Chapter Text
Chapter 1
“Uhm. Hello? Who the fuck are you?” You squinted your eyes. “Wait… Sans, right?”
This weird skeleton monster, which popped in the middle of your living room while you were watching TV in your apartment, looked mildly bashful but unapologetic. “Oops! Sorry, just wanted to drop by this universe! Didn't know I'll be trespassing, hehe.” He was clad in… too much brown, definitely not in the jacket and shorts you know of.
“Who are you, again?” You blinked. “What did you say?” Did you hear that right?
“I’m—Well, honestly, not that important, I’m never gonna see you again—” He paused. “Wait, is that Season 3 of My Husband is a Mafia Boss?”
“…Yes?”
The skeleton scratched the back of his skull before deciding upon himself to make you scoot over from the couch and sit down. “I haven’t caught up, yet! The last season ended in a cliffhanger.”
You honestly don’t give a lot of fucks, but you were looking forward to your alone time for tonight so his appearance was frankly, not appreciated.
“Ehem, Sans…”
“Call me Ink!” he chirped happily, already tuned in to the TV and eating your chips.
“Okay, Ink. Why are you in my home? Without permission?” You tried not to be too judgy as you looked him up and down. “And do you just go barefoot anywhere?”
“SHUSHH!” He shushed you, almost covering your mouth, like you had the audacity to disturb him over this.
Well, he doesn’t seem dangerous. Monsters were never a danger here in your hometown.
It’s been a few years since the barrier broke. They’ve been integrating well and everything was peaceful. You’ve met Sans once; your company had required its employees to attend one of the monster’s Welcome Parties in the middle of town. He had cracked some jokes when he saw you stuffing your mouth with cinnamon-butterscotch pie, made by one of the monsters.
Apparently, none of the humans have yet to touch monster food; you were the first one.
And then, that was it. You haven’t really bumped into him again and you were sure he hadn’t remembered you. But your first interaction with a monster left quite an impression on you so you thought of it fondly.
Something else happened that overlapped with the freedom of monsterkind. Some of the humans suddenly gained magic. Yours haven’t developed yet, but they said it could pop out randomly when you need it the most.
Honestly, do you really want superpowers right now? Your life was fairly simple and you had been accustomed to living alone.
There was a quick commercial break which you took as a chance to bombard Ink.
“So, how did you get in my apartment?”
“I teleported in,” he said in a duh tone. “Just let me finish the episode and I’ll go on my merry way. You’ll let me stay; you’re a Kindness soul. That’s like, your whole deal.”
You tried not to make a face. What does that mean, you were a Kindness soul? That doesn’t give him the right to just barge in and make himself at home.
Fortunately for you, Ink did leave after finishing the episode. He didn’t say goodbye or acknowledge you, just blipped out of existence. And puked some black, inky substance that was a hell to clean up. Which was… irksome. You usually don’t insult monsters but this was the first time you encountered one who irritated you and you hoped never to see him again.
Thankfully, you had the pleasure of not meeting him again.
But you did meet someone else who literally started the downward spiral that you called your life.
Months have passed since that incident. You’ve actually met Sans again at another company event and he remembered you briefly. You asked him if he could teleport. He seemed a bit miffed by your knowledge but said yes. You then asked him if he knew an Ink and he said no.
Well, that was the end of your research.
Both of you looked weirded out and decided to avoid each other for the rest of the event.
One night, you got home late because of overtime at work. You felt the tiredness in your bones and just wanted to scurry into your warm, comfy bed and doomscroll. Once you had arrived at your apartment, you switched on the lights…
…Only to find you weren’t alone.
You saw only the feet at first. They were bigger than you thought, and you didn’t even think those were feet upon first glance. Then the rest of the body.
It was another one of those skeleton monsters. Why did Sans say he and Papyrus were the only skeleton monsters when they keep popping up in your apartment?
He seemed to be asleep; loud snores came from the monster as his chest heaved up and down.
Your eyes were drawn to your kitchen. He had apparently raided all of your food as trash was strewn everywhere. You could see your leftover pizza box from last night already empty!
You could feel frustration once again bubble up inside of you as another trespasser dared to be entitled to your own home.
You were about to give him a piece of your mind when you suddenly saw the large gaping hole in his head. Shit, is he dead?!
You dropped to your knees, your hands immediately hovering over the hole as you tried to apply what you’ve been learning in Magic Training Class. You’ve only done a few sessions; you applied as soon as you realized you could heal yourself when you had cut your finger on accident once.
You weren’t a pro yet… you were considered an apprentice. But surely, you can try to give him basic first aid, or magic aid, right? You were not letting a monster dust in your home; that was your worst fear.
Your hands glowed green, trying to focus on your magic that was still unstable for usage, especially for you. Nonetheless, you had to try.
The skeleton chuckled, slow and deep. “hehe, i don’t think the most powerful mage can even… close that hole, human.”
You shrieked in surprise, dragging yourself back as the skeleton sat up. He was even bigger when he wasn’t lying down. “You scared the bejeezus out of me!” You paused. “…What do you mean, the hole is permanent?”
You shook your head, remembering that this was a trespasser. “How the hell did you get in my apartment? What do you want?”
The skeleton stood up, popping his back. “erm… i was just supposed to get intel on why… wait, why am i explaining to you?”
“This is my apartment. I deserve an explanation!”
You were sure monsters weren’t supposed to be… murder-y. But this one certainly does. He casually swung an axe over his shoulder, an axe that just appeared on sight and you froze in your position on the floor.
“seen a skeleton with a paintbrush ‘round here?”
Your brows furrowed. “Was that your friend? Could you tell him his puke is still stuck to my carpet and he needs to pay for cleani—”
The skeleton tilted his head, his grin growing taut. Your words died in your throat. Even amalgamates looked friendlier than him!
“he was here,” he muttered. “th’ boss would be happy to hear confirmation.”
You tried to find strength in your voice because there was no way in hell that you were going to let this monster leave just like that when you just finished grocery shopping a day ago. You don’t have a lot of money to spare! “H-hey, are you just gonna leave? After raiding my kitchen? You can’t just—”
He tsk-ed and in the next moment, he had swung his axe towards you, probably in an attempt to shut you up.
You screamed, immediately putting your hands up in defense and squeezing your eyes shut.
…
Was it done?
Were you bleeding on your apartment floor and killed by a monster with a soul made of love, hope, and compassion?
You peeked open one eye, only to find the skeleton a bit more annoyed now since you had just produced a green, translucent shield and the axe had hit the middle of it. He growled, surely about to pull out the axe and swing again but then his axe… disappeared. Poof. Gone. Nada.
You were more surprised with the shield actually, since you have never once been able to conjure one. It was discussed that it could be a possibility, given you were a Kindness soul, and it was one of the options you may have, depending on your magic.
“where’s my axe?” The monster grumbled, his eyelight distressingly focused on you.
“Why are you asking me? I thought you poofed it away?” Your voice was small. He seemed so angry about it that maybe he hadn’t poofed it away.
You could see he was trying to summon it but nothing was coming out. He glowered at you. “you have it. give it back.”
“Look, y’see, maybe I have it, maybe I don’t. I don’t know yet! I’m still developing my magical abilities and I don’t know if I have the power to make a giant killing axe disappear— Hey, calm down!”
You could see him getting ready to charge at you, and you were sure your shield might not be able to protect you much. But it did appease you a bit since you have conjured another one at the height of your fear. “I’ll try to take it out. If I ever manage to figure it out. But I’m not yet well versed in magic & I might have to call someone—”
You tried to hide behind your couch when he started to walk towards you. “Stop doing that! Don’t kill me! Or your axe might be gone forever!”
This made him pause and think. “…i don’t have time for this.”
You let out a shrill shriek, grabbing the nearest item you could find -a remote - and chucked it at him. It bounced off him as he blinked at you.
There was an awkward pause.
“you do zero damage.”
You took personal offense to that. “What?! Is it because I’m a healer? That’s so messed up. Healers can have a bit of offense and defense; I’ve seen it in films and games!”
He shook his head. “you don’t have the intent.”
“Oh.”
He started going after you again, but he seemed more… calm this time? Less murder-y? You still, of course, tried to evade him with your heart pounding in your throat.
“Stop chasing me and get out of my apartment! Or I’ll call the police! Or the Mages Association!”
All your running was futile because, first of all, you were already tired. Second of all, you don’t work out. Thirdly, he looked to have infinitely more energy than you. He had scooped you up on his arms like you weighed nothing and then slung you over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
Your stomach hurt at the impact but you were too busy trying to wriggle out of his iron grip. You could barely move an inch and hitting his wide back with your fists wasn’t doing much.
You were being kidnapped! By a fucking monster!!
“Where the hell are you taking me?! Put me down—mffggfg!” Your mouth suddenly closed on its own and you couldn’t take control of it.
“sorry, human. i'll take you… to my boss. he'll get my axe back.” He turned slightly towards you. “if you don’t want to break a bone or two, i suggest you don’t move.”
He exited to the main street, your vision swimming a little bit due to being upside down. Unfortunately for you, there were no other humans around.
Two pairs of feet suddenly came up into view and you had a rush of hope, trying your hardest to signal for help.
“whoa there, buddy. i didn’t know you were the type to be interested in humans, horror.” Is Horror his actual name?!
“they took my axe.”
“what? how'd they do that?”
You stopped struggling. Oh gods, there were three of them! One of them bent upside down to face you, and you were… mildly unsurprised when another skeleton monster came into view. Black streaks of… tears? Were falling from his empty sockets.
“aw, i think the human is a bit tongue-tied,” he mused.
You glared at him.
He giggled. “i think they’re mad, horror. you wanna play, human?”
“don’t touch the human,” Horror hissed. “if you break a bone and my axe is gone, i'm gonna dust you myself.”
“i thought boss said we can’t have any more human playthings!” The tear-streak skeleton pouted.
“why do you even want a human pet when they’re so easy to get everywhere? it's a mess to clean up.” The third of them finally spoke and came into view. And gee golly, another skeleton! He looked a bit similar to the second one, but he had his hood up, obscuring most of his face. Red eyelights bore onto you.
“i know. that’s why we stopped, remember? also they get so boring too fast, always trying to escape.”
Just hearing their conversation was enough for you to shut your eyes and think this is a dream, this is a dream, thisisadreamthisisadream
You were absolutely gonna fucking die if you let them take you to a second location.
You struggled even harder, panic in your bloodstream as your fear took on a new height. You tried to will your magic to do something. Anything.
“they’re shaking like a worm,” the tear-streak monster said.
“killer… you scared them,” Horror pointed out, unamused.
Killer shrugged playfully, subtly waving his knife around. Knife?! Oh my god, you were gonna die. This was your last day.
You were not aware you were doing it but you had managed to form a shield around yourself, expanding it a little for you to slip out of Horror’s hands and onto the cement. You dropped with an oof, feeling scrapes on your palm and knees as it took most of the fall.
You tried to stand up and run, only to fail miserably when a foot painfully stepped on your back, pushing you back down on the ground. Your jaw was still locked, unable to scream for help.
“tsk tsk, pal. you have my buddy’s axe. you don’t think we’re just gonna let you run away with it, right?” Killer taunted you from above you, his knife gleaming at your peripheral vision.
He was pushed off, surprisingly, by Horror. “hands. off.” He picked you up once again, this time just carrying you like a suitcase, under his arm. “i don’t know if they can get my axe back if they’re damaged.”
Killer sighed a bit too dramatically. “you’re bein’ too careful. humans don’t break that easily!”
“yes, they do,” the third skeleton said.
“you should know when to take my side, dusty,” Killer cooed.
Dusty?
They have horrible cringe-ass names.
‘Dusty’ rolled his eyelights. “let’s just go. i’m done with this.” He laid one hand on Horror’s back and then the world lurched.
You passed out.