16. Return

[[File 16.1 IH-20150701-#-# MW #]]

Snow crunched softly but crisply beneath his feet. Below the weak soles of his slippers he could feel the snow's freezing wet, and more than his preferred share of ice slipping in at the heel. As he shuffled forward, attempting his best to step on the indented footprints of those who had walked before him, he could feel the ice sliding from his heel to his metatarsals and phalanges. The cold burned. Briefly he considered stopping to let out the ice, but knew the slippers would fill again just a minute later. Sixty seconds of snow-less slipper would not be worth the effort of dumping it. He continued shuffling forward one damp slipper at a time.

Typically Sans loathed walking places – he was finding that teleportation, even with its magical requirements, required far less effort – but today he forced himself to travel by foot. Perhaps it would not matter. Perhaps he could dally, enjoy a few moments at Grillby's, prank Doggo in the woods, and return home for a snack of popato chisps, before attending to his station. Perhaps he would neither miss nor alter the moment which critically needed him. Perhaps this would reap the wholesome result he desired. But he dared not risk it. Some sort of… prophetic déjà vu… tugged inside his SOUL… and dictated he walk to work today.

He could not quite describe the uneasy sense inside his SOUL – that feeling he was stepping into something familiar, that the world recycled his experiences and he relived them on and on. But because Sans could feel some predictive sense stirring inside him, he decided to pay it heed. Ancient research had proven to him the existence of infinite parallel timelines. An old, never-forgotten personal past reminded him those many worlds remained weakly coupled, contingently attached, just beyond the bounds of everyday perception. If he sensed déjà vu, that very well could indicate someone had jumped back to the past. Sans had begun to doubt this was the first time he had experienced July 1, 2015.

If he concentrated, truly concentrated, he could almost remember it. Another existence, another timeline, another Sans, another Snowdin Forest. His senses warned him of something important up ahead. And if situations proceeded as he suspected they had in previous experiences, then everything would be changing soon, changing in largely unknown though hopefully positive directions.

Past a small, frozen pond he wandered; past a little garden of round snow poffs; past dog kennels and a few stations manned by bored canines; past infinite trees and a steady snowbank; and the more he wandered, the fewer footprints left indents in the snow. By the time the pine trees transitioned to tall, leafless oaks, Sans was trekking through untouched terrain.

The indistinct marks of his soggy slippers led way to a small, pointy-topped booth. Behind the stall's counter would be a well-worn chair and countless empty condiment bottles. Perhaps, if he were lucky, a few still held some tasty squirts of ketchup. He could not check now. He could not check later. He felt the inclination to continue wandering the woods. He trekked past the station and entered the trees. It felt strangely right to do so.

He could almost sense the future approaching – whatever that future so happened to be.

He veered off-road and weaved between trunks, heading in the general direction of the Ruins. Halfway through the trek, Sans caught motion out of the corner of his eyesocket – something shifting through the trees. Yes. That seemed familiar, too. He could almost recognize the small, squat individual who wandered down the path, heading away from Sans and toward the sentry station he had left unattended.

A human.

just as i thought.

Competing and contradictory thoughts tussled inside his SOUL – fear, hope, uncertainty, dread. Sans simultaneously felt inclined to near the human and dash as far away from them as he possibly could. If there truly had been some sort of timeline reset, what experience could have caused him such a stark split reaction?

He knew he needed to near them. As much as his instincts suggested he flee, Sans understood he could not. Not with the tug of his déjà vu. Not with the duties assigned to him as a sentry of Snowdin Forest. Not with the other occupation he currently held and truly cared about. All three obligations propelled him forward, tugged him toward the human, pushed him away from the cover of trees and into the open road.

The human paused. Turned. And flinched.

Was that… recognition in their eyes?

that'd make sense. humans have stronger time travel abilities, and with all the residual magic from the mages who formed the barrier, this child could accidentally blink and go back in time.

Pretending as though he, too, recognized the human – and that was not truly false, even if not truly true – Sans pulled his left hand out of his pocket, waved, and greeted nonchalantly, "heya, kid. how's it hangin'?"

The human's face paled, whitening until its shade matched the snow. Fingers fumbled awkwardly with the edge of their shirt as they tried to tug it down further over their pants. They spoke, though the speech came out at such a nervous stutter, Sans could barely comprehend their words, much less follow along with their child logic. "I – I did it, I did what you said to do, I did all of it I really really did I wouldn't lie to you about it. But nothing makes sense because the flower wasn't there but now it is – other things happened and now – now – now things are worse!"

Out of the semantic gibberish, Sans could parse three main vague facts. First, the human apparently had traveled back in time, just as he expected. No other explanation could account for how the child recognized him and immediately began babbling as though they were acquainted. so i got that right. Second, the human's current experiences failed to align with what they expected. And third, the child had encountered a flower. A flower so important they mentioned it aloud to Sans in the midst of their babbling.

it better not be that flower.

He knew it was.

Hovering his hands above his body and repeatedly pushing down the air, as though that downward motion might calm the human, he said, "hey hey there, kiddo. information overload. or, heh, more like underload. don't understand one sentence you're sayin'. can you back up and tell me what's goin' on?"

The kid's disposition changed. Perhaps it changed several times, switching between moods like fear and worry and uncertainty, before slamming down to an indignant and stubborn mood. With their right foot the child stomped down. The stomp made little impact, simply squishing in the snow, but the temperamental gesture could be understood readily enough. With a half-feisty, half-shaking voice, the human declared, "No."

"you were talking to me five seconds ago about it," Sans pointed out in a voice that hopefully sounded sing-songy, rather than grating out the frustration he was beginning to feel. i need to know about that flower. what did they want with the human?

"No," said the human again. They raised their voice in tone and volume.

But their lip quivered, and their eyes were too wide to be actual child unwillingness.

This was no true rebellion. Sans knew tantrums, after all. He would recognize one from his experiences in ancient days, back when Papyrus was a small boy and had not yet overgrown his brother – a tiny skeleton, in the house, stomping down repeatedly on the wood floor with both feet. Sometimes Papyrus had even lain down on the floor so he could smash his fists against the ground, too. But this child before Sans now only feigned tenacity. Fear leaked out from their pupils.

What had happened in the last parallel universe the human had experience? What events had befallen this present world?

As much as Sans wished to know, he understood he could not pester the human for answers. Prying information out of Papyrus, when he had been younger, never worked. It would not work with this human either. Sans, with an outwardly unconcerned shrug, responded, "heh heh heh . alright then. but if you ever wanna talk, you can. i would say i'm all ears, but… skeletons don't have any ears. concept still applies, though."

"The nice old lady's okay," the child snapped hurriedly, and then began rushing forward, dashing through the snow in an attempt to escape their conversant. The mad dash threw a lot of powder. They did not run quickly through the deep snow, but Sans did not stop them.

He only stared as they fled. A frown formed on his face.

wait a second…

A distant memory tickled the back of his mind.

did the child reset because they killed her?

Something… something wasn't right. It wasn't right at all.

He glanced toward the Ruins door. Head swiveled. Glanced in the direction the human was charging. Thoughts whirled.

With one more worried stare toward the Ruins, he headed after the now-distant, still-charging human. He needed to learn more answers from a knowledgeable source before knocking on the door.

For the moment, he would only have to hope that his friend on the other side of the Ruins survived.

something… something isn't right.

[[File 16.2 GA]]

Wings Dings Gaster hobbled through the hallway, clearly fatigued, weariness not quite etched on his face so much as deeply engraved. Exhaustion had become an everyday duty in the CORE Royal Laboratories, and Sans himself felt lethargy drag down his bones. When last had he seen his brother, beyond a mere glimpse? How long since the two had spoken? Yet Gaster suffered far greater lassitude than either Sans or Rain, not only researching the impossible with these two colleagues, but heading other investigations, supervising other teams, developing other projects, pressing for more scientific advancements. Sans suffered little sleep at present; he could not imagine Gaster's worse state of fatigue.

Yet despite their physical and mental exhaustion, Sans could feel energy sparking like lightning between the three today. Rain danced up ahead, jittering at twice his normal pulse, humming an octave above typical; Sans' pace quickened after Rain, and he could feel the laughter vibrating his throat as he cracked out jokes; and even Gaster's eyesockets, behind his stoic rectangular glasses frames, glimmered with an expression that could only be described as eagerness. He clutched a filled syringe tightly between his finger bones, occasionally glancing down with excitement.

Today, all the hard work, all the frustration, all the near-sleepless nights, all the lethargy, all the effort… would come to fruition. They all knew it. Could all feel it: the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe, Sans speculated, it would be more appropriate it to call it the start of the tunnel, for this upcoming experiment trial – an assured success – would revolutionize the world.

Would revolutionize their lives.

This was it.

They danced into a world of pipes: the basement of the CORE Royal Laboratories branch, the very center of the CORE. Steel trunks grew upward and outward in a complex knot, tangling into one another to form solid walls. A large space opened up before Sans, Rain, and Gaster as they entered the basement floor, strode into a world of concrete and steel, and approached their laboratory equipment in the center of the room. Soft lights periodically blinked on panels; when Gaster swept past Sans and Rain and began to adjust the settings, more lights began flashing regularly, or elsewise shining like a bright flashlight from the device controls.

Though Gaster turned his back away from Sans and Rain, and thus would not be able to spy any signed conversation between the two researchers, Sans intentionally spoke aloud. The Royal Scientist would not be able to comprehend a word even if he did so choose to turn around.

"so, i've been thinkin'," Sans began, sticking both hands in his lab coat pockets and swiveling around toward Rain. The other scientist only raised his head, but Sans could tell his friend paid him heed. "we need to switch code phrases on that guy."

Rain glanced over at Gaster, then turned his neck back toward Sans. He peered at his friend with a baffled squint. "What?" he said.

"to uber-duper super-booper beyond-all-shadow-of-a-doubt show that the doc's been going back in time, we need two code phrases. he's already got the first one, and he'll say it to us in the timeline that he goes back in time. but if we come up with a second one we haven't told him about…"

"Then… he… won't… know… it?" Rain blinked, groaned, then whacked himself on the head. He quickly corrected himself. "Oh, oh, sorry, wow, I'm slow, I'm slow, I get it now. Two stage authentication."

"bingo." Finger guns.

"He goes back in time once, he says the first code phrase. We only tell him the second one if we hear the first one. Then he goes back in time again and gives us the second phrase. If we hear the second phrase, then there's no way he could have done anything except time travel."

"right. so, what should our secrete sentence be? i think it should be just as elegant as the first one."

"Elegant?" Rain coughed into his sleeve at the misapplied adjective. But his wide face quirked up into a smile, mischief glinted in his eyes, and he giggled, "Alrighty, let's think of something else nasty, then."

Gaster, stoic, poked at work station monitors, preparing for a serious experiment. Rain and Sans huddled together in the back of the room, heads leaned in together, whispering and chuckling. "I've got a bad pimple on my place? Augh, I mean face. Pimple – on – face." Sans ignored the slip of the tongue and nodded at Rain's proposition. "hm, not a bad start, but…" "Um yeah yeah you're right we can do better. Uhhh let's see…" "one thousand herds of elephants are sitting on my toe." "What the heck?" "no, wait, lemme think, it should be in theme with the other one." "Okay, so we're having him say 'I am a stupid doodoo butt.' What's in theme with that?" "heh heh heh. anything gross. snot, burps, farts, all the good ole classics." An eager titter from Rain. "Ohhh ho ho ho he's going to hate us so much!"

Buttons chirped professionally from Gaster's position.

Sans and Rain mimicked fart noises.

"I've got a big fart coming on." "ohhh yes, i can smell the 'sweet' victory already." "I am the world's best farter." "nope, other one's better." "Should we go with –" "hey, wait, wait, i got it. totes figured out our stellar top notch triple secret code phrase." "Yeah?" "wait for it…" "Tell me already!" A belly laugh. "i am the legendary fartmaster."

Rain nearly collapsed in his howls, body bent over, hands covering ribs as he wheezed out cackles.

Gaster turned.

Both hastened to righten themselves. Rain itched his cheek to hide his grin. Sans pretended to read some well-wadded notes he had stuffed into his lab coat pockets. He hoped Gaster would not notice these well-wadded notes were the Sunday comics and not anything physics-related.

"Rain, Sans, get over here and quit fooling around," Gaster instructed, with a little more patience that he usually demonstrated of late. Sans worried that the fatigue had been making Gaster snappish. At least on this special day, the Royal Scientist appeared to be in a relatively upbeat mood.

When they arrived at Gaster's side, he pulled out a clipboard and peered through a write up. After examining it, he passed it off to Rain, then signed, "Everything is in order. Equipment properly maintained, all preliminary tests pass. Today will mark the first test of the barrier magic infusion and an attempted time reversal of seven minutes. Results will be verified through photon scanners and the utterance of a predetermined code phrase." He glanced sideways at Sans, displeasure clearly tightening his jawline. Sans chuckled. Continuing onward, Gaster stated, "Previous tests have demonstrated very limited time travel abilities, but nothing functional for the purpose of our goals. This experiment incorporating human soul magic infusions, if successful, will prove that living monsters can successfully and safely pass backwards in time with no negative effects to their SOUL or body.

"At precisely ten AM, I will apply the syringe. At seven past ten, I will attempt the jump."

Rain, who wore a violet long-sleeved hooded jacket beneath his lab coat, shoved up his sleeves to peer at his watch. He examined the number on his left wrist carefully. "Two minutes."

The hypodermic Gaster had been clutching earlier reappeared now between his thumb and pointer finger. Many months of tedious research had been poured into this syringe. Sans recalled the night Rain stumbled upon a new idea to infuse their experiment with human magic, a magic known to be inherently more powerful in time travel than common monster capabilities. He remembered the day they headed up in a "field trip" to the barrier – with the king's permission – to extract some of the heavy human magic lingering in the area. He remembered countless tests, endless weeks scribbling equations, many days frustratedly rubbing his skull, late nights fading into early mornings as he fought, fought, fought for a solution to successful time travel.

He remembered the conversations. I think I figured out the solution to our problem. Human magic! Weak couplings exist between closely related parallel worlds, which we've tried to access through monster-based magic channels. The problem is that we're trying to create links from present to past with monster magic. Monsters are adept at manipulating space, but not very strong with time. Legends, at least, say that humans are better with time magic. What if we're not using the right energy to go to the past?

He remembered the development of the theory. The moment when all the information finally linked together in a satisfying explanation. In quantum teleportation with magic-linked channels, the sending and receiving locations transfer information with the establishment of a quantum entangled state, created through the connection of a magical conduit. The starting and ending time points require the presence of large stable sources of magic, which we've naming SAVE points. While monster magic can create the basic linking channel between points A and B on the timeline, it is mostly insufficient in its capabilities to transmit a living being's SOUL back in time. However, by injecting a monster with human magic, the transfer of both body and SOUL can be successfully completed. Strong residues of human magic are congested within the underground on account of the barrier's formation; extracting this barrier magic, condensing it into a liquid state, and applying it directly into a monster's body through injection will successfully supply the time traveler with the needed magical energies to complete the backwards time jump.

He remembered Rain and his development of the fluid containing human magic. He remembered staring at the hypodermic needle in the laboratory, peaking at the contents inside, and marveling at what this discovery would accomplish.

And today, Gaster would be capable of traveling backwards in time completely safely.

"It's ten o'clock," declared Rain.

Sans could feel his bones rattling in anticipation. No fear of failure. No dangerous risks. The old, failed experiment in which Rain nearly died did not come to mind. Today's event would involve no near-casualties. He knew it. Could feel it. Could almost sense it as though he had lived this day before.

Without any hesitation, Gaster poked the needle into his forearm and emptied the syringe. He stared at his arm for a moment, studying it, before he set the empty needle aside. He said nothing.

"how's it feel?" asked Sans.

"Peculiar. If anything, I feel stronger than I have been before."

They approached their devices. As awkward as the heavily-modified machine appeared, Rain's latest adjustments would ensure a smooth time jump.

"It doesn't look like the machine is necessary for living beings to go back in time," Rain had admitted in their last month of research. "But it will make the jump safer, smoother, and more reliable."

Ten oh one.

Ten oh two.

"this is it!" Sans' tight grin was already tiring his face, but in this highly-anticipated moment of revolutionary discovery, he could do nothing but smile.

"Are you ready?" asked Rain. "Five minutes isn't a long time to prepare for things. Don't you need to input…" He began to point to the machine, but Gaster held up his hands. The Royal Scientist did not allow his colleague to finish the question. Instead, striding forward, he intentionally placed himself far from the machine, standing in the center of the room, where lights from some of the other CORE monitors blinked on his jacket. Gaster allowed himself to be bathed in the blues and reds and violets and blinking whites of CORE circuitry.

"I do not need to jump back in time," he said. Did his hands move with a little more jitteriness than typical? He certainly seemed less… stately… for all his words remained formal. "For you, the time travel event has not unfolded. You hold no recollections of it. But for me, it has already happened within my own personal experiences. This, right here, right now, is the timeline to which I have jumped back in time. We do not need to utilize the device because I have already done so."

Yes, that last phrase Gaster signed betrayed the skeleton's excitement. The Royal Scientist's hands bounced in the air as though he were conducting an upbeat waltz. No terse Gaster today, for the first time in months – only someone incapable of suppressing his excitement with professional stoicism.

Sans could feel the excitement begin to course over him, too. Excited to experience this incredible parallel universe, he could barely form his hands in the proper signs. He repeated his words several times to correct hand errors, despite only attempting to signal two words. "code phrase," he demanded in a muddled jumble.

Gaster did not heed this request. "First, I must monitor my statistics," proclaimed the Royal Scientist, heading back toward the equipment to measure his HP. He shrugged briefly after the reading but mentioned nothing about it. To the others, he stated, from across the room, "No harmful alterations to my body recorded from the time jump."

"That's great!" said Rain.

Sans, more insistently, nudged, "code phrase." He had not tackled Gaster to the floor to watch his supervisor skirt over their pre-established test.

No response.

"hey! code phrase!"

"I am a doodoo butt." Gaster attempted to make this declaration as regal as possible.

If anything, it only made the statement funnier.

"oh my GOD, doc," Sans teased. "didn't know you had it in you. that's real mature."

Rain tittered to Sans' right.

"But," Rain jutted in, gabbing in such glee his fingers constantly stumbled over themselves, "you actually do have to go back in time again. See, Sans and I came up with a second code phrase that we'd only give you if you told us the first code phrase. That way…"

"I am a legendary fartmaster."

Everyone… paused.

As humorous as the statement was, the gravity of the situation hit them harder. Rain and Sans did not laugh upon sighting the second code phrase signed.

"holy shit," Sans breathed aloud. "that… does it."

"OH MY GOD!"

And in a moment of jubilation, all three of them – Gaster included – raised their hands to the ceiling. Sans crashed into both his companions, yanking them in a group hug; Rain boogied in the center of the concrete floor and hooted out a carol; Gaster pulled out a genuinely happy smile and clasped his fingers over his nasal bone. Something wet dripped near his eyes and cheeks. They clapped one another on the back. Babbled excitedly with their fingers. Flapped their limbs wildly. Throughout it all, faces continued breaking into wild grins.

"Congratulations, Doctor C. S. Serif and Doctor Rain Pearson, you have made history." Gaster still beamed like a dork.

"hell yeah! we did it!"

"Biggest scientific breakthrough of the century!"

"can't believe it!"

"We're going home!"

Laughter.

Camaraderie.

Amazement.

Hopes and dreams dancing through the mind.

[[File 16.3 SA-20150709-#-#]]

Sans had never expected to see Papyrus and Undyne dance on top of a table.

As energetic as Papyrus tended to be on a given day, this sort of clowning contradicted his typical neat freak ideals. Sans found it amusing enough to watch his brother stomp gallantly across the table surface. Yet what bemused him most was the presence of the tough, militant Captain of the Guard joining her companion, smashing all the table's plates with her tramping feet, and howling – half-correctly – the lyrics to the party's latest, randomly-selected karaoke song. That, combined with Papyrus' dreadfully out-of-pitch caterwauling, transformed Grillby's from a typical low-key local establishment into the underground's rowdiest party hub.

"IT'S A FISH CONVINCING PEOPLE TO LIIIIIKE YOU! !" jubilantly howled Undyne and Papyrus.

i… don't think you got every word right…

"IF I STOP NOW CALL ME A QUITTER!"

Plate smashed beneath foot. Cheese fries launched across the room like missiles, successfully striking several monsters in the room. Grillby, from the corner of the bar, dejectedly watched cheese rain down and slick the surface of his once-pristine wood floor.

"IF FLIES WORE HATS YOU'D BE MORE BITTER!"

oh my god, that is definitely not right. Sans found himself chuckling beneath the karaoke beat and the shouts of ecstatic Royal Guards clomping about the room. The restaurant's high decibels completely masked the sound of Sans laughing; one could see his belly roll, but not even Sans could hear himself chortling. He exchanged an amused grin with one of his companions at the bar, who was laughing just as much at Papyrus and Undyne's antics as they were Grillby's displeased but wordless response to the debacle.

By the time of the second chorus, Undyne and Papyrus had completely given up singing the correct lyrics and had instead switched to improvisation. "I CAN'T DECIIIIIDE IF I WANT BURGERS OR FRIIIIIIES! !"

The displeased glare on Grillby's face suggested he would provide them neither at this point. Papyrus kicked another something off the table. It might have been a salt shaker.

As destructive as the two were, Sans could only enjoy the spectacle. Grillby would be moving out of the underground, anyhow, and would not be able to transport all his belongings to the surface world. If any night were to be disastrous at the restaurant, tonight was perfect for it. And besides, it had been a long, long time since Sans had seen his brother so upbeat, so energetic, so unreservedly happy and mingling with a crowd of souls.

As worried as Sans had been about entering this evening party, he found himself thankful he had attended. This was the perfect way to end his days in the underground.

Yet as entertaining as it was to watch his brother stomp across a table, the loud booming noises disoriented Sans too much to remain indoors. Plopping his ketchup back into his pocket and picking up his half-finished beer, Sans slowly pulled himself off the bar stool and shuffled to the restaurant entrance. He would not return home just yet… simply stand outdoors, where he noted several other Grillby's regulars currently mingled.

He found himself stepping into the middle of an engaging discussion. Contrasting the mindless mayhem indoors, out here a group of monsters debated ancient scholarship. Intrigued, Sans slipped toward the cluster, leaned up against the restaurant walls, and sipped at his beer while he listened to the latest debater declare, "The prophecy is so not fulfilled."

"You've got to be kidding me. The underground is literally about to 'go empty.' How can it not be fulfilled?"

Several of the monsters noticed Sans' presence and glanced at him. A few stepped sideways to include him in their conversation circle.

"Because," said the first insistent speaker, "who was the person who saw the surface? Nobody, I think."

"Asgore?" someone asked. "During the Human Monster War…"

"The problem is that the prophecy says that The One Who Has Seen the Surface returns to the underground. Asgore just stayed here. He so didn't do any returning."

"True…"

Sans choked on his swig of beer when a third converser entered the conversation. "What about Sans?"

He spit out the drink onto the snow. Putting his right hand to his forehead, and shaking his neck wildly, Sans stepped in, "whoa there. bud, who the hell do you think i am?" Not his typical nonchalant redirect… but then…

Memories of visions tickling at the back of his…

No, they couldn't know. They wouldn't believe.

Thankfully, the main arguer – who was coming to dominate the conversation now – shook her head. "Sans might have killed the human (thank you, Sans), but he hasn't been to the surface. It's so not him."

Sans said nothing. He did not enjoy being part of this conversation.

"But if the prophecy's not fulfilled…" the second monster responded, in a quieter voice, one who let their words carry the weight of their argument without pushing in, "…then how are we leaving?"

Everyone paused reflectively.

The monster continued. "Maybe we don't understand it, but the prophecy's done. Tomorrow, Asgore's opening the barrier. Tomorrow, we begin our exodus to the surface world. Tomorrow, the prophecy is fulfilled."

[[File 16.4 SA-20150710-#-#]]

How long had he dreamt to see the stars? Not the stones in Waterfall, not the animated diamonds in movies, not the charts in astronomy textbooks, not the photographs from the internet, not the poorly-rendered visuals in monster CGI? The true, real stars, beneath the true, real sky, he standing on the surface world and gazing upward at an infinity of glowing points?

A discarded NASA sweater floating amongst Waterfall debris… an internet compilation of Hubble space photographs… a telescope gifted to him on his thirtieth birthday… those had never been enough.

When he had dreamt of freedom, he had dreamt of stars.

He reached out his left hand toward a darkened black sky, eyesockets unmoving, unblinking, gazing in wonder, wordless wonder… as he spied the stars with his own sight for the first time in his life. Small, twinkling sparks glittering alongside a waning crescent moon. Soft light beams drenching Sans and his brother in moonbeams and moonshadow.

The world around them rustled quietly in a delicate night breeze. Grass, tickling at Sans' knees, brushed softly through the wind. He could smell nature growing around them, could spy dim trees shadows dotting the landscape, could gaze out toward a horizon of tumbling, rolling ground. But what enchanted him most was the large, large, large expanse above him. No rocks above his head. No tightly-closed spaces. No caves. No corridors. Only an infinite nothingness sparkling in stars.

Even Papyrus fell silent at this enchanting world. For once he paused, standing still, not shuffling his feet, not doing anything except gazing about the surface world. "wowie…" A quiet word.

Sans continued staring.

freedom…

That single thought – freedom – broke him. At once he could feel the weight of the last ten days crash down upon him. Less than two weeks ago, he had expected to loiter the rest of his unfulfilling life in Snowdin. And yet… a human had come. Had died. Reality had shifted. The barrier broken. And now… now he was here… here on the surface…

Before, these concepts had felt so foreign that he could not believe them. Not truly. Not accept them in his SOUL. Only now, standing knee-deep in rustling grasses, gazing at the constellations… could he comprehend the gravity of what had just occurred.

we're free.

Hand reached up to the infinite sky. He gradually squeezed his fingerbones shut together, as though he could pluck the moon from the sky.

"yeah. wow," he respired at last.

His feet remained stationed on this small patch of grass. Roots would grow from his shoe soles and plant him here like a tree. The awe of this world immobilized him.

Sans could have stood, silently, like this forever, but then his brother spoke and lapsed him somewhat out of his reverie, if not his sense of peace.

"THAT GROUP OF STARS LOOKS LIKE MY FACE." Papyrus' glove jabbed at the sky, tracing vaguely around a group of points. "THOSE THREE ARE MY SMILE!"

"three in a line? that's orion's belt." How could he feel so calm and so excited at once? Gazing at the stars provided tranquility, and yet… spying them for the first time in person… enthralled him. He began to cite his knowledge, letting it escape calmly into the crisp night air. "the three component stars are alnitak, alnilam, and mintaka, though technically both alnitak and mintaka are multiple star systems. so… alnitak a is neat. brightest class o star in the night sky. it's a blue supergiant. 'bout twenty times the diameter as the sun on this planet… …if i remember right. think i got that right. p' cool, huh, bro?"

"THAT IS COOL FOR SCIENCE FICTION!" said Papyrus. He shifted focus to the moon. "BUT IT'S A LOT SMALLER THAN THAT ONE!"

Sans smiled and pointed to Mars. "that one's bigger."

"OH MY GOD, SANS! NO IT'S NOT! ! ! EVEN YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT!"

He pointed to Venus. "that one's even bigger."

"…" Papyrus glanced at his brother sideways, concerned about the skeleton's failing knowledge of geometry.

"but still not as big as the first star i was talking about."

"…"

Sans stood there, smirking and chuckling, at his brother's bemused perplexion.

"HOW ARE YOU ALWAYS SO WRONG AT EVERYTHING?" the tall skeleton said at last. He was clearly disappointed with Sans.

"dunno. good thing i've got you around."

"WELL," huffed Papyrus, "SOMEONE HAS TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! AND THE SMART AND SENSIBLE. SHEESH. THAT SIDEWAYS SPAGHETTI BOWL IN THE SKY IS OBVIOUSLY LARGER THAN ALL THE SPRINKLES! !"

Papyrus, predictably growing bored of craning his neck upward, trotted off toward the rest of the world. In a very short time Papyrus had lost all silent reverie for the stars and returned to his typical energetic state, dashing about the meadow and discovering new surface world treasures. Sans could hear his brother from the edge of his perception. He wished to continue soaking in the constellations… Canis Major, with Sirius, brightest star in the night sky, binary star system, over three hundred million years old… and there Epsilon Canis Majoris… and…

"LOOK AT ALL THE BUGS, SANS! !" Papyrus' voice ripped into his brother's thoughts. "THE UNDERGROUND NEVER HAD SO MANY BUGS LIKE THIS! I WISH I HAD AS MANY ARMS AS THEY DO! THAT'D MAKE ME LOOK EVEN MORE DASHING, DON'T YOU THINK? THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SIX-ARMED SKELETAL WONDER OF THE WORLD!"

"no, gotta make it ten arms. one more than a mutant spider."

"FOR ONCE, I AGREE WITH YOU! GREAT IDEA!"

Eyes panned over the night sky in the short conversation gap. Leo. He picked out the stars. Regulus, Beta Leonis…

"BUT THEN I WOULDN'T HAVE AS MANY ARMS AS A CENTIPEDE! I NEED ONE HUNDRED AND ONE!"

More darting. Sans caught sight of something white and orange streaming across the field.

"I THINK I JUST FOUND A SKELETON THAT DOESN'T MOVE! THAT'S REALLY WEIRD! ALL SKELETONS MOVE!"

"i bet that one's just movin reeeeeal slow."

More dashing. Papyrus began flying like a helicopter propeller.

Sans remained grounded, soaking in starlight.

"HEY! ! THESE FLOWERS LOOK… FAMILIAR! ? ! SANS, HAVE YOU SEEN THESE BEFORE?"

Stars, stars, shimmering stars. He could stare at them forever. But Sans finally forced himself to turn his sight away from the night sky and peep into the latest novelty Papyrus had discovered.

Sans' untied tennis shoes slowly slipped between grass blades as he padded toward his brother. Papyrus had indeed located a large field of wildflowers, difficult to spy in the darkness of night, but still visible from the moon's faint glow. Sans could not tell how far they stretched. Probably quite a distance. He could not quite perceive the color of the flowers right now, either… but if he were to guess… he would suspect they were yellow.

Yellow flowers…

The breeze shifted into a wind. Sans could almost imagine he heard the airstream singing.

"they're the same flower asgore grew in his throne room," he said.

"THEY'RE DIFFERENT FLOWERS. THEY JUST LOOK THE SAME," Papyrus clarified.

Cold suddenly shook the marrow in Sans' bones. Something far chilling than the nipping breeze made him shudder. He remembered his conversation the other day with Asgore about the war with humans… remembered how the Royal Guard had been first to march through the barrier…

Now here they stood in a meadow of golden petals. He had heard the old tales. This flower field was the site of an ancient tragedy.

"we should get moving," he said in a low voice. He did not wish the past to speed up to the present. "there's a path over there. let's see if it leads somewhere."

Enchantment had died with the flower field. Not even the stars could resettle Sans' mood. He hoped staring upward would return his mental state to a world of marvels, but instead, uneasiness crept along his spine, and he felt his feet quicken their pace. He would not mind leaving this particular part of the surface world behind.

But the road… the road on which he traveled… was dust. Not the dust of monsters, this he knew. Not the dust of the dead. But it was still dust, and it felt… unpleasant… to tread upon this path.

He tried to minimize kicking up the dust as he placed one foot before the other.

Wind whipped up, yanking at flower stems and setting the path apuff in dirt clouds. And the two brothers, side-by-side, wandered alone in the dark.

There were monsters up ahead and monsters still exiting the underground behind them: this Sans knew. He could not currently spy anyone else, though, in this infinite world. As far as he perceived, only he existed, and Papyrus.

And the humans who had paved this path.

try not to think on it.

"WE'LL HAVE TO GO BACK AND FORTH FROM THE UNDERGROUND TO THE SURFACE ONCE WE FIND OUR NEW HOUSE!" Papyrus rambled, excitedly accounting his plans for their second start. He seemed completely undisturbed, or perhaps attempting to spark cheer into the atmosphere after their unexpected encounter with a cursed flower field. "I HAVE A SPLENDID CONSTRUCTION PLAN TO TURN OUR NEW HOME INTO PERFECTION!"

Sans forced himself to croak out two words. "oh yeah?" he said.

"IT WILL BE CONSTRUCTED ENTIRELY OF BONES AND SPAGHETTI! !"

"sounds cool."

"OF COURSE IT IS!"

The wind continued moaning.

It almost sounded like a scream.

Except…

Sans started.

that was a scream.

Down the path, down a hill… he could spy the tips of rooftops. All else had been obscured in foliage, so he could not make out who lived in this area, or who might have passed by it. Had the screamer come from there? Had it just been a human, startled by something in the night?

And then he saw a flash of magic.

Something… something wasn't right.