"SANS! CAN YOU GET THE DOOR? I'M STILL WORKING ON MY BATTLE BODY."
Sans groaned as he rolled to the other side of his bed and covered his head with a pillow. He had a long day of research with Gaster today. He may have been have been glad that they had finally figured it out, but that doesn't mean he still hates the work. And suffice to say, he wasn't looking forward to it. He lifted his pillow slightly to look at the clock. 9 AM. Had Papyrus been working on his costume all night? Jesus, at this rate he'll actually get sick if he doesn't sleep.
He slowly shrugged his blankets off, making excuses for himself in his head about why he should take his time. And by take his time he meant never get all the way out of bed. But eventually he slowly sat up in his bed, putting his face in his hand and rubbing his forehead.
"SANS, PLEASE HURRY. THEY'VE BEEN WAITING FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW."
He dragged his hand down his face, dreading getting out of the bed. But he somehow put on his slippers he kept at the side of his bed, and slowly stood up.
Well, one miracle had already happened that day. And he didn't normally wake up until at least three hours from now.
He dragged his feet across the room, picking up dirty laundry that was laying on the floor around his legs. He fumbled to get a grip on the doorknob, almost purposely not using his thumb.
The door finally clicked open, and he pushed it forward with the effort of next to nothing. He squinted at the sudden brightness of the house. Pap had even forgot to turn out the lights last night. He hoped Gaster had made enough last night to cover what electricity bill Pap had made within the past week alone.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. It snapped him out of his daze and put him on edge. It was way too professional sounding. The most uptight knock they had ever received was whenever they had a package delivered. And even that was just a half-assed placement of knuckles.
He cautiously made his way down the stairs, not taking his eyes off the door. It somehow looked cold. And not just because they lived in a tundra.
There was another knock when he put his hand on the doorknob. It set him off even worse. Why was he so put off by a knock? Someone was literally just asking for entry. No one that wanted to hurt anybody would ask to come in.
Right?
He braced himself anyway. His fingertips sparking blue as he swung open the door.
It was the Dogi from the royal guard. Dogamy and Dogaressa, the soon to be married couple. Second only to the King and Queen for being the cheesiest couple in the underground. He'd chatted with them a few times at Grillby's. They were pretty chill. He stopped himself from breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of them. Until he noticed that they both had their hoods pulled over their heads, which were hanging low. Their tails were tucked between their legs.
"Uh… Hey guys. What's up?" He asked, trying his best to sound casual.
"We regret to inform you…" Dogamy mumbled, trailing off his sentence.
"(We were commanded to tell you...)" Dogaressa choked out, tears lining her voice.
They were both silent for a good ten seconds.
"Guys, what happened?" Sans asked, upon hearing Dogaressa whine in despair. Dogamy suddenly stood up straight and pounded his axe handle against the ground in a regal manner.
"... The… The King and Queen have lost the life of their child." Dogamy said, his voice faltering slightly. "And… And their foster child."
"... What?"
Dogaressa's shoulders shook, and Dogamy put a hand on her shoulder. She seemed to gain a slight amount of strength.
"(The humans… Are responsible.)" She sniffed. (Therefore… The King h-has declared that every h-human that comes here m-must die.)"
"Once the king has enough human souls... He… He will shatter the barrier and free us all." Dogamy said, trying to sound happy about it.
Sans stood in the open door, stunned. Snow was drifting carelessly into the house from the wind. Dogamy's hand formed into a fist and Dogaressa's whines became more audible.
"With Gaster being the head royal scientist, you and your brother have been chosen by the King to act as sentries along with us." Dogamy declared. "We will start in three days. Prepare until then."
They bowed quickly in unison and scampered away. Sans stood in the open doorway for a little while longer, hearing the wails of despair coming from Snowden of everyone who had just found out the news. He blinked a couple of times before slowly closing the door, falling back onto it when it shut.
"SANS, WHO WAS IT?" Papyrus asked as he strode out of his room. "WAS IT THE KING PERSONALLY ACCEPTING ME INTO THE ROYAL GUARD?"
"... Papyrus…"
"WOWIE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING! I HAVEN'T EVEN TALKED TO UNDYNE YET AND I'VE ALREADY BEEN ACCEPTED! I'LL BE RISING IN THE RANKS IN NO TIME!"
"Papyrus, we might need a rain check on that."
"WHAT?!" Papyrus shouted from over the banister, followed by him rushing down the stairs. "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, BROTHER?! WAS IT NOT HIM AT THE DOOR?"
"No… No it wasn't."
"WHO WAS IT THEN?!"
Sans finally looked up at Papyrus, who's expression shifted upon seeing Sans's face.
"Brother… What's wrong?" Papyrus asked, in one of the calmest tones he'd ever heard him speak.
Sans took a deep breath.
"We just got a new job, buddy."
Sans gazed around the throne room. It could hardly be called a room, it was outside. The sun shone down on the single throne in the center. The other throne had been moved to the back corner, two monsters were busy covering it in a white sheet. He squinted at them. Wasn't that the queen's throne? What happened? Gaster stood beside him, waiting patiently for King Asgore to return. He seemed unphased by all of this. Then again, he was hardly ever phased by anything.
Just then, Asgore appeared in the doorway with a tray of two steaming cups of tea.
"Thank you two for coming on such short notice." He said as he approached them, proceeding to hand each of them a cup.
"It's no trouble at all, You're Highness" Gaster said, not breaking his eye contact with Asgore as he took the cup in his hands.
"Gaster, please, we've been over this. Call me 'Asgore'." He said, handing Sans a cup.
"Sorry Alphys couldn't make it." Sans said as he accepted the cup, feeling the heat twinge against his fingers. "She's... Uh... Not taking this whole thing too well. So we decided to let her have a break." He awkwardly tapped the side of the cup, making it clink and ring in his ears. "Do, uh, you have anything you need us to do?"
Asgore sighed deeply, putting the tray on his throne.
"Marki and Marko, thank you." He said gently, turning to the monsters who had just finished putting the sheet on the throne. "You've been a big help. You can go now. Please come and visit me later at my house."
They both bowed and shot out of the room. Leaving Sans, Gaster, Asgore, and the birds behind.
Asgore stood at the foot of his throne and hung his head.
"How close are you to finishing the machine?" He asked quietly.
"Not very." Sans said, absentmindedly swishing the tea around in the teacup. "Whyda ask?" He immediately stopped swishing, realizing the answer to his own question as soon as he asked it.
Asgore's shoulders shook slightly. The internal battle he was having with himself was becoming visible.
Gaster's eyes widened.
"Your Highness… You're not thinking…"
"My wife ran away." He whispered. "She left last night."
The room rang with an almost painful silence. Sans stopped himself from letting his jaw drop. There's no way. The Queen would never do anything like that. She loved the King more than he'd seen anyone love anyone. Tons of people found it disgusting how much they loved each other. And she just up and left? No way. No fucking way.
"No one's been able to find her." Asgore said as he put his hand to his head. "We've looked everywhere we possibly could. She's disappeared."
"I… I apologize, Your High- Asgore." Gaster corrected himself. "That is truly upsetting. But I think you should think this over before-"
"I didn't want to come to this." Asgore interrupted. "I really didn't. It took everything I had to not ask when…" He stopped, his breath shaking. Sans thought he might have seen tears in his eyes. "But I can't take this. I can't take this much pain. I'm begging you. Finish your machine as soon as you possibly can, and fix all of this."
"We've only just discovered that it's even possible." Sans explained "We're not really sure how to execute it. It could take literal years."
"Please."
There was a crack in Asgore's voice that made Sans cringe.
"Asgore… I promise we will work as hard as we possibly can to get it done." Gaster said, placing his teacup on the tray.
"Thank you." Asgore sighed. "Thank you."
Sans looked up at Gaster and nodded his head to the side, indicating they should talk to each other in private. Gaster nodded back and they took a few steps forward and turned their backs to Asgore.
"Uh… Gasty…" Sans whispered to him. "This isn't going to happen any time soon. Why're you saying this…?"
Gaster squinted at the ground, making the face he makes when he's thinking really hard. He had always been good at analyzing every possible option within a short time span. Sans could practically see every scenario flashing through his eyes like a TV screen. After about thirty seconds of him being unsettlingly still, he turned back around and approached Asgore. Sans followed suit.
"How long do you think it'll take?" Asgore asked, wiping the now visible tears from his face.
"Uhh…" Sans nervously took a sip of the golden yellow liquid.
"... Will you settle for three months?" Gaster asked nonchalantly.
Sans sputtered and choked on his tea, trying to keep his cough down. It ended up just sounding like he was getting punched in the stomach repeatedly.
"... Can you really do it in that short a time?" Asgore asked in amazement, slowly lowering his hand from his face.
Sans flicked his eyes between Gaster and Asgore. Was he serious? Was he actually serious? Or was he learning to have a sense of humor all of a sudden? Either one was impossible. How the everliving hell were they supposed to finish it in three months?!
"I'm sure of it." Gaster stated. Sans gulped down his tea in one big chug, letting it burn his throat.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." Asgore repeated. "I'll be sure to pay you in full, for the expenses of the parts you need and plenty for your labor. Sans, you can retire from Sentry duty temporarily while you work on this with Gaster."
"Thanks, dude." Sans said, staring blankly into his empty teacup.
He wished the universe could give him a break for just a fucking minute