Hello, hello ! New chapter with two new characters :3 Don't get too overjoy, you might regret it eheheh.
Chapter 9 : Miraculous rescue
The fierce sounds of guns dragged the children out of sleep at dawn. Papyrus, curled up in his brother's arms opened his eyes wild and shook of fear, terrified. Sans unhooked him kindly and came closer to the window, cautiously. He moved aside the curtain slightly. Humans soldiers were shooting at a group of monsters in dark armour. Royal guards. This time, the humans were not enough. Several of them already fell, their backs covered with sharp spears.
Even if he tried to not be seen, one of the monsters, with a horny helmet, spotted him. Sans hesitated to show he was here. They were in desperate need of help. His soul beat quicker when the monster soldier sent a sign to him, asking to stay down with its hand. The fight grew in intensity and several bullets hit the ground in front of the house the children were hiding. Close. Too close.
Sans took a deep breath. If the humans entered here, they would have no mercy. And since they were obviously searching for a place to retreat, it could happen sooner than he thought. He turned towards the children, glued close to each other. Undyne was rocking, hands on her ears and eyes closed. Papyrus was hugging her, tears running down his face uncontrollably. The human, calmer, waited for Sans to say something. The skeleton looked at the window. They couldn't stay here, they had to find somewhere to hide and wait, hopefully, for the rescuers to come.
"Alright." he said, his voice shaking. "You're going to take my hand, and we are going to hide in the bedroom's closet. Everything will be alright, I promise. Just follow me and stay silent."
Undyne and the human obeyed immediately. However, Papyrus stayed frozen in fear and his brother took him in his arms. He wrapped him in a blanket like he used to do when there was storm outside to try to comfort him. There was not enough time to do this properly.
They joined the child's bedroom in silence and concentrated to ignore the terrifying screams from men and monsters outside of the house. They sat in the cluttered closet somehow, squished against one another, then the older skeleton closed the door, plunging them into darkness. All they had to do now was wait and pray for their people to win this fight. Otherwise, they would have another problem since there was nowhere to escape here.
Sans felt Papyrus' tiny hands gripped his clothes. The small skeleton was panicking, breathing heavily and shaking, but his brother could see he was doing all he could to not cry. He held him close against him to muffle his hiccups of terror. Sans sang with a low voice to appease him and pet his head to calm him down. Slowly, Papyrus stopped.
At least until a huge explosion made the whole house tremble. Clothes and toys above them shivered. Undyne screamed, scared, quickly followed by Papyrus, who burst into tears. Sans put a hand on their mouth and begged them to stop. He didn't understand either what was happening now, but he had the feeling it was the worst moment to make a noise. Nervous, the human turned around and searched frantically after something. Sans frowned, but quickly ignored him to focus on the two little monsters.
"It's ok, it's ok. Calm down. We… We are safe. They can't come here. Please, don't cry. We have to stay silent, alright?"
Behind him, the human brandished victoriously a sharp wood pick. They showed it to Sans with a large smile and mimicked a stroke in the heart of an invisible enemy. The skeleton quivered, horrified. He snatched the weapon out of his hands and threw it in the back of the closet. Surprised, the human lifted their hands to ask him why he reacted like that.
"We're not hurting people!" Sans said angrily. "I am not a murderer. Not like you and your people."
"Outside, it's kill or be killed." reacted the child, annoyed. "Whatever is outside, it's dangerous and that's our only way to fight back." they insisted. "Give it back!"
"We are not hurting people!" answered Sans more firmly. "No one deserves to die, not even them. We are not like you, we're not killing just because we can. There are other ways to do this. You can act, you can show mercy. Fighting only leads to more people getting hurt. I won't let you do this so give in. I don't want you to stab Undyne or my brother by mistake."
"You know nothing of my people. You want to die stupidly, then fine. I won't stay here doing nothing. Move!"
They pushed Sans to get the weapon back. The skeleton sighed. It was not the time to fight. Undyne helped block the way, nervous since Charlie got the woodpick out. The human forced the way, and Sans got angrier, but then, the door of the bedroom opened, creaking. The four children froze instantly, eyes widened with fear.
Steps could be heard outside their hiding spot. Papyrus gasped and cried even more, only restrained by his brother, squishing his head against his chest to muffle his noises. A shadow plugged the last strip of light that went through the doors. Sans lifted a hand in front of him and his eye shined blue.
"For someone who doesn't want to fight…" spitted Charlie in his face.
"Shut up." growled the skeleton, anxious.
The shadow leaned on the door. They were about to open the doors. They were in danger. Sans panicked. Could he teleport everyone a new time out of here ?
"I can see your magic through the door, little monster." said a calm feminine voice behind. "I am not going to hurt you. I saw you through the window. There's no more danger. You are safe now."
Sans consulted the others in silence. None of them wanted to be the one to push the door, so he did it. Slowly, he pushed against the wood with his feet, anxious. The woman in black armour immediately put down the spear she was aiming at the closet. They couldn't see her face, but she was definitely a monster. She opened the door wide and looked at the children, one by one.
"Would you look at that." she said, happily. "I'm sure I already saw the both of you somewhere. You are Sans and Papyrus, right? I know someone that will be relieved to know you are both alive. And who are your… friends?" she asked, turning towards the human.
When he heard his name, Papyrus glanced shyly at the helmeted lady. Sans held his hand to erase the last traces of tears. He smiled kindly to cheer him up. The monster soldier whipped up the helmet's visor. The two skeletons and Undyne yelped in surprise when they recognised the so characteristic white fur of the Dreemur family. They were in the presence of Toriel Dreemur, the queen of their people. She smiled at them warmly.
"Do not worry, little one." she said to Papyrus. "You are safe now, nothing bad will happen to you."
A second monster entered the room in an even more impressive armour. He looked similar to Toriel, but with a long ginger fluffy beard. Two huge horns overhung his head. King Asgore Dreemur joined his wife and smiled happily at the children.
"Good news at last!" he proclaimed with a deep voice. "I couldn't bear anymore to see only ruins and dust on the way. This journey had been lacking some hopes and dreams to brighten this day. My poor children, you are in a poor state."
"We had some bad days." confessed Sans, shyly.
"I see. I'm amazed the two of you are still alive." he said, pointing to the brothers. "I thought no skeletons survived. Well, except Gaster, and you two now."
"They are Gaster and Arial's little ones." confirmed Toriel with a smile.
"Oh! This explains everything. And you?" He turned towards Undyne. "By any chance, could you be related to Toryne?"
The small monster gasped at the mention of her mother. She tried to answer, but only an ugly sob came out of her throat and she burst into tears. Toriel crouched in front of her and took her in her arms to comfort her. Asgore stayed silent. His eyes obscured as he turned back to Sans and Papyrus. The older skeleton shook his head sadly.
"She… She didn't make it." he said with a low voice. "We are the only survivors of the people she rescued. She fell while trying to save us."
"What happened?" asked Asgore, barely containing his pain.
"Humans." answered Sans darkly.
"I see. How did you manage to escape them? Did they follow you?"
"N...No." answered Papyrus with a tiny voice. "Sans saved us. He became all blue and poof, in the forest." he explained, imitating the teleportation.
"Is that true?" he asked, crouching in front of them.
Sans raised his head shyly. The King was a giant and the black armour made him even more impressive. The skeleton nodded slightly, but he didn't really want to talk about this now. Not in front of him. Even if he seemed nice, he was close to his father, and if one person didn't need to know about this, it was W.D Gaster. Once his dad would know he could use new powers, he wouldn't let him go. After everything they went through, it was the last thing he wanted.
"Then I owe you acknowledgement, Sans. You protected these children for all this time, you can be very proud of yourself. I hope your little brother is glad to be related to you."
"I'm not a hero." mumbled Sans, uneasy. "I only protected my little brother."
Behind them, Charlie finally stepped outside the closet, warily to join them. Toriel and Asgore froze. Completely innocent, Papyrus grabbed the human's hand and brought him in front of the monarchs, enthusiastic. Despite the delicate topic, Sans couldn't stop himself from thinking he hadn't seen his brother that excited for a long time. His brother was a big fan of the royal family, seeing them "for real" probably had provoked a shock. He was not sure his brother was realising what was happening. After that, dissuading him to enter the Royal Guard would be an even bigger challenge.
"This is Charlie, it's my friend." he claimed proudly. "This is our human! Sans said we couldn't bring him back to the Mountain, but… Can we?" he begged Asgore.
"Papyrus, this is not our human." worried Sans.
The King itched his beard and called his wife for help with his eyes. Sans held his breath. If they killed him, Papyrus would never forgive him. But Toriel turned towards the small human and smiled at them cheerfully.
"How could we possibly watch ourselves in a mirror if we leave behind that poor soul all alone? Do you have family, my child?"
"Yes…" answered Charlie. "But I lost them when my village got attacked. I don't know where they are, or if they are still alive… M...Monsters came, and we had to run, and…"
"War is hurtful to everyone." apologised the King. "But do not fear. We are not the horrible monster your people think we are. For as long as you need it, you are welcome to stay with us. As for you three, we are taking you home so you can rest and eat something warm."
Papyrus let his joy burst with a small improvised dance that surprised everyone. Even Sans finally accepted, for a few minutes, that everything would be alright now and that the nightmare was over. But reality was not far behind. They were about to be reunited with their father, but what would happen next? Could everything really be like before?
"You're coming, Sans?" asked Papyrus, holding his hand.
His brother smiled at him. He followed him in silence. He should be happy, but he couldn't get rid of that feeling that it was just the beginning of something worse. He hoped he was wrong.