My flames grew bright and menacing. I wasn't about to let them threaten my friend. Especially not a kid. My shield formed on my arm and in my other hand appeared my staff with an added point at one end. The dog that'd just attacked me hesitated, but jumped again, teeth shown. I moved away and whacked him with the blunt side of my staff. He went down, but grabbed a hold of my leg and sunk his teeth in. I flinched, turning the open hand with my shield to him. "Fire Blitz!" A single ball shot from my palm, splitting and showering him in sparks.
The dog let go and yelped away.
He was quickly replaced with the bird. A sharp ended snowflake danced between her feathers before shooting from her wing and pinning into my shoulder. It melted and I yelled from the sudden pain. My health gave a steep drop, but I was okay. I aimed at her and again shot a Fire Blitz. It exploded and sent sparks scattering, melting the snow around her.
She growled, stomping a foot and sending a line of ice spears up at me.
I once again easily moved out of the way. One more Fire Blitz and she went running off into the trees.
From my side came the leader again, his fur singed from my earlier attack. He grabbed a hold of me and threw me to the ground. The snow burned on contact but I kept back any pained noises as I struggled to push him off of me. His teeth snapped in my face and again his knife appeared.
Something zoomed past, knocking the knife away. I turned to the weapon and flinched seeing the bone jutting out of the snow.
"Stupid kid!" The dog on me jumped off and was running on all fours toward Sans.
"Sans!" I scrambled to my feet, stumbling after the dog. If I fired an attack then I risked missing and hitting the skeleton. Any attacks I had were all projectiles. I had nothing to bring from the ground to protect him.
Behind me the other dog was on my heels and quickly on top of me. My face hit the snow, steaming on contact. My flames reacted, burning bright and sprouting up. I could feel them feeding on the hound's fur and he yelped, jumping off. As I moved to look at Sans a spear jammed into the snow beside where my head had been. Fear jumped up through my soul. He could have dusted me with that.
Knowing I was fighting for my life, I turned on my side and let loose. Fire shot forth and consumed the dog. He yelped and yipped and ran back toward the trees. I spotted the kids standing back there, wide eyed. They hadn't expected this kind of fight either. Ignoring that I started back to Sans.
The skeleton was hiding himself between the two ice spears still sticking out of the ground. He was slipping around in the snow and narrowly missing the snapping jaws of the dog. One crack of teeth and a strip of his shirt tore away.
I threw myself onto the dog with the ripped half of Sans's shirt still in his mouth. He barked and cursed at me. I sent my flames burning down his shoulder. The smell of burning hair was echoed by howls of pain. The dog sat up and pushed onto his haunches. I stayed on his back and continued to burn him in any way I could.
The dog stumbled, reaching back and grabbing me, throwing me to the snow again. He huffed and reached down gripping the remains of my jacket and picking me up. For a dog he was strong. He lifted me up so my feet didn't touch the ground. "It's about time someone puts this fire out!" I realized we were dangerously close to the river then. My soul flickered. I began kicking at him, fighting to get him to drop me. My flames didn't so much as faze him now. I'd already used my Inferno on the other dog so I lacked the energy to pull anymore power.
Behind the dog I saw a bright flash. Blue. I knew what it was. Off by the trees I heard the two kids scream and run. Their last run-in with the skull had them terrified of it.
"Put. Him. Down."
I flinched. The voice was deep. Angry. I was only just able to see the smaller skeleton standing behind the dog. I couldn't see his face past the dog's shoulder though.
The dog was stiff as well as he began to turn around.
My body chilled as the dog turned more and I was able to see. Sans's eye was burning. Light feeding up to the skull beside him. Both of the blaster's eyes were lit. It was scowling, angry as well. It's bones were ridged along the muzzle as it snarled. The one thing that caught me the most was the size. The blaster was huge. A good two and a half feet taller than the child. It floated beside the skeleton near his head, towering up. Light glimmered inside its mouth.
I used the situation to pry the dog's paws off my jacket and step away.
Sans watched me without moving his head. When I was out of harm's way, his blue eye flickered back to the dog. The glow within the skull grew.
My soul jumped. "Sans!" I called.
He looked my way once more.
I tried to speak but my voice caught. All I could do was shake my head.
His expression turned sour and he quickly glared back at the dog.
The blaster hummed and shot.
A huge chunk of ground ripped away from the edge of the river, but the dog still stood, tail between his shaking legs. Jaw dropped and eyes huge.
Sans lowered his raised hand, the Gaster Blaster cooling down but still growling. "Get outta here," he muttered.
The dog kept shaking.
"Ya deaf? Get the FUCK OUTTA HERE!" He waved a hand and the blaster let loose another shot past the dog's head.
With a loud yelp, he ran off on four legs.
I hesitated to move. I waited and let the blaster slowly calm down and fade away. "Sans…? Are… a-are you alright?" I took some steps closer to him, reaching a hand out.
He didn't answer, but looked my way, eyes dark.
"Sans?"
"Ah'm fine."
"You… sure?" I came closer and let my outstretched hand touch his shoulder.
He blinked and those white pupils were back. "Yeah. Are you… Yer okay, right?"
Realizing I still looked a mess with my ripped up jacket, I let my soul flicker so I could check my health. I felt fine and I knew I had a lot of HP. A little under halfway… I was okay for now. "Nothing a snack won't fix. You hungry?" The other didn't look comfortable. Actually he almost looked sick. If he could throw up, I'd of thought he would of already. "You sure you're okay? They didn't hurt you did they?"
"No- no. Ya taught me ta dodge pretty good… Thanks, Grillbz." He was shaking. "You… protected me. You… Thank you."
"And you saved my life, Sans." I knelt down and pulled the skele in for a hug. "I owe my life to you, kiddo."
"Awe, don't say all that. Ah just scared off uh pooch is all…" He was still shivering and finally accepted my embrace with one of his own. "Ah wanna go home."
I picked up the child, letting him hold tight to me. "Okay. We'll go home." I started back toward Snowdin. "You never answered me. You hungry?"
He nodded.
"Okay. I'll whip something up when we get back." As I walked I kept my grip on him firm. I hadn't expected training with him to become useful like that. I'd only wanted to help him control the power he had. I was happy to see he hadn't hurt that dog monster. His power didn't have control over him. "You know, I'm really proud of you."
"Why," he muttered into my shoulder.
"You held back back there. I really thought you were going to dust that guy."
"Ah didn't want… He was gonna ta hurt ya. Ah didn't want ta see that." The skeleton's hug tightened. "Yer mah only friend."
My soul flickered.
We reached his home and I opened the door. Instead of going straight to the kitchen like I'd wanted to, I sat the two of us down on the couch. "You've really grown on me, kid. You know that, right?"
He didn't answer.
"You were really brave today. To stand up to that dog like that." I pat his back. "I don't even think my other friends would've done that for me. They'd of gone to get help, yeah, but to help me themselves?" I laughed. "Really I don't think they could've scared him off like that." When there was still no reply from the skele, I pulled him off my shoulder to sit on my lap. "You okay?" I asked for the billionth time.
He wiped his eye with his hand. "Just… still scared," the boy muttered sheepishly.
"It's okay to be scared. Scared is good." I grinned again. "Being brave means doing something even if you're scared. You did awesome and you saved my life. That makes you my hero."
Sans face turned a deep shade of blue.
I laughed again. Sitting down for a minute now, I felt how exhausted I was. "Okay… so food is important and all, but I think I need a nap."
Still flustered, the smaller skeleton agreed. He plopped back down onto my chest, snuggling into my torn up jacket. "Ah could sleep fer uh week."
"I bet you could even if we didn't train today."
"Yer right."
Neither of us spoke then, and soon, Sans was asleep. I was too comfortable to move and eventually doze off myself.