Chapter 9: Intense Interrogation
True to her word, Ember made sure that Richter wasn't going anywhere that night. He was lying down in the middle of his Living Room. He wanted to go to his own bed, but she wouldn't allow him to. Being buried under several hundred pounds of warm fur made it difficult for him to move. Richter felt that it wasn't necessary anyway since he didn't plan on staying awake elsewhere. Even though he won the small battle with Undyne, he had exhausted himself with his spells. He felt that Ember brought up a good point: He really shouldn't of used such a powerful spell so early into the battle despite Undyne's tactics. The incident with the Stopwatch didn't help matters either. He hadn't had decent sleep in weeks, excluding naps. He blamed himself for it knowingly. He was too focused on work for anything else at the time. Just like his past, it eventually caught up to him. Richter had to be "thrown" off Ember for him to move. He couldn't, and still can't, feel his arms. He was just glad that he started feeling the effects of sleep as he drifted off.
Ember, too, was glad that Richter had finally fallen asleep. As much as she admired his determination, she knew that he wasn't a machine. Signs of internal exhaustion were abundant before the battle. His movement was much more sluggish and he made casual mistakes. Despite what everyone thought, it was Richter who forgot the one step into the Trophy Room. She didn't blame him though. Constantly working being a good thing was indoctrinated into Richter at such a young age that only recently did he start seeing the problems with it. She hoped that he would eventually break the habit and start to relax. Richter seemed to only show his true personality when he was relaxed. However, no matter the situation, he just wouldn't lower his guard. Only when sleeping had Ember seen the Belmont truly chill; until he starts having nightmares. She doubted that Richter remembered any of them. He would always wake up and act completely fine, but she knew better. He was reliving his time with Shaft every time he went to sleep, with only a few exceptions. The times when she was there seemed to be without nightmares. He never told her why he was calmed so much by animals. She couldn't think of a reason, so she was left in the dark. She didn't care though. As long as Richter was calmed, she was content with not knowing.
Something about this night was different to the Fire Warg though. She couldn't help shake the feeling that they were being watched by someone lurking in the shadows. She couldn't get up to investigate in the fear that she would rouse Richter from his sleep. Maybe laying on top of Richter wasn't the smartest idea she had thought of. It stopped not only Richter from moving, but herself as well. Every time she thought she would catch the figure off guard, it disappeared from her line of sight with a flash of white and blue. She trusted herself that it wasn't an illusion of sorts, but a stalker or unwanted visitor. Ember continued to get the feeling that their "guest" had some business with Richter. She wouldn't allow that in the slightest.
After about an hour of trying to see the invader from her mounted position, she realized that she could instantly end their "game". Being a Fire Warg had its perks, even if most of them were combat oriented. Quickly exhaling a small ball of fire, the room lit up. For a second, she got a clear view of the creature watching them. She was shocked to find a short skeleton wearing a blue hoodie, both eyes an empty void, staring back at her; the monster's usual grin wider and more strained than normal. With a deep chuckle, he spoke.
"you just had to see me, huh? oh well. i was never good at the hiding anyway. i've got talk to this human here, so why don't you just leave for a minute?"
She instinctively growled. She feared what his version of talking was like. The skeleton's strained calmness told her that whatever he wanted, it was going to be violent. Any ill will towards Richter was, partially, directed towards the creatures of the Altar as well. She wouldn't allow any harm to fall upon Richter. Standing up, she paced around Richter protectively; teeth bared into a violent snarl. She slightly hoped that she could wake Richter up before Sans did anything.
"just got to make my life hard, don't you? oh well. don't say i didn't warn ya."
A ring of Gaster Blaster surrounded the Fire Warg, all firing simultaneously. She yipped out in pain as the beams pierced her flesh and fur. She let an instinctual and drawn out howl as she faded into a puff of fire, her soul retreating into the Altar to heal. Richter slowly clambered off of the ground at hearing the howl. He didn't know exactly why someone would be in pain, but it meant only one thing: Someone was attacking the inhabitants of his house. Looking around, he couldn't see Ember anywhere. His vision was incredibly blurry and he was still exhausted from the day prior. There weren't any sounds of battle and nothing was broken. Yet, he knew that he didn't imagine that howl. It had sounded so close, almost on top of him. That's when he realized something: Ember was gone. Richter empowered the Vampire Killer with flames, lighting up the room. Everything was undisturbed in the house. He couldn't exactly figure out where the intruder was. That was until someone spoke his name from the shadows. Turning around, he saw a single blue eye in the darkness. It outlined the socket the eye resided in, revealing it to be a skull. Richter recognized it as Sans.
"mornin, richter. how'd ya sleep?"
Richter sighed and started to light some of the candles around the house. He was glad that Sans was here, even if he didn't know why yet. He thought that the skeleton could help him find whoever attacked Ember.
"Well, I was sleeping well until someone attacked Ember. I awoke to her howl. Strange that I can't find the perpetrator though. Mind helping me search?"
"sure thing. i was just wondering something though."
The Belmont had finally created enough light to cast the entire Living Room in a soft glow. Extinguishing the flaming flail-whip, he continued his search. He hoped that no one was in the Trophy Room. That would be a pain in the ass to fight in without breaking anything. Opening the door, he called back to Sans.
"Yeah, what is it? It hope it's relevant to the search though. I don't like the idea of an intruder hiding in my house, especially while I'm sleeping."
The tone of Sans' voice shifted drastically, becoming much deeper and sinister. Richter slowly turned around as Sans asked his question. He had a very bad feeling that shit was about to go down.
"why didn't you tell us that you could stop time? that's something that would have been nice to know. after all, nothing good comes from a time manipulator. the timelines usually flip their shit, dude."
The accusing voice of Sans sent several bolts of fear up Richter's spine, chilling him to the very core. He had the feeling that he was going to have a very bad time. The thought of calling for help struck him, but his pride said otherwise. If he could beat Undyne, supposedly one of the monster's best fighters, then he could defeat Sans. After all, what could a skeleton like him do? Slowly pulling out the Vampire Killer, he slowly took a step backwards down the stairs.
"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't talk about? I wasn't planning on ever using the Stopwatch; it's too complex for most people to understand. I really wanted to avoid using it for THIS exact reason."
Sans just shook his head, taking another step closer. Both of his hands were in his hoodie. However, he still gave the vibe that he was going to start a fight.
"humans can't be trusted with power like that. based off of that performance today with undyne, i can't help but worry. humans have wronged us with powerful magic in the past. as well as that, the possibility of you triggering a timeline res-"
"Sans, please! I couldn't be farther from those evil magicians! I've been trying my very best to have a stable relationship with all of you, despite my own internal demons. Hell, I'm pretty sure saving all of you from that burning fence proved that I'm not using my powers with ill will."
Sans got even closer, one hand coming out of his hoodie pocket. His blue eye began to burn ever so brighter. Richter kept his ground, despite everything in his body telling him to run.
"it's not that i don't trust you, richter. i just don't know if this so called shaft will take control over you again. i heard your "confession" with that fire warg in the forest. even you don't know if shaft will come back and take control. i'm not taking that risk. we worked too hard to get this far, richter. i hope you understand."
Richter's mind was suddenly crowded with rage unlike any other. Just as he had finally began to trust this new world, he was sought out because of his powers and his past. He couldn't find a world where he could be satisfied, could he? It was impossible for him to have a happy life. However, San's confrontation revealed something else: He had sent Ember back to the Altar by killing her. His so called friend just harmed one of his closest companions. That was practically harming family to the Belmont. Sans wasn't a curious guest anymore...he was an assailant.
Sans could see anger cloud the man's eyes. Something he had said pissed the man off. Sadly, Sans thought he could get through this without getting into a fight. All he wanted to do was silently kill Richter and get out. However, that large wolf of his woke the man up. Sans knew that he didn't have the health to fight Richter for very long. He was honestly impressed with the man's abilities back when he was having a mock battle with Undyne. Richter certainly was a powerful magician and fighter. However, his past and sudden appearance made him a threat to the timeline and he wouldn't allow this to cause another reset. It reached its pinnacle when he found out that Richter could manipulate time. Preparing an attack, he was surprised when the human spoke. His voice reminded him of when he had taken Richter's locket a few weeks ago. He could tell that Richter was holding himself back from attacking.
"..You...spied...on...ME? And yet, you dare compare me to that vile and despicable man? Do...DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MAN PUT ME THROUGH? IF YOU DID, YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS NO-FUCKING-WAY THAT I WILL EVER TURN OUT LIKE HIM! Why don't you use those spying abilities of yours and get the fuck out of my house and I maybe, just maybe, will forgive you for the death threats and you injuring Ember.! HOWEVER, if you continue this, so help me god I will kick your bony ass so hard THAT ALL THAT WILL BE LEFT IS YOUR SKULL...WHICH I WILL MOUNT ABOVE MY FUCKING FIREPLACE!"
Sans internally sighed. He wasn't going to take the man's offer, as good as it sounded. There wasn't any going back from this. He never liked how temperamental humans were anyway. As good of a man Richter was, Sans just couldn't take the risk. He couldn't feel bad now. All he had to do was think back to the constant timeline resets to realize that he couldn't go back to that life. He considered this to be necessary.
"sorry boy-o, i won't go back."
Sans pulled the Belmont's soul and locked it down with his blue attack. Richter suddenly became very stiff, almost statue like. He was too busy trying to break free of the magical bind to question what exactly the blue heart in front of him was. The skeleton took a step forward and extended his hand in front of him, sending Richter flying into the Trophy Room. He continued to go forward until he collided with the glass case containing the life-size replica of a Sword Lord. Richter found himself on the ground, covered with broken glass and armor parts. The Sword Lord's sword rested a few inches beside Richter's torso, embedded in the ground. He sighed with relief; that sword had gotten dangerously close to impaling him. The blue heart that resided a foot or so in front of his chest was no longer blue. Instead, it was a deep violet with tinges of yellow around the upper section of the heart. Several cracks, varying in depth, were scattered throughout the heart. What scared Richter was that there were four small hooks in-bedded in the top, commonly used for controlling puppets. True to its appearance, four strands of frayed and cut string were connected to the hooks. They waved back and forth slowly, as if being influenced by wind. Forgetting everything else, he reached out to touch the strings. As he made contact, a deep shock rose up his spine, enforcing the strange feeling of emptiness that had been following the man. He quickly receded his hand. Whatever this was, it was part of him. He guessed that the strange heart was his own proverbial heart of sorts.
Richter slowly got up, using the sword as an anchor, and rubbed his aching limbs. He didn't know what exactly Sans had done to him, but it was effective. It had completely immobilized him from doing any attacks. He was still pissed beyond belief, but he was just glad that he had survived the attack and that Sans hadn't pursued afterwords. He didn't know why Sans had stopped his assault. He wasn't in the condition to be fighting at all. Sans must've been planning ever since he had saved them from the flaming piece of debris. If only he could make Sans that he was trying his hardest to not be a threat. It was too late for that though. Sans had broken too many rules and Richter considered him now an enemy. If only something could've gone differently. Richter couldn't believe he was betrayed by someone he called a friend. He was interrupted by his thoughts by San's voice, echoing off the walls of the dark Trophy Room.
"don't make this hard on me. this isn't easy to stomach, ya know? heh, that's if i had a stomach. someone's got to be the judge here. i ain't got nothing against ya; i just can't allow anything to happen to my family."
Slowly turning around, Richter just softly growled at the skeleton. He tried to sympathize with him, he truly did. However, nothing could hide the fact Sans had spied on Richter, broke into his house, attacked his closest companion, and then attacked Richter himself. It was Shaft and Dracula all over again. For a brief second, Sans' image flickered into Shaft's. Richter found that fit perfectly. Internally reacting, he summoned an Axe. Richter wasn't planning on dying without a fight. He let the anger slowly fuel him, allowing it to work as his primary source of energy. Revenge and loathing clouded his mind as he prepared the item crash. He could rebuild the house. All that mattered was the destruction of the intruder. He had completely blocked out who the intruder was. Pinging two Guardians, he bit down the urge to lectured his attacker. He felt a small sliver of his condescending nature from being Shaft's puppet resurface into his mind. Richter wasn't going to hold back anything. He knew that the assailant didn't deserve any hope. If he wanted the Shaft version of him, Richter would make sure that he GOT that version. Not verbally though. He refused to even speak to the traitor. Richter would use every power in his arsenal to stop his own execution. It was now a life or death situation.
Levitating into the air, Richter was surrounded by a complete sphere of axes. The sphere reached such a density that Sans couldn't see the man anymore. Taking cover behind a replica of a wagon with scythes embedded into it, he waited for the storm of axes to be released. He didn't have to wait long. More than a hundred axes were cast into every nook of the room. The sound of Richter's yelling and glass shattering overtook Sans' senses. He wasn't given time to recover, however, for the wagon was suddenly flipped into the air by a very large suit of armor with an equally large longsword. Another stood several feet behind the first, casting a magical shield in front of Richter as he empowered his flail-whip with flames. The Belmont's right hand strangely sparked with electricity. Sans could see a strange gauntlet adorning the man's hand and lower arm. Both the flames and the electrical sparks lit up the man's face, revealing a very solemn expression. Either something had changed, or Richter wasn't enjoying the prospect of fighting.
"Thanks for the cover. Let's get this over with. This monster needs eradicated from this house, in any means possible. Don't worry about the damages; I can repair those easily. I just want this over with."
Richter spotted Sans dodging the swings of one of the Guardians, launching several bones into the armor. The hulk of a monster didn't slow down in the slightest. Smiling slightly, he let the Guardian have his fun. As the name suggested, they enjoyed protecting someone more than anything else. It was a strange form of satisfaction that Richter couldn't completely grasp. He couldn't help but silently cheer as the second Guardian grabbed the central unit of the Spectral Sword replica and threw the deadly disk of swords at Sans. The Skeleton managed to port to his left side, right where the first Guardian was waiting. Richter was still shocked that Sans was able to dodge and port like that. It made Richter's job of defeating the skeleton a lot harder.
Despite their sheer health, he could tell that Sans' bone attacks were wearing them down. They didn't exactly dodge them. Pulling out several flasks of Holy Water, Richter launched them towards Sans' general direction. Like Richter had expected, Sans ported behind the second Guardian, raising a wall of bones from the ground and into the creatures lower armor. The first Guardian, however, had to stop. Even with Richter being the master of the Altar, the creatures weren't immune. Turning towards Richter, he signaled him to head off. Both Guardians vanished; much to Richter's approval. He didn't like it when people were hurt in his stead. Sans, who was somehow sweating, turned towards Richter. He was clearly angry now. He quickly put Richter's soul under the blue spell and brought him closer to where Sans was standing.
"hiding behind your minions, huh? i guess you are like shaft after all. didn't you say that he summoned creatures to do his bidding? i guess i'll never know the truth."
Sans was put off by Richter's lack of response. He didn't even shake his head to deny or confirm anything. For a man who was talking so much before fighting, he became eerily silent. Richter's right arm suddenly released a wave of electricity, bouncing off the walls and into everything standing. Fire slowly started to spread as the cloth from some of the replicas made contact with the sparks. Sans had barely managed to dodge the tendrils of electricity. Sadly for the skeleton, it resulted in him releasing Richter. Richter quickly rolled forward and grasped the skeleton by the front of his hoodie. Sans gave the Belmont a wink before porting. Safe from a distance, he fired two Gaster Blasters at the human. Richter couldn't pull himself out of his shock fast enough to dodge the incoming beams of light. His "heart" suddenly began to burn like the depths of hell, causing Richter to keel over against the wall. He felt his health slowly vanish like a poison. Sans wasn't finished with the human though. Sans could tell that Richter had many cards up his sleeve and he didn't want to wait to see them all. It was bad enough that one mistake could kill him, but when most of Richter's attacks involved several things to dodge at once, a lot of opportunities to make mistakes appeared. Pulling Richter's soul forth again, Sans slammed him into the ceiling and floor repeatedly. To hopefully finish the Belmont off, he slammed the Belmont into the wall, where several bones awaited him. Richter couldn't do anything to stop himself from being impaled. Sans released his hold on the Belmont and slowly trotted towards his bleeding form. The human's soul retreated back into his body.
"sorry to end this so soon. i just don't have the hp to fight ya for long."
Richter, after attempting, and failing, to push himself off of the wall and the embedded bones, laughed in the skeleton's face. Despite the blood dripping from his mouth and the bone protrusions, he laughed more than he had ever laughed before. He had to stop himself, lest he cough up his internal organs. Richter had known that Sans would get the best of him. Ever since he had first encountered the monster, he had the suspicion that Sans' unnatural calmness was either hiding something or not worried about being harmed. Richter should've suspected it then. However, now knowing that Sans had a small amount of hp, he realized that there was an Item Crash that could end everything; one spell that even Sans couldn't protect himself from.
"..Good...to...know...HYDRO STORM!"
Before Sans was able to finish off Richter, the ceiling suddenly became dense with blue clouds. A heavy downpour of Acidic Holy Water started to destroy everything in the room. However, it managed to extinguish the fire caused by whatever electricity spell Richter had used to break free from San's attack. Despite how hard he tried, Sans wasn't able to dodge the sheer amount of Holy Rain and could feel his form slowly deteriorate. Dammit, he shouldn't have told Richter that he didn't have enough hp. Sans was beginning to fear that he might have to leave Richter to bleed to death. His hopes were shattered the moment Richter manually broke the bones piercing him. Too focused on minimizing the damage the rain was causing him, Sans didn't see Richter look up at something.
That something was his own health bar. Richter was giddy from the results: He had half of it left. Despite the appearance of his attacks, they did barely any damage. Either Sans had underestimated Richter, or he wasn't trying to kill the Vampire Hunter. He assumed it was the former. Those thoughts changed when he noticed his hp slowly draining. He got the feeling that it wouldn't stop draining until he had a sliver of health left. The damage Sans dealt was akin to poison. Richter enjoyed watching Sans trying to protect himself from the rain. However, he suddenly felt guilty. The rain must've been akin to torture for the monster. Hating that he had a conscious, he banished the rain. A very haggard Sans looked at the ceiling with surprise as the Holy Rain vanished. He glanced over towards Richter with wide eye sockets. Richter was moving forward towards Sans at a very leisurely pace. Sans couldn't find the energy to port or unleash an attack. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Richter was a very tough opponent who had brought him to exhaustion. Checking his hp, he became crestfallen.
(.2/5 Hp)
No matter what attack Richter used, a single hit would kill him. He was just glad that he found the motivation to participate in Papyrus' morning exercises. They had somehow increased his 1 hp into 5, something that just saved his skeletal ass. It wasn't good enough though. Sans just stood there as Richter grabbed the short skeleton by the front of his shirt and hoisted him up in front of him. Sans attempted to resist the slowly approaching feeling of unconsciousness, but he lost as he stared into Richter's fury-bound eyes. With a shrug, Sans made peace with himself as he spoke.
"least i tried. you can't say i didn't, can ya? never been too good at the fighting business. always wore me out. sorry, gotsta go paps."
He couldn't help but feel ashamed as he fell asleep in the deathly tight grip of the Vampire Hunter. He had failed his job and seemingly doomed the existence of their timeline.
Richter paced back and forth in his Living Room, internally debating as to what he should do with Sans. He was surprised that Sans had just given up and fallen asleep. Must've been his way of handling his death. Richter didn't kill him though. He just didn't have the heart to do so. At the mention of Papyrus, all ill will left Richter. Sure, he still was holding a grudge against Sans for spying on him and injuring Ember. He still hadn't heard from her though. Whatever he had done to the Fire Warg, it was devastating despite Sans' low damage output. Carrying the skeleton upstairs, he had placed him on the couch. It had been several hours since the battle and he hadn't woken up yet. Salome finally got her wish to tend to Richter's wounds as he thought of ways to deal with the intruder. The Belmont had to hold her back from turning Sans into a cat...despite how satisfying that would've been to see. Every so often while tending to the human's wounds, she would spare a quick glance towards the sleeping skeleton and hiss softly. She normally didn't question Richter's decisions, but after seeing his wounds up close, she felt that Sans didn't deserved to be spared. Richter's wounds, while sparse, were deep. Stopping the bleeding was the biggest thing for her to do. He wouldn't tell her exactly what happened, but she could piece it together. He had somehow been impaled. How Richter managed to survive baffled her. From what she saw, he was running off of pure adrenaline.
To be honest with himself, he didn't blame Sans. Not anymore, at least. He could completely understand protecting family. That was the biggest reason he attacked Sans. Not to defend himself, but to make sure Sans wouldn't harm any other Altar residents. Richter was now realizing that it was stupid to assume such things. Sans had directly said that he didn't want to harm anyone else. Richter had to mentally force at least fifteen different creatures from joining the fight. It was the first and hopefully last command he would ever give. He didn't want anyone else to be hurt over his own issues. He was perfectly capable of dealing with his problems himself. Richter felt that he didn't need to be constantly protected anyway. The Guardians were the only exception since he needed to catch his breath from that first throw. Hell, in fact, the Guardians would've overridden the command anyway. They reached boss levels of stats and will. He still felt justified in beating Sans though.
The only thing stopping Richter from dropping Sans' ass off at Toriel's doorstep was that he was worried that he would attack Richter the instant he woke up, which could happen on the way to her house. The fight inside the Trophy Room was bad enough, but at least it was contained. Richter's attacks would harm any being that wasn't himself or another Belmont. Well, excluding the obvious blades and all that. If he hurt someone while fighting Sans, he didn't think he could ever forgive himself. He also didn't want to ruin his already mysterious relationship with the public. They just recently had seen him and he didn't want them to think that he was an evil force. It was around 7:00 in the morning, so if he could get someone to drop of Sans, his life would become so much easier.
He was taken from his thoughts by the voice of Death slowly entering the room.
"So this is the intruder? Based off of the damage in the Trophy Room, I would assume you did most of the fighting."
"Yeah, the prick was hard to hit. He had the ability to teleport away from attacks. Too bad for him that his attacks did barely any damage. Yet, they worked like poison. It was quite strange."
Sighing, Richter stopped pacing around and slowly slumped down the wall. He wished he didn't have to ask Death for a favor, but it was the only solution he could think of.
"Mind helping me with something?"
Death tilted his head slightly and stared.
"Yes Richter? What do you need?"
"Can you drop Sans off at Toriel's house? I can't risk walking him over at the moment."
Death was completely baffled. From what the presiding Guardians and Richter himself said, the fight was quite vicious. He wanted to refuse simply because he felt that Sans didn't deserve anything. He had attacked Richter, two Guardians, and a Fire Warg. That wasn't including the damages to the Trophy Room. Death held his tongue though. He would never understand why Richter was so sympathetic. Despite it all, that's what made Richter different than any other warrior he had encountered before. No matter how powerful and compassionate they seemed, it could all break when given the opportunity to kill someone. Death had seen the Trophy Room before talking to the Guardians. It was a mess with signs of Richter's attacks everywhere. His fighting style was rather destructive. Yet, Sans was still alive. He assumed that Richter, despite being pissed beyond belief and frustrated by an enemy that he couldn't hit, spared Sans just because it wouldn't be right to kill him.
"And if they ask questions?"
"Doesn't matter. Tell them what you want. I'm too tired to care at the moment. We better do this quickly before Bag-of-Bones over here wakes up and starts firing those beams again."
To signify that he was being serious, Richter placed his head onto his hands and rested, sitting upright. Death obliged to Richter's wish and grabbed one of Sans' arms. The skeleton slightly grumbled, but didn't wake. With that, Death vanished along with Sans. With the disappearance of both creatures, Richter groaned loudly. He really wanted to just sleep, but he had too many things to do. Checking on the Guardians and Ember was at the top of his list. Rationally, he knew that they were fine. That didn't mean that Richter would be rational when it came to his friends though. His day was full of irrational decisions anyway. He still didn't know why he let Sans go after the entire fiasco in the Trophy Room. If anyone would've asked, he would say that he didn't want to deal with the cleanup. However, only he knew the true reason: Despite how rash Sans' actions were, he only cared about his family. All Richter knew was work and family. Most people wouldn't consider being the master of a large population of monsters as being family. Richter knew different, however. It was more family-like than his upbringing. Only once Maria was introduced into his life did he get the semblance of family.
Richter slowly clambered to his feet. He wasn't able to take a few steps forward before exhaustion finally caught up with him. Richter toppled over and smashed into the coffee table he had resting in the middle of the room, knocking it over onto its side. He lied there, hissing in pain for the impact had affected his wounds. Richter sucked in the pain and managed to separate himself from the table via crawling away. He progressed enough to make it halfway to his bedroom before completely falling asleep. He would clean up the mess later. As much as he wanted to check on the injured monsters, he knew they weren't going to die. Richter, however, might actually die if he didn't get some sleep. That's what he felt, at least.
Death arrived rather quickly at Toriel's house just to see that no one was there. Death remembered that Richter had told him that they went to school on the weekdays. Trying to recollect what day it was, he ended up failing. Sighing slightly, he teleported into her living room. Sans was still unconscious despite the constant movement. Death didn't exactly enjoy carrying his sleeping form bridal style. Setting him down onto the couch, he checked the rest of the house to see if someone was watching the house. He was surprised to find that no one was staying just in case Sans came back. Death assumed it was a normal thing for Sans to vanish. He laughed quietly at the prospect that if Richter hadn't been so forgiving, Death might've had to reap Sans' soul. It wasn't exactly appealing, but it reminded him of his deal with Dracula. Floating back into the Living Room, he found Sans finally rousing. Death decided to have a small chat about Sans' future "talks" with Richter.
"So he finally awakens. You know, I was wondering if you would ever actually get up. I might've had to pull out my scythe."
Sans skull eyelids suddenly opened, revealing only a neon blue eye in his left socket. He quickly got up to face Death. Despite facing Death itself, Sans felt himself calming. It was clear that Death wasn't talking to Sans to spurn a fight. Sans was still trying to piece together the night prior anyway to worry about the robed skeleton. He closed both bony eyelids for a few seconds, before opening them to reveal two minuscule white dots. Sitting upright now, his hands found his hoodie pockets.
"you know, i always thought i'd be a good boxer."
Humoring Sans, Death tilted his head inquisitively. He didn't quite understand why Sans was talking about boxing considering it was completely irrelevant to the situation.
"reason why is simple. everyone keeps on telling me that i hit the hay hard."
Death couldn't muffle the chuckle that escaped his skeletal jaw. He quickly became somber though; he didn't have the time to exchange jokes. Richter's Trophy Room was totaled and the man himself was probably trying to do the job himself. Sometimes, Death hated how stubborn the man was. It made fighting, and arguing, with Richter so much more difficult than it should've been. Good thing he didn't have to initiate battle with the Belmont every time he saw him now. Being liberated from Dracula was, well, liberating. Turning his attention back to the punny skeleton, he asked,
"Sans, do you know why I'm here?"
"is it because you want to sell me something? toriel always said that salesmen would be the death of me."
"No Sans. Do you remember what happened last night?"
"i've been trying to piece that together. why, you know something?"
"Does the name Richter ring any bells?"
"yeah, he's that one human obsessed with blue who has strong magical...oh shit, i'm dead...he killed me, didn't he?"
Sans managed to put all of the parts together as to what had happened. After watching Richter's small scrimmage with Undyne, he deemed the human a threat to the timeline. He went by his house later and tried to kill the Belmont. Last thing he remembered was falling unconscious as Richter hoisted him into the air. He also remembered the disappointment that he held for himself for failing to kill the human.
Sans was pulled from his thoughts by Death laughing harder than he had at one of his puns. Gripping a scythe that appeared out of nowhere for support, the robed skeleton continued to laugh for a solid minute.
"what? finally understand my last pun? it's a bone breaker.
"...n-no...heh...Sans, have you taken in your surroundings?"
No, he hadn't. Looking around, he placed his location as Toriel's Living Room. That ruled out a reset. The smell of bacon was strong and the shades on the windows were letting beams of sunlight in. He figured it to be a school day, during the morning. That meant they still were on the surface. Strange considering that he last was in Richter's room of strange artifacts and misc. Putting two and two together, he whistled from shock. He hadn't expected this outcome in the slightest.
"Sans...for some ungodly reason that I can't understand, Richter spared you from a fate that I feel you deserved. Then again, I can't say anything. All of us at the Altar had taken a swipe or two at the Belmont back when he stormed the castle. Not like we had a choice though. Before you start launching those bones, I'm not here to kill you. I wouldn't betray Richter's trust like that."
Three things about Death's statements surprised Sans. The first being that the physical representation of Death worked for Richter. The second and third were more important than the first. In fact, they practically eclipsed it. Richter had not only spared Sans, but he had ordered that he was to be left alone. Sans couldn't exactly figure out what his motives were. Why would he spare his attacker considering that Richter was infuriated by Sans obvious betrayal.
"In fact, I'm the one who dropped you off here."
"were you planning on having this talk then?
"Yes and no. There were a few things I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't planning on waking you yet. Now that you are awake, however, I'll start off. All I have to say is a simple warning. Death comes to those who seek it, and you walk a fine line between prevention and cause. Watch your step."
With that, Death was sucked into a miniature black hole and vanished. Sans just rubbed the back of his skull nervously. He didn't exactly know what to tell the others. His burned and cut clothes wasn't something that one could easily explain. That would eventually lead to him discussing his fears involving timelines and that...that was a subject he wasn't ready to talk about yet. He doubted that he would ever be ready to discuss that. Frisk and Asriel were the only people who knew about his dilemma. He would have to talk to them first before anything else. If Toriel or Asgore found out what he had tried to do... He shuddered at the thought. Since he had time, he brought his thoughts back to Richter. His assumptions as to his character changed drastically with Sans' continued existence. Maybe, just maybe, Richter could be trusted. Sans had always assumed that Frisk was an anomaly among the normal humans. Sans didn't know what to think anymore. If the skeleton could frown, he would've. Nothing about Richter made sense anymore. He was worth a revaluation though.
He was a human from another universe and time who had very potent magic.
However, he had been trying his hardest to keep his more dangerous magic under wraps.
He had been a puppet for an incredibly powerful mage who used his inner desires as a weapon.
Yet, Richter was mentally scarred from the experience and seems like he would try his hardest to never allow that to happen again.
The Belmont has command over an abnormally large variety of different creatures.
Strangely, he cared more about their well-being than his own.
He was incredibly cocky, prideful, and grumpy-
-which hid his intense compassionate side; something Richter couldn't help but see as a weakness.
Everything about the human stated that he could be extremely hazardous to the lives of everyone in the town.
But, he was making numerous attempts to mesh his monsters' culture with the the surface world for the betterment of their lives.
Needless to say, Sans was conflicted. With all of Richter's potential to be dangerous, he just didn't have the heart to even act the part. Sans had seen his soul; the cut marionette strings and hooks weren't easy to miss. It was clear that Richter had gone through hell before arriving in Sans' world. Sans didn't know what to do with Richter. Being spared by the Vampire Hunter threw a very large wrench into his gears. He wanted to observe Richter more and organize his new thoughts, but he knew that wasn't possible. He had screwed up his connection with Richter the minute he attacked that Warg of his. However, that didn't mean that Asriel and Frisk couldn't observe for him. They would understand his worries; at least he hoped they would.