Level 1

For 22 seconds, Sans thought he was dead.

It was only when he tried to move that searing pain erupted through his body, and with a groan he knew he was alive. He attempted to roll to his side but found himself stuck. No, not stuck, just weighed down by something heavy on his back.

Wearily his eyes cracked open to find the world just as dark as when his eyes were closed. "Papyrus…?"

His voice echoed far into the black. When his echo faded into the realm with not another sound Sans fully awoke. He struggled to move, wincing from the searing pain. "Papyrus?"

"I'm here…" Another, groaning voice called out, startling Sans. It was closer than he thought, but he couldn't see his brother when he turned his head.

"Are you ok?"

"No…" Papyrus weakly responded, his voice dragging out at the end of his sentences. "Everything hurts."

Sans couldn't help but give a light chuckle, but his ribcage hated him for it right after. "Heh… me too."

"Don't laugh about this!"

"Sorry."

Sans allowed himself to rest for a few minutes, his nerves still acting up but he was less concerned now that he knew that Papyrus was alright. Sort of. "How far did we fall?"

"I don't know. Far." Papyrus responded, though he was rather short with his answers now. "What happened to you not dropping me?"

"I didn't drop you. I just fell with you." Sans corrected, but the grumbles he got back from Papyrus weren't satisfactory.

"We could have died! We should have died!"

Sans shrugged, but something stopped him from doing so. He wondered just what he was laying on when his memory sparked to life. His backpack!

Removing the straps with aching limbs, Sans fought against his body and sat up. The first thing to hit him was his arms, which were screaming from him moving them so much. Then his legs, which felt shattered but thankfully not broken. He was surprised his spine wasn't hurting as much as the rest of his body; guess he had his backpack to thank.

"Can you move, Papyrus?" Sans asked, feeling his way through the dark back to his backpack. When his fingers recognized the texture of the military sack he then looked for the zipper, opening one compartment.

"Sort of." Papyrus groaned, then yelped after Sans believed he tried to get up. "I'm… I'm going to need a minute."

"Take your time." Sans pulled something out of his backpack, but when he realized it wasn't what he wanted he put it back inside. The ground was cold underneath him, but didn't feel like rock like Sans thought. He couldn't tell what it was though for the moment.

With a firm grasp, Sans smile came back to him to have finally found his flashlight. A quick click and the room they were in lit up, dust flying in and out of the beam of light like insects.

Shakily Sans then rose to his feet, sucking in a deep breath of air to all the pain screaming at him to lie down. "Alright bro, where are you?"

"Over here…" Sans pointed the flashlight to the ground, moving it around in hopes of finding Papyrus faster. What surprised him though was what they landed on; flowers.

Sans felt his eyebrows lift up as he then angled his flashlight upwards. How could flowers be growing down here without light?

"Sans, what are you doing?" Sans was snapped from his thinking to hear Papyrus speak.

He angled his flashlight back down, taking baby steps. "Sorry, bro. Just got caught up in my thoughts."

"You can do that later, when I'm not in searing pain!"

"Got it."

After a few waves of his flashlight, Sans quickly found Papyrus not too far from where he originally laid. The pain on his face was enough to make Sans limp over and get to his knees. "Aw man, Papyrus."

"I'm surprised you're standing." Papyrus looked pained when he spoke; his body sprawled out as if his back had been the first thing to hit the ground. Even with the flowers to cushion their fall. "Quite frankly I feel like broken glass."

"Well I had support." Sans pushed himself to get back up, limping back over to his backpack and dragging it over to Papyrus. He set his flashlight down upwards to give a dim casting over their area as Sans dug through some more pockets. "I should have packed some first-aid."

"Don't bother." Sans stopped moving when Papyrus laid a hand on his. He watched his taller brother grunt through his pain and sit up, letting out a weak yelp.

Sans held up his hands as if Papyrus would fall back over. "Don't push yourself, bro. I got this."

"You most certainly do not." Papyrus looked to Sans, noticing how his smile had all but disappeared.

Papyrus wasn't used to seeing his brother not smiling, which made him in return have to give it back. It was a pained one, but a smile at that. "If you want to make this up to me, then pay for my hospital bills when we get out of here."

Sans blinked. His confused expression only made Papyrus laugh, startling Sans back into the moment. He regained his usual grin, shaking his head and lowering his hands. "Jeez bro, you still have time to make jokes?"

"Oh it's not a joke." Papyrus still kept his smile after he was done laughing, watching Sans get back to his feet. He took the hand extended from Sans, slowly getting to his feet with a few weak squeaks.

When Papyrus was up and not intending to fall anytime soon, Sans moved his flashlight back up towards the ceiling. "I don't think we can come out the way we came."

"How are we going to get out of here then?" Papyrus turned his head to Sans, his mind slowly remembering that they had fallen to their supposed deaths. With this in mind, Papyrus' smile vanished immediately. "Sans, we fell down!"

"I think that's already been established." Sans remarked, giving his brother a quick glance before moving a little aways to angle his flashlight better. He seemed more interested in the never ending darkness above them.

"It doesn't sound like it!" Papyrus' rather loud voice boomed from the echoes. He swung his arms to the side, wincing from the terrible mistake. "We're trapped in the mountain! How long were we out? Who will come and rescue us? What about the party?!"

By this point Papyrus had his hands on his cheeks, quaking in his shoes. Sans, having not thought of the time dug through his backpack once more, pulling out an old pocket watch. "Hmm, we've been out for a few hours."

"How long?" Papyrus snatched the watch from Sans' loose fingers. If it were possible his eyebrows would have shot off of his head. "Two hours?! Sans!"

"Relax, bro." Sans extended his palm, which Papyrus roughly gave back the pocket watch only for him to pocket it away. He gave his brother a relaxed smile, to which he did not return. "I'm sure there's another hole close by. We'll just climb out and be home before midnight."

"And how are we going to explain how long we've been gone?" Papyrus asked, remembering the walkman on his pants. He clipped it off and investigated the surface, a little miffed to find a small crack. "And what about our awesome party? All the cool kids will show up and we won't be there!"

"Don't sweat it, Papyrus." Sans crouched down, struggling to pick up his backpack and place it on his back. He then staggered ahead of Papyrus, angling his flashlight beyond the flowers and what looked to be rock. "No use worrying about it here. When we get out you can just say we were fashionably late to our own party."

"Can we do that?" Papyrus seemed to contemplate the idea, watching Sans limp off before joining him.

Sans shrugged. "I don't see why we can't. It'll make you look cooler."

"Sans, that's brilliant!" Papyrus seemed to delight himself in the idea. Sans smiled to hear the enthusiasm in his voice, just so that he wasn't freaking out anymore. "In that case, let's be an hour late to our party! That'll make them love us when we strut in!"

"Sure thing, bro." Sans stopped when his flashlight hit something that wasn't rock. Both boys angled their heads up to see the columns before them, where a door way stood crumbling and in ruin.

"Papyrus…" Sans voice seemed to gain some of the enthusiasm Papyrus had before.

He turned as quickly as he could to his brother, who painfully crossed his arms. "Sans, I already told you. There's no such thing as monsters!"

"Then how do you want to explain this?" Sans eagerly looked ahead, shining his light inside. "What if we run into an actual monster?"

"I would rather not." Papyrus said glumly, before quickly adding. "Not that we'll find any! Because they don't exist!"

"Keep telling yourself that." Sans didn't seem to be paying attention to Papyrus' words, instead continuing without him. The notion of finding what he had been looking for was making his heart race, so much so that he didn't hear his brother's pleas to wait up.

Upon entering the room, Sans was surprised to find a small ray of light casting down from what appeared to be the outside world. It was dim, which reflected the time he had seen earlier that the sun was receding. However it was the small, golden flower in the middle of a patch of grass that he was occupied with.

Sans cautiously stepped forward, noting how much bigger the flower seemed than any he had been around. When he got close enough the flower appeared to grow features, such as small, black eyes and a pleasant smile. "Howdy!"

Sans recoiled and took a step back, but settled down when he realized that the flower spoke. He took a few steps closer, crouching down to get a better look at the flower. "You can talk?"

The flower giggled. "Of course I can talk! But you would know that if you were native to the Underground."

"Is that were we are?" Sans asked, very intrigued with this flower. He set his backpack down for a second, pulling out a small, leather journal and a pencil. He flipped it to an empty page, scribbling a few things down. "Would you say that you're a monster, flower?"

The flower beamed. "Yup! I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower!"

"I'm Sans." Sans introduced himself, now focused on making a small doodle on one of his pages. "A real monster, I knew you existed."

He looked up from his sketch. "You aren't all flowers, are you?"

Flowey looked away. "Oh heavens no! There's all different kinds of monsters that live down here! I'm sure you would love to meet them all, right?"

Sans nodded his head. Flowey gave him a smile, more eerie than the last. "Well then, how about I teach you the way to navigate through the Underground? That sure would be nice of me, right?"

Sans however didn't seem to pick up on Flowey's eerie smile, nodding his head. "You know, my brother was real scared of meeting a monster. I'm sure he would be pretty embarrassed right now."

"Yes, scared…" Flowey seemed to bite his lower lip, looking away. "I actually have something to give you to help you in your travels. Could you scoot a little closer?"

"Sure thing." Sans did as he was told, taking a few short steps forward. He would have taken more, had it not been for the stunning, paralyzing sensation that coursed through his body. His eyes grew wide, starring down at Flowey as it was the only thing he could do. His heart, it felt like it was being clenched.

Flowey's features transformed from sweet to frightening, his cheery voice dropping a few octets. "Did you really think I would be your friend, human? In this world, it's kill or be killed. And you have chosen poorly. Now DIE."

Sans wanted to speak but felt no words come to his mind, the clenching feeling on his heart growing tighter. His mouth drew open as he gasped for air, but nothing came. All he could hear was the insane laugh the flower was producing.

"Sans!"

From the darkness flew something odd, smacking into Flowey and making the plant wilt. Sans felt the pressure on his heart release and his body was able to move again. He dropped to his knees, gasping for air only to notice Papyrus' walkman on the pile of grass.

Not soon after he felt Papyrus grip his shoulders, standing behind him and leaning over. "Sans! Are you ok?"

"Yeah, am now…" Sans breathed. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and smiled to his brother. "Thanks, bro."

"You think… this is over?" Both boys looked to the dim light, where Flowey was rooted. He pulled himself back up, keeping an eerie chuckle to his demented voice. "This is only the beginning of what you will experience! You won't last a day down in the Underground, I guarantee it! Then you'll be wishing I was the one to have ended you instead of what lies ahead!"

"Oh yeah?" Papyrus sounded as if he was going to make a comeback, but his shaking and wavering voice prompted him otherwise. "Y-You and what army?"

"Army?" Flowey smiled, which quickly turned into a grin. "ARMY?" He then started to laugh, as if Papyrus had told him a really great inside joke.

When he was done laughing, he regarded the two with contempt. "Just remember what I said, chubby. Will you try to befriend everyone you meet? Or will you grow tired when everyone wants to murder you and just kill in frustration? I can't wait to see your choice!"

As if on cue, Flowey gave one last laugh before retreating into the grass beneath it.

Even when gasping for air earlier, Sans finally felt like he could breath. He took a deep breath, trying not to show the little fear that resided in his heart. "That was some flower, eh Papyrus?"

He turned to his brother with a smile, hoping to get a response. Anything. But all he saw was Papyrus holding onto his backpack, a look of absolute fear in his eyes. "Sans, I want to go home…"

Sans' smile faltered to see Papyrus like that. He felt some wise-cracks and suggestions come to his mind on how to snap Papyrus out of his fear, but he didn't really have the energy. Not after that.

Sans sighed, getting to his feet and pocketing his journal, switching back out for his flashlight. "I know, bro."

Papyrus got up with Sans, the two continuing their walk. When they passed the patch of grass, Papyrus grabbed his walkman and placed it back on his pant pocket.

Sans kept speaking, trying to drone out the deafening silence that lingered in the darkness. "Don't worry, Papyrus. We'll be out of here before you know it, dancing to your mixtape and having a great party. We'll even eat that spaghetti you made and watch those movies you like into the morning."

Papyrus nodded his head, but didn't say anything. Sans thought he would have at least made a comment on how awesome the party would be, but he just kept silent.

Sans stopped and waited for Papyrus to catch up. When he was close enough, he grasped his hand, squeezing it gently. "We'll be ok, bro."

Papyrus seemed surprised by Sans' kind gesture, noticing the warm smile Sans gave him. His eyes were pained.

Papyrus didn't react for a second, then squeezed his hand back and smiled. "We'll be ok."

Sans nodded his head, then angled his flashlight forward. Before them was another great doorway, to which both boys stepped through and deeper into the Underground.