Reapertale: Death's Tattoo

So I have absolutely fallen in love with Undertale and have obsessed over it since December of last year, so I thought, why not try and write a story about it? This one is base off of one of my favorite Alternate Universes (AU's) called Reapertale, but with my own little spin. If you haven't checked it out you totally should! I'll leave a link the description below.

I DO NOT OWN UNDERTALE!

WARNING! There will probably be triggers and sensitive material in this, like depression, death and such. If you are uncomfortable around that sort of thing, I suggest you read something else. If not, please continue!

"you ready to go kid?"

I glanced at his hand before asking, "Um…. Go where exactly?"

His grin widened.

"Home"

Chapter 2

I gave the god of death a confused look as he continued offer his hand to me. Seeing my obvious confusion, he winked again and said, "just trust me kiddo."

Looking into is eyes, I saw nothing that would give me any reason to not trust him, so I carefully took his hand in mine. His surprisingly warm bones delicately wrapped around mine in a protective grip.

"hold on."

"Wha-?"

Darkness… this darkness was different from the one I knew. This was suffocating and heavy, plunging my soul through what felt like ice water. My soul was suspended in nothing. Then, a warm and harsh wind rushed through my nonexistent body as I suddenly felt solid ground under foot.

I gasped for air as my vision blurred and I clung to the only physical thing I could find. After my wits came back, I finally took in my surroundings. It was the complete opposite of what I had seen of the Underworld.

This place was bright, seemingly made of clouds and mist. Further ahead, I could see the mist giving way to white marble columns and shining pillars. It was otherworldly, like the classic depiction of heaven, but with a more Greek style to it. After gazing around in wonder, my mind went back to what I was clinging to. I looked at the soft black fabric between my fingers, then quickly trailed my eyes up to meet the white pinpricks of Sans. I had unknowingly been clinging to his chest like a lost puppy. Or a drunk, I wasn't really sure.

I took my hands back as if I'd touched fire and backed up a step. I quickly hid my face behind my bangs and stuttered out a series of apologies.

Sans only shrugged and replied, "heh, its fine kiddo. i get how disorienting teleportin' like that can be. i probably should have warned ya first. sorry"

Desperate to change the topic before my face bursted into flames, I looked back to the pillars as a question popped into my head.

"So, where are we exactly?"

Sans came to stand beside me and gave me a sideways look. For a moment I could have sworn his cheeks had turned a shade of blue, but I quickly dismissed it. He smiled his usual lop-sided grin and said, "Home. Our king's great and all, but really bad at names."

We both just stood there for a moment in silence, staring at what lay ahead. I stared to feel my throat tighten up with anxiety, before Sans started to walked towards the pillars.

"welp, might as well get this over with. Come on kid, it's this way."

I hesitated for a moment before quickly following close behind the god of death.

As we made our way deeper into Home, the clouds and mist gave way to marble hallways and white columns. Our footsteps echoed down the halls as we continued to trek down the path to my uncertain future. My eyes started to wander over the pristine walls as I looked for something to distract myself. But after looking over every inch of the barren walls, my search proved to be fruitless, so my eyes eventually landed on the back of the reaper. His broad shoulders seemed to be tight and stiff, like he was more nervous than he let on, which made me even more anxious.

By the time we came to the end of hallway, we were both a bundle of nerves. We stopped before a pair of giant purple doors reaching up towards the ceiling. Sans paused before the doors and looked over his shoulder at me, giving me another reassuring smile before pushing the door open and stepping inside, with myself in tow.

Being a god can be a real pain in the tail bone, if ya know what I mean. Being the God of Death, even more so. And I should know, since I kinda am said god. I've never really liked my job, having to bring so much pain and sorrow to the mortal world while everyone else is revered and worshipped. Needless to say, it got old pretty fast. But it does have a few perks, like being the ruler of your own little hole in the ground. But Paps hates it when I call it that, so I'll just say Underworld.

Of course, it's not like its lonely down there or anything. I've got my bro, all the millions of souls I've collected over the years, even though I can't really talk to them after their judgement, that's kinda a one way trip. There are also the monsters that ended up down there. Most of them were human before, but were banished by the other gods for various reasons and turned into monsters as punishment. Others, mostly the Demons, were made a few years after mine and Paps creation, to kinda help guard the place. Every prison needs its warden right?

Of course, I've made a few of those demons myself, and not a single god even batted an eye. They were just like, "Oh, you turned someone into a monster and sentenced them to eternal damnation? K. Just be sure to file the proper paper work."…. no, really, you gotta fill out paper work for that shit. So needless to say, I don't exactly go around do that sort of thing willy nilly.

But the one time I actually do it for a good cause, all hell breaks loose! I try to help an innocent kid, and everyone freaks out because it wasn't under the usual circumstances. So what if it wasn't the kid's time? She was in absolute pain, anything else would have been better for the kid.

I can see the way people turn out. If I concentrate hard enough, I can see years into their future and see exactly how they die, and trust me… she didn't have long anyways.

I just wanted to be helpful for once. To end someone's pain instead of cause it. So what, am I only allowed to cause pain and anguish?!... I know, I'm thinkin' to much into this… I know in the end my job does good, that I do end some peoples suffering, this and that and other, blah blah blah… I just don't see why wanting to help this one girl has to cause such a ruckus. The kid's been through enough as it is… they can't just… no… I won't let that happen… I took the kid's fate into my hands and ain't about to let it go without a fight… the kid… Henna Lilly…. She… is different. I feel it… In my bones...

All of this and more was swimming around in my head as I casually walked down the halls of Home, listening to echoes of our footsteps as I lead her to her potential doom. I tried to remain cool and calm on the outside, for her sake at least. A soul as fragile as hers doesn't need this kind of stress right after bein' reaped from the mortal world…Wait, why am I even getting so worked up over this? I barely know the kid.

Cause she's different, says a little voice in the back of my head.

I glance back at Henna, but her mind is obviously elsewhere, as I watch her look over the marble walls for a moment. How can a soul be so pure, yet so broken at the same time? I don't think I'll ever get the image of her poor soul out of my head. I'd thought I'd seen it all, cracked, bruised, corrupted, whatever, every soul is different… but hers… I don't know, hers just… it was so far gone, it made my own ache. Maybe that's why I did what I did. Pity or maybe sympathy?... I don't know…

A shadow suddenly pulled me from the depths of my thoughts. How did I not notice the giant purple doors in a bleach white hallway until it was right in front of my face? I stared at the door with a foreboding feeling crawling down my back like sins. I took a deep breath to try and quiet the thoughts in my mind, before flashing Henna Lilly another smile, and pushing the doors open.

The room was just a plain circular space with misty clouds for a floor, like the place I teleported to to get here. In the middle of the room was a small circular clearing, surrounded by a raised platform for the other gods to stand on. It was probably meant to be an intimidation thing for when outsiders were brought here. And of course the High Council was already there.

Undyne was the first to notice our arrival and we exchanged our customary scowls. Next to the Goddess of War was the little Goddess of Knowledge, Alphys. The small yellow lizard was shifting uncomfortably when she noticed us, which told me she didn't like this either. I always got along rather well with her, although, she didn't often have time for idle chit-chat.

On the opposite of the little half circle was Gerson, the God of Wisdom (?). The ancient tortoise looked as kind and gentle as always, offering us a small wave to say hello, but his eyes were much more solemn and serious. They told me to be prepared for anything in this meeting.

Standing next to the tortoise was Gaster, the God of Magic. He's also my dad, in a manner of speaking. The tall figure was standing with his back straight and hands clasped behind his back, a very serious and stoic expression washing over his white and scarred face as we came into his view. His look told me absolutely nothing. He's a pretty hard guy to read.

And then of course, there was the King of the Gods, Asgore. The bulking white goat monster had his back to us, before Gaster tapped his shoulder and he glanced back to see Henna and myself. His eyes flashed from surprise, to sorrow, and then the passive solemnity every great leader must wear when making hard decisions.

He turned to face me fully, and the rest followed suit. A silent order that the meeting had begun. I could feel Henna's presence very close to my back now, I didn't need to look at her to tell she was scared.

As we all stood in silence, it was Gerson who finally broke the stifling silence.

"So, this is the girl?" He asked in a calming voice, obviously trying to break the ice.

I then put on my 'Comic Sans' mask and replied with a simple, "yep"

It was then Gasters turn as he said, "You do realize why you are both here, do you not Sans?"

"yep"

I looked out the corner of my eye to see my simple answers already getting under Undyne's scales. I resisted the urge to widen my smile.

"Sans."

I was driven out of my thoughts at the sound of the King's voice, giving him my full attention.

"You must know this is not a light matter. You cannot just reap children whenever you please. You know as well as, if not better than, I that there are rules in place for a reason. Turning a human into a Demon is a damning sentence. So why then, did you do it to this innocent girl?"

I just stood there for a moment, before speaking up, choosing my words carefully.

"she asked me to."

"WHAT?!"

"Undyne" The Goddess cringed at the king's voice. He didn't raise his voice or anything, but rather said it forcefully enough to grab her attention and put her in her place.

He gave me an apologetic smile. "Please, explain Sans."

I nodded and continued, "As I was saying, she simply asked me to, and I was feeling generous."

I then paused to wait for their reactions. They pasted each other looks varying from concern to fear to anger, then turned back to me.

"Please continue…"

I knew then I'd have to give them the whole story. I looked over my shoulder at Lily and searched her face as I silently asked the question we both knew we'd have to answer. She gave a small nod of approval, so I steeled myself and took a deep breath.

"Well, it happened like this… "

To Be Continued…