CHAPTER SIX

HP: 0/1

Sans immediately shortcuts downstairs, just in time to see the human facing down undyne, reflecting her spears with nothing but a frying pan grabbed from the nearby kitchen.

Papyrus is screeching nearby, something about friendship, his voice terrified as bell faces the intimidating fish monster that towers over her, clad in dark armour.

Papyrus attempts to dart in front of the towering captain, but she swats him aside, surrounding him with a cage of spears, her intentions clear.

She's not here for a cooking lesson.

Bell stays right where she is, her green soul- wait, something's….wrong.

Instead of the warm, shifting forest green that bells soul should be, another magic seems to have wrapped around it, keeping it- and her- in place and turning the quivering soul a sickly lime green that hurts his eyes.

Movement magic.

Undynes speciality.

Sans curses under his breath.

She's trembling, but the human's face is set, the frying pan held out before her like a shield,

and Undyne raises one scaled eyebrow, shooting a remark towards the human along with a couple hundred spears from every direction as she laughs and papyrus screams.

"PWAHAHA! YOU'RE THE HUMAN? REALLY? YOU'RE PUNY!

Bell doesn't respond, just spins around, reflecting every single spear. Undyne growls in frustration.

Wow, this kid is good.

She fires more spears, Red and blue and…is that yellow? Coming from every direction, undynes signature style, which is to say, brutally smashing her enemies into oblivion.

Cling, cling cling-

They bounce off the frying pan.

Undyne makes direct eye contact with Bell, who returns it with a shaky smile.

Undyne doesn't take it well.

She roars with rage, and Bell is freed from her sickly green bindings, undyne summoning a huge blue spear to lob at the panicked human still clad in sans battered blue jacket, the blue and gray fabric hanging off her as she shakes, the jacket too big for her small form.

as soon as her soul is freed from Undyne's grasp, she dodges Undyne's spear and runs.

Runs like the wind.

Darn, this kid can really move!

She tears out the front door, undyne stomping after her, her boots pounding through the snow as the chase begins, papyrus scrambling after her, panic evident on his face as he runs forward as well, his boots tracing the path undyne left in her wake.

Bell doesn't get far before undyne starts catching up with her, the fish monsters shadow nearly over her entirely, but Sans and Papyrus are already attempting to hold Undyne off- the two brothers following as best they can.

*Captian Undyne is on the warpath.

The taller of the brothers throws himself in undyne's path, yelling about how he only wanted them to be friends, for undyne to please not do this, trying to stop the captain by forcefully holding her shoulders with a death grip, his boots digging into the snow as undyne tries to march after the human, her sharp teeth grit.

Undyne will have none of it, and begins to try to shake him off, mostly unsuccessfully, since Papyrus is not easily thrown, only stopping when Undyne practically hurls him into a tree with a burst of fury,

his battle body slamming into the trunk so hard it cracks with a sickening CRUNCH-

but it isn't over.

It's far from over.

as undyne races after the terrified human, the snow swirling around her as frost gathers on her armour, but the chase is again interrupted.

sans teleports in her way, his eyelights dark as his slippers thump into the snow with a sharp crunch, his mood as dark as his eye sockets.

The older brother has come out to play.

*sans, is also on the warpath.

Suddenly, the chase screeches to a halt,

bells footsteps crunching in the snow as she races into the woods, her face streaked with tears as she pushes past brambles to hide among the bushes.

"SANS! Move! what are you DOING?!"

Undyne roars furiously, but the skeleton- who stands at half her hight- only chuckles coldly, snow whirling around them as tension crackles as an almost physical force.

"what I have to do, fish-face."

Undyne lets out a low growl of frustration, and summons a long, cruel spear in her hand as she glares through the snow storm at Sans's suspiciously serious expression, the skeletons trademark jacket missing, his t-shirt gathering snow.

"Aww, c'mon undyne, we both know that kid doesn't deserve the gillotine."

Undyne stares down the small skeleton, her fury blazing a bright lime green from beneath her eyepatch as she growls something about 'useless pun-making layabouts' under her breath, her entire body quivering in rage, her one working eye glaring at sans with an annoyed fury.

"Sans, i SWEAR, if you don't MOVE ill-"

But she is interrupted.

"You'll what?"

Sans asks, his grin becoming hollow, his eyes going dark, completely shifting his manner to one more threatening than even Undynes.

Undynes eye widens for just a moment, surprised.

She's never seen this side of sans.

His HP and DF blink into view.

SANS

1/1 HP

1 DF

*Cannot survive a FIGHT. is not going to move.

"HIT ME?"

Papyrus watches, silent, from his crater of smashed trunks, as the two stand off.

he knows better than to intervene now, surely the two will work it out, there's no way Undyne will-

"Sans…"

Undyne glares down at the small skeleton through the whirling snow.

"MOVE."

And with that, spears shoot from the earth-

but Sans dodges easily, dancing out of the way of Undyne's warning attacks, but getting right in her way again when she tries to move, making it clear she isn't getting past him easily.

She growls in frustration and impatience, more warning shots trying to force sans out of the way, erupting from the snow with bursts of blue light-

but he just teleports around them.

then, as he dances around her increasingly more frustrated attacks, a familiar voice speaks.

*undyne seems too enraged to care.

Sans blinks at what the voice says, recognising Undyne's serious fighting face from her training sessions with papyrus, and knowing she's going to attack for real.

She's going to actually try and hit him.

He could die.

Somehow, he feels like he's used to that…

He keeps getting in her way.

He keeps dodging.

She keeps attacking.

More spears erupt from the snow, first left, then right, then they rain from above-

Why is he doing this? Risking this? It's just one human.

Right, right, center, left, above center-

It's just one human, whose soul could make the dream,

still fresh in his mind, come true.

Center, right, above right, left, left, above center-

But she's not just a human.

Center, left, left, center, right-

…she's just some little kid, scared and alone.

Right, left, center, above center, above left-

…with incredible cooking.

Left, right, center, left, left, above left-

Suddenly, everything slows down. The snow whirls as Undyne radiates fury, his brother in the middle of running for him, and everything stops when Sans feels a single spear graze his leg.

A lance of pain shoots through him.

and then-

-1HP

Wow…I actually am…Dying. Huh…welp, i hope paps will…

forgive…me…

"SANS! NO, NO, SANS-"

Papyrus runs over to his brother as time speeds back up, ignoring his own injuries, viciously pinning Undyne with a flurry of blue bones, tears streaming from his eye sockets as he crumples by his brother's side.

Not sans. Not sans, not sans not sans NOT SANS-

"NO, NO- SANS PLEASE, NOT SANS…PLEASE, SANS, THIS…THIS ISN'T- THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR A NAP…"

Papyrus collapses, as tears slide down undynes face.

He sobs into his brother's coat, because even Papyrus can't muster hope after something as certain as sans taking damage.

He knows it's over.

Papyrus's wails of anguish attract the attention of other monsters, who gather around, horrified gasps ringing out. Someone asks undyne if it was a human attack, but she can't answer, her tears simply falling faster as she starts to shudder, taking damage and not caring as the blue attacks that surround her repay papyrus's pain.

She crumples to the snow, her light dimming and spear falling away as papyrus shakes with grief.

Then, Papyrus turns his head.

He shakes with anger and grief, silently summoning an ocean of bones and flinging them all at Undyne as he sobs over his brother's body, sending wave after wave of attacks at the captain of the royal guard, who simply doesn't care anymore. Bones crawl and fly and shoot from every direction, but undyne doesn't care.

Tears are streaming from her eye, and she's staring at her own hands in horror, as if she can't believe what she's done.

Then, a mournful cry rings out.

"S-SANS!"

But it isn't Papyrus's voice.

It's the humans.

"Here, wait, sans- s-sans, no not- sans please, please hold on- i can save you, I can- I need to- j-just don't die- I can save you! I-I can save you! Please, sans…hold on…"

Bell slides to a stop in the snow, papyrus sobbing on sans's other side, her face panicked as she prays for her one precious miracle to show itself. The miracle that nearly killed her, the miracle that landed her here….

But for sans, it'd be worth it.

"Please…please, d-don't die…you don't deserve this! N-not for my sake…please, hold still, i can save you, i can…"

The human's tears are falling too, and she ignores the gasps of monsters as they see the human knelt by sans's lifeless form.

But he's not dust yet.

Something in him…is holding on.

Bell collapses by him, her face buried in his shirt as she sobs, wanting with all her might-

Praying with all her might-

Gathering everything inside her into one huge ball of emotion-

*you are filed with…determina-

…kindness…?

Then, Bell summons all the might of her soul, her hands blazing with green fire before she slams them down on the collapsed skeleton with one last burst of emotion and pure undiluted WANT-

….

…..

200/200HP.

*you hear distant, maniacal laughter…

*somewhere else, someone throws a script in the trash.

Then, voices fade in through the darkness….

"B-BROTHER?! SANS, S-SANS PLEASE BE OK…"

"Sans…can you..?"

"Y-YOU BETTER WAKE UP…"

"Sans, I used…i used magic…you're…you're ok! Sans…?"

"UNDYNE, YOU WILL CALL ALPHYS-"

"p-paps, the, the human-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT! NEVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN UNDYNE! JUST CALL ALPHYS NOW!"

"Pap- papyrus, i…i think he's gone…"

"NO! H-HE CAN'T BE…! HE ISN'T DUST, N-NOT YET ANYWAY, S-SO…"

Uhhg…noissssyyy…..

"OH MY GOD SANS? S-SANS ARE YOU THERE?! PLEASE SANS, A-ANSWER ME!"

"Papyrus, he's gone-"

"NO! I- I HEARD HIM! I SWEAR! CALL ALPHYS N-NOW UNDYNE!"

"You're hearing things, im sorry but-"

"n-no, I heard it too, s-scary fish lady..."

Why r they so looooouuuudddd….

My head…ow…

My leg….. Even…. Even more ow…

"SANS?! OH, OH HE'S OKAY! I- I ALMOST THOUGHT-"

"PAPYRUS, JUST ACCEPT IT! HE'S GONE! AND- I KILLED-"

"S-Scary fish lady? Don't c-cry…Sans is ok, i- I heard him!"

"NYES! I-I HEARD IT TOO! H-HE SAYS HIS LEG HURTS!"

"I….I KILLED HIM PAPYRUS! HE'S DEAD! I KILLED YOUR DAMN BROTHER! ACCEPT THAT, PLEASE-"

"Uhhggg….no…i kinda wish i was….but oof…no…"

"OH S-SANS THANK GOD!"

…

Sans sits, wincing in the snow as papyrus hugs the living daylights out of him, his brother bawling in relief,

the older of the skeleton brothers seeming completely shell shocked as snow swirls around them lazily.

He- he can't- he's not dead?

Yeah. he's…not dead.

…somehow?

And…and his...his HP…

He sits there for a long while, his brother refusing to let go, but sans simply stares into space.

Monsters can always sense, in some way, their own stats,

HP especially, and can 'view' them at will.

And sans…well, he feels…

…different.

Sans

HP: 200/200

DF: 5

*a monster with his HP and DF stats raised by human kindness.

He reads it again.

And again.

And again and again.

He looks down at the crying child pressed into his side, then at the spear wound on his leg, a crack that still protests slightly as snow slowly collects over it.

I…dont...have 1 HP anymore…?

Ok…ok.

ok.

yup.

this is tooootally normal and fine.

Definitely. Not defying. Every law of nature.

Totally fine.

Sans, severely in shock, looks at his brother, who is chattering away through tears, and interrupts him with a small

"uhh…paps?"

Papyrus immediately responds, jerking his head up and gazing at sans through thick tears.

"Y-YES B-BROTHER? IS THERE SOMETHING YOU NEED?"

Sans levels his gaze, and very slowly says;

"Papyrus, I need you to punch me in the face."

Papyrus just stares at him.

"SANS, ARE YOU OK? I-I JUST GOT YOU BACK FROM THE BRINK OF DEATH, I'M NOT LOSING YOU AGAIN-"

Sans interrupts him, grabbing both of his hands and very, very slowly enunciates;

"i. need. you. to. punch. me. in. the. face. papyrus."

Papyrus, taken aback, just stares at him, but as he goes to speak-

"nevermind, I'll just do it myself."

Then, Sans uses his magic to levitate papyrus's fist and sink it into his own perpetually grinning face, papyrus 'nyeh!'ing in shock at the sudden magic wound around his arm, his fist connecting with a sharp crack.

THWAM-

"OH MY GOD SANS!"

-5HP

195/200HP

There is a moment of dead silence in the snow as Sans's grin spreads wider, a rare show of genuine happiness which takes Papyrus back even more, even as sans winces and whispers

"So that's what that feels like…"

but the poor younger skeleton is floored when he sees Sans's HP bar, magically summoned by the damage to float over his older brother's head.

"S-S-SANS? Y-YOU HAVE? A LOT OF HP?"

As papyrus gapes, sans grins, for real.

It takes a lot for him to actually smile, but when he does, everyone can tell.

And boy is he smiling.

Undyne is sobbing in relief nearby, while monsters crowd around her, asking questions, and a few even come over to check on the brothers, but quickly leave them be.

It's clear they're having a moment.

Suddenly, Sans feels a small tug on his jumper, and looks down to see Bell, her eyes tired.

"Sans…it took…a lot out of me to…"

then she slides into him, and for a second he thinks she's unconscious, panic rushing through him as he goes to shout-

"Zzzz….zzz…..zzzzz….zzz"

Oh, thank god, only sleeping.

Sans lets out a sigh of relief. She's okay.

Then, he hears a sob from papyrus, and he turns to see his younger brother with fresh oceans of tears gathered in his eye sockets.

"Uhh, bro? You ok-"

He doesn't even finish the sentence before papyrus wails;

"Y-YOU CAN FINALLY TRAIN WITH MEEEEEEE"

Sans's eye sockets widen, and a feeling of dread settles over him, but he pushes it away. That…actually might be a good idea, since it wouldn't kill him if he made a mistake….somehow?

Heh, look at me… actually wanting to do something.

Weird.

…

*For some reason, you feel like it's only now the story truly begins