Frisk - Sans' arms feel warm and soothing around me, calming me. The nightmare fades to a blur after a few moments and soon I can't even remember what it was about. I just felt sad and knew it was my fault. Once I had stopped shaking Sans released me, letting support myself. He drew back a little and I felt a pressure on my leg. My eyes looked down and that's when I saw all the blood. It was smeared across the ground, walls, my pants and legs, Sans' hands and jacket. The blood was everywhere, oozing out of cuts on my Sans' bone fingers pressed into one of the cuts a sharp shoot of pain made me gasp. I clinched my teeth as he dug around in the wound, groaning to let him know that whatever he was doing hurt! Sans pulled something out and showed it to me, a small rock that had stuck itself into my skin.
"I think...we should move you." Was all the skeleton said to me before sliding his hands under my legs and around my back, picking me up with ease. I grunted between clenched teeth at the pain this caused me, tears springing unwarranted to my eyes.
"I know it hurts, but I can take care of you easier at the house." Sans pushed through the door to the little cave and walked briskly through the snowy part of the Underground to his house in Snowdin. Passing the shop and inn made me remember the family that owned them both. The place I started to learn about this strange new world from more than just Toriel. Thinking of these people, Toriel especially, made me feel a pang of longing. I missed them, each monster I had met that day. I let my eyes wander as Sans walked, and soon saw Grillby's restaurant glowing in the distance.
"Can we go to Grillby's?" I ask, my voice soft as I voiced the random request. "Later." Sans' reply was curt but I could tell he didn't mean it to be rude. Sans was just focused on our situation at this moment. With each step I grew a bit uneasy, there were factors that I hadn't thought about. Did Papyrus know I was back? Did Sans actually believe that I was me? For that matter, who else could I be?
What had happened in the 10 years that had passed? Sans seemed to have aged a bit more than I thought he should have. His bones were still the pale yellow-ish white they had been when we first me, but now they seemed a bit more dried out and the laugh creases had some how smoothed into frown lines. My hand reached up to place two fingers lightly on his temple, feeling the slight warmth and softness as I traced a minute fracture
I could feel the whites of Sans' eye sockets on me and turned my gaze to meet them. My heart pounded in my ears loud enough I was sure Sans could hear and looked away quickly. That was when I noticed that we had stopped moving. Apparently my awkward timing had been perfect because the little wooden cottage stood before me. The wreath and colored strings lights had been taken down and the pair of mail boxes sat cold and empty to the right of the building.
The house was darkened and the groomed exterior had become withered by age and weather. The light colored wooden planks were now a damp, muted brown with chips broken off in odd places. The posts holding the covering above the front door looked sad without the red and green lights warming their wood. However, it was still the same house I had grown to love in such a short time.
A soft cough from above me brings my attention to the slightly blue face of Sans. His eyes are off to the distance and I see my hand curled slightly with fingers touching his boney cheek.
"Do you think you can stand? I need to find my keys."
I nod and shift to get down myself but Sans grips my legs and back tighter as he tilts me so my bare feet place against the cold concrete steps in front of his door. "Don't move too much, it'll make it harder to get those rocks out." Sans looked at me for a second before plunging his keys into the dark lock and twisting. Two soft clicks and a rattle from the door knob let us inside. The house is warm and lights up with a flick of a switch by Sans. I start to follow but a shooting pain in my knee stops me. Sans is by my side in an instant, lifting me gently and carrying me to the couch.
"I told you not to move." Sans seemed irritated and I could feel a tightening in my chest that had once told me that magic was in the air.
Sans set me on the black couch, resting my head on a large, blue pillow and propped my legs up with a second, slightly smaller one. I watched as Sans left the living room and into the open kitchen, my eyes lingering on the doorway for a moment before looking about the room. It was the same as when I had joined Papyrus for our "date" but it was also greatly changed. The couch faced the eastern wall, sitting near the stairs, and was a lush black piece made of leather. In addition to the pillows it had a knit blanket draped over the arm and down the length of the cushions which I now laid on. The television had been removed and in its place was a nice faux fireplace that flickered warmly with its fake flames. The dining table was still placed near the kitchen, a vase with plucked echo flowers sat squat in the middle. Two chairs on either side of the table were tucked neatly underneath to provide the diners a place to sit while they ate.
A tall bookshelf stood proudly across from the fireplace, adorned with several different colored books of all shapes and sizes. Where the books fell short of the end there were some trinkets, a bone Papyrus had once used in his great and fabled "Blue Attack," a small figurine of a dog, of the annoying variety, and then another vase that was empty except for some decorative stones arranged to be pleasing to the eye.
The upstairs was exactly the same, however the door to Papyrus' room was bare except for a door hanger that I couldn't read from my vantage point. The piece of artwork hung on the wall, bonely as ever - I had to give a small chuckle at that ridiculous pun - and Sans' door sat on the other side of it. The doors to either room seemed lonely somehow. They seemed to sag on their hinges and lean against the frames, crying out for some dear love and warmth.
"You don't gotta worry about Paps. He moved to the surface with Mettaton a while back." I sat up slightly, startled, my eyes quickly finding Sans standing over me with a glass of water in one hand and a small white box in the other. His eyes were upturned to Papyrus' blank door. When his eyes met mine I could see a little hint of the loneliness in the house, in him. "I brought you some water and a pain tablet." Sans handed me the glass which I cradled between my hands and then accepted a small, round pill from him.
I dutifully downed the tablet and watched as Sans plucked small fragments of rock from the cuts on my leg. Wiping the area with a cloth that smelled heavily of sanitizing alcohol and wrapping me up with a tight, white gauze once the little bowl he had clinked with sharp pebbles. With the problem taken care of Sans leans back on his hands, pressing his boney derriere into the plush carpet and closing his eyes.
"That should do it, feel better kid?" Sans opens one socket to peer at me, it resembled the old Sans so much that I almost teared up. The use of my nickname and that lazy-bones position made him look almost 10 years younger, and made me feel like nothing had changed. Of course it had, everything had. I couldn't deny that, but for now I could at least pretend. I quickly bobbed my head up and down in affirmative, a short gesture but a well understood one, and our little moment stopped.
Sans pushed himself to his feet with a slight groan and creaking of bones, placing a hand on my head and ruffling my scraggly hair. Without a word Sans pulled the blanket around me - it was longer than I expected - and walked back to the kitchen. I watched Sans walk away and felt a slight twinge of…something as my eyes traced the line of his shoulders down his arms, saw how his hands rested so casually in the slightly opened pockets of the well-used jacket. The shape of his skull in profile stood proudly when he turned, sharp edges melding with the soft curves. I could only imagine how they must feel when- My mind stopped there as I caught myself. "What am I thinking?" I had to mentally shake myself to keep my mind focused on not going back down that path. Although I didn't quite mind thinking about that.
'''Thank you to Saphire000000 & Othos for pointing out our formatting error on Ch. 9's upload. We hope this update has fixed this, and that it won't happen again in the future. We do, however, thank all of you for sticking by us through these times of sporadic uploads and incorrect formatting. With things happening it has been difficult to keep up with many aspects of life and hobbies. We are trying to regulate many things, including our ability to bring this story to you.
-Anonymously yours. '''
