Chapter Nineteen
He became aware of his fall slowing, and his surroundings gradually morphing into dark, blurry colors. He sensed familiar souls close by, and could hardly claim surprise when Oro's hands manifested beneath his bones. He blinked, and the endless abyss had gone. A gray brick ceiling replaced it. He looked up at Oro's sky blue eyes, hardly discernible in the shadows.
"I've been falling… for thirty minutes!"
"Yeah, but what's with the accent?"
He chuckled as Oro let him down. "Eh, never mind."
They were in a small room much like a dungeon cell. A lone candle burned in a holder on the wall, nearly diminished. Stale hay littered the floor. Everything was made of stone, save for the old table and the strands of pale crimson vines. A barred door had been ripped from its hinges and leaned against the hallway wall beside another candle. The flickering light showed a coat of rust on weathered iron. The air was stuffy, and warmer than it had been up above. The hallway veered right not far from their would-be prison's exit.
"So," said Oro, scratching at the back of his neck. "Ya feeling any better?"
"Yeah."
"Whacha run off for?"
He ran through the files once more, now readily available but not quite making sense. Heck, even if it did, he wasn't sure how to explain it. Sans retrieved his fallen slippers and tried to piece a proper string of words together. It was futile in the end. He needed more time to think. He ambled out of their tiny room with a familiar phrase in mind:
"I'll tell ya later."
Though he didn't see it, he sensed Oro shrug and begin to follow him. The force at the core of his soul peeked out from where it hid like a frightened mouse. He sent silent encouragement its way, promising that everything would be okay, and that he wouldn't try to bury it anymore. Surely, he'd done so more than once, tried to rid himself of its presence, tried to shove it into the recycle bin and forget it. That was over now.
They turned the corner and passed a number of empty cells. Sans looked forward towards the end of the stretch, where he saw a left turn. Light existed in flickering pools, like a puddle someone had disturbed. There were patches of straw here and there to temporarily muffle their steps. The stone around them changed from neatly-lined bricks to lumpy boulders with pale lines running between. He wasn't sure at which point they had begun to, and didn't bother to question it.
"So, what happened?"
"Pretty much we came looking for you and wandered in here. Y'know, getting eaten by a weird, extradimensional haunted house… Well, it's pretty normal for us. But it's still, like, interesting. Like, every one's different."
It was the skeleton's turn to shrug. "Guess that makes sense."
"Yeah so, Daezl an' the others are up ahead."
"Heh, this reminds me of video games. You know, the dungeon-crawler types? The only thing that's missing is-"
A terrible screech erupted from his left. He jumped just out of reach. A humanoid struck out at him with claws like jagged glass. Spine to the wall, Sans stared with dark eye sockets at the creature's lack of a face. The being's head was like a misshapen ball of flesh, split apart near the bottom, eyeless, noseless, and without ears. Needle teeth glinted in the candlelight and half-decayed clothes swung about.
"Enemies. That try to kill you," he finished, voice taking on a notably higher pitch.
A yellow orb appeared in Oro's waiting hand and he shoved it into the creature's not-face. A tiny explosion smacked his own existing one and a foul stench of a cloud appeared and vanished. The being fell to the floor with a thud.
"You coulda warned me!"
"It wasn't there last time," said Oro, raising his hands.
"Well, you go ahead then," he said, placing himself behind the bulky monster and shoving him onward. "That way, they'll eat you instead of me."
"But then, what if something comes up from behind?"
Sans blinked, then said playfully, "I don't know, okay? I'm tired; I haven't had my fifteen hours of sleep."
Oro grinned, tail flicking. "Ah, don't worry. I'll protect you. I am the tank, after all."
He exhaled heavily and replied, "yeah."
"I know that one, but what does that make you and everybody else?"
He explained as they walked, "well uh, I'm the glass canon, Juni's sorta like a support healer, I guess-"
"She's got the most powerful healing magic, actually, so that works."
"Cool. Mizera's a noob, and Daezl's a troll that just ruins the game for everybody else."
Oro chuckled. "He can be a jerk sometimes… most of the time. But he means well."
They navigated a few more twists and turns and ran into another problem along the way. By the time they at last caught up with the group, Sans was more than ready for a nap. Or a two-day coma. Either one.
This one was an open space, with a great fire burning in a pit at the center of it all. It cast a huge pool of orange, fading only near the edges of the room, where feathery shadows danced. This room was made of seamless gray, walls and ceiling. Polished black tile covered the floor, a stark contradiction to the otherwise ruined look of the place. At the far side of the chamber was a gate, its glowing metal bars giving off its magical properties. A few of the red vines wrapped around thick, dark lines as though trying to hold their exit closed. Beyond, he spotted little of interest.
Juni sat near to the fire, fanning the flames with her wings. Daezl paced from side to side, complaining and yelling swears at whoever built all this. Mizera followed behind him, mimicking his aggression like some weird version of Simon Says.
"I hate everything. I hate everything SO MUCH right now, you guys have NO ACTUAL IDEA!"
"Sans, you're here," Juni said, rising and coming to meet him. She wrapped her arms around him in happy embrace. "I'm so glad you're all right. We worried for you."
"Even cranky-butt over here!"
Daezl halted, clutching at the air and screaming towards the ceiling, "everybody SHUT UP I'M TRYING TO THINK! We've been stuck in this DUMP for the past FIVE MILLION YEARS!"
Sans returned the hug, and ambled his way to the gate. Daezl shoved a stony claw at his face, yelling, "and it's all your fault!"
He swatted the finger away. "I didn't make you go in that house."
"Yeah, but we were looking for you!"
"What made you think I would be in a haunted house?"
"Logic!"
"Well, you suck at logic."
Oro interrupted. "Guys! Can we yell at each other later?"
"Stay outta this! We're only in this train wreck 'cause the idiot with the Swiss cheese brain ran off."
"Ah, c'mon, don't pretend you're not havin' a wheel of a time. This might be our most legen-dairy night yet."
"I'm gonna knock the everlovin' snot outta you. Knock it off with the bad jokes!"
"Mm, no. Actually, I coulda tried to call somebody for help, but my cell phone's a little broken."
Daezl's eye twitched. His tail slammed into the black tiles with quiet thuds. He looked ready to explode. "Just. Help me. Figure this. Out."
"Eh, 'm sure you can. I need a nap," he said with a shrug, eye sockets heavy.
A moment of silence passed. The other three sat together next to the fire. Soft crackles drifted through the air. Mizera yawned, as though agreeing with his sentiment. Something growled, but it was far away, too far to be of concern.
"You just got here; you don't get to take a nap yet. When did you get so lazy?" He spat the word as though it hurt him to say it.
Sans gave him a questioning look. "When I was born? Don't tell me I used to be like Papyrus."
Daezl sighed. "No. But you weren't always like this."
"I am now. People change a little when ya wipe their memories and leave 'em for years, ya bonehead."
Though he knew he should help, he'd do anything in this moment to set the shadowy monster off even more. Sans turned and headed for the others, completely unfazed when Daezl's claws buried themselves in his hood. Daezl pulled him back. His slippers scraped on the floor, dirtying the tiles as their owner found himself spun around in place.
Heavy hands on his shoulders, Daezl jerked his head toward the gate. "At least try. We're not just gonna protect your sorry butt and do all the work!"
"Ah, fine," he said, freeing himself of the other's grasp.
Sans ambled right up to the gate, of course finding no lever on the wall. His sockets darted around for a moment, spotted an odd dark circle in the rim of the doorway, and gently pressed the raised stone. Behind him, there was a click.