Chapter Twenty Four

Sans awoke sandwiched between Oro and Miz, their warmth and the pulse of their souls calming him in a near instant. He took a deep breath, staring up at the point where the tent's nylon walls met. It was night. A soft sliver of moonlight trickled in from one side. The leafless tree branches basked in that faint glow, shifting in a frozen breeze, silhouettes creeping like reaching hands. The running wind picked up for a moment, howling through the woods like a cursed undead's call.

There was an eldritch abomination out to kill them all, out to harvest his soul and leave the world empty. Her influence loomed over them even so far from wherever she waited. Her cult was hunting he and his friends at this very moment. That dark-haired human was a serious threat; he'd seen and experienced more than Sans would ever know.

The skeleton was outside their new border. He'd barely a grasp on the magic he so needed to defend himself. Out on dark, churning waters without a paddle or compass, or basic self defense lessons. He'd never thought he'd need them. Ha. For once, he wished he'd actually listened to Papyrus and Undyne. Oh well.

And now, he found upon testing it once more, his stats were unreadable. There was no way to know what was going on with his HP. Not that he needed to check anything, really. Attack: one. Defense: one. HP: one pitiful point. In spite of all this, he wasn't the ticking time bomb or house of cards people tended to see him as when they found out. He was capable of some decent damage output, especially if his opponent had a few skeletons in their closet. He could take a hit, albeit, an extremely light one. That point could even act as up to ten under the right conditions. It was a paradoxical setup, his condition. Confusing, to be sure, but what else was new? There were risks, of course, but the incidents he knew of were few and far between. He was a bit frail, and needed to be wary in the face of illness, but it was nothing too extreme.

Still, he realized with a quiet chuckle, any normal person in his position would be terrified.

In a most convenient happenstance, he was far from normal.

Blinking up at the thin fabric between him and the cold wilderness, he shifted in his sleeping bag. Daezl, at the cramped shelter's other side, rolled over and began to snore softly. His movement prompted Juni make light adjustments as well. Oro slept like a rock, lying on his back with head atop one arm. Facing away from the skeletal monster, Mizera's ear twitched in response to some pleasant dream. Sans yawned, then experimented a little, as his back wasn't entirely happy to stay against the ground. He settled on his ribs with a content sigh and closed his eye sockets.

He was safe. Against all the danger the worlds could present, flying in the face of his previous nightmare, he felt secure as ever. Existence raged on with unyielding force. These hurdles in the path ahead were meaningless. He didn't know how long he'd been away now, and he didn't care. He'd smooth things over upon his return. Lying here, in this tiny bubble of warmth while chaos marched on, he didn't want this feeling to ever end. It mattered not what lurked out there, as the world out there couldn't touch the world in here, where their souls pulsed in unison and all was well. Nothing could reach them…

Nothing could harm them…

Nothing…

"Wake up, sleeping beauty; it's morning."

"Didn't sleeping beauty need a kiss to break the curse?"

"Oro, it's called sarcasm, you imbecile."

Mizera snickered. "He'll definitely get up if you threaten him with that!"

True to her words, his skull snapped up from the crappy pillow it had rested on. "Don't even think about it, Captain Killjoy!"

"See? It worked."

A sigh that was more of a growl. "What. Ever. Just get up already so we can find some food. Actually, you know what? Food's optional. I need coffee."

Reluctantly, Sans released that tranquil moment, the force in his core whispering promises of many more to come. He greeted it like an old friend, and crawled out from the tent. The sky was a clear, sharp blue. Snow clung to the trees around them. Oro and Juni began the cleanup as the canine stuck close to Daezl for warmth.

"So," he called to none of them in particular. "What's our next move? After the breakfast, I mean."

"The staff's a little ways from here, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Daezl to his brother. "It's like, a few towns over, I think. I'll check."

With the slender shadow on his recently-acquired phone, there was little to do but wait. They got moving soon enough, though. Sans wasn't about to walk that far on his own two feet. He made Oro carry him most of the way. On occasion, he entertained himself with a few I Spy duels with Miz, or simply catching up. They'd missed quite a lot of each other's lives, after all.

"You ever see what an inter-dimensional nightclub looks like?" asked Oro.

"Wh- no."

"Do ya want to?"

"Well, I do now."

"We'll have to take you sometime, then. This one time, we finally got Juni to come with us, and-"

She snorted. "Well, one person among us has to be the responsible one."

"She's as crazy as it gets," their leader called over his shoulder at them. "You just gotta get her to drop the façade."

"Who uses words like that?" his transport questioned in a pleading tone. "Façade."

"I am mostly certainly not the "crazy" person you're making claims about! Sans, don't listen to him."

Mizera cackled at those bristling wings. "You challenged a giant centipede to a tap dancing contest, and won!"

"I did no such thing."

"Oh, didn't you?"

Much as he wanted to hear that tale, Sans found himself tuning out their bickering voices. This group would surely be a humorous sight to see, had there been anyone driving down this back road to take notice. The pavement was hardly visible beneath the thick layers of snow. The sun shone vainly upon them, but the season's breath was stronger. The air clutched his bare feet. They'd gone numb over the past few hours, and that promise of warm food sang to him like some kind of edible siren. Couldn't they have gone back into the city for breakfast?

"You're all weak," said Daezl, sensing more than one soul's fatigue.

"Didn't you want coffee as soon as possible?" he asked.

"Yeah, but unlike some people, I can wait 'til we get somewhere a little less conspicuous."

Oro released a heavy sigh. "There he goes again with those words."

Juni shook her head. "I understand we're all hungry and cold, but Daezl's right. After what happened back there, we must put some distance between us and the last place we were seen."

"So quit whining!"

"Aw, but that's my specialty," Mizera whined as painfully as she could manage.

Sans wasn't one to be left out. "Are we there yet?"

Oro exploded into a wheezing sort of laugh.

"How about now?" asked Miz.

"Children, please," Juni begged them. "For my sake, if not his."

"Sorry," they uttered in unison.

He allowed a full ten seconds to pass. "Are we there now?"

Mizera couldn't contain herself. Daezl halted in his tracks, tail stiff and straight, his pointed ears drawing back as Juni facepalmed. All amusement drained from Oro for reasons that Sans couldn't place. The tall, ireful monster turned to look at him, jagged stone claws at the ready. Frozen blue met brilliant eye lights. Each of them dared the other to proceed; no words nor mystical connections required. The wind seemed to still, as though nature itself braced for whatever was to come next.

"Guys, let's just go," said Oro, beginning again, the steps he'd paused so abruptly.

"No." Daezl spun around to face them, claws clacking together as he tossed his hand in a stopping gesture. The team's "tank" froze, and Daezl took a few predatory paces in his direction. "Put him down. Lazy little trash bag can walk the rest of the way."

Oro gave him an apologetic glance, and snow crunched beneath him as Sans found himself plopped unceremoniously onto the ground. He blinked, whilst Daezl and the others resumed as though nothing at all had taken place. There he stood, up to his shins in ice, too dumbfounded to produce a timely reaction.

In the end, he stumbled after them with a halfhearted complaint. Mizera peeked behind to give him an unspoken message: that she had thought it hilarious. Don't worry. In spite of her support, he couldn't help but wonder how the mood turned that sour so quickly. Perhaps they truly were in bad shape, more so than he'd been able to detect.

Something stuck out in the distance, discovered at their approach to be a sign. Their next destination was two miles away, a trudge that he felt would take forever. Hands in his pockets, he muttered under his breath, wishing himself light enough to walk the snow's surface. He was a skeleton, dang it. This just wasn't fair. He snapped at them to slow down, but only the canine would acknowledge him, though Oro's soul twinged with guilt. How wonderful. How grand. He'd made everyone hate him in the span of three whole seconds.

Crap. His feet were seriously cold.