Chapter 1

Thick, red blood spattered the floor of the golden floor tiles of the sunlit hall. The body of a human lay half submerged in the crimson pool that grew ever greater around them. Their thick hair was matted to their head and darkened progressively as their life's source congealed and adhered to their skull. The gaping wound in their chest was where the dark liquid had first gushed, then seeped, and now merely trickled out of. On the other side of the majestic, stained glass windows birds could be heard chirping in the bright, cheerful light of the sun that was now streaming through into the hallway. It illuminated the dust particles that twinkled in the air like miniature stars. The rays of light also fell on the only other figure in the hallway, curled up into the foetal position and whimpering softly.

The figure was clothed in a thick winter jacket with a furry hood, black basketball shorts and a pair of furry, pink slippers. These clothes too, were spattered with the blood of the human lying a little ways away, as well as the figure's skeletal face.

"kid. i-i'm sorry. i'm so…sorry," the skeleton sobbed, tears that were not physically feasible rolling down his cheekbones. He tasted the unique metallic quality in his mouth and spat at the floor in disgust. He was disgusted at himself for being responsible for it being there, and not inside the fragile human body to which it belonged.

He got to his hands and knees and crawled weakly over to the human, crippled by an amalgamation of despair and guilt that vibrated through his bones.

"alright then, kid. you wanted to do this, so let's do it. just you 'n me." Sans swallowed the bile that was rising up in his throat. He couldn't believe the human had made him do this to them, had…wanted this. He thought that somewhere, deep down, he should have felt honoured, or at the very least solemn assent at the human's insistence on him being the one to do it. But he only felt regret.

He should never have agreed to this, but the human's reason behind the request was a noble one. Besides, he never could say 'no' to them.

New tears forming in the corners of his eye sockets, he held out his hand to the lifeless form in front of him. As it started to radiate with an aquamarine energy, a small red bundle of light rose out of the human's form. Their soul.

Sans shut his eyes and looked away, guilt racking his body when he saw the delicate cracks that had formed around the heart-shaped manifestation of all the human had ever been.

He took a deep breath and addressed the fragile red orb, "this is it kid. i'll see ya real soon."

Without giving himself the chance to change his mind, he tugged the heart closer to himself and whipped open his jacket, revealing his own pulsating blue-green soul. As if it knew exactly what it had to do, the human's red soul flew into the skeleton's rib cage and collided with his turquoise one. Sans doubled over, as the two souls fused together in what felt like a frantic dance inside of him. An inhuman wail ripped from his throat, his round, usually almost cartoon-like face twisted in pain. He dropped once again to the floor, his hands clutching at the fabric of the jacket around his chest.

Sickening grinding sounds echoed along the hallway as the skeleton's body began changing, to accommodate the extra soul that was now inside of him. Although Sans had known that it was going to happen, nothing could have prepared him for the mind-numbing pain that accompanied the transformation.

The bones that made up his limbs lengthened significantly, the joints cracking and popping as they did so, drawing sounds out of Sans that he had never thought he would ever have been capable of making. A sudden crack in his spine caused the skeleton to let out a bestial hiss and he arched his back into the air. His shoulders broadened and his rib cage rose and expanded, every popping and crackling of a joint bringing pitiful whimpers to his teeth.

And then…nothing. The sudden transformations that had arrested Sans had stopped as unexpectedly as they had started.

The transfigured skeleton was left, panting and sweating on the floor, for a length of time he could not determine. When he did eventually attempt to rise from the tiled floor, he did so shakily and ashamed. The true monstrosity of what he had done was going to be reflected by himself, by his own body, for the rest of his life.

"good," he said out loud at this thought, and was surprised to find that he still sounded like himself.

He bent over the human's body, almost falling over as he did so. His centre of gravity was thrown way off by his new found height. But still he struggled on, curling the arms that were now too long for his jacket gently around the lifeless form. Sans and the human had said they were going to finish what they had started together, and that was damn well what the skeleton was going to make sure happened. He lifted them to his chest, hearing a rip in his jacket as he did so and ignoring it. Staring at their bloodied figure, Sans felt his eyes prick once more, the threat of tears looming ahead. He let them come and a faintly glowing liquid trickled down his face, tracing its new, more fearsome contours.

He walked slowly along the corridor, the sunlight still beaming through invasively. He stopped and glared at the window that let through the traitorous sun that dared to show its face when everything around him was so dark.

What stared back at him from the stained glass was enough to make even Sans gasp and stumble backwards, clasping the human's body protectively to him. The white pinpricks of light everyone had come to recognise as Sans' "eyes" were glowing from eye sockets in a reflection that the skeleton didn't want to believe belonged to him. The slanted, almond-shaped nature of the sockets looked menacing and animalistic, despite the fact that the shape of Sans' skull hadn't appeared to have changed at all. His teeth now had the addition of sinister looking fangs, appearing all the more evil-looking due to his permanent smile. Two deep hollows ran along the length of his cheekbones in flat, black curved lines and, just before he managed to tear his eyes away, Sans saw the new, pointed ridge along his collar bone rising up to his jawline like the collar of a cape.

"i-i…i'm a monster", the last word was hissed in fury through gritted teeth and the tell-tale glow of Sans' left eye socket started up again.

But before he could do anything, he felt a little tug at his torso. He looked down in surprise, the energy in his eye quickly fizzling out. The human hadn't moved, obviously, but the tug had come from inside his chest cavity. Sans could feel their soul pulling at his. It was giving him what felt like a nudge of gentle indignation. They seemed to disagree with his statement.

He continued to stare down at his chest in disbelief, the smile falling away from his face.

He felt it again. This time it literally felt like the human's soul was giving his a hug.

The human was trying to comfort him.

Tears once again built up in Sans' eye sockets and he felt heat rise to where his cheeks would have been, but this time he cried with relief. His smile returned and, for the first time in a long time, it was a genuine one.

Pulling away from the window decisively, Sans marched along the hallway, dappled in the sunlight that had now become tinged with red. His somehow still slippered feet swished against the tiles and, when they came to the door leading to the king's chambers, they made a muffled thud against the burgundy wood as he kicked it open.

Unexpectedly, there was no sign of Asgore anywhere. Sans and the golden flowers were the only living things in the room. As gently as he could, the monster placed the human's body on a bed of flowers in the centre of the floor where it sank into the soft petals.

He knelt down and placed a long, skeletal hand on the human's forehead, flinching at how cold it was already. With one more regretful look at their face, Sans reached out and closed their eyes with two phalanges before abruptly standing and turning on his heel.

He hesitated at the open doorway for a brief moment before walking out and closing it quietly behind him. He addressed his rib cage, still covered by the torso of his jacket. The arms had been ripped off, but the majority of the cloth and the furry hood still remained.

"we're seein' this through kid. but afterwards, i'm gonna find a way to get you your body back." The warmth that flooded his chest was almost overwhelming, but it gave Sans his answer.

"heh. ok kid. o.k." he whispered this last part more to himself, his brow furrowed with steely resolve. He marched down the corridor in the opposite direction he had just come. Asgore was the only one who could access the Barrier and that was precisely where Sans wanted – no, needed – to be. He just needed to find the inconveniently absent king first.

Sans broke through into the intense heat of Hotland, but even the climate that he had always hated could not break his newly regained sense of purpose.

This may have just been due to the newest addition of the human's soul to his body but, for the first time in his life, Sans was filled with determination.