Warning, this chapter contains some rather disturbing imagery. There's not enough to warrant not reading the chapter, but there are a few moments, so for those of you who are sensitive to disturbing things, I would tread lightly.
Level 17
Asgore had seen this situation many times. Kill, or be killed. It was nothing new to him, for he knew it all too well.
Whenever a human child had fallen into the Underground, they were presented the same conditions. Either to kill Asgore and leave, or die trying. Some pleaded up until their final breath, some fought with all their might only to be cut short, one tried to run for their life while another banged on the barrier with every ounce of strength they had.
Asgore knew what it was like to be the reaper of souls, and when news had spread of two humans falling into the Underground, he had been preparing himself for the inevitable outcome. That was, until he received startling news from his top scientist.
Now he understood why his top scientist was so panicked and worried, for the sight before him was one of horror. He could feel the human part of their souls slipping away, the monster half of them eating them alive.
Normally the transformation was a smooth transition, as the human-monster children had no determination to fight off the monster soul from taking over. But something was wrong here, something was halting the transformation.
Asgore could feel the human who laid on the ground soul disappearing, but the one that stood before him, his soul was mutating. He could see his blue soul become tainted with something black and tar-like which held off the other side, his monster soul, from crossing over and completing the change. His soul shuddered and churned like goo, and Asgore could see some of the transformation shine through the human, such as his black eye and the fact that the skin on his arms and hands looked cracked and dry, like it could peel away any second.
If he was going to save these humans, he needed to bring them back to the lab as quickly as possible.
Asgore lowered his trident. "I will not fight you."
Sans simply huffed, his smile twisting into his familiar grin. "I don't mind. It'll make your death quicker!"
Arm swung back, Sans ran towards the standing Asgore with the full intention of murdering the King. Asgore however had no intention of harming the human, and in a swift motion he used the end of his trident to slap Sans' hand with the knife away, then lunge into Sans and pin him to the ground.
He kept Sans down with the staff of his trident while lowered on one knee, feeling Sans struggling to get free. His eyes burned with malicious intent while his left eye literally burned blue, his teeth grinding against one another.
He tried to free his right arm with his knife, using his body to try and wiggle out. "Let me go! I have to kill you!"
"Your mind is clouded, my child." Asgore showed pain on his face before releasing a deep sigh. "Do not fight the changes. It will only hurt you if you do."
Figuring it might be awhile until Sans calmed down, Asgore summoned forth two giant, white hands. He quickly pushed himself off of Sans and backwards just as the hands came down gently on Sans, holding him to the floor while he helped himself up. His eyes wandered over to where Papyrus was sitting, walking over to go and pick him up.
Sans noticed this and fought even harder against the hands that held him, his irises shaking from how mad he was becoming. "I won't let you take him! Don't touch him!"
Asgore didn't listen to Sans' screams, crouching down to inspect Papyrus. He frowned to hear how shallow his breathing was, moving his arms to take him into his. He would take this one to his top scientist first, then come back for the other one when he had settled down.
Sans' mind however was in a fit of frenzy and insanity, his vision going red when Asgore's hands came close to touching Papyrus. A sickening, ripping sound was made as Sans suddenly felt his left hand free, reaching out towards Asgore and Papyrus. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Swinging his left hand back, Asgore and Sans were both shocked when blue erupted over Asgore's form, flinging him to the other side of the room. Sans blinked for a second before focusing himself out of the hand's grip only to appear lying beside his brother.
Fumbling Sans rose to his feet, noticing the blue glow that over took his hand, as well as the fact that he no longer had skin. The skin that covered his hand had been ripped away with torn edges ending at his wrists. He surveyed the muscle he could suddenly see in between the bones that made up his hand, before deciding to wiggle his fingers.
His fingers wiggled back at him, feeling no pain or burning sensation like he had thought. Sans knew he should have been freaking out, perhaps even screaming, but instead he felt himself laugh, clenching his hand into a fist.
Asgore helped himself up with his trident when he heard Sans maniacally laugh, noticing his left hand clean of any skin or blood. His thoughts grew mortified before looking up at Sans, who held his head high and laughed like this was the best joke he had ever heard. He was going mad with insanity.
"I didn't think how 'liberating' it would feel to lose your own skin!" Sans said allowed, his head slowly turning to stare at Asgore. Even from so far away he could see how badly his irises shook, how they cried out for help underneath all of the insanity. "I thought I would 'femur' pain."
Pocketing his knife and lifting his right hand, Sans found a small piece of his skin curling off of his wrist. He pulled upon it, watching the skin peel off of his hand before casting it aside. He flexed a few fingers. "Much better. My left hand was feeling 'bonely'."
"Child, you need to stop!" Asgore stood straight while taking his trident into both hands, catching the attention of Sans. "This isn't supposed to happen! Your soul is reacting violently to the change!"
"You got that right, Kingy." Sans face stretched into his grin, only now it was more frightening as the ends of his lips literally curled. "And if it's a monster I need to be to save Papyrus, then it's 'tibia' expected that I wouldn't hesitate to become one."
Slamming his foot into the ground, Sans wasn't surprised when a line of bones smashed through the ground and headed towards Asgore. The King used his trident to block himself from the attack, though when he lowered his trident he was surprised to find Sans coming down upon him.
He twirled to the side as Sans landed inches away from where stood earlier, allowing a rupture of bones to pop out of the ground around him. Sans pulled himself to his feet, his grin and blue eye locked onto Asgore as he thrust his left hand at him.
Asgore jumped into the air just as another wave of bones overtook the ground, being smacked backwards and falling back-first onto the ground when a few bones flew into his stomach. Sans giggled when he watched Asgore fall to the ground, walking over to where he laid while bones started to materialize in the air behind him. "You 'crack' me up, Kingy."
Waving his fingers, Sans allowed the bones floating beside him to launch at Asgore. In fear Asgore flung his cape in front of his face and launched himself backwards as the bones stabbed into the floor with cracks and creaks.
Asgore stood up just as another wave of bones flew towards him. With a swipe of his right foot there grew columns of fire, creating a wall of flames inches away from his face. The bones smashed on impact when hitting the flames, exploding and sending small bone shards towards Sans.
Sans gasped and used his arms to block his head, letting out a pained cry when some of the shards stabbed into his arms and legs. He lowered his arms, the smile of his grin falling for a frown while blood trickled out of his new wounds. "That was a pretty 'sharp' idea."
"I did not mean for the bones to hurt you." Asgore replied, letting his wall of flames cool down. "But you are losing control of yourself. Let me help you!"
In response to his words Asgore moved both of his hands forward, feeling his ears flutter in front of his eyes while his two, giant hands came forth. They eagerly flew towards Sans for a quick capture while Sans crouched low.
He shut and eyes and hoped for more bones, but nearly had a heart attack when he heard something inhuman and monstrous scream above him. Asgore gasped when the giant hands suddenly disintegrated only to reveal to white energy blasts coming straight for him. In quick thinking Asgore allowed his trident to turn bright blue and twirled it in a circular motion as fast as he could.
The blast was a lot stronger than Asgore had anticipated. He grunted while his right foot kicked up, giving him the deadly option of falling backwards and into the blast. However he caught his foot before it could throw his entire frame off and placed it behind him, continuing to twirl his trident as fast as he could. Should he stop or slow fragments of the blast would zipped straight at him, a fate he wished to stay away from. Streams of light blinded his eyesight and he was forced to close his eyes with the blast itself ricocheted off of his trident and around the room.
Asgore took a deep breath of air when he felt the blasts die down, his body lightly sore from the sudden force that he met with. Reluctantly Sans slowly stood up, frightened to notice two giant, floating skulls behind him. Their irises blazed yellow in their eye sockets, with their supposed chins closing in after unleashing their blast. The ends of the skulls curled upwards and the skulls resembled that of dragons.
Sans felt his smile return as he watched the blasters disappear, rearing his head back at Asgore, who blinked in confusion and fright. He only knew of one monster who could summon those blasters, and for a moment Asgore felt himself being taken back to a time long, long ago.
Please… help me!
"Look alive, Kingy!" Asgore was drawn back into the fight only to swing his trident in front of him to block another barrage of bones.
Sans drew closer to Asgore as waves of bones slid up and down from the ground, throwing his right and left hand to and fro while summoning more bones. "If you stop paying attention you'll end up with a 'skele-ton' of trouble."
Firing one last barrage of bones Sans crouched one more, summoning three more blasters which erupted with white energy blasts. Asgore dodged the last wave of bones before lunging to the side and out of the blasts way, but Sans merely turned in Asgore's direction as he ran while the blasters followed Sans' turn.
With every step Asgore took he could hear waves of bones erupt from the ground behind him, trying to trip him up only to let the blasters due him in. When a wave appeared before him he smashed the end of his trident into the ground, propelling him over the bones before rolling back onto the ground and continuing his run.
With each blaster that disappeared Sans summoned another, snapping his fingers to create one before him as he climbed atop of it. Sans had never felt so powerful before in his life, it was a delicious sensation. The power to destroy, to kill anyone that he saw fit. It was beautiful, and Sans thought of all the people he could turn this on.
But before he could start his slaughter, he had to take out the King first.
Signaling the blaster to shoot, Sans steered the blaster he rode over to where Asgore was fleeing. He swerved the blaster in front of the King, who quickly changed his trident to light blue and spun it to block himself from the blast. Sans only laughed in delight as he summoned more blasters around Asgore in a circle, to which Asgore noticed just as they opened their mouths to blast.
With a great leap Asgore soared out of the ring of blasts only to have one of his giant hands catch him, noticing Sans riding his blaster after him. Asgore saw the invisible walls of the barrier start to become overrun with bones sticking out or forming crazy structures, reflecting the state of mind that Sans was in at the moment. He gave Sans a quick glance who was beneath him as he turned his head forward to notice that Sans was suddenly in front of him.
He grinned madly when jumping from his blaster, knife clenched in both hands as he swung upwards to come down onto Asgore. He only had time to throw his cape in front of him just as Sans smashed into him, and both were sent to the floor.
A massive wave of bones smashed upwards from the ground when Sans fell atop of Asgore, panting from how strenuous this fight had become. He started giggling when he thought of how red Asgore's chest must be when he was suddenly flung to the floor.
He almost hit the ground only to have his bones catch him, sitting up in alarm as Asgore staggered to his feet. With his cape thrown to the side, Sans lost his smile when he saw the full suit of armor Asgore wore underneath his cape.
His knife stuck out of the chest plate right near the heart, to which Asgore pulled out slowly before throwing behind him. He looked to Sans with annoyance and fear. "That is enough! I won't let this battle go on any longer!"
"Well if you want that to happen, you're going to have to kill me." Sans grinned, pushing himself back up to his feet. Behind him he could feel the blasters materialize, eyes set on Asgore. "But you're not going to have that chance."
With all the rumbles and shakes, Papyrus' body slowly slid down the wall of the barrier before toppling onto the ground. With his face hitting the ground first, he was startled awake when his groggy consciousness heard what sounded like a vicious creature unleashing hell itself.
Eyes fluttering open, Papyrus let out a few coughs only to be greeted to a boney nightmare in front of him. The room was slowly being overrun with bones from the ceiling to the ground, save for a patch of land around him.
A monster he wasn't familiar with ran up a staircase of never-ending bones, as large, skeletal hands came out of the wall to try and grab him. Each time the monster used their trident to hop over the advancing hands while also being chased by another figure who rode a funky skull. Other skulls of the same kind appeared every so often to blast at the stair-case, but was unsuccessful at hitting the monster.
"S-Sa-Sans?" Papyrus whimpered, feeling a few more coughs rack his body. His arms were like noodles and his head hurt but Papyrus pushed himself back up to sit, not really understanding just what he was leaning up against.
His eyes fixated on the scene above, watching the unknown monster summon fire that destroyed a row of blasters, causing them to erupt into a blaze of explosions and shards. Papyrus pulled his knees up when a few of the shards fell harmlessly over to where he sat, hearing insane laughter coming from the one who rode the blaster.
When the blaster disappeared the figure leapt at the monster running on the staircase, who in turn dove off of the stairs and into a giant, white hand. The figure fell after the monster as they descended towards the ground, creating a giant, boney hand to rise to sprout out of the ground and catch them safely.
It was only when they came to the ground that Papyrus saw that the attacker in question was his brother, showing off his eerie grin and pleading eyes.
Papyrus gasped and attempted calling his brother's name, but only let out a few, shaky coughs instead. He watched his brother throw back both of his boney hands as the bones in the air came together to create a giant, bone scythe that he swung at the monster.
The monster, who Papyrus recognized as the King in the picture he saw, jumped back from the blade of the scythe and slammed a foot down, thrusting a giant hand at Sans just as he swung again, cutting the hands in half. Sans ran towards the King but he used his trident to swing over him, with his trident turning orange allowing Sans to pass through it safely.
Papyrus could see the delight and insanity in Sans' smile as he continued to swing at the King, his chuckles imminent when he breathed. Sans was going to murder him.
Body shaking, Papyrus lifted his hands up, watching two stalks of bone slowly sprout from the ground before him. He used them to place his hands on, then slowly allowed them to grow taller, helping him up to his wobbly legs.
Papyrus figured he wouldn't be able to take a step, so from beneath his feet he willed a small platform of bones to form so that he had transportation. On his feet and holding onto the bones, Papyrus willed the platform to move forward and onto the grave of bones, where the king was finding a hard time standing.
Being thrust backwards from a block to the bone scythe, Asgore tried getting to his feet but fell every time a bone erupted from the ground and smashed into his face. Sans stood still as he moved his fingers in the direction he wanted the bones to arise, but soon grew tired and instead let his left hand form over with blue.
By the time Asgore noticed the blue hue he was thrust into the air, being smacked upon the boney walls and ceiling back and forth, up and down, left, right, up, down, down, left, up, right.
Sans laughed like a maniac as his arm went wild in its movement, watching Asgore smash into his room of bones before throwing him back to the ground. Asgore, tired and growing weak, relied heavily on his trident to help him to one knee.
A flurry of bones from underneath him suddenly grabbed at his legs, leaving Asgore to struggle against the ground's grip before noticing five blasters all around him. He heard Sans' chuckles as he took his place behind the blasters, giving Asgore a wave of his boney hand.
"This has been fun, Kingy." Sans spoke, raising his hand in anticipation of signaling the blasters. "But now it's time for you to die. Bye-bye."
With a flex of his fingers for comedic fun, Sans threw down his left hand allowing the blasters to fire.
"NO!"
The familiar voice of his brother snapped Sans out of his insanity for a moment, noticing the lower half of his brother dive over to where Asgore was just as the blasters lit up the area in a bright light of destruction and chaos.
In less than a second all malicious intent, anger and enjoyment zipped out of Sans like a bullet to his heart, and in the next he was on his knees, screaming in agony and fear. He threw his arms to the side like a maniac. "STOP, STOP!"
Obeying the blasters let their blasts die out before disappearing; leaving Sans to sit on his knees and stare at where Asgore and his brother were once. He expected to find nothing but a giant patch of smoldering bones and ashes on the ground where the blast was at full intensity, but was frightened and surprised to find a dome of bones instead.
The bones slowly fell to the ground, revealing Asgore and Papyrus inside, safe and sound. Asgore had broken his way out of his hold while Papyrus was left standing with his arms still held out, eyes shut painfully closed and breathing heavily.
When Papyrus didn't hear the blasters anymore he dropped his arms and opened his eyes, noticing his brother on his knees before him.
"P-P-Pap…?" Sans voice shook like an earthquake, blue tears staining his dirtied cheeks. His eyes were wide open as if he had witnessed a murder, as if he couldn't believe that his brother was still alive after that.
Papyrus gazed at his brother before furrowing his eyebrows. "I can't believe you, Sans! After everything we've been through, this is your decision? To kill?!" Still Papyrus coughed badly but he wouldn't let his condition stop him from scolding his brother.
Sans felt himself mentally backing away when Papyrus stumbled from taking a step. His legs soon gave out and Papyrus hit onto the ground, where he tried to pull himself up. Sans leaned forward to help his brother but when he saw his hands out of the corner of his eyes he drew them behind him.
What had he done?
Sans felt some of his anger return as Papyrus struggled to place his elbows on the ground. "I did it for you, Papyrus! I'm trying to save you!"
"I didn't ask for this!" Papyrus shouted back, successfully getting to his elbows as he crawled over to where Sans sat. Everything in Papyrus' body told him to stop but he inched himself forward to the fright of Sans. "I didn't want you to go on an insanity streak and try to murder the King!"
"But I need to get you home!"
"I don't want to go home!" Sans felt his body go stiff and his voice leave him when Papyrus had placed a shaking hand on his knee. He had pulled himself over to where Sans was sitting, using some magic to sprout bones from the ground to help him sit up.
Tired and exhausted Papyrus leaned back on the wall of bones he made, staring at Sans angrily in the eyes. "You never listen, do you. You lie to me, you hide things from me and you act in what you think is my best interest. What will make me happy. Well have you ever thought that maybe I don't want to be babied?"
Angrily Papyrus snatched one of Sans' arms, thrusting his hand into his face. "Look at this, Sans."
Sans closed his eyes and turned his head away when Papyrus held his hand up to him. When he didn't look his brother shook his arm roughly. "Look at this!"
Terrified Sans complied, turning to stare at the muscle and bones of his hand. No skin, no blood, with his skin starting to peel away from his wrists. If Sans wasn't so terrified he would have puked. "This is not ok, Sans! You need help! You're killing yourself for me for a decision I was never ok with!"
Papyrus let Sans' hand drop, noticing Sans leaning his head forward and trying to grab Papyrus for a hug. He held him back though for the moment, shaking his head. "This has to stop, Sans. Stop caring about me and look after yourself."
"I-I-I can't." Sans tried protesting, failing to get past Papyrus' hands in order to hug him. Sobs racked his shoulders as he clenched his eyes shut. He could feel the entity within him stirring, trying to restart the fire within him. But he would never take his anger out on Papyrus. "I was… I was so scared…"
Sans soon felt a nudge of bones behind him, and he found his cheeks pressed up against the stiff, dirty polo shirt of Papyrus'. His brother wrapped his arms around him, resting his head on his. "I'm not dying, Sans…But please, I need you to be ok."
"Children." Papyrus gazed upwards at the King who stood before them.
He crouched down on one knee, extending a fuzzy hand towards them. "Your condition is growing grave. I thank you for helping to calm down your brother, but I must bring you two to the lab if you are to get better."
Papyrus simply nodded his head in agreement. "Alright."
Just as Papyrus turned his head back to look at his brother, something within Sans snapped. His body flinched dramatically before violently shoving Papyrus away from himself.
Papyrus gasped before falling backwards and cracking his head on the bones behind him. He only had a brief moment to stare up at the black ceiling before passing out, alarming Asgore to stand up on his feet.
Sans was now clutching his head like he was trying to break it in two, his body shaking violently while his blue eye blazed upwards like an inferno. He screams were so loud that the bones littering the ceiling and walls started to fall like rain, his voice drastically changing like his vocal chords were shifting.
All throughout the fight Sans felt perfectly fine even when he was calling upon so much magic. But now it felt like the thing holding back the transformation cracked, and like a ruptured damn his whole body was becoming infected.
The world through Sans' eyes twisted and churned, then split into several different windows, each with a different view. He saw the stars glowing so close like he was in space; he saw his brother having the same seizure attack as him but in an orange hoodie and tan pants; he watch his brother angrily yell at him while an evil King loomed behind him, and he witnessed his brother fall before the King while lines of monsters with tommy guns and suits pointed their guns at him.
Unable to take anymore of the pain Sans allowed himself to collapse, but instead of falling onto the cold bones he instead fell into warm, furry hands. His body was soon cradled close to Asgore's chest while the King bent over him, his concern only on him.
"Sleep, my child." Asgore softly spoke to Sans as the world around him grew dark. "The pain will be gone soon…"
Muffled sobs brought Sans back to a moment in time, noticing that he was yet again a child. He still sat at the table where Papyrus was to have his 10th birthday party, turning his head to notice Papyrus sitting on one of their couches.
He had moved to sit on them after their mother had left, with Papyrus curled in on himself. He tried to silence his cries with his shirt, his knees brought close to his head.
Hurt and betrayed, Sans could no longer sit at the dinner table and watch his brother suffer. He pushed himself away from the table, then used it to help him out of his seat and to the ground.
His bare feet made its way through the carpet of their house and over to where Papyrus sat, who didn't bother to look up from his seat.
"Papyrus." Sans spoke, furrowing his eyebrows when his brother didn't respond.
Grabbing onto the seat, Sans lifted himself up and into the chair Papyrus sat in, crawling to sit in between his older brother and the arm rest. "Papyrus."
"Leave me alone." Papyrus sniffled, trying to bury his head deeper into his shirt. "Just leave me like everyone else."
As he moved his head farther into the crevice between his chest and knees he suddenly felt Sans' hands around his own, stopping him from descending any farther. "Hey."
Gently Sans forced his brother's head back up, slowly peeling away his hands. He saw how red his brother's eyes were, how tears still trailed down his cheeks in the same path all the other ones took.
Seeing that much sorrow and self-pity gave Sans a rocky feeling inside his heart. He wanted to get angry and tell Papyrus that everyone else was stupid, but he also wanted to be sad and cry alongside him for everyone forgetting about them.
They only had each other.
Faced with either option, Sans soon became known to a third option inside his mind. They only had each other, and with that information, he smiled. "Hey, it'll be ok."
Papyrus gave Sans a confused look. "Why are you smiling?"
"Because it's not so bad." Sans responded, moving Papyrus' hands to his knees. "Sure, it's just us but that's not bad, is it? I'm still here."
Papyrus pursed his lips and took his hands away, eyes shifting elsewhere. "But what about all my friends? What about mom and dad?"
"What about them?" Sans sat himself up on his knees as he rested his hands on Papyrus' knees. "I bet they just forgot that today was the day. That's all."
"Mom and Dad didn't." Papyrus frowned, his eyes quivering as a few loose tears fell.
Sans started to feel his smile fade when he noticed it might not be working, but he forced himself to try again. "Maybe their planning a secret party."
Papyrus turned his attention back to Sans. "A secret party?"
Sans eagerly nodded his head. "Yeah, a secret party. With balloons and lots of presents to make up for today."
"You really think they're doing that?" Papyrus asked his brother. Sans was about to respond when he noticed how hopeful his brother had become. He looked to be on the verge of a smile.
Sans knew everything he said was a lie, but if lies like that made Papyrus happy… then why shouldn't he tell them? He deserved to be happy. He deserved someone who would always make him happy.
And maybe… that could be him.
Sans smile felt more natural now as he flashed his brother a cheerful grin. "Of course I know! They told me actually, but I wasn't supposed to tell you. But since today wasn't so hot, I figured you might need some cheering up."
He winked at Papyrus. "But don't let them know you know. It'll ruin the surprise."
"Wowie, they're really doing that?" Papyrus' eyes grew bright at such a revelation while staring off into the distance. His features were gentler now. "They really do care."
"Of course they do." Sans nodded his head, then moved in between his brother to give him a hug. "They love you, Papyrus. And I do too. So please, don't be sad anymore."
Sans didn't know what was happening, but this feeling inside his heart. It was warm and fuzzy, like being wrapped in a snuggly blanket. He almost wished that this moment didn't have to end.
"Aw, how sweet."
Sans let go from his hug and backed up when he realized he wasn't hugging Papyrus any longer. In fact he fell off of the couch in fright to this new child upon the chair, who moved out from under their knees to sit on their rear.
"Who are you?" Sans gritted his teeth, staring angrily at the child before him. This wasn't part of Sans' memory, which meant that this intruder wasn't part of him.
The child sitting on the chair giggled at Sans' question, deciding to swing their black shoes up and down from the couch. They wore long, brown pants and a big, bright green sweater with two stripes of yellow. Their skin was a little pale for a white kid, but their cheeks were very rosy. Short, brown hair fell down in streaks across the child's head and upper forehead, but the most interesting thing about the child was their eyes. Their red eyes.
"Come now, don't you remember me?" The child asked, leaning over the couch a bit to inspect young Sans. Their smile was anything but warm or happy, it was cold and contempt, yet playful and amused. "Surely you remember your partner, right?"
Suddenly the voice matched up in Sans' mind, and he knew the child understood too when their smile grew wider. "Of course you remember."
"How?" Sans pushed himself up to his feet, startled on why he was still in this memory. He wasn't turning back into a teenager and the memory acted like it was frozen, as if he had no control over the event.
When he stood up Sans suddenly noticed his hunter's knife sitting in the child's lap, to which they picked up gently. "You still don't understand, do you? Who I am and why I'm here."
The child hopped off of the chair, starting to walk towards Sans while he stepped back. His eyes were only on the knife. "I really thought we would be great partners, you and I. Sure, you were stubborn, but that last fight, eh? Quite some fun we had! I've never seen so much raw power before."
Sans felt his fear rise when the wall of his house was suddenly at his back, stuck between their grandfather clock and the bookshelf. "You and me, we're a lot alike. We both have people that shaped us to be who we are. We both hold a lot anger."
The child stopped for a moment, raising the knife up in mild amazement. "I thought we were going to kill everyone happily together. But then… you hesitated."
Sans soon found the knife stuck in the wall near his cheek, with the child just inches away from his face. There was only insanity in their eyes; the kind that makes people smile when they've murdered someone. "And I NEVER hesitate."
"You…" Sans gazed down for a moment before clenching his fists, staring back up at the young child cornering them. "You were the one who did this. You made me do all those terrible things."
"Did I?" Innocently the child ripped the knife out of the wall, lightly twisting the knife back and forth with their wrist. "Are you willing to blame all your anger and frustration on me? Remember, I was your guiding hand."
Roughly they took one of Sans' hands, forcing the hilt of the knife into it while still holding on. The knife glowered dangerously close to the heart of the child. "Are you telling me that you never felt like you wanted to kill someone? That you were never pushed to your edge? That you never wanted to hurt those who hurt you back?"
Sans mouth stayed shut, for he couldn't argue back. It felt as though the walls wriggled with all the malicious thoughts he had stored within him all his life, like black, thorny vines.
The child giggled. "I wasn't the one controlling you. You were the one who decided to fight, you were the one who let your anger flourish. I simply motivated you."
It wasn't often that Sans felt genuine fear, but now it scurried over him like a massive horde of spiders. This entity, this child was too much, the truth was too much.
Sans gritted his teeth, trying to hide the fear in his eyes by burying his head. "Get out of my head. I don't want you anymore!"
Tilting his head up, Sans was a little surprised the child wasn't enjoying themselves more at his misery. They didn't laugh or stab him, they just looked at him. Then, they scoffed, as if they expected Sans to say that. "No. Of course you don't want me anymore."
The child's playful tone ceased to exist, now only replaced by disgust. "Because I'm at fault, right?"
A faint rumble could be heard outside of the living room, making the child turn their head in the direction of the sound. Sans stood tall again just as the child gazed back at him with a frown, taking the knife back into their hands. "Someday we'll meet again. Not here, but out in the real world. Another child will fall down into the Underground. They will eventually get frustrated and call for me. I will answer that call. And when I do…"
The child locked eyes onto Sans' and as if to cast a spell he found his body locking up. The child simply smiled, but it was more eerie with those insane eyes. "I'll show you what we could have done together."
The room suddenly shook like a giant, slithering beast had brushed up against the memory. The child idly looked up to the ceiling. "Looks like your brain is collapsing in on itself. I'll leave you to that then."
Taking steps back, Sans was able to leave his cage while the child simply jumped backwards, disappearing into the surroundings. "See you around, 'partner'…"
The only thing that was left as the child disappeared was the sound of their giggle echoing all around the room. Again the memory shook as Sans fell to his knees, noticing large, black cracks crawling in from corners and windows as the room shook again.
Just as Sans tried getting up the room ripped into several pieces, being sucked down into a black abyss while Sans screamed along for the ride. Deeper and deeper did Sans drop until he felt himself smash onto ground he could not see. He helped himself to his feet, still confused on why he was a child before quickly ducking and covering his head as pieces of the memory smashed into the ground around him.
When Sans lifted his head back up the world around him had changed. A sea of sickly colors dripped down the horizon, and sounds played backwards before being pulled out of existence.
Turning his head to the sky, Sans gasped before crouching down and covering his head as more memories fell from the abyss only to smash and shatter. A few memories stuck up from where they pierced the invisible ground, while others still tried to play out with pieces missing.
Hesitantly Sans lifted his head back up, scurrying over to one memory in particular of him and Papyrus as children a few months after Papyrus' 10th birthday. His heart hurt to see how broken the memory was, lifting a hand over the memory as if to touch it.
Suddenly the shard of memory lit up as Sans staggered backwards, before turning into a small ball of light. It floated gently in the air before deciding to zip around Sans' body and rest in his open palm. Sans blinked for a moment before deciding to lightly touch the ball, only to hear fragments of Papyrus' laughter from the memory he found.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Sans started to run around the field of broken memories, raising his hand over all of the ones nearest to him as they turned into light and connected with the ball of light in his hand. He didn't get far however as a piece he was running towards was suddenly engulfed in a white blast of light.
Sans fell backwards from the impact of the blast, alarmed to see the skulls of the blasters hovering above him, only larger and more frightening than the ones he had come to know. Several others hovered in the background of the world as fragments of memories were wiped out, never to be seen again.
"No!" With little time left Sans continued to run around the giant black world, collecting more memories while many were blasted and destroyed. More memories fell from the sky but that only created more blasters, and soon the littered graveyard was becoming bare.
Sans felt himself run as fast as he could for the last memory in the room, where a blaster was charging up its final charge. The light in his hand had grown to be the size of his hand, floating alongside him while he ducked his head and lunged for the memory. Just as he touched it the blaster fired its charge, and Sans looked up in time to be impacted head on.
The ground around Sans' cracked in white before breaking and allowing Sans to continue his fall, the ball of light returning back to his open palm. He closed his hand and saw the light disappear, but knew that it was inside him for the moment.
Large, grey string was what awaited Sans next as he fell into a den of webs. They wrapped around him and burned his skin upon impact, clinging onto his arms and legs and holding him from touching the ground.
"Let me go!" Sans cried out, only to hear nothing but his echo in return. Then, a light suddenly shined down on Sans, and he realized that he dangled above a wooden stage.
Dozens of Floweys and other monsters sat in red seats before the stage, their laughs demented and horrifying. A giant, wooden puppet of Sagiv stood atop the stage, their bow and arrow in one hand while they squawked like a dumb parrot.
Sans attempted to struggle but suddenly found that he wasn't in control of his body. The webs he was attached to pulled him from side to side, making him dance and spin like an idiot while the crowd continued to laugh.
"Stop it, Stop it!" Sans yelled through bitter tears, trying once more to wriggle himself free. But no one heard him over their laughter, no one dared to set him free.
Angrily Sans looked up in hopes of finding who was controlling him, but was surprised on who it was. It was his mother and father, whose movements were jerky and sad like puppets as their arms were held up by white string that disappeared into the blackness above the sky. His mother had paper tears running down her face from her button eyes, her hair falling down her head like string as she wore one of her shawls around her shoulders. Her lips moved up and down like a wooden doll, cooing. "My child… Oh my poor Sans…"
His father on the other hand was cut out from a military uniform, his hands large and made of metal as his button eyes had been cut in half to form slits. He moved back and forth, waving his hand as it pulled Sans along. "I'm doing you a favor…"
Closing his eyes, Sans continued to struggle against the webs that held him, trying to block out the laughs all around him. They burned and dug into his skin but Sans kept pushing himself to resist, feeling a part of him rip out of his skin.
Finally relief came when Sans fell to the floor of the stage, startled and horrified when he noticed his hands were bone. He felt his body, realizing that his entire being was nothing but a skeleton now, before looking back up at the webs.
A young boy hung in the web's grasp, surprised as well to see him and still struggling to escape. Turning his skull to the voices again, Sans stumbled onto his feet and leapt down from the stage, despite the protests of the young boy. "No, come back!"
Beneath the stage was another wave of darkness, as Sans continued to descend into madness.
The black of his mind dissipated for tan landscapes, a world cast in tans, blacks, grays and whites. Instead of falling, Sans found himself standing in the middle of a field, wearing a young boy's clothes from centuries long ago.
"Sans!" Sans turned his head to notice a young Papyrus standing a few feet away, who was being held back by their father. A lot of other humans stood behind Sans' father, angry and shouting while shaking their fists at whoever was behind him.
In confusion Sans turned his skull only to see camps upon camps of monsters with their belongings, heading down a beaten trail that led underneath a large mountain. They were beaten and hung their heads low, moving in sync to a tune that haunted his memory but couldn't place his finger on what it was. Some sort of lullaby.
"Don't ever come back, you filthy monsters!" Sans turned his skull back to notice one woman in particular standing out from the rest. She was the one who picked up a rock and threw it at one of the monsters, her red eyes glaring in malicious anger while her long, brown hair swayed behind her long, brown dress. Her belly was slightly swollen.
"Save us, Sans!" Again Sans looked back over to the trail of monsters, where two young, human girls were wrestling their way out of some monster's hold. In escaping the girls ran towards Sans, and upon closer inspection he realized he had seen them before, except not as humans. Their names were lost to him though.
"Save us, please!" They begged, but the closer they got to Sans, the more hideous and monstrous their forms took. Insect hair and spider legs ripped out from their skin and clothes, transforming into giant, rapid spiders. "SaVe UsSsSsSs!"
Sans turned around and ran as the spiders scurried after him with fangs dripping with venom. In a flash of light Sans was suddenly in the middle of a storm, fleeing his way up the mountain. He didn't understand why he was running but he knew he needed to when he heard angry villagers coming his way. "Don't let the monster escape!"
A bolt of lightning struck the sky as Sans fell to his hands and knees on a small ledge between the trees and bushes. He heard the mob get closer, being able to see the glow of fire within the distance. Without a second thought Sans punched his hands into the mud in front of his knees, throwing mud, dirt and worms aside as he dug himself a big hole.
Deeper and deeper he made that hole, trying to escape the people pursuing him when, as he struck his hand in for some dirt, not only did he not grab any but the ground he sat on suddenly gave away. Sans felt himself fall once more, watching the rain, the dark sky, and the growing light all disappear for complete darkness.
Perpetually Sans fell with no clear conscious of time, space or what was happening. His mind felt blank like an empty canvas with no thought or feeling.
He felt his body turn around as he continued to fall, noticing a small mirror growing larger and larger as he fell closer to it until it became the size of buildings. He could see himself as a human amongst a blue fog.
A bellowing voice rang through the darkness with no clear resemblance of who it was. "WHO ARE YOU?"
Sans locked gazes with himself in the mirror, watching as his eyeballs fell out of his head while his skin dripped onto his clothes. His hair slowly slid off like twigs going along with a mudslide, and his nose wasn't able to hold on much longer and disappear beneath the mirror's gaze.
Even in such a horrific moment, Sans did not feel fear or sadness.
Instead, he smiled in pure bliss, whispering. "I'm nothing."
"Sans? ….Sans, can you hear me?"
Slowly the world made itself known to Sans, who lightly shook his head from the deep slumber he had been in. His eye sockets slowly opened to see a light blue ceiling above him, feeling warm blankets covering his body.
Sans took a moment to stare at the ceiling, his mind empty of thought before finally deciding to sit up. He took his time to sit up in the bed that he was resting in, taking noticing of his arms and hands, which were made entirely of bone. He then felt his face, feeling his skull and nose hole, his eye sockets and cheek bones.
For the moment Sans was dressed in short sleeved, light blue pajamas, which were fuzzy and felt nice on his ribcage and spine. He then took note of his bed, which was a dark blue comforter atop of blue sheets with a white pillow to rest his head on.
"Hey there…"
A soft voice pulled Sans to look in front of him, where another figure had been sitting at the end of his bed. This person was a skeleton, just like him, only there were cracks down his left eye to his mouth, and a long crack going up his skull on his right eye. He wore a white turtle neck with a long, black sweater over it, long black pants and black loafers, but the strangest thing about him was his hands, which had two giant holes in his palms.
His smile was sweet and comforting while he kept his hands on his knees. "How are you feeling?"
Sans blinked for a moment, registering that this skeleton's dialogue was rather rough, but still understandable. "I'm fine."
Hearing his own voice seemed to startle Sans, his hands moving up to where his mouth was. He could feel his teeth, but they didn't feel like they moved when he spoke. He tried again, keeping his hands on his teeth. "Hello?"
Sans jerked his head away when his mouth didn't move, yet his voice came out clear as if he didn't need to move them. A simple laugh brought Sans back over to the other skeleton, who tried to hide his smile. "Oh! Sorry, I shouldn't laugh."
Leaning forward, Sans was a little startled when the tall skeleton pulled out a small flashlight, clicking it on. He tried to lean his skull back but the tall skeleton placed a hand behind his skull to keep him from moving, shining the light into his eye sockets. "Pupils are dilating normally, no discoloration…"
Clicking off the light, he then held the flashlight in front of Sans. "Follow the tip of the flashlight with your eyes, please."
Sans did as he was told, anxious and confused on why this was occurring. The tall skeleton lightly hummed. "Eyes seem to be moving in sync, any discomfort when you move them?"
"No." Sans tried to shake his skull but remembered that it was being held.
Setting the flashlight down and taking his hand off of San's skull, the tall skeleton reached behind them for what appeared to be a small wooden slab. "Open your mouth."
"Uh…" Sans gazed down at his teeth, then reluctantly back up to his guest. "I don't think I can."
The skeleton frowned, but not in a scolding way. "Go ahead and give it a try."
Looking back down at his teeth, Sans mustered the will to attempt to open his mouth. He grunted lightly while his skull rattled until he gave up. "Nothing."
"Hmm." The tall skeleton gently wafted his right hand through the air, its hand glowing light blue. Sans grew nervous when the blue glow appeared around his skull, a pressure not there before growing at the front of his teeth. He lightly whimpered just as a light, popping sound could be heard.
Scared Sans looked down to notice that his mouth had opened, though it so desperately wanted to be closed. The blue magic centered around his teeth to keep them from coming down on the skeleton's hands when he stuck the wooden slab in and onto what Sans thought was his tongue.
He took a moment to poke around inside his mouth before finally taking his wooden slab back. "Everything looks normal in there."
Allowing the magic to disperse, Sans had to hold his skull when his teeth chomped back down, closing off his mouth from the rest of the world. Sans lightly felt his teeth and cheekbones, turning his attention back to his guest just as he had pulled up his shirt.
Flustered Sans lightly gasped, a blue hue over taking his cheekbones. He grabbed his shirt to pull back down only to notice that the skeleton was holding a small, metal box in his hand, with his other fed a small cord over to his ribcage. "Just relax. I'm observing your soul right now to make sure it's steady and healthy."
"O-Oh." Sans squirmed a little at the thought of something looking at his soul, but decided to relax and let this skeleton finish his check-up. A moment of silence over took the room as Sans waited for whatever readings on the metal box to be good, and he knew things were ok when the skeleton smiled with relief. "Readings look normal and stable."
Sitting back up, the skeleton took his hand out from Sans' ribcage, allowing him to pull back down his shirt. He absentmindedly put away his belongings behind him. There was an air of calm now that wasn't in the room before.
Turning his attention back to Sans, the skeleton pressed one of his hands onto the bed, leaning a little forward. "Sans, do you remember anything? Anything about your life?"
Sans didn't understand the question at first, deciding to take a look around the room. The room he was in felt new and strange, with the walls painted a nice blue and a blue rug just beneath his bed above the carpet. There was a bookshelf in his room with various books stored in neat rows but there was another bed in the room that was empty. A red bed.
"Where's Papyrus?" Sans asked, blinking again as his eyes searched the room.
"Papyrus?" The skeleton sounded surprised just as both of them heard a young voice.
"Sans?"
Sans turned his skull over to the wooden door across from his bed. Hanging onto the doorknob with both of his hands stood Papyrus, who was also a skeleton just like his brother.
His mouth slightly opened into a happy smile when he noticed Sans was awake, wearing a knitted red sweater and long, tan pants.
"Papyrus." Sans breathed, his eyes relaxing as he watched Papyrus scamper over to the bed. His older brother appeared to be no older than eight, but somehow that sounded right to Sans. He looked himself over again to see that he was also a child, but didn't question why.
Lifting himself up onto the bed, Papyrus crawled over to where Sans sat and gave him a big hug. "You're awake! You're awake!"
"I am awake." Sans replied, his eye sockets closing when Papyrus hugged him and rested his skull atop his.
"Sans." Sans opened his eye sockets again when the older skeleton addressed him.
He looked a little concerned, with his right hand hovering in the air. "Sans, what do you remember?"
Papyrus stared down at Sans while he contemplated the question. Finally his eyes looked up at the older skeleton, his face blank. "I remember Papyrus. But… I don't remember much else."
He blinked, head cocked slightly to the left. "Who are you?"
The older skeleton let out a breath of air, as if he was relieved a little to hear that answer. His eyes shifted away for a second before back to Sans. "I already told this to your brother, but I found you two outside of Hotland just a few days ago. I tried finding your parents or someone who knew you but no one knew your origin or who your parents were. So… in light of what has happened, I have decided to take care of you two. I know we may not be biological but I am hoping that we can overlook that."
The older skeleton's smile grew a little. "We're going to be a family, ok?"
"We get to live in this nice house!" Papyrus placed his hands on Sans' skull, lifting his skull over his to get a better look at his eyes. "It has a kitchen, and-and we have our own bedroom, and there's a couch downstairs!"
Sans smiled to Papyrus as he gave one back before adjusting his attention back over to the other skeleton. He blinked once more. "Are you our dad then?"
"Dad?" The skeleton seemed rather flushed when asked that, his cheekbones turning light pink. He brought a hand up to his cheek. "No no, you don't have to call me that."
"What should we call you then?" Papyrus asked as Sans noticed the window behind the tall skeleton. Snow fell gracefully down from outside while a white fog overtook the land behind it.
Sans brought himself back to his their room when he heard the skeleton speak. "Well… how about Uncle Gaster?"
Papyrus angled his skull down to look at Sans, who looked up. They both smiled before nodding their heads, giving Gaster their attention. "Uncle Gaster sounds nice."
"Then it's settled." Gaster brought his two hands together, lightly nodding his head. "So long as I live, I will watch over you two and raise you to be the best monsters you can be."
"Alright Uncle Gaster!" Papyrus shouted in excitement. He scampered his way off of Sans' head before rushing into Gaster, who brought his arms up in alarm. He wasn't expecting Papyrus to give him a tight hug, with little giggles in between his breathing.
Gaster felt his cheeks grow pink again as he noticed Sans crawl his way out of his covers and over to where Gaster sat. He joined Papyrus in hugging the tall skeleton, who seemed hesitant and surprised.
Sans lifted his skull up when Gaster looked flustered on what to do with his arms. "Haven't you ever had a hug?"
"O-Oh, I have." Gaster turned his skull away for a moment. "It's just been awhile."
Slowly his arms cradled the two boys, giving them a gentle hug back. He lowered his head to barely rest it above Sans and Papyrus' head, taking this moment to look outside at the falling snow. "Welcome home, you two."
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Continue: FadingLight is complete. Preparing to install AcceptingDarkness...
Installing AcceptingDarkness (this may take awhile) …1%
Estimated Time: 1 month.
So as I was writing this story I came upon the conclusion really quickly that I wouldn't be able to do this whole story in one go. Technically I could, but I wouldn't want this story to drag on for too long and I might get burned out from constantly working on it without a break.
So I offer a solution! This is only Part 1 of the whole story, where it covers Sans and Papyrus as humans, Part 2 will be about Sans and Papyrus growing up in the monster world and how they become the lovable Skelebros we know today. So we're not done yet!
A lot of you may have questions about the ending of this story, which I hope to explain more in Accepting Darkness.
Now time for some goodies! I'm working on a BONUS behind-the-scenes chapter for this story where I'll explain the work that went into this story, how characters were created, what scenes were left out and other cool, author things, so expect that soon!
And finally I just want to say thank you again for reading. I'm honored that you've taken time out of your lives to check out my story and your words of kindness has been very influential. I hope this story was about as much fun as it was for me to write it.
I'll see you all in one month in Part 2 of Fading Light, "Accepting Darkness".