Sans hummed as he weaved through the catacombs of his dungeon. He had just come back from a near by village, it was the only way he could get any scrap of news for miles in every direction. He had this worlds equivalent of a news paper tucked under his arm.
As you can tell, Sans isn't a normal boss monster. Unlike most boss monsters who never leave their dungeons, Sans liked to be anywhere but his. He was what you would call a glitch in the system. He knew he wasn't real but he could think, feel, and act on an impulse; the only reason he didn't leave his dungeon for good is because he didn't want anyone to find out about him and try to permanently delete him or whatever it was they did with glitches.
It sucked but that was his "life".
Sans waved at his sentries as he passed and they waved back. He had managed to mess with their code a little bit to make them slightly more sentient, having nothing but NPCs to interact with got old fast; besides, the small changes he made wouldn't catch anyone's notice. The reason he did this is because no one ever came around his dungeon.
There wasn't a side quest or a main quest that led here, it was more of a place someone stumbled upon at random, there wasn't really even any loot. He was sure at one point someone had made this place to be of some importance but he guessed they had decided to do something else because it was left unfinished with the bare minimum.
He opened a small side door that was hidden off to the side of the main entrance to his room. Why waste perfectly good time and energy trying to get through that monstrosity? He had better things to be doing, like reading his news paper.
Once he was in the large golden hallway like room, dusty and dull from disuse, he made his way to the back where a small anti-chamber sat; this was where he really stayed most days. He entered the little door and plopped himself down on his bed. With his head propped up on his pillow he unfolded the news paper and began to catch up on the latest news and gossip.
He was about half way through when something caught his eye. Apparently he wasn't the only glitch in the system after all. According to this it seemed more and more NPCs were gaining sentience, not just boss monsters.
He read further with an interest he hadn't felt in a long time.
Apparently the creator had been trying to cover up the glitches and get rid of them but someone had found out and outed them. Now a bunch of Players were protesting the treatment of the characters, if such beings were truly gaining sentience then they deserved the right to live and have free will just as much as the players did; it didn't hurt anything to allow them such things, not like they could enter the real world anyways.
It seemed the Players were winning this fight too because there were details of more and more rights being created for the glitched characters, boss monsters were leaving their dungeons and interacting with players in a casual unthreatening way; some were even taking on quests of their own.
Sans folded his news paper and set it beside him, staring in contemplative silence at the wall as his mind processed what he just read. He could actually leave this place and not worry about being targeted. He could travel, see the sights of this world; he didn't have to be a useless monster stashed away in a dungeon no one ever stumbled across.
His moment of hope was soon clouded by doubt though. He only had 1 hp. What would happen if he died out there? All it would take is one ill intended strike to end him. He'd never actually died before since no one bothered coming to fight him, would he revive back here where he started?
Sure monsters were gaining rights but not everyone could possibly be happy about this change of events, he could end up running into a mob of monster hunters or something. Didn't players have something called save and reload? Could he figure out how to use it? All of this contemplating and worrying was giving him as close to a headache as he could get.
"I'll worry about it later… maybe a nap will help" He murmured as he shuffled down and rolled over, his eye sockets falling closed. It felt like it was seconds later that his sleep was disturbed by a commotion outside his door.
His sockets snapped open and he sat up as someone kept banging on the wood.
"Alright I'm up, sheesh you would think a skeleton could catch a few winks in his own dungeon" He muttered sleepily as he pushed himself up out of his bed.
He shuffled over to the door that was still being pounded on and he opened it with a frown. The one knocking was one of the sentries that stood right outside the hall that signified Sans status as boss.
"What's got your bones in a twist?" He asked, his skeletal face shifting to mimic a questioning raised brow.
The sentry saluted and said hurriedly "Sir! Adventurers have entered the dungeon! A scout reported sighting them enter!".
Sans sockets widened, of all times for them to get people stumbling into their little corner of no where it had to be now "gather up everyone you can and hide, maybe if they think there aren't any monsters here they'll go away".
The sentry saluted again and hurried off to complete Sans order. Once he was gone, Sans quickly changed out of his clothing he had gone out disguised in and into his boss armor; he hated this stuff. If they did hang around and traverse the tedious maze to get to his chamber he had to be ready on the off chance they were looking to score some easy EXP. Though really, this place wasn't even worth grinding in.
They must have just stumbled across this place completely at random.
Then again there wasn't anything around this place for miles so it wouldn't make any sense to wander out this way… they either just came here to kill time or there was a quest that had something to do with how many skeletons they could kill.
It just didn't add up though.
His musing was interrupted by a soft knocking outside his large double doors that led into the hall. He knew it wasn't the few monsters that lived here because they knew to use the hidden door off to the side that he had used earlier. That meant that it was the adventurers he had been warned about. Maybe if he pretended the room was empty they would go away.
He hid out of sight and waited just in case.
Suddenly the large doors slammed open, causing his eye sockets to widen. Only he was able to open those doors and only with some of his magic, they were very heavy and only someone with a high level of magic or high level of strength could get those things to budge.
"Ready or not we're coming in!" a loud voice boomed as several figures stepped through those doors.
"Undyne, that was rude, we should have waited for him to answer before entering his room" Another voice, still loud but not as loud, chastised the first speaker.
"Pfff oh relax Papyrus" The first voice huffed, not caring at all if anyone was bothered by possibly upsetting someone.
"H-he's right U-Undyne, E-Even th-though we d-didn't run into a-anyone on the w-way in here we still sh-should make a g-good first impression if the b-boss m-monster of this d-dungeon is s-still here" A third voice, softer than the first two, stuttered to the first.
"Look at this place, it's a dump, I doubt the guy's been here in ages" The first voice said gruffly as the figures moved further into the room "he probably booked it as soon as he got the chance, I know I did shishishishshi!~".
Sans managed to get a better look at the party that entered. He saw a tall fish monster in a suit of armor that was holding a large sword half the size of their body, a small lizard monster in a robe with a wooden staff held in one scaled hand, a human shaped ghost, and surprisingly a skeleton Sans had never seen before; he also wore armor though he carried no sword from the looks of it.
"Hello? Is anyone here? We are sorry for barging in like this, Undyne was just eager to meet you" The skeleton called out, ignoring the dirty look the fish monster shot his way "We had heard there was a dungeon that no one visited and our curiosity drew us here, will you please speak with us?".
Sans hesitated, they were glitches like himself and there was even another skeleton but… for all he knew it could be an illusion. If they were glitches… it could be his chance to leave this place. He had already taken a lot of chances by messing with his peoples codes and venturing out into the closest town, what was one more risk? The end of his life, that was what. But he supposed there was no gain without risk.
Tsking at himself, he took the first step and in a flash of blue he was behind the other monsters.
"Ya know it's rude to enter a place without permission" Sans said then dodged as a spell came flying at him.
"U-Undyne!" the small lizard cried out.
"What?!" Undyne huffed, her sword pointed at Sans "He shouldn't have snuck up on us!".
"Undyne really, we are here to make peace, not to shoot to pieces the ones we are attempting to make peace with" Papyrus sighed and shook his skull, stepping forward once he turned his attention to Sans "Hello fellow skeleton! I am the Great Papyrus and these are my not nearly as great as me but still great friends Undyne, Alphys, and Mettaton! What is your name?".
Sans held up an air of sleepy boredom as he studied the four monsters "Name's Sans, so you're here cause you were curious eh? Not much to see round here, S'why no one comes, just an empty dungeon not worth adventuring".
"I think it is an interesting place and would certainly be worth exploring even if there is nothing to gain" Papyrus defended the dungeon.
"Heh, yer a strange skeleton Papyrus, thanks" Sans said with a chuckle "So was curiosity really all that drew you here? No offence but it seems kind of like a waste of time, surely you've got better things to do and grander places to go?".
Papyrus smiled a large skeletal smile "Well I will be honest with you, I had heard rumor of this being a skeleton dungeon and as I am a skeleton myself it made me curious; you see I am looking for a lost brother and thought maybe I might find him here".
"Oh yeah?" Sans said curiously "What's his name? I doubt that I've heard of him, the only skeletons here are me and the few guards that wander around this place; if there was a skeleton here that was from somewhere else I would know about it.
None the less it wouldn't hurt to hear it".
"Oh I was never told his name unfortunately. You see, my father passed away recently and left me a letter stating I had a brother. I was told to never seek him out though. It never explained why or told me his name, not what he looked like or even remotely where he would be".
"Then how do you know he's still alive?" Sans asked curiously "He could be dead already, maybe it's best you don't meet him if your old man is telling you not to; he might be crazy or dangerous".
"Oh I hope not, I would very much like to meet him" Papyrus sighed and reached into his inventory, pulling out a crystal that was glowing with blue and yellow magic that some how seemed to meld together without mixing to become green "He explained that this crystal holds a small portion of my brother's magic, if he held it the magic would leave it and return to him".
Sans eye lights fixated on the small crystal, slightly mesmerized by the colors. "Heh… um, well pal… there aren't many skeletons around here… but I suppose I could help you out…".
"Oh thank you Sans, that is most spectacular of you Nyahaha!" Papyrus exclaimed with a laugh as he pulled Sans into a hug "Though not as spectacular as I, the Great Papyrus!".
Sans stiffened at the sudden hug. After a moment he slowly relaxed when nothing else happened and he patted the taller skeleton on the back "Yeah… sure… hey, can I have a look at that crystal?".
Papyrus pulled back and held up the glowing rock "This? Of course, just be sure to not break it or lose it please, I am still in need of it".
Sans gave him a nod and held out his hand. Papyrus gently placed the crystal in the other's skeletal palm and as soon as it touched Sans bones the colors began to drain from the rock. It traveled up his arm and into his chest where his soul rested. In a matter of seconds the color was gone under the surprised gazes of everyone in the room.
Sans placed his hand against his chest at the strange sensation.
"Well… that was unexpected" Papyrus said as he blinked his sockets at the smaller skeleton.
Suddenly Undyne came charging forward and she grabbed Sans by the collar of his shirt, lifting him so they were face to face "What did you do to Paps rock!".
"U-Undyne don't!" Alphys exclaimed "That's s-supposed to h-happen when we f-find Papyrus brother!".
Undyne paused and scowled back at Alphys "You telling me this weak little shrimp is Paps brother?".
"W-well the colors did l-leave the c-crystal as soon as h-he h-held it" Alphys explained as she fiddled with her glasses.
Papyrus looked between the three of them repeatedly, almost sending his skull spinning from how fast his head was swiveling. Finally he settled his gaze on Sans and took him from Undynes less than friendly hold "I will thank you to not damage my newly found brother, Undyne".
Undyne grumbled and went to go stand by Alphys, unhappy she couldn't beat anyone up. Papyrus sat Sans back on his feet and Sans stared up at what was apparently his brother "So… bros huh? That's… unexpected, I didn't even know I had a brother… I didn't even know I had a dad; the more you know I guess".
"Indeed, it is very nice to meet you brother… I wonder why father wanted me to stay away from you?" Papyrus said curiously as he studied Sans "You don't seem very threatening… or mean… hmm".
"Eh, maybe he was just ashamed of me" Sans chuckled and shrugged, gesturing to himself "I'm not exactly larger than life, heh".
Papyrus took on a deadpan look and stared down hard at Sans "Was that a pun?".
Sans eye sockets closed as he smiled up at the taller skeleton "now why would I do that bro? I hear puns are the lowest form of humor".
"Gah! That was another one! I officially disown you!" Papyrus exclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air "I see now why father told me to stay away, you will kill me with your awful jokes!".
Undyne was laughing hard and Alphys stood giggling softly beside her. Mettaton was chuckling beside them, he knew that this was a moment that he should let them have; there was plenty more time for them to appreciate his existence later.
Sans chuckled as his brother went on a rant about how puns should be banned from existence. For once he felt content with his role in what would be considered a game, as long as it meant being able to stand beside Papyrus then he had no complaints about his lot in life.