Chapter Thirteen

The First Kill

The next day when Shadow went to work there were police cars everywhere. Walking up to the door Shadow saw a pile of dust. She was shocked by the scene in front of her. She rushed past the police officers and burst through the doors of the restaurant.

"Grillby!"

"I know…" Was his only response.

"Who died?"

"I don't know, I'm guessing it was one of the homeless monsters that wander around here at night", Grillby responded.

Shadow didn't say anything else, she just numbly nodded at him and started getting ready for work.

"Shadow?"

"Yeah, boss?"

"Go home, we're closed today. After something like this I don't think many monsters want to leave the house." Grillby told her.

Shadow nodded at him and walked back out the door and straight to where a certain snow-haired man lived. It was a long walk, an hour long walk actually. Shadow didn't have her car, Papyrus was still borrowing it. Shadow was bumping into people on the sidewalk and looked so broken and empty. She felt like her dog was ran over. It didn't matter that she didn't know this monster. The fact that some human went and killed a monster after her speech yesterday killed her. After a while, she finally ended up at the door. She noticed that her car was gone meaning that Papyrus was at school. She then rang the doorbell only to get no reply. She frowned at that and turned around to lean on the door. After a while of waiting she slowly slid down it. Her break down finally reached her eyes as tears started rolling down her face. Soon enough she was balling.

A pair of pink slippers came into view after what felt like hours, which seeing the sun brightly in the sky told Shadow it was probably already noon. She let her eyes stare into San's eyes. Tearful ruby red eyes met black eyes with white pupils. He slowly knelt down in front of her.

"You didn't answer your phone, you weren't at your house, you really scared me", Sans said to her cupping her face and wiping away a few tears.

Shadow pulled out her phone and stared at the missed calls and all the messages from a terrified Sans. Her face didn't change she just let her eyes fall back onto his. SHe looked so sad and empty.

"Grillby told me what happened this morning. I figured it wasn't going to sit well with you but walking all the way here from Grillby's… that's a long walk, Shad."

"I know", her raspy voice responded. He could tell she was dehydrated by the sound of her voice. She sounded absolutely awful.

Sans picked her up and opened his door. What should have been hard was easy with Sans using his magic to open up the door. He brought her upstairs and into his room.

"Get some rest you look exhausted, you'll feel better after some shut eye", Sans told her.

She reached her arm out to him, "Don't leave me please?"

Sans sighed and crawled into his bed next to her. They both laid there for a time but soon enough Sans wrapped his arms around her waist. Sans wasn't really tired and after thirty minutes of laying there he realized neither was Shadow.

"Do you want water?"

Shadow nodded in response.

"Alright let's get you some water", Sans got up and held his hand for her to grab.

She grabbed his hand and he started leading her out of the room. Sans raised an eyebrow when she refused to let go of his hand but left it alone when he saw the look on her face. She still looked so fragile, it was surprising how much a death of a stranger affected her. Soon the two were down the stairs and in the kitchen getting water. Sans and Shadow then sat on the couch and talked for a while, and by talk I mean listen to her tell Sans about how she felt about the situation.

"After that mob yesterday I thought I fixed everything. Why did someone die anyway?"

"Shad, people kill each other all the time, it could have been for many reasons, not purely because they were a monster", Sans responded with a gentle voice.

"I know that…" Shadow sighed, "I just thought no one was going to have to die this time."

"This time?" Sans questioned.

"Huh, I dunno why I said that. There wasn't a last time right? I dunno it feels like the Markus thing all over again."

Sans nodded and started to wonder if that game had any fact to it, other than basic stuff. Was there a distortion in the timeline? And was Shadow causing it? Sans frowned a bit at her after a while, "Do you think the game has any truth to it?"

"You're talking about the timelines right?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Maybe, if so though why don't we remember? We just have these feelings like things have happened before but we can't quite figure what it was", Shadow frowned.

"Maybe something really terrible happened that it's best if we don't remember it?"

"Maybe", Shadow seemed to come back to life a little.

"SANS! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS HOME!" A loud voice shouted as the door opened.

"Heya Paps, have a good day at school", Sans asked walking out of the kitchen with Shadow close behind. "WHY YES BUT EVERYDAY IS MAGNIFICENT WITH THE GREAT PAPYRUS AROUND!"

"Hey Paps." Shadow waved.

"OH HUMAN SHADOW! IT IS NICE TO SEE YOU, ARE YOU HERE ABOUT YOUR CAR?"

"Although I'd like it back, just let me know when your car is out of the shop, okay?" Shadow smiled, "I'm actually here to see Sans."

"AHHH I SEE, I WILL MAKE SURE TO LET YOU KNOW ABOUT THE CAR AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. WHY DID YOU WANNA SEE MY LAZY BROTHER THOUGH?" Papyrus asked.

"Because I enjoy his company." Sans blushed a little when she said that.

"Heh, you too Shad", Sans replied.

This time it was Shadow's turn to blush as she stared at the man in front of her. The two held each other's gazes for a bit before turning away. This didn't go unnoticed but Papyrus.

"WHY WERE YOU STARING AT EACH OTHER?"

"Uh… I like his face?" Shadow responded with a blush.

"WHAT ABOUT HIS FACE DID YOU LIKE SHADOW?", Papyrus started to smirk which made Shadow think he wasn't as clueless as he was letting on.

"I'm not going to grace that with a response Paps", Shadow frowned.

"DARN SO CLOSE!"

"Close to what bro?"

"NOTHING!" With that Papyrus ran up to his room and slammed the door shut.

Shadow and Sans looked at each other and knew what Papyrus was hinting at. After a moment they both started to blush, "You like my face huh?"

"Liking your face has nothing to do with the matter at hand you know."

Sans smirked a little, "Sure Shad, I'll believe that for now, but even though you're not a skeleton I can see right through you."

Shadow frowned when he used her own joke against her, but soon got back on topic, "What do you think these feelings mean?"

"What the ones you have for me?" Sans winked.

"No, the ones that give us bad feelings", Shadow brushed him off to get back on topic, "Like at the mob I felt like something bad was going to happen to you so I gave that speech to calm everyone down. I was really surprised when it worked. People were apologizing for their rudeness. It was strange as if we changed fate."

Sans paused and thought of when he found Shadow half dead on the floor, he felt like he's found her actually dead before. A flash of her hanging before him shot through his head. He held his head in his hands as he tried to wash the image away with anything he could. Puppies, kittens, Shadow's alive and well face, all of this flashed through his mind.

Shadow hurried next to him and touched his shoulder in concern, "Sans are you okay?"

"I feel like I remembered something from the past, it's pretty haunting. You can say I left you hanging." Sans joked bitterly.

Shadow didn't laugh this time. She just hugged him close to her. The two sat like that for a long while. They heard an occasional, "NYEHEHE", from upstairs but other than that it was silent as the two sat in each other's comfort.

Papyrus came down a little later, "HUMAN I THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS GOING TO COOK YOU DINNER!"

Shadow giggled a little at him, "Okay Paps, thank you!"

Papyrus happily trotted into the kitchen and got to work has Shadow and Sans sat on the couch simply enjoying the other's presence.

"Do you think things will go well now?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know Shad, maybe? Maybe not? I feel like it's better already though." Sans responded.

"I see, I hope it is better. I pray no more death has to come our way."

"I hope the same Shad", Sans put his arm around the girl and pulled her close. Shadow didn't know why but she felt immense comfort in his arms. She felt fairly contented.

"DINNER IS SERVED!" Papyrus yelled from the kitchen.

The two went in and a happier topic of school was brought up. Turns out though it wasn't too happy.

"YES, THESE FRIENDS OF MINE WERE PUSHING AND SHOVING AND CALLING ME COOL NAMES LIKE; MONSTER SCUM, AND MONSTER FAG AND SUCH. WHAT INTERESTING NAMES, RIGHT?" Papyrus explained to then rather merrily.

Shadow looked outraged at such a thing while Sans looked ready to kill. His pupils vanished just leaving an empty soulless void in his eyes. Shadow caught this and frown more. She knew he was pissed just wasn't sure what to do.

"Paps sweety, they're not your friends. They're what we humans call bullies. They don't wanna be your friend, they just want to see you upset. I'm glad you're not letting it get to you though." Shadow said putting a hand on Papyrus's shoulder.

"THEY'RE NOT? WHAT DOES FAG AND SCUM MEAN THEN?" Papyrus asked with a confused look on his face.

Sans looked really upset but still started to explain it, "Scum is them basically calling you trash and fag is short for faggot, which is a rude term used towards gay people like Mettaton."

Papyrus nodded at him and frowned a bit, "WHAT DO I DO THEN? EVERYONE DOES IT TO ME. THE OTHER DAY WE WERE PLAY FIGHTING AND THEY ACTUALLY HURT ME A LITTLE."

"They what?" Sans said, his left eye started to glow blue.

Papyrus looked a little scared and his words came out shaky and quiet, "Th-they hurt me…"

"We're going down to the school tomorrow and I'm going to have a word with the principal. If they're not careful you could actually die! This is unacceptable!" Sans fumed.

Shadow touched his arm only to have his harsh glare turned on her. She cringed away immediately after that. Sans' pupils returned and his gaze softened, "Sorry Shad."

She shook her head telling him she understood and not to worry. Soon after this dinner ended. Papyrus went back to his room and Sans teleported Shadow home.

"Let me know how it goes tomorrow okay?" Shadow said.

"Actually, I'm telling Grillby that you'll be at work late tomorrow. I need to you come with, you'll stop me from getting out of hand." Sans said with a frown on his usually smirking face.

"Okay Sans, tell him I'll be in by twelve." Sans nodded at her and vanished. Soon enough Shadow turned in for the night with worries about what tomorrow would bring.