You Are Sans Now

by Greyshi

A twist of fate? The path set by destiny? Or some kind of a prank played by the gods? For one reason or another, you've lost everything yet gained so much more. You have the knowledge and the power to change the world, so use it wisely. Follow your heart, seek out the answers and don't forget - you are not alone.

14. Blast from the past

With your head still pressed to the laboratory entrance you hear the front door opening and closing, followed by the sound of energetic footsteps. You take a look around the corner of the house in time to see Papyrus' back as he rushes towards the bridge out of the town.

You wonder what he's up to. 'Hey Sans, how about we join your brother for now?'

'uh, sure, why not.' He shrugs in response.

After you look around to make sure no one will see you, you blink behind taller skeleton and call out to him, "Hi bro."

Papyrus turns on his heels so fast that the cape flops over his head and you barely hold back a snicker. Sans, however, is chuckling as much as he wants. Little rascal.

"HELLO SANS..." He grumbles, prying red fabric from his face.

"Whaddya up to?" You're trying to mimic Sans' manner of speech even thought you might as well stop trying since you're so inconsistent with it.

"OH! IT'S A TRAINING DAY!" he says with a burst of enthusiasm. "BUT UNDYNE IS BUSY, SO... I HAVE MY OWN PLANS."

He then strikes a heroic pose and proclaims, "I'M UP TO IMPROVE MY SKILLS IN BONE CRAFTING PROWESS!"

"Sounds great!" you respond cheerfully, maybe even a little bit too cheerfully, but you can't help being excited. A chance to take a good look at magic training with the possibility of learning a few tricks for yourself? You can't miss that! "Mind if I join?"

"OF COURSE! HOW CAN I REJECT YOUR WISH TO WITNESS PERFECTION? NYEH HE HEH HE!" Papyrus laughs in amusement.

You're crunching through the snow with Papyrus walking by your side. He actually moves slower this time so you won't fall behind, while looking around and muttering something to himself. His mumbling is so loud that you're surprised that you still can't make out what he's saying. It seems to you that he's acting kind of unusual but you aren't really sure.

"AHA!" He stops at a clearing near the edge of a cliff, with no trees or puzzles around and a thick layer of untouched snow on the ground. "HERE'S A GOOD SPOT FOR TRAINING!"

"BUT FIRST I NEED TO MAKE A TARGET." And with that said he starts to gather snow around the area.

You and Sans both watch in amusement as the cheerful skeleton runs around with impressive speed and energy, rolling a bunch of snow into one giant ball.

A sudden snowball, not giant, but a small one, flies past you and hits Papyrus on the shoulder. The "victim" of the "attack" opens his mouth, about to say something, probably scold you for disturbing him, but then looks behind you with indignant expression. You follow his gaze to see two young drakes standing and laughing not too far away.

"CIVILIANS!" The loud monster shouts at them. "SOON THIS PLACE WILL TURN INTO A DANGEROUS BATTLEGROUND! SO YOU'D BETTER GET GOING!"

The green drake in sunglasses puffs up his feathers with no intention of going away and shouts back, "You can't tell us what to do!"

"Yeah! We can chill here if we want to!" The blue snowdrake echoes his friend's attitude.

You gasp as you realize. It's Snowy and Chilldrake! What an encounter! You think you might have met Snowy before, soon after you found yourself in the Underground, but you aren't exactly sure it was him.

They both look almost the same, like a mix between a bird, a dragon and a snowflake, cute and kind of creepy at the time, with teeth moving inside of their mouths like mini-chainsaws.

Their squabble with Papyrus seems to highly irritate the latter. He's stomping his red boot on the ground, ranting something in an angry voice.

It seems like it could continue forever and you turn to Sans for help. 'You know these two, right? How can we get rid of them?'

'hm... i have an idea.' He explains his plan and you nod with a mischievous smile.

You get out of their sight and wait for the perfect moment to teleport near the two fluffy monsters, gaining their attention with a soft cough, "Nice feather today, huh?'

For them you appear out of nowhere, smiling in an uncanny way and it's actually pretty funny to see how they simultaneously jump on their small bird feet, startled by you.

"What do you want?" Chilldrake scowls and immediately adds, "We are NOT leaving!"

" Snow -way..." Snowdrake squawks, not so self-assured as his pal.

"Don't get too cocky , kids," you say calmly. Your posture is oozing with both laziness and confidence, or at least that's what you're going for. "Are ya only good at beak ering? What will your parronts say if they find out that you're arguing with adults like this?"

Both of them back up a little, pulling their heads closer to shoulders. Snowy glances at you nervously and whispers something to his "partner in crime". You can only make out a few words. "I... dad... probably... Let's... here."

"Are we cool ?" you ask to make sure you get your point across.

"No, it's we who are super cool ! Too cool to hang around old bones like you so...!" Now it's Snowdrake's turn to puff up, trying to fight you on the pun field but he is pretty much doomed. There is no way this teen can out-pun Sans and he seems to realize it fairly quickly.

"...good bye," he finishes lamely, pushing Chilldrake, who still doesn't want to go away, rebelling even against his own friend.

'well, that went well,' Sans chuckles, looking at the two kids that are now arguing between each other.

'All thanks to you. Your puns are... so amazingly bad,' you smile but then let out a sigh, recalling something sad. 'Poor Snowy tho... and his parents too. You probably know his father, he's a comedian at MTT resort.'

'wait what?' Sans frowns, probably trying to recall anyone who fits that role. 'oh... that was reggie's son? i knew your thought about "snowy" sounded familiar... reg always talks 'bout him, even on stage.'

'And even more than that. Remember how I mentioned the amalgamates in Alphys' lab? One of them is Snowy's mother...' You shudder, wondering how the amalgamates look in real life. Probably not very pretty.

'damn...' Sans shakes his head, full of mixed emotions. 'i can't believe just how much is goin' on right under my nose hole without me knowing anything about it...'

"Well, you know now.' You try to send a wave of sympathy through your soul to comfort him. 'And with our combined effort we might even be able to fix it!'

'As soon as everything settles down, I'm going to confront Alphys about it. She's gotta stop keeping them trapped down there and..." You're so into this inner conversation that you didn't notice Papyrus sneak up at you. Again.

"WOWIE, BROTHER!" You jump a bit at the loud voice right behind you. It probably looks as silly as the drakes's jump before. "YOUR HORRIBLE PUNS SCARED THESE BIRDS AWAY! WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT THAT PUNS COULD COME IN HANDY FOR ONCE, NYEH HE HE!"

"Heheh, yeah," you laugh awkwardly in response.

"SO... WHILE YOU WERE OUT AND ABOUT CHATTING AND LOITERING I FINISHED ALL PREPARATIONS!" You feel a tad bit sad for Sans. Papyrus always calls him lazy and it might be for a good cause and Sans himself doesn't seem to mind but it's still kind of unfair. "IT MIGHT NOT BE MY BEST WORK BUT IT'LL DO."

"BEHOLD!" He steps aside, revealing the result of his sculpturing spree. "THE FIERCE AND DANGEROUS HUMAN!"

You take a look at the giant - almost as big as Asgore, you might add - ball with a grumpy face made out of little rocks and with bunch of sticks that resemble either very bushy fur or a few dozen arms.

"Awesome," you nod, being honestly surprised at how huge he made this ball on such short notice, but holding back a little snort at the same time. 'So that's how Papyrus imagines humans, huh?'

'what? ya don't look exactly like that?' Sans seems to be genuinely surprised.

'You're kidding me, right?' Does he actually think that your body looks like a giant ball with sticks? This is ridiculous, but... monsters are so weird sometimes that you don't even know what to expect.

'who do ya think i am?' he's playfully pretending to be offended. 'course i'm kiddin'.'

You groan and slide your boney palm across your borrowed face. Just how gullible can you get? That's the stupidest trick and you almost fell for it! Huffing at Sans' smug laughter you turn your attention to his brother.

Standing proud, chin up, with his red cape flailing behind his back, Papyrus points at the round snow figure and proclaims, "HUMAN! YOU HAVE TROUBLED MONSTER KIND FOR WAY TOO LONG! I SHALL DEFEAT YOU AND PROVE TO EVERYONE JUST HOW TRULY GREAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS!"

With a twirl that would make any ballerina eat her own tutu in a fit of jealousy, Papyrus makes a frilly hand gesture and countless blue bones appear out of thin air, now hovering above the ground all over the place. To say you are impressed is an understatement. You, with the combined power of two souls, can't manage to create more than ten bones in one go and you can only pop them out of the hard surfaces like the ground or ceiling.

While you stare in awe Papyrus pushes his hand forward, sending a seemingly endless barrage of glowing projectiles in the direction of the snow "human". It looks impressive but of course every single attack just slides through the target, not dealing any damage at all.

"That "human" sure knows how to handle blue bones," you chuckle in a friendly-mocking way.

"NYEH. THAT'S TRUE. BUT HOW ABOUT THIS!?" Now various bones are popping out from completely random places. Ground, air, everywhere! All in different sizes, color and even in different shapes, one of them being something that looks like a... dog skeleton!?

The weird little creation controlled by magic runs to its target in a clunky and uneven manner, then jumps into the air and snatches one of the branches from the snow figure, collapsing into a pile of bones the next second it hits the ground.

The things that he makes with his magic are unbelievable! Looks like a lot of practice is behind those costume-wearing shoulders.

'cool, right?' Sans asks with a wave of pride for his brother.

"Heck yeah!" you answer excitedly, forgetting for a moment that you have to stay quiet. Papyrus is so surprised by your outburst of emotions that he stops his assault and looks at you like you've suddenly turned into a jar of talking mayonnaise.

To distract him somehow you ask what you actually planned to ask anyway. "That's fantastic bro but can I try too?"

"YOU WANT... TO TRAIN?" The tall skeleton lingers over this sentence like a dish that just doesn't taste right.

"WOWIE! YOU ARE SURE WEIRD LATELY!" he then exclaims with a cheerful smile. "WELL... GO ON AHEAD!"

"IF YOU REALLY WANT TO AND THIS IS NOT ONE OF YOUR PRANKS..." he adds, eyeing you suspiciously.

You let out a sneaky sigh of relief. Looks like you avoided being revealed but you have to be more careful.

The last time you had to cast bones... you don't even want to think about that, but you have to if you actually want to survive that whole dance with death. With that in mind you recall all of your short experience and start to gather Sans' magic.

A line of five white bones bursts out of the ground and moves forward. It's the fastest your attack has ever moved yet you managed to screw up the direction and it slides past the target without even touching it.

"Tsk." You feel disappointed and embarrassed. No wonder that you lost to Chara with "mad skills" like this.

Papyrus doesn't look impressed either. "YOU ARE REALLY OUT OF PRACTICE!"

"I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT YOU CAN BE VERY GOOD AT IT, SANS! YOU JUST NEED TO TRY HARDER!" He is so enthusiastic that your fake smile turns sincere for a moment.

You decide that it's a good time as any to try and learn something from him. "Maybe you can teach me a few tricks?"

"OH-HO! DO NOT FRET, DEAR BROTHER! I'M THE GREATEST AT TEACHING!" He poses dramatically yet again. "I WILL GLADLY BE YOUR COACH!"

"YOU SEE, THE TRICK IS VERY SIMPLE. YOU JUST HAVE TO BE... MORE LIKE ME!" Papyrus explains cheerfully, without any hint that would indicate that he's joking.

"THINK LIKE ME, TALK LIKE ME, ACT LIKE ME, LOOK LIKE ME. WELL, NO... YOU CAN'T... BUT YOU CAN TRY!" You're about to cry from laughter and the other mixed emotions that are boiling inside of you after this "lesson."

"T-thanks... That was very... very inspiring." You stumble through the words, suppressing a burst of laughter. "But maybe you could just show me some more of your attacks so I can learn from your example?"

"SURE THING!" He summons a long white bone into his hand and gives it spin. "WATCH AND LEARN!"

You intently observe Paps' fighting technique. After a while some moves start to make some sense to you. What gestures he makes, how he aims his hands, how hard he concentrates each time... He is so focused that he hasn't even left his initial spot, standing in one place all this time.

You may not have gotten much out of it but you definitely learned something.

By the time he's done with showing off his vast set of attacks there is no more sticks left in the round body of the poor snowman. Instead it's littered with bones that pierce it from every possible angle.

"OKAY." Papyrus breathes out and you can see that he is pretty tired by all this training. "IT'S TIME FOR MY FINAL MOVE! MY SPECIAL ATTACK!"

He stops and starts to prepare something. He is very concentrated, staring blankly and not moving a muscle. And no wonder. He has no muscles. Except maybe some invisible magical muscles Sans talked about before but it's just too bizarre for your understanding.

Under your stunned gaze the very air starts to visibly tremble and, like a mirage in the desert, a giant dragon-like skull appears, floating right above Papyrus' head.

'So he DOES have Gaster-Blasters!' You barely hold yourself from shouting it out loud, restricting yourself to just screaming internally.

In the back of your head Sans is frowning and thinking about something but you're a little bit busy at the moment to ask him what's wrong.

"NYEH HEH HEH! TASTE MY FULL POWER, VILE HUMAN!" With victorious laughter Papyrus aims his hand to the lone snow figure and shouts even louder than usual. "BLAST!"

Right on command the blaster opens its sharp-toothed maw and with a roaring whoom a bright beam of white light strikes its target.

You blink a few times, recovering from being both blinded and deafened, and take a look around. The blaster is vanished already as well as the snow "human", all that is left of it is a scorched, smoky and completely snowless spot on the ground.

"Whoa..." You are both excited and terrified. For one it's amazing to see such power in action but on the other hand it's super freaky to imagine yourself as a target of this thing.

"You sure showed that human who's boss, right Papyrus?" There is no response. "Papyrus?"

You look up to search the tall skeleton's face. You don't understand what's going on, but something is wrong with him. He looks... pale? How can you tell that by his always white face is beyond you but a fact is a fact, Papyrus definitely looks worse than usual.

"What's wrong? Don't feel well? Too much training?" You bombard him with questions, voice full of worry.

"N-NO IT'S FINE! I JUST... NEED SOME AIR," he trails off, looking down.

"You sure you don't need any help?" you insist, frowning.

"CERTAINLY NOT. I'LL GO... TAKE... FOR A WALK..." he mumbles and turns away from you.

Looking at his hunched back and slow pace as he walks into the woods you feel like your mood is draining with his every step. 'What's got into him...?'

You hear Sans' sigh. 'ya know exactly what's got into him. you're the same after all.'

'Huh?' you let out a sound of confusion.

'kindness.' He sighs again. 'he might sound ready to fight, but as ya can see... even imagining killin' someone is just too much for him.'

'Oh...' Now you feel slightly sick. Sans is right, you do know how awful it feels to cause harm to someone, even if they pretty much deserve it. 'Man... Poor Paps… Can we help him somehow?'

'honestly...? i don't really know,' Sans admits, frowning. 'looks like he want to be alone right now... i'm sure that he'll, uh, snap out of it eventually but seeing 'im like this...'

'It sucks!' you conclude.

'yeah, heh,' he chuckles humorlessly, 'it does.'

You shake your head. What just happened definitely threw you off the balance. Papyrus' cheerfulness is one of the few constants of this bizarre world filled with crazy, unexpected events and if he's feeling down then everything just doesn't feel right. Yet, if even his brother doesn't know what to do about it, then what are you supposed to do…?

'hm,' Sans hums breaking the heavy, gloomy silence. 'but on the other hand... it reminds me that we need a backup plan.'

'What are you talking about?' you ask, still looking at the trees where Papyrus had disappeared from view.

'well... as much as i would like to believe in your ways of dealin' with that weirdo but…' he pauses for a bit, 'if it doesn't work, it might be a good idea to have an actual weapon up n' ready.'

'Oh... Do you...?' You think you get what he means.

'yep,' Sans nods in response. 'we're gonna teach ya how to summon blasters.'

You shouldn't be excited about having a dangerous weapon that made Papyrus so upset just a couple of minutes ago and that you don't want to use for fighting anyway... but how are you supposed to stay calm upon mentioning ability to fire laser beams from a huge freaking dragon skull!?

'lemme just gather my thoughts for a bit,' Sans says, going back to thinking.

'Sure.' You shrug and start to pace around to pass the time. It actually helps to gather some of your shaken balance back.

'so...' the owner of your head finally gets your attention. 'let's start from the beginning. ya figured that our world, at its core, functions like a book of some sort, right?'

'I did! And it's weird...?' you ask rhetorically, admiring the view of the snow-covered forest that opens from the edge of the cliff. 'I imagined it would be like a game, which would've been equally weird, but a book... Somehow I find it surprising.'

'hm...' Sans hums thoughtfully.

You recall something that has been gnawing at you for quite some time, 'there's another thing that keeps bothering me… Why does everything come so easily to me...? I know I asked before but I can't get it out of my head. I'm not a genius or anything close, but figuring stuff out is so intuitive to me that I'm learning new things in a matter of minutes though I'm pretty sure that even monsters have to work on it for years!'

'that's true,' he nods in response.

'Then how am I doing this!? Do you have any ideas? Are YOU the one helping me with this?' you bombard him with questions and though you aren't really hoping for the answers, you still can't help voicing your concerns.

'well, i am, actually,' he replies to your surprise. 'though i'm helpin' ya without doin' anything at all.'

'Uh... huh!?' You are very confused.

'our fused souls,' he says simply.

'Oooh...' you stretch and then blurt out. 'I don't get it.'

'hehehe,' Sans chuckles softly. 'i'll try to explain.'

'ya see,' he begins his explanation. 'fused souls always were a huge blank spot for me, or for anyone, really.'

'ya can count on the fingers of one hand every mention 'bout them - and that includes me n' you, buddy,' his mental image jabs his finger at your - or, technically, his - chest and you twitch in surprise. He's never done something like that before. 'there's nothin' useful in old tales but describing a mix between monster and human as "a beast with unfathomable power", believe me, i've checked all of 'em.'

'Pfft,' you scoff, 'yeah, we definitely look like a huge, super strong beast.'

'maybe not, but it's not THAT far from the truth.' Once again you raise your brow, not quite catching what he's hinting at.

'well...' Sans hesitates for a bit. 'might as well share what i've noticed.'

Your companion starts to pace around while talking, 'first thing - magic pool. i don't have the tiniest of mana pools y'know but i can feel that it's definitely grown in size and refills very fast.'

'second thing - stamina. my body, uh... let's just say it's not in the best shape possible, and what ya managed to do - a long walk through the underground, then climbing down the mountain and then another long walk... it might not seem too impressive but it's definitely out of the norm.' He walks just like a normal person would yet he doesn't leave any traces in the snow.

'and last but not least - knowledge. now that's a tricky one. you and i both know... a lot. but somehow you learn things that ya didn't know at all really fast. too fast even. and i seem to understand some things i never understand before too.' That's so freaking weird! He's just like a ghost! Ghost of a skeleton... How weird is that!?

'if it isn't tied to the fusion of our souls then i have no idea what else could it possibly be.' He concludes and stops, waiting for your response.

You shake your head, all that staring had distracted you. Luckily you still got some of his speech. 'That... explains so much! You are so freaking smart!'

'heheh...' The little skeleton scratches back of his skull bashfully. 'nah, i'm just observant.'

'anyway, as i was sayin' before,' he turns serious, 'our world is like a book. a book full of letters, lines, pages and stuff. everythin' may move and change but there is also one constant that always remains the same. a place hidden behind matter that holds every page of time. we called it "the pocket-void".'

'and that's where we keep our blasters,' he informs you and you're already shivering with excitement. 'they're programmed to return there for rechargin' right after a successful blast.'

'That's seriously amazing!' You can't wait to try it out. 'Let me just find it real quick-'

'don't be too hasty,' Sans stops you with a heavy look. 'ya saw how dangerous these things are...'

You pout, 'I'm not a child and I can be careful.'

'i know and i trust you. i'm just sayn' that i should instruct you beforehand. you don't know how to use these things, do ya?' You nod, feeling ashamed of your previous reaction. "I'm not a child", geez... that's exactly what a child would say.

'it's fairly simple. ya have to aim it first, just like ya aim bone attacks and then... then you use the trigger.' Now there's a hint of mystery in his tone.

'Trigger?' you ask curiously.

'usually it's a codeword. you've heard papyrus' codeword - "blast" - and i have my own.' He stops, like he's waiting for your next question.

'And that would be...?' you ask again, though Sans' attitude smells of trickery.

'it's... now imagine a drum roll,' all you imagine is rolling your eyes, 'fart.'

'Excuse me?' You know Sans all too well and still there's a lingering hope that you might be mistaken in what you just heard.

'fart,' he repeats, grinning wider than ever.

'That's so ridiculous, skeletons can't even fart! Or can they...?' you think mostly to yourself.

Sans bursts into laughter in response to that thought.

'Why of course!' You try to shame him down with a stern look but gave up as a little snicker escapes you. 'You just can't resist trying to prank me again, can you?'

'seriously, this IS my codeword and, eh...' he shrugs,' i know s'childish and might not be my best joke ever, but i was much younger back when i came up with this.'

'Do you mean your jokes are better now?' you raise your brow, giving him a taunting smile.

'hey... sarcasm isn't funny,' he raises his brow bone back at you.

'Oops,' you backpedal. 'Didn't mean to offend you.'

'nah, don't worry. s'not that easy. after all nothin' gets under my skin , 'cause i don't have any. in fact everythin' goes right through me,' that little jokester winks at you, wearing one of his charming grins.

'Ugh, sorry, but I've heard that a thousand times by now.' You still chuckle however, relieved that he has no hard feelings towards you.

'old but gold, pal,' Sans replies calmly with his eyes closed. 'old but gold.'

'So I have to say this... word...' You cringe a little bit, 'out loud?'

'yep,' he nods. 'or, well, you can just think it loudly enough. it's 'cause you can trigger a blast even by thinkin' that it's so dangerous to just leave them floatin' around.'

'Ok, got it!' Now you're definitely ready for action.

'wait... one last thing,' Sans shifts uncomfortably and you sense that he is worried. 'be careful... ok? the pocket void might be unstable. god knows what can happen in there.'

'How come you don't know?' you ask, surprised. 'Didn't you, you know, study it before? Run experiments and all?'

'course but...' he frowns, 'i still don't know much. it's... complicated. that thing should stay the same in every timeline but it's just a theory at this point. so keep an eye socket out, a'right?'

You assure him that you'll be as careful as a saper on a minefield and concentrate, sending your mind to enter the void.

Fumbling in the darkness filled with flying letters you search for anything that might look unusual. Despite your previous gloating about figuring stuff out in a matter of minutes you spend hours trying to reach for that sneaky pocket-void and still you just can't seem to find it. It might be that this place is just too small or maybe you've picked the wrong spot or time but who knows? You don't know anything for sure and it turns out that Sans doesn't really know what's wrong either.

'sorry,' he looks at you apologetically after another failed attempt, 'i can't really explain how to reach it. it's different for everyone.'

You don't blame him, you have a feeling that you just aren't concentrating hard enough, looking past it every time you're close.

In a sense you were right. Just by making a lucky turn you finally manage to get to that mysterious location and only after your mind enters it you realize why you couldn't find it before. All this time it was right here and you could reach to it from anywhere, it's just very hard to see because your mind can hardly register the absolute absurdity of this place.

Trying to comprehend what's going on in here is not an easy task. Almost like asking a person who was born blind to understand what color is.

This place consists of nothing. An absence of anything at all, no light, no air, even the ubiquitous words aren't present in here. The only thing that seems to be in here is chaos, chaos that turns everything into a mess that's hard to look at. But even though it's chaotic, it somehow remains incredibly stable. Stable chaotic nothingness... Thinking about it hurts your head.

You shake off the initial shock and start to cautiously search around. The pocket void, true to its name, is rather small and empty, yet not completely empty, because soon enough you discover things like sheets of paper, pencils and bottles floating around without movement, like they're stuck in a freeze frame. Among this clutter you have found what you were searching for - a row of giant dragon skulls, all standing in a line like bullets in the clip, ready to fire away.

Gingerly you try to touch one of the blasters. It seems to be a right thing to do as the void around you melts away and you find yourself back in reality.

You blink few times, adjusting to the bright light, and look around.

'Wha- Where is it?' you move your head left and right, but there is nothing and no one around. 'Goddammit! I screwed up, didn't I?'

There's soft chuckling in a back of your head. 'just look up.'

You do as said and shudder, realizing that this giant thing was floating above you all along. You even chicken out a little, still wanting to test it out but not feeling as confident anymore.

Moving your hand, you try to control your new weapon, like Sans instructed you before. The skull obeys and flies a little bit forward just like you intended it to.

Carefully aiming the Gaster-Blaster at an already snowless spot you finally breathe out and push aside a tick of embarrassment to say, "fart."

Nothing happens.

'It didn't work... Why?' You give Sans a suspicious look but he looks confused too.

'it has to work...' his mental image is frowning, lost in thought. 'let me just...'

'fart,' he says and this time the blaster strikes immediately, forcing you to jolt and shut your eye sockets in surprise.

The faint smell of sulfur reaches your nose. You blink few times and shake your head to get rid of the ringing in your non-existent ears.

'fascinating... the recognition system is still functioning even at this st-' Sans mumbles thoughtfully, his accent completely gone.

Then he notices how awestruck you are right now and you sense that he's embarrassed, 'uh... sorry 'bout that.'

He was so enthusiastic just a moment ago, talking just like the scientist he used to be... somehow it makes you very happy and excited. 'Are you kidding me? That's so cool!'

'you're, uh, mixin' stuff up, buddy,' he let out an awkward chuckle. 'how can nerdy mumbo-jumbo be cool?'

'Ah, quit it! You can't fool me, I know you're smart and I think it's awesome!' Sans opens his jaw, about to say something but changes his mind and shuts it, resigning himself to just giving you a stiff shrug in response.

Seeing his reaction you cease your excitement. You hope you doesn't make him feel too uncomfortable with your sudden fit of fangirling.

'welp. let's call it a success...' he says slowly, after you both calm down. 'say... did you see anythin' else out there in the void?'

'Yes, actually. There are bunch of papers floating arou-' your thought ends abruptly. 'Oh my god, are those your notes from previous timelines!?'

'uh... probably?' he winces. 'i don't remember... but looks like it's time to find out.'

'Something tells me that it won't be fun...' You sigh. A bad feeling settles in your soul. 'Let's return to your home?'

Sans just shrugs again.

However, before teleporting to the skeleton's house you decide to check the door again, just to make sure it's safe to leave for now.

To both your relief and annoyance everything remains unchanged. It's calm and quiet, just like the door to the Ruins. A door so impassible, walls would envy it.

There's something comedically sad about this situation, where you can easily go through the barrier that has trapped generations of monsters inside of the mountain, as well as teleporting around in a matter of seconds and yet not being able to go past a simple chunk of stone.

That thought forces a crazy idea to burst in your mind and you deliver it to Sans, 'Why not just blow this thing up with blaster?'

Sans let out surprised, choked sound followed by laughter, 'my god, pal, ya sure have an explosive personality.'

'But it would make things so much easier, wouldn't it!?' you ask, too excited and nervous to pay any attention to Sans' puns.

'probably, but it ain't gonna work,' he shake his head.

'Awww...' you stretch out, disappointed. 'Why? Have you tried it before?'

'ha-hah, no. no i haven't,' he answers, still chuckling, 'it's just that blasters aren't designed to bust massive, enchanted doors.'

'Huh? Then what is their purpose anyway?' Sans coughs uncomfortably at that question.

'Oh... Right.' You might not be the brightest person in the world but it's kind of obvious what weapons are made for.

Back at Sans' room you sit down and realize that it's getting dark already. You're not too tired but you are glad to be able relax for a bit. In a matter of body. Your mind still has a lot to do first.

Reaching out to the pocket void is easy-peasy now that you know where it is. One by one you gather the floating pieces of paper, occasionally throwing glances at the row of blasters while you have a chance to examine them in detail.

Sharp horns, acute edges, a bunch of pointy teeth, empty, furrowed eye sockets… these things looks as threatening as you can get. Each and every one of them is completely identical in both size and design, like copy and paste. One, two... twenty, twenty two... you lose count. How and why had they made so many of them...?

You blink and you're back to relatively normal reality, holding a stack of papers in your boney hands.

Sitting on the mattress you shuffle through the pages that are filled with handwriting even less readable than the documents back at the lab. Words like "missing"," repeats", "dead" catches your sight and you feel disgusting and very persistent chills crawling down your spine.

The familiar headache returns once again or - as you've begun to call it - "the memory pain", but as least it's not as bad this time.

Just as you expected, with every new page the emotions emanating from Sans are growing darker and darker. You are afraid to ask what exactly is written on these pages. You aren't sure you even want to know.

Minutes stacks into hours. Atmosphere in the room is so dark and intense like you slowly getting sucked into the center of a black hole. There are no sounds except for rustling of paper both in your hands and in the domestic tornado of trash.

The breaking point comes in the form of crumpled note, covered in red-ish stains that are presumably old ketchup and also in... dust.

'Don't sleep or it w-' You manage to read a few words but the rest is completely smudged.

'or it will get you...' Sans mutters, finishing the sentence. His voice is completely downtrodden. 'that's why i couldn't sleep... i didn't even remember why... i just... kept wakin' up...'

'd-dammit...' he curses in a shaky voice and that's it, you can't take this anymore.

'OK, that's ENOUGH bad memories for today!' you proclaim mentally, dropping the stack of papers on the floor to show that you're completely done with this crap.

Sans doesn't respond. He just stares into one spot, the pinpricks of light in his eye sockets barely visible, smile so unnatural and lifeless it's creepy and painful to look at. The single emotion you can feel from his soul is something shallow... like the echo down a vast, empty, long abandoned hallway.

'Look, Sans... I... I know I probably can't even understand what you and the others have been through,' Carefully you try to think up something that would pull your skeleton friend from crushing depths of depression, 'But don't forget that now you have the power to make things right. You saw the sunlight and together we might just be able to show the sun to every monster!'

'No matter how bad things were before... I'll do everything I can to prevent it from happening ever again. You have my word for it! So chin UP!' you think firmly, but after looking at his lifeless image your soul sinks a little too.

'Please...?' you plead with him quietly.

Sans lets out a deep sigh and blinks, some of the brightness returning to his eye lights. Slowly, he seems to come back to life from being a hollow statue of himself.

After few more minutes of thinking he chuckles weakly, 'your positivity is somethin' out there...'

You feel so much relief you could collapse but choose not to do so.

'Don't you know that being sad is bad for your skin? You want to look pretty, right?' you tease him, hoping it would cheer him up at least a little bit.

Sans chuckles again, managing to put a little bit more energy into it this time. 'sure.'

As you're chatting with Sans and trying to brighten up his mood, the door creaks as it opens slightly, immediately gaining your attention.

"SANS. ARE YOU HERE?" Papyrus peeks inside. His voice is still quite loud but not as much usual, like he's attempting to whisper. "YOU HAVEN'T READ ME A BEDTIME STORY FOR DAYS... CAN YOU PLEASE DO IT TODAY?"

"Oh..." You stand up. "Of course. And, uh.. sorry for the delay."

"THAT'S OKAY!" he beams, shouting. "I'LL BE WAITING IN MY ROOM!"

The thin silhouette disappears from the crack and you hear energetic stomping as Papyrus runs to his room. You feel a swell of affection for this boney cinnamon bun.

'Um, Sans... You don't mind me reading to him, do you?' you ask carefully, considering that it might be something too personal between the brothers.

'no, no.' He shakes his head dismissively. 'bro loves his stories and he definitely needs somethin' positive after what happened earlier so if ya, uh, don't mind...'

'Pfft, "don't mind..."' you mock him in a friendly way. 'I would love to!'

'heh. that's... nice of you.' His words seem genuine and it makes you happy.

Papyrus meets you at his door frame, excitedly shouting something about him waiting forever to hear a story. His room looks exactly like you imagined it based on a game... except real. A mix between cool, goofy and weird with a flaming carpet, racecar bed, collection of toys or, as he calls them, "action figures", all the good stuff. For a moment you feel like you are a kid in Disneyland, that's how wonderful and surreal it is to actually be in Papyrus' room.

The taller brother closes the door behind you and quickly jumps into the bed, tucking the blankets around his body, turning himself into a giant burrito. Even in a bed he's wearing his "battle body", but in addition to it there's the most adorable nightcap you have ever saw - it even has a dangling fluffy pompom - resting on top of his head.

This ball of adorableness stares at you with one of his innocent smiles and your soul can barely handle such an overload of cuteness. You can almost feel its sugary coating.

It's unbelievable what these monsters do to you. How can skeletons even be so cute? Your guess is that they are just way too nice and cartoony to be off-putting. Well, at least when they aren't deliberately trying to be menacing.

"So, what story would you like to hear today?" you ask, fighting the strange urge to tug on his pom-pom.

"HMM..." he ponders for a bit. "YOU PICK THE ONE YOU'RE GOING TO READ. SURPRIZE ME!"

"Okay." You stroll to the bookshelf and take a look at the multicolored book covers. Looks like they are all arranged by genre, and then alphabetically. Your gaze lingers on the few books about fluffy bunny and you pick a random one. The one you've got is titled "Hide-and-seek with Fluffy Bunny". It sounds good enough for you and you're about to roll with this pick when you hear Sans groan.

'Is something wrong?' you ask carefully.

'uh... no. s'nothin',' he answers, though he clearly seems bothered by something.

'Okay...?' You feel conflicted but decide that standing here and trying to nudge him to talk would be too long and too suspicious.

"WHAT DID YOU PICK?" Papyrus asks, bouncing excitedly on the bed.

"OH. THIS ONE," he says after you show him the cover. "I... THOUGHT YOU DISLIKED IT...?"

That's weird. Why would Sans dislike this children's story? Though it's kind of late to go back on your pick. "Well, why not spice things up a bit?"

"I'M NOT SURE IF THAT WAS A PUN OR NOT..." He looks at you suspiciously but just for a few seconds. "ANYWAY! I HAVEN'T HEARD THIS STORY IN A WHILE SO I'M GLAD YOU WANT TO READ IT!"

You sit down on the edge of the racecar bed and open the book. The gentle rustling of pages combined with the smell of paper and ink gives you a sudden sense of nostalgia. You briefly wonder why and a faint idea comes to mind - you think that you liked to read books before. You can even name a few titles but you can't remember more than that. Having almost no memories about yourself is so odd... You don't even know if you should care because it's kinda hard to care about something you know nothing about.

Shaking your head helps to snap out of your reminiscence, or lack thereof, and return your attention to the book.

"Little fluffy bunny hopping down the hill

Where his little brother? Oh where could he be?

Maybe in the bushes? Maybe under tree?

He searched everywhere but couldn't find him still"

You read, trying to add some emotions to Sans' rumbly voice so it would sound fun for Papyrus. You aren't sure if it's working as you keep stuttering because the rhyming is kind of strange.

"The forest is so spooky and skies are turning gray

The sun is setting down and this is very bad

Somewhere in the forest he is alone and sad

He surely got in trouble while Fluffy slept all day"

You begin to realize why Sans is not particularly fond of this book.

The tale of two bunnies is as captivating as any children's story, which is nothing to be amazed about, but Papyrus seem to enjoy it greatly. He's clutching to the blankets and making excited noises each time something remotely tense happens with the little heroes.

You only got into it when fluffy brothers were attacked by hungry wolf and saved by - of all things - a talking flower... A freaking talking flower! Reading that made you both curious and very uncomfortable, but it's even worse for Sans, who shuts himself off from you completely, pretending he isn't here.

"The end." You read the last two words and close the book. Looking up you barely hold yourself back from saying "Awwwww" out loud, because Papyrus fell asleep, sprawled in a nest of blankets like a big bony bird. Seeing him sleeping is just a little bit too much cuteness. Eleven on scale out of ten.

Sans reappears as soon the story ends, now looking at his brother fondly, warmly and a little bit worriedly, 'just look at 'im snorin' away... exhausted himself tryin' to impress me. usually, he doesn't sleep at all and now he didn't even held till the end of the story.'

'he's the best...' The proud brother informs you with a deep sigh and you can't help but agree.

You're about to go back to Sans' room when he calls out to you, 'hey, actually, i wanna ask you to do somethin'.'

'I mean... It's your body after all, so I'll do whatever you say.' You shrug in response.

'it's nothing major, really,' he assures you, 'i just wanna send a pun to paps. it's our little tradition.'

You snort, 'I don't think he appreciates your effort.'

'nah, i'm sure he does. even if he's not showing it.' Sans shrugs. But 'i don't need much in return anyway.'

'Okay, so, how I do that?' you ask, putting the book back on the shelf.

'just use his computer over there,' Sans' mental image points at the computer in the corner of the room and you praise the night vision for being able to see even without any light sources.

'Should I though...?' You hesitate for a bit. 'It's his personal thing.'

'nah, don't worry.' He waves his hand dismissively. 's'not like we're going to read anythin'. just shoot him an anon message and that's it.'

'Well, if you say so...' It's so weird to hear modern slang from a magical creature. You aren't sure you'll ever be able to get used to it.

'c'mon, lighten up, bucko.' Sans nudges you. 'it'll be fun.'

You quietly get to the computer, trying to not wake Paps' up and browse the monsters counterpart of the internet by following Sans' instructions. The computer seems rather old or so says some fuzzy memories of yours, like you're used to something more advanced. You share this observation with Sans.

'yeah,' he agrees, 'most of technology down 'ere comes from the aboveground. long fall, water and initial garbage condition… well, let's say s'hard to glue together things more complex than a spoon. so we are far behind you humans.'

'but hey, 'least we managed to build somethin'. it's so much easier to... um… to do stuff with computers… than without 'em.' Sans definitely hides something from you again.

You are not amused by this but choose to ignore his evasiveness for now. 'Everything's set, what should I send?'

'hmm... lemme see…' Sans thinks for a bit. 'oh, here's a good one. he'll love it.'

'where does spaghetti go to dance?' he asks with a grin and you look at him with a silent question in your expression.

'the meat ball ' he answers, emphasizing the punch line by giving you a wink. You snicker at that silly pun and type it away.

Boney fingers clank softly against keyboard keys, shining faintly in the dim glow of the computer screen. Sitting in front of the computer feels so bizarre in this situation. You are in the body of a magical monster in the underground kingdom of magical monsters and yet here's a computer powered by electricity. So weird.

Not so long ago you would sit in front of your own computer, reading, chatting and playing games. Games like Undertale... The worst of your troubles probably were exams or a grumpy boss at work and now... Now everything is complicated beyond measure.

'heheh, good.' Sans' voice knocks you out of your recurrent reflecting. 'and for a final move use comic sans. you can prolly tell that's my favorite font.'

'What?' You stare at his mental image in shock. 'You actually know that your name is based on a font!?'

'yeah, heh, i do. and papyrus' name too. apparently our parents had a fun taste in namin' and y'know what? i'm actually pretty font of this name,' he chuckles. 'without it i wouldn't have found my talent for comedy.'

'Pff... ahahah!' You laugh silently at the sheer absurdity of this statement.

'heheh. yeah. when i found out that there's a font called "comic sans" i was laughin' just like you right now, for at least a week,' he shares his "true story" with you. 'after that i actually tried comedy out for myself and here i am. cracking jokes all day every day.'

'Wow…' you recall something that impressed you back when you played the game. 'Astronomy, cooking, music, comedy... You sure are a person of many interests.'

'heh...' his shoulders drop slightly, just a hint of movement, but his emotions are what give him away entirely. Sans is feeling down again. 'you would try anything to make your life feel less dull and meaningless too...'

'Oh...' You shift uncomfortably on the computer chair.

'ugh. sorry. hate to be a buzz killer... poor bees have done nothin' wrong.' The little sad skeleton attempts to fix the mod by making a rather strange joke.

You shake your head, letting out a small sigh. 'It's okay Sans. I understand you…'

'Hmm…' You hum thoughtfully. The shadow of a thought is tingling in the back of your mind, like something's just not adding up and that seems to bother you.

'Wait... how can you be named after a font if these fonts were created just recently...?' your eye sockets go round as a silly idea comes to your mind. 'Don't tell me that you're, like, sixteen years old!'

'hehehe, no, i'm not a teenager. but, uh, where did ya get that idea from?' he asks curiously. 'as far as i know these fonts have existed for a couple hundred years.'

'A couple... what now?' You can't believe what you just heard.

'a couple hundred... of years…' Sans repeats slowly, throwing worried glances at you.

'I'm sorry, but... WHAAAT!?' You don't want to believe him it looks like you have no other choice.

What the hell...' You freak out as unsettling thoughts race inside of your mind. 'Am I in the future? Was I unconscious or in some sort of purgatory for a few decades? The heck is going on?!'

Something breaks inside of you and you let out a quiet whimper, curling into yourself on the chair. Your mind and soul hurt, and you don't know what to think anymore. Why don't you remember anything? What happened to your human body? Will you be able to go back?

Is there anything or anyone left to go back to…?

There are so many questions that were swimming underneath the thin ice of more urgent problems but now they have broken both the ice and your mind as they reached the surface, scraping your soul with sharp edges, threatening to drive you insane from how alone and helpless you suddenly feel.

Except... you are not alone.

You sense something rising deep in your soul. Like a faint breeze brushing against your face, like a gentle hand patting your back, like the soothing sound of falling rain.

It's Sans, trying to calm you down.

'hey…' he is here, kneeling in front of you to look into your face, so incredibly real and yet so illusory. 'i know these feelings. i know 'em better than you can imagine. but don't let them get to you.'

'What in a world am I supposed to do…?' you mumble desperately, not really expecting an answer. 'I don't know how long I can take all of this…'

Sans sighs heavily. 'it's tempting to just give up, i know… i know...'

'but… can ya do me a favor… please?' You nod slowly.

'don't give up, okay?' You would love to but it's so hard right now.

He sighs again, sensing your emotions, 'we're kind of in a same situation, aren't we?'

'yeah… heh.' He laughs bitterly at his own thoughts. 'yet we are not the same.'

'cause you're stronger than me, which is, uh, to be expected from a human, but you're also so much better and so much more positive than me… don't let anything break ya, pal.' Your monster friend looks you right in the eyes and tells you firmly, 'please, stay determined.'

How quickly tables have turned. Less than a hour ago you helped Sans overcome the ever-growing emptiness in his soul and now he's trying to do the same for you. He cares about you after all.

This realization, the encouraging emotions that he sends to you, his kind and sincere words, all of this chases the misery away from you, pulling you away from your state of desperation.

'T-thank you…' you send him a thankful thought so he'll know that you're not going to give up just yet. 'You are... way too kind to me…'

'heh, well, that's in my selfish interest too, 'cause your optimism and determination feels great around my soul. i think i'm gettin' addicted to it.' Sans can't or doesn't even want to hide that he's glad that you're feeling better but he's still trying to make a joke out of it.

'but seriously… don't let yourself sink to my level… it's dark and terrible down 'ere,' he looks sad for a moment, but then you notice a playful glint in his eye sockets. 'no movies, no popcorn and also it smells like old socks.'

You snicker quietly. 'You can't ever be serious.'

'sometimes it happens but i'm workin' on it.' He winks at you.

Pushing aside problems you can't find solution to just yet, and deliberately ignoring the sinking feeling that you might never be able to, you decide to ask something that Sans must know for sure.

'Um... Can you tell me how old you really are?' It's kind of a rude question to ask but you're way too curious to stop yourself.

'well, if ya need to know...' Sans scratches his skull with one finger.

'my memories are kinda fuzzy but let's say 'bout two hundred years...? probably less than that though. ' You feel like the solid ground beneath your feet has started to float away. Good thing you're sitting right now. 'uh… is somethin' wrong?'

'But how can you be so o... ahem,' you correct yourself, 'I mean, I had a suspicion that humans don't necessarily live as long as monster, but hundreds of years!?'

'well… ya saw asgore. does he seem so ancient to ya?' You think for a moment, then shake your head dismissively. 'he and a couple of other monsters lived on the surface thousand years ago and they're all still kickin'.

'hell, they are more lively than me and i'm a little boy compared to any of 'em,' he shrugs in carefree manner. 'for us, monsters, soul is everythin'. and depending on their soul, a monster can live just a mere few days or as long as they don't grow tired of livin'.'

'Monsters are weird,' you think for the umpteenth time since you have gotten to the Underground and god knows how many times you'd had that thought before that.

'heh. i could say the same 'bout humans. at least judgin' by you,' Sans says, one eye closed in a sly expression.

'Can't say I don't agree with you,' you chuckle silently.

Incredibly exhausted from everything that happened today you finally hit "send" on the message that Sans asked you to write, eliminate any hints of your tinkering with Papyrus' computer and leave to have your well-deserved rest.