Level 7

"Sans?" The short brother was caught off guard when he heard his name. His nose sucked in a breath of air as his left eye fluttered open from being so sleepy.

"Hmm?"

"Sans!" That wasn't Mary or Carrie's voice, in fact the voice was so familiar it startled Sans awake when he recognized it.

His left eye shot open, and there before him was Papyrus.

His tall brother loomed over his sitting figure, a look of concern on his face while he held a red umbrella. He looked to be on the verge of tears. "Sans."

"Papyrus!" Sans would have flung himself at his brother, if not for the weight on his legs reminding him he was with children. He lightly shook them awake as Carrie and Mary woke themselves up.

"Hmm? Is it morning?"

With both girls moving off Sans, it gave the brother the room to jump up and hug Papyrus. Papyrus stumble backwards from the additional weight being thrown at him, letting go of his umbrella and eventually falling. "Sans!"

Both girls flinched when they hit the ground as the red umbrella fell gracefully to the grass before them. Sans was in a fit of laughter as he laid on his brother, who tried using all his strength to get his heavy brother off. "Sans! Get off me!"

Sans didn't reply at first, simply getting off of his brother. Papyrus stood back up immediately, checking his clothes which were covered in grass bits, mud, and drenched in cold water. "And now my clothes are all wet and dirty! Out of all the times to dog pile me, this was the worst time, Sans! It's not like I have other clothes to wear!"

Sans merely gave Papyrus a goofy grin, which was when he paused and noticed San's right eye. His anger disappeared, hands dropping. "Sans, your eye."

"Oh, this?" Sans didn't lose with grin, in fact it only grew. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Like heck I won't worry about it!" Mary and Carrie turned to one another as they watched Papyrus get back on his knees, inspecting his brother closer.

Papyrus gave a resounding huff as Sans kept giggling. "Honestly, Sans. I leave you to go and rescue some spiders and now you have a black eye! What would you do without-!"

Papyrus didn't get to finish his words before being pulled into a tight hug. His cheeks turned red from the sudden affection, and he could feel his brother's hands shaking when he held him. "Sans?"

"I thought I lost you." It was faint, but Papyrus heard his brother's whisper. His brother's body shook, and Papyrus decided to give in and return the hug.

"I'm right here, Sans." Papyrus calmly responded, closing his eyes as Sans took a moment. "I'm right here…"

As the two brothers embraced, Mary felt herself turn to look at her sister. Carrie did the same, with tears lining her small eyes.

Mary saw this and moved a step over, grabbing Carrie's hand and holding it firmly in hers. Carrie was shocked for a moment, but didn't pull her hand away. Instead she stepped closer as well, taking in the moment.

It was a few minutes before Sans moved again. He stood back up while wiping his left eye, something Papyrus did as well. However Papyrus seemed more focused on Mary and Carrie than he was before. "Sans, who are they?"

Papyrus gave Sans a look that asked, 'don't tell me you're saving them too' to which Sans laughed at. He wiped away an extra tear, shaking his head. "Nah, bro. These two kids wanted to help me come find you."

"I'm Mary!" Mary stepped forward, her hands extended out as she pulled Carrie along with her. "And this is my sister, Carrie!"

Papyrus gave a nervous wave. "Hello… bunny children."

Papyrus turned to Sans, pointing at his jacket. "And the jacket?"

Sans put his hands in the pockets. "It was a gift. How does it look?"

Before Papyrus could respond Sans cut him off. "Actually, I have a better question. What were you doing so far away from Snowdin?"

Sans eye got a little more serious, still keeping his smile. "Were you trying to scare me? Get back at me for going off with the spiders?"

"Please, Sans. I'm not that childish." Papyrus folded his arms, which was all Sans needed to know Papyrus wasn't lying. Not that he could.

Papyrus threw his right hand into the air while his left hand still laid on his arm. "I was merely freezing in the snow, minding my own business. When suddenly, a noise from outside caught my attention! Naturally being the brave man I am-"

"Meaning you hid until you knew it was safe to come out."

"Sans!" Papyrus turned and threw his hands to the ground, as Sans looked away with a grin on his face. Mary and Carrie also giggled, which made Papyrus turn to them. "Don't laugh!"

"Aw, don't pick on the kids, Papyrus." Sans still kept his grin. "Keep going, I'm listening."

Gesturing an arm, the group started moving again down the tunnel of never-ending rain. Papyrus grumbled, but eventually got back to his normal tone. "Anyways, I went outside to investigate and found something written in the snow!"

Papyrus frowned, as if he was trying real hard to remember something. "It was a really weird message, something about mews and kissing? Even with my brilliance I couldn't solve such a riddle so I headed back to the shack, but was greeted to another snow message. This was one was about a 'mewmew' and 'the grave kiss'?"

Papyrus' face seemed to reflect his confusion, even Sans didn't know how to respond. "There were a lot more the closer I got to the shack, until I found this at the doorway."

Papyrus dug through his pocket with his walkman, pulling out a black pager. Sans took it from Papyrus' hands, looking it over. "I picked it up to see if someone had dropped it and it suddenly shook with the words, 'RUN' in all caps and lots of exclamation marks!"

"So you ran?" Sans asked, giving the pager back to Papyrus.

He placed it back in his pocket. "Well, I thought for a second it might have been you paging me, so yeah. But uh… I kind of remembered you don't have a pager."

Sans raised his eyebrow. "Who would tell you to run?"

"Oh!" Both Papyrus and Sans looked down to Mary, who was hopping up and down to get their attention. "A couple of Royal Guards came through the area before we found you. They were searching for humans."

"Oh?" The notion of just missing the Royal Guard sent shivers up Papyrus' spine, but Sans was still confused.

His eyebrow furrowed. "Someone is helping us."

"Who would help us though?" Papyrus placed a hand to his chin when a thought occurred to him. He turned to Sans quickly. "Do you think it's the same person who paid for our room?"

"Maybe." Sans shrugged, though he didn't really know how to feel at the moment. He wanted to be grateful, but after Flowey and Sagiv, Sans was becoming less trustworthy of the monsters here.

Soon the rain started to disappear, and with it their tunnel of darkness had opened to dim light. Mary and Carrie, who knew what was coming ran on ahead, while Sans and Papyrus kept at their leisurely walk.

When exiting the mouth of the cave, Papyrus and Sans couldn't help but stop. Papyrus let his hand fall with the umbrella. "No way."

Beyond them was a sea of glittering, blue rocks that formed the sky and painted a picture of stars. Vast lands stretched beyond the little walkway of rock they had been traveling, and in the distance rose a magnificent castle, shadowed in darkness with only the lights from windows to outline silhouettes.

"Asgore's castle…" Sans breathed, the sight something to behold.

"Who's castle?" Papyrus asked, his attention gone from the scene before them.

"Asgore; the King of the Monsters." Sans turned to look at his brother, occasionally glancing at the land before them. "Mary and Carrie said that the only way out is through the barrier in his castle."

"The barrier?" Papyrus gave a questionable stare at Sans. "And you're telling me we have to go through the castle of the King who wants our souls?"

"Afraid so." Sans shrugged. "The barrier is what keeps the monsters from reaching the surface. Seven human souls can break the barrier, but a powerful human soul can escape without breaking it."

"So all we need to do is just get there." Papyrus' face mirrored the fear that was rising in his chest, his eyes wandering back to the silhouette. "Past the Royal Guard and probably hundreds of other guards..."

Sans was caught off guard when Papyrus started to laugh. No, it was a nervous chuckle, for the way Papyrus' eyes screamed it made Sans afraid. "All those stories of people never returning. This is why, isn't it? They got trapped down here and their souls were taken from them. Nyeh heh heh…"

Sans contemplated telling his brother what Sagiv told him. That so far they had collected five human souls and if they were captured then the monsters would go free.

Sans quickly stomped out that idea from how frightened Papyrus was acting, placing a hand on his chest as his shoulder was too far out of reach. "Hey, bro. We have each other, remember? Those other people probably didn't have someone else with them. But I know that we'll make it."

"You really think so?" It wasn't with a positive attitude when Papyrus asked his question. He turned to look Sans in the eye. He was genuinely asking him.

Sans wasn't expecting that hopelessness in his brother's eyes, but a fire burned within him to rip it out. "I promise. We will make it, together. And no Royal Guard or King is going to separate us."

Sans' words seemed to have an impact on Papyrus' mood when he gave his brother a soft smile back. "Yeah, we'll make it together."

But as Papyrus started walking off to continue their quest, Sans felt himself stuck. His heart felt as though he had jabbed a stake in it, knowing how heavy that lie was.

"Well, you coming Sans?" Sans gazed ahead and saw Papyrus waiting for him, umbrella back over his head even if it wasn't raining.

Sans smiled. "Heading your way, bro."

"I swear your dramatic pauses are getting longer and longer." Papyrus teased, ruffling Sans' hair when he walked over. Together the two called back over Mary and Carrie, who had decided to rest on a nearby boulder and look at the castle, and all four of them entered back into the mouth of another cave.

After depositing their umbrellas in another trashcan, they soon were met with a tall wall of rock and above they assumed was their path forward.

Sans looked to the wall that was just height-level with Papyrus' head. "So. What now?"

Papyrus took it upon himself to flash a smile, then proudly rest a hand on his chest. "Never fear, brother!"

He glanced to Mary and Carrie, adding a quick,"-And monsters. I, the Great Papyrus, can easily scale this wall and then pull you up!"

"You? Pull me up?" Sans judged Papyrus' skinny arms before looking to his pot belly. "I don't think you can."

"A non-believer!" Papyrus eyed his brother. "Watch and be amazed, Sans!"

Hands grabbing the top, Sans nearly forgot how strong his brother was after he lifted himself up and over the wall. Papyrus took a moment to stand up triumphantly with his hands on his hips, giving off his signature laugh. Now all that was missing was the big, red cap billowing behind him and a sun to shine light down upon his magnificent being.

"Nyeh heh heh! I am amazing." Papyrus waited for applause but was disheartened to not hear anything.

"Well, beggars can't be choosers." He then got down on his knees, extending a hand for Sans. "Come, Sans! Join me up here in glory!"

"Heh, sure thing, bro." Sans removed his backpack first, handing it to Papyrus to which he pulled up and set down on the nearby wall. Next Sans gave Papyrus his hand, but Sans was less eager to give Papyrus all his weight. He was afraid the next thing he would see would be Papyrus falling down on him.

Papyrus pulled back on Sans' hand as hard as he could, which in turn made Sans yelp from below. "Papyrus! Erk, stop!"

"I can do this!" Papyrus grunted as he kept continuing to pull, with Sans trying to keep himself from falling and in turn pulling Papyrus with him.

"You two are funny."

"Huh?" Papyrus was alerted to hear the children's voices so close, his head turning to see them standing on the edge of the cliff with him.

"How did you get up here?" Papyrus let go of Sans' hand in confusion, but turned back to the bottom when he heard Sans fall to the ground. "Sans?"

Sans threw up a thumb from where he laid. "I'm ok."

He then sat up when he heard Mary and Carrie laugh. Mary pointed over to the left side of the wall. "We just used our magic, silly."

"Magic?" The word seemed foreign to Papyrus, but upon inspecting the left wall a deep frown emerged on his face.

Sans looked over as well, noticing that the solid wall was not wall any longer. Now stone stairs grew out from the side and stopped at the top of the cliff, where Mary and Carrie waited.

"We can carve things out of stone." Mary proudly stated, then showed a demonstration of her power by punching the wall near her.

Papyrus screeched and backed up when a spike of rock came jutting out of the wall and almost into his eye, to which Mary and Carrie seemed to giggle at.

The rock soon returned to the wall, where Mary decided to put her hands on her hips and mimic Papyrus' earlier pose. "'Nyeh heh heh'! I, the great Mary, am awesome!"

"Me too!" Carrie decided to join in as well, throwing her arms up into the air as Mary did the same. They repeated Papyrus' laugh until Sans had walked himself up the stairs and over to where his backpack rest.

He could only laugh to see how red Papyrus' cheeks were. "They're just kids. Let them have it."

Papyrus responded by folding his arms. "I do not sound like that."

Sans giggled at how flustered his brother was, eye looking back to the darkness they came from. He didn't know why he turned in that direction, but he was eternally grateful when he did for he saw something horrifying.

A flash of green light.

"Get down!" Sans tackled Papyrus to the ground just as a giant, green arrow zipped through the air and where Papyrus used to stand.

Mary and Carrie ducked their heads and screamed while Papyrus got his bearings. "Wh-what was that?!"

"Sagiv." Sans' tone was serious, grabbing his backpack and motioning wildly with his arm. "Everyone, run!"

Mary, Carrie and Papyrus didn't fight Sans on the order, following him down the dark tunnel where it exited them onto split docks, where one was placed just underneath the one they ran on.

"Sagiv? Who's Sagiv?" Papyrus asked Sans as he easily took the lead.

"The parrot guy?" It took Papyrus a few seconds to remember who Sagiv was.

When he remembered who Sagiv was though his whole mood went to hell. "We're going to die!"

"P-Papyrus!" Papyrus and Sans screeched to a halt and turned their bodies to the noise. Mary and Carrie were struggling to keep up, panting and ultimately still fatigued from all the walking earlier.

"There they are!" Sans and Papyrus' eyes then trained onto the dock below them, fear rising in their chests as Sagiv and his two Royal Guards came from an unknown tunnel.

Sagiv squawked when he saw Sans, eyes narrowed and dangerous. "Clearly I underestimated you and your obsessive weight. I won't make that mistake again."

Sans left eye grew wide as Sagiv quickly whipped out his bow and in the next second a bolt of green zipped right at him. The boards beneath Sans' feet glowed green, and in lunging himself to the side had managed to dodge the arrow that flew through the wood and into the mountain.

Sans continued this game of hopping from one foot to another, then throwing himself from one end of the board to another until Mary and Carrie caught up.

They hunched over to take a break. "I don't… understand… why… is Mr. Sagiv… attacking you…?"

Their lungs froze however when the ground beneath them lit up in green as Sagiv took aim. He apparently hadn't seen the children, but one of his other men did as he pushed into him. "Sir, those are monster children!"

"What?!" But Sagiv's hand slipped just as the guard smashed into him, the arrows flying upwards towards Mary and Carrie.

"Girls!" Sans cried, his feet already responding to the call to move towards them. But from how far he had danced to not get skewered left him too far away to actually do anything.

Both bunnies stood frozen from fear until another figure grabbed them and rolled away from the danger zone. It was Papyrus, who held each bunny under his arms just as the green arrows zipped through the board and into the air. They didn't disappear this time however; instead they exploded into hundreds of smaller, white arrows as they rained down.

Sans was far enough away to not get hit, but he had to watch his brother protect the two girls with his back as arrow after arrow stabbed into him. "PAPYRUS!"

It wasn't until the storm of arrows was finished that Papyrus weakly stood back up, still holding both girls in his arms. They were frightened beyond belief, crying into his chest while Papyrus gave his brother a weak smile. "I-I'm ok!"

But Sans could see the small rings of blood start to pool on his back, his fear only escalating from there.

"How dare you."

Sans and Papyrus' attention went below again, where the Royal Guard stood. If Sagiv wasn't upset earlier he was seething now. "First the spiders, now you're kidnapping innocent monster children? I will mount your heads over my mantel!"

Sans was about to proclaim the need to run but Papyrus had already beat him, with Sans struggling to keep up for the first few seconds. Because of the damage Papyrus had taken he ran slower than usual, but it helped Sans keep a good pace with him. Together they swerved, halted, dodged and flung themselves down the board-walk where several times they had to turn around due to a dead end.

Arrows shot through the air in multiple sets, though they didn't explode unlike earlier. Sans believed it was because Sagiv didn't want to accidentally hit the children, which he was eternally thankful for.

He just didn't wish Mary and Carrie had to be apart of this.

"Stop dodging and just give up!" Sagiv yelled, who kept up with them easily as they ran through the maze of docks. "You will pay for your crimes against monster-kind!"

"I got this, Sir!" One of the guards had stopped to unclip a few, multi-colored bombs from a ring around their suit.

Sagiv noticed what the guard was doing, eyes growing wild. "Wait, not the bombs!"

But Sagiv was too late to stop the guard, who threw the bombs up into the air and at Sans and Papyrus. Unlike the other arrows, the bombs were just a bit faster and without warning the two crashed into the spheres.

An explosion of rainbow colors and smoke erupted and dispelled around the whole area, caking everything in its shroud.

Sans suddenly found it hard to breathe, coughs coming out of his mouth more than actual breaths. His body fell to his knees, as Sans gripped his throat, trying desperately to breathe. Something inside of him seemed to spark, and with it a fiery sensation coursed through his bones and clung. His skin felt like it was melting off of his body, and with a cry of pain Sans angled his head to the sky.

His left eye was having a seizure from how much it twitched. It burned as though a trail of fire was emitting from his left eye socket, unable to close it while tears flowed down his cheek. Had Sans stopped screaming he would have heard Papyrus yelling in pain as well.

If not for the will to continue, Sans would have collapsed right then and there. But he forced himself to move once the pain started to subside, even if his head throbbed like his skull was aching to burst out of his skin.

He staggered out of the cloud of colors, his balance leaving him. "Papyrus? Papyrus!"

Sans turned back to the cloud when he didn't see Papyrus in front of him, though he was relieved when his silhouette appeared. Papyrus soon burst through the cloud, still caring Mary and Carrie who were coughing and sneezing like crazy.

Papyrus looked fine when he stumbled over to Sans, head hanging low. "Sans?"

"I'm right here!" Sans directed Papyrus over to where he was, whose head suddenly sprang up. In looking at his brother Sans couldn't help but gasp and place one foot back. "Y-Your eyes!"

"What?" Papyrus seemed confused, staring at his brother with bright, orange eyes. They seemed to glow from how dark the room was, locking onto Sans eyes as well. His face mimicked Sans'. "Your eye!"

"What?" Sans touched his left eye, which had burned the most and still had a lingering sensation. It was also at this time that Sans realized his black eye had healed, now being able to see out of both of his eyes. He wondered if his eyes were orange too, but explanations would have to wait. "We-we need to get out of here."

Papyrus nodded his head, then both took off again. Back at the cloud, Sagiv and his men staggered out of the smoke, coughing and expelling attacks from their bodies left and right.

Sagiv turned and smacked the guard who threw the bombs on the helmet. "You idiot! Those are only for monsters who have magic, not humans!"

The guard coward under Sagiv's stern gaze, before it shifted over to Sans and Papyrus escaping. "Get to the top and get those children away from them! I'll stay down here."

"R-Right sir!" The two royal guards ran back from where they came, with Sagiv starting to get control of his powers again. He took aim. "I'm sick of this chase!"

"Sagiv's back." Papyrus glumly surmised while Sans panted in following.

"I can see that." The more Sans ran, the less his body hurt until Sans couldn't even remember why he was hurting. He didn't know why, but energy seemed to surge through his body, as if he had downed five energy drinks.

He almost felt… powerful.

Papyrus also seemed to get the same buzz, his strides fuller in what felt like a faster speed for both. When his eyes went to Mary and Carrie, a feeling of guilt washing over him. "Papyrus."

"Hm?" Papyrus looked down at what Sans was hinting it, understanding what he was saying.

Mary and Carrie had just gotten control of their sneezes when they felt a sudden jolt and both were placed on the dock. Once loose Carrie scrambled behind her sister, but Mary was confused. "What are you doing? We need to run!"

"Sorry, kid." Sans bent down for a second as he picked up her hat, ruffling a tuff of fur on her head. "You aren't safe with us. It's us that need to flee, not you."

"What… what are you saying." Sans had to look away when small tears formed in Mary's eyes. She puffed her cheeks out. "You can't leave us behind! We're a team, remember?"

Little sobs racked Mary's body to which she brought a hand up to her eyes to rub them with. "I… I don't understand."

Carrie moved beside her sister to try and comfort her, but Mary just shoved her away. Carrie took cautious steps back before looking at Sans and Papyrus, her eyes tear-filled as well. "Where will you go?"

Sans gave a weak smile. "Wherever we can."

"Children!" Sans got back to his feet when he noticed the two guards running towards them. Their time was up.

"They'll take you home, I'm sure of it. Be safe, you two. And thanks." Sans gave both of them a wink and a false smile as he felt Papyrus take his arm.

Mary looked back up when she noticed Sans and Papyrus take off, chasing after them. "NO!"

She didn't get far though before one of the guards caught her, getting on their knees to hold her back. Carrie didn't move as she watched the other guard come behind her, but they both watched Mary struggle. "You can't leave me! We're a team!"

Her sobs had transformed into a full-blown cry. "You promised... you promised to tell me what you wished for!"

Sans had to force himself to not look back, but Mary's cries were almost impossible to escape. Papyrus gave his brother a weary glance. "Do you uh… want to talk about it?"

"Not now, bro." The floor in front of them glowed bright green and both had to jerk to a stop just as a barrage of arrows flew up. Now that the children were gone, they had nothing protecting them from Sagiv's attacks.

Papyrus and Sans watched the arrows fly into the air, shake, then burst into a million arrows that came down upon them.

Both boys escaped most of the arrows but were still hit by a few, continuing their run through the maze. Eventually the docks below them disappeared and with it they came to a dead-end.

"A dead-end?!" Papyrus held his head, looking down at the black abyss before them.

They turned around only to feel a shock go through the boards, giving them both the bad feeling that Sagiv was on his way.

Papyrus felt this was the best time to scream while Sans backed up, but stopped when he almost fell. They were trapped between a cliff and their murderer.

A buzzing noise came from Papyrus' pocket, to which the teenager stopped screaming and stuck a hand in his pocket. "Oh what now?!"

It was the pager that was humming, though instead of buzzing once it acted like it was forever stuck in that mode. Sans angled his head up to see the message on the pager, or rather the constant flashing of new messages:

Jump!

Jump!

You're going to be ok!

JUMP!

"Are they serious?!" Papyrus asked, stuffing the pager back in his pocket. "As if we're going to trust them!"

"They did save you, right?" Sans questioned, before he noticed a glowing green from the darkness. With it Sagiv emerged from the dark. He looked as though he was done talking, having seven arrows lined in his bow.

"We're dead." Papyrus said with a swallow of saliva, all color draining from his face.

Sans eyed the chasm below them, then back at Sagiv who was quickly approaching. Did they have another choice?

Roughly grabbing Papyrus' hand, Sans closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and leapt off into the black. He could hear Papyrus come with by his screams, and could only hope that this fall would be softer than the last one they had.

Fun Fact: This chapter and the last one were originally one chapter, but I decided to cut in half from how huge it had gotten.