Chapter Text
“SANS!” The dragon heard a loud screech in his ears, one that sounded like a pained call from a bird. Someone grabbed his arm, struggling to pull him up.
He felt so lightheaded. The word he dreaded filled his head; she had finally used it. She made him lose control, made him dread the small smile he gave his brother before he was forced to fight him. He felt disgusted in his own skin, pain driving him to follow the path to sleep.
His eyes blinked slowly, his body dangling off an edge. The word kept echoing in his mind; Enchain. Enchain. Enchain.
Whenever she said those words it felt like chains wrapping around his wrists and legs, strings only a puppeteer could play.
His eyes found his gem. The purple astra gem was embedded in his wrist, pulsing weakly. It was shattered, almost broken and jabbing into his skin.
“Sans– Sans. Look at me.” A stressed voice came from above, a red feather floating down beside him. His broken purple eyes found a blurry figure above him, wearing a spinning crown just like his but it wasn't silver.
“Sans.. C'mon.” A cold piece of metal wrapped around his wrist, a glowing yellow light filling his vision.
A chuckle from someone else.
Behind.
“Enchain. Force him to let you go.”
Sans immediately let go of the hand holding him, a cry leaving the person from above. “Sans.. Sans–” he heard a noise of someone grabbing the person holding him and the golden chains loosened, Sans letting out a scared cry.
He thought about deaths like this for a long time. Never actually went through with it.
And now..
He was going to die.
“SANS–” his brother cried as he disappeared from the ledge. The golden chain was the only thing holding the dragon up now and he could feel it loosening.
If he didn't have this dreaded armour on, these heavy chains draped on his wings and shoulders maybe he could pull himself up. Follow the light.
The chain slipped.
He went into darkness instead.
_-+-_
He felt like he was floating.
Floating.
In a dream?
Was this a dream?
…
He wasn't breathing.
His heart wasn't beating.
…
It was cold.
Was it supposed to be this cold?
…
A warmth grew in his chest.
His eyes were closed but it felt like his vision was glowing gold.
Awareness was coming back to his mind.
His heart started up again, his lungs heaving as if they were trying to work underwater.
Sans opened his eyes only to see a void with swirling gold around him. Pain cascaded over his skin and wings as his nerves jumpstarted. He cried, even though the void muffled all sound into a deafening silence.
Stormz..? Where was he..
Q..? The binding contracts and chains were faded but still there. He could feel the weight lingering on his chest and shoulders. His wings still felt heavy.
_-+-_
An explosion filled his ears, the dragon feeling a warmth from his blood flowing through his veins. He fell flat on the ground, an oof escaping his mouth.
He groaned, his eyes opening slowly to a blurry world of green. It wasn't dark and cold anymore.
A hand tapped his shoulders.
Sans flipped, quickly scrambling away.
Q.. Q..
The word.
The word.
Enchain.
He dragged himself away, his vision blurring, going black on the edges. Heaviness made it hard to get away from whoever was there.
He couldn't tell who was there. His eyes were glazed and had trouble focusing. He heard muffled voices which scared him.
He fell off the cliff. He died. Or he thought he died. Maybe he was still alive with the agony he felt over his body. He whined as he tried to drag himself away, only to feel hands keep him in place.
“Breathe..” Sans heard in his ears, though he didn't know who was talking. His mind buzzed, his eardrums ringing. He whined in the phantom pains spasming through his body, his eyes welled up with tears.
“W–” Sans stuttered, the letter escaping his mouth immediately sending pain down his throat.
Q said no more talking.
His heavy chained wings flattened against his back. His eyes caught another figure and he flipped, realizing someone was holding him. He thrashed, his wings struggling to open. If only he didn't have these cursed chains–
“Breathe.” The being holding him down ordered in a strong tone. Sans stopped moving at that, his eyes slightly wide in surprise.
It didn't sound like Q..
He took a few minutes to calm his breathing, his wide eyes focusing on the massive cherry blossom trees around him. The grass was soft, sun rays blinding him.
The hands holding him loosened then let go, completely disappearing out of view soon after. He heard muffled talking a few feet away, but couldn't get himself to stand right now. The pain all over his body made him cry.
A small shadow with slightly heavier footsteps loomed over him. Sans’ unfocused eyes noticed something blurry hanging from their ears though.
“Hey.. hear..?” Sans muffled ears caught a few words but he assumed the person was asking if he could hear them. He nodded, grateful for the person blocking the bright sun out of his face.
“Okay..” Sans noticed the horn, the one singular horn this person had. The other looked to be destroyed or mostly gone.
“..help..” the second shadow stood up behind the smaller one, much more tall and strong Sans could tell from their stance. Sans nodded slowly, another wave of phantom pains made him twitch. The smaller shadow moved to pick him up, Sans immediately screeching in pain as if he'd be shocked.
The smaller shadow lowered him to the ground, the taller one saying something to the other. The shadow with the one horn pressed their hand to their ear, a faint yellow glow illuminating their face. “..fine.” he heard him say.
The two talked a bit before the taller one picked him up. Tears slipped down Sans’ face but it wasn't as painful as before. He rested his head on their shoulder, Sans’ vision blurring then darkening.
“..open.” the shadow with white eyes shook him lightly when his eyes began to close. He tried his best, but his adrenaline from the pain was fading and he felt exhausted.
So he passed out in their arms.
—
When Sans’ awareness came back, he felt a comfortable cushion underneath him. His hand grazed it lightly before his eyes opened, his half closed eyes blinking slowly and examining the room around him.
It was a nice room, a living room of sorts, the dragon laying on the couch near a warm fire. A few trinkets of all sorts of different colours sat on top of the mantel, the walls a light shade of teal. Sans turned to look over his shoulder, finding a kitchen on the backside of the couch.
A familiar fallen angel was moving around inside, opening up cupboards and grabbing items. A smaller demon hybrid sat at the kitchen island, his tail swaying off the side of his seat. Sans noticed him turn and catch his gaze, the demon hopping quickly out of his seat and moved to sit down in front of him on the floor.
His phantom pains were faint and barely noticeable, until he placed his hand on Sans’. Then it skyrocketed, Sans groaning then pulling away.
“Sorry.. I don't–” the demon hybrid fiddled with his golden dangling earrings. “I'm Galaxy.” He moved his hand to his chest, a small smile on his face. Sans moved to talk but it felt like there was a chain restricting his vocal cords from doing so. The best he could do was make random noises.
Galaxy waited, as if expecting him to talk. When he realized Sans wasn't going to say anything, his smile faltered a bit. “Well.. I'm sure your wondering where we are.” Galaxy’s tail thrummed against the ground happily.
“Here.” A small notebook came from above and landed just in front of Sans; Stormz walked away afterwards. Sans wanted to say hi to his brother, to apologize for everything he put him and his friends through, to give him another hug. A big one.
But he couldn't speak. He felt like words on paper wouldn't do it justice.
Sans flipped the small notepad to the first page, taking the pen and writing “How” as his first word. “How you got here?” Galaxy asked. Something sizzling from the kitchen made Sans’ mouth water while he nodded.
“Uhm…” Galaxy rubbed his arm. “That's.. complicated.” He found Sans’ full eyes and sighed. He whispered, “My.. broken revival eye kinda malfunctioned. I revived you, but don't tell anyone that okay? Nobody else knows except.. my trainer right now.”
Sans tilted his head, writing down: “Revival eye??” in confusion.
“Later okay? I'll explain more later, I promise.” Galaxy cleared his throat. Sans moved to push himself up off the couch into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes.
“Careful..” Galaxy moved to steady him but pulled back.
Sans stretched his wings the best he could with the chains, draping them along the back of the couch as he leaned into the cushion once again. He wrote, “Where??” with a few question marks. He knew his way around Bliss, and never in his life did he ever see this place.
“This is the Tower. In the City of Life! This is where the higher members live though.” He answered, tapping his knee.
Sans watched Galaxy open his mouth to say something else but it was cut off by a door opening. Sans turned his attention to it, noticing someone, a voidling to be in fact, in the same exact building as he was. His eyes were a brilliant white, wearing combat clothes and boots along with three swords strapped to his hips.
Sans felt the air leave his lungs, almost falling off the couch.
It was Mugm.