((OOC: If you would like learn more about HeartTale, Sans and Papyrus pleases visit "Undertale AU Hearttale Characters Profiles"))
It was a beautiful day with the birds singing and the flowers blooming. On days like this, the streets of New Home would have been a joyful place full of children playing and laughing, lovey dove couples walking together hand in hand, and a marketplace filled with delicious food to buy. Instead of the place being overcrowded, it was empty, abandoned, and quite. Except for two souls, inside the castle's walls.
All monsters had been evacuated to an unknown region of the underground. All for the sake of one single human child, had gained the power and will to destroy all living things in their path. In order for them to escape the underground and pass through the barrier, they needed to take the king's soul with them, to access the Surface. Then the child would have freedom to destroy this world or reset the timeline.
Within the castle, was a corridor lit up with yellow-hued colors cascading from large windows, engraved with "Delta rune". White light shone through the stain glass windows, casting a bright glow upon a short teenage skeleton's, skull. He's not of royal blood, nor royal guard. He had no right to be here, but no one could stop him from entering. Behind him, was the doors which lead to the throne room where King Dreemurr had been waiting.
The young skeleton sighed as he leaned against a pillar while placing his hands into his blue winter jacket. This was not the first time the human that called themselves "Frisk", played this game of "kill or be killed. What got under the Skeleton's skin the most about the human children, were the ones who could reset the timeline and go back to the beginning where they first fell in the Underground. There were timelines similar to this, where the Kid had the guts to pick a bone with everyone and murder them in cold blood. The poor Skeleton had been doomed with the power to remember every timeline, good or bad.
The skeleton tried killing the human child many times, but even upon death, the Kid could still reset everything. In the beginning, it felt like his job had been to seek revenge for his fallen friends and judge the human's soul. If Frisk ended up going down the genocide route, it was up to him to give the kid a bad time and taste of justice. It had to of been over 9,000 times, living the timeline over and over. With barely any hope left in his bones. The only thing that kept him from cracking was one wish; to see his younger brother and friends, smile again. Everything else in any world didn't matter anymore. So what was he doing there waiting again for the human to come? Unlike many other monsters, he contained the knowledge of the past timeline. Not having to play the same game over and over again, like a puppet. If he wanted, he could just leave the last corridor and let the human freely walk into the throne to kill…..No he couldn't let that child have their way that easily. What if this was the last timeline and it never reset again? He couldn't live with himself knowing he failed all his friends who died. Knowing that brother killer was still living was eating away what was left of his soul.
This time, the skeleton was not going to play by the human's rules. No more talking, and no more giving the Kid second chances. He is going to murder that demon as soon as he spotted them. Sure, once upon a time in another timeline, they were best friends. That was before the Kid sold his soul to the devil and started killing monsters.
Sans raised his left hand up in the air as white lights in his eye socket disappeared and blue light formed in his left eye shock. Above his head was his most powerful weapon, Gaster Blaster. A ghastly ghost shaped skull with two eyes that glowed the same blue as it master's eye. The skeleton could now hear the demon child's tiny little footsteps coming closer and closer as they skipped merrily towards him.
"WOW, Sansy! No stupid monologue this time." A wicked child, wearing blue and purple striped shirt, giggled as they noticing a light beam forming inside the Gaster Blaster's mouth. The skeleton monster before them didn't speak a word as he waved his hand down, a beam of light blasted from within the large weapon's mouth, aimed at the child. Lovely stone floor around them, smashed into rumble, leaving clouds of smoke and dust in the air. Sans was trapped in a dust fog as his head darted around, looking for the demonic child. The only thing he could hear was a creepy laugh that echoed off the walls.
"Too Slow." the demon child sang as a shadow figure pushed through the fog and kicked Sans in the skull, causing a tiny crack to form. The skeleton pays no attention to the pain as a blue flame bursts out of his skull, completely covering his left eye socket. Blue light glowed upon Frisk's small human chest as Sans took hold of their soul. Tossing them face first into a nearby pillar then slamming them into another.
"Why don't you die?!.." Sans screamed but stopped as he heard laughter coming from the demonic child. "When did this kid become a masochist?" he thought as he pulled the child away from the pillar and turned them face him. Under all the blood upon Frisk, he noticed rosy pink cheeks, a bloody smile of a killer, and cold eyes staring right through him. "I see….So, this Kid is not playing today."
"Nope…Frisk is kind of mad at me right now…..That's alright, I learned a new trick. Want see?" The devil child grin was growing wider as a ring of purple light formed around their deep red iris. Out of thin air, skeleton bones with sharp points appeared in front of the devil child. "Cool, right?"
Sans was speechless as he looked at the sight before him. The human was using skeleton magic, but how? When Frisk killed monsters, they gained strength not magic. Could this be what happens to someone when they reach ultimate power of LOVE? "How?" was all Sans could muster as he felt the devil child's soul, pushing his magical psychokinesis away from their demon soul.
The demonic child smirked as they formed some bones under them to break their fall. Facing Sans, they pointed the sharp end of a floating bone, at the skeleton. Sans reciprocating with his magic as well. The halls become a battle field as a purple and blue magical bone flew the air, causing some damage toward each opponent's side. Windows smashed into millions of pieces and orange stoned flooring, turned into rubble. Either side was not letting up
Sans broke away from the battle as he grabbed his chest. He could feel his soul was almost out of magic. Unlike the demon child, he didn't have as much energy. Sans could gain more if he took lives before the battle started, but he was not a killer. The only life he would take was the brother killer, before him. He just had enough strength to create one last Gaster. Blue light formed around his body. "Get du…" the words where cut off as Sans felt a large blade crack through the center of his skull. His vision became blurry, only making out a silhouette of a figure that appeared to be tiny Death, standing before him. Darkness covered him as his soul slipped into quietness of nothing.
A tiny dot of light appeared in each of the skeleton's eye sockets. The danger around Sans was gone now. Safely laying on top of his broken mattress. It had all been a nightmare of another timeline. He rolled over on the mattress and looked around his bedroom. Crumbled up pieces of paper all over the floor and a long dresser with a floor lamp placed on top of it. Everything was the same old bedroom. Placing his hand on the floor, he felt around for his cell phone then clicked on the power to display the date and time on a lock menu. He kind of hated talking on the phone. Unless he was making prank calls, He'd rather talk to someone face to face. There were other times like this it came in handy. If the phone was working like it should, then today was only the second day after Frisk fell into the Underground Ruins. Which meant that the human would be in Snowdin sometime in the afternoon. No telling until then, which route the Kid would take. Sans hated waiting, but there was nothing he could do. Trying to do a Short Cut, wouldn't work. The only way he could teleport is if he had been in that location before. The Ruins had always been locked, so walking in was out of the question too. So until that Kid shows up, Sans would have to play along with the same routine he had lived over nine thousand times "Three…Two….One."
"Sans, you lazy bones get up! Don't make us late for work today!" a voice shouted from the other side of San's bedroom door.
"Can't Paps…..I don't have the muscles to move." Sans chuckled as he slipped his boney feet into a pair of pink slippers. Again why does he keep following the same path each time? He was cursed to remember each timeline, why didn't he use to his advantage? No one said he had to play by some unknown rule. Deep down he just wanted go back to sleep and never wakeup. If that's what he wanted, then so be it. Sans flopped himself back onto the mattress while he pulled his covers over his head to block out the sunlight.
"SANS!" a voice yelled as a taller slender skeleton with body armor, bursts into San's room and walked over to the so called bed.
"Papyrus!" Sans gasped as a bed sheet was pulled off of him. There was a reason he ketp going and played by the timeline rules. His younger brother wasn't cursed like him, so his soul was still pure and innocent. Sans wanted to keep it that way. Worrying his brother would just put stress on both of them. But he did wish there were someone he could trust and knew about the timeline, to help him figure a way out. In the last timeline, that demon child had monster's power. If a human could do that, was there a way for a monster to steal a human's magical gift?
"Don't worry, I THE GREAT PAPYRUS will make sure we both get to work on time" Papyrus said picking up Sans and carried him over his shoulder like a giant bag of flour. He didn't put his big brother down until they were both standing in front of their house, in the snow.
"Wow, It's bone chilly out here." Sans remarked while making his bones rattled to go along with his pun. He could see in the corner of his eye socket, Papyrus face palmed himself from the older skeleton's lame joke. Sans chuckled as he walked behind his brother, making their way to the first Snowdin post, outside the Ruins. While they walked, Sans tried to remember every detail of his last battle with the human. Everything seemed to be in order in the last timeline, until Sans decided to skip over his line about the birds, flowers, and sending the kid to hell. That shouldn't have effect anything, it was just words. No, that Kid was the one who changed the outcome of the timeline ending, by doing something different before they came to the last corridor. He's very sure the Kid was using skeleton magic, but to San's knowledge, Papyrus and him where the last skeleton monsters. Did they gain that power after killing Papyrus? No that couldn't be right either, his little brother's power glowed orange, not purple. Could that be possible, after killing all that monsters over and over in different timelines resulted in the Kid's soul turning him into a monster? Humans were just like skeleton, but with flesh and organs. It may explain why the Kid was able to use magic and summon bones. But Sans always thought that Frisk and demon child inside of them had red souls due to their determination. Then again humans were fickle creatures that change their mind about things at a drop of a hat. One moment they are your best pal, next thing you know they're turning all your friends, into dust.
"SANS…..SANS…Are you listening…." Papyrus spoke in a worried voice as he looked over his shoulder to see his older brother lost in thought and drag his feet in the snow. This was not like Sans at all, not crack a few puns while Papyrus was trying talk to him. Maybe his brother was sick? Maybe that's why he was difficult to get out of bed and so silent, now. Skeletons couldn't get colds, but too much stress on their soul, could make them sick. Was Papyrus pushing his brother to hard? When the last time was those two had a vacation or a day off from work and school? The younger brother placed his gloved hand under his chin bone as he pondered that question "Did Sans have a day off, last week….no that didn't feel right….three weeks ago maybe…..no….last year?….." it was as if Papyrus' soul was telling him all those answers where wrong, but he was sure Sans was not a workaholic. His older brother was lazy, but then again, Papyrus didn't know what Sans did when they were not together. "Is your soul alright brother...If somethings wrong you can tell me…I'm here to help?" Papyrus asked placing a gloved hand on Sans's shoulder bone.
Crap, Sans messed up big time. He had been so lost in a train of thought that he forgot to say all of his lines. Now he was faced with worry little brother. Quickly looking around his surrounding, he tries to remember what Papyrus talked about when they were around this point of their walk. Only seeing snow and trees around them, "Dammit" he though. There was no landmark to tell him what part of the path they were on. "Sorry Paps, if I gave you the cold shoulder…I was having a nice cold dream"
"SANS? Did you do that on purpose?" Papyrus asked pulling away from his brother with puzzlement in his voice.
"I though you would like it more if I was bone quite….I guess you can't get enough of me tickling your funny bone." He chuckled as he placed his hands into his blue jacket while shrugging his shoulders. "Chill out bro I'm…ice-o-k." Sans, kicking some snow up in the air.
"Neeeee….Don't you ever run out of puns, Sans."
"Nope….I'm a funny bone master of punny-ies."
"Pleases, stop….."
"Sure thing, bone brother"
"Sanssssssssssssss…ugh"
"Alright….Alright….." Sans picked up the pace so he could walk beside Papyrus. Taking his special Short Cuts, would have got them there faster, but that would cut down on time he spent with his brother. As they get there….
"Sans, I'm going to go recalibrate my puzzles now...You can keep watch at your station until I get back. Call me if you see a Human come. I want be the one to capture them. SO I THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD. I will get everything I want... respect...recognition...and bathe in a shower of kisses, every morning" the younger brother giggled as he placed his red gloved hands on his cheek bones. If skeletons could blush, his face would be red as a tomato as he images a pink and black male android lying in his sports car bed, kissing every inch of his bones.
"Ummm…Paps….Bro….Pleases get your bones out the gutter!" Sans yelled as he gently kicked Papyrus in the tibia. He didn't have to be a mind reader to known what his brother was thinking of. Whenever his younger monster thought of his crush, his eye socket would light up with tiny orange hearts. Sans hated knowing that his younger brother was secretly dating an adult monster. It's not because they were both males, Sans himself swung both ways. It was the fact that Papyrus was still a "kid" that needs protecting from big bad wolves, who want to chew on his bones. Sans wanted to keep Papyrus innocent as long as he could.
"Sorry, brother….I just…"
"Don't worry Paps…Come on we have tons of work… skele-ton….Left to do."
"SANS!….Alright I will be going now… Nyeheheheheheeeeeee…" Papyrus laughed as he walked away leaving Sans all alone at his station.
Sans waved to his brother as he watched him disappear behind a pile of snow. He sighed a bit as he took a seat inside his station. It was still early in the morning and would be hours before he spotted the human child. Sans folds his arms as placed them on the edge of the station window and lay his skull on top. Last night's dream left him bone tired. This is about the time he would take a nap. He was too tensed to fall asleep after what happen in the last timeline. His soul was feeling a little under the weather and need some TLC. Maybe he should abandon his post for the morning, Have a few drinks, and maybe if certain flaming male monster wants to rattle his bones. He'd be up for some Sriracha Ketchup time.