Chapter Fifteen

They flowed like water. Their movements were a blur even to him. Sans dodged and weaved, his soul pounding in his chest. He sensed familiar presences keeping close. Driven by instinct, they protected him. His own drove him to stay near as well. He tried to use his magic again and again. No attacks would form, but something stirred within the core of his soul…

They could hardly move in this tight space. He saw a bright yellow flash, and threw himself from its path. It barely missed, razing Daezl's ear on its way by, knocking one of the agents out cold. A human charged toward Mizera with a glowing dagger. Her back was turned. He reached behind him and grabbed a fork.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as he slid between them. The lights in his sockets glowing bright as stars, he reached forward. The blade halted between metal prongs. The human shoved him against the canine's back. He pushed back, resisting with both hands what they could do with one. He gave his defense a sharp twist. There was a metallic clang as their weapon hit the floor behind the counter. Mizera sent him a signal, and they changed positions.

He was in the midst of them now, caught between his friends. Daezl charged at one of the humans and they fell. Magic sparked in the shadow's face, cut short by a few punches. Oro tossed up barriers of green magic when and where possible while flinging basic white bullets and a few blue arrows. Mizera was pushing her opponent back, the two of them growing a bit farther from the rest. Juni was struggling in her own battle. She couldn't seem to land a hit, and spent her time evading her foes.

A piercing screech shattered his skull, and water poured down from above. Fire alarm? Guess the cooks didn't take anything off the stove before running. He shoved his hands against his skull. Bright flashes assaulted his vision even when he closed his eye sockets.

He heard a loud crack followed by laughter. A painfully bright glow, the color was indiscernible, but close enough to yellow. He blinked, but the shade refused to die. The alarm had faded into the background as-

I've got you now!

A hand grabbed him from behind. He clutched his head, fearing from the pain in it that he'd been hit. A pair of sapphires stared at him through the yellow fog.

It's over. You're mine.

Shut up.

He blinked again. The light was gone. Cold air cocooned his bones. The alarm was far quieter. His surroundings were a blurry gray and white, until at last his vision sharpened. Sans looked up to see none other than this group's leader staring down at him with an expression of mild intrigue. He moved to get away, finding an iron grip on his arm. Crap.

"Huh. We might not even need the others," said the human mostly to himself. "But why haven't you used it?"

"Uh, what?"

"Her powers, monster. Why aren't you using her powers?"

"Eh, I don't even know what's goin' on, dude," he said with a shrug.

"Really?"

"Nope. But I'll tell ya what I do remember."

The human tossed his head to move the hair from his face. "That would be?"

"It's- What the hell is that!?"

He took his chance. Sans pulled himself free of the agent's grasp and bolted. Wind roared in his skull. His feet landed clumsily on frozen ground. He slid to a halt at each turn, fleeing blindly through a maze of alleys and less-traveled roads. The human slipped, as did he, and he knew he couldn't outrun him. He looked around, wishing he had the magic to cause a mini-avalanche.

He turned a corner, slipping and sliding on wet snow until he fell. He kicked off his slippers and threw them farther down the alley. He buried himself in the piles of snow and waited. His soul pulsed so quickly he believed his pursuer would hear it. Ice stung his joints and the spaces between his bones. Bits of it invaded his eye sockets, biting at the sensitive magic within. Stars danced in his sight and for once, he wished they would vanish. He forced the sockets to close, wincing and twitching as the human passed by.

He remained for safety's sake, even after all went silent. He began to count slowly to one hundred. As the numbers went up, his mind wandered to all the madness he'd found himself in, and a realization began to dawn that things just might be more serious than he'd thought.

Forty-three, forty-four…

He opened a new program in his brain for a recap. Mizera had appeared out of nowhere, somehow convincing him to go with her for milkshakes.

Fifty-five, fifty-six…

He'd woken up in a room with those guys, believing at first that their words were either lies or perhaps even a shared delusion.

Sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven…

The bird, the gargoyle, the Old Magic artifacts. Their half-baked explanations.

Seventy-four, seventy-five…

Had he lost his mind?

Eighty…

It was the only logical explanation. All the blue-screening, the system burnout from trying to recall lost memories. Who knew? Maybe the cereal he'd eaten that day was also to blame. Maybe it had expired some five hundred years ago or something.

Eighty… One…

Sure, let's go with that. You've lost your marbles! But did you have any to begin with?

Now that was a valid question.

Eighty…

Ah, screw it.

He climbed out from his hiding place, shook the ice from his bones as best he could, and picked the frozen water out of his "eyes". He sat down, propping one elbow on a knee and his head on his hand.

Everything that had happened; could that truly be the case? It had all felt real as anything else he'd been through, if not somehow realer. His mind felt crystal clear, and his soul pulsed with a pleasant feeling. This mess had defragmented his system in a way, in spite of his confusion. The restaurant, the other diners, the gunshots… Had any of this been reality?

Perhaps he should have been afraid. Perhaps this notion should have had him calling for help. This was the most logical conclusion, after all. As it was, a stillness had come over him like no other. He told himself that none of it was real, that none of it had actually occurred, and couldn't convince himself of the idea. Sans looked up at the towering brick buildings around him, sensing something in his soul that held steady and unyielding as these structures in the wind.

No, this was happening. He couldn't describe how he knew, or why. He simply did.

He stood and retrieved his slippers, and shoved his hands in his pockets. He ambled back along the paths he had taken. Surely the fight was over now, and he sent a wordless question to confirm it. Daezl answered a yes, and told him where to meet up, as the human authorities were well on their way to the diner. He acknowledged it, and headed that way.

They were real. And they were his kidnappers. Here was a chance to escape, and here he was, not taking it. He knew it wasn't logical. He knew it didn't make any sense. Sans was painfully aware of just how ridiculous his choice was. He knew how it would have seemed to any onlookers.

But not everything had a logical explanation. Not everything made sense.

One just had to accept it.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"… still unclear who this mystery group is or what they wanted. Witnesses stated seeing the monsters remain at their table as they exited the building, so police are currently looking for the monsters in question. The security cameras were disabled before the event…"

Frisk stopped listening to the TV, her thoughts drifting to Sans. There weren't many skeletons in the monster kingdom, and apparently, a skeleton was one of the people in question. She shook her head, wondering why problems piled up one after another. She sighed. There was nothing she could do. She'd saved after his disappearance, before she'd known of the fact.

Well, smiley trash bag, she thought somewhat playfully. Looks like you're gonna have to get yourself outta this one.

She hopped down from the sofa, and readied herself for a meeting.