Chapter Eight
Sans blinked slowly at the icy edges of the window. A comfortable quiet had settled upon them. They'd reassembled the furniture enough to properly use. He and Juni shared one of the small sofas while Oro and Mizera rested on the other. Mizera had snuggled up to Oro, whose tail was wrapped around her lean form. Daezl paced idly around the room sipping his coffee, occasionally pausing to look at the outside world.
He finished off his beverage and tossed it to the floor to join the rest of the garbage. Something soft flicked against his leg as Juni shifted. She brought her plumy tail up to drape across her lap. Sans yawned, as did she a few moments later. Oro wasn't far behind, and Miz was beginning to nod off. His soul had regained its light feeling. Relaxation filled his bones, and he felt himself falling into sleep mode.
A clacking sound snapped him awake, like stones clashing together. Daezl was snapping his fingers, icy gaze raking across them. Oro nudged the canine, who gave an exaggerated snore before sitting up straight. The tall, shadowy monster tossed his empty cup over his shoulder as he approached. Sans guessed he'd at last get his explanation; he'd nearly forgotten there was anything wrong.
"All right. So, what exactly do you remember? What's the earliest thing you can go back to?"
His earliest memory, huh? It took him several seconds to run that request, especially given that he'd stopped trying to recall such things. He saw a lot of black, which he perceived to be clothing. In his mind flashed hazy figures, a stark white beneath the cloth. Most of the shapes towered above him, but there was one at least, close enough to his level. Eye sockets?
"Uh… Skeletons. A bunch of 'em."
Daezl's tail twitched. Bright white fangs chewed lightly on his claws. "Okay. So you sorta remember your family. What else?"
Family? He dug through the database with renewed curiosity.
"A huge waterfall. But somewhere that doesn't look like Waterfall, the place. It's darker there, but I can see it? Something glowing in the dark, and… some weird symbols."
"Just keep naming stuff off."
He closed his eye sockets to focus. "There's a lot of uh, flashes of stuff. Like running- since when do I run? I hate exercise."
"Keep going."
"Running through the streets somewhere. The streetlamps are all kinda weird looking, and not too bright. Giant red eyeballs. Creepy sounds coming from the woods. A fireplace, and some kinda statue over it?"
The longer he went on, the more he felt phantom threads slowing down the system. It didn't come nearly as strongly as before, however. He paused, wondering what made one memory harder to retrieve than others. He dared not think about the Toast Incident, lest all this effort go to waste.
"Uh, a school… Meeting Alphys?"
Mizera tilted her head. "Who's Alphys?"
"My friend."
"Okay, y'know what, it's fine. This is fine," said Daezl.
"Now's not the time for that meme."
"Oro?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
Sans nearly chuckled at this. "So, where do you guys come in?"
"We're somewhere in between all that," said Juni.
"It's a long, crazy story," Daezl told him. "Let's try this a different way: on a scale of one to ten, just how outlandish is your life? How often do things happen that just don't make any sense?"
"Who the frick says outlandish?"
"Oro?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
There had been a number of times while Underground that he'd gotten a sense of deja vu, and not only for a fleeting moment. The feeling had lasted anywhere from a few hours to several weeks until he grew too accustomed to it to notice the feeling's absence. When they'd first moved into their house in Snowdin, he and Papyrus had begun to misplace things, which they would later find hidden away in another location. He and his brother would begin having bad dreams. He had apparently started to sleepwalk, and Papyrus had come home late one night to find things a wreck. He in his half-conscious state had told him, "it's okay, I got rid of it. Scared it away with my dirty socks," and the incidents were no more. Not to mention that time with the Temmie… Sans shuddered.
"On a scale of one to ten? Twenty three."
"Yep. Thought so."
"So what does it mean?"
"Simple," said Mizera. "You're a beacon for the paranormal! Well, sorta."
He blinked, the others waiting in silence for his reaction. His eye sockets scanned the garbage-ridden floor as he processed these words. This reveal didn't bring the shock it likely should have. Looking back on all these odd occurrences, he supposed it made enough sense, but even so. Sans thought he would've had more of a response to this. Perhaps he shouldn't have believed them so easily, but as it was, he just did.
"Okay. So how do I stop being that?"
"You can't," said Daezl.
"Well, that's annoying."
"Not all the time," Oro said, pulling his tail away from Mizera, who'd begun nibbling on it.
Daezl tossed a glare in her direction. "We'll have to explain the rest later. Right now, we-"
A knock at the door, followed by a pleasant voice calling, "room service!"
Juni stiffened beside him, her ruby eyes darting to each of her friends. Mizera's ears drew back, the beginnings of a snarl animating her features. A quiet growl rumbled in her throat as the knocking persisted. Oro signaled to him to stay silent, gaze wide and ears perked up. Daezl's tail twitched. The shadowy monster curled his claws, orange energy flickering about at their tips. Sans took note of this, adding it to his mental list of questions.
Something sparked to life in the core of his soul, like the birth of an ethereal flame. This phantom force surged through his limbs, filling them with a strangely familiar energy. The lights in his eye sockets narrowed to pinpoints, then blazed like terrestrial stars. Anxiety pulsed in his being like a fading ghost. His concern was more of an afterthought; the forefront of his mind began to drown in feelings of something. He failed to find a name, but the sensation was a pleasant one. The force at his core connected briefly with- no. That wasn't important. He was ready for this, whatever this was.
He moved automatically, hardly a thought to clog his system as their unwelcome visitor grew impatient. Their artificial tone gave way to something harsher until all grew quiet around him. He knew better than to think they had left. Sans crept along just behind Juni's fluffed tail into a bedroom, and he knew without knowing just what the "plan" was.
A faint hum drifted through the air, a telltale sign of magic. His soul pulsed once, twice- he grabbed a can of air freshener. Three, four- Juni wrapped herself in a blanket. Five, six, seven- he hid behind the door. Eight- snap! Wood crackled as it split apart into hundreds of pieces. She hopped into bed, burying herself in the scarce cover she had. Crap. Most of their stuff was in the main room. A thud as the intruder kicked the door. He stood motionless, waiting- Daezl crouched behind a sofa. Miz stood in the open alone, showing off her fangs. Oro was… pretending to be a lamp?
Yeah, sure, okay. Nobody will notice that.
He snickered. These people weren't too bright, were they? Ah well.
With one unknown enemy came three others. They spoke in too-dramatic tones, voicing their demands to the canine. She told them where not to look. Of course, this led one of them into the room. They strode over to the bed and leaned over her. They yelled for her to wake up. Juni pulled away the covers with a haughty smile and shocked them right in the nose. He slid carefully out from his hiding place. The human was poorly disguised as hotel staff. He stood there, clutching his face. Sans tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He turned around to get a face full of cinnamon-scented mist.
The skeleton could help but chuckle as Juni flew from the bed. He ambled along behind her, and something in him protested as logic faded away.