I wake up tied to a black marble slab, unable to move as thick chains hold me to it. Everywhere I look is darkness except for some screens that seemingly float in the void in front of me. [Its about time you woke up, trash] a dark voice rumbled through the empty space. "Where are you?" I growl angrily. "Let me go! Give me my body back!" [oh I don't think so smiley trash bag. You see I've made some changes to it.] The screens come to life, showing through my own eyes as if I'm watching a movie in some sort of weird out of body point of view. Except I'm a prisoner of my own body. I look exactly the same except that all my teeth are pointed rather than my canines and the colors of my markings are flipped, the pentacle and connecting lines that go down to my collar bone are red while the normally red ones that are on the corner of my eye sockets are blue. I realize that we are in Toriels home in the very same room Papyrus and I stayed in when she took us from the capital after the incident with the core and…..his crimes. [Now let's see where dear Toriel is. I'm sure she'll be so happy to see you after all these years.] The being calling itself Chara mocks as they move my body towards the door of the room. The monsters of the ruins fell before them using a knife as they are seemingly unable to use my magyk. It doesn't take long to reach Toriel, her back turned to us as she tends to the yellow flowers at the edge of the ruins. "Hey Tori, owls it hangin?" They ask in my voice, a slight rasp making it sound almost like a growl. "Oh Sans didn't see you there. How is Papyrus these days? Is Asgore alright? I-" Toriel cuts off, lookin down at the knife embedded in her chest and back up to 'my' face. "S-sans?" She asks as she slowly turns to dust, a look of betrayal and shock crossing her tear streaked face as she stares at me. My own tears are cascading down my skull from within my own mind, the blue tears looking purple as they pass over the red markings on the edge of my eye sockets.
Watching as they make short work of Snowdin I am glad yet worried when we don't run into Papyrus at all. [He's probably looking for you. You made your poor brother worry, trash. Its too bad he'll die soon.] Chara mocks, laughing at my anguish. "Y-you leave Papyrus alone!" I shout, struggling against my bonds. [Who is going to stop me, you? That's so funny.] their voice mocks as monster dust clogs the air. I keep struggling as the child makes their way to Waterfall, running from Undyne until she collapses from the heat in the Hotlands. "Please don't-" I start, flinching at the wet squelch the knife makes as it impacts Undynes skull. They go back through Waterfall and kill everyone there, meticulously searching every corner in their genocidal rampage. When they make it back to the Hotlands, Alphys is there kneeling over Undynes dust tears flowing down the scales of her face. "Nononononononono" I cry out from within my own mind but the knife strikes Alphys too, her dust mingling with Undyne's. Hotlands takes longer but eventually everyone there is gone too. Papyrus is still missing. Making it past the puzzles was the only reprise Sans had before they finally made it to the Judgement Hall. Since Sans was the one being possessed, the Judgment Hall was anticlimactic. Making it to Asgores chamber, I notice Papyrus talking with Asgore. "Papyrus I understand your concern but there is nothing I can do." Papyrus turns and sees us, smiling broadly as 'I' approach. Asgore turns seeing me and chuckles softly as they force me to approach stopping right in front of them knife hidden in my jacket sleeve. Neither seem to notice the dust caking my clothes as they make no comment on them.
"It's nice to see you again Sans. Papyrus was worried sick when you didn't return home a few days ago." Asgore starts in his almost too soft voice for his size. "So what is it you needed Sans?" Asgore asks kneeling to my level his kind eyes regarding my as a father seeing his son after a long separation. Eyes that widen in shock as they take my arm and shove the hidden blade deep in his skull, tears dripping down his golden fur as he too slowly turns to dust. Papyrus' horrified gasp has them turning my head away from Asgores dusting body to Papyrus' horrified look on his skull orange tears dripping to the floor. [Oh lookie lookie Papyrus is the only one left] they tease, approaching his still frozen form slowly. I sob loudly, frantically trying to get out of the chains screaming for Papyrus to move as they approach him. My chi-Papyrus is frozen whether in fear shock or both I can' t tell. I am forced to watch as seemingly in slow motion the blade slices through Papyrus' neck like it's made of paper mache. Papyrus turning to dust is the last thing I see before everything goes black my anguished cry going unheard by anyone except the being controlling my body. They reset, this time waking up in his room. It slowly becomes a sick kind of routine. Wake up in his room, be forced to kill everyone in the underground and reset. Except when Papyrus starts remembering the resets. He keeps asking why I would kill everyone why I'm doing this aren't I happy. Every time, Papyrus is always the last one to die whether due to Undyne and/or Asgores Intervention or Papyrus meeting us at the barrier.
"IT'S OK SANS. I MAY NOT KNOW WHY YOU ARE DOING THIS, BUT IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY, I AM OKAY WITH DYING BY YOUR HAND. I LOVE YOU SANS." Slowly with every reset, I regains some semblance of my strength. Every time the demon possessing their body dies, Sans begins to feel his body little by little. Unfortunately with every reset the LOVE increases ever faster. 'Come on, die a few more times so I can rid you of existence' I think whilst they are distracted with Muffet and her spiderlings. One reset Papyrus says something that causes them to pause. "I AM SORRY SANS I FAILED YOU. WHILE I WAS LOOKING THROUGH OUR OLD STUFF I FOUND SOMETHING. I KNOW NOW WHY YOU WOULDN'T ANSWER ME WHEN I ASKED ABOUT OUR MOM. BECAUSE YOU ARE MY MOM." Papyrus stutters our as the blade pierces his skull having sat down pulling me into his arms disregarding how everyone else has died. Managing to pull them into my mind as they pull their empty hand back I fling them into the void. Sadly, it is too late. Papyrus is beginning to dust. I run to Papyrus, stumbling as I regained feeling in my body. I scoop up what of him isn't dust yet into my arms sobbing as he continues to dust. "I KNEW THAT IT TRULY WASN'T YOU. IT'S GOING TO BE OKAY. I FORGAVE YOU A LONG TIME AGO. ALWAYS REMEMBER I LOVE YOU AND I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY." Papyrus says as his body finishes turning into dust. All that is left is his red scarf. Intense pain could in my soul as I scream to the ceiling sobbing over Papyrus' dust. "No! Papyrus!" I bawl out as I summon my soul and study it. The blue upside down heart now has a smaller right side up red heart inside it. Where the red meets blue there is a purple line. "I'll be with you soon Pap" I whisper brokenly as I crush my soul in my hand, pain lancing through me before it all goes black.
...
Reset
...
I wake up to a quiet house in my own room on my ragged mattress. Getting up I leave my room to find Papyrus. Maybe I reset to a day he spent the night at Undynes. It doesn't click until I am almost out of Snowdin that I haven't seen anyone at all. Frantically running towards Undynes house I trip over something in the snow just outside of Snowdin proper. It' s Papyrus' red scarf partially buried in snow. "Stars Pap no" I sob a I clutch his scarf to my chest, blue tears staining the snow in front of me. Taking a shuddering breath I summon my soul once again crushing it in my hand as I sob into Papyrus' scarf.
...
Reset..
...
I wake up again to the same empty house, searching the underground again I find that no one else is here and the only indication of them I can find is Paps' scarf. Sighing I wrap it around my neck as I make my way through Waterfall back to Snowdin. Going to the center of town I stare at the decorated tree feeling numb to the snow falling down on me. Eventually I start to feel cold but I ignore it in favor of skulking around at the tree thinking of happier memories. Like when Paps first used his magyk he was so happy. I barely register when I stop feeling cold and start to loose feeling in my bones. The snow is piled to my waist now preventing me from falling as I loose feeling in my legs. My eye sockets close as I fall asleep in the snow, the last thing I feel as I loose consciousness is my soul shattering.
...
Reset
...
I jump out of bed, hoping this time worked. Nothing. Everyone is still gone, especially Papyrus. "N-no. Paps, you can't still be…c'mon I need you!" I sob as I hold his scarf. Slowly trudging through Snowdin I make my way to Waterfall. Going to where the water is deepest I look around once more before throwing myself in. As my clothes absorb the water they drag me down even faster. Soon I'm at the bottom looking up at the surface of the water from where I lay. My eye lights flicker out leaving me almost blind as the water swirls around my soul, chocking it out as it floods the now-dual colored heart. Pain lances through me as everything darkens even more, death claiming me as swiftly as the last thyme. Heh thyme.
...
Reset
...
This time I make my way to Hotlands, trudging through the Underground slowly my soul weighed down with my heavy sins. I stop where the lava pools emit strong heat waves near Alphys' 'lab'. Walking over to the edge I peer into the bubbling lake of lava. "I deserve this." I mutter as I throw myself into the lava, the pain from burning alive slight compared to the pain in my soul my guilt weighing me down. "I'm sorry Paps, my precious child." I whisper as the lava consumes me the last thing I see is the cavern roof of my prison.
...
Reset
...
"Stars damnitt not again. Why won't anything work?" I cry out in frustration as I notice I'm in my bed in my empty house once again. Layout my there for what feels like hours I can feel something tugging at me consciousness like I'm slowly losing my mind. Doing a quick check I gasp at what I find.
Sans
LV 16
Atk 14
Def 15
HP 1
Wait…sixteen whole LOVE?! How…them. Somehow all of their using me like a marionette messed with my luv leaving me with a love of sixteen. No wonder I feel odd. Checking once more I find my karmatic retribution still there. I wonder….pulling up my sleeves ignoring the countless older chips and scars I begin to claw at the bone. The second I use karmatic retribution everything goes black.
...
Reset
...
I wake up in my bed, gasping as lingering pain from the last reset burns my arms slightly. Resisting the urge to chip at my arms again I summon my spell-book/grimoir. Perhaps I'm trying the resets a wrong way hopefully I can find a solution all the magykal texts have been absorbed into this so there should be something. Eventually I decide that it's time to train. Heh Paps would be proud. Essentially somehow in my forced resets the book became a spell-book with a never ending list of spells of every type and recipes for every potion known and unknown. If my magyk didn't work like some kind of RPG mage before it sure does now. I find that when I use the magic, a magic circle appears for most spells before the spell itself comes out of it. The symbol changes color depending on what type of magic I use. Green is healing/plant magyk. Blue is my regular gravity magic and telekinesis. The other colors I hadn't figured out yet. I guess I will have to wait until I have to use them to find out then.
My teleport has another form now. Instead of simply porting to another location I can make a giant magic symbol appears and I walk through it to come out at my destination. Also, I apparently have two human forms and two sort-of fox looking forms from what I read in my grimoir, one child and the other a teen version of the child. The human forms look the same look except the teen looking one taller than regular me, and had piercings in his ears. The hair for both is white and in a messy short but slightly spiky style my markings staying the same. There seem to be more scars visible in my human forms I assume due to more meat on my bones. Heh. I go home and sit on my bed, starting off into space contemplating all I've learned today. Maybe I'll go down to 'there' and see if there's any more paperwork on me maybe I'll find my moms name.
Making my way to the back of Alphys' greenhouse being the witch doctor she was I take the lift down into a darkened dilapidated corridor. The corridor opens to a studio looking living area and kitchen with two bedrooms on either side. Beside the kitchen is a wide hallway double doors at the end leading to what I know are the labs. Heading halfway down the hallway I open a door to an office going straight to the cracked wooden desk opening the file cabinets behind it. My grimoir opens absorbing all the papers in the file cabinet, some papers flying in from the open doorway as it absorbs all the paperwork in the lower labs. Getting out of there as fast as I can I sit down on one of Alphys' moss couches. Opening the book while thinking about finding more about myself it stops at a seemingly random page. I gasp in shock as I read the page.
Subject: Sans
Given Name: Runix
Mother: Sayomi (possibly alive unknown since barrier was erected)
Father: Dante (deceased)
Species: half skeleton monster half Kitsune
Lifespan: potentially 1,000+ years. Expected to grow a tail every thousand years. Lost ears and first tail due to a lab accident.
Shutting it in shock I stare into space as I dismiss it. Sighing as I get up I make my way down to my workshop under the house, stepping out of the portal into the room. In the center is a large circle four curved pillars lined with runes at perceived 'corners' in front of the circle is a floating holographic control panel. Situated against the walls around the room are my various shelves and drawers filled with various ingredients and potions. Going to the control panel I boot it up, somehow new stuff added to it. Apparently I can now look at other aus. Figuring why not and hopefully it'll help me find out what to do to restore my own au I spend what feels like countless hours researching the vast multi-verses and their various aus.
I don't notice the time pass until I begin to feel hungry. Not wanting to use the kitchen Paps used daily when he was alive I made a portal to Toriels old house in the ruins, using my grimoire for the recipe to her butterscotch cinnamon pie. I end up making two scarfing down the first one which while isn't as good as if she had made it was still delicious. Wrapping the second pie up I decide to walk home instead. As I'm passing my old sentry station I hear a quiet groan from behind it. Setting the pie on the worn wood I step around and peer under it. Laying unconscious under the wooden station is another Sans, Underfell from the sharpened teeth and gold fang. Lifting him and the pie with my magic I quickly port us to Alphys' greenhouse lab, setting him on the moss bed. Removing his clothes to asses the damage I spot several broken or missing ribs and cracks everywhere. Eye lights flashing green I summon my healing magyk, the circles appearing between my outstretched phalanges and the other Sans. I keep the healing magyk up until most of the damage is healed. Covering him back up with the soft blanket Alphys had sewn for monsters she healed that needed watching I sit in the chair across the 'room' and doze off.
He wakes two weeks later with a shout eye lights flickering in confusion and barely hidden fear before he spots me as I'm entering through the weeping willow branches that serve 'door'. "I'm glad you are awake. You gave me quite a scare when I found you by my old station all beaten up. How are you feeling by the way, any pain?" I ask as I set the bowl of soup on the bedside table, noting his gaze. "So…..you're the 'Sans' of this place?" He asks giving me a once over as I glance his way. "Yeah. But you can call me Runix." I inform him as I summon my healing magyk and approach him. "Tha' names Red." Red replies, staring at my unusual looking healing magyk cautiously but otherwise not moving. Once I finish healing the rest of his wounds I grab the soup holding the bowl out for him to take, spoon in my other hand. "Here eat this it'll help you feel better faster." I tell Red as he cautiously takes a sip, blanching at the flavor before drinking the rest down. "Ya got any mustard?" Red asks as he hands the bowl back to me. I nod, porting to the kitchen to get some and place the dishes in the sink leaving as the runes lining the kitchen wash and put them away. Returning I hand him the mustard sitting down as he chugs it like water.
The next few days I help Red regain the ability to walk, laying like that for weeks on end will do that despite my best healing attempts. We are walking back to my house when he stops me right outside Waterfall within the entrance to Hotlands. "I've been meaning to ask but where is everybody? Are they on the surface already what happened here?" Red asks, eye lights glowing with curiosity. "Let's get to the house first it's quite a long story" I sigh my eye lights dimming as we pass by my other old station in Hotlands. Grabbing Red I port straight to Alphys' old living room not wanting to face my old house since I avoid it like the plague. "Sit down this'll be a while." I stare motioning beside me on the moss couch, summoning my Grimoir the six souls pulsing once before opening to a page. "What's with the book Rune?" Red asks, poking the page lightly. "I can't summon bones or 'blasters' my magyk goes like this almost like some kinda Mage in an rpg. I use spells and such." I explain as I wave my hand over the page, words coming to life as images flicker in the air above the book. As I start speaking, the memories I describe play like a sort-of movie floating over my grimoir. "Long ago there was the Mythomagi, ancient magykal races of various types and forms. One day they got lonely and made Monsters. The two lived in harmony for hundreds of years. Neither were sure when humans came to be or who made them they just seemed to come out of the ground. Peace lasted for many many years between the three. But then a group of humans calling themselves 'holy knights' declared war, pledging to rid the world of Monsters and Mythomagi alike. From what the file I found on me says I'm half Monster half Mythomagi. Monsters and Mythomagi worked together with sympathetic humans to try and stop them from mass genocide. It worked until the Holy Knights managed to erect a barrier that locked all monsters away. From what I could gather from Toriel and Asgore the Mythomagi and remaining nice humans erected a barrier of their own to keep safe whilst they worked on breaking the monster barrier. I don't know if they are even still up there." I explain, pausing as I take a sip out of my drink I had pulled out of my Grimoir during my brief history of my au to Red.
"What happened in here then?" Red asked again, a slightly worried Look crossing his face. "Genocide happened Red. While our first human, Frisk, merely went missing after fusing with Asriel and leaving the barrier. The last one wasn't even human I'm sure. I lost count the amount of times I found my ch-Papyrus' scarf partially buried in snow and dust." I cut off, not wanting to cry the loss of my only child burning from the inside. "He wasn't yer bro?" Red asks as he catches my slight slip up sounding shocked eye sockets widening as I nod to answer him. "My Papyrus unlike most the other ones…..was my son." I whisper the last part voice cracking as grief begins to overwhelm me, memories of Pap flooding my head. "The thing won't reset any more. It can't. When I was fighting it I managed to absorb its soul triggering a reset of my own. Unfortunately it used the opportunity to seize control of my body and use me to kill everyone over and over again. While I managed to kill its consciousness from the soul no reset I've triggered so far has brought anyone back." I manage to choke out as I loose my voice, putting my head in my arms and sobbing barely noticing as arms wrap around me comforting me in my grief the scent of juniper leaves surrounding me.
When I wake up later I blush deeply realizing I had fallen asleep against him. Red is snoozing in the chair, surprisingly quiet snores filling the silence. Getting up I cover him in the blanket he must've covered me in as I head to Alphy's kitchen heating up a butterscotch cinnamon pie. Red stumbles in sleepily rubbing his eye sockets the blanket draped over his shoulders. I quickly turn to hide my blush as he sits down the adorable sight almost too much despite Red being taller and bulkier than me. "W-want some pie?" I ask as I plate my own piece. "Sure." Red slurs out still half asleep. Passing him his own plate with a mustard jar I get my ketchup. We eat in silence no sound other than the scraping of cutlery. As I magyk the plates clean Red watches seemingly amused by how different our magyk is despite being supposed alternates of each other. "I should be able to get you home today." I inform Red opening a portal straight to my 'lab'. I chuckle lightly as Red grapes walking around the room inspecting everything until he focus' on the platform in the center. "This is where a portal will appear but first I need to find your au." Placing my phalanges on the control panel I use the tracking function to locate the au in which Reds signature match only partially aware of his gaze.
We walk up to the living room of my house sitting on the couch in the living room while we wait. "So the surface what's it really like?" I ask Red turning to the edgier skeleton. "The city is noisy and a bit crowded but there's always something you can do and the country areas are beautiful the stars are even more beautiful in person. Me and Sans go all the thyme to stargaze." Red answers gazing off into the distance. "Wait your au is connected to an Undertale one?" I ask curiously because in my own research it seemed to be a increasingly more commonly occurring phenomenon. "Yeah and a Underswap one too. I don't know all the semantics but I'm glad I met Sans. We bonded a few months ago." Red gushes, blushing as he no doubt thinks about his mate. "Well I'm gonna check the portal real quick I'll be right back we don't wanna end up in the wrong au." I answer cheerily. Once I shut the door to my 'lab' I slide to the floor against it clutching at my coat. Why does it hurt? I feel breathless without having lungs. Oh stars, was I…..falling for him? Quickly fixing the parameters for the search I take a minute to collect myself before returning to the living room. I find myself staring up at a concerned looking Red waiting at the door.
"Hey Red wazzup?" I ask cheerily as I walk into the living room Red right behind me. "Cut the act Rune what's wrong?" Red asks, worry cutting through the air in the room like a hot knife. "What ya talkom bout Red nothing's wrong" I answer cheerily as I turn around quickly ignoring the feeling that something is indeed wrong, that I am falling for a skeleton who already has a mate. And hard. Red follows as I head into the kitchen using a quick spell to clean up the dirt from how long I avoided my own kitchen. Everything is exactly how Papyrus left it. I get to cooking, magyk lighting up the room as I re-read the recipe for potato stew. Red watches from the doorway as I cook, watching as my magyk creates a symphony of moving cutlery and food. The room is quickly filled with the aroma of hot stew. Flicking my wrist I use my magyk to pour two bowls setting them on the table with a spoon in each. Motioning for Red to join me I sit and start eating my own bowl.
It doesn't take long before we finish, a quick spell cleaning up any mess with the dishes. Sitting in the living room I ignore his questioning glances as I let the food 'digest' into magyk and be absorbed. I doze off on the couch moments later as my first full meal in a while lulls me to sleep, barely hearing something about too cute and a brief flash of light before sleep pulls me in. When I wake up I'm leaned over on Red his arm wrapped around my shoulders. Moving as quickly as possible without waking him up I make a quick breakfast of oatmeal floating the plates to the table just as Red enters the kitchen rubbing his eye sockets sleepily. My back is turned to him as I make final preparations not noticing his approach until two arms wrap around my waist and I feel his breath on the back of my neck as he sleepily nuzzles into me. I blush deeply, freezing as Red leans further into me. "*yawn* Aww Sansey ya know I loaf it when ya cook fer me." Red mumbles into my neck. Oh dear stars he must think I'm his mate. "Was wrong babe?" Red slurs out and by this thyme my whole skull is aglow in a vibrant dark blue blush. I'm practically steaming as his phalanges roam lower than my middle thankfully not going towards my clothed pelvis but instead dangling around my knees. Red seems confused as he fiddled with the cloth around the knees of my pants. He suddenly stiffens, reflexively pushing me forward as he backs up rapidly. I fail to stop myself from slamming my skull into the corner of the table as pain erupts right above my left eye socket before it all goes black.
My return to consciousness is slow, the first thing I can feel is a pounding headache and someone pacing in front of where I'm laying. Probably Red pacing in front of the couch. As my hearing returns I can just make out Red berating himself. "Just fucking great. First I sleepily mistake him for Sans damn near violating him and then I just had to knock him unconscious. At least his defense is kinda high. But there was so much blood. C'mon bud wake up already." Red rambles sounding on the verge of a spaz attack. Managing to open my eye sockets I immediately slam them shut as the dim light of the living room makes my headache throb painfully. I groan lightly as I cautiously adjust to the light in the room catching Reds attention. "Oh thank the stars yer awake I thought I friggin put ya in a stars damned coma. You've been asleep fer two days." Red ranted on, oblivious to my attempts to sit up until I finally managed to. Stars two days? Did he eat anything? Is the portal still looking or did it find his home yet. "Oh no ya don't lay yer ass back down." Red scolds as he makes me lie back down on the couch. "And ta answer yer questions yes I did eat I ain't incompetent. The magyk thing did make a noise but that was only half an hour ago so chill." Red admonishes. Huh. I said those out loud, damn. "But you need to get home. I'll be fine." I insist still trying to get up despite Red using his magyk to keep me on the couch. "But yer head it's cracked some'tin fierce." Red questions stopping as I motion for my somehow still summoned grimoir. It floats over his outstretched phalanges opening to seemingly a random page.
"Huh wa's this?" Red asks and touches the page. With a flash of magyk that shocks both of us a glass bottle appears in his hand the book dissipating in my shock. I'll think on that later. Only family and mates should be able to do that but Red is neither. Well we are both Sans' but I doubt that would matter. Red hands the bottle to me, sitting down on the recliner in the corner skulking as he watches me carefully. Sitting up I uncork the glass bottle swirling its contents to activate the magykal properties of the liquid inside. It shimmers in hues of blue and green as it swirls around its glass container before loosing some of its volume as the liquid compacts. I pour it out using my blue magyk to hold it mid air in front of me imbuing it with some of my own healing magyk. It takes more focus than usual with the headache pounding in my head but I manage. Pouring the now thick liquid on my skull I sigh as the healing magyk in the viscous liquid soothes the ache in my skull ignoring Reds stare nor how he stiffens as he watches. Huh I guess it looks weird to him. After it dissipates I get up heading towards my 'lab' Red not far behind me. When we arrive the runes lining the structure of the portal glow from the runes lining it. Walking up to the Dias the controls are on I pulse my magyk into it. Immediately the magyk roars to life, concentrating at a point in the center of the pillars. A purple line extends from the floor to where the top of the pillars are before widening I to a ocular portal swirling with every color before a large pentagram takes up the whole portal. The light pulses once more before steadying signifying it's ready.
"Well Red ready to go?" I ask not turning to look as he approaches the portal crossing in front of me to step up to it. "Hey Rune I just want to give you something before I leave." Red states, motioning me towards him. "Sure" I answer, shrugging mentally I walk up to him standing beside him in front of the portal. Reaching into his pocket, Red pulls out a purple spiked collar like his own holding it out for me to take. "You….you made this?" I ask stunned when he nods and clasps it around my neck. The soft leather feels nice and cool around my neck as I fiddle with the silver pentagram dangling from an equally silver hoop in the middle of the front of the collar in place of a tag. "T-thanks" I murmur to Red sadly to admit it but somehow I feel…..better? "Welp thyme to go I soupose. Nice meetin ya Rune." Red says before turning towards the portal. I almost miss his smirk as he steps forward and before I can react he grabs me by my partially outstretched arm pulling me in with him as he jumps into the portal.