Chapter 32: White light

Sitting on a bench in the big garden behind the manor, Sans watched Papyrus play with a few dolls he found in their room. With only one arm, the second still plastered, he struggled to coordinate his gestures. Even if he tried to stay cheerful, his brother could tell he was not doing well.

Lost in thought, Sans couldn't look away from his bandage. Every time he saw it, the injustice of this act made him a little angrier. Papyrus did nothing wrong. The Emperor had no right to lash out at the small skeleton just to affect him.

Except he could. He could do everything he wanted to them and there would be no consequences. The Emperor made himself clear: they were only some sort of performing animals and nothing else. They belonged to him like dogs belonged to their masters.

He clenched his fists, annoyed by his own inactivity. Gaster and Toriel warned him. They would lash out at Papyrus because he was younger, inexperienced and easy to manipulate. If Sans wanted him to survive, he would have to take the matter into his own hands.

They had to get out of there, return to the Mountain, confront their father, and find the strength to live a normal life again. Maybe with Toriel, maybe not. Far from his father's lab, the war and the constant fear that knotted his guts every second of his life and rhythmed his entire life for sure.

The garden seemed like a good idea to start planning his escape plan. It was big, full of trees to hide. Only the tall vegetal fences were preventing them from leaving, but maybe if they were forced, they could get through. If not him, at least Papyrus. He could assume the consequences, even if it meant he had to die.

If only there was a way to distract the guards, he was sure they could easily find a way out.

But even if they succeeded, what would happen next? The Humans hated their people. If they got caught outside, all the tortures they suffered through in the labs would be a joke next to what angry unsupervised humans could do to them.

And even if they managed to leave the city unharmed by some sort of miracle, wouldn't it cause a genocide of his own people just because he fled his responsibilities?

Why did he have such a burden on his shoulders in the first place? He was not special! He was no hero. He was just lost and scared in a big world where he or his brother could die any step of the way.

Raising voices alerted him and pulled him out of his reverie. Sans turned the head towards the back exit of the manor. The Emperor was standing in front of it, surrounded by around twenty humans dressed in expensive clothing. The man met his eyes. Sans immediately understood he was coming for them.

He jumped off the bench and got closer to Papyrus, ready to obstruct his way if he dared to lay a hand on his brother again. Worried by how tense he was, Papyrus dropped his toys and hid behind him. Their hands met. Sans gently squeezed to comfort him, not looking away from the approaching crowd. He could feel his little brother's bones rattling behind him.

This was at least one positive thing Papyrus learned from his broken arm: never trust a human that can destroy you in a snap of his fingers. Even if it shouldn't be the case, Sans was glad he had finally realized the Emperor was not friendly to them.

The men stopped a few feet away from them, not impressed. Sans' eye shone lightly. A poor threat. Against twenty of them, Sans wouldn't be able to do anything, but if he took some in the grave with him, that would still be a win.

A shiver of disgust crawled his back when he noticed they were not attacking, more cooing on them like they were some circus freaks. He couldn't stand their stares anymore.

"Can I pick him up, Uncle?" A young teenager in a handmade suit dared to ask.

"You better not pick this one." The Emperor answered. "The other, however, is harmless. Come here, Papyrus." He ordered coldly.

His brother refused to move, paralyzed with fear. The Emperor twitched, annoyed, and took a step forward. Sans stomped angrily as a warning.

"Move out of the way, or else…"

Sans stayed eyes in eyes with him, defiant. Far from intimidated, he lifted his hand and violently slapped him on the cheek, forcing him to step on the side. The Emperor got around him and grabbed Papyrus by the arm. The young skeleton yelped, as he pulled him above ground towards the crowd. Sans ran after him but quickly had to back away as all the humans gathered around the monarch, blocking his way.

Stuck in the middle of the crowd, Papyrus was tossed from one pair of hands to another, just like a pet. The teenager shook him like a puppet to make sure he was real. His brother whimpered in fear, frantically trying to escape.

Sans felt his control of the situation slip little by little. Hyperventilating and quite desperate, he didn't know what to do to save his brother, running around the crowd to find a way in. His eyes fell on the bracelet on his wrist. He clenched his fists, then glanced at it again. Taking it away was not complicated, it was just a leather strip after all. It was only there as a way to dissuade them to escape.

When the teenager pressed his brother's plaster, making him cry in pain and distress, which made the other humans laugh, Sans dissociated. His hand firmly grabbed the bracelet and pulled it out by force. He tossed it in the grass.

Immediately, the magic flux trapped in his soul all this time returned at full strength. His eyes shined brighter, and two gigantic threatening skeleton beast skulls appeared behind him.

Surprised, the humans fell silent. They all turned his way, worried. Papyrus, still in the arms of the teenager, shook his head, begging him to not do it. Too late for that. Whether he gave up now or not, there would be consequences, he knew it.

"Sans, can we talk about this?" The Emperor asked with a sickly hypocritical sweet voice.

Despite the calm tone, his eyes were shooting daggers at him. He was mad. Good.

"Let go of my brother!" Sans screamed at the teenager. "Let go of him or I shoot!"

"Sans, where are your manners? This is not how you are supposed to behave."

The Emperor took a step towards Papyrus. Sans fired his blaster, hitting a random man in the stomach. He fled several meters away, badly injured. Shocked by his own violence, Sans got distracted. Like in the kitchen in Toriel's house, he felt the control over his magic loosen. Or rather that imperial savage, bestial need to destroy everything, forcing its way into his mind like a persisting song.

He wanted to kill them. All of them. And this time, there would be no remorse anymore. Not for him.

The humans panicked as they saw the man on the floor, and quickly scattered in the garden, screaming. The teenager violently dropped Papyrus on the floor. The small skeleton barely had the time to cover his face with his arms, as the humans stepped on him to run away in complete indifference.

Only the Emperor didn't move. Angry, he looked down at the skeleton as the guards rushed towards them from all sides, weapons in hands, pointing at him. Several of them already tackled Papyrus on the floor, leaving him no chance to escape. He screamed in agony, his broken arm pressed against his back.

Sans realized he had gone too far. Way too far.

"Don't kill him." The Emperor ordered as Sans snapped back to reality, realizing the guards were about to kill him. "Sans, my boy." He called, paternalistic. "Is this a way to treat the guests of your master?"

"You're not my master." He spitted, with less and less confidence. "Don't come closer or I'll kill you!"

"Come on, we don't need to go this far. Look at you, you're already tired. And anyway, what do you think will happen to you and your brother if you succeed? You have no way out. Accept the hand I'm leaning on you. I'm starting to know you, Sans. You are many things, but a killer is not one of them. Stop this insanity before you regret it for real."

The Emperor took a step forward. Sans tensed as his blasters both growled threateningly. The skeleton summoned some bones and threw them his way. He dodged them by stepping on the side.

"You make things harder than what they need to be." He said, losing his temper. "You're tiring yourself stupidly. What will happen when you run out of magic? Can you stop being so difficult and surrender already? I promise that if you do it now, there will be no consequences for your brother. However, if you keep struggling, I kindly remind you that there are a lot more bones I can break on your little brother."

Papyrus shivered and worked twice as hard to free himself. Sans gulped, nervous.

It was too late to turn back now. Whatever happened, he would hurt Papyrus. That man was just like Gaster, and Sans knew he would never get enough. They could maybe survive this one, but it would happen again. And again. And again. He wouldn't stop. There was only one way to prevent him from hurting them. Even if it meant sacrificing himself.

The Emperor took another step forward.

A step too far.

Sans screamed and fired the blasters toward him. As the beam hit the Emperor in the chest, Sans lunged forward, a sharp bone in each hand. He grabbed him by the neck before he hit the ground and stabbed him repetitively in the stomach. Once. Twice. Five times. He lost the count after that, completely blinded by his hate and anger.

Guards grabbed his arms and pulled him backward. Sans kept screaming and struggling, kicking and biting any hand coming too close.

Suddenly, a weapon appeared in his field of vision.

He gasped as the grip struck him in the face a few times. He whimpered, stunned, as he dropped on his side, panting. Exhausted, he didn't resist as the guards handcuffed his hands behind his back with antimagic metal bracelets.

He shook his head, trying to focus on the Emperor in front of him. In bad shape, he couldn't sit anymore. But he was still alive.

He failed.

"Ta… Take them in solitary confinement." He said with great difficulty. "Separated."

Two pairs of hands lifted him off the floor. Sans didn't even manage to lift his head, weak and exhausted. He could hear Papyrus yell his name somewhere around him, but everywhere he looked at, there were only soldiers.

Before he could reach the manor, he passed out.

Sitting in a chair in the big corridor, Sans was waiting. It had been two hours since his mom and dad entered the room now, and he was getting impatient. How long could it possibly take to give birth to a brother?

Adults refused to answer despite everyone telling him he was all grown up all the time! He was two… No, three years old now. He was not a baby anymore.

Stuck with the King of Monsters, so tall he couldn't even see where his horns ended, he was getting worried. Did he find all this waiting abnormal too?

A scream pierced the peaceful silence. Sans stood off his chair and ran to the door, worried. He didn't dare open it, waiting behind it, jumping from one foot to the other. He could hear his father talking in the room with other people. The doctors, he remembered his mom saying.

Soon a little voice he didn't know started to cry. Almost immediately, Sans felt a weird tingling inside his soul. It wasn't painful at all, simply warm and comforting. It was like another piece added to the big puzzle his life was.

"Oh, oh." Asgore laughed with his deep voice. "A small skeleton is excited to meet his brother soon."

Sans didn't understand why he was saying that now when it was clear he had been getting impatient for hours now, but his eye sockets suddenly stopped on a small light that didn't come from the corridor. It was coming from his soul, shining like the sun.

Taken aback, Sans stared for long seconds before meeting Asgore's eyes, not understanding why it was doing that. The King kneeled in front of him and slowly made his soul come out of his chest.

"Do you see this light? It means you are creating a magic bond with your little brother before you even get to meet him. Skeletons have a special ability, a superpower if you want to see it like this. They can feel the other members of their family even if they're far away. If you're ever scared or if you're lost, you just have to call your family with all of your soul. Your brother is probably answering to your excitement right now. You are linked now, two faces of the same piece."

The small skeleton's eyes illuminated with the discovery. He grew even more impatient. Now that he knew he bonded with his brother, he wanted to meet him even faster! It shouldn't be too long now. He was there, right? He was sure he heard him.

Yet, the door stayed closed, and his mother was still screaming, muffled by the thick wall.

As Sans hesitated to knock, the door flung open. The skeleton jumped in surprise as Gaster emerged from the room. He looked at his child for a second, then walked to Asgore. He dropped a pile of towels in the hands of the King, whispered a few words in his ear, then went back into the room. Sans tried to follow him, but the door shut at his nose.

Lost, Sans looked at Asgore, confused. The King seemed worried.

"Where's mommy?" Sans stammered, uneasy, his voice slightly shaking.

"Your mommy is still busy. Your dad is taking care of her for now. Sans, you… You will come to my house with me, alright?"

"Wh-what? But Mommy…"

The King bent over to pick him up. Sans struggled a bit, but he was way stronger than him. They left the corridor without another word. Sans kept staring at the door until he couldn't see it, still hoping his dad or his mom would come out. He eventually gave up and let Asgore take him away wherever he wanted.

Asgore was an adult, he knew better than him. Right?

A movement surprised him in the pile of towels the King was still holding in his other arm. Curious, Sans looked up to see better what was hiding in there. A small skeleton hand was moving out of the pile. Sans slowly pushed a towel out of the way and saw a very small skeleton, staring at him silently. Sans gasped.

"Is that…"

"It's your little brother, yes. Papyrus."

"Papyrus." Sans repeated seriously. "Hi, Papyrus!"

The baby grabbed his finger and pulled it in his mouth. Sans blinked, confused, and threw a distressed look toward Asgore, who just chuckled at his reaction, amused. The King smiled kindly.

"I believe he likes you."

Sans smiled widely this time, glad his brother didn't reject him.

The King's castle wasn't far away. Toriel was waiting for them at the entrance. She picked up the baby and took Sans' hand. The small skeleton saw the two adults share a weird look, as Asgore turned around and left.

That night, Sans could go to bed late, eat pizza, and even take his little brother in his arms. But nothing could have prepared him for what happened in the middle of the night.

As he was sleeping peacefully in the biggest room he had ever seen, an unpleasant pinch suddenly started burning in his soul. He woke up in surprise and, like every child not understanding why it's hurting, cried in fear. His screams found an echo in the room next door. Papyrus was crying too.

Unlike the other times, his mother didn't break the door to comfort him. Sans calmed down on his own and got out of bed, his legs still shaking a bit from the intense scare. He jumped a little to reach the door handle and slid out of the room bare feet in the corridor, plunged into darkness.

He walked to the room where Papyrus was as he noticed a light. He pushed the door slowly. Toriel was there with Asgore, her eyes red and swollen. She was rocking Papyrus in her arms slowly. The royal couple looked at him as they heard the door open.

Sans stared silently, worried. Something bad just happened. He could feel it.

A hand gently squeezed his shoulder. Sans turned around, surprised. His dad just came in. Black stuff had leaked under his eye sockets. Excited, Sans looked behind him, looking for his mom. The corridor, however, was empty.

"Dad? Where's mommy?"

Gaster sat in front of him. He sighed deeply, searching for his words. Sans felt his soul drop in his chest.

Something was not right.

"After she had your brother, your mother didn't feel good, Sans. Her magic broke, it stopped working as it was supposed to. I did all I could to save her, I really tried. She… She's gone, Sans. She won't come back. Your mom is not coming back. She…"

He couldn't keep talking anymore as tears fell from his cheeks.

Sans didn't understand immediately what he meant by "she's not coming back", but when Toriel came hugging his father to comfort him, Sans realized things were never going to be the same.

He hiccupped, confused and scared, then burst into tears, disturbed by the dark atmosphere in the room.

Sans woke up with difficulty, disoriented. He tried to move his hand to rub his eyes, but couldn't do it. Slightly panicked, he looked above him. Metal chains were hanging out from the ceiling and his arms were stuck in them. He couldn't touch the floor anymore, his feet standing half a meter above the dirty cobblestones behind him.

His head was hurting badly and even focusing hard, he couldn't see anything clearly. He didn't remember how he got there. He didn't remember anything after he saw Papyrus get dragged by the Emperor toward the crowd actually.

His soul missed a beat.

Where was Papyrus?

"Papyrus? Pap…"

He growled. Talking was painful.

He struggled weakly against the chains. They took his brother away. Was he in danger? What if they hurt him again? He panicked and agitated, injuring himself even more without managing to free himself. He was terrified his brother ended up in the same position he was with his broken arm. He couldn't use his magic anymore, there was no teleportation to find him this time.

Sans closed his eyes, trying to focus. There was still a way to know. In the darkness, a small white light answered his call, far away. Sans tried to get closer, in vain. But it existed. Papyrus' soul. He was alive.

He sighed, relieved, then looked down towards his chest. His soul was shining. He smiled slightly. His little brother still tried to comfort him through their bond. He did the same thing.

"I'm going to get you out of there Papyrus. I… I promise. I promise I'll save you."

They may have taken his magic, but the brother's bond was way too strong to be destroyed.

Sans refused to give up this time. He needed to hold on for Papyrus.