Hello everyone! Cazuki here with a new story, this time based in the Undertale universe! Just a quick disclaimer. None of these characters are my creation and are copyright of Toby Fox. Anyway, see you at the bottom of the page.
welp, i guess that's it. Sans thought as he stared up at the ceiling, sitting on the large leather couch. He'd slept in more comfortable places, but it couldn't exactly be helped. Today was a special day after all.
Today, all the monsters of the Underground had been freed, and by a kid no less. That kid, Frisk, was currently leaning on Sans' right shoulder, their head snuggled into Sans' blue jacket, fast asleep. Three days ago, Frisk had dropped into the Underground from the top of Mount Ebott. During those three short days they'd been in the Underground, Frisk'd been nothing but friendly to every single monster they'd met. Sans still found it amazing that not a single monster was killed, even though the kid knew that they could've easily defeated them if they so wished.
On the third day, Frisk came to the end of their journey; at Asgore's throne room. While everyone else, especially Papyrus, was worried sick that the two really would fight, Sans himself hadn't been concerned. After all, he reasoned, both of them were too fluffy and too kind to actually fight to the death. Nevertheless, when Papyrus called everyone in to stop the fight, Sans had come without comment. Though it wasn't like he could do much to stop them anyway. Sans was a gifted teleporter, but apart from that, his magic and physical abilities were severely lacking. He could barely even lift a bone, unlike his brother, who constantly berated him for his lack of training.
It wasn't like it mattered now anyway. Everyone was alive, and they were all huddled up for their first night on the surface.
Before leaving the Underground, Asgore issued a proclamation that all the monsters were finally free and that they should pack for a grand migration onto the surface the next morning. Meanwhile, Asgore, Toriel, Frisk, Undyne, Alphys, Papyrus and Sans had all gone to the surface as a sort of scouting party. Papyrus had been the one to find the old house on the side of Mount Ebott. It was unknown who had lived in the house before, but it was clear that it had been abandoned for quite some time, considering the amount of dust everywhere. Sans hadn't cared. He'd slept in weirder places and at the time he was practically dead on his feet.
Now it was way past nightfall and everyone was gathered in the living room of the house. Toriel and Asgore slept on huge armchairs on opposite sides of the room, their heads drooping forward as they dozed. Papyrus laid on the couch, using Sans' thigh bones as a pillow. He was curled into the blanket draped on top of him, snoring lightly. Alphys and Undyne sat in front of the couch, snuggled into one another, breathing silently with big goofy smiles.
Sans observed their peaceful, happy faces and sighed. A part of him felt jealous that he'd played no real part in everyone attaining their happy ending. All he'd done was protect the kid a few times when Papyrus had first met them and keep tabs on them from a distance. The greater part of him, though, decided that that was for the best; Sans had never been the 'hero' type anyway.
Sans sighed again, long and contentedly. Tomorrow was going to be loud and chaotic and he probably wasn't going to get any sleep. He let his eyes droop with familiar drowsiness. Yeah, he could imagine how stressed everyone would get as they helped move stuff out of the Underground. He closed his eyes. It was going to be really fun.
At peace, Sans quietly fell asleep.
Sans opened his eyes a few seconds later. He woke up staring at the ceiling. For an extended moment, Sans just basked in the small pleasure that was the moments after waking up from a truly restful sleep. Sans sighed, the corners of his mouth upturned slightly as he continued looking up at the ceiling. Images idly flickered through his mind, fuzzy and indistinct, but warm. He must have had a pretty good dream.
Later, Sans heard thudding to his right. He didn't move or respond as a knock sounded from the same place. By now, they were both so used to this morning routine that it seemed blasphemous to even think of altering it.
"BROTHER!" Papyrus called from the other side of the door. "GET UP, LAZYBONES! A HUMAN WON'T CAPTURE THEMSELVES, YOU KNOW!"
Sans smiled. Yep, definitely the same Pap he knew and loved. Sans got ready to respond with a well-timed pun, which would make his brother scream in fake agony and run down the stairs. However, before he could speak, more images appeared in his mind. They were still indistinct, but with each flash they became clearer and more... A painful sting punctured Sans' skull and he grunted loudly. Sadly, it was loud enough for Papyrus to hear.
"SANS? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Papyrus' voice began to leak concern.
Sans frowned. He hated when he made his brother sound like that. "heh, yeah, i'm alright pap. in fact, i'm feeling particularly humerus today."
There was a loud, over-exaggerated groan from the other side of the door. "ARRRGH! SANS, WHEN WILL YOU LEARN THAT WAKING UP WITH PUNS IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH?!"
"but it's not bad for my health bro."
"NO, BUT IT'S BAD FOR MINE!" More thudding followed and Sans chuckled. Papyrus liked to think he was above jokes, but he made them just as terribly as Sans did. Sans rolled over to sit upright on his bed. He looked out over his bedroom, absent-mindedly glossing-over the abandoned socks and scattered joke books. Outside the window, snow lined the streets and houses of Snowdin.
As Sans got up to leave, the images from before flashed in his mind again. This time, they were clear enough for Sans to recognize a fuzzy image of Papyrus. Papyrus looked happy, even more than normal, which Sans thought almost impossible. The image quickly disappeared and Sans' skull throbbed with another painful sting. Sans put his hand to his head, trying to nurse the pain. Had he been drinking last night? He remembered going to Grillby's, but he'd only drunk 1 bottle of ketchup; way below his limit. Sans sighed, rubbing his right temple. He must have slept weirdly?
Sans continued on, walking downstairs to see Papyrus dressed in his usual 'battle body' and bright red scarf. Papyrus was particularly excited today, his body quivering slightly in his eagerness to go and reset his puzzles.
"you ready to go?" Sans said calmly, smiling.
"THAT SHOULD BE MY LINE! I WAS READY BEFORE YOU WERE!" Papyrus exclaimed.
"i know just checking." Sans claimed dismissively, opening the front door into the main street of Snowdin. He walked out, Papyrus following him, and together they began to walk to the neighbouring forest and ruins. It would've been quicker for Sans to teleport, but he didn't want to waste the small amount of magic he had and he liked walking in the morning with Papyrus. As they walked, Papyrus started talking about his last 'training' session with Undyne and how Sans should join them sometime and how he was going to change his puzzles so that they would become even more impossible for any human to pass and…
Sans let his brother talk, nodding his head and giving an affirmatory grunt once every little while. It wasn't like Sans was purposefully ignoring his brother. It just felt as if he'd heard this conversation before. Sans' mind wandered, thinking about he was going to do for the day.
sleep mostly. Sans was lazy, he couldn't deny that. But who said being lazy was bad? It wasn't like if he did something, anything would change anyway. maybe go talk to tori tod-
Wait, who was 'Tori'? Sans felt another stab of pain in his skull and more images materialized. This time he could make out more faces. He recognized Alphys, Undyne and Asgore, all smiling and laughing. However, there were two faces he didn't remember seeing before. One was of another goat monster, similar to Asgore but smaller and more feminine. A relative? Undyne had mentioned once or twice that Asgore used to have a wife long ago. Maybe that was her? 'Toriel'?
That didn't intrigue him as much as the other mystery figure did. It was a small creature, about the same size as Sans. While Sans couldn't make out any precise facial features, he could tell that the figure was definitely like no monster he'd ever seen before.
It took Sans a moment to notice Papyrus was trying to get his attention. When he finally noticed, Papyrus was leaning in close, the corners of his perma-grin turned down and his eyes forehead slightly crinkled.
"SANS? SANS! COME ON, I'M NOT GOING TO CARRY YOU TO YOUR GUARD POST AGAIN. WE'RE AT THE FIRST PUZZLE ALREADY."
"whu-huh?" Sans blundered, the images disappearing while the pain in his head remained. He looked at Papyrus, his brow tilted in confusion.
"THERE YOU ARE! DON'T TELL ME YOU WERE IGNORING THE GREAT PAPYRUS!?"
"eh, ah, no. i was just…"
"JUST?" Papyrus' expression changed from indignant to concerned, his eyes clearly reflecting Sans' confusion.
"just a little puzzled."
Sans winked and Papyrus' concern seemed to lessen as he let out an exaggerated groan.
"UGGH. THAT WAS TERRIBLE."
"heh he."
After that, the brothers split ways. Papyrus went to organize one of the puzzles he'd been testing the day before. Sans, meanwhile, was left alone to do as he wished. Sans decided to go and see if his joke-buddy -or 'Toriel', as his subconscious reminded him- was around. He felt like he needed to laugh a little right now. As he approached the meeting place where he and his punny friend normally met, he heard a loud creaking noise. Sans froze, looking up ahead to see someone far in the distance, right next to the door he normally sat against to talk to his friend.
Sans could tell the figure was small. No taller than him, probably. The pain that had previously stabbed into his head suddenly began to burn brighter. The figure in the distance hadn't noticed Sans yet, and was slowly progressing forwards like a scared little animal. Sans smiled despite the pain. Looked like the little guy was new around here. Sans decided to introduce himself, teleporting behind the figure and hiding behind the trees. Now that he was closer, Sans could see that the figure was like no other monster he'd ever seen. The figure wore a bright blue and purple striped jumper. The image of the mysterious small figure reappeared in Sans' mind. Sans grunted quietly, the intensity of his skull's throbbing increasing.
why?
Sans slowly advanced towards the kid, taking silent steps as he slipped a whoopee cushion into his hand from his jacket pocket. A classic.
The image recurred again, this time with a name. Frisk.
why?
The kid stopped at the gate Papyrus had built, seemingly confused. Sans took his position behind them. Pain flared through his skull, almost causing him to fall onto the ground.
why do I feel like… i've done this before? Sans wondered before he started to speak.
"hey kid, don't you know how to gr-". Suddenly, he was interrupted.
"Why, hello, Sans! I was just wondering when you'd get here."
Sans froze and that was all it took.
In the next moment, the kid had turned around, slipping a knife out from their sleeve and burying it deep in Sans' chest. Sans coughed, instinctively grabbing the knife's handle as ketchup began to run down its sides. He collapsed onto his knees. The pupils in his eyes sockets contracted and his mind raced with all the images he had seen before. He realized now that they were too real to be from a dream. They were real. What had happened?
Sans looked up at the kid in front of him. Their face looked nothing like the kid's that he remembered. This wasn't Frisk.
"who…?"
"Shh." The kid put a finger to Sans' mouth, their face turned up in a wolfish grin. Their eyes burned with pleasure and excitement. "Just save your strength, for now, and listen. The name's Chara, and while I'm sure you're just dying to know who I am, you just need to know one thing."
Sans could feel his soul threatening to split apart. It wouldn't be long before he turned to dust. Pain coursed through his system before he became numb. He didn't feel the hands on his skull, but he knew that he was being forced to look at this murderous kid as he died.
wait, no. this can't… we were finally free.
"You just need to know that you and this whole world are now my new play-things. Your brother too. Oh, I'm gonna have some fun with him."
don't you… papyrus… don't...
Sans didn't know what kind of face he was making, but it must have reflected his anger, because Chara chuckled. "Haha. That's it. Show me your anger, your defiance. It'll make it so much better when I break you…" Sans coughed again, feeling the lower half of his body begin to fade away. "It looks like you have to get going soon." Sans' vision began to dim, the last thing he saw being Chara's cruel grin. "See you again in a lit-." Sans couldn't hear them as his senses fully numbed.
papyrus… papyrus… don't kill… him.
Sans felt himself turn to dust.
Hello again. Okay yeah, so I hope you like the story so far. Feel free to give me constructive criticism, or whatever, in the comments. Share the love! Credit to Harry Wakamatsu for creating the 'Monster Friend' font that I used to create the title card and my thanks to my beta readers Kessie-Louise and Mrs S. Phinx for helping me refine the story. Keep tuning in folks, because the story is just beginning! ~Caz.