Author pow:
Hello everyone. Before we start I'd like you to acknowledge following points to avoid any misunderstandings:
1. I don't own Genshin Impact or Undertale franchises, nor any other franchise used in this story. My ownership is limited to the Fic itself in range specified by FFN rules. (Plus eventual OC's unless specified otherwise.)
2. This Fic has no upload frequency, I write this for fun.
3. Grammar and spelling won't be perfect, but I'll try not to make it atrocious for you.
4.1. Story starts with a state of Teyvat as present in version 4.1., since it's the most actual story-wise one at the time of me beginning beginning the writing. But since it's safe to assume that story won't actualize lore of Mondstadt for some time, I believe they won't affect the story too much. Just letting you know in case I happen to be wrong.
4.2. I also will put my own stuff/ideas into the fic. So if you aren't certain on canonicity of certain element/-s, go search it up.
5. I'll be using Aether as The Traveler in the story if he had to ever be brough up.
6. AU Sans-es are technically OC's, and as such I'll tag them this way.
7. If you want to make rewrite/adaptation/anything related to this story, go for it! The more content around the merrier.
With this out of the way, enjoy the read!
"... Whew. Didn't expect falling up to the surface." A figure of average-height man said, moving from lying on the grass plain into a curled-up sit and then looking around the place with his shiny blue eyes, head sticking out of an extensive blue jacket with a hood over his upper body. "Shame I didn't felt the pain of hitting the ground, my mind is still flying." He added, standing up and taking another look around the place. But to no change, as he saw just more grass plains whether he look with some hills further away. As if he found hiself in a dead center of some valley.
"Just who is he? He doesn't even look hurt..."
"Oh wow, not even a scratch on the ground?" The person asked, looking down on it's landing spot and knocking the grassy dirty twice with a backhand. "Hm. I clearly didn't slack enough, I'm so light I ran out of heavy puns." He added, throwing the hood off the head and revealing a slortly cut set of black hair.
"... Maybe if I won't confront him now, he'll slip a tongue and tell me bit more about himself."
"Heck, I'm no longer a skeleton!"
"... Skeleton? Just who is he?"
"Then again, I am no longer in The Underground..." Man sighed, standing up and showing to the hidden observer the black pants going all the way down to... Pink slippers. Huh. "... And I left everyone there to undergo Kiddos' wild ride again... Crap. Might aswell go and see where am I."
"Welcome to Mondstadt, strange yet respectable traveler." Decisive tone made him look right, as from the distant bushes rise a tall, young woman with short light blue hair supported by a black headband in between the combed back layers.
"Heh, thanks for telling." He responded, spreading his arms up and wide with joking gesture. "Hope I didn't cause a commotion."
"I'm afraid that you did. You literally just fell down from a sky, yet you landed with no scratch to yourself or the ground." Woman responded, still walking forward to approach him as the monolyth of green bushes began to reveal pair of piercing yellow-ish eyes and what seemed like strongly stylized knight outfit. You know, the armor with cape and everything. "Now please, state your identity and travel destination."
"Identity? Huh, that's difficult..." Random newcomer scratched the back of his head akwardly. "I identity as skeleton, though I appear to be a human."
"... Very well, unique situations aren't to be discarded." Woman muttered under her breath before looking back at him with sturn expression. "But you need to know that identity also includes name."
"Name? That's easy." Man smiled and closed eyes for a moment. "Name's Sans. Sans The Skeleton."
"... Alright." Knight nodded, quickly taking some notes on a sort of back-up notebook from her back. "And destination?"
"Well duh, none." Sans shaked his head. "I just dropped in unknown land. And the one I come from, well..."
"...?" Woman rised her eyebrow, sensing something akward from his lack of words.
"... Isn't a place to return to. Routes with 'Nowhere' on them usually support only one-way trips, regardless of whether The Nowhere is starting point or destination."
"Fair enough." The Knight nodded patiently. "Still, I must request your compliance as I escort you to the city. Safety measures request that travelers of all origins are to stay under protection and unknown ones are to be investigated."
"Oh well, guess innocents don't have to worry." Sans sighed deeply before slowly walking towards her. "Mind if I ask for your name though?"
"Eula, Knight of Favonius in a rank of Captain." She responded, turning around on her heel as the two began to walk back into the more forested space. Eula on the left and Sans on the right.
"Knight? Captain? That's a coincidence..." Sans commented, giving her a sideways look. "Sorry for asking, it just reminds me of someone..."
"Really?" Eula asked, curious.
"Yup, my Brother Papyrus to be exact." Sans continued with casual smile. "He wanted to join the Royal Guard, be recognized and liked by many..."
"... " Eula didn't comment, seemingly deep in thought.
"Yup, he isn't around me anymore." Sans sighed again, dropping the smile in favor of neutral glare. "No one is."
"What happened to your home?" Eula asked, still going for more information.
"... Long story." Sans responded dodging the question. "But if you mean building, then it's abandoned."
"No, home on the wider scale." Eula corrected.
"With a backyard?" Sans joked.
"I heard you talk about 'Kiddos' wild ride'." Eula decisively cut to the chase, making Sans eyes momentarly turn round and black. "And judging by your reaction, you wanted to hide this information form me."
"Well, the only thing to judge here is your hearing." Sans shrugged off her accusation.
"I literally observed your actions and heard you words since you woke up back there on the grass." Eula continued, momentarly pointing behind herself. "You won't stop me till' you tel-." She continued to talk before realising he disappeared from her view.
"Too bad, Eww-la." Sans teased, resting against a tree behind her with crossed arms. "It's not nice to eavesdrop on people in their sleep."
"Judging by your lack of cooperation, it was justified." Eula narrowed her eyes, turning around with right hand gripping the solid claymore in a sheath.
"Judging? Justified?" Sans asked, moving from rest to standing position. "Oh, buddy..." He made a small grin as his eyes turned whole black again.
"You have no idea what that means."
"... Never pretended to." Eula responded with suprising calmness. "Have you ever judged anyone?" She asked.
"I don't judge people." Sans responded, dropping the tough act back to a fairly neutral face. "And you aren't a judge either."
"Fair... Sounds like you have more to say now. Go on." Eula continued asking, letting her sword dissolve with the air as icy mist.
"... I know you don't mean anything wrong for me, nor anyone else." Sans responded after a while of akward silence. "But you gotta understand, you can't have everything."
"Really?"
"Yeah, the black eyes of mine aren't just to scare random bystanders off..." Sans explained. "They also allow me to 'check' people souls. Who they are, how they act, how many they killed... And guess what I found upon checking yours?"
"... I decling your request to answer this question." Eula said, keeping her outside cool.
"Meh, it's up to you." Sans shrugged his arms lightly. "After all, I already told you a lot more than I should. Congrats on your talking of the situation." He added with a wink.
"Didn't you mean tackling?" Eula asked, not understanding him.
"Never heard of puns?" Sans retored with a weak smile.
"I did. I'm just not used to them." Eula responded with reluctant tone. "Either way, mind if we return to our task at hand?"
"Nah, let's go." Sans nodded, waving his arm as they both resumed with the journey.
"... Hnnh."
"What's wrong?" Sans asked as they entered the far more thick part of the forest. The one where trees are the tallest and leafs block the Sun from illuminating the ground below, causing a large, continuous shadow on the ground.
"Nothing." Eula responded assertively. "And you?"
"..." Sans didn't respond, instead looking over her with the hollow black eyes for a moment. "You're not the happiest pal around town, are you?"
"..." Eula didn't respond, instead looking to her right as if she looked for something.
"Come on now. If you wanna talk, I'm here."
"Whenever there is a silence and I'm not alone, I just feel more lonely then if I'm on my own." Eula said, looking up into the layered leafy curtain. "But I can't complain."
"Do you now? Even someone as conned and plain as me has right to make civilian remarks." Sans said, trying to lighten up the mood.
"Oh right, you don't know-"
"Not fully." Sans interruped her.
"Don't you know to not interrupt a lady when she speaks?" Eula asked, cross at the sudden interurption.
"No I don't and I'll never will." Sans spread his arms widely while gaining some modest distance from her. "But I did check your soul just now and I clearly see some burden on you."
"... You weren't joking about the judging part, it seems." Eula sighed, suddenly stopping her march. Not in a mood to be angry at the manners of whom she escorted.
"Nope." Sans also stopped, only to use his momentum for a U-turn. "After all, that used to be my job."
"Makes one wonder how the court system worked here." Eula continued, taking her time to ask further.
"There was no system." Sans shaked his head sideways. "All I did was observe ocassional humans have their whereabouts in the underground and then deliver a verdict right at the end of their journeys in the Underground."
"Oh."
"Before we proceed further..." Sans said, pausing for a moment as his mouth and then also jaw became stiff. "I wanna ask you something."
"And that would be?" Eula asked.
"Wanna... Exchange our burdens in a future?" Sans asked, making her puzzled seemingly out of nowhere. "I mean, obviously not now. But we both know we have something burn in our dense souls."
"..."
"If you don't want to accept, that's fine. I'm smarter than to force you." Sans smiled politely, almost like a little child. "Still, think about it if you think you need."
"... I'll... Think about it. Thank you." Eula nodded, before realising that Sans now was behind her.
"Ey, Eula. I found a shortcut back to Mondstadt."
"No you didn't. You're in a unknown land and deep into the forest around it." Eula protested, turning around to see him pointing at the random tree. "No way you found a short way to it behind this tree.
"Trust me, it's just behind it. If it's not I give you twenty answers at first ocassion."
"... Fine." Eula reluctantly groaned as she walked up to him. "At least you don't throw money at me."
"Nah, I'm too lazy throw coins. I only throw words." Sans winked before walking behind the three.
"*Sigh* Here goes nothing..."
"You clearly don't appricieate yourself." Sans said with satisfactory tone as he and dumstruck Eula stood right in front of Mondstadt City gates. "You said 'Here goes nothing', yet you still went in and out. For me, you are clearly something."
"Not someone?" Eula asked, trying to play it cool despite the shock value he just displayed.
"I'm no longer explaining my puns." Sans shrugged off her question.
"You never explained them to begin with." Eula responded with annoyance before the two walked forward up to the gates. "Hm. Unguarded and wide open again."
"I mean, they aren't meant to be closed all the time?" Sans asked.
"They sure are to have at least one knight present on guard duty." Eula explained. "And I can't say I see any such on the inner side..."
"Can relate." Sans nodded as the two began to cross the upside-down U-cut in a stone wall known as entreance. "Paps also dragged me out to guard duty alongside him. Not like I was of any use though."
"..." Eula didn't respond, instead focusing on looking around the place as they got to step inside the city and all that came along with it.
"Nice place." Sans commented. "Let me guess, people of Mondstadt like Mon-days?"
"You can't help but to annoy me, do you?" Eula groaned
"Nope."
"Keep it up, dude!" Random male shout came from the crowd.
"Man... Mould-stadt really hates your guts." Sans added out loud, effectively shutting eventual response with sheer rudeness.
"... That was uncalled for." Eula said as the two walked away from entreance gate and further towards the center.
"Hey, what kind of person goes out of it's way to hate on their protector?" Sans asked, mildly not believing in her consent to trash talk.
"One who doesn't want their protector?" Eula responded with implied guess.
"... That too." Sans nodded. "Tell ya' what, I shut up now till' we reach the place. Deal?"
"Deal." Eula said with partial relief.
"Please, come in." I said as the doors to my office opened and revealed Eula with someone standing behind her.
"Grand Master, pardon my intrusion..."
"It's alright. You know my doors are always open for every Knight." I said to calm her down as both she and unknown person stepped inside. "Now, could you tell me what brings you two today?"
"Remember the falling comet earlier this afternoon?" Eula asked, quickly getting my mind to work.
"Of course I do, the trail of those weird signs followed it clearly across the sky." I responded, getting carried away by that avestrucking sight. "And I assume you did investigate it."
"Of course." Eula nodded, before turning towards the new person. "And I found him in at the place where it crashed... However, there was no damage to the ground nor even signs of impact. As if he landed instead of crashing down."
"Mhm. Well then." I nodded, standing up from the chair and turning my head slightly right to face the mysterious person. "Mind if I ask you some questions?"
"..." The man didn't respond, instead he flicked a finger after which a series of white bones appeared in the air, almost making me and Eula trip backwards from shock.
"How?! You don't even have a Vision!" Eula protested, while I took my time to look up and notice that bones were put together into words, then sentence.
'No, Eula and I have a deal for me to shut up until we reach the place.'
"Eula, did you ever told him about this place where he can speak again?" I asked, standing up to see another set of bonely words.
'No.'
"Eula..." I said, turning left to my Captain.
"Right. This is the place, you can speak now." Eula continued after me, noticing her mistake.
"Oh, thank you sooo much." The man spoke up with gratitude. "You don't even know how hard it was for me to keep the mouth shut."
"But you did, and that's what matters." I responded as Eula stepped aside to the left end of the room, clearly giving me notice that now I am the one to talk. "Anyways, mind if I ask some questions?"
"I have nothing better to do anyway." Man shaked his arms with relief. "Sure."
"Great, then... Who are you?" I asked him to start with basics.
"Sans. Sans the Skeleton." He responded, making a slight smile. "You?"
"Jean, acting Grand Master of Kinghts of Favonius."
"Glad to meet you."
"Thank you." I paused for a moment realising that the conversation became rushed.
"Also..." Eula added, handing over to me small written report. "I already asked him some questions. Here are the results."
"Thank you, Eula." I nodded, taking the report and quickly reading it from top to bottom. "Continuing... Do you have any goals as for now?"
"Not really." Sans shaked his head sideways. "I think I'm gonna stay here and maybe start a new life if it's possible."
"Well, from what you showed already I think you could make a fine Knight." I suggested. "Of course, you would have to improve your discipline."
"... Heh." Sans let out a short grunt, before looking down between his legs for a moment. "I'll try." He added, making me feel what seemed to be a freezing chill down the spine.
And as I looked around with my eyes in frantic inspection of the office, I noticed that Eula felt it too, though it appeared it wasn't the first time for her.
"I guess first I gotta see what fits me." Sans spoke up, making me snap out of the paralyzing feeling. "Either way, I'm staying in the city and don't cause trouble if possible. If otherwise, then make sure I'm punished."
"It will be done." Eula said with confident stare. "Mark my words, vengeance will be mine."
"Mine?" Sans abruptly asked her. "Why not ours?"
"Huh?" Both me and Eula gasped in confusion.
"I mean, I am no expert..." Sans said, slowly baking away to the doors. "But it's kinda mid to protect public for justified beatings rather than good will. Just though it should be said." He added, before opening the doors and leaping out in one quick motion.
"... That's new." I commented, before looking left at Eula, who returned to me with puzzle glare.
"You tell me... I'm gonna keep an eye on him."
"But keep it within rules."
"... Understood.