~A Glimpse Into The Future~
Chapter 1: Arriving at Grillby's
...
"I'm going to Grillby's... I know a shortcut."
Sans prepared for his teleporting adventure. He braced himself, and felt the portal opening.
There it is... he thought to himself, and maneuvered himself through it.
He opened his eyes, and there he was... right outside the door of his favorite hangout spot. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward, only, something was in the way of his footstep.
"Whoa, kid, almost stepped on you there..."
It appeared to be a human girl, lying in the snow. A little older than a kid, though. She wasn't moving.
"Hey, kid, ya alright?"
No response.
Sans bent down and placed his hand on her shoulder. The girl grunted and shifted away from his touch. She opened her eyes.
"I'm not going to hurt you, kid..."
The girl grunted, but smiled up at Sans.
"S-Sans!"
Sans froze for a second. "U-um... yes? Do I know you?"
"No... but I know you."
She started to try to get up, so Sans helped her up by her arm.
"Come on, let's talk about it over Grillby's." She winked at him.
...
*Inside Grillby's*
"Oh, we're the only ones here today?" Sans asked Grillby.
"Business has been rather... slow today, yes," he replied softly, cleaning a glass.
"Great! I've got a new friend here, and we need to talk," Sans winked.
Grillby nodded, set out some drinks, then walked to the back room.
Sans looked at the girl.
"So what exactly is your story, kid?"
"Well first, my name is Katy. But I don't know why I'm bothering, you're just going to call me 'kid' anyway," she rolled her eyes.
Sans smiled his big friendly grin.
"I was sent here to find you. I know you are familiar with, messing with timelines and things like that..." she shifted her eyes around. "I-I'm actually not from the surface. I'm from another timeline."
Sans's grin fell from his face. "And, what exactly does this have to do with me?"
"Well, my parents sent me here to protect me, and told me to find you, because you know about this kind of stuff..."
"Protect you from wha-"
Papyrus burst through the door. "SANS! THERE YOU ARE! I MET SOMEONE I THINK YOU MIGHT... OH, THERE YOU ARE, HUMAN!"
"Hey Papyrus!" Katy waved.
"You already met my brother?"
Papyrus and Katy just looked at each other.
...
*Flashback
A few minutes before
Katy's point of view*
I open my eyes, slowly, afraid of what I might see. I had been through portals with my dad before, but never by myself. My dad always warned me of the consequences of doing this alone, or doing it too much. I blink away the blurriness. Surprisingly, everything looks pretty much the same! Snow on the ground, trees around me, a few buildings I recognize... I'm in Snowdin! A few buildings I don't recognize... I guess everything can't be the same. I start to walk around. I walk a bit of a distance, when I hear voices. It sounds like arguing. I walk into the trees, and walk toward the voices. As I get closer, I recognize one: Papyrus! I run closer until I can see him. There he is! I'm in the right place! It worked! I wonder if my daddy can see me now, if he's watching me, if he's happy I ended up where I was supposed to. I don't recognize the girl in front of Papyrus. She starts to float above the ground, and I see a knife in her hand. Her eyes glow red. She's going to hurt him! I get scared. Papyrus starts throwing bones at her. He hasn't really mastered his attack yet, I guess? I recognize the attack, but it's more advanced in my timeline. The girl swings her knife at him. She hits him right in the chest. She swings again, hits his neck. Papyrus starts mumbling, like he's trying to say something... goodbye maybe? His body falls to the ground, then dissolves into dust, and his soul breaks. I feel my own heart crumbling as well. The girl disappears, laughing.
I run to what's left of Papyrus... his clothes, and a broken bone. I'm not sure if it's from his body or from his attack. I fall to the ground on my knees, crying. I just happen to look to my left, and I see a button fading into the air. It's almost gone.
[RESET]
I know the warnings my dad gave me, but if he were in this situation, where he could save the life of his brother he loves so much... what would he decide? It only takes me a moment, to get up and run toward the button, with my fist forward. I punch it just in time.
A bright flash of light.
I open my eyes again. This time it looks like I'm... oh yea, I know this place, my dad's favorite restaurant. But it's a lot cleaner than I remember. Papyrus is here too.
"WELL, HUMAN?" His arms are crossed sternly.
"Huh?"
"I SAAAID... DID YOU BRING HER HERE WITH YOU?"
"Who?"
We look out the window. It's her again.
"CHARA..."
Uh oh. I know that name. Is that really her?
"HOLD ON, I NEED TO GO TAKE CARE OF THIS..." He starts walking toward the door.
"NO!" I desperately grab his hand. He turns and looks back at me. "I'll go..." I grab my weapon of choice... a quiver of arrows and my bow.
"IS... SOMETHING WRONG?!"
"No... everything is the way it's supposed to be." I hug Papyrus. He looks so happy! He loves my hugs, he just doesn't know it here. Or maybe he does? He seems to... blush? and hugs me back! He is so clueless... he's just a very friendly guy.
I walk outside where Chara was. I didn't even have time to think about grabbing my weapon before she looked at me with her glowing red eyes, and punched me right in the stomach. I double over as my vision starts to turn black; I can feel my HP draining. I feel for sure she's going to easily kill me now. But instead, she laughs that awful laugh again, and disappears into thin air. As I fall to the ground and feel like I am passing out, I hear Papyrus's mumbled voice behind me. But the only words I can make out are "I... FIND SANS..." and "HUMAN."
(and then Sans found me)
*end flashback*
...
Sans looked between Papyrus and Katy.
"Yea, I know your brother."
"Okay... how long have you been here, kid?"
"Not long. Just today."
"Is your head still fuzzy from the time travel?"
"Yes," she leaned her head into her hands.
"You get used to it after a while, and it won't bother you so much."
"OR IS IT FROM FIGHTING CHARA?"
"What?! You fought Chara?! Chara is here?! Did you bring her here?!" Sans got frantic as he jumped up from his seat.
"No, no! I promise!" She held her hands up.
"You'd better start explaining what's going on, NOW." Sans glared down at Katy.
She sighed. "Well, I have heard my whole life about a Chara, and how she would come back someday, and try to destroy our world like she had tried to do before. She's running through my timeline, resetting things and killing people... I heard she also wants to reset the events that led my parents to be together, which will erase my existence. So my parents sent me to another timeline, to another time: to hide me, mostly. That's really all I know."
Sans sighed. "But what does all this have to do with me?"
More than you know...
Sans seemed to think deeply for a moment. "I... am friends with your parents, aren't I? Friends with you, even... in your timeline..."
"Yes!" It made Katy happy that Sans is piecing that together.
"Okay... do I know your parents now, in this timeline?"
Katy giggled. "Yes."
"Who are they?"
"I don't think I'm supposed to tell you that."
"Okay okay... are you friends with Papyrus?"
"Oh yes! He used to babysit me a lot, and now that I'm older we're... like best friends..."
Sans looked surprised. "Best friends? With this goofball?" Sans pointed his thumb back at Papyrus.
"HEY!"
Katy giggled. "Yes... He's, a little more mature in my timeline."
"HEY!"
Sans chuckled.
...
Sans invited Katy to stay with him and Papyrus. Katy followed Sans out of Grillby's, but expected Sans to take another direction than he did. Why aren't we going home?... she wondered for a second, before she remembered where she was. She realized soon that he was walking toward Papyrus's house. She then remembered all the stories Papyrus had told her about the days he and Sans shared the house. How her guest bedroom at Papyrus's house used to be Sans's room. How the house she knows as home... used to belong to someone else... and Sans got the house after that person died.
Grandpa Gaster.
If Sans and Papyrus still share this house, then that must mean that he is still alive?! Katy wondered about if she would be allowed to meet him... before Sans interrupted her thoughts.
"So, kid... I kinda noticed... you look a lot like Frisk. I can see her in your eyes, your hair... even the way you walk. Not to mention you're human. So, if I said, 'Frisk is your mom, you know, in a future timeline'... would you tell me if I'm right?"
Katy looked all around, avoiding Sans's eyes. He could see she was nervous. He shrugged and offered a friendly smile. "Come on, kid, what could it hurt? I won't ask you about your dad if you tell me this." Katy picked up on Sans's implication of him asking a lot of hard, uncomfortable questions about her dad, and decided to answer him.
"Y-yes... My mom's name is Frisk."
Sans laughed. "Ha, I knew it!"
Katy smiled back at Sans.
"If you want... we can go see her tomorrow."
Katy's face brightened up. "Oh! Would that be, okay?"
Sans shrugged, "I don't see why not."
Sans opened a door. Katy realized that they had reached Papyrus's house now - well Sans and Papyrus's house. She took a deep breath as she readied herself to see how different this place was now... and stepped inside.
"Why didn't you take the shortcut route?" Katy shrugged and winked at Sans.
This caught him off-guard. "Oh, uh, welp, you already seemed a little weak from your other... adventures today." A pause, as Sans's face turned into a serious stare. "I know you reset something here today. I could feel it. Just, be careful when you do stuff like that kid, because you don't know-"
Katy rolled her eyes and grunted. "I know I know, I've heard it all before, D-Sans!" Katy's face flushed, and she realized she had to be careful here.
"Okay kid, geez, take it easy."
"I'm sorry. I just... I had to."
"I know... I do. And thank you." Sans placed his hand on her shoulder as a sign of complete gratitude. Katy sensed he knew what happened to Papyrus earlier today. And thinking of Papyrus...
"Where is your brother, anyway?"
Katy looked around the house for the first time, and wondered why it didn't catch her attention before. She noticed- it's because everything looks the exact same. It wasn't new or changed in any way... except her dad's slipper shoes in front of the couch, which usually happens at her house, not here.
"He has a meeting with Undyne... training."
He's still in training? That explains his amateur attack earlier. He's really improved. Should I mention that he finally does make it into the Royal Guard? Nah...
"Oh yea, of course."
"So he used to babysit you, huh? Did anything bad ever happen?"
"Uh actually, yea... but I'm not going to tell you that story right now."
Sans became very curious. "Does it have anything to do with me?"
"Yes, Sans..." man that's so cool! "But I'll tell you that story some other time."
Sans looked agitated, but left well enough alone.
"Well, I'm tired kid. My room is back there," he pointed at his room, "and there's Papyrus's room" he pointed at the other room.
"Mhmm" Katy said without even looking at where Sans pointed. She knows this house like the back of her hand. Countless weekend sleepovers, plus daytime adventures and hang-outs.
Sans looked agitated again. "You've been here lots of times before, haven't you?"
Katy grinned at Sans.
"Well then you know where everything is," Sans smiled back and shuffled his feet back to his room. Katy laid down on the couch, picked up Sans's shoes, hugged them, and fell asleep holding them close to her chest.