Sans didn't remember falling asleep, but a part of him wished he had simply never woken up. Waking up was pain in his bones and a pounding in his head. Waking up was a return to that horribly empty feeling in his soul where magic and hope should be. Waking up was the awful numbness in his mind that made his thoughts feel like they were going through molasses.
Sans did not want to wake up. He wanted to stay in that blissful darkness, away from the pain and the emptiness. He wanted to just stay asleep. But the rest of the camp had other plans.
The rousing of life was slow at first. Some early rising birds began to sing here and there as the sun rose. There was the soft clang of metal moving as the night watch came back from their posts and sent the next shift out. Around the time the sun was halfway over the horizon, the camp really started to wake up. Commanders still training units shouted for them to get up, and already disciplined soldiers were getting dressed and outside stretching their legs. Sans peeled his sockets open as something shaked his cage.
Three boys in rough cotton shirts grinned at him maliciously from behind the bars. The one in the middle ran a hand through his top of mousy brown hair, throwing his head back dramatically. Sans instinctively activated his eye.
The one in the middle had a soul of orange Bravery. Good in battle, but could make him more foolhardy in regular everyday life. The one on the left had a soul of Integrity like Sans, but had so little magic in his soul it was laughable. He wouldn't even be able to access his ability, but then again, most humans couldn't. The one on the right had a vibrant red soul. The soul of Determination. Sans eyed that one warily. He had found that monsters couldn't have Determination souls for some reason. Most humans though had souls of that red- that's part of what made them so dangerous in battle. That combined with their ability to hate like no monster could made for a killer combo on the field. If a human wanted to kill you, you'd be hard pressed to kill them before they got their wish. Their Determination also refused to let monsters take their souls. Humans were such a pain.
Integrity narrowed his eyes at the skeleton. "Guys look at that; his eye is glowing weird! What do you think he's doing?"
"I bet he's trying to curse us." Determination muttered wide-eyed. Integrity rolled his eyes and started dismissing the statement, but Determination shook his head vehemently. "No, Father Michael was preaching about this exact thing. He's a monster using his magic to curse us." The way the human said the word, it was not simply a label or title. It was an insult, a disgrace, to be a monster. You weren't a monster- you were an abomination. Determination's eyes grew even wider, becoming the size of dinner plates. "We're going to go to hell!"
The three boys blanched, staring down at the skeleton. Finally, Bravery drew himself up and puffed out his chest. "Not on my watch." He hissed, shaking the cage again. The wooden bars behind Sans clacked on his head and back, sending more shoots of pain through his body. Sans groaned, closing his eyes against the pain and drawing into a tighter huddle. He heard Bravery laugh nervously, then more confidently when he realized he had subdued the monster. "Yeah, you like that monster?" The boy shook the cage harder until Sans was forced to crawl to the center to escape the worst of it.
"Hey, knock it off." Integrity, much to Sans' surprise, stepped forward and jerked Bravery back by the shoulder. "The doctor might string us up if he catches us messing with his test subject."
Bravery scowled at his companion. "Aw, come on, you don't believe that do you? It's just a monster- we can capture more. Besides, this one was trying to kill us, Determination was right. Just look at those eyes." Bravery gestured to Sans' glowing sockets. "And its body for God's sake! It's a skeleton! That's just unholy." Bravery grinned at Sans again, taking a confident step forward. "It's like the priests say. Monsters can take the souls of humans, they walk around in bodies like that, and use that black magic, they must be exterminated." Well, wasn't this just lovely. Sans tried to scoot away from the human, but his cage was small and he was too slow either way. The human grabbed the rough cotton of his undershirt and yanked the skeleton so their faces were inches apart. His grin grew and his eyes filled with manic glee as he realized he had complete dominance over the creature before him. Sans was just a monster. No one would object to the death of a monster.
Bravery raised a fist, preparing to strike him. Desperately, Sans looked to the other humans for help. Integrity shuffled from foot to foot nervously, but he just seemed concerned about coming back and finding them here. Determination was looking on with a grave sense of approval, his eyes just as merciless as his companions'.
Of course. He was nothing to these humans. Just an abomination that needed disposing.
Sans squeezed his sockets shut and braced for impact, praying he would survive this blow with how low his HP was. If he was being completely honest with himself, he knew that Battle probably wouldn't even engage with how low his health was. He'd just turn to dust.
He was about to die. Despite the encroaching hopelessness and despair he had felt the night before, Sans felt a pang of terror. He didn't want to die.
"What is the meaning of this?" A monotone voice inquired. Even after hearing it for only one conversation, Sans could place that voice anywhere.
He dared to crack an eye open. He had to fight back a gasp at the fist a hair's breath from his skull. The fist surrounded by a veil of purple light. Bravery was yanked over to the looming form of , suspended almost a foot off the ground with blue magic and held in place by purple magic. Standing against the light, Sans almost couldn't tell where 's robes ended and his long shadow began. Once again his gaze was drawn to the human's eyes. They swirled with blue and purple light, responding to his magic. And though his voice hadn't portrayed a hint of it, they were ablaze in his fury.
"G-Gaster-" Bravery stammered, eyes darting all around, but never on the human before him. The human's lackeys tried to turn and run, but with a glance Gaster froze them in place with more purple magic. Gaster gazed at each one appraisingly before turning to Sans.
He switched to the monster language, much to Sans' confusion. The doctor knew he knew human tongue. "Do any of these have a soul of Integrity?" Sans nodded, pointing to the boy. The boy paled at the action, obviously trying to escape the purple magic but it had him trapped firmly in place. switched to human. "Why were you about to damage my subject?"
The boy was white as a sheet, and Sans thought he might piss himself. "I-I didn't, I mean- it was his idea!" The boy's arm was released from the magic for a moment so he could point to Bravery. "He said there was a new monster in camp and we should go see what it looked like! We've never been on the battlefield before, we haven't seen any monsters before! I was just curious is all, but he got here and wanted to kill it!"
"Is that so?" responded smoothly, turning back to Bravery. "And why, pray tell, did you want to kill my subject?"
Bravery's eyes widened in terror. "It's his fault!" Bravery was partially released to point at Determination. "He said it was trying to kill us and we would be sent to hell! I just wanted to protect us, is all!"
sighed crossly, pinching the bridge of his nose. He threw daggers in his glance toward Determination. The boy whimpered. went back to Integrity. "Who's your commanding officer?"
"Captain Avery." The boy responded, cringing back slightly.
just nodded, sighing again. "Do you boys know what I do to people who are insistent on killing my subjects of study?" He looked at each of the soldiers-to-be. "They replace what they have destroyed."
It took a moment for it to sink in, but soon enough each of the boys were begging to be spared. Gaster let them plead for a time before freezing their faces with purple magic. They all stared at him, unable to blink and eyes beginning to water.
"Now, you didn't hurt my subject. So this time, I'll let it be." pulled them in with blue magic so they were all dwarfed in his shadow. "But let me be clear." He continued, his voice dangerously soft and fiery eyes holding the boys in place even after he dropped the purple magic. "If this ever happens again, you three will be the next ones in that cage. If I find anyone else has harmed my subject, you three will be the next ones in that cage. Do you understand?" The boys nodded furiously. "Good. Now, run along before you miss breakfast."
The boys didn't need to be told twice. They high-tailed away, glancing back several times. watched them go with an unreadable expression, as always, before looking Sans up and down once. He opened his mouth to say something, but someone beat him to it.
"Must you be so cruel, Gaster?" A feminine voice crooned from around the corner. turned just as a red-headed woman with freckles approached. Her green robes identified her as a human healer.
"I let them go, didn't I?" The doctor deadpanned in response, crossing his arms. "What do you want, ?"
"You called for a healer, didn't you?" She smirked, slinking over to stand next to the doctor, lithe as a cat. Gaster's only response was a grunt. She rolled her eyes good-naturedly before turning to Sans. Sans felt a slight tug on his soul, the healer trying to summon it. Sans wouldn't let it leave the protection of his ribcage, however slight that was. tsked, saying, "Aye, Gaster, you sure know how to pick them. He won't let me see his soul."
"Firstly, I didn't pick him, the soldiers did." Gaster said matter-of-factly. "Secondly," He eyed Sans, "I thought we went over this." Sans met the doctor's gaze evenly, but did not summon his soul. The doctor sighed tiredly. "Very well, then. We'll do this the hard way." He waved a hand, about to cast a spell when stopped him.
"Let me try. The lad might just be confused." She said softly. She turned back to the skeleton, a gentle smile on her lips. " ," She said in monster, "I would like to inspect the damage done to your soul and body so that I may properly heal you. Is that alright?"
As if he had a choice. Sans wanted to stubbornly turn away, but the woman's eyes were just so damn caring, filled to the brim with a kindness Sans had never seen before in a human. He closed his sockets in defeat and gave a terse nod. This time when there was a tug on his soul, he grumbled, letting the white heart float out. The woman smiled, stepping closer. "Let's see... ah! Here we are! HP." She blinked as the numbers appeared before her. " ?" Something about the worry that crept into the healer's voice made the doctor take pause in reading some notes.
He still didn't look up though. "What is it?"
"Uh, was the monster's HP so low when he got here?" asked, glancing worriedly over her shoulder.
"He just came from battle and a night in the cold." replied irritably, turning the page. "His HP will be concerningly low."
"His max HP, Gaster." replied with a less amused eye roll. "He's only got eighty points!"
"I have sixty." Gaster said tiredly, closing the bound parcel of parchment. "Your point being?"
"Well, you're a bloody madman." muttered loud enough for to hear. She stopped. "Wait, sixty? It was seventy the last we spoke." The healer turned to Gaster, concerned.
He shrugged. "Things change."
stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head. "Anyways," she said, switching back to the language Sans knew, "Eighty is very low for a monster." Gaster raised an eyebrow at her, prompting her to continue. "It's concerning, is what I'm saying."
Gaster frowned ever so slightly. "Well, it's not a problem. Just heal him so I may begin my research."
Lytle scowled. "Would it kill you to be at least a little nice?"
"Yes." Gaster said, looking away. "It would." Lytle cocked her head curiously, but was already moving again. "Fetch me when he is healed."
"Gaster, er-" The doctor left while the healer was mid-sentence, rounding the corner of the stone building. A moment later, Sans heard a door slam. "Bloody hell. Aye, that man." She muttered something in her foreign language, eyes beginning to glow green. Immediately, Sans' soul felt a refreshing coolness settle over his soul. The healer began to hum some odd human song as she worked, restoring first his HP then reducing the pain in his body. Despite himself, Sans gave a small sigh of relief as the pain present in his bones since he arrived suddenly vanished. "And there we go." The human said in monster, suddenly sounding exhausted. The light in her eyes flickered out of existence, leaving her eyes seeming very vacant. "Good as new, yes?"
Sans nodded, examining his soul before letting it sink back into his chest. "Thank you." He said gratefully, voice hoarse from lack of use.
She smiled, reaching through the bars to give the skeleton a pat on the shoulder. "Hang in there. Life here, it's not so bad. And in the end, hey, at least you made a difference."
Sans scowled at the human. "For the wrong side." He growled.
She shrugged, pulling her hand back. "Life is like that. Well, anyways, I'm sure I'll be patching you up again soon enough." She gave a parting smile before turning around the corner. There was a pounding on a door, some words exchanged, then Gaster was storming into view, a dark expression on his face.
"Get a scolding from mom?" Sans teased. Idiot, what are you doing?
threw daggers at the skeleton, his eyes flaring with barely suppressed magic. "Sei ruhig." The doctor spat, much to Sans' confusion. 's face grew red when he realized his mistake. "Be quiet." He said in a language more native to the skeleton. "Out."
This time, Sans obediently scrambled out of the cage. He couldn't help but smile when he could finally stand up and stretch his legs. pushed him toward the corner Sans kept seeing people disappearing around. He stumbled after the doctor, following him through a wooden doorway and into the stone building his cage had been propped against.
It took a moment for Sans' sight to adjust after the brightness of the morning, though not nearly as long as it would take a human. The dark room was big, but the room was the entirety of the building so Sans supposed that only made sense. Along the left wall was a large desk with papers covering every inch of available space. The lower right corner of the room was a cell with wooden bars, bigger than the cage Sans had just come from at least. It had a bedroll and a small table with a stool. But the real spectacle was the wall opposite Sans. He knew, with just a glance, what lined that wall. Cubbies with jars filled with the soul matter of monsters. Sans stopped cold, his soul freezing in his chest. This was what happened to those the Doctor of Death experimented on. This was what would remain of Sans.
"Move." ordered coldly. Sans started, darting forward to enter the cage the human motioned to. The doctor slammed the door shut, muttering something. Runes surrounding the cage flashed white in response, before sustaining a dim glow. began making jerking motions and symbols with his hands, irritably moving over to the wall of churning soul matter and scanning the various jars. He made a sudden huge motion before his hands stilled, the doctor silently fuming. He moved over to the desk, ruffling through the papers before finding the one he was looking for. He scanned its contents, scowling at whatever was on the page. "Your HP." He snapped suddenly, glancing up. "What was its previous maximum and when did you start losing health points?"
Considering the doctor's mood, Sans bit his metaphorical tongue and decided to simply answer the question. "Uh, my max HP used to be one-eighty. My max HP points started getting lower just after you left."
"Yes, but why? Why did your HP start to decrease?" The doctor quickly reread the page before tossing it away from him. "Gott verdammt!" The doctor presumably cursed, collapsing into the chair at his desk. He held his head in his hands, groaning.
Sans cautiously moved over to his stool and sat down as quietly as he could manage, watching the doctor carefully. Why was the man so distraught? Sans stopped himself. Did he really care? Well, he certainly didn't have much better to do than wonder about his soon-to-be-killer. So, the human didn't know why his HP had started to decrease? That was why he was so upset? Every monster knew that your hope correlated directly to your health points. The less hope, the less health, the more hope, the more health. But the doctor, apparently, didn't know that. Should Sans... tell him that? That would be helping the enemy though.
"Do you know?" turned to the monster. Sans hesitated, looking down at his hands. The doctor sighed, picking up his sheet and bringing it over to him with blue magic. "I can't understand it. All the monsters I bring in start losing their max HP, yet everything I subject them to is different. I give them different food, give them different tests, try different things on them. Still, their HP decreases until they lose all but one. At that point, a mere cut could end their life. They can't even sustain the stress of magic on their soul; they'll become exhausted and die without immediate medical attention and rest." The unspoken words hung in the air, And that will happen to me soon.
Sans wanted to be silent, but that would get him definitely punished. He almost wanted to lie, but that would go against the nature of his Integrity soul. "Hope." Sans finally whispered, tightening his hands into fists.
Gaster stopped, looking at the skeleton. The slight way his brows were drawn, the way his eyes dimmed again, he was definitely confused. "What?"
"Hope." Sans repeated. "They lost hope which lowered their health."
Gaster was silent as he turned back to the sheet. He sighed, summoning his spectral hands and letting them take the parchment and write on it. He dragged a hand over his face before getting up and leaving. Sans was left to sit in his cage.
Why are you losing hope? Sans thought, looking around his cage. There was nothing useful in here, but with the seat and the bed it would at least be a little comfortable. Is there a real reason, or is it just because you're human? Humans were weird. There were all sorts of stories and medical issues Sans had heard about them. Nothing he had to really worry about as a skeleton monster. Is it... because there is no justice in what you're doing and you have a soul of justice? Now the skeleton was just being a romantic. He didn't even know for sure if the man's soul had a base of justice.
The doctor returned eventually with a tray of food in hand. The smell of it sent Sans' metaphorical stomach gnawing at his insides. The skeleton shuffled up and over to his bedroll, curling into a ball and trying to ignore the smell.
There was a creak and a scuff, then, "Well?"
Sans opened his sockets, looking over. The doctor had pushed the tray through a slot in the bottom of the bars. Sans watched the doctor tensely, but the man went over and sat back at his desk, returning to his notes and jars. Sans scrambled over to the tray, bringing it to his table and plopping down on his seat. The breakfast was simple really, just some eggs, bread, and a clay cup of milk. To Sans, though, it was positively heaven. Part of the void in the monster's soul was finally filled. Sans grinned. Now was a good a time as any. He stood up, stool toppling over, though the doctor didn't notice. His flared his eye to life. Or he tried at least. The moment he tried to use his magic, pain exploded in his head and behind his socket. He was thrown backward into the wall with an "oof" and landed hard on the floor.
"I would suggest not trying to use your magic." Gaster commented absently. "The runes around your prison will nullify it and backfire."
Good to know. Glad you told me before I tried anything stupid. Of course that's what the runes were for. Why had Sans even tried? Idiot.
"Alright, monster." stood up a moment later, before looking the skeleton up and down. He frowned slightly, cocking his head. "Are you alright?"
"Just peachy." Sans gritted out, massaging his temples.
"Ah, well, perfect then." Gaster opened the cell door, eyes flaring a bright white. Sans felt like a fist had just clenched around his soul, and immediately knew his magic wouldn't work if he tried to use it. Damn human with all his magic. "Follow me."
"Where?" Sans asked cautiously, uncertain if the question would upset the human.
"Magic practice range." Gaster answered, opening the door of the building. "I will also forewarn you now. If you try to use your magic, it will not work. Once we get to the range and you can use your magic, you will follow instructions, or suffer the consequences."
"Why are we going there?" Sans asked.
"I need to know your magical abilities." The human responded gruffly. "We have to do it today since it's going to rain tomorrow. It wouldn't bother me, but the range is closed on rainy days, so we haven't a choice. Now let's get going, I haven't time to waste."