Chap 16 – New Friends

Adaptation is often a necessary trait for survival in hostile environments, many Sans with the unfortunate fate of living on genocidal routes have had to adapt in their own ways to deal with the human responsible for this. Killer was no different, but even after being freed from this problem his new habits didn't change, as well as his hatred for Chara that was the origin of all his suffering. But now this same person responsible was the one who saved him.

- Chara? - After standing up, the first thing Killer noticed was a pole in the child's hand and on top of it was the source of the light that scared away the fearsome creature that was chasing him. His own soul. - How are you here? What is this place? - But the human didn't bother to answer and just started walking in the opposite direction.

Although there were still many questions in Killer's head, at least he realized that the source of the light was the only thing the amalgamate feared, so in quick steps he ran to the side of the only one that could apparently provide him some security.

Seeing that now there was no longer the worry of being devoured, the mad Sans tried to observe his surroundings more calmly, but the result was the same, pure darkness wherever one looked. The only exception being the light source belonging to the human beside him.

- You are not the Chara I know, are you? Of course not, it doesn't make sense for you to appear here. But all the other versions of you I knew wouldn't help a Sans, so why did you save me? - But again, his only answer was silence. - You are not the talkative type by the way, fine, but can you at least tell me where we are going? And why did your soul become practically a light bulb? - Not only was there no answer, but Chara didn't even seem to hear the questions. Looking more closely, the child's eyes resembled Ink's when he was devoid of emotions. And knowing that the human's soul was outside his body, Killer wondered if there was any connection.

Already irritated by all the mystery, Killer then was tempted to use his knife to take out his anger on the human he hated the most, but doing this to the only person who could apparently keep that thing away would not be the smartest move. Killer might be stubborn, impulsive, and inconsequential, but he wasn't dumb. So he just walked silently along with his new companion into the unknown.

Sometimes the pair passed by the statues, this time due to the light source it was possible to see their appearances, and for the most part, they belonged to Sans of all kinds.

- Inks... Errors... and even Nightmares. - Killer commented as he walked among the stone figures, his hand reaching out to touch the horrified face of a petrified guardian of negativity, but his hand drew back knowing that this was not the same Nightmare he knew. - Is this some kind of limbo? An afterlife? Has the bill for my sins finally arrived? If this really is hell, it makes sense that I found you here. - His question was more to himself than to his company, knowing that they were just ignoring him. But to his surprise there was finally a slight change in Chara's behavior.

The child changed the direction of his steps to a statue of a Frisk, unlike the other stone figures that surrounded him, this Frisk had a seemingly calm expression of acceptance of his fate. Although Chara's face was still inexpressible, a faint trace of love and affection could be noticed for a quick moment when his small, fragile hand touched the cold stone face. The small gesture lasted only a few seconds, and then Chara just went on his way as if nothing had happened, without a single glance at his companion.

- You're really not my Chara... I guess we all have our stories, don't we? - In Killer's vision, Frisk was just a means of locomotion that Chara's soul used to kill, nothing more, nothing less. But this Chara even with seemingly no emotions, managed to convey a sense of coziness that Killer never imagined the demon child would be able to pass on.

Along the way, Killer was able to notice some slight differences in his body, such as the absence of heat or cold, as well as the lack of hunger or exhaustion from the seemingly endless walk that didn't seem to affect him either. All these facts only underscored Killer's idea that he was dead, but that would not explain everything that was happening.

Fortunately, the duo eventually spotted a change of scenery when a beacon-like light appeared in the distance. It was a blinding light source that far surpassed the illumination generated by the child's soul next to them.

A feeling of apprehension began to take over Killer due to anxiety and a slight fear of the unknown, but quickly faded as a consequence of the effects of his damaged soul. But anything was better than living in this primordial darkness, so without further hesitation, Killer went ahead.

When they both entered the strange place, the first sight that came into Sans' eyes was a forest, there was no sign of civilization, only trees and grass that stretched as far as the eye could see. Looking up, there was no sky, only the glow of the light he had seen when he entered this strange place.

But as he pondered what he would do now, Chara simply turned around and set off again into the darkness.

- Wait! - Grabbing the human's arm, Killer continued. - Where are you going? I have so many questions still, are you really not going to tell me anything after bringing me here?

This time Chara at least cared enough to look at Killer, but no words were spoken yet, his only response was the gesture of a hand pointing into the forest, as if that was the place he should follow. When his arm was released, Chara simply disappeared out of the light and walked back seemingly aimlessly.

- Definitely the strangest Chara I have ever seen. - Looking in the direction where he was pointed to go, Killer without much choice decided to follow the indicated path.

To alleviate the boredom of the route, several attempts were made to use his magic, but just as before nothing worked, in a situation like this even his knife, which was like an old partner, did not provide the sense of security he would have liked. The feeling of being vulnerable did not improve when a sound of something large falling arose and caused a slight tremor on the ground.

Curious about the origin of the noise, Killer ran to the source of the sound for a while until he found it, and just like everything else so far, nothing he saw made sense. For in front of him stood a Horror wearing the casual clothes of a Sans, but they were green, and he was using his axe to chop down a tree without paying attention to anything around him. Just like Chara, there seemed to be no life in his eyes.

Not far away a Sans from a Fell universe wearing a wreath was slowly swinging on a swing with a sad expression as if he had already given up everything in life. Killer recognized those flowers from the FlowerFell universe, a specific AU that his boss particularly liked due to the suffering of this Sans that would never cease because it was not possible to save the human he was in love with.

Another fellow nearby could be found sitting leaning against a tree while petting a white cat with blue stripes, this was a Sans which Killer took some time to recognize. Ccino, a peaceful Sans famous for working in a neutral zone in the multiverse and his famous cats that always accompanied him. In his experience, individuals like Ccino were nothing more than free EXP, but because he didn't want to break the rules of a neutral zone Nightmare never allowed his subordinates to attack him.

The reason it took Killer a while to recognize him was because his countenance was totally different than usual. Like Blue, Ccino had an annoying smile that was always visible, this added to his kind and sweet nature, characteristics that were definitely not possible to find in the Sans that stood before Killer now. A Horror-like wound could be seen on his head, his clothes were old, dirty and torn, and just like FlowerFell's skeleton, his look was one of defeat.

- So, what happened next? Did you continue to be his toy? - Asked a female voice from the treetop.

- Not just him, but his whole group, in fact. - A long pause was made in Ccino's answer, pain could be found in his gaze as he remembered something. His only comfort being the cat on his lap that seemed happy with the affection it received. - They liked to take turns with me, competing with each other on who could...

- You don't have to continue if you don't want to. - Said the voice in the treetop again. But Ccino just ignored it and returned to his report.

- Things went on like this for a long time, several times I attempted suicide, but he always stopped me. And it was only when I gave up everything that the "help" came... in the end you could say that I was finally free, but there was no longer a place to return to. And after that... that thing appeared, I ended up here.

- All right, you don't have to talk about it anymore. Thank you for sharing, in time we should be able to find a new purpose for you. - Finally revealing its appearance, a pink Nightmare used its tentacles to be placed on the ground. - I have heard several horrible reports regarding versions of myself, but I am always surprised when I hear this kind of thing. But now you are part of my group, and I give you my word that no one will ever hurt you again, you will never have to go through that again.

Ccino did not raise his gaze to face this female version of his torturer, even if it was not the same individual, it was still partly the same being, so he would not fully trust his words. But on the other hand, he had no choice, this added to the fact that he had already given up, only yielded a weak positive nod which in turn generated a sigh from Nightmare. Nightmare knew that it would take time to build a relationship of trust to help this poor soul.

- It seems we have a new visitor, don't be shy, come closer. - Said the pink Nightmare again.

Having visited many AU's, Killer was used to seeing different versions of the same monster, even the most bizarre ones. But there were still moments like this where he witnessed scenes where he didn't know how to react, because what was in front of him now was a pink version of his boss, as well as the fact that it had a female voice. All this was too ridiculous for his mind to process in a short time, resulting in his body not moving even when he was called.

- Looks like the shock was too much for our colleague here, by the look on your face you must be new around here, first time seeing an alternate version of your owner? - From an angle that Killer couldn't see, another voice emerged, but this one was strangely familiar and Killer soon understood why.

From behind another tree a human appeared, he had white hair and blue clothes typical of a Sans, his eyes were black and a black substance descended from his eyes. On his chest a very familiar distorted soul could be seen.

- What's the matter, don't you know how to greet a new pal? Come closer and shake my hand. - Said the human as he approached and extended his hand in a friendly manner.

If there was any doubt in Killer's mind about the place he was in, now he was sure. For what stood in front of him was a human version of himself.

- I am definitely in hell.