A Tale of Consequences
Reset?
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Chapter 3
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It only took a few hours after the day-glow crystals began to shine for Papyrus to track him down. Sans heard him coming. Perspective shifted as Sans quickly stepped, leaving his spot near the door an empty sad pile of snow. He could see Papyrus approaching the door through the trees.
"SANS?"
The calling continued. Sans tried to close his ears to it, but it was Papyrus. He never could.
"YOU KNOW, WHEN I CHIDE YOU TO TAKE INITIATIVE THIS ISN'T WHAT I MEAN. EVEN THE GREATEST OF SOON-TO-BE-ROYAL GUARDSMEN LIKE MYSELF KNOW TO LET AN INJURY HEAL BEFORE RETURNING TO ACTIVE DUTY."
Sans sighed, his shoulder rolling in a shrug as he stuffed his chilled hands in his pockets. He knew his brother. He wouldn't leave it be unless Sans at least attempted to make it seem normal.
He strolled out of the woods. "Aw, Pap. Are ya worried about me bro?"
"OF COURSE I AM. THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS AN ATTENTIVE LEADER-TO-BE. I MUST LOOK OUT FOR MY OWN BROTHER IF I'M TO MANAGE THE SENTRIES ONE DAY. PERHAPS I'D EVEN IMPRESS UNDYNE SO MUCH SHE'LL MAKE ME CO-CAPTAIN!"
"To be honest, you could say you're already the—heh—backbone of our little unit here." Sans winked. He took amusement as the metaphorical hearts floating around Papyrus' head burst, the taller skeleton stomping a boot in the thick snow.
"OH QUIT IT." Papyrus sputtered, resting his gloves on his hips and drawing himself up straighter, "AHEM. WHILE I ADMIRE YOUR DESIRE TO RETURN TO WORK—EVEN AS IT IS EXTREMELY OUT OF CHARACTER FOR YOU—I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE DOING OKAY. I COULD EASILY HOLD THIS POST UNTIL YOU ARE FULLY HEA—"
NO. Every fiber in his being wanted to scream denial. Papyrus needed to be kept as far from the coming doom as utterly possible. Telling him that was impossible though. Papyrus had this thing about heroics.
Sans kept his head and deflected instead.
"Don't sweat it Pap, trust in your handywork." Sans closed the offending eye, lightly tapping the healed cracks just for show, "I'm perfectly fine. Fit as a fiddle and ready to slack off to the max."
Papyrus was silent, studying him.
It wasn't often, but sometimes Sans was afraid of his brother.
Not in a physical sense, but Papyrus was more observant than more people gave him credit for. Especially when he allowed himself a moment to think instead of charging ahead.
"IT WASN'T JUST THE FALL, WAS IT? YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT SOMETHING."
"I COULD HELP."
That was exactly what he didn't want.
Helping would get Papyrus killed.
"I'm good bro. Honest. Just a little rattled. S'nothing a good few hours of staring at snow won't fix."
Eventually, Papyrus left. Sans sat at his station for a time, fuzzy slippers resting on the dash. His eyes just kept traveling down the path, and to the door hidden on the other side of the bridge.
Guilt warred with Determination.
Determination won. For now.
"Knock, knock."
But nobody came.
x-x-x
Papyrus returned the next day.
Sans wasn't surprised.
He didn't mention the fact that Sans hadn't come home. Sans was glad he didn't. He watched Pap approach from the tree-line. He was lugging a rather large bundle over his shoulder.
He dropped it in the snow at the edge of the bridge with a large thunk. He must have noticed the snow Sans hadn't bothered to clear off the sentry station last night.
Sans had to watch the door. He couldn't do that from the station.
He didn't take a step further, just looked at the partially filled in footprints Sans had left around the door. Then he cleared his throat, addressing nowhere in particular.
"MISS BUNNY SAID YOU'VE BEEN STOPPING IN FOR CINNAMON BUNNIES. WHILE I AM GLAD YOU ARE EATING, I'M SURE NOTHING CAN COMPARE TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS' NUTRITIONAL, AND WELL BALANCED FREEZE-RESISTANT SPAGHETTI. SO I MADE YOU SOME."
The gently blowing snow was melting against his skull. That had to be it. The forest was silent as Papyrus waited for an answer.
…but nobody came.
"I'M…NOT SURE WHY YOU ARE DOING THIS, SANS. BUT I'M HERE TO HELP IN ANY WAY I CAN. THERE'LL ALWAYS BE SOMETHING AT HOME FOR YOU IF YOU GET HUNGRY. OR COLD."
Sans went to open the bundle after Papyrus was gone.
Three containers of still lukewarm spaghetti. But they were wrapped in several articles of clothing. A fuzzy white and grey sweater. Matching socks from his sock collection. All wrapped up in a thick warm blanket.
Sans clenched the sweater to his chest. And then stepped. The world shifted, replacing the lonely bridge and it's too large gate with Papyrus' homemade sentry station.
Empty. Pap was gone already.
Instead Sans reached inside the station and grabbed a pen, scrawling a small note on the supporting beam.
Thank you.
His brother was worth the world.
That was why Sans needed to end this before it took him away.
x-x-x
At some point, Sans fell asleep, his new blanket and extra layers helping to insulate him from the biting cold that had been keeping him awake for two days straight now.
It wasn't a nightmare. At least not yet.
Sans wandered through darkness. It was an odd feeling. There was a floor below him, leaves crinkling with each step, but he couldn't see it. Walls, but he could barely feel them if he reached out his hand. Rough and weathered stone brick, with trails of ivy crawling across them.
The path was winding, but his feet somehow knew where to go, faint openings in the dark blobs leading away into the unknown.
And then…it opened. A small room, the leaves shifting to something else. Something warm spilled onto his face. A distant sniffle broke the silence.
He opened his eyes.
A field of golden flowers. A small, shape stood out in the center, although no matter how close Sans drew it wouldn't come into focus. That was okay though. It was a dream. The sniffles quieted as he approached, muffled as the fuzzy figure hunched in on themselves. Defensively.
"You ok, kid?"
They shook their head, clutching something tighter to their chest. Something cupped protectively in the shell of their hands.
Sans hated it when children cried, even dream children. He leaned over, ruffling the kid's hair, "Wha'dya have there?"
They shifted under the weight of his hand, but didn't pull away. Sans was surprised when they actually spoke.
"…broken…"
"Maybe I can fix it?"
Another head shake.
"Aw, c'mon. I can be pretty handy."
The child hesitantly cracked opened their closed fists.
Red and white shards, half of which was already slowly crumbling away into dust, red and white leaking together and mixing to make a dull pink that was neither. The dust spilled out between their fingers, and Sans began to notice the nearest flowers were sprinkled with it.
"…gotta hold it." The child whispered, closing their hands again, drawing the previous cargo close to their chest again.
Crack.
An ache in his chest. Sans reached over to pull the kid close into a half hug.
They let him. Buried heir face in his blue jacket, and shook in the crook of his arm.
MAYBE THEY JUST DIDN'T WANT TO GO ALONE.
Sans held them until they cried themselves to sleep.
x-x-x
Knock, knock.
He jerked awake, the vibrations traveling through the stone. The blanket slid off his shoulder, and he instinctively found himself a good few meters down the path.
It came again. Louder. Muffled by thick stone. "Knock, knock!"
"Who's there?" Sans asked warily, although he could already tell it wasn't the door-lady. The world slowed. The dimness of his bad eye sharpened as he channeled the magic into his good one.
"Knife."
The door rumbled open. Sans didn't answer.
"Aaw, isn't this where you're supposed to ask knife who? I thought you liked joking around."
The child on the other side was covered in dust. Grey splotches painting their cheeks like cheap warpaint. The wide grin immediately set Sans on edge but it was the knife in their hands that caught his attention immediately.
"Sorry, kid." Sans shrugged, "Not really feelin' it right now."
Ping.
Sans initiated the fight, dragging the soul out.
The glowing blue heart appeared before the human's chest. They just laughed.
With another sweep of his arm a half dozen blasters appeared, the animalistic dragon skulls roaring as each charged with energy.
The lasers shot at once.
The blue magic shuddered, shattered and slipped away like water poured on oil, an ugly black and white patchwork pulsed before him. The human jumped, kicked and dodged them all. Sans caught them in midair, tagging them with blue again. He felt his magic slipping, repelled.
But he only needed a moment to jerk them toward the ground. Hard.
"So you do remember." They sounded delighted, picking themselves off the ground easily. Giggling. "Oh tell me, how much?"
"Enough to know I don't like you." Sans shrugged, "Gonna be honest with you—I generally like kids. But you…"
…stop me…
A dust covered human that smelled of death, that soul caked in LV, and the nightmares…
It all added up.
"…you just kinda rub me the wrong way, you know?"
The crying child, desperately trying to hold onto a crumbling soul.
"Do you remember killing us? Over and over?" The human sing-songed, brandishing the knife. It shone plastic in the light from the dayglow crystals that filtered down through the bare canopy above them, but when you had 1 hp any weapon was a weapon. "Do you remember failing again and again and watching as our soul was torn apart?"
They charged, swiping the knife at his chest. He dodged, side-stepping and pinging their soul just long enough for him to shove it aside, sending them skidding through the snow.
"Heh. Did you think I was going to stand there and take it?"
The deja vu made his head swim, but he was used to that by now. Blue magic gathered in his right, and he summoned a wave of constructs, shooting them at the child. Blue. White. Both impaled the ground at different heights, hitting nothing as his target easily darted around.
"Hmm. Different patterns, but even you fall back onto the script sometimes, don't ya?" The demon-child grinned, the smile stretching like a bleeding wound,. "Will you try to mercy me again if I get far enough?"
Another slash.
Sans dodged.
Ping.
Throw them into a tree.
The bark splintered and cracked, but the human always got up again.
The edge of the knife nicked his jacket. Sans responded with a blaster in the kid's face. They slid under it, the beam spinning around and slicing through trees as it tried to re-aim. Sans dismissed it with a snap of his fingers, but he lost sight of the kid in the process. Sharp pain shot through the left side of his skull. Sans staggered. He hadn't seen—a pebble landed in the snow with a sharp plop.
"Interesting." The demon-child tossed another rock casually up in the air, catching it again, "You seem to have developed a bit of a blind-spot. That should have killed you though."
Sans sent another wave of bones at them, pushing them back and sending them dancing and jumping again. Giggling. He gingerly touched the side of his skull.
The healed cracks were still there. Still intact, although knowledge told him that if it were to break, they were the weakest link. The pressure behind his eye was pounding.
No dust. Not yet.
If he fell here, Pap would be next.
Intent mattered just as much as the weapon itself when it came to monster souls. A rock or a stick. Toy or a knife.
!
Movement to left side. Trying again, were they? It was just a flicker in his peripheral vision, but Sans didn't have time to think about it. He summoned an incomplete blaster as a shield, the toy knife sinking deep into the lifeless bone. The human tried to pull the weapon out, but Sans sent the dragon's skull crashing into the trees, forcing the child to let go and land in an undignified roll in the snow.
"Teehee. Never seen that before."
The giggles echoed through the trees.
"You've been holding out on me, partner. I feel cheated."
Ping.
He tossed the human into the air, summoning a blaster beneath them, energy whined as it charged. If they dodged, they'd just end of flat on the forest floor. Broken and bloody.
Blood creeping through the grooves. Cheater, Cheater. You got me partner.
Green vines erupted from the frozen ground, shredding the blaster to pieces.
The human landed with a broken splatter.
Sans let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
The snow gradually turned red.
"H-hah." The child laughed. Coughed. Laughed again. "I-it's G-game o-ver p-partner."
Sans stepped forward, the magic fading from his eye. Both eyelights winking out.
"Is that all this is to you?" He felt an echo of another conversation, "A game?"
"O-of course." Even dying the child looked delighted, "L-like it or n-not. Y-you a-are a p-player now. Things have changed."
"Where's the other kid?" Sans ignored it. His heart was racing.
"H-heh." Cough. "H-heh."
…his heart? Skeletons didn't have hearts.
"Let 'em out. That's the deal wasn't it?" Game over. My choice.
Giggles.
"T-there must a-always b-be a fallen h-human."
They reached into their pocket, pulling out a small scrap of fabric.
And threw it into the snow.
"I-I'll t-tell m-mom you s-said hi, partner."
Crack.
"S-see y-you s-soon."
The black heart splintered.
A scrap of purple, covered in grey monster dust.
Crack.
A keen of despair echoed in Sans' mind. Knifing through his skull. He fell to his knees, his head pounding as he sought to pull it back. Something burned in his left eye. Magic. Hot and burning and red. It dripped through his fingers, threatening to tear him apart.
Crack.
A sharp pain pierced his chest. A green spear-like vine protruded from his chest, red magic seeping from the wound and staining the sweater red.
"That's for hurting Chara, you smiley trashbag."
Alone in the blackness, shards shattered to dust.
X-x-x
Continue?
Or Reset?
Sans jerked awake in the darkness of his workshop, sprawled unceremoniously on the floor with a pounding headache, and the bone deep knowledge that it had happened again.
The counter ticked up.
One.
He groaned. Damn this sucked. He put a hand to his head, hoping the pressure would ease the pain enough for him to safely make a shortcut to his room. At least he knew about the injury now. If he went to Pap or the healer first thing maybe they could take care of it before he had to collapse again.
…something hot and sticky met his fingers. They came away glowing red.
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A/N: Hope you are enjoying the read 3 the battle scene was pretty fun to write, not gonna lie. Comments are very much appreciated!
