Level 8

Soft sobs was all it took to bring Sans back to that moment in time, when he was just a young boy of eight. His head turned to see Papyrus crying at the front of the table, and immediately Sans knew he was back at Papyrus' 10th birthday party.

He thought today was going to be a great day. Papyrus' birthday just so happened to land on a Saturday, so they didn't have to go through school or wake up early to celebrate. He could remember vividly the plans Papyrus made months in advance, how they were going to wake up and play video games all morning. Then, it would be ice cream and cookies for lunch to hold them off until all of Papyrus' friends would arrive for the party, where lots of fun games would be held and Papyrus would be the center of attention. Finally, their mom and dad would bring in the cake and everyone would sing 'Happy Birthday' and when the party was over the whole family would come together to make spaghetti for dinner and watch movies until it was time to go to bed.

The morning started off great. Papyrus beat Sans in most of the games they played, though Sans would occasionally get a score when Papyrus let him win. They had cookies and munched on mint chocolate chip ice cream for lunch, where both promptly got nauseous from so many sweets.

But then the afternoon rolled around, and the doorbell didn't ring. Papyrus assumed they were just being late on purpose and waited by the door for a few minutes. Then ten minutes, half an hour, an hour, two hours. No one came.

And now Sans found himself sitting at the nicely decorated table, which was adorned in a plastic red with the racecar cake sitting at the end. He had dressed so nicely for this day too, wearing his green turtleneck and black pants that his mom loved him in so.

"I can't believe you."

Sans turned his head where his ears picked up a conversation. It was his mother, trying to hush her livid voice in the kitchen. She stood in the shadows farther in the back so as to not let Papyrus or Sans see her, but Sans knew from past experience what their mother looked like when upset.

"You were supposed to come home three hours ago… No, no don't give me that excuse. This is your son's birthday. Your oldest son. I'm sure your-…. Don't you dare say, 'I had to take it' you take every case! Let someone else handle it for once!... I'm being unreasonable? How about asking your sons how many memories they have of their father being for them!...No, there is a difference between providing for the family and being in their lives!"

Sans gripped the back of his chair when his mother's voice rose, though after a moment of pause it was back to its whisper. "I have another call. But I swear, when you get home Raviath we are having a long talk. Or you know what? Don't come home tonight at all!"

He watched silently as his mother hung up on the phone call, the mouth of her silhouette moving but no words coming out. She put the phone to her ear again, her tone more professional. "This is Keshika… What... you can't be-… but, today is my son's birthday. Isn't there someone… yes, I know what my job is… I'll be there soon."

The phone moved away from their mother's ears, and Sans could feel his stomach drop. Their mother moved through the kitchen as she grabbed her purse on the counter where she left it, before entering the dining room near the front of the house.

"Mom?" Papyrus had been crying so much that is almost surprised Sans to hear him speak. Keshika froze as if her heart was caught in thorns, turning to give Papyrus a light smile. "Are you leaving?"

"Unfortunately." Keshika tried to keep the look of sadness off her face. "But I promise it won't be long; I'll be home tonight to make dinner, ok?"

"You're leaving too?" Papyrus' mouth wiggled with the threat of him crying again, eyes pleading. "You can't leave! Today is my birthday!"

"I know, Papyrus. I know today is your birthday." Keshika's eyes darted away, in fact they stayed off of Papyrus and more so to the front door. "But mommy needs to work to make a living. I… I promise, I will get you another present tonight. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"I don't want another present!" Papyrus' voice rose, while a few tears streamed down his already soaked cheeks. "I want my friends to come to my party! I want to celebrate my birthday with my family; my parents!"

"I know, Papyrus." Sans noticed Keshika's fingers get tense as they started to ball into fists. Her tone got more irritated. "But sometimes we can't always be here on special days like this. Do you like the house you live in? The toys you get? That's because your father and I work hard to provide for you two. It's not easy living this nicely without having to put in a few more hours."

"I don't care about the house!" Papyrus shouted back, getting just as irritated as his mother was. "I just want us to be a family!"

Keshika's tone snapped. "Well sometimes we have to stop thinking about ourselves and what we want! It's not always about you!"

An uneasy, deafening silence fell over the dining room. Sans eyes couldn't have been bigger to see their mother turn on them, and in that moment of silence, she too realized what she had just done. Papyrus had gone cold before the tears resurfaced along with jerking sobs.

Keshika brought her hands up and looked as though she would move over to Papyrus and comfort him; that she would apologize and stay. But then her eyes noticed the clock behind Papyrus, and her first words were a quick. "I have to leave."

Without another word Keshika sped walk over to the front door, grabbing her shoes and overcoat. Sans could remember Papyrus jumping up from his seat as he raced after their mother, trying to grab any piece of clothing he could to keep her there. But she merely pushed him off and hid herself behind the front door, where she promptly stayed and held the door shut while Papyrus banged on it and tried to force it open.

Eventually Papyrus gave up and slowly let his body slide down the door, hands clinging to the front door as he sobbed his little heart out. Sans' felt as though he had just witnessed a murder, as he watched his mother's silhouette disappear from the window near the front door, leaving Papyrus to be a broken mess.

Sans didn't know what he was feeling at the moment, his hand fluttering over to his chest. But something inside of him grew dark, and that night when he tucked himself in he heard his mother knock on the door.

She called his name but Sans would not respond until he saw the dark silhouettes of her feet disappear from beneath the door. He then stood up and opened the door, noticing an innocent present at his feet. A white note card read, 'I'm sorry.'

Picking up the gift, Sans closed the door and walked over to the window of his room, opening it as silently as he could before letting the present smash onto the ground.

Tiny drops of water fell onto Sans' face, slowly bringing him out of his dream world and back into reality. His first thought was why he was having so many dreams about the past, but then the second thought to occur was how wet he felt.

Sitting up, Sans soon realized why he was completely soaked. He was three inches deep in still water, and everything but his stomach and face were drenched in the cold water. The world around him seemed to be amassed in water, as more waterfalls came down from the heavens to supply the slowly moving liquid. Piles upon piles of garbage were scattered across the water, and occasionally Sans would see some item or trash fall down one of the columns of water.

Sans also realized right after he sat up was that his backpack wasn't on his back. He turned his head around as he scanned the watery world, praying it hadn't floated away while he was out.

What baffled Sans the most though was how he felt. He figured after falling for a good twenty seconds before he blacked out would probably have left some bruises or him aching like when they fell into the Underground. But his body moved like it was supposed to, in fact, he felt like he had gotten a great night of sleep.

"Nngh."

Papyrus' groan led Sans' eyes over to a small patch of ground higher than the water could reach, where Papyrus promptly laid. He was in the middle of a patch of golden flowers, which probably broke his fall better than Sans'. Again with those flowers…

Sans shuddered as he was once more reminded of Flowey, quickly pushing that thought out of his head. He then pushed himself up and out of the water, though that was a little harder as the water clung to his clothes and made it that much heavier.

"Papyrus." Sans spoke, taking big steps over to where his brother slept. He took a step up and onto the flowers before getting to his knees, shaking Papyrus. "Come on, bro. Wake up."

"Mmm, is it time for school?" Papyrus' eyelashes fluttered before he fully awoke. Sans could feel a part inside of him still flinch when he was greeted to those bright, orange eyes.

The same eyes moved to look at Sans. After a second, they narrowed. "You threw us off the docks."

Sans let out a sigh of relief, as he regained his smile. "Heh, seemed like the better option."

"Oh yes, let's just jump to our deaths! Again!" Papyrus sat up while Sans just shrugged his shoulders, deciding to stretch a few stiff muscles.

His eyes quickly scanned Sans back. "Where's your backpack?"

Sans gave a half-hearted shrug, smile fading. "I uh, lost it."

"You lost it?!" Sans flinched slightly from how loud Papyrus was, who resigned himself to slap a hand on his face. "Great. Juuuust great."

"It shouldn't be too far, bro. Relax." Sans' eyes quickly darted to the trash world around them, hoping that their backpack would be just a few steps away.

Papyrus eyed his brother as if to deny that thought while he was giving his right arm a good stretch. It seemed like he was having a hard time trying to form a sentence. "So uh… do you…know…"

In unable to speak it, Papyrus just decided to stop the stretching and point to his own left eye. Sans sat there confused for a moment before he realized Papyrus was mentioning his eye. "I can't really see my own eye, Papyrus."

"Er, right." Papyrus dropped his finger as his eyes averted away. In doing so Papyrus had the chance to really take in the new world around them. "Wow, this place is a dump."

"I think it is a dump." Sans got to his feet as Papyrus did the same, though Papyrus was reluctant to leave dry land.

Sans however figured you can't get anymore wet when you're drenched and stepped back into the water. Though he did feel a shudder crawl up his spine from how cold the water was. "We better keep moving."

"To where?" Papyrus followed slowly after Sans, who moved over to one of the garbage piles. He pulled his foot back out when the water soaked his shoe and crept to this foot, then swallowed his pride and plunged the foot in. He physically shook and hissed in a breath. "We've literally been trashed!"

"I bet there's a way out." Sans heard Papyrus sloshing through the water but didn't turn to look at him, instead he was more focused on the garbage that surrounded him. There were obvious things that should have been thrown away, like candy wrappers and cardboard boxes. But then there were stranger things, like unopened DVD cases, discolored toys, a lot of old, retro clothing, a skateboard with a wheel missing, several old, torn books and various other things.

A faded green book caught Sans' attention as he had to stand on his tip-toes to grab it. When he grasped the book he innocently flipped through it, and it wasn't long before he started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Papyrus turned from the garbage pile he was rummaging through, which was directly across from Sans'.

Sans turned to look at his brother, his trademark grin on his face. "Hey, Papyrus. What did the southern fish say to his friends at their backyard party?"

Papyrus gave Sans a questionable stare. "Uh… I don't know. 'I'm so glad you all could make it, now let's enjoy this cheese platter I made?'?"

Sans grin grew wider as if what he was about to say was a sin. "Nope. It's 'Time to break out the gill'."

Papyrus face fell, as if Sans had just cursed at him. An audible groan accompanied his features, to which Sans started snickering. "Ugh, that was terrible."

"Really?" Sans tried to hold back his laughter, eagerly looking to the book while biting his lower lip. "Because I thought it was 'pun'-tastic."

"Sans!" Sans couldn't help but burst into laughter, Papyrus never having seen his brother laugh so hard. It only made him more annoyed though, as he turned back around. "I hope you had your laugh because you're not keeping that book!"

Papyrus stared harshly at the garbage pile, as if waiting for a non-existent wind to blow through his hair. "That book is unholy."

"Yeah, yeah." Sans stood back up when he could get control of his breathing again. He fondly held the book in his hands before pocketing it in one of the jacket sleeves for reading later. "I'm putting it away, don't worry."

"Good." As Papyrus rummaged through his pile something shimmering seemed to catch his glance. He pushed away a few broken toys and failed exercise dvds before picking the item up in question.

"What did you find?" Sans could hear the rummaging but only turned his head when Papyrus didn't respond.

"Hey, you gone deaf on me?" Sans trudged over to where Papyrus stood, about to tease his brother more when he suddenly saw those orange eyes being reflected in a broken mirror.

Papyrus seemed to notice this too, eyes wide as he had his fingers close to his eyelashes, inspecting further. "Are these…?"

He then turned to Sans, dumbfounded and dazed. "Is this…?"

Sans sighed. "Yeah. They're real, bro."

Papyrus didn't speak, only going back to the gaze of the mirror to stare at his reflection more. Soon he muttered something. "I don't know if I should be amazed or freaking out."

"Try amazed." Sans winked. "There's less screaming in that option."

Papyrus gave Sans a nasty glare when he made light of their conversation. "This isn't funny, Sans. Something happened to us!"

"Relax, Papyrus." Sans gave his older brother a comforting smile, which Papyrus did not return.

"How about you relax when you see yourself." In a bit of anger Papyrus thrust the mirror in Sans' direction. Sans didn't have a second to spare before he was faced with himself, and the glowing, blue eye staring back at him.

His smile fell faster than he could blink.

As if in a trance Sans moved closer to the mirror, inspecting his left eye more intently. His right eye looked perfectly fine, still keeping that warm, brown color that his father had. But his left eye. Now it was an icy, piercing blue and Sans could have swore in this dim lighting that it was glowing.

Sort of like his mother's, except the glowing part.

"Not funny now, is it?" Papyrus asked, wearing a bit of a smug grin as if he had won the argument.

"Funny? No." Sans placed his hand on the top of the mirror chunk, before moving it down so Papyrus could see his face.

He wore his same, silly grin. "But Awesome? Definitely."

Papyrus' face got warm. "Sans!"

"What?" Sans shrugged while Papyrus put the mirror back in the garbage pile. "I can finally say I have hetero-colored eyes."

He then pointed to Papyrus' eyes. "I'm pretty sure your shiners will get you a lot of attention back at school, too."

Embarrassed Papyrus lifted a hand to his right eye, his cheeks growing red. "Sans, you're not taking this seriously! That bomb had something in it that did this to us! What if-!"

"What? We get crazy hair too?" Sans swaggered back over to his garbage pile, intent now on finding some other cool things in the stack. "If that happens I want my hair to be pink."

"What if it turns us into monsters."

Sans froze. He wasn't expecting to hear such a dark tone in Papyrus' voice, turning back over to where his brother stood. He didn't look happy with his newfound revelation, and Sans knew all too late that poking fun of it wasn't the smartest move.

Sans let out a nervous chuckle, trying not to let Papyrus see the lingering thought start to take root in his mind. "Hey, that's a bit crazy to suggest. I'm sure this is just an after effect of-"

"'Never forget your origin.'"

Sans couldn't have become more paralyzed when Papyrus kept speaking, how serious he was at the moment. "That's what mom used to say to us when we were younger, remember? 'Never forget your origins. We have monster blood running deep inside of us.'"

The more Papyrus talked, the deeper the seed of doubt was planted. He tried to keep himself from not showing the imminent fear overtaking his soul, how true Papyrus' words rang.

For all the crazy Papyrus spouted, there was always that one time when Papyrus was smarter than him.

Sans walked back over to where Papyrus stood, his smile half gone but still presentable. He wasn't just trying to comfort Papyrus now. "Hey Pap, it's going to be ok. If we were supposed to turn into monsters, wouldn't we by now?"

Papyrus' eyes looked away as his shoulders drooped. Sans decided to continue. "I mean, remember Grandpa?"

"How could I forget." Papyrus eye's seemed to glaze over, as if he was reliving the experience of seeing their mom's father. Lush green fields, a tire swing to swing on tied to an old, oak tree; and a small house in the middle of a farm where grandma made the best Imarti on the holidays.

"Well you remember his eye color right?" Sans pointed to Papyrus' eyes. "Orange, just like yours."

"Nyeh, we used to call him 'grand pumpkin'." Papyrus sprouted a small smile, as if he was hearing a younger him and Sans sit in their grandfather's lap and call him such silly names while the old man chuckled.

Sans could feel his smile grow when Papyrus started to look better, placing a hand on his arm. "See? This doesn't mean we're going to turn into monsters. Rather, I think the bomb just changes a few chromosomes."

Papyrus glanced back over to his brother, who pointed at his left eye as an example. "Blue is a rare trait to have for eyes, but that doesn't mean that the trait wasn't carried over. Mom also could have been a carrier for orange eyes, which was placed inside you. When the bomb hit us, it must have switched the dominant traits with the recessive traits, giving us our funky colors."

Papyrus' shoulders bunched as he let out a small chuckle. "You always sound funny whenever you talk science."

"I know. I forgot to bring my glasses and pocket protector." Sans felt tension relieve him when Papyrus snorted and his chuckle got louder. He held up his hands to try and keep his smile from showing.

Sans patted Papyrus on the shoulder. "Come on, 'Grand Pumpkin', let's get home. You need to stop worrying so much; you're using up your 'comfort' cards."

"Nyeh, sorry." Papyrus felt a bit silly as he watched his younger brother slowly trudge through the thick water.

Papyrus sought after him, though his new eyes seemed to find wonder in all the trash that had piled up down there. "So, I have a question. If both my eyes turned orange, why did only one of yours turn blue?"

"Now that's something I can't explain." Sans didn't seem too hung up on the question, still keeping his consistent smile. "I think we can safely put it up there with the discussion of 'magic'."

"I still can't believe those children could manipulate rocks." Papyrus muttered, though his voice grew louder when an idea popped into his head. "Do you think we're going to gain powers, Sans?"

"What?" Sans physically stopped and turned to look at his brother. "Us, gain magic?"

Papyrus seemed to like the idea, nodding his head furiously. "Yeah! Like what if I gain the power to fly, or have super strength, or-!"

"Or turn into a snail." Papyrus frowned when Sans decided to crush a rock onto his imagination.

Sans chuckled. "Hey, just playing around. Don't get so down in the 'dump'."

Papyrus kicked some trash water onto Sans' face before moving on.

After wiping off the trashy water and catching up to Papyrus, they were just about to turn the only corner they came upon when unfamiliar voices caught them off guard.

"Whoa! Look at this thing! What do you think it is?"

"Hmm, I'd say that's a journal. Or a diary, Wahaha!"

"Do you think it's filled with human battle strategies? Wait, what am I saying, of course it is!"

"Only one way to find out, now isn't there."

One voice was very loud, yet definitely female, while the other one was far older and had a wise infliction whenever they spoke. Papyrus and Sans both eyed one another and decided to risk the chance encounter round the corner.

In doing so the two were greeted by two figures just farther down the river of trash and water where it apparently stopped and dry land started. One of the figures was small and covered in dark blue scales, to which both Papyrus and Sans assumed was a fish person. Instead of ears the fish-monster had red, webbed fins with short, red hair that looked as though it was cut by wild scissors. They wore a torn white striped shirt and dirtied overalls, but the craziest thing about the fish were the sharp, jagged teeth and yellow pupils with small, beady black irises.

The other creature, who was obviously a turtle, looked much kinder than the crazy fish it was hanging around. Its skin was a swampy green, with dark green spots speckled around his wrinkling body. It wore a tan explorer's outfit, which Sans wondered how it put it on complete with an explorer's helmet. Bushy, white hair made for a great pair of eyebrows and goatee on the old turtle, and while it shared the same yellow pupils, its black irises were much softer and wiser than the latter.

What really got Sans' attention was his backpack in the fish's grip, more importantly, his journal in her scaly hand. "Hey!"

"What?" The fish and turtle turned to the foreign voice, where their eyes had locked upon Sans and Papyrus.

The old turtle seemed somewhat surprised to see Sans and Papyrus. "Well, would you look at that."

The fish, however, her eyes grew as wide as saucers while her mouth hung slightly open. "Humans."

Her flash of shock soon transformed into an insane grin as she turned to the old turtle, excitement dancing in her eyes. "Humans! There are humans here!"

She practically forgot about the backpack and journal she had been holding as she flung them behind her, running towards the still Papyrus and Sans. "I'll kill them faster than you can blink, Gerson! Just you watch!"

"What?!" Papyrus flinched before madly dashing off when the fish had given her war-cry, which consisted of her screaming.

Sans was left to watch the fish run past him and after Papyrus, wondering if he should help or let them be. He didn't seem to have a choice in the matter when he heard splashing come his way, turning just in time to see the old turtle walk over.

In one of his clawed hands he held Sans' backpack, but his eyes were the most enticing to Sans. There was decades of wisdom and knowledge in those eyes, but was somewhat skeptical and a little crazy. "It's been awhile since we've had a human come down this way. The journey must have been hard."

He lightly offered the backpack. "I believe this is yours?"

"Yeah." Sans took the soaking backpack, a frown slipping onto his face as he worried what might have been ruined thanks to the water. He then remembered that the old turtle was before him. "Oh, thanks."

"Not a problem. I can't see what we would do with things like those in there." There looked to be a twinkle in the old turtle's eyes.

"Name's Gerson, but you might have heard Undyne shout it earlier. She's a riot isn't she? Wahaha!"

Sans lightly chuckled, though that was drowned out by the mixing of Undyne and Papyrus' screams. One of horror, the other of bloodshed. "I'm Sans."

Sans hesitantly looked back but Gerson caught his attention by gesturing a hand. "Don't worry about them. Undyne won't hurt him too much."

He then motioned with his head, turning his body around. "Come, why don't we find somewhere to sit while those two young ones play?"

Sans reluctantly followed Gerson, still hearing Papyrus shout while Undyne didn't let up on her war-cry. They trudged to a spot near dry land where the screams weren't as piercing, with Gerson waving Sans over to a small picnic table with two seats elevated out of the water. "You must be tired from all the walking you must have done."

"Try running." Sans remarked with a light chuckle, setting his backpack down on the table and taking a seat while Gerson did the same.

Again Sans looked back when he heard Papyrus shout, 'not the exercise dvds!', but again Gerson reassured him as he spoke. "Undyne may be powerful but a child she still is. She still has a lot of learning and practice to obtain before she's ready to take any human's soul."

Sans turned back around in his chair to see Gerson close his eyes. "Why, just a month ago King Fluffybuns decided to take her in and train her. Stubborn fish lips won't give up until she can beat that old king."

Upon hearing the nickname a memory sparked inside Sans mind. "I heard two young bunnies call Asgore the same thing."

"Hm?" Gerson opened his eyes before laughing."So you know Mary and Carrie, eh? Energetic little bunnies, aren't they? Why, they sometimes come down here to hear stories of old and about the Great War."

"The Great War?" Sans mind buzzed. "You know about it?"

"Know about it?" Gerson gave Sans a sly smile. "How old do you think I am? I was a warrior in that war, back when my back was straight that is, Wahaha!"

"So you know what happened?" Sans leaned more onto the table, as if the news would escape his presence never to be seen again.

"You interested to know?" Gerson had closed his eyes once more, leaning back in his chair but cracked one eye open to train on Sans.

Sans eagerly nodded his head, then unzipped the main compartment of his backpack. "I have a lot of questions, actually. If only I could find it…"

Sans shook his head. "Just, wow… You must be like, hundreds of years old. How are you still-"

Gerson raised a hand. "I ain't no celebrity, Sans. Just an old monster who lived a good life, so don't treat me like some new toy."

"Oh, sorry." Sans tried to keep some of his enthusiasm bottled up, pulling out what he was looking for. Gerson sat straight up when he noticed the item on the table, or more importantly, a photo album.

He eyed Sans suspiciously, his tone sly. "That's an odd thing for a human to pack whose end goal is to reach the surface again, isn't it."

"Heh, what can I say? I'm sentimental." Sans half-shrugged, but saw that Gerson was looking right through him.

Sans took a nervous gulp, hand resting on the album. "Anyways, there's something I want to talk about specifically."

"And what might that be, Sans?" Gerson rested his elbows on the table, interested now more than he ever was with the conversation.

Sans' eyes darted away, before back to Gerson. "I want to know about my ancestors. My monster ancestors."

The chapter in which I break the trope "the mom is always kind, caring and gentle" and take some risky shots.