus speak softly?!
I blinked a few more times in confusion before looking around. I was in the front room, on the couch, covered in a red blanket. That's not normal. I was in bed for the reset, I know I was, I've always woken up in my bed, why am I on the couch?!
"Easy there, buddy," Papyrus tried to sooth, placing a hand on my chest. Oh yeah, I'm hyperventilating now, by the way. "You were out for a while, don't strain yourself too much yet. No one is going to hurt you, I promise."
The calming tone would be nice if it was coming from literally anyone but Papyrus! It just sounded so weird coming from him and it made me uncomfortable.
"Pap, w-what's going on?" I croaked. My throat hurt so bad. "Why am I here, what happened?"
"We found you half frozen on our doorstep," Papyrus said, holding up his red gloved hands in front of his chest placatingly. "You were in pretty rough shape."
He was wearing a white shirt with black sleeves.
Where the fuck is his Battle Body?!
The door suddenly opened with a bang and I was flung across the room, held up by magic somewhere over the stairs. This was not helping my panic attack.
"Papyrus, put me down!" I yelled, flailing against the magic, even though I knew it wouldn't do much. "This is not a good time for japes!"
"I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean to st-tartle you!" Alphys cried, standing next to Papyrus. What was she even doing here?!
"I swear to god, bro, if you do not put me down you're gonna have a bad time!" Fear suddenly turned to aggression as I heard the distinct sound of a Gaster Blaster forming. Shoot, I didn't mean to do that. I heard the sound a few more times and found myself staring at the glowing maw of several blasters directed at me. Meaning they weren't mine.
Meaning Papyrus had summoned them.
How was that possible?! Sure, he had the capacity for it but he didn't know he could, he didn't even know I could! I was so careful!
"Put me down!" I cried again. How did this escalate so fast?!
”I’m not holding you,” Papyrus said, exasperated. “You’re flying on your own.”
"What are you talking about, I can't fly!" I shot back.
"P-Pap, please put the b-blasters away!” Alphys was pulling on Papyrus’s raised arm. “Th-that's not helping!"
Didn't he promise nobody was gonna hurt me? I was about to say as much when I suddenly caught something red out of the corner of my eye and my head snapped over to it to find... a red wing? And it was attached to me?!
"Wha-!" I suddenly dropped out of the sky with a yelp, tumbled down the stairs, instinctively found my footing, and bolted for the closet under the stairs to finish my panic attack, back pressed against the door as I gasped for breath I technically didn't need. I let it happen, trying to focus on my too quick breaths rather than whatever the hell was going on outside; I could think about it later. Right now, just breathe.
Deep breaths, Sans.
That's it.
Slow it down.
Nice and easy.
I was still panting but at least it was better than before.
Progress.
I could finally register what was in front of me. It was brighter than I expected the closet to be. Roomier, too. And… tiled?
Looking around, a sink was in front of where I was sitting, with a washer/dryer stack thing on the opposite wall next to a closed door. To my right was an open door, with a toilet and I could barely see the corner of a bathtub. Both doors were the same fold-in-half style as the one behind me. Since when did we have a full bathroom down here? Even the door to the laundry room part should’ve been mildly hidden. I stood somewhat shakily, leaning against the wall and holding onto the sink for support as I continued to breath heavily. I looked at myself in the mirror. Yup, I definitely had big, red, glowing wings attached to my back…
… And my bare ribs on full display.
I’ve been naked this whole time.
Ignoring the embarrassed blue heat on my face, I opened the dryer, thankfully finding my clothes inside, nice and warm. Black shorts on, white shirt on, oh wait, what about my about the wings? They don't feel restricted and, looking back at them, they're free as a bird. Heh. But how? I hadn't consciously made holes to accommodate them and I'm pretty sure I would've needed to at least think about the clothing magic to make a change like that. I grabbed my hoodie and turned back to the mirror, watching closely as I threw it on.
The wings fizzled out of existence for a split second before coalescing again outside of the cloth. Now that I was looking for it, I could feel the rush of the magic as it flowed back into my soul and out again, like taking a deep breath.
Convenient.
But god it felt weird.
So it looks like these wings are connected directly to my soul. Uncomfortable thought but ok. How did this happen? I definitely didn't have them before so what changed-?
Memories of my last fight with the human rushed back to me. We were in the Final Corridor, the Judgement Hall, when I killed them again, but they were right next to me this time so I reached for their soul as it shattered. Time and space had already begun to warp around me so I must've interrupted the Load sequence part way through but does that mean... I really absorbed it? Do I have a piece of that genocidal child in the very core of my being?!
I don't wanna look.
But I have to be sure.
I hesitated, shaky hand over my sternum. What will this mean for me if it's true? Do I have their LV? Their ExP? Their Determination? Control is supposed to be split, isn't it? That's what the Flower said. Back when he was Asriel and absorbed the first human's soul. I don't hear a voice in my head or anything. Maybe I don't have it? But the wings, where else could they have come from?
No. Stop, Sans. You're spiraling. You won't know until you check, right? So stop stalling and *CHECK.
My soul formed in my cupped hands, floating barely an inch away from my chest. The inverted heart was as bright blue as ever, with the Judge's Star attached to it, as always.
What caught my eye was deep red stain in the center.
The image of a blue heart with a bloodred teardrop burned into my sight as everything else went black.