CHAPTER FOUR
Kill em' with kindness
'A-AHHH!'
Bell screams, scrambling over to sans on the couch, burying her face in him as he pats her head awkwardly.
Papyrus stops in his tracks, staring.
"NYEH? SANS? IS THAT…A HUMAN?! WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN OUR HOUSE?!"
Papyrus asks, simply standing in the doorway and staring goggle-eyed at the human who's burying herself in sans's thick gray sweater.
Sans shrugs at his brother, responding in a perfectly casual way that throws the tall caped skeleton off guard;
"Yeah, I think so. Found 'em cryin in the woods, so I brought' em here. Think they've had a bad time."
Sans shrugs again, waving a gloved hand at the MTTV, still awkwardly patting the human.
"so we've…kinda just been watchin Mettaton this whole time."
Papyrus, tall and unintentionally intimidating, inspects the shaking human with vibrant, if a little cautious, curiousity.
They wear a battered striped t-shirt, with a light orange apron tied around their waist in a double-bow, curly dark chocolate coloured hair bushing up around their face, most of it drawn up into a messy bun.
They wear thin cloth trousers that are a little too big for them, ballooning slightly at the bottom where they tuck into yellow boots, also slightly battered.
Sans's jacket is hung around their shoulders, the sleeves rolled up and the garment itself so oversized the ends of the blue jacket reach to the humans scuffed knees of the ballooning trousers.
Their skin is the colour of milk chocolate, their bare arms nicked by silvery-pink scars here and there, a bandage covering what appears to be a half-healed burn on their cheek.
They are…much smaller than papyrus expected….
They must be a…a cub! That's what human younglings are called right? They must be a cub!
his expression softens. He does not have the heart (literally) to capture this human cub.
They are too scared!
They are to be protected!
Not…
No, he cannot let his ambition get in the way
of his morals! Such a small human child- or cub- cannot possibly have a powerful soul anyway!
"WELL…WE CAN'T TAKE THIS HUMAN TO UNDYNE! THAT WOULD BE…INSENSITIVE! BEHAVIOR UNFITTING OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH HEH! …HEH."
proclaims papyrus, posing dramatically as the snow swirls his cape through the open door, though his last 'heh' Is laced with uncertainty.
"Err, bro, you're lettin' the snow in."
Sans points out, still patting the slowly-calming human with one hand, relaxing as he sees his brother means no harm. Papyrus starts, then looks behind him, spinning his head almost a full 180 degrees.
Sans winces, he wishes pap wouldn't do that, it…
…unnerves him.
"QUITE RIGHT BROTHER! I AM INDEED LETTING THE SNOW INTO OUR LIVING ROOM! I WILL CORRECT THIS IMMEDIAT-"
Papyrus is interrupted by shaky giggles coming from the human, who's sitting by sans and covering her mouth with her hands, staring up at papyrus, face no longer buried in sans's sweater. Papyrus spins his head back around to look at her, and she jumps a little in surprise.
"I…I'm s-sorry, it's just…"
Papyrus, startled that the human is addressing him, closes the door with one snow-covered boot, tilting his head with a questioning 'nyeh?' as he crouches down to be on eye level with the child.
sans watches with interest, as his brother and the human stare at eachother.
The human uncovers her face and gives a small, nervous smile, timidly meeting papyrus's gaze.
"...I've just never met anyone like you two before."
Then they look down and smile towards the couch cushions instead. Both papyrus and sans are taken aback slightly, but at the same time- and i do not think anyone can blame them- they've both silently sworn to protect this small, kind human.
After all, how can they not take care of such a kind, shy child, no matter their species?
…
Why am I still here? …why can't I just…give up, and fade…? I am supposed to be dead…
So why am I still here…?
How long will I exist in this bleak place?
Forever…?
Until all of reality breaks around me…?
Am I immortal in my suffering?
Gaster thinks bleakly, sitting in his prison of gray.
He's been thinking like this for hours, staring at the door that taunts him. He's not dumb. He knows what's happened to him.
After all, he's had a lot of time to think about it.
It's been days, probably, since he came to this room.
Shattered by my fall into the core… then pulled together again by some unknown determination.
Perhaps even my own,
Generated over an incalculable time of suffering…
and now here I am, with enough determination to break myself free from my prison of nothingness,
but so much that it ends up…
Leaving me…well…
He glances down at himself, then winces, the glitching and writhing mass of darkness still there.
Like This.
He sighs.
Determination melts monsters, I remember that much of my research.
our souls can't handle it…
I may be closer to death, rather than life.
but that, by now, would be a relief.
How many years did I spend in that void?
Two? Two hundred?
Are monsters already free…?
if that is so, then that means that no one will ever come for me. Whatever experiment birthed this room…
…it is long abandoned.
Why did I ever hope? Nothing will change, it never will...
I just have a new prison, and this one is not infinite.
This one, is almost worse…
He summons his extra hands, and, if only out of boredom, sends them to probe the room for anything of interest.
Again.
For probably the millionth time.
Yaayyyy.
He thinks, dryly.
Then, one of them grazes against the door, automatically clasping against the handle with a soft clink of bone against metal.
He freezes, staring at the hand, feeling sensation crackle from it like a bad radio signal.
He doesn't feel anything apart from cool metal.
The sensation still shocks him though, even after brushing against the handle many times, still not used to touch or temperature.
He missed it, the familiar feeling of metal against his hands, if only…
he knows he can't leave.
He would linger still, between death and life, with no one to save him from eternal pain. He would dissolve into a tortured mass of melted dust, shattered between the planes of physical reality and the states of matter, his soul mangled beyond salvation.
but…though he cannot leave, a shattered, unused sense starts up again, a crackle of magic running through him.
he…hears something….?
"Tra La La~"
A…a voice?!
I am not dreaming, I know that, I can't have fallen asleep, right? I didn't fall asleep, how- how am I not dreaming? then, this is… I can't be, I- How, how can…
Is it real- I can't-
Calm down, don't panic, just- just get to the door, just get up and get to the-!
Gaster, filled with a desperation to talk to someone, to be heard, tries to hurl himself towards the door, slamming face first against the floor with a WHAM.
His balance…is not what it used to be.
nor is his aim.
But he tries again.
Slowly, he gets himself to the door using an admirable amount of persistence, finally pressing his melting skull to it and listening intently, his senses sharpening as he pushes them to the limits.
"Tra La La…eat a mushroom every day…"
It's… it's actually a voice..i'm…i'm not dreaming, this is really-
His spiraling thoughts are interrupted, the twisting melodious voice coming again, muffled, but there.
He cant believe it's real.
"The river holds both the Beginning and the End, tra la…Wing Ding a Ring Ring~"
WHAT- THEY- THEY KNOW ME? BUT THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE, I FELL INTO A SEA OF FRACTURED TIMELINES THIS IS LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE-
Again, he is interrupted, as he gapes at the door, a winding, twisting font following the twirling voice that comes through it, slightly muffled.
"Knock Knock, the door is Locked…Tra la, Tick Tock, Tock Tick, Ring Ring, Wing Ding…"
Then, there is silence that stretches on, even as Gaster listens desperately. He waits.
And waits.
Then, wearily, he sighs. He is alone.
Again.
he doesn't understand.
he..was he dreaming…?
No, he can't have been, it was too real. That voice, it was completely unfamiliar, He'd never heard it before…
it must've been real.
Not a memory.
He somehow, once melting, abandoned the idea he was back in reality. But why else would he melt?
that must've been real.
Maybe they will return, even.
But why were they singing such nonsense?
Why did they know his name?
That should be impossible….but no, it is real.
It has to be.
He keeps telling himself that, over and over, trying to believe it, his melted skull still pressed against the door as listens, and waits.
He can be patient…
They will return.
Right?
…
"NYEH?! HUMAN?! YOU ARE SO GOOD AT THIS?!"
Papyrus gapes at the scrambled eggs with a look of disbelief, as sans cautiously inspects it with masterful subtlety, bell grinning proudly.
It's been about a day now, papyrus having exuberantly showed the small human around, most town members barely looking twice at the young one.
There are a lot of different types of monsters.
Only a few more knowledgeable monsters did double takes, a few even asked Papyrus about her, but he had masterfully sent them on their way.
but the human had been a surprisingly agreeable companion anyway, fascinated with everything they saw, and had loved grillbys when sans snuck her in, somehow earning a rare smile from its usually unemotional bartender.
They had even made snowmonsters- sans's of course, being just a snow lump with ketchup on it, but bell had ended up making one for him next to papyrus's, sans adding some ketchup so papyrus would be sufficiently frustrated.
Papyrus had taken his job of the humans guardian very seriously, and Bell had spent a lot of time up on his shoulders as they raced through the snow, giggling madly.
Sans had kept an eye on everything, of course- but only out of habit.
He's just glad his brothers made a friend, human or not.
"Well…i'm not used to using monster ingredients, but i think it turned out ok?"
Sans looks up at the human, broken out of his memories of the day's events, and meets her gaze with one nonexistent eyebrow raised.
"Kid, you're our guest, shouldn't we be doin the cookin?"
Bell shrugs, the jacket still around her shoulders, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.
"You were so nice as to let me come in from the cold, and you talked to me, gave me your jacket, even, and you didn't capture me, o-or…"
They stop for a moment, a shadow passing over their face, as they remember something.
"Try to f-fight me…"
Sans realizes that's probably how they lost the tooth in the first place.
"So, anyway, are you gonna try it? I know it might smell a bit off since I used normal fire instead of uh…magic? Like you monsters do… and it's kind of undercooked so i understand if-"
Sans interrupts her.
"Imma gonna stop you right there, kid. It looks amazin'."
Bell gives a small, grateful smile.
Papyrus stares at sans expectantly.
Sans notices, and internally sighs, bringing the fork up to his frozen grin. He's tasted enough of his brothers cooking to be immune to it if it tastes-
~angelic singing~
"ER…SANS? ARE YOU OK?"
Papyrus asks, staring at his brother, whose eyelights have gotten so big they nearly fill up his eye sockets, his face cranked up to the most in-awe expression possible.
"W-WELL WITH AN EXPRESSION LIKE THAT, I WOULD BE A FOOL NOT TO TRY IT!"
Proclaims papyrus, taking a good sized bite of the food.
After a moment, papyruses eye sockets get very big and he begins to make a high pitched
'NYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" of awe.
Human cooking has…unpredictable effects on monsters.
Both brothers stay there for a moment, bell looking side to side nervously, until finally sans swallows, with an audible click of his fused jawbone that makes Bell turn.
Sans stares at her, wide eyed, and slowly says;
"...kid…that tasted like heaven on a fork…"
And, without missing a beat, Bell replies.
"Well, I suppose it must've been pretty…Eggseptional!"
Sans immediately bursts into laughter, even as papyrus stares at Bell in shock, trying to repress his own laughter as Bell grins, immensely pleased with herself for appealing to the smaller skeletons' pun-standards, not knowing that sans has practically none.
"HUMAN! I DO NOT APPROVE! HOWEVER, I WILL FORGIVE YOU…BUT ONLY IF YOU TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE THIS EGG-BASED DELICACY!"
Sans quietly slips off to his room after devouring the rest of the food, occasionally poking out to plague Papyrus's life with incidental music, getting mostly groans from his brother and giggles from the human as the two collaborate on something called 'lasagna'.
He's not sure it's supposed to involve marshmallows, but hey, what does he know?
Eventually, though, Papyrus has to go meet with Undyne, Sans having to spend a lot of time convincing him that it wouldn't be a good idea to bring Bell.
Now, it's just Sans and the human in the house.
"Heya, kiddo."
Bell jumps, startled.
She's wrapped in a cocoon of blankets on the couch, courtesy of the great papyrus, after a sneezing fit in the kitchen. Sans sits down beside her, barely glancing at the MTT program on the MTTV. They exchange greetings, and watch for a while in a comfortable silence, before Sans suddenly speaks.
"So kid… mind if I ask ya a couple questions?"
At her curious look, sans adds,
"I've never seen a human before, and there's some things I'm just dyin to know, s'all."
Immediately, Bell responds with a hearty "Sure!" and Sans visibly relaxes.
…if that's possible, considering how lazy he is.
"So, uh, what do you want to know?"
Bell asks, tilting her head.
"To be honest, I have some more questions about monsters, too, haha!"
Sans chuckles, and settles back on the couch.
Here goes nothing.
"Well, the first thing is, well…"
Sans pauses and sighs. he really doesn't want to ask this, but knows he has to.
"...how do ya plan on gettin' home?"
Bell looks taken aback, their honey-eyes searching sanses expression with a scrutiny that almost shocks him.
Just full o' surprises, arentcha?
Then, the human sighs sadly.
"I…I don't. I don't plan on going back."
This shocks sans. He makes an audible 'Grk!' sound, and stares at the child in shock.
"Wha…whaddya mean your not goin back? The surface- that's your home, kid!"
Bell meets sanses gaze with an air of defeat.
"No, it wasn't. I…I wasn't happy there, they…"
She looks down, and says, without looking at sans;
"I climbed the mountain that nobody comes back from on purpose. They…I…I don't wanna say why…I just don't have anything to go back to, o-ok?"
Sans stares at her, and then, surprising even himself, he replies honestly.
"I know how you feel."
Bell looks up at him, and sees his eye sockets dark, empty as his smile seems to grow hollow.
She believes him. But… not entirely.
"But…you have your brother, and this nice house…and…and warm blankets…a-and nobody wants to hurt you, and everyone is so nice…"
Sans sighs. He knows that even if he did explain to the human, they wouldn't understand. The lurking feeling on the back of his neck, always making him feel like he's forgotten...forgotten something…something important, but painful. hanging over him, like some cloud of doubt.
Like nothing matters…
Anyway, that would be too much work. Best to go with the partial truth.
"Being in the dark this long…never seein' the light of day… it can really get your spirits down. So yeah, I know what it's like to wanna disappear and never return, but… my bro needs me, so I don't."
This startles Bell. she looks up sharply, staring at him in disbelief.
Sans has no idea what he's said to get this particular mix of incredulity and surprise, but he meets her gaze with a quizzical expression, or as much of one he can manage with his frozen grin.
"Y-you've… never been to the surface?"
Sans looks at her in shock, and for a few seconds the only noise is mettaton in the background, screaming about ratings.
"Yeah, kid"
Sans says, tilting his head.
"None of us have."