It was quiet at the stations as always. Sans watched his brother storm back down the snow-covered bath, having just given the smaller his daily dose of berating and scolding. He tapped his fingers impatiently, waiting for Papyrus to disappear from sight. He quickly checked he time on his phone. He should have a few hours before he came back. Perfect.

Sans stepped away from the station, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he made his way to the purple double doors. Once there, he pressed his back to the stone doors and slumped down, giving the stony exterior of the hollowed door a firm knock with the back of his fist. There was an immediate response.

"You're late," the woman on the other door huffed. "Yeah yeah, I was held up," he dismissed with a wave. "Not everyone has as much free time as you do," he huffed, bringing his knees up to his chest to rest his ulnas on. He found himself wondering if she took the same position, leading him to once again try to picture what she looked like. He imagined a larger woman, and thought she might possibly be a bear or maybe some sort of mammal, since she was all the way out in Snowdin. He knew she was old and had children, from what she described, so he imagined a bit on the weaker side, though the regal tone left him with doubts. He momentarily wondered what she thought he looked like. Neither of them ever described themselves to the other in a physical sense, since they had agreed on introductions once they met face to face one day. So for all he knew, she could just be a figment of his imagination. He's rather not think of that.

"Your brother again?" she hummed, an amused tone to her voice. Sans gave a slight groan. "Of course it was. Who else? Boss just won't give me a fuckin' break. It's not like anything happens on sentry duty, anyways. Usually I just take a shortcut away, but somehow that fucker always finds me." He heard a giggle behind the doors and turned his head slightly to look at the stone. "Well then, your family tree must be a cactus." Sans blinked in confusion, before a grin spread over his skull. "Oh yeah? Why's that?" he goaded. "Because everyone on it is a prick!" He had to cover his mouth to hold back a chuckle. "Okay okay, ya got me there," he chuckled, feeling his spirits lifting at the joke. "But I least you admit I'm as sharp as a thorn. You're just pointless." He heard her snicker from behind the doors. "Oh, my dear, you remind me so much of my former husband. Young, dumb, and-"

"Hung?" Sans chuckled. Apparently that one was a real show stopped, because she burst into laughter. He was pretty sure he could hear genuine tears in her roaring. He felt like his soul lifted at the sound and suddenly he didn't feel like such garbage anymore. He chuckled along, waiting for her to finish so they could continue their conversation.

"Oh, I'm going to have to have to figure that one out for myself, aren't I?" she finished with a chuckle, sounding out of breath. He rested his mandible on his arms, smirking to himself, and at the same time, at her. "That's an invitation I'd gladly accept, lady. Any day. It's been a while since I've been laid, after all."

"Not much luck, lately?" she hummed with a giggle, a knowing tone in her voice. "Pfft, don't you know it?" Sans scoffed, rolling his eyelights in annoyance at his own shitty track record. "Haven't gotten any since Boss gave me this fuckin' collar." He lifted his skull and tugged at his own collar, a black leather with golden spikes that could really impale a mother fucker if need be. He'd pricked himself a few times, even though he was made completely of bone. He looked back at the door, awaiting a response for a good minute, but there was none.

"Uh, did ya fuckin' die back there or somethin'? 'Cause I thought we had a pretty nice thing goin' on here, y'know?" he joked.

"You wear a collar?"

Sans froze for a moment, not expecting that response. He mentally smacked himself in the skull. For weeks they'd went back and forth, and this was the first time one of them let something slip about themselves. He gave a small huff and nodded to himself. "Yeah… yeah, I do," he answered. "Boss gave it to me a year back or so."

"Is that why you call your brother 'Boss'?" she inquired. "Does he own you?"

"Wha- no!" he responded quickly. "No no, he's just my brother, and only my brother."

"Then why the collar?"

"He just… worries about me, okay?" he sighed. "You know he's captain of the Royal Guard. I've told you, right? Yeah. Captain. And I don't have very much HP, so it's just to get people to back off. That's it."

The response took a few moments.

"How much HP?" she asked. Sans opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself before he could say anything. What was he doing? He couldn't just spill everything about himself to this stranger. Even if she sounded caring, he'd been duped before.

"Four hundred," he finally decided on. That was fairly low, but it didn't show himself as completely defenseless. "Oh," was her response. She didn't sound doubtful, so he guessed he pulled that lie off. However, without actually seeing her face. "Yeah," he sighed. "It's not much, but I'm working on it."

"Are you okay?"

He wasn't expecting the question, and he froze for a moment, not knowing how to respond. He felt his soul tighten for a moment. The last person to ever really ask that was Papyrus, and that was almost a decade ago. "Yeah… I guess," he answered slowly. "I'm just… going through a few things, y'know. That's… that's it."

There was no response. He couldn't stop himself when he continued.

"I'm just tired. Tired of everything. I just want to take a long nap. A long… long nap. Just to get away from everything." He rubbed around his sockets, letting out a sigh. "You ever feel like that, old lady?"

Things continued to be silent. Then, he heard her stand up. He hadn't gotten too personal, had he? What the fuck kind of question was that? Of course he had. He sighed and lowered his skull, rapping a fist on his skull. "Stupid stupid stupid," he muttered.

"Would you like some pie?" he suddenly heard from the other end. He froze up for a moment, before his frame relaxed and he raised his skull. "You know what, lady? That sounds fantastic," he sighed, his grin broadening. "Real fantastic." He'd only tried her pie once, but fuck was it a treat to have. He assumed she had gotten up to go retrieve the slice of pie, and yet he was shocked into standing when he felt the doors begin to move. He backed up, expecting the doors to only move enough for her to fit a slice of pie through, but was wrong on that account as well. The door kept opening wider until he could fully gaze at the woman before him.

He was right on two aspects: she was a mammal-type monster, and boy, was she large. Large with white fur, small horns, red eyes, and black robes with a very familiar red symbol on the front.

Sans felt his breathing hitch as he took a stepped back to take her in. Things were starting to piece together now. The secrecy, the regal tone, the motherly attitude; there was no doubt about it. He had been spouting off his problems to the former queen of the Underground.

Even so, he didn't feel as petrified as he knew he should be. There was a certain comfort in finally meeting this person face to face. Only moments before, she had been laughing at his jokes and sympathizing with the problems he had poured from his soul. He felt as though he didn't need to hide himself around her. Even when she slowly scanned him up and down, he felt a strange sense of comfort. He felt a warm feeling in his soul at the sight of her. She made him feel a sense of safety and warmth for the first time in a while, something a few dozen bottles of mustard and booze couldn't accomplish.

And then she started laughing.

His expression fell.

It didn't start off as a giggle, either. She burst into howls of laughter taking a step closer towards him. Any warmth previously felt was lost, and he took a step back because of a fear he wasn't willing to admit.

"Why, you're so small!" she exclaimed in between bouts of laughter. It was true that he was about half her size, but he hadn't bothered to notice how intimidating she looked until he saw those sharp claws reaching for him. She quickly lunged at him faster than he thought someone of her size could move, easily grabbing him and lifting him up with a hand around his cervical, just barely touching the collar. She could pick him up with one arm; despite him being half her size and rather rotund, he was still a skeleton and thus fairly light. Her laughter died out as one of her large hands wrapped around the base of his skull, gripping tightly. "Why, I think I could crush your skull in one hand," she giggled, looking down at him as if he was some amusing pet. He growled in a newfound fear that struck his soul as he tried to push her away. She didn't budge. Instead, she checked him, laughing even harder at what she saw. He felt even colder right then. He swore he couldn't feel anything but a tight sensation in his soul. "I wonder what else you've lied about?" she hummed, those sharp claws skittering around his skull as he tried to control himself. "Surely not about your brother or your petty sentry job. Well, you weren't lying about he collar, that's for sure." She grinned, exposing the length of those sharp canines as she observed more of them. "Or are you really as weak as you make yourself out to be?"

"I am not weak!" he hissed at her, his red eyelight flashing; it almost felt as though it was burning inside his skull. "Oh, my dear," she purred, pressing her head against his. "If you hadn't kept detailing every aspect of your life to a stranger, I might actually believe that. No, you're just a pathetic little whelp, aren't-"

The former queen stopped for a moment, looking up in surprise when she saw a levitating animal-like skull form out of thin air. It opened it's sharp-toothed maw, a beam beginning to charge in its mouth. "Let me go. Now!" Sans barked, a sharpened bone forming in his hand, pointing the tip at her chest threateningly. She looked surprised, bit her expression donned that wicked grin once again in a matter of seconds. "Go ahead. I dare you," she growled, leaning her face close to his as her grip tightened.

Sans had the blaster charge further, almost ready to fire. The tip of his bone pressed further against the queen, ready to sink in without a moment's notice. She grinned even wider, goading him into taking the next step and hurting her. He got ready and…

And…

What was the point? He went limp in her arms. He already knew he couldn't muster up the will to intentionally kill someone. He fell silent, the weapons disappearing into nothingness as he looked away. Anger was replaced by an empty feeling once again. "Alright. Go ahead," he whispered, looking back at her. She gave a soft smirk down at him, but didn't attack him as he first expected. Instead she brought him closer to her chest, her hands moving from around his cervical and skull to circling his spine and ribs, keeping him supported. "Just as I suspected, she sighed, moving back towards the doors. He blinked in confusion, wondering what shit she was trying to pull now. "What… are you…?" he mumbled.

"I've decided to keep you for a few days," she hummed, closing the stone doors with one hand. "Keep… wah? No, I, Boss'll kill me n' I…" he weakly protested. She shook her head as she moved down a long hallway, humming as she gently rubbed his spine in an almost gentle sort of way. "Don't worry about him right now," she sighed. "You're with me."

Sans flinched for a moment when he felt her hand touch the back of his cervical, but jolted when he felt a heavy weight drop off. She took up the collar and placed it in her inventory as she walked. "You won't be needing this for a few days," she hummed. He brought a hand up to feel the now naked area. "Lady… what are you doing?" he asked, attempting to lean back and look at her. "Oh, my dear Sans, just call me Toriel," she told him, walking up a small flight of stairs.

She planted a small kiss on the top of his skull. "Consider yourself mine for these next few days. Hopefully then you won't be as tired. Understood?"

Sans gave a slow, unsure nod, just letting himself go with it as he leaned his skull against her. He wasn't sure what he could really trust at his point. Still, he felt that warmth creep back up into his still soul. He smiled some. "Yeah. I got you… Tori."