:):
There's a LOT of plot development in this chapter.
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Glitter and Gold
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Shaking off the bad feeling he had just gotten a moment ago, Sans entered the flooded garbage dump. They were fine. All they were doing was walking around, looking for invisible stars. Papyrus knew the Snowdin Wilderness like the back of his hand and nobody would attack the kid with him there with her. So... why was he nervous?
Maybe he should have gone with them... Sans sighed quietly as he gave an unconscious shrug. Eh, it was too late now anyways... Besides, he was already here.
If Sans had a nose, he'd be wrinkling it in disgust right about now. But seeing as he didn't, he'd just have to grin and bear it. All puns aside, the garbage dump had a particularly foul stench today. It wasn't just the smell of moldy cardboard and rusty metal this time. No... There was something else. Something he couldn't place. It smelled pungent; sickeningly sweet and nauseating.
When had the smell of this place changed? He didn't know, but he'd be willing to bet his entire sock collection that it had happened around the same time that the kid first appeared in the Underground. If that was true, then his theory was right.
So far, there had been five other humans that he knew of who had fallen into the Underground. He was only vaguely familiar with the last two, however. And even then, he'd only spoken to one of them. The fourth child, the one who's Soul resembled a deep sapphire in color.
It really hadn't been much of a conversation either. He had simply warned her about going deeper into Waterfall. She hadn't listened... He could still remember the words she had spat at him. They had been full of terror and laced with hate. Even to this day, he still couldn't help but wonder how that human had seen him. What had she been thinking when she had called him a monster?
The Forth child had been dressed in what Sans had come to consider possible present day attire. Not that he could be certain, of course. Along with a few other accessories, she had carried around an overly decorated backpack and always seemed to be trying to check her phone. He figured it was probably a nervous habit.
For the longest time, the Underground had benefited from the modern technology that had routinely flowed into this area. Even now, there was still plenty to be salvaged. One day however, the flow of modern items suddenly stopped. Coincidentally, that was most likely the same day the Fifth child, the violent boy with the fiery copper colored Soul, had appeared in the Underground.
The Fifth child's time in the Underground had been brief but deadly. Many monsters had been reduced to dust in a single day of thoughtless genocide. No surprise really that it had been this particular kid that had shaped Sans' opinion of humans and fueled his distrust and aversion towards them.
For a time, all that flowed into the garbage dump had been old fashioned trinkets and clothing just like the Fifth child had been wearing. No real technology, but plenty of antique weapons and gadgets. In truth, it wasn't all useless. Quite a lot of metals had fallen into this area that could easily be melted down and repurposed.
Now, however, just like he had suspected, the flow had changed. This time, whatever was dropping down most likely represented the surface world as the current human knew it. The current human, being the tiny, pint sized child he had left with his brother.
If anything could paint him a better picture of where or when the kid had come from, this place was his best bet. And from the looks, or rather, the smell of it, it probably wasn't going to be a very pretty picture. As unpleasant as it was, though, Sans knew he needed to learn as much as he could. He still intended to ask the kid about this first hand, but for now, he'd do some investigations of his own...
Ignoring the partially submerged towers of trash, Sans quickly teleported himself to the other side of the room where the main waterfall flowed calmly from a large crack in the ceiling. The water pooled onto the stone floor before streaming forward, only to once again flow off the next ledge and into the abyss below.
Landing on the drainage grate, Sans cringed as dirty water seeped into his slippers making them soggy. What the hell? This was supposed to be a dry spot to stand. Looking down, Sans instantly discovered the problem. The damn grate was clogged!
Gross! So gross!
Holding back choice words, Sans pulled up his jacket sleeve and reached down into the murky water. Feeling around for a moment, he firmly closed his skeletal hand around a corner of fabric. With a continuous solid pull, he was finally able to uncover the grate. The dirty water that had been steadily rising above his talus bones began draining, clearing the murk as it went.
What was left behind once the water cleared was startling to say the least. Strangely startling. So much so, that his mind had to take a moment to process what he was seeing. At the base of the waterfall, just underneath the crystal clear water, pearly white bones gleamed up at him. They were scattered everywhere.
Sans didn't quite know how to take this. These were skeletons, right? Why were they skeletons? They didn't seem to be particularly lively either. Almost like their magic that was supposed to be keeping them together had been leached out. So, why hadn't they turned to dust? Also, why were there skeletons, or rather pieces of skeletons, washing into the Underground from the Surface world? Hadn't humans completely banished all monsters?
Bunching up the hunk of drenched fabric, Sans tossed it onto the nearby semi-dry pathway. He then waded into the water to collect the closest bone. From the looks of it, it was a decent sized skull. Pulling it from the water, Sans almost dropped it again by what he saw. Sticking out of an eye socket, a crudely fashioned arrow was lodged. The metal head of the arrow protruded from the base of the skull. It wasn't the only one either. Scanning the water, Sans could see that many of the skulls were in a similar state. What was this...?
As far as Sans knew, he and his brother were the only two skeletons left. There weren't any more. Anywhere. But if that was true, then who were all these people? And what had happened to them?
So distracted by his thoughts, Sans barely registered the change in the water. It started as just a faint pinkish color calmly flowing past him before it began darkening to a deep crimson. The skeleton's glowing eye lights slowly followed the discolored stream back to its source just in time to see the waterfall literally start to bleed right in front of him; the crack in the ceiling gushing like a gaping wound.
Unbidden memories of the Fifth child's screams as a red trident tore through his side came rushing back to Sans in all of its anguished glory. Only humans bled like this. No matter how much he disliked that child, the sight of him bleeding out on the pristine tiled floor of the Judgment Hall still haunted him. He wasn't supposed to have seen it. That wasn't something the King wanted his people to know about; to know just how ruthless he could be.
That had been the day Sans had been tasked with the job of judging humans for himself. Whether it was due to the fact that he was somehow uniquely qualified for the position or perhaps it was decided simply on a whim, it was difficult to say. Though, he still wondered if it had been more of a punishment for accidentally witnessing the King's brutality than the honor Asgore had declared it to be. Hell, maybe he just wanted to share his own guilt with another person. Either way, Sans still accepted and intended to fulfill the job if necessary. No matter how unpleasant it may be, he refused to allow another human to go on a mindless killing spree if he could do something to stop it.
Who would have guessed that the very next child to fall into the Underground would be a LOVEless brat? The only thing he could judge her on, was the level of sass she could deal out - and that wasn't really a punishable offense. It was actually kind of endearing, though he'd never admit it. How could such an innocent child be directly related to this? Sans wondered as he watched the gruesome display.
After around a minute or so, the deep angry crimson finally faded away, leaving the water once again clear as crystal. Speaking of crystals, the rocky floor was now littered with them. The heavy flow of water had washed away many of the bones and left in their place dozens of shiny gems of assorted colors. Amongst them, coins of gold and silver glittered underneath the water's surface.
Huh... so this was what the waterfall was going to produce from now on. Instead of antique gadgets, scrap metals, and firearms, there would now be... What? Bones, coins, and gems? It was definitely a change... Some of it might be useful. If anything, the crystals would undoubtedly begin circulating throughout the Underground.
Taking it upon himself to become the very first gem trader, Sans began plucking the glittering stones from the water. A few coins as well. Once he had collected a reasonable sized handful, the skeleton stuffed the treasure into his pocket. Maybe he could try bartering with them for some freakin' soap at the Tem Village, because right now, he was feeling downright filthy. Wading femur deep in bloody water does that to a monster.
As he sloshed back over to the drainage grate, a brightly glowing light caught his attention. Past the wad of fabric and down the narrow hallway, a clump of yellow flowers basked in the indirect light gleaming through the geodes embedded near the top of the cavern wall. In the center of the patch, something was shining.
Walking past the soggy ball of cloth, Sans made his way towards the flower patch, his sad sopping wet slippers making squishy noises as he went. Up ahead, he noticed that the area was badly flooded except for the tiny island the flowers grew upon. Not wanting to wade through any more water, the lazy skeleton teleported the rest of the way there. What he found was rather underwhelming.
It was just a rock. But it was emitting light, so maybe it wasn't just a rock. Bending down, the skeleton picked up the strangely flat egg shaped stone. Upon closer inspection, he found strange runic carvings covering the stone's smooth surface. Whatever the symbols meant was a mystery to Sans. He'd never seen anything like it before.
The skeleton discovered that, once out of the light, the runic stone's brilliance quickly faded. It only seemed to shine when it was under the indirect sunlight. In conclusion, the stone was pretty but useless.
He'd keep it anyway.
Tucking the runic stone into his other pocket, Sans made his way back to the wad of fabric. He didn't know why, but he picked that up as well. He needed to get out of here before he became a bona fide garbage collector.
"wonder how paps and the kid are doing?"
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Doesn't that rock look awfully familiar?
In the next Chapter, Papyrus and Fearia continue their search for the magical healing stars.
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Thanks for reading!
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Sheii Bae~
