Chapter 11: SEG_FAULT.
Next morning, team RWBYS went to town to look for White Fang tracks. Ruby and Weiss searched the alleyways and dust shops that were robbed for clues while Yang Blake, and Sans went to Junior's club. Well, Yang and Blake were the ones who came there on Yang's motorbike. Sans never rode with them to the bar, but promised to be there.
"Welp, this is the place." Yang announced as they got off the bike.
"Are you sure that we will get some information here?" Blake asked.
"I'm pretty sure that we might." Yang said.
"how sure exactly?" Sans suddenly asked, startling the two.
"I always forget about your teleportation ability." Yang commented.
"eh." Sans shrugged.
"So, do you think they'll help us?" The cat faunus asked.
"Oh, they will. I'll make sure of that." The blond brute answered.
The brawler then went to the door and cocked her right arm back, only for it to be grabbed by Sans. Yang then looked at the blue jacket boy confusedly.
"Uhhhh,... Sans? What is it?" The blond asked.
"can we not go in gun blazing, or maybe,... Fist Blazing in your case? i think this is one of my favorite spots in Vale, and i hate to mess it up." Sans answered.
"I agree with Sans on this, Yang. We shouldn't go beating up people and threatening them for info." The black haired girl stated.
"Well, what do you propose we do? Ask them nicely? Yeah, right. These guys only respect you when you have the upper hand." Yang told them, causing Sans to give them a low chuckle.
"Is there something funny?" Blake asked him.
"you'd be surprised. take a look." Sans said.
He then opened the door to reveal something that surprised the two girls, especially Yang. She expected a rowdy, loud atmosphere but she was greeted by a calm and almost warm one. Inside of the bar, the loud bass music was replaced by a chill tune, the dancing crowd was replaced by a few groups of people who were either eating or just sitting there and playing cards.
"It's,... It's,..." Yang muttered.
"different, eh? come on, let's get ourselves something." The skull masked boy told her.
They then went to the bartender and sat on a chair close to him. Despite the chill atmosphere there, most of the bouncers were quite wary of Yang, mostly the twin sisters, Melanie and Miltia. After the little 'incident', none of them wants her here.
"calm down, guys. they're with me." Sans told everyone and most people went back to their business.
"You know she trashed this place right?" Melanie asked.
"And us with it." Miltia added.
"Ya got beef with me!?" Yang challenged.
"that's exactly why i'm here. to make sure that no harm will be done to both Parties." The blue hood reassured them and they walked away. He then turned to the bartender and ordered.
"i'll have a beef burger, please. and,... is Junior here? i'd like to have a few words with him."
"Get me a strawberry sundae too." The brawler told him.
"a Berry good choice Yang." Sans punned.
"Heheh, icy what ya did there." Yang punned back.
"Coming right up. And no, Sans he is not here. But, he is coming back really soon, so you must wait for a while." The bartender informed them.
The man then turned to the kitchen and told them to make the burger as he made the sundae. The moment he was done with the sundae, he passed it to Yang, who took it and turned to Blake and started talking to her. The bartender turned to Sans after that and asked.
"Sans, may I ask why you are here? And why is she with you?"
"well, as you can see, i'm not here for a Deal. i'm here for some info." The masked boy said.
"I see. Ah! Your burger is ready." The bartender said as he then turned around to get the burger and passed it to him.
Sans took his mask off and bit down his burger when the bartender passed him a cup of strange alcohol. The blue hood sniffed the drink as Yang gave the man a wary look.
"You know we are not old enough for that, right?" She asked the bartender.
"Technically, we are not old enough for that stuff. Sans is 22 years old, so he is of legal age." Blake stated.
"Oh,..."
Sans took a sip and immediately widened his smile. It tasted exactly like Grillby's wine. Oh, he loved the taste of home.
"taste like home." Sans stated
"Sorry if it does not smell the same, Sans." The bartender apologized.
"s'okay. mine is Homemade, remember?" Sans punned as the man took pride in that.
"I'm glad you liked it."
TIMESKIP
Junior finally came back to this place and got into his club, only to see his friendly comedian and a certain scary blond. Junior suddenly tensed his body.
"B-Blondie, you came back." He stuttered.
"sup, Junior." Sans greeted.
"Hello, Sans." Junior returned the gesture but was still looking at the brawler.
"i need information, and i think you might have them." Sans stated.
"How did you two even know each other?" Yang asked.
"let's just say through some business." The blue hood answered.
"You two gotta be pretty close to be able to convince him to change the whole bar." Blake stated.
"Indeed." Junior stated as he turned his attention back to Sans.
"So, what do you need, my friend?"
'Friend?' Yang thought to herself.
"the White Fang has been Bananas, recently. do you know where they might be?" The masked boy asked.
The club owner shifted his gaze to the brawler before answering.
"There have been reports of White Fang robbing dust recently. A-And huge SDC dust containers are being shipped to the docks." The man said.
"How huge?" Blake asked.
"VERY huge." The club owner told her.
"How can we trust you?" Yang asked warily.
"Look, sir. I'm not not dumb enough to lie to you, and especially in front of Sans. The guy is a lie detector, ask him if I'm lying." Junior told her.
"he's not lying. come on, we have places to be." Sans stated as he paid for the food before leaving.
As they walked outside, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons. Both Yang and Blake were confused about Sans's device.
"Ruby? it's sans. i found a lead. meet me at the docks in 30 minutes." The blue hooded boy said through the phone.
"Uhhh,... Sans?" Yang called out to him.
"yea?" Sans looked at the blond.
"Why are you holding a brick phone? Just curious, cus no one used that in like 40 or so years." The brawler asked.
"well, since the monsters were Grounded, we don't really focus on anything other than soul techs and how to break the barrier." The former skeleton told her.
"Ooookay then,... Let's get going. Are you going to teleport this time, or I what?" The blond asked him.
"I'm taking the blaster." The masked boy said as he summoned a gaster blaster and jumped on it.
"RACE TO THE DOCKS!" Yang yelled.
"sure." Sans replied.
TIMESKIP
The team were at the docks and, surprisingly, Penny was there too. They all waited for a long time before a few White Fang members were recognised.
"is that them?" Sans asked.
"That's them." Blake stated.
After that, what caught their attention was a man in a familiar bowler hat. Roman Torchwick. Blake looked at the criminal with wide eyes. When she was about to jump down to get her answers, Sans used his telekinesis to hold her back.
"What is it!?" The cat faunus whispered loudly.
"Don't be rash, Blake. We need a plan." Ruby told her.
"Are we just gonna do nothing, or what?" Yang asked impatiently.
"no, we gotta think of a plan before jumping into action. i think we should- where's Blake?" Sans looked around to find the missing cat faunus before turning his eyes to the group of White Fang.
There stood Blake, with her blade against Roman's throat. The blue hooded boy sighed as he turned to the group, only to realise that they went into the fight along her side.
"what did the cat drag me into?" Sans whined.
"Penny, please stay here and don't run off to do something, okay?" The masked boy pleaded.
"Sure!" Penny answered immediately.
Sans was about to get into the fight when he felt a strange presence. He looked to his right to see an odd, twisted version of his skeleton self. The skeleton had a blue, broken left eye and a red, melting right eye. He was wearing a white jacket and sweater with black pants and a pair of bloody slippers. The most noticeable thing about him was a slash across his body and blood constantly dripping on his red scarf. One that looked just like Sans's.
"what the heck?" The blue hood asked no one.
"C̴̠̯͇̔-̸̢͠C̶͍̺̊͋a̶͎̤͋̅ņ̶͗ ̸͖͂̇͝ŷ̴̲͓͑o̸̖͑͛̈́ű̷̺̋͜ ̷̞͋h̵͍̜̃è̷͇ľ̶̘̲̔̈p̵̺̦̘̋͂̋ ̷̣̃͆̈́m̷̬͈̐͒̃ȩ̷̲͊͝?"The skeleton asked as he fell to his knees.
"Are you okay? Do you need-" The ginger was blocked by Sans's left arm.
"be careful, i don't have a good feeling about this guy." The skull masked boy stated.
Penny then looked at the skeleton hesitantly. She wanted to help the man,... Monster,... Skeleton but all of her senses were telling her not to. Nevertheless, she ignored them and ran to help the guy.
"Penny, wait!" Sans called out to her as she ran at the skeleton.
"Are you alright? What happened? H-How do I help?" She kneeled down next to him to check his wounds, only for Sans to teleport her behind him.
"y̶͓͍̹͛ò̸̳̹̹̚ư̶̱̹̐,̴̮̄̇̒.̶̣̀.̵̻͚͔̍̚.̶͓̼̐ ̴̜͙͇̍́̂h̸͉̋̍̍a̷͖̣͖̓v̵̯̌͂e̸͍̼̓ ̸̬̫̅a̷̹͋ ̶͚̙̆̆̋f̶̮̟̃͗͠e̷̙̻̒̑̓w̵̛̙͐ ̸̱̪̳͌́p̵͇͇̺͌̕ȃ̴̠̻̺̓͌r̸͉̦̹̊t̵̼̝͑̈s̴͈̫̭̄͘ ̵̭̹̄͜o̷̩͘͝f̴̨͈́͋̓ ̷͇́̚P̵̭̽̂a̸̭̚p̴̳̳̠̓͛̏y̵͖̐r̷̘̺̊u̷̖͚̦̐̈́s̸̱̳̈́̃ͅ'̶̢̝͝s̸̛͔͈̓ ̸̝̗̗̊c̶̳̺͛̊̔ó̷͇͑d̷͙̔̎ḙ̶̒.̵̯̗̅̂ͅ ̶̩̀h̶̨͓͓̎̉͝e̸̞̎̿̀ḣ̷̹ę̸̫̗̍̕ḩ̷̧̀e̷̩̖̔̕ͅh̵̡̳̒ͅẻ̷̻̙͈̀h̷͔͇̹͊̓͠e̷̘̼͠!̸̙̤̏̆͜ ̶̲̿̾͒A̸̪̗͓͂͝H̵͎̄͊̍A̸̩͌͆H̸͇̲̜̀Ḁ̵̳͌͒̂H̶͛̚ͅA̴̢͍͝H̸͈̼̥̍A̴̮̼̎̇Ḩ̴͉̤̒̀Ä̸̧̜͚́͌H̶̹̑̑̑Ą̷̟͗͒͊H̵͈͠Ȃ̸̳͠͠H̵̗̽͆Ȧ̵̬̆̀H̸͇͓̒͜A̴̫̯̾̀H̵͕́͜Ä̵̺̳́͜H̶̛̝̬Â̸̰̖̞H̴̬̰͋̾̄Ã̴̗̠̥H̴̭̹̐̈̚͜Ạ̵̑̕H̵̞͎͕̄͠A̵̰̲̥̓H̵͖̖͇̃A̵̠̫̳̓!̷̲̾͜ ̷̟̹̇́̽j̶̢̣͘ů̸̩̣͆̕s̵̜͂̅͠t̸̨͂̋ ̷̬͇̇̄ẅ̶̖̲́̚h̴̡̛̳̏͐â̶̧̻̯̄t̴̳͂͆͗ ̵͈̜͕̓i̶̬̎͂̆ ̶̨̞̠̊͠n̴̹̈́͑͝ê̸͈̌̓e̷͙̽̅ͅḓ̴̫̐͆͛!" The skeleton cackled madly and turned it into a wide, menacing grin.
The wounded monster then stood up and pulled his blood out as it turned right into strings as sharp bones and 3 twisted Gaster Blasters appeared behind him. Sans summoned a bone wall and a bunch of blasters as Penny's blade came out of her back. They all then got themselves into fighting stances as they prepared to battle.
In a blink of an eye, the glitchy blaster shot at the two. Sans blocked it with his wall of bones and Penny's swords spun in circles and shot a beam of green ray at the abomination.
The strange monster just teleported to his left to dodge the beam as he launched a storm of bones at them. The masked boy held onto Penny's shoulder and teleported both of them onto a house behind the monster to dodge the bones and he used 'Justice' along with 'Bravery' on the blasters. He then shot all of the blasters down upon the strange skeleton.
The skeleton simply wrapped himself in a ball of bones. The hit destroyed the whole street, sending broken shards everywhere. After a while, Sans stopped shooting and tried 'Perseverance' to find the corrupted skeleton.
*PING*
Fatal Error
Lv •~_@
ATK 900
DEF 1025
*A fatal error.
*He needs Penny's code.
Sans finally located Fatal in the air in the middle of his blasters. The masked boy then aimed all of his blasters at the skeleton, but the red strings were faster. It caught all of the blasters as Fatal Error pulled his arms in an X-formation before he swung them down like a mace.
Sans dodged to the left as Penny jumped to the right. The ginger spun her swords to cut the strings, only to find it uncuttable. Fatal landed a few meters in front of the living doll and launched the red strings at her. Penny was teleported behind Sans again before the strings even touched her. Fatal Error turned to the right, only to meet a blaster hit in the face.
The corrupted skeleton flew backwards, his back cracked the wall behind him and received a pile of bones coming from the ground and hit him through the wall. Fatal just stood up and shrugged it off like it was nothing. He then went out of the building and walked towards the two.
Penny used her swords as a plasma cannon and shot a large plasma beam at the monster, only for him to dodge to the right. Right on cue, Sans summoned a bunch of bones from the ground. Before the bones could even come up from the ground, the corrupted skeleton teleported upwards. The masked boy looked up, only to find thousands of bones covering the broken moon above him.
Team RWBY's location.
Team RWBY sighed in frustration as the Bullheads saved Torchwick. They were tired from the fight but that doesn't mean they will let them get away. Ruby jumped onto her blaster to chase after the bullhead but realized that it was suddenly darker.
"RUBY! WATCH OUT!" Weiss called out to her.
Ruby looked up to see thousands of sharp, crimson bones falling down from the sky. Weiss summoned her glyphs to protect herself from the bones. Ruby summoned 2 blasters to protect Yang and Blake and another to protect herself. Something told her that getting hit by one of those bones.
Back to Sans and Penny.
Sans was using one of his blasters to protect himself and Penny from the bones. There were so many bones that Sans had to use 'Integrity' to push most of them away from the blasters. The former skeleton then felt a sharp pain in his back as he coughed blood out of his mouth. He turned around to see a crimson bone stuck in his left side and the corrupted skeleton holding it with his left hand.
"NOOOO!" Penny yelled.
The red strings from Fatal's right hand then wrapped around Sans's torso and threw him straight through a building to his left. Penny came at the monster with a yell but she stopped and realized that her blades weren't following her orders. The mechanical girl then turned around to see red strings were holding her blades, not letting them go.
The ginger turned her attention back to the monster and saw him lift her up with his left hand. Penny then felt a sharp pain going through her body. Whatever he was doing, it hurts. She tried to struggle but her body wasn't following her orders anymore. Fatal let Penny go as her body limped to the ground.
Sans's POV
'damn! i can't seem to forget what getting hit by determination feels like!' Sans thought as he slowly stood up and he used 'Kindness' to heal himself.
'gotta get back to the fight.' Sans thought to no one but himself.
The blue hood walked out of the broken building and saw Fatal Error standing on Penny's limped body. Rage filled Sans in mere seconds. He was ready to rip that thing into shreds. Before he could act, a beam of light shot straight at the strange monster.
Error was the one who shot the abomination with his blaster. Fatal Error stood up, only to receive a giant ink bone hitting him in the back. Right on cue, Error used his strings to wrap around the monster and threw him to the ground. An Ink Blaster then hit Fatal from above.
"A̶̯̠̬͓͗̌͆͘̚n̴͚̱͛̏̓̕n̷̡̛̲̥͉̎̋͂̽ǒ̷̜̹̅ỵ̷̧̛̳͉̳͘ḯ̸̞͠ņ̸̞͙̝͒͛͠g̷̫͉̣͌̓͋ ̶̗͎̭̋̌̀͝p̷̨͍͓̍e̷̮̍̎̑ṣ̵̛̂̾̿t̴͖͓͚̠́!̷̱̇̕͜͠" The skeleton growled.
Bones suddenly embedded into his back as gravity felt much heavier. Sans used more power from 'Integrity' to squish the skeleton. Error and Ink helped by dropping more bones upon the abomination. The monster fell into some sort of portal and it closed them off immediately.
The blue hood then ran to Penny and held her head up. He shook her a bit but there was no response.
"Penny? Penny, get up!" The masked boy yelled.
"She's gone. Her soul was broken from the inside." Ink told him.
Sans used *CHECK* but there was nothing to check. Team RWBY saw Sans on his knees along with Ink and Error next to Penny, who was unresponsive. They rushed at them and started bombarding them with questions, but Sans ignored all of them. Suddenly, a memory flashed through Sans's head.
8 years ago.
There lay a girl in front of him. A girl in a light blue dress soaked in blood. In her right hand lay a familiar toy knife, much like Penny's. Sans held her pink bow with his left hand as he used his right hand to lift her head up.
"Why,... Sans? I-I thought we were... Friends." She asked.
"i'm sorry. this is for the sake of every monster in the underground." Sans stated as tears fell out of his sockets.
"B-But, you... Promised… To take me home." The girl continued.
"i know… Penny *sob* i know... " Sans started sobbing as he hugged her tighter, not caring of the fact that blood soaked his clothes.
He was her first friend. And he had to stab her in the back. This turned him into her last.
"Sans? Ughhh... Can you *cough* get this... To my dad?" Penny asked him as she gave him her pink bow.
"yeah,... yeah *sob* i will." The skeleton told her.
Back to the present.
Sans tightened his grip on the bow as he pulled the soul of Patience out of his body. The former skeleton used his magic to hold the soul together in one piece and gave it to the mechanical girl.
Slowly but surely, Penny sat up. She looked at herself confusingly as memories flooded her.
"Penny?" Ruby asked between her tears.
"I'm,... Alive. I remember now. I remember everything!" Penny cheered.
"i promised to get you home, didn't i?" Sans stated.
"Sans? How are you-" Penny struggled with her words.
"In the flesh? well, you can say that but i still am a Bone in your side." Sans punned, causing everybody (except for Yang and Penny) to groan.
"Saaaaaaans! Our happy moment!" Ruby puffed her cheeks.
"heh, whaaat? just Jugular-ing with words." Sans punned again.
"I'm happy we are alive in one piece at least." Ink told them.
"FREEZE! HANDS IN THE AIR!" One of the police yelled in the distance.
"Damn It." Blake cursed.
"Fuck." Error swore.
"Language!" Weiss hissed at him.
Error, Ink and Sans looked at each other and the same thing crossed their minds.
*Ditch*
The three teleported to their room and let the rest of the heat. Not the kindest move, but the wisest for none of them had any facial recognition and it would be Sketchy.
Heh, Sketchy.
Sorry if this took too long. It was over 3000 words so I'd say it's worth it. Btw, the chapter name was based on Fatal Error's theme by Nyxtheshield.