This story takes place just before the events of chapter six, Break In

Sans is waiting behind the dumpster. He's been hiding here for almost four hours. Three days ago he found out about the local slave auction house in town and, seeing as how he had found no sign of his brother in this place, he decided it would be worth it to check it out. If he was lucky, the place might keep some sales records with a clue as to the next place to look. Stalking the building, he found out that the place was almost never completely deserted (someone had to be there to keep an eye on the in-house "merchandise") except for one hour every night during the changing of the guard. Even so, the place was locked up tight, and, as he found out the other night, has an automatic security system in place to prevent lock picking or tampering.

So now he waits.

At around two am, the back door opens. Sans keeps perfectly still in his hiding spot. A younger worker comes out holding a bag of trash. Sans watches in silence as she opens the dumpster lid and deposits the bag before heading back inside, letting the door close on its own. Sans knows he has to move quickly. He takes the small piece of pavement he's been keeping in his back pocket and shoves it in the crack between the door and the frame. The door hits the rock and Sans rushes back behind the cans. He holds his breath. After a minute he knows she didn't see and he lets sighs in relief. He watches for the girl's car and when he sees the red minivan speed off he darts for the door.

In and out, that is his plan. If he's lucky, they won't even know he was there. He knew about the security system at the door, but the place seems a little small and underfunded for there to be cameras anywhere inside. He keeps his hood over his head anyways, just in case. He's seen himself on the human T.V.s - armed and dangerous they'd called him. Police are already looking for him, and he doesn't want any more attention. He certainly doesn't want them knowing who he's looking for.

There is one hitch in his plan that he knows of - even though he's been watching this place like a hawk for days, there was no way for him to find out what it looked like from the inside. Sans opens door after door, reaching the main stage, the back rooms, and even a supplies closet and a boiler room. Eventually, he finds a locked door. Seeing this as a good sign, he materializes a bone to pick the lock. A skeleton key, as he calls it. When the door opens he finds that it leads to a staircase. He supposes that maybe they keep their records underground, and he makes his way down the stairs.

He is wrong.

When he reaches the bottom steps he finds row after row of cells, each holding two or more monsters. He hides his face further into his gray scarf, hoping none of them saw his face - though most of them didn't even look up when he entered the room, either asleep or too apathetic to care.

It is the most depressing place Sans has ever seen. There were funerals with more life than here. The thought that his brother was housed here, even for a short while, would make his blood boil - if he had any, that is. How cruel were these humans to do this? How could anyone allow people to suffer like this? Sans shakes his head.

Sans shakes his head. His brother's not here.

The brokenness of the place coupled with his already nervous disposition made Sans eager to get back to his search, and he didn't see any reason to stay any longer. He makes it to the second step before he hears a small sound.

"Sans?"

Sans halts his ascent up the stairs at the familiar voice.

"ms. hare?" He says, turning towards the nearest hold.

The old shop owner from snowed in was sitting on the floor of the dirty cell, leaning awkwardly as if she had just woken up. She has definitely seen better days. Her normally pompous wardrobe has been replaced with a drab tunic that hung over her thinner frame. Her face was covered in grime, and she was missing one of her sharp incisors.

"Sans, is it really you?" Her voice was low and rough, but Sans could distinctly hear her hope and sorrow.

Sans thinks for a moment, then nods and removes his hood. "yeah, it's me."

Ms. Hare looked as if she could cry. "Sans, oh my stars, what are you doing here?"

"looking for papyrus," he tells her. "was he here?"

She nods. "Yes, I'm sorry, Honey, he was sold off a while ago."

Sans feels a little disappointment, even though he was expecting that answer. He is at least on the right track if Papyrus was here; it's closer than he's been in a while to the right path.

Ms. Hare suddenly lets out a little sob. "They sold him to the same person who bought Lisa." Her cries become a little louder, and Sans fears she will wake up more of the captives, though fortunately (and equally disturbingly) sobbing seems to be a commonplace here, and the most reaction it gets is monsters turning over in their sleep. Sans slips a and through the bars to comfort his friend. "They took my youngest, Sans. They took my baby."

Sans knew Lisa - not well but he knew her. She was always energetic and full of life. When they were younger, she and Paps went to grade school together. Papyrus often brought her back after school to play action figures and puzzles. In a lot of ways, she was a lot like Papyrus; optimistic and carefree, seeing only the best in the world. And now she too was some asshole's property. Sans felt his marrow burn.

"i'm sorry," he mutters, looking down.

Ms. Hare just sobs.

In and out, that was the plan, but to hell with that! No way is Sans letting this go on.

Sans quickly summons his skeleton key and it tears through the lock. Ms. Hare looks at him with wide-eyed confusion through the opening door. The rest of the despondent monsters notice that, and begin banging on their cells to be let free. Sans grabs Ms. Hare's hand and shoves the bone into it.

"get everyone out," he tells her quickly. "travel in groups of three or five - they can't catch you all."

Ms. Hare looks at Sans with stunned amazement, then her expression softens, "Sans, I-"

"N O W!"

Ms. Hare jumps and nods, making her way to the other cells. Sans rushes up the steps. This is going to cut his time dramatically, but he couldn't just leave them there like that, even if it meant that his search would be a bit harder. He rushes through the hall, trying the last few doors before coming across a green-carpeted room. There is a large oak desk in the center, and next to that, thankfully, is a filing cabinet. Sans just hope the man actually uses it instead of the computer, since breaking into that would be much harder, and he now didn't have the time for it.

Sans throws open the drawers and flips through the files. To his relief, the owner of this place is very organized. The papers are neatly labeled and it doesn't take long for Sans to spot the sales records. He grabs the files and flips through quickly. They are sorted by date, not alphabetically, and Sans feels a wave of gratitude to Ms. Hare for giving him a date to go by. It's easy to locate Papyrus' file from there. Apparently, he was sold to a man by the name of Pete Gabe, a professional slave flipper who buys slaves for their resale value. Under his name is his phone number, email, and the location of his house. He is apparently located in a small town that Sans has heard of in his travels. It is home to a large national space center that gets a lot of attention. He knows it is less than thirty miles from here, and he can't help but feel a wave of relief. His brother is close. It had only been two and a half months since he was sold, and with Papyrus' record that man wouldn't have been able to sell him again in that amount of time. Papyrus has to be there. He just has to.

Sans puts the records back quickly, fighting the urge to take them with him; he knows that if the police find out his motives it could spell trouble for him and his brother. Let them think he was just some vigilantly saving the freedom of his fellow monsters - like Undyne. He is no hero, but he doesn't mind people thinking he is. If it means his brother stays safe, that's all he needs.

Suddenly, there's a scream behind him. Sans turns quickly to find the source is the worker from before standing not three feet from him. Shit, what is she doing here? Sans saw her car drive off! He swears silently and summons several blue bones all around her.

" e."

She complies, barely breathing. A wave of hatred comes over Sans. This person willing aids in keeping monsters locked up like this. She may have even been here when Papyrus was here. Sans wonders if she hurt him. Did she taunt him? Spit on him? Abuse him? Sans huffs; she doesn't look so mighty now. "what's the matter, kid? don'tcha know if you work the graveyard shift you're bound to see a few skeletons?"

She looks like she might cry, and Sans almost laughs. Good. Summoning a blaster, Sans points it at her and fires. Just as he suspects, her LOVE is nowhere near high enough for the karmic retribution to kill her, but it certainly knocks her out. She won't be waking up for a few hours; Sans' only regret is that she probably won't remember that pun he said. Oh well, he'll tell Papyrus when he sees him again. It'll probably make him mad enough to forget all the danger Sans has put himself in.

Sans hears the a crash and the sounding of alarms. A wave of frustration comes over him. The monsters must have broken the front glass to get out. Sans now has less than a minute before things get ugly, and he makes a dash for the back door he came in before he's stopped by a tall lizard person.

"Hey, you're the one who let us out, right?" She says. Sans doesn't have time for this, and he tries to slip past her, only for her to grab his arm. "Your friend down there won't leave. She and a few others plan to stay."

Sans stops.

Ms. Hare is going to do what?

He quickly finds himself back down in the basement. Sure enough, Ms. Hare and about a dozen other monsters are holed up in their cells.

"Sans, dear," Ms. Hare speaks, voice thick with emotion and grief. "You'd better get going. I hear the alarms sounding. They'll be here any minute now."

"yeah, i'm going," he says. "and so are you."

She looks at him sadly and shakes her head. "No, Sans, not me."

Sans is shocked. "i don't know if you've noticed," he snaps "but there's a jailbreak happening right now. let's go!"

She shakes her head. "I can't, Sans. I've tried, by the Angel I've tried, but that was back when I had by children with me. They're gone, Sans, there no reason for me to run." Sans stares at her with disbelief. How could she just sit there and give up like that? Sans wouldn't just sit there and take it! He would... Do just that, given the situation. He looks around. Those left are battered and broken or old and tired. Everyone seems to have adopted the same apathy that Sans had had before leaving the Underground. Understanding sweeps over him and pity wells up. Ms. Hare chuckles. "Besides, my magic's never been that strong; I'm just not a fighter type."

Sans nods sadly and makes to leave, but before he does, Ms. Hare calls his name.

"Wait, there's something I have to give you," she says, reaching under her pillow. "He was taken so quickly, he didn't have time to grab it."

A flash of red. It was a piece of fabric. Sans instantly recognized it. He carefully removed his gray, tattered scarf and reached for Papyrus' tressured cape. Wrapping it around his neck, a sudden wave of relief and 'home' washes over him. Ms. Hare looks at him with an unreadable expression. "Good luck, Sans," she says. "And if you see Lisa, please, please get her home. And tell her I love her."

"will do," Sans says, knowing full well he probably will never see her daughter, but her face lights up anyways, and Sans is quickly wrapped in an embrace.

"Thank you," the sound is so close to tears; Sans is uncomfortable, but he pats her back anyways. It may be the last comfort either of them have for a long time.

"yeah, we've all had it rough. no need to talus about it."

Ms. Hare chuckles and rolls her eyes. Sans steps away, giving his old friend one last look before rushing out through the open door.

"In other news there was a break in at a local monster auction in Panaell. A rouge monster broke in and freed the monsters being held there, injuring a guard. Several of the remaining captive have confirmed the identity of the culprit as a chubby skeleton named Sans..."

The local news anchor went on for a small while, taking interviews from people who has seen the mass hoard of monsters running down the streets and giving a number to call if any of the still missing monsters are found. He doesn't care though. He has already gotten the information that he needs. He reaches across the hotel bedspread to a phone sitting on the night stand. The number is already programmed into his phone and he presses the contact titled "John".

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. Tell your client that it'll be sooner than we expected. Two or three weeks, tops."

He hangs up the phone before John could reply. This was going to be easier than he thought.