Dark… nothing except the cold void of darkness as far as eyes could see.
[Why is everything so dark?] He asked.
[Where am I?]
[What's happening to me?]
He kept asking other questions… but nobody came to answer it.
It was true. There was nothing around him; nothing but the seemingly endless void of darkness. But with each passing seconds, the darkness around him started to take a shape into a place. He didn't recognize his surroundings, but wherever he was, he was sure that it was abandoned for a long time.
In this cold and dark place, he looked around to find out what was going on and eventually his eyes landed on something that caught his full attention; a boy tied to big rusty vat. The vat was full of unknown chemical, glowing ominously under the dimly lit room.
[… Huh? What… is this place?]
He looked around and could see no one else in this strange place, but then he felt it. A scream.
As if popping out of nowhere, three masked men appeared around the tied up boy, one of them armed with a pistol pointed at the boy's head, who was now crying silently with a look of fear.
[W-What the hell…?]
He widened his eyes as he felt other presences in the room. He turned around to see three other people kneeling behind him; all of them having look of horror etched on their faces. One of them was a man of his mid-thirties and the other was a woman of her late-twenties.
[M-Mom? Dad…?]
However, the last one that he noticed caught his full attention. She was a young girl who seemed to be on her teenage years with a familiar brown hairs and beautiful face resembling—
[A-Asuna—No… big sis…?]
They were screaming something at the three masked men, yet he couldn't hear anything. Silently watching the event unfold, he observed what was going on in worry. There was something that had been nagging at the back at his head since the beginning of this weird occurrence; he felt that something was really, really wrong.
[W-What is this…?]
It was then the conversation between the two parties escalated quickly and before he realized the armed masked man pointed his gun toward the other fear-stricken man. He had to stop this now before things get really bad.
[E-Eh? What's happening to me…?]
He opened his mouth to say stop the masked man… but his voice wouldn't come out. His body began to shake in fear; just what was happening to him?
[What is this…?]
Conversation between the man and the masked person intensifies, yet no sound was heard by his ears.
[What… is this?!]
He kept screaming telling them to stop, yet just like them his voice didn't come out as he was forced to simply watch the event unfold.
[WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! STOP—!]
*BANG!*
The bullet casing fell and bounced on the floor with a series of clinks as he watched his big sister used her body to save his father. Blood poured out of the hole the bullet made in her chest as his father and mother held her dying body in their arms, colors draining from her face with each passing seconds as looks of horror were etched on their faces.
One of the masked men fell on the floor; fear was too etched on his masked face as his body shook. The other two men approached the grieving parents and he had enough; he ran to punch their faces.
However, as if he was a ghost, they all walked through him and seemed to laugh heartily after killing the girl. He tried to stop them again, yet his hands just phased through them as the armed man pointed his gun at the grieving father's head.
[No, please stop! No, DON'T—!]
Then another loud bang interrupted his thought. The pistol echoed in this dimly lit place. More fresh blood poured on the floor out of the hole of the flesh that the bullet pierced through.
However, when he expected his father to fell limp on the ground, the armed man fell instead with a bleeding hole on the back of his head. He turned around to see the boy who managed to get out of the rope that was tying him up to the rusty vat, holding a smoking pistol that was aimed at the armed masked man.
The other man went into a fit of rage and took the dead man's gun, but then a series of bangs echoed again, followed by a series of loud clicks; he was too late for the boy shot his pistol faster than the man did, shooting non-stop until all that's left of the pistol was a series of clicks from the now emptied gun. As if it was a second nature for the boy, his bullets struck true on their targets which landed on the masked man's stomach, shoulder, chest and eventually his heart.
The boy then got up emotionlessly and walked slowly towards the two dead men. He approached their faces and stood froze. A few moments later, his face turned into a maniacal grin and laughed uncontrollably as he began to mash their faces in with the empty gun without mercy; their skulls caving in as blood covered the floor and his hands.
His parents froze and simply watched their supposed son turning the dead men's head into mush. Fear was no longer etched on the boy's face, only… madness.
The other masked man widened his eyes in horror even more and realized that the boy got out of the rope and used his gun to kill his now dead comrades. He was truly scared and did the most logical course of action he could think of; he ran away.
Sans watched as the event unfolded in front of him in silence as tears began to flow down his cheeks. Then he flinched when the five people in this room, including the corpses of the men and girl turned their faces towards him.
A disturbing voice echoed in his mind.
.̱̠̙̜̆͂ͥ̒̉̓͆.̦͙͔̪͎͋ͬͩ̀͆͆̈́͟.̳͖̹ͫ̕ͅy̳͓͍̲̳̯̍̒̆̍ͬǒ͔̺̼̖̠̭̔̀̿ͪͭͅu̴͖̬͚̞͎r̀ͯ͢ ̺̠̳̼͎̹̅͗͜f̛̞͊ͧa͎͆̍͌ͩͭͪ̚u͖̜͇͉͗͆͊̌́l̺t̞ͯͥ̊.̴̭̤̘̤̂̓.͉̙̊̃̍ͥ͘.̶̞̖̱ͯ
His breathing quickened as his body shivered in fear and confusion. The words kept echoing to the point it started to hurt him. He shut his eyes as he clutched his head in pain, the echo becoming louder and more disturbing with each passing moments, but the moment he opened his eyes again, he was met with the three dead corpses' faces suddenly standing right in front of him; extremely frightening smiles etched on their faces as fresh blood was pouring out of their eyes, mouths and faces.
The echo got louder and louder until he begged for it to stop, only for the pain to intensify multiple times over. Kneeling in fear, pain and confusion, he kept begging for the voices to stop until—
.
.
T̷͕͕̼͍̱̞̫͐͛̒̌̀͢Ḣ͕̠̰̙̆̔̓͢͠I̸̴̸̡̖̜͉̪̞̦͚͇̽̾̽͑̽ͧ̓́ͫ̃̆̽ͦ̀̇̆͊ͬ͐S̸̰̳̰̖͈̫̼̖̞͕̻̼̠̳ͮ̅͊̚͞ ̷̼̹̦̞̰̦̜̏̅ͧ̈́ͪͪ̅͂ͮ̚͞͡I̧̼̪̻̺̥̬̳̤̱̞̗̹͈̤̮ͤͯ̅ͨ́͝S̷̶̻̤͙̰̜̠̮̹͓̿̈́͋͌ͬ̽͆̀ͣ͂̎ ̵̸̜̯̯̱̭̤̗̘̠̖͉͔̣̦̫̔̾̂͌̊̅ͤ̀̓ͫͫ̃̇ͬ̈́̉̽̎́͟͡A̡͑͌̑̓̔ͨ́͏̫͇̖̗͍͔͕̲Ļ̶̡̧̠͓̰̞̫̮͍̳̞̳̩̖̫̳̮̮͔̆ͯ́̾ͬ͗ͩ̋ͩ̾̑̐̈̚̚͡L̸̷̮̟̦̭̖̯̱͕̣̪̄ͩͨ̑̚̕͘͜ ̴̳̳̩̮͙̱̰̥̦̖̝͉̖͚̯̠̟͌͌̔̿͂̾ͯ̆́ͤ̑ͣͬ͞Y̴̡̛̳̠̯̬̣̤͉̙͙̩̩͖̠͓̩̰̱̲ͦ̿̏̔̑͐ͮ̀̃̚̚͠O̧̠̲̳͓͈͎͗̋ͮ͋̀U͌̂̐͐̔̋͏̱̭͓̟̳͉̯͚̠̪̼͓͔̜̫͡Rͥ̈͆̏͏̛҉̫̯͇͇͖̻͍̙̖̱̱̪͇̟͎͓͞ ͋̍͆͂̍̽ͩͯͮ̅ͥ͌̊͊̄҉̵̖͕͕͎̲̘̰̱͈̱̬̬̩́͝͞F̴̢͇͙̝̹̼̤̿̎͒͂̀̔ͨ̒͛́͠͝A̧̢͊̋͌ͭͭ̓ͧ̐ͣͪͪͮͤ͠҉̙͉̫̝͖U̷̴̲̜̰͐ͨ̏ͤ̾ͯ̔̀̐͌ͩ̿̍̅̽͒̀͟L̷̵̖͚̭̗̮̖̲̤̞̲̺̠̼̠̋̂͗͆̄̂̏̑ͣ̃̅̉̅͂̿͠͝Ţ̷̶̭͖̣̭͈̺̼͚̯̤͇̼̠͍͓̠̠̰̇̊͆ͥ͛͟ͅ!̶̵̛̬̣̣̺̦̻͎̬̔͊́́̓̈́ͪ͗̅̃ͭͧ̚̕ͅ
.
.
"GAAAH!"
Sans jumped out of his bed, breathing heavily and quickly as his whole body was covered in cold sweat. It took him a few good minutes to regain his composure before he realized.
"t… this nightmare… again?"
He noticed that the sky outside his window was shining brightly; he overslept.
"…how long has it been since i had these nightmares? heh, and here i thought i moved on..."
Washing his face, he looked at his own sorry state in the mirror of his bathroom and chuckled as he forced himself to smile at his own reflection.
"i'm tired of riding this same nightmare every time i sleep… can't I just get a different horse?"
He laughed in sadness at his own joke, but then lost his façade as he sat down on the bathroom floor, hugging his knees and burying his face into it as he forced himself to keep smiling even though tears were pouring out of the corner of his eyes like waterfall.
"asuna… heh, what are the odds that i met someone that reminds me a lot of you, big sis?"
Friday, 3rd of February, 2023; One of the Towns in Floor 7
Sans was walking down the street of the town with the hood of his hoodie covering his face. He forgot what the town's name was, but it wasn't like he cared that much. He kept walking on until he arrived at one of the town's restaurants.
"Welcome to Grizelda's! Can I get you anything, Sir?" The beautiful young NPC asked him.
"hmm… what's special for today?" he smiled at her.
"Oh, I'm glad you asked! Our special for today is our Triple Burg Deluxe with our signature Fermented Mixed Smoothie!"
"ah, that's too bad."
"E-Eh, really? If that doesn't interest you, then what would?"
"i was hoping i could have you instead~" Sans winked his left eye at her.
"Oho, my, my, keep trying and I just might fall for you, Sir~!" The NPC blushed a bit and giggled softly then led him to his seat; a table for two.
"Here's your table, Sir. One Triple Burg Deluxe and Fermented Mixed Smoothie are coming right up!"
He thanked her and waited for his order.
"i didn't know NPCs would respond to flirting... heh, guess they evolve quickly through interactions with other players then, ain't that interesting… though not as interesting as the fact that it meant there were already thousands of other players that tried to hit on the NPCs, lol." Chuckling to himself before stopping, his trademark smile disappeared from his face.
How long had it been since he was trapped in this hell hole? Ah, yes… it had been three months, hadn't it? Three months of being trapped in this virtual reality, forced to endure and live with this glitch for every single day of his life in here.
He gripped his head in pain; a headache caused by his enhanced senses. A few moments later, he sighed and kept enduring it. No matter how much he tried, it seemed like he just couldn't get used to it.
A lot of things had happened since that day on the First Floor. The Clearer that went into the tower dungeon with determination and hope came back with looks of sadness and anger; their leader, Diavel, fell in battle. On that same day, Sans noticed that Kirito had unfriended him, disappearing without a trace as Klein did.
He asked around about what happened, but the answer he got was not what he expected. They spoke of a cheating beta-tester, whose physical description perfectly matched that of Kirito, who arrogantly bragged about being better than beta-testers and that all beta-testers weren't that much different than the newbies, perhaps even worse.
Sans didn't really understand what they meant, but whatever Kirito said, it seemed to…loosen up the tense situation between beta-testers and newbies; maybe Kirito did what he did on purpose for this very reason, maybe he simply changed and bragged for no reason at all. Well either way, with the relationship between newbies and beta-testers fixed, the Clearers quickly advanced to the next following floors until eventually everyone had arrived here on the highest floor that players had reached so far; the Seventh Floor.
Ever since Torbana he kept wondering, just what the hell did he miss that day? What happened to Kirito? Where was Klein? Silence was all he got as answers, as always. Not only that, but the fact that this nightmare had become a normal occurrence ever since he met that girl called Asuna also didn't help his situation in anyway; he wanted to talk to her again, but just like his friends, he couldn't find her anywhere.
Not knowing what to do anymore, he merely did what he does best in heavy situation like these; he didn't give a shit anymore.
"Sorry for the wait! Here's your Triple Burg Deluxe and your Fermented Mix Smoothie, Sir. I hope you enjoy!"
"hm? oh, right. thanks." He spoke with his usual fake smile.
He stared at his meal for a moment then pulled up his hood and began to devour his meal; his face still emotionless. Then—
"Uh, excuse me, but… You're Sans, right? Sans the Chubby Skeleton?" a boy asked him.
Sans froze as his eye twitched.
[…wat? did he just… oh he did not! i'm not chubby! i'm just… big-boned.]
The boy looked like he was around fourteen years old. He had a rather exotic skin tone and wore a light yellow armor and leggings. His eyes were brown in color with a messy jet black hair on top of his head.
"yup, that's me alright. wazzup?" Sans answered with his trademark smile.
The boy widened his eyes and turned around then spoke excitedly.
"Big brother, it's him, it's him! I told you it was him all along!"
"hm?" Sans tilted his head in confusion.
"O-oh, right! Probably should introduce myself first. I'm MegaZ360, but please just call me Z."
Sans was about to ask why he came to greet him, but then he cut him off.
"Um, sorry, but could you please wait a moment? I'll be right back!" He walked away and he could hear him say, "C'mon on out, big bro!"
"O-Oi, don't pull me like that! It's embarrassing!"
Z came back while pulling the arm of another older looking boy, who looked around twenty years old.
"But it's him! You shouldn't hide like that if you're going to thank him!"
Sans inspected the boy's big brother. His skin tone was as tan as the younger brother was, but he was more handsome in appearance compared to him. He also had an ample, black wavy hair and the same brown colored eyes.
An awkward silence fell between the three of them and then the bigger brother sighed as he began to talk.
"Sorry, about that. My brother is kind of energetic and I can't really say I'm not too. I was a little shy to greet you since it has been a long time since we met."
"really? oh… sorry, i don't remember. tibia honest with you, i have a really terrible memory."
"Hahaha, one of your bone jokes again, huh… how nostalgic…" He wistfully chuckled, "Ah, by the way, its fine, its fine. After all, we didn't meet on a… great situation."
He noticed the grim expression of regret the man tried to hide; knowing that he was probably one of the many people he convinced not to do something stupid on the first floor.
"i see… welp, anyway, guess ya already know my name, so what's yours?"
"Gosh, you're right! I haven't introduced myself, have I? How rude of me…" He extended a hand, "I'm PoH, pleased to meet you!"
Sans smiled wider and returned his gesture…
…But then a loud farting noise echoed in the restaurant.
PoH froze with a comical look as Sans laughed out loud as the other customers stared at them in disgust.
"pfft! the old whoopee-cushion on the hand trick! it's ALWAYS funny!"
The moment Sans cleared up the misunderstanding, everyone that heard him soon laughed too at PoH's predicament. PoH blushed in embarrassment as his brother Z was literally still rolling on the floor laughing out loud as he did so. In the end, even he couldn't deny that it was funny and trio laughed together in unison.
Soon the laughter died down and Sans spoke again.
"anyway… have you guys eaten yet?"
"We have, why?" Z asked.
"nothing. just figured that since you two might have something to talk about with me, i think it'd be better to do it somewhere else."
"I'm game, but do you have a place in mind, Sans?" PoH asked.
"hmm… the town square is always nice. besides, it's a beautiful day outside. might as well enjoy it, right?"
"Yeah, you're right."
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Z pushed them out of the restaurant in excitement.
The walk to the town square was as peaceful. Sans introduced himself a bit to his two new acquaintances as they talked more about random things like how lively the town square are or how beautiful the day was.
Few minutes later, of course, they arrived at their destination; a spot with benches near the corner of the town square for people to take a break. The three players took their seats and Sans began their conversation with his usual trademark smile never leaving his face.
"so… what were you going to say?"
PoH went silent for a few moments, then he took a deep breath and replied.
"Sans, what you did to me on the first floor... I didn't know what came over me and I wasn't in my right mind to do what I was about to do in the past…
"But then you showed up and got me back to my senses; putting me back on the right track. For that reason, Sans, I'm really, really thankful. Truly, thank you very much for saving me!" PoH and Z bowed to him.
Sans went quiet. True, he had saved quite a bit of people, but none of them have ever thanked him like this since that day. He met some of them, few would greet him and ask about how he was doing and others would simply ignore or perhaps forgot him already. He didn't care too much about it though; all he did care about was the fact that they were all smiling when he saw them.
And for that reason, he was at loss for words.
"heh… well... knock, knock."
"…W-What?" PoH asked questionably at Sans who seemed to disregard his thank-you speech for a knock-knock joke.
"knock. knock."
"…who's there?"
"dishes."
"dishes who?"
"dishes awkward…"
The two was silent for a few seconds, but then PoH started chuckling and before he knew it, his chuckles turned into a full blown laughter as his brother Z smiled.
"Haha, you… you really do know how to break a moment, don't you?"
"heh, that's what i do best, i think." Sans shrugged as he winked.
"But seriously, I'm sorry for trying to commit—"
"no, no, don't be. we were all afraid when he announced that this game was… well, not a game. your reasons are understandable… all i care about is the fact that you turned a new leaf until you're here to thank me yourself…" Sans paused for a moment, his face looking away at the bustling town square.
He turned toward PoH and closed his eyes, giving him his warm smile as he continued.
"i'm happy to hear that really, but it's just that… well, frankly, it's kind of my first time being thanked to this extent, so i don't really know what to say." He scratched his cheek in slight embarrassment, "anyway, i appreciate it. it really made it feel like the work i did paid off."
Sans smiled at the two brothers and continued.
"well, enough about me, sit down and relax, will ya. tell me, what've you done since the first floor, poh?"
PoH and Z sat next to him and PoH replied.
"Well, I leveled up together with my younger brother here and with the help of the guide the beta-testers are sharing to newbies. We're not strong enough to fight bosses yet, but we've partied up with the other clearers to clear the dungeon and find the bosses' rooms for a few times before."
"really? well, i'm glad you're getting good at it. just keep hanging in there and we all would be out of this mess in no time."
[…Maybe.]
"Yeah, I agree…"
An awkward silence fell between the three of them again.
"O-oh, I know! I'll buy us some snacks. I'll be right back!"
"you don't really have to, but if you insist, then it's cool."
With that PoH nodded and walked off to buy something as his younger brother chuckled.
"somethin' tickling your funny bones?"
"What? No… it's just. It's kind of the first time I see my brother being awkward around people… Usually, he's more energetic and adventurous; even more than I am!"
"heh, really?"
"Yup!" The two shared a laughed, but then Z continued slowly, "…But really, Sans. I have to thank you for what you did too. If it weren't for you, I probably would never have met my brother on the first floor... I don't how could I live with myself if I know that my own brother killed himself and I wasn't there to stop him.
"…You see, our loving dad passed away when we were younger, so it's just our mother and us at home now. Well, the point is we only have each other to look out for so we had to stick together til the end, that's why… umm, Sans? What's so funny?" Z asked as he noticed Sans began chuckling.
"hehe, nah it's just that… well, looks like it's fun to have a sibling. can't say i know how it feels since i'm an only child…" Sans then sighed and spoke slowly, "i'm sorry for your loss tho, i'm sure your dad was a really great guy."
"Oh, I see… and thank you."
Silence again fell between them, but then Sans began to speak again with a happier tone.
"well, i appreciate it, but you really didn't have to thank me. i'd do it even if you're not gonna thank me anyway. we need every help we can get and we players gotta stick together to get out of this game, don't we?"
"Well…you have a point there."
The two smiled and then a familiar voice interrupted them.
"I'm back! Look, I found something cool!"
"What did you—e-eh…?"
The two boy froze with a grim look at what PoH was holding; it looked like a popcorn-styled grilled blue crabs with a green gooey sauce over it. Overall, it looked absolutely, disgusting.
Sans looked at Z comically in silent and vice versa for a few minutes as if talking to each other via telepathy.
[…is this what you meant by 'adventurous'?]
[I-It's not like that, but things like these do happens…]
[well, can't you do anything about this? i ain't eating that]
[Neither will I!]
"Here you go—"
"a-ah, didn't you know why skeletons don't eat? well it's because they don't have the stomach for it, heh."
"Sans, you're not a skeleton." PoH deadpanned, "What's wrong? Here! Don't about pay—"
"i-i'll pass. just realized i'm too full to eat anything else." Sans looked away with his trademark smile; acting as innocent as he could.
Z gaped at him in disbelief.
[H-How could you abandon me?!]
[everyman for himself, z!]
"Oh really? Fine… then I guess you'll have to do, Z. Here you go!"
"I-I'll pass too! I'm full!"
"Full? All we ate was breakfast and that's only a few sandwiches… I know you're nowhere near full yet."
Z froze with a comical look, knowing that he was doomed. Then he turned toward Sans and resumed their telepathic conversation.
[S-Sans, help me!]
Sans put on a grim expression and saluted.
[…you'll forever be in my memory…]
[Y-You TRAITOR!]
"Z? Oi, you there? Here's your sna—"
"A-As if I'll eat that! Get it away from me!"
"What? It's just grilled mini-crabs!" he paused, "…probably."
"Probably?!"
"Oh, come on! It doesn't look that bad!"
PoH held one on his hand at Z, the mini crab-like creature still wiggling its small legs.
[it does look that bad, no matter how you look at it, oi.]
[It does look that bad, no matter how you look at it, oi!]
The two thought in unison.
"Here, say, 'Ah'!"
"There's no way in hell that I'll—!" Before he could even finish, PoH forced one of them down his throat.
"EWW—GOD! It taste—!"
Z suddenly paused and began munching on the disgusting snack with a curious look.
"What? It tastes what?"
"…Hey it's pretty good now that I think of it!" He spoke as he chewed the disgusting meal.
"o-o rly?"
"Well, the shell's kind of crunchy, the legs are still wiggling, the gooey sauce is absolutely revolting and—"
Z suddenly collapsed as his HP hit the critical zone… and all of this happened while they were all still within the town's safe zone.
"AH! Z! Get a hold of yourself! Don't die on me yet, bro! Noooooooooooo!"
Sans merely stared at the two siblings and sweat dropped.
[…well, this is gonna be interesting.]
"Come on, how long are you going to stay mad at me, Z?"
"…"
"give it up, poh. it's your fault for forcing him to eat it too…and you didn't even try it first before giving it to him." Sans deadpanned.
"But, but if I did that then what's the point of having my bro?"
"Oi! Don't turn me into your guinea pig!" Z's eyebrow twitched furiously as he retorted.
Sans could only laugh at the brothers' antics and the moment they noticed his laughter, they felt ashamed and stopped arguing as they laugh together too.
"Fine, I forgive you… but you owe me a favor."
"Deal. Besides, I learned something too…"
"what's that?"
"Never trust an NPC selling food in a big white wagon." PoH spoke sagely; the two merely stared at him in silence.
Sans sighed and looked at the time.
"wow, it's four o'clock already? time sure flies, huh?"
"Huh? Wait… FOUR O'CLOCK?!"
"uh… yea, why?"
Sans tilted his head.
"Today's our guild's one month anniversary! Goddamn it, how could I forget?!" PoH face palmed.
"ah, so you're busy then… well, don't let me hold you up. it has been nice to meet you both so i'll just—"
"Hold on! Where do you think you're going?"
"what? i'm leaving of course."
"Oh, no you don't! I haven't finished thanking you, yet!"
"wait—"
"Ah, that's it, big bro! Why don't we just bring him to the party and ask him to join us!"
"oi, oi, hold on—!"
"That's a great idea, Z! Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go, go, go!"
Sans widened his eyes as PoH suddenly lifted him up onto his shoulder and ran away toward his guild's home.
A few minutes after Sans was being kidnapped, the three arrived near at a cabin near the woods which was just right at the edge of the town. When they arrived, the three players were greeted by four other players who asked who Sans was and after he introduced himself they welcomed him with open arms.
Sans entered the cabin and inspected what was inside. The cabin was really spacious. There were sofas, coffee tables and few rooms as well as having a huge kitchen and a dining room. Beautiful flower pots were put on the corners of the room which made the atmosphere seemed calm and soothing as the fireplace crackled softly as the woods inside began to burn into charcoals, warming up the room with its heat.
Everyone had gathered on the dining room and Sans could only describe it with a single word; Feast. Multiple delicious foods were laid out on the plates as their mouthwatering fragrance filled the air.
PoH cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone within the room, and stood up.
"Alright, everyone, it had been a month since we all met each other and formed this guild we call the Final Seekers. So many things had happened to all of us ever since Kayaba Akihiko announced that we are trapped in this world until we clear the game and I know that celebrating something like an anniversary after only a mere month might seem stupid and naïve… but I'm sure that we all understand what each of us had to go through these past three months. The fear… the anxiety… the sadness…
"However, we will not give up! We all have our own lives to get back to in the real world now, don't we? If we give up now, then how are we supposed to get back to our lives in reality?!
"My friends, like you too, I am afraid… like you too, I don't want to die. I want to survive, we want to survive. I know that we all could have just give up and let the other Clearers win the game for us... but is that really what we want? Will we really just sit idle by wallowing in despair and self-pity like those people on the first floor while someone else are doing our fights for us?
"That's why, everyone, let us fight. Let us all fight together for our lives! It's only our first month, but together we all will grow stronger and stronger until we beat this game that Kayaba Akihiko trapped us in! For we are the Final Seekers, thosewho seek this game's finale! So please everyone… I'm begging you, lend me your strengths and let us keep fighting together in this guild and make sure that we keep each other alive so that we all could be together again like this in reality!"
PoH bowed before everyone within the room. Although not the best, it was still a touching speech, Sans thought to himself. Sans looked around and saw that the speech made the others shed a few tears.
He smiled at the determined look they all shared together, but then he looked away and smiled sadly.
…If only he had a reason to go back into the real world.
A sudden round of applause echoed in the room and PoH stood back up again with a happy smile on his face. Then PoH held up a glass of ale and ended his speech.
"Well, without further ado, for our guild's one month anniversary and our friendship, CHEERS!"
"Cheers!" Everyone toasted in unison.
Sans saw the genuine happy smiles on their faces. He shook off the morbid thinking and decided to put on his biggest smile as he too toasted along with everyone else.
"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's dig in!" PoH said excitedly as the others laughed at his antic.
Sans was helping himself with the food and a woman beside him said.
"So… Sans right? To be honest, we were a bit surprised when Winnie suddenly came home while dragging someone along with him. We thought that he kidnapped someone else… again."
She had a beautiful purple hair and a pair of bright yellow eyes with a pale skin. Judging from her age, she seemed to be in her early twenties and she wore a purple-colored set of arguably revealing armors; though he won't comment on it.
Sans was about to laugh at her comment but then realized something.
[wait… 'again'?]
"Hm? What's wrong Sans?"
[…on second thought, maybe i shouldn't ask.]
"oh sorry, i was spacing out… anyway, who's 'winnie'?"
"Oh, come on! Really, Tanya? Don't tell him stuffs he doesn't need to know!" PoH pouted.
"Hahaha, if only you'd stop reacting that way, then maybe she'd stop teasing you about it." laughed a brown-haired boy.
He was eighteen years old, had a normal tan skin-tone and had a large, muscular body build. His hair and eyes are normal black with a heavy set of black-colored armors on his body.
"She meant an old children cartoon about a cute, klutzy, yellow, honey bear called 'Winnie the P'oh'."
"hm… never heard of it before, but i'll keep that in mind." Sans and the two players shared their thumbs-up.
"Not you too, Sans!"
The woman, boy and Sans chuckled.
"Anyway, I'm Raul! I specialize in nuking the enemy with my skills, pleased to meet you!" he extended his hand.
PoH then widened his eyes and put on a mischievous smirk of knowing what would happen. Then, just as Sans shook Raul's hand in expectation, he gaped in disbelief when he realized that nothing happened.
"Wait…no whoopee cushion trick?"
"well, my whoopee cushion's durability ran out earlier. i used the last of it on you earlier."
"What?! Oh c'mon, that's just not fair!" he knelt with a dejected look.
The woman tilted her head in confusion as Sans sweat dropped.
"Uh…huh. I can't say that I know what you two are talking about. Well, anyway, please just call me Tanya." She smiled warmly.
"nah, don't worry about it. it's nothing, miss tan—"
"Just call me Tanya." She repeated.
"pardon?"
"I said, just. Call me. Tanya." Her expressions darkened into a twisted smile.
"i… see…"
Sans looked at Raul and PoH questionably, but they merely shook their heads with grim expressions in unison; never bring up something about her age, he got the message.
"Mi—" Z began.
"Yes?"
"*A-Ahem* Tanya… don't scare our guest."
"Oh my, you're right. I'm sorry if I scared you."
"it's fine. gotta need a lot more than that to scare this bag o' bones."
"Bag of bones? Why? But you're so chubby!"
[W-Wow, she said it.] Everybody flinched as everybody's expressions darkened.
"I mean look at this cute healthy cheeks~!"
Tanya began pinching Sans' cheeks while making a series of cutesy voice like an airhead as Sans merely stayed silent, using every ounce of his strength not to tear her apart with his barrage of bone attacks at any moment now as he tried to maintain his smile.
Sans sighed to calm himself down then turned his head toward the other two members of the guild that hadn't spoken yet; a pair of twin girls around thirteen years of age. They both wore identical sets of blue clothing, black pants, and shiny gray armor; this one much less revealing than Tanya's. The two seemed really identical, but through Sans' enhanced sense of vision, he could notice the difference between the two girls in terms of body proportions, though that didn't really tell him their names.
He decided to initiate the conversation since simply staring at them wouldn't really help him to know who they were.
"anyway… what're your names? hope, i'm not making you feel… unplea-sans."
The two looked at each other before speaking in unison.
"You're jokes are digusting." The two spoke in unison.
The other four members gaped at them in pure shock. Sans merely smiled though.
"ah, not very humerus are ya?"
"Stop." One of them spoke again, her body shaking as she tried to control herself.
"tibia honest, i used to have a skele-ton worth of skele-jokes that'd usually skele-stun people cuz' they're skele-fun—!"
"ENOUGH WITH THE PUNS!" The two girls flipped out.
Sans laughed heartily, "i would, but can you really blame me? i'm a punny person, y'know?"
The two groaned loudly as the other chuckled; clearly glad that Sans took the blunt insult rather dismissively.
Raul sighed and answered Sans' question for them.
"Sorry about them, they're just not good with strangers. Anyway, she..." He pointed at the slightly shorter girl with a (seemingly unnoticeable) bigger bosom, "…is Lily and she…" he pointed at the other girl who was taller, "…is Milly."
"ah, i see. so, lily and milly, huh? cute names." he winked at them earning him bashful glares from the two girls.
Noticing this, Raul proceeded to whisper into Sans' ear, "Don't be fooled, they might look like a middle schoolers, but they're actually in their early—!"
Before he could even continue, the two boy felt something whizzed through between their faces. They turned around and saw two knives embedded deeply on the wall.
Sans kept his cool and slowly turned around to see their faces, but he wasn't expecting to see a pair of faces with hateful and angry expression etched on their faces.
"Raul, what were you…" Milly began.
"…going to say?" Lily finished.
The boy flinched and began sweating cold sweat as he laughed awkwardly.
"A-ahahaha, what was I going to say r-right? O-OH! Chicken! Yum!"
Staring at Raul who was shivering in fear, Sans then saw the twins turning their attention toward him.
[…ok, i was going to ask what is wrong with these girls, but for the sake of my life i'll wisely shut my mouth.]
"t-this salad is really delicious! wonder who made it?"
He tried to change the subject; it worked, seeing that the twins raised their eyebrows.
"We did." they replied in unison.
"really? well, maybe you should teach me how to make it one day."
They looked at each other and shrugged.
"…Sure, we don't mind."
"thanks. that'd be nice."
Sighing in relief, Sans felt glad that he managed to avert his certain death.
An awkward silence filled the air then Z decided to break the silence.
"So Sans! What's your role in team fights?"
"hm?"
"Yeah, Sans." Raul agreed, "What's your role in team fights? I mean, Z's a spear user, while I use a broadsword as my primary weapon. We act as the main fighters for the guild."
"Both of us are knife users and we're the scouts and assassins of the group." Lily and Milly followed.
"assassins?"
"That's right. Lily and Milly specializes in dealing tons of damage to our enemies, but their HPs are much lower than the rest of us." PoH explained.
"then what are you?"
"Me? Hehe, I'm glad you ask!" He posed dramatically, "I, the great PoH, am the brain of our—!"
"ah, so you're the coward that stays behind and tell others what to do. i get it."
"H-Hey!"
All of us laughed at PoH's expense.
"i'm messing with you, poh." Sans then looked over to Tanya, "so, all that's left is you, tanya."
"What about me?"
"what's your role in team fights?"
"Oh my, you can't tell? I'm the tank, of course!"
"…wat?"
Sans stared at her revealing armors up and down in confusion. It wasn't the fact that she had a very noticeable cleavage, well that too—he meant—but the fact that her armor seemed too revealing to offer the kind of body protection you'd imagine from a tanker truly confused him.
"Sans don't you know anything about female armors in RPGs?" PoH asked him.
"what?"
"The less it covers…" PoH began.
"The more it protects." Z and Raul finished sagely.
"that… " Sans went quiet for a few moment, but then, "blew the mind out of my skull."
"Then rejoice, brother, for you have been enlightened by the light of truth!" PoH extended his hand, "And whenever thou feel lost, remember well the commandment of RPG's female armors. The less it covers?"
"the more it protects."
"Thou have answered wisely, O' new believer. Congratulations and I welcome thee, brother, to our sacred covenant."
"my thanks to thee, o' great priest of rpg, father poh." Sans humbly bow.
The three girls looked at each other and Tanya decided to say the most logical thing to say, "Da fuck?"
The party went on for hours. Together the seven players played multiple games like 'truth or dare' to liven up the party. By now, everyone had already fallen asleep, except for Sans and PoH.
The two stood outside on the porch, staring at the beautiful queen of the night who was showering this virtual world with her virtual moonlight.
"So, how's the party, Sans? Did you like it?" PoH began.
"well, never really been to parties before. it's kind of my first party so it's the best one i've ever had."
PoH laughed at that.
"First party? Someone that's really fun to be around like you? I mean, you just met them for a few hours today and we were all having so much fun together as if we've been friends for a long time. You must be joking!"
Sans paused for a few moments then looked away as he smiled.
"…heh, maybe i am."
Silence fell between the two players as the cold night breeze blew.
"Sans there's something I have to ask you." PoH began seriously.
"ask away."
"Would you… join our guild?"
Sans fell silent.
"I-I know it's a selfish request, but please…" He then proceeded to kneel on the ground and said, "Please, join our guild and make sure to keep us on the right tracks!"
Silence fell between them. It was then Sans began thinking… did he have any reason to decline? Well, most of the times he merely walked around towns, doing part-time works for the NPCs, offering emotional support, jokes, and advices to those who needed it most as he honed his control over his powers in secret. While he still couldn't summon Gaster Blasters or teleport, he was now strong enough to use his bones attacks effectively for a few good minutes before getting tired. He also learned how to use Real Sans' psychokinesis rather easily. In fact it was much, much easier than learning how to summon his bones out of thin air could ever be; which made him feel really stupid since he questioned himself for not thinking of about learning how to use his psychokinesis ability first before learning how to summon bones, but that's beside the point.
The point was, Sans didn't really have anything much to do. So now the question was: what reason did he have to decline?
He smiled, knowing that he didn't have that many reasons to decline. Taking a deep breath, he answered.
"i refuse."
"…E-Eh?"
It was true that Sans didn't have that many reasons to decline, but there was one thing; one crucial detail that he remembered to be the reason why he declined; his glitch.
"i refuse to join your guild."
"But... but why?" PoH asked looking hurt.
"poh, you're all already on the right tracks. there's nothing else for me to tell you."
"B-But—!"
"besides, you're much older than i am and the leader of your guild; you're supposed to be the 'big brother' here, y'know? not me." He cut him off softly with his trademark smile.
"I… I see…" PoH paused then asked him, "Then, are you going to leave?"
"i will if you want me to."
"Is that so… well I'll miss—" he widened his eyes, "Wait… what?"
"i can't join your guild, poh. i can stay, but…" Sans then continued as he turned to look at the night sky, "listen… i'm not a fighter."
"What do you mean?"
"Let me share you a little secret… I'm afraid, PoH."
"T-That's fine! We'll train together and—"
PoH widened his eyes, but before he could finish, Sans cut him off as he continued speaking.
"PoH, I'm begging you, please… don't ask me why I don't fight. Please."
There were a lot of questions going on PoH's mind, but even though he only met Sans for a day, he knew. He knew that when Sans begged him not to ask why, he meant it.
"…So, the reason you won't join is because you worry that you'll be a burden because you can't fight?"
Sans was silent. PoH looked down, then chuckled, but before he knew it, he was laughing out loud in the dead silence of the night. Sans turned around and stared at him questionably.
"Haha, I'm glad!"
"…glad?"
"Yeah! I thought you didn't want to join because you didn't like me or any of us!"
He widened his eyes at his answer; there wasn't a single trace of malicious intent within the words that came out of PoH's mouth, only genuine happiness and relief.
"Alright, how about we come into a compromise? Since you can't fight and don't want to be a burden, how about you work for our guild?"
"work for your… guild?"
"That's right! That way, you don't have to join our guild, but you can still stay with us! It's a win-win situation for both of us!" He proposed enthusiastically.
Sans thought about it for a moment, then he looked at PoH's face that was beaming full of hope. He looked up at the dark starry sky and recalled the first time he met PoH. It was a blurry memory, but he was sure about something; that day, PoH's face was filled with nothing but tears of fear and hopelessness.
And to think that the person he saved tried to reach out this much for someone like him… he felt a sense of irony there, for some reason.
"So? How about it?" PoH asked again, now with a more anxious tone.
Sans sighed and smiled.
"alright… you win."
PoH widened his eyes like he couldn't believe what he just heard, "D-Does… Does that mean?"
"yup. i'm in your care." Sans extended his left hand.
Smiling wider than ever, PoH excitedly grabbed his hand and—
*A loud farting noise echoed under the moonlight*
PoH fell silent with an unreadable expression.
"…Sans …you lied to me, didn't you?"
"hm?"
"Didn't you say that you're whoopee-cushion's durability wore off when you used it on me earlier…?"
Sans smiled innocently.
"...are you so sure that it's from a whoopee-cushion?"
PoH widened his eyes and immediately stepped away from him.
"Eww, that is just disgusting!"
"hey, don't blame me. it's the cold night air's fault." He shrugged as he smiled.
"Ugh, way to break the moment, Sans!" PoH groaned and started walking back inside.
"heh, c'mon, u mad, bro?"
Sans laughed as PoH went inside to join the others into the land of dreams, leaving Sans standing alone under the moonlit porch. Sans turned to look at his other hand; he was holding a whoopee-cushion.
Then as he let go of the whoopee-cushion, it broke into millions of pixels into nothingness as he looked up and stared at the moon with an empty expression.
"am i really doing the right thing…?" He wondered out loud.
When Sans told PoH that he was afraid, it wasn't the fact that he's probably the weakest player there was on Aincrad that he was afraid of. It's the fact that he was afraid of how others would react when they found out about him.
"…if i joined their guild, they'd see my hp and would find out about my glitches… but then again, do i really have to hide the truth like this?"
He opened up his menu and looked at his stats which were full of glitches; focusing on his hp bar that read the number '1/1'. Then he remembered something: he hid it from Kirito and Klein before, why should this be any different?
Sans didn't like hiding truths like this, but even he knew that he couldn't afford begging for help to everyone he met; they already had enough problems with being trapped in this virtual reality, why should he whine about his glitch when the others were also suffering?
Also, knowing the kind nature of his friends, if they knew about his condition, they'd probably focus on how to fix his condition rather than focusing on how to beat the game; he couldn't afford worrying other people for the sake of himself.
He felt the cold night breeze brushing against his skin and due to his enhanced senses, it felt a little like being rubbed with sandpaper. It stung, but he's used to enduring it; although, not used to the pain at all.
Sans chuckled within the silence of the night as he remember something important; he probably won't get out of this death game alive anyway, so why should he spent his times feeling morose about it? Wasn't this why he made his resolve? To make everybody smile so only he would suffer for all of them?
He yawned in fatigue as he kept on watching the starry sky. He smiled and thought that he should enjoy the moment he shared together with his newfound friends rather than think too much about his condition.
Besides—
"with the way things are right now… i guess, this isn't too bad."
Author's Note:
Whew, another chapt, posted. Now, let's see how much did I screw up this time.
*sigh* Anyway, here's a little background about PoH before he became the psychopath that he is. Yeah, the five other members of PoH's first guild, Final Seekers (Bad name, I know) are OCs, but don't worry cuz' there's a reason that PoH became what he is later on…
…You know what? I'm gonna be honest with you, this story would mostly be a kind of slice of life of Sans' life in SAO so there won't be that many actions here; especially with Sans. A little spoiler for you, but I'm keeping Sans' fight for at least a few more chapters…
Also, note that my OC (Akiyoshi Mizuki) is not the Real Sans, so if he's a little OOC compared to the Real Sans, well, you get the idea…
One more thing is that I'm going to do lots of time skip just like they do in the anime, so if my story appears too fast-paced then I apologize.
Before I finish, I'd like to answer a question from ctstone: so you're wondering what would this AU be called huh? Well, since this isn't really a 'full' crossover, I can't really say. Besides, I can't think of a good name for this AU, lol. SworarTale? Undersword? SAOndertale? UnderSAO? The title is probably the best name I got for this AU; It's A Beautiful Virtual Day Outside.
Oh well, anyway, thank you for those who reviewed, faved, and followed, you're the reason I kept on writing despite being really busy IRL.
Welp, without further ado,
See ya next chapt, Capt!
:v /