CHAPTER THIRTY ONE: Beauty And The Bonehead
(AUTHOR NOTE: this chapter is basically just sans being a romantic dumbass. I mean, I guess you can skip it. If you'd like- it is incredibly cheesy and bad. Mostly this is just me saying thanks to anybody who's been somehow loving/tolerating this fic so far. It's mainly soriel mush? It does fit into the plot though, obviously, I was just gonna originally cut it out. Anyway, enjoy, i'll see y'all later- there shall be some Shit going down next chapter, it will be long- and as always, keep writing!)
Sans wakes slowly, surrounded by gold.
Not literal gold, mind you- but as his eyesockets slowly flicker open, the ebbing glow of a cheerfully crackling fire fills the room around him with warm golden light. Not fully awake, his eyes lazily drift to the fire- it's warm…but wasn't he cold just a minute ago? Suddenly realizing he has absolutely no idea where he is or how he got here, Sans pushes himself up onto his elbows, eyelights flicking about the room, panic rising in his still-half-frozen mind. Bookshelves full of worn-looking tomes frame the crackling fireplace which provides the only light in the room, a soft looking carpet spread on the wooden floor, bearing surprisingly few singe marks for a rug right in front of an open flame. Sans himself has been placed carefully on an unfairly comfortable armchair, a thick blanket tucked around his legs and a throw pillow shoved behind him. He glances around in bewilderment, vaguely aware his clothes are damp and his marrow feels frozen solid. He shivers- Even near the warmth of the fire, he still somehow feels cold…
it has definitely been more than five minutes.
Then, sans hears a soft humming, drifting through the room.
The soft tune is floating in through an open doorway in the nearby wall, sans making out a lit room beyond as the humming picks up slightly, growing more cheerful as the faint sounds of a kettle being poured drift in as well. Then, as sans pushes himself up fully, he realizes he recognizes the tune. Turn To The Garden- an old, old lullaby…his mom used to sing that, didn't she? God, that song is old then… Sans kicks off the lilac blanket, and awkwardly places it back on the armchair, before cautiously pacing his way towards the still-soft humming. His bones feel stiff, clinging to the deep chill as she shivers. He intends to find out where he is, and who brought him here- and how he can get back to his house for that matter- no way he can teleport in that Snowstorm.
That is… Sans realizes, …if the storm is still going. I could've been asleep for days… it's not like it'd exactly be out of the ordinary for him, after all. He places his hand on the corner edge, turning to the warmly-lit kitchen.
And there, humming softly to herself, stands the most graceful monster sans has ever seen.
She has her back turned to him- a mountain of graceful cloud-white fur, carefully pouring a kettle of hot water into two chipped mugs, gentle white paws wrapped around the soft moss green tea cozy. Long, velvety ears fall around her snowy white head, swooping down from just below two perfectly symmetrical horns, both of which show faint engraving of now-lost designs that confuse the eye. Her long purple robes swirl gently across the tile as she sways slightly to the tune she hums, and Sans just stares, dumbstruck, for a long moment. Then, the most graceful monster sans has ever seen takes both steaming cups in her paws, and turns- not immediately seeing him, her eyes closed as she hums the tune to herself with a faint smile.
Her eyes open, and immediately lock with sans's as the tune halts mid-note, her mouth just slightly open.
Sans, as expected, does nothing but gape up at her. oh my god, he thinks to himself, dearly hoping his skull isn't as red as a Gyftmas bulb right now as he keeps nervously holding eye contact, her elegant face one he's seen many times in the dusty oil paintings that lie in the judgment hall, the incredibly funny, absolutely hilarious, super compassionate and completely adorable monster I've been sharing jokes with for a month is the long-lost queen of all monsters.
He stares up into her gentle rose-coloured eyes, his skull on fire, and suddenly comes to a realization im sure everyone else has come to by now.
F*ck.
He thinks, quite accurately summing up the situation, eyesockets huge as he holds her gaze. But then the queen suddenly blinks, hard, seeming to snap to attention- her ears flapping slightly around her head as she shakes her head.
"O-oh! You are awake- I am terribly sorry for freezing up, I am…unused to face-to-face conversation!"
She begins immediately, chuckling sheepishly and smiling a nervous smile that makes sans's nonexistent heart melt in his ribcage. I am so dead, He thinks to himself, before realizing he should probably respond. That would be great, if he could form coherent sentences!
"I am very glad you are awake- I had begun to be quite worried, you know!"
The queen explains, sans still trying to find words, any words, to shove out of his mouth.
"s…so- so wait, you're who I've been talkin' to then?"
Sans somehow manages to ask, quickly trying to shove Whatever The Hell he's feeling somewhere where he won't feel it, but the queen just smiles brightly and chuckles, dragging it right back up again. She steps forward, claws clicking lightly on the tile as she holds up the steaming mugs in her paws, the liquid within a deep chocolaty brown.
"Indeed I am, my friend! But no matter- your clothes are still quite damp, are they not? Here, come dry by the fire, I may explain things there, where you can properly warm up."
She exclaims somewhat worriedly, her voice warm and motherly as she moves past the still-gaping sans and into the fire lit room- turning back to gesture with one paw, the two steaming hot mugs of cocoa held in the other.
"Come now, you must be careful to keep yourself warm after such a terrible chill!"
Asgores gonna kill me, sans thinks, before attempting once again to shake himself out of it and nodding, following her back into the cozy fire-lit room. The shadows play on the queens kindly face, the firelight flickering in her eyes as she lowers herself to the ground and sits with her legs crossed on on the rug, one mug placed before her and the other directly opposite, the queen tapping the rug to indicate for sans to sit, smiling invitingly. Sans walks over, feeling the fire warm his bones with gentle pulses of heat as he thumps down directly opposite the queen, the fire flickering between them.
"So, I suppose you must have questions…"
The queen begins, sans taking the mug of coco in his ungloved hands as he feels the chill slowly leave his bones, both from the fire, and just being in her prese- nope, no, we ain't doin that, not right now, f*ck f*ckf*ck-
"…but first, introductions are In order!"
She exclaims brightly, sans looking up at her in surprise. He discreetly blows on the scalding chocolaty concoction inside the mug, trying to cool it to a halfway manageable temperature, marshmallows bobbing as little ripples race across its surface.
"Though, it is rather odd, is it not?" The queen adds, chuckling, "To have introductions more than a month after meeting!"
Sans snorts- yeah, that probably is weird. But they both fell into it so naturally. names are a face-to-face thing, so they developed a sort of unspoken agreement that they'd tell eachother their names only when they saw each other in person. And, well, that's definitely now.
"I suppose I will begin. I am…" She pauses for a moment before continuing. "…Tori! and it is very nice to finally meet you, my friend!"
Toriel finishes cheerfully, sans just blinking at her. So she is the queen… Welp, he thinks to himself while trying to formulate a reply, guess now I can say I'm on a first-name basis with royalty.
"uh…I'm sans- sans the skeleton,"
Sans replies with only a hint of awkwardness, holding out his ungloved hand, his signature shit-eating grin right back on his face.
"and uh, same I guess?"
He adds, rubbing the back of his neck with one skeletal hand and chuckling awkwardly, the other still offered out to the kindly old queen. She blinks as she registers his name, then smiles warmly as she leans forward and firmly shakes his hand with one large snowy paw.
"It is so wonderful to finally meet you- though, this does explain all the bone puns…"
She remarks, releasing his hand, sans's lingering in the air only a moment longer before he quickly busies himself with the mug. Toriel chuckles to herself, grinning slyly and adding;
"Even so, they were still quite humerus!"
She jokes, and Sans snorts into his drink, nearly spilling it and snickering into the scalding liquid as he grins to himself. God this lady is good. Toriel seems pleased by his reaction, and takes a long sip of her own drink as the fire crackles pleasantly between them.
"so, uh…" Sans asks, looking up from his drink, "…how did I…get here, again?"
He asks, waving to the room with one hand, Toriel blinking as if remembering that yes, right, explanations are needed.
"Ah, yes…"
Toriel begins, taking a deep breath and resting her drink in her lap, closing her eyes for a moment to prepare herself for the harder questions that might pop up in case this skeleton recognizes her. Then, she slowly releases it, and opens her eyes again, meeting sans's gaze with a firm readiness in her eyes.
"Well, which would you like to know- how I brought you here, or why?"
She asks, sans blinking as he considers it. how, or why? Well, all he remembers is answering her questions through the door, then being cold, and uh…yeah, why is probably the most important thing right now.
"uh, why, I guess?" Sans asks, tilting his skull slightly, "I mean, the ruins haven't been opened for years- assumin' that's where we are."
He asks, and Toriel nods, gesturing to the room around them with one paw
"This is my home, and yes, we are indeed within the ruins. I brought you in here because, well…"
She pauses, and looks down into her drink for a moment, eyes thoughtful as she watches the brown liquid swirl.
"…I could hear the blizzard, even through the stone. Icicles cracking, even trees falling, and then, you, who have always been so careful to notify me whenever you had to leave, went suddenly silent. I felt something was wrong, and well…"
She shrugs and gives sans a slightly sad smile, sighing a little.
"…I could not bear to risk the possibility of leaving you alone in such conditions."
Sans watches her face, and sees a flicker of deep loneliness in her eyes, the queen staring into the fire with an unreadable expression. Sans quickly calculates how long she must've been alone in this place, and suddenly realizes why every time he's told a joke she's laughed so heartily. He must've been the only thing to make her laugh in hell knows how long.
"…and as for how,"
The queen begins again with a quick inhale, her expression regaining its cheerfulness as she looks back towards sans, rosy eyes leaving the fire as the flicker of loneliness disappears,
"I carried you!"
Sans chokes on his drink, eyes widening as his mind goes places he'd rather not have it go, Toriel watching him obliviously as sans feels his skull burn- and not from the fire.
"y-you what?"
He asks in a strangled whisper, and Toriel just chuckles, replying;
"Oh, do not worry, it was of no trouble to me- you skeletons are light as a feather! Like carrying a couple of grapes!"
She assures him, chuckling brightly, and sans just stares at her as he prays to the Angel he isn't as red as cranberries. That is not at all what he was thinking in the slightest.
"s-so I…was unconscious…?"
He asks, coughing to clear his nonexistent throat and trying to direct his mind away from the fact the queen of all monsters apparently carried him in her- nope, no not going to think about that, time for the next question yup. Toriel's expression becomes slightly graver, a worried note coming into her voice as she replies with a small nod;
"Yes, you were. Your clothes were practically frozen solid- there were even icicle shards in your eyesockets!"
She exclaims, giving sans a worried look.
"After I found you practically buried in the snow drifts, I had to bring you here. Which reminds me, are you feeling alright? I would not be surprised if you have caught a cold after that kind of chill!"
she asks, leaning forward slightly and looking sans up and down as he blinks, hurriedly replying;
"nah, nah I feel fine- after all, ya have given me the royal treatment, heh!"
He jokes, grasping at straws for pun material. But upon hearing this, instead of laughing, Toriel freezes in place, staring at him. Sans blinks, then slowly realizes his mistake, his eyes widening. Uh oh, he thinks to himself, watching as the queen slowly straightens up, her expression becoming grave.
"So you do recognize me."
She mutters sadly, avoiding his gaze, sans beginning to internally panic at the grief he hears in her quiet voice. But then the old queen sighs deeply, closing her eyes and beginning to speak, her expression far colder.
"You must understand, i-"
She begins to say, but sans suddenly interrupts her, waving his hands to catch her attention.
"h-hey, look, ya don't gotta worry about me tellin' anyone you're here, m'kay?"
He reassures her hurriedly, Toriel immediately looking up at him in surprise.
"I mean, considerin' what happened to ya, I'm guessin' you came here for some peace and quiet- y'know, to be away from, uh, things? a-an' I know you probably don't wanna talk to asgore so…"
Sans shrugs,
"…who am I to ruin that, yanno?"
He asks, chuckling awkwardly, Toriel watching with wide eyes. Sans fidgets for a moment, looking uncomfortable as he waits for her response. She just sits there quietly, the fire flickering, her eyes shining in the warm light as she silently holds sans's gaze, assessing him, the skeleton unable to read anything in her deep rose eyes. The moment of silence stretches, then, the graceful old monster sighs deeply with relief, closing her eyes for a moment as all the hidden tension runs out of her. Then she opens them, and puts one gentle paw to her chest, replying with a grateful smile;
"Thank you, my friend."
Sans blinks, then shrugs dismissively, replying;
"eh, it's snow problem."
He puns, and Toriel snorts, putting a paw over her mouth and giggling as sans realizes what he's just said.
"…after all, I do owe ya for such a nice time,"
Sans adds, grinning- and Toriel bursts out laughing, the same ringing, full on laughter that sans has been hearing through the stone door for over a month now. he grins to himself as he watches, toriel attempting to compose herself with little success, beaming at him as she undoubtedly prepares her own puns.
It's even better in person.
(AUTHOR NOTE: and with that, we are at the official end of my original google docs file! …Which takes like 20 minutes to load! So yeah, ill be able to do longer chapters from now. and better edited ones. i mean, this was originally a lot more…
…zesty…
…but. Hey. Gotta save that for the smut business, and I've only got so much 'productos asados al vapor' in me, so, like, gotta keep it PG for the kids, y'know?)
