Sorry for the long absence! You know how things are. Here's chapter 9 of Fallen.

"…ake up…"

A deep voice echoes throughout your consciousness as the child shatters into a billion pinpricks of light. Darkness closes in, swallowing the light, and…

You awake to Sans' grinning countenance mere inches from your face. When you cry out in surprise, he's visibly amused.

"didya miss me?"

You do not dignify this question with a full sentence, instead simply rising from the couch and working a nasty crick from your neck. You wince at the pain as you shift your legs forward. At some point, your tall form ended up sprawled across the entire couch, legs going past its armrest and head awkwardly bent in order to fit next to the opposite rest. This positioning was, to say the least, incredibly uncomfortable. You briefly wonder how you managed it before you hear a distinct, tinny buzzing noise emanating from the kitchen, where you left your pack. Your phone is ringing.

You stumble into the kitchen, ignoring the warm scent of butterscotch and instead grabbing your phone from your pack. "MOM" is lit up on the screen as it buzzes in your hand. With a sigh, you click a button to accept the call and hold the phone to your ear. It's a bit muffled (you're not about to hold up your ear with the other hand just to get better sound), but you can make out Toriel's voice on the other end. She sounds… Excited? "My child, I am sorry that I had not called in such a long time. While you were away, a human fell into the flowerbed!" Your blood turns to ice.

A human. Humans are dangerous. Humans kill people. Humans hurt people. Humans take things away and never, ever give them back. And you've managed to leave your dear mother alone with one. Oh, God.

"…You have not spoken. Has your phone run out of batteries?"

"Mom, I want you to listen carefully." You're practically shouting now, your mind racing and paws pacing up and down the cold linoleum. "Get away from the human. Now."

"My child, that seems a little excessive, does it not? They are just a-"

This IDIOT doesn't understand how much danger she's in.

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Mom. Take it from someone who used to be one- for humans, there's no love or kindness. For them, this world has always been kill or be killed. There's no such thing as 'just a human,' because they're ALL dangerous."

"…They are just a child."

Your voice quiets down a bit, but you're still livid.

"So? A child can still hurt you. A child can still KILL you. A child can still take you away from me." Warm tears run down your cheeks, matting and darkening your fur as they run down your muzzle. "Please, Mom, I… I don't want you to die. I'm not ready to be alone again." Your voice is ragged and comes out between choked sobs. Damn you for getting overemotional, but the fact still stands that humans are DANGEROUS.

She says nothing as you gulp down cold air, trying to calm down.

"My child, I… Appreciate that you are being honest with me, but I do not believe that this child is harmful. They could not even bring themselves to hurt a dummy. And besides, you should not speak so poorly of your new sibling!"

That was just like Toriel. She was a mother to anyone who needed one, and by God, what a mother! You almost envy the young human, if only because they're surely being treated to butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Burgers from Grillby's are good, but not as good as your mother's cooking. Figures.

"My child, are you still there?" Oh, right.

"Y-yeah, Mom! If you really think they're a good person, I guess I'll believe you… What's their name, anyways?"

"Frisk."

Your eyes bug out at this and images come to you of a small, determined child wearing a heart-shaped locket.

You choke a bit and force yourself to respond. "Haha… That's. A nice name. Well mom I'll talk to you later-"

Wait.

Wait wait wait.

Last night you learned that she used to be the QUEEN OF MONSTERKIND. You should probably ask her about that.

"Well, my child, if that is-"

"Wait."

"What is it, dear? Is there something else you would like to talk about?"

You feel your cheeks burning as you answer, words running out of your mouth like water from a faucet. "Well, you're apparently the queen? And you had a kid with Asgore but they're dead or something and you adopted a human once but I guess they died too? S-so I guess you're Asgore's ex and you hate his guts because of the whole human-killing thing. Right? A-and I'm sorry for mentioning your kid but I guess they're relevant because it'd be nice to have a sibling and oh God I'm rambling, aren't I?"

You expect some form of response.

You faintly hear sobbing from the other end, punctuated by choked apologies. Then…

She hangs up.

You hear a quiet cough from behind you and turn around, coming face-to-face with Sans. His smile is visibly strained and sweat beads on his bony brow, dripping down the contours of his wide skull. "sorry, kiddo, but i couldn't help but overhear your convo. seems like you're having problems with your mom."

Your eyes narrow into a sharp glare in response. "None of your business."

"heh. fair enough. i think that you were pretty awful back there but that's just a lazybones talking. oh, and one more thing."

"Sans, I was not awful, that had to be said… And the fact that I wasn't even the first, the fact that she never-"

His eyes go pitch black, white lights within vanishing.

"you're not a real monster, are you?"

You ball your fists and clench your teeth.

"Sans, that's ridiculous."

The lights return to his eyes. "heh, I know, right? but i was just thinkin' that, y'know, you're pretty weird. for starters, monster magic is almost always white, with blue and orange attacks mixed in. your magic was yellow."

"So?"

"well, i've heard that human magic takes on different colors is all. and, well, combined with your weird name and lack of a father…"

"Sans, you're being absurd. Stop." Your cheeks burn with a blush that is surely visible through your fur and you tremble like a leaf as you stand before the stocky skeleton. Despite his slovenly appearance and laid-back demeanour it strikes you that Sans is probably smarter than he lets on. The way he studies you, the way his prattling manages to cut into just the right parts of your psyche…

"eh, i know, right? anyways, i figured we'd do a little test. no offense, but that whole "i used to be a human" line during your phonecall caught my attention."

So he WAS listening in.

"I-it was just a figure of speech."

"uh-huh."

Sans walks toward the front door and motions for you to follow. You're still wearing pyjamas, but whatever. Your fur will keep you warm enough. Your horns scrape against the top of the door's frame as you head outside, sending a dull ache through your skull. You're ready for whatever Sans' little "test" is.

He sighs and moves a palm to face you. "kiddo, i really hate to do this, but i have to be sure that you're, well, you."

Suddenly, white bones materialize and fly towards you. The stream parts as it approaches you, and the bones end up crashing into a snowdrift behind you. A small shower of snow chills your back, but you are otherwise unharmed.

Until… You feel a familiar warmth in your chest. You've only been in one FIGHT before, a simple match between yourself and your mother to test your magic. You feel like a freak as a pale yellow heart materializes in front of your chest, glowing softly. Your SOUL.

You know that only humans are supposed to have their soul shaped like this, that monster souls have the point facing upwards, that only a human soul will exit the body during a FIGHT. It's a painful reminder that you're not a real monster, merely a second-rate imitation.

Sans' grin droops a little as he regards your soul, sweat dripping from his brow. "so. that's interesting." He drags his feet through the snow as he approaches until he's only a foot away. You can see the pinpricks of light in his eyesockets darting to and fro nervously. You have no doubt that his mind is racing with possible explanations for your anomalous soul.

"are you sure that was a figure of speech? because this looks an awful lot like a human soul."

"Shut up."

"not that i'm an expert on souls or anything. no offense, but are you sure that you're toriel's kid? i don't wanna rib ya, buuuut, well…"

"Shut. Up."

You hear a quiet, happy voice in the back of your head.

'C'mon, dummy, you know he won't let you live. He knows what you used to be, and, well, you said it yourself. Kill or be killed.'

Kill or be killed. You force yourself to bare your fangs at the skeleton as you let golden electricity flow to your palms.

'Turn him into dust. You're no human. He deserves to die for even suggesting that you're not the future of this world.'

Turn him into dust?

"kiddo, what do you think you're doing?"

That's a wonderful idea!