Level -4
"He's almost here, Sans!"
Sans almost startled himself down into the snow when Papyrus eagerly whispered over to him. He had forgotten that he was outside yet again with his older brother, who for the moment was finishing his new snowman by the house. Sans' old rock was replaced with a sad, bigger lump, but Sans got out of Papyrus' rant by saying it was a goo monster.
"Huh?" Sans blinked, remembering what Papyrus said before nodding his head. "Oh yeah, right."
"Daydreaming?" Papyrus asked, poking his head out from behind his snowman. While Papyrus admittedly had no idea what their King looked like, the sculpture that he ended up creating resembled that of his snow warrior, just bigger and with more muscle.
He eyed his brother, who leaned himself on the side of their house. "I bet you're imaging the eventual meeting we'll have, right?"
"Er, sort of." Sans' frowned, his skull digging into his winter jacket.
Since Papyrus' was ripped he wore a spare jacket Gaster had lying around for him, composed of bright, ridiculous colors they found in the dump a few weeks ago. "What if the King is mean? Or what if he expects something out of us?"
"Uncle Gaster said he was kind to all his subjects." Papyrus calmly replied, crouching down to pick up some more snow only to pack it onto the back of his sculpture. "I bet he's super nice and friendly!"
"I hope so." Sans replied, taking a moment to stare at his snow-ridden boots before back up at his brother.
Sans shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other, trying to calm his frantic thinking. This was the first time they were going to meet the King, their King. The one who governed over them, the one who had absolute law and say in what would transpire over the kingdom. What species was he? Was he short or tall? Fat or skinny? Did he come here voluntarily, or did he have plans for the two of them?
Sans' fingers tightened when he started picturing scenarios in his skull, ones where Papyrus and him were dragged off and forced into the Royal Guard, or used as lab rats for horrible experiments.
"Sans!" Sans was pulled from his thoughts when Papyrus suddenly ran out from behind his snow man. "I think that's him!"
"Really?" Sans gasped, suddenly afraid to leave the side of the house he hid behind.
Papyrus noticed him flinch backwards and snatched his hand, pulling him out before he could hide. "Sans, this is no time for hide and seek!"
Being dragged out into the snow, Sans felt like he was standing outside naked. He became aware of the figure that slowly trudged through the snow, growing taller as each step brought him closer to their abode. Papyrus allowed his jaw to drop open in surprise and excitement, while Sans couldn't figure out if he was amazed or terrified.
The figure before them was no skeleton; he was a large and proud humanoid goat monster. His fur was as white as the snow that crunched beneath his bare feet, his hands free of any gloves as his fur was insulated enough to keep him warm. A large, dark purple cloak was draped around his form to conceal his body from the two children, as well as to keep the biting air away from his center. A golden necklace hung from his neck which bared the Delta Rune, their emblem.
A pair of long horns curled upwards from the King's head, where a simple, golden crown took residence that symbolized his authority. Two long ears drooped off the side of the King's head, and long, blonde hair fell down his back neck, sides and came together at the front of his face for a magnificent beard. But the eyes said all that Sans needed to know about who this King was.
Though tall as he was, his eyes were easy to see and told a story. They were wise and regretful, happy and sad, but most of all, they were content. The eyes of a ruler and yet….Sans couldn't help but see something else when the King stopped before the two.
They were lined with guilt.
Sadly the King sprouted a warm smile. "Howdy. Are you two having fun in the snow?" His voice was deep and slow like gravel, yet it also couldn't have been softer in its tone.
"Are you the King?" Papyrus loudly whispered for some reason, which Sans took as his excitement getting to him.
The King nodded his head, then crouched down to get on one knee. One of his white, fur-lined paws outstretched from the purple cloak, awaiting for their hands. "My name is Asgore Dreemurr. It's very nice to finally meet you two."
Papyrus glanced to Sans rapidly before placing his hand into Asgore's big one for a nice handshake. Before doing so Asgore was a little surprised Papyrus started rubbing his fur, only for him to gasp and look back to his brother. "Sans, the King's fur is very soft! He is King Fluffybuns!"
King Asgore looked perplexed for a moment before he dipped into a low chuckle. "I haven't heard that name in awhile."
His hand closed tenderly around Papyrus', the King's eyes glassy as if he were remembering something long ago. When his eyes cleared over they shifted to Sans, giving him a warm embrace while outstretching his other hand. "Would you like to feel my fur too?"
Sans eyed his brother curiously, who nodded his skull so fast he wondered if it would pop off. Giving a sheepish grin, he placed his boney hand into the King's.
Suddenly Sans felt himself in a new place entirely, a room encased in ever shifting and quaking bones. He stood atop of something that jerked violently. The same softness he felt just a second ago swatted him down, causing him to fall backwards and almost hit the ground. Something rose from the bone-laden ground to catch Sans, which he realized what a wave of bones.
King Asgore staggered back to his feet, head hanging low as Sans was treated to a glimpse of what lied beyond the purple cloak. It was a set of gold armor, but more particularly his eyes gazed at the knife that embedded itself where the heart would have lied beneath the metal. With a rough jerk Asgore removed the knife from his chest plate, throwing it behind him and giving Sans his attention.
Those warm eyes from earlier were gone now, replaced with a slight hint of fear and anger. "That is enough! I won't-!"
But the rest of the sentence Asgore shouted was suddenly deaf to Sans. A loud, ringing noise encased the whole room, causing Sans to grip his skull in pain and fear.
Staring back up, Sans was horrified at the image of Asgore now. Huge, distorted blocks of white hid several parts of him, his eyes engulfed in white as his mouth moved with no clear indication of what it was saying.
There was something behind the King. Something unfamiliar. Sans tried to stare past the terrifying state of his King over to whatever was in the room, wondering if he should call out. "H-Hello?"
A brown leg stuck out from the hungry darkness that had eaten the rest of the form, topped off with a dirty and somewhat broken shoe. Sans tried to get up but found himself unable when the bones, that at first held him up, now melted and pooled beneath his form.
Sans let out a shriek of fear as he tugged on his arms to free himself, only to realize he wasn't wearing his snow jacket or anything from before. Now he wore a giant, brown T-shirt that was too many sizes too big, black pants and tennis shoes, all that looked to be in a sad and dismal state. The large, dark red spot on the shirt grabbed Sans' attention the most, to which he wondered what it was.
Sans could have stared longer at the stain, if not for the fact that he realized the King was suddenly hobbling towards him. Sans gasped and tried to push himself away, only for his hands to slip in the boney goop and hit his skull on the ground.
Desperately clinging to any safety Sans threw his hands up into the air, shutting his eye sockets and screaming. "No, get away! Don't hurt me!"
"SANS!"
Sans didn't know what was happening until he felt his boots catch something behind him. He fell backwards and into the snow, his skull tilted upwards to see the ever-same black sky before that image was replaced with Papyrus' skull.
He seemed genuinely concerned. "Sans, what's wrong?"
"H-huh?" Sans whispered, noticing that a few blue tears stained the side of his eye sockets. He feverishly wiped them away, slowly sitting up to see his house beside him and the rest of Snowdin.
Sans took a moment to blink his eye sockets, confused and still scared of what he just saw. "I…I don't know."
"Oh dear…" Sans flinched when he heard Asgore's voice, noticing the King standing just a few feet away from him. Sans instinctively leaned closer to Papyrus, a quick whine escaping his boney teeth while Papyrus continued to stare at him.
His jaw closed. "Sans, you're ok." To show him what he meant was true; Papyrus extended his hands and helped Sans up and into a hug.
Sans wasn't expecting the show of affection, but didn't deny himself the act of hugging his brother back. The door opened quickly as Gaster stepped outside, concerned for a moment until he noticed Asgore nearby. He stood up straight, hands suddenly fumbling for the door handle. "Oh, your Majesty. We-"
He let go of the doorknob, fist clenched near his jaw like he was trying to clear his nonexistent throat. "I wasn't expecting you so early."
Asgore simply smiled, stepping a foot back to allow Gaster some more space. "I left the castle earlier than I thought."
Gaster flashed a light smile back before his eyes skidded over to Sans in Papyrus' arms. A small wave of confusion passed through Gaster's skull, but when he took into account Asgore again his eye sockets dared to leap off of his head. "Sans, was that you earlier?"
"I think the King scared him." Papyrus spoke, checking on his younger brother who moved himself out of his hug.
"Maybe this is a bad time." Asgore nervously shifted his weight, eyes glancing behind him for the path back to the Waterfall. "It might be too soon."
"N-No!" Sans suddenly blurted out. Asgore and Gaster seemed to be taken aback when his voice was raised, toning it back down.
He could feel his cheekbones flush light blue. "I-I just had a weird vision, that's all. Please, we've been looking forward to this all day…"
He lifted his skull, feeling uncomfortable as he flashed a fake grin. It didn't feel right, and yet it was strangely familiar. "You know me, always thinking. I-I guess one of my daydreams finally got to me…"
Papyrus eyed Sans questionably, which meant to Sans that this conversation wasn't over but simply delayed.
Asgore nervously pulled his hands back inside his cloak. "What did you exactly see?"
The way Gaster had his eyes on Sans told the young monster that he too, was very interested to know. But the constant gaze of the two high authoritarian monsters made Sans shift back nervously. The last thing he wanted to do was relive that moment by talking about it. "It's complicated…I really don't feel like bringing it back up."
Gaster closed his jaw in a contemplative way before glancing back over to Asgore, who acted as if he just burned their house down. "Well… I really don't want to cause anymore harm. I am perfectly fine dela-"
"You heard the young monster." Gaster forced himself into the conversation, as if to push Sans and Papyrus out of the fire. "We'd be honored to have you still for dinner, your majesty."
To show a sign of peace Sans smiled sincerely to the King. Asgore kept his mouth slightly open before it relaxed into a smile, nodding his head. "Then I would be happy to stay."
"Alright!" Papyrus suddenly shouted.
Like throwing a wrench into this high-tension situation, the feelings vanished for light innocence once more. He hopped over to where King Asgore stood, puffing out his chest and throwing his arms over to where his recently completed snowman was. "In honor of your arrival, your Majesty, I, the Great Papyrus, have sculpted your likeness in all its brilliance from snow!"
He hunched his shoulders forward, voice growing weak. "That is to say if you uh, were a skeleton like us…"
"That's me?" Asgore asked, taking a moment to stare at the work of snow before down at Papyrus, who was suddenly blushing orange.
His blush worsened when Asgore chuckled, moving one hand through his cloak to tap Papyrus on the back. "Too bad I'm not a skeleton then. If I was one, then you would be spot on."
"Seriously?" Papyrus swiveled to gaze up at Asgore for a defining answer.
When the King nodded his head he nearly hopped a foot in the air, rushing back over to take Sans' hands. "Wowie! Did you hear that Sans? Not only is the Great Papyrus great at sculpting, but I'm also great at pin-pointing alternate universe counterparts!"
Proud and happy, Papyrus glanced at his snowman again. "I think I'll call it… an AUC! Nyeh heh heh!"
Sans didn't jump along with Papyrus, but he did share his same smile. This wasn't at all how he pictured first meeting with their King to have gone, in fact it was nothing he could have guessed. But while the haunting image of what he just saw still tickled his fancy, for the moment he was willing to let it go and enjoy the moment.
After another half hour of playing in the snow while Gaster and Asgore talked of something inside, the two were called in to wash up and get ready for dinner. When Papyrus saw the table decorated with plates of spaghetti he practically speed-run his way through washing his hands and flying into his seat. Sans lagged behind a bit but was thankful no odd meats lingered in their tomato sauce.
Papyrus probably would have gone head-first into his plate if Gaster didn't stop him, telling him that they needed to talk about something first. An odd looking cup sat just to the right of their plate, filled with a steamy, light-yellow liquid.
"It's Golden Flower tea." Gaster calmly responded to Sans' and Papyrus' odd stares at the brew.
The vase of golden flowers had been moved to the kitchen so that they weren't blocking the sight of Asgore, who already had the cup in his big hands. "One of my favorites, actually."
"Golden Flower tea?" Papyrus inquired, tempted to stick his finger into the brew which he eventually did. He watched the tea drip back into the cup. "So there are flowers in this?"
"No, no." Asgore half-heartedly chuckled. "Eating Golden Flowers wouldn't be too good of an idea. Or any flower, really." His smile twitched while his eyes stared off into the distance like an old memory decided to greet him once more.
"Tea is simply a concoction of hot water brewed with herbs and tea leaves. The leaves infuse the water with their taste and aroma without leaving anything harmful that the original leaf might pass onto the recipient if they decided to digest it." Gaster absent-mindedly picked up his cup, taking a sip along with Asgore.
He kept his cup in one hand, eyeing the two skelebros. "I don't expect you two to appreciate such a brew, but you're welcome to try it."
"Hmmm, leaf-juice tea…." Papyrus eyed the cup suspiciously, then decided to push it away. "Doesn't sound very good."
"That's alright." Asgore offered to take Papyrus' cup, which he gladly handed over. The King happily put the cup next to his other one. "I didn't have a bold sense of trying new things when I was your age either."
"I want to try it." Sans spoke up, grabbing the cup from the side as he didn't know how the handle really worked. The rest of the occupants at the table quizzically stared at Sans as he took a large gulp before doubling over and coughing it back into his cup. "Hot!"
"It is steaming." Gaster said dead-panned, watching as Sans shakily put it back on the little plate it came with. Even though he himself couldn't experience heat, that didn't mean his tongue couldn't.
"I-I think I'll let it cool." Sans choked, hearing the sound of silverware tapping the plate.
He looked back up to see Papyrus rather impatient, tapping his other hand on the table. He hungrily looked at his pasta before over to Gaster. "Uncle Gaster, can we eat now?"
"Not yet, Papyrus." Gaster brought out his authority tone. "I won't be able to get you to stop if I say so."
Papyrus frowned, placing his elbow on the table like an impatient child. "So what are we going to talk about then?"
"Well…" Gaster hummed, glancing over to Asgore, who seemed just as nervous. With that reassurance Gaster sighed. "There are some things we wish to tell you two. About yourself and… the Underground."
"What about them?" Sans started, a little confused on where the conversation was going.
Papyrus, however reeled back in his chair when a thought struck him, eyes solely on Sans. "What if we have super powers, Sans?"
"You're not far off." Asgore hummed, which garnered the attention of both.
Sans narrowed his eye sockets while Papyrus let out a delighted squeak. "We do have super powers?!"
"Not super powers." Gaster finished, turning their hungry attention over to him. "Remember earlier today, how those two bunny girls were able to make a giant dragon out of rock?"
"Yeah!" Papyrus chirped, his delight soon leaving him like a cold breeze. "That fall was not very fun though."
"Well, what those girls did was magic." Gaster folded his hands together, closing his eye sockets. Sans teacup was engulfed in a blue hue as it gently floated into the air. "You've seen me perform magic as well."
Setting the cup back down, Gaster opened his eye sockets again. Sans placed one of his hands on the table. "Magic isn't new to us, Uncle Gaster."
"I know it isn't." Gaster calmly replied, a smile spreading on his face. "But I bet you two didn't know that you could do it yourself, did you."
The thought pierced through Sans and Papyrus' skulls, causing them to turn to one another in shock before rapidly back at Gaster. They talked in unison. "We can?"
Gaster happily hummed. "Of course you can. All monsters are born with magic, and it is a part of our being."
"So we can do magic all this time?" Papyrus asked bewildered, suddenly interested in his hands as he threw them into the air. "Magic!"
Asgore got a light chuckle out of Papyrus flailing his arms through the air to try and disperse some of this 'magic', but Sans didn't show his enthusiasm outwardly. Inside his whole body buzzed with delight and energy, unable to help staring at his hands as well.
A grin sprouted on his boney teeth, growing at the thought of being able to do all kinds of things. Could he fly? Could he levitate or control the trees or morph his appearance?
His skull started to shift back to the horrid scene he had lived earlier, his thoughts entertaining the white bones that he saw all around that miserable room. He lightly shuddered before pushing said thoughts down inside of him, feeling guilty if he said what he was thinking and alarmed anyone again. This was a happy moment; he didn't want to ruin it with his fright.
"Magic takes a little more practice then just flailing your arms." Gaster tapped Papyrus' shoulders, gaining his attention as he set his arms back down. "But since you two are growing older, we thought it best if you two learned how to control your powers while you're still young for the betterment of your future."
"Are you going to teach us too?" Sans asked Asgore, placing his hands on his lap for the time being.
"I'm afraid we won't share the same powers." Asgore took another sip of his tea, emanating an aura of safety and calm the more Sans took in the atmosphere. "But the castle has plenty of large rooms for you two to practice in that I'm willing to offer for teaching purposes."
"Which is most generous of you, your Majesty." Gaster bowed his head in thankfulness. "Tomorrow we'll start with the basics, and when you two are showing signs of casting your magic we'll head to the Castle to practice there."
The smile Gaster proudly wore to fade away, his mood changing in tone. Sans could already feel that the next thing Gaster wanted to say wasn't a happy one. "There's something else you two should know."
Papyrus happily turned his skull up. "Yeah?"
Gaster tapped a few fingers on the table, and it was then that Sans realized Asgore matched Gaster's tone. It was Asgore who spoke first however, much to the surprise of Gaster. "There is another species out there besides ours. In fact, there's another world just above ours, a lush world filled with soft grass, strong trees, and a blue sky."
Asgore seemed melancholy as he spoke of this world, but it didn't register to either of the boys. They eagerly turned their skulls to one another, not sure of some of the words Asgore said, but the way he described this foreign land was exciting enough.
"Like above our house?" Sans absentmindedly asked. When Asgore nodded his head his thoughts turned to wild fire. He knew it! He knew there was something beyond that black abyss!
"It's above everyone's houses." Gaster poked his voice into the conversation, taking his teacup to sip its brew. "Our world is but a small fraction of theirs. It is nearly a thousand times bigger than our world."
"A thousand?!" Papyrus slammed his hands on the table, standing in his chair with awe and wonder. "That's like…"
His skull scrunched up as he lifted his hands up, counting on his fingers for a second before giving up. "Well, that's bigger than ten!"
"It's definitely bigger than ten." Gaster mused, making a mental note to one day teach Papyrus higher counting.
The simple smile on his face vanished when Papyrus bounced in his seat. "Why are we sitting here? Let's go to this world!"
Sans excitedly bopped his head as well, ready to jump out of his seat on this adventure to this other world. Forget dinner, this was way more important!
However before the two could race out of their chairs and over to the coat-hanger Gaster's sharp voice cut through them. "We can't."
Papyrus and Sans stood still in their pursuit out of the chair. Sans slowly slid back into his seat, looking up to Gaster. "Why can't we?"
"Is it because it's too late?" Papyrus chimed in, though he still held onto the back and one of the arms of the chair, ready to bolt to the door if he got the indication that they were leaving.
Asgore's tea cup clanked loudly when it was set down, causing the two skeleboys to look in his direction. His face was pained. "We are not allowed to. We're trapped down here."
"Trapped?" Sans' grin stretched uncomfortably, skull swiveling back over to Gaster, hoping he would speak up and say that wasn't true.
Papyrus also seemed genuinely confused; his hands slowly sliding him back down into his seat. "What do you mean…we're trapped?"
Gaster shifted nervously in his seat. It looked as though he was afraid to say what came next, but he gained the courage to do so anyways. "A long time ago, us Monster used to live on the surface with the other species peacefully. They became scared of our power over time and a war broke out…"
He gingerly gazed at Papyrus and Sans, who seemed more confused and upset than angry. "The other species won, and we were led down into the mountain that we still reside under to this day; Mt. Ebott."
Sans' could hear the pain in Gaster's tone, eyes glancing over to Asgore who painfully stared at his almost empty cup. His grin thinned. "Why don't we just leave then?"
"A barrier keeps us inside this mountain." Asgore suddenly spoke, almost frightening Sans. "Its magic cannot be broken by any monster magic. Only seven souls can break the seal…"
Asgore left his lips to dangle before closing them, but Sans understood that he was keeping the rest of the sentence from them. His hands gripped the table cloth while his eyes stared at the pasta though his thoughts cut straight through it. They were…trapped? There was a whole other world just above theirs but they couldn't reach it?
"Was it the humans?"
Asgore and Gaster snapped to attention at the hushed murmur. Sans was the one who spoke, his little fingers gripping the table cloth tighter. He didn't lift his skull to see what faces they made. "I've been reading books…all about humans… are they the species that trapped us here…?"
For a moment, silence heavily fogged the atmosphere. Then, Asgore's voice could be heard. "Yes. It was the humans that forced us down here."
Papyrus bit his lower jaw, staring hard at his brother before ultimately pushing his chair away from the table. He got up out of his seat, noticing Gaster open his jaw to speak. Papyrus spoke quicker. "I'm not hungry anymore, Uncle Gaster."
He walked around the table, stopping where Sans hung his skull. "Are you hungry, Sans?"
"No." Sans was quick to speak, shifting his skull to look at Papyrus. He wore a bitter-sweet smile, pulling back Sans' chair to allow him out before staring at both Gaster and Asgore.
His smile shifted to that of a happier tone. "Uh, I think we're going to head to bed early. It was very nice to meet you, your highness!"
Asgore gave a pained smile back, eyebrows falling. "We do not mean to harm you with this knowledge. But you must know what has happened."
"Yes, we're only telling you this to help prepare you for the future." Gaster quickly added, though Papyrus and Sans didn't stick along longer than they were needed. With simple goodnights the two climbed the stairs in silence before reaching their bedroom door.
Papyrus was the one to close it from behind as Sans just stopped a few feet into the room, skull still hanging down. Papyrus hesitantly moved his hand away from the doorknob, stepping over to his brother. "Hey, it's going to be ok."
"Ok?" Sans' voice rose, stamping a foot on the ground as he turned to his brother. "Things are not ok! We're trapped down here! The humans…they did this to us!"
Papyrus lifted his hands in defense, not trying to match his brother in anger. "I bet they had a good reason to."
"A good reason?" Sans snapped, his hands curling into shaking fists. He didn't know how long it had been since he felt this angry, or why. "What good reason could they have had from barring us from the rest of the world? Our world?!"
"I don't know!" Papyrus suddenly shouted, though he placed a hand to his jaw when he realized the volume of his voice.
Sans stared at him quizzically as Papyrus lowered his volume. "I don't know, but we can't get angry over this. We don't know the big picture."
"The big picture?" Sans snorted, his grin mirroring his anger. "Since when did you stop to look at the big picture?"
Papyrus clenched his hands, a little flustered at the comment. "What do you mean by that?"
Sans had to hold himself back from going any further, instead deciding to focus on the hurt that started to appear in Papyrus' eyes. He backed down mentally and physically, lowering his skull.
He lightly clutched his elbow. "Sorry."
Papyrus allowed his fingers to loosen as he pulled his brother into a tight hug. Sans lifted his skull only to place it on his brother's shoulder, wrapping his arms around him. He was scared; like a child wandering into a new land without any guidance. A whole new world of knowledge opened up at his fingertips, and yet he realized he didn't want to know about that opportunity.
"We'll get out of here, Sans." Papyrus spoke, to which Sans just continued to stare at Papyrus' side of the room, allowing him to continue. "The humans can't be mad at monsters forever. Someday they'll want us back, and then we can go see this new world. Together."
"What if they don't?" Sans absentmindedly asked, his mouth buried into his brother's chest.
"They will." Papyrus was almost assertive in his reassurance, nestling his skull atop of his with a simple tock.
"They will."
Sans stood before a blanket of black, turning his body slowly only to realize that this blanket was draped all around him. He had gone to bed shortly after him and Papyrus casually talked about what powers they might have after their heavy conversation. Usually he dreamed of silly things, but never had he had a dream this empty.
"Hello?" Sans called out, flinching when his voice echoed loudly then slowly faded away with small echoes. He took a few steps, then paused as he was unsure of where he was going.
The rattling of chains caught Sans' attention, causing him to whip his skull around at an alarming rate to the sound. They wavered in the distance before gaining volume, growing louder with each prominent step.
The blanket distorted to shape around the oncoming noise, silhouetting their frame before coming into view. This creature was one Sans had never seen before in his life, yet they seemed as much of a child as he was. The monster was not a skeleton, yet he bared no scales or fur like any other humanoid monster he had seen. They were draped in something else, something smooth and bronze in color but Sans had no word for what it was. They didn't have a snout of any kind, just a small bump where Sans had the hole in his skull, and this monster was grateful enough to have a mat of black hair atop his head. They wore clothing, much like everyone else yet the articles he wore were torn, slashed, baggy and drenched in an unfamiliar liquid.
Sans quickly realized that the clothing this creature was wearing was the same one he had worn in his vision.
Long, grey tethers of string were wrapped tightly around his arms and legs, baring the same liquid from the clothes on parts of the string and the clothing where the string wrapped around it. The string disappeared off into the background, hovering in the air.
But the most frightening thing about this creature? It's unhealthy and eerie grin.
Brown and blue eyes stared intently at Sans, and for a moment this terrifying creature let out a sigh of relief. "There you are…"
The voice was deep for someone so young and so tired. The creature raised a shaky arm, palm opened upward as life sparked above its hand. From the darkness a ball of small, bright light came into existence, with Sans having to hold up an arm to block the new light.
The creature seemed pleased to hold it in its hand, then gestured it out to Sans. "Here."
Sans lowered one of his arms, staring intently at the ball of light. He did not know what it was, but upon looking at the creature once more such light only brought out the more terrifying features of this monster.
Sans backed up at an alarming rate, shaking his skull considerably. "No, I don't want it!"
The creature brought back its arm, frowning before moving forward at a quickened pace. The string behind him shook and rattled like chains. "You have to take it!"
"No, go away!" Sans pleaded, backing up even farther as the creature advanced towards him.
The monster took one more step before the string behind him became taught, pulling the monster back with a tug. The monster stumbled on one foot, eyes wide in horror as the string kept pulling him back. "No, you can't! I'm almost done!"
Fighting the strength of the string, Sans watched as the string on the monster's arms became tighter on its hold, causing it to scream in agony. The creature's foot gave out, causing it to fall forward while the light shattered on the ground. Letting out a petrified gasp, the string had no more resistance to quickly slide it back into the darkness. "No no no no NO!"
The monster screamed in fear and pain before disappearing entirely back to where it came. Its shrill cries of despair danced and slammed around the invisible walls of the domain, never quieting or dissipating. Sans shook from the experience, wandering what was going on before a familiar voice called his name.
Then he woke up.
I don't really know if I'm satisfied with this chapter, but I can't really think of anything to improve on it. At first I wasn't going to have Sans or Papyrus learn about the humans so quickly but I figured it would be nie impossible for Gaster to keep that information hidden from them what with the entire Underground knowing, so might as well let the cat out of the bag. Also a small shoutout to the HandPlates AU, which I believe is impossible to occur but I do like me some drama.
Now I actually have an announcement I need to make and it's pretty big so please read this!
I hate to say this but…Accepting Darkness won't have an update schedule. For now, at least!
The reason I'm saying this is because I thought I could just do what I did last semester and write a little every day, but a lot of things in life have been getting in the way and I'm pretty spent or unmotivated to write by the time I finally do sit down to write. This chapter in itself took 2 and half weeks to write because I was constantly fighting myself to write it, and you might see some of that struggle in this chapter; it's not my best.
No, this doesn't mean I'm abandoning it. I'm still want to write this story but I can't give you guys a weekly update anymore, not at the pace I'm going. So in order to help me relieve some pressure I'm going to take off the update schedule and hope that that helps me write some more. When I have enough chapters stockpiled and I feel like I can come back with an update schedule I will, but for now I can't tell you when the next chapter is coming.
I would also like it if you guys didn't bug me about when the next chapter is coming or how you desperately want it right now. Comments like that can stress me out as well and believe me if I could I would give you guys this story as quickly as I could. But sadly good writing doesn't come in the fastest form or in one try.
I feel very bad for all these delays and again I'm sorry, but if you guys want a decent story I need to do this. Until the next chapter though, I hope you guys enjoy this and I hope to get that second one-shot done sometime next month.