Chapter Text
Do I really gotta go to Alphys’ place? Maybe I’ll just go to Grillby’s and cancel on her…
…
Wow, spoken like a true sleazer. No, I’m going. I said I’d go, and I don’t think Alphys needs any more stressors in her life…
“papyrus!” I hear some shuffling in his room. Not much walking though.
“papyrus…” I appear in his room via a shortcut into the closet. I’m not sure why.
“NYEH! I AM ALWAYS READY! JUST NOT NOW! COME BACK LATER!”
“... alright, paps. be by the door.”
I step out the door, looking up at the sky. Or… the rock. Whatever I’d like to call it. Whatever it is, it’s pretty nice.
Almost comforting, I’d say. It reminds me of…
Of what?
I’m not sure. It’s snowing through magic, and if I had skin, I’d say that it was really cold.
…
Every once in a while, I feel like I’m… remembering something that isn’t there. Deja vu for a time that never happened, y’know? Except… I don’t know. It’s not quite a dream.
I can almost remember someone's face. Faces. Someone with a strange, cracked smile. Someone else, and a purple monster… and… someone else. A goat?
I’m talking nonsense. There’s no goats around here, at least from what I can tell. Other than Asgore.
But I swear I can remember…
“SANS! I AM READY TO GO, WITH MY PERFECT ATTIRE!” I turn my head haphazardly, unprepared for what I may see.
I was correct to be cautious. He’s wearing… jeans, I think they’re called. His boots cover his entire foot and a quarter of the bottom of his legs. His shirt has something about basketball, and he’s wearing some… cap. I don’t even know where he found half of this stuff.
“interesting attire, paps. very … contemporary.” He shushes me. “IT IS VERY GOOD! VERY VERY GOOD! NOW WE WILL GO SEE ALPHYS AND I WILL MAKE HER MY FRIEND!”
“whatever you say, papyrus.” I turn left and prepare to take a shortcut there.
“SANS! NO SHORTCUTS! I CAN FEEL YOUR MAGIC GATHERING! WE WILL WALK THERE LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE!”
I sigh. “alright, bro. don’t come crying to me when your bones are crumbling.”
“IT IS YOUR RIBS WHO WILL BE TICKLED IF YOU DON’T GET EXERCISE, SANS!”
I walk past the christmas tree in the middle of the town. It looks like that’s there no matter what season it actually is. “DID SANTA LEAVE A PRESENT?”
“not yet, bro. come back in a few months.”
“DRAT…” He smiles wide. “I HOPE I GET SOMETHING NICE!” So do I. “you will.”
We walk past the Grillbys, and Papyrus looks inside momentarily. “THAT IS A LOT OF DOGS.” He is correct, there are indeed a lot of dogs.
Past the shop, where the keeper waves at Papyrus. “Hello! It was… Papyrus, right?” Papyrus gasps.
“SHE KNOWS MY NAME, SANS! I AM FAMOUS!” I shrug. “sure are.”
He walks up to the shop and shakes her hand enthusiastically. “Woah- excited, are we?” She smiles. “Would you like a Cinnamon Bun? It’s my own recipe. On the house!” She pulls one out from beneath the counter.
“OF COURSE! THANK YOU VERY MUCH, SHOPKEEPER! VERY KIND!” He takes it from her hands and walks ahead.
I take 75g out from my wallet and hand it to her. “can I get two?” She nods. “Who’s the second one for?”
“alphys. i’m going to see her to fix the lights at our house.” Not a lie, technically.
“Isn’t Alphys the royal scientist? She’s kinda overqualified for lights, isn’t she?” I smile.
“can you keep a secret?”
“Of course I can keep a secret.”
I lean in, gesturing for her to do the same. She leans in, turning her head to the side.
I whisper. “alright, so…”
ppbbffbtt
…
I take the whoopie cushion out from my jacket and glance back at her. “whoops, looks like i’ve got to get going. that was my whole supply.”
She sighs, even though I can tell she’s fighting the urge to smile. “Alright, sans.” She hands me 2. “You gave me 25 extra. You don’t have to pay for Paprus’ Cinnamon Bun.”
“nah, i insist. gotta support small businesses.” She laughs as she hands me another cinnamon bun. “Take care.”
I take a discrete shortcut to catch up with Papyrus on the bridge. “HELLO, SANS! I SEE YOU GOT YOUR OWN CINNAMON BUN! HOW IS IT?” He’s acting like he didn’t eat it himself a minute ago.
“its pretty good. i like the flavor.” He nods and laughs. “YES, IT’S QUITE GOOD!” We continue onward past a couple mounds of snow.
“IT’S SO EMPTY AROUND HERE! THERE SHOULD BE SOMETHING TO FILL UP THE SPACE.” I nod. It is pretty barren. “maybe we can get to decorating the rest of the world once we’re done with our space.” He smiles. “THAT WOULD BE NICE.”
“PERHAPS WE COULD MAKE GAMES OUT HERE?”
“what kind of games?”
“INTERESTING ONES! MAYBE!”
I’m ready to walk all the way there when I look to my right and see a boat. “whats that?”
He looks as well. “I DON’T KNOW. LETS GO SEE!” He walks over to the boat, where a hooded figure is at the front.
“Hello. Where would you like to go?” I can barely hear him, but I understand him just fine. “we need to get to hotland, please.”
“Come on, then.” Papyrus and I step into the boat as it suddenly bursts forward. I’m gonna take a nap…
…
Papyrus shakes me awake as we arrive at the lab. “oh, we’re already here?” I get to my feet, jumping out of his arms.
“YES, SANS! NOW WE ARE GOING TO GO MEET ALPHYS, AND MAYBE LEARN ABOUT YOU. YOU’RE ALWAYS HIDING EVERYTHING, I WANT TO KNOW YOU TOO.” I nod.
The lab looms ahead of us, completely stark white, with vents on every other side. The only geometry this place seems to have is the door ahead of us both and a small mail slot.
And a camera above the door which has turned to look at us.
“HELLO, CAMERA! CAN YOU GET ALPHYS FOR US?” The camera light flicks off and it returns to its natural position as the door ahead of us slides open.
“H-hi, you two! Come on i-inside!” She steps out of the way and Papyrus dips his head to get in comfortably, even though he didn’t have to. “Interesting a-attire, Papyrus…” He puts his hand on his chest and smiles smugly. “I KNOW, ALPHYS! IT IS OH SO RAVISHING! I LIKE YOUR LAB COAT TOO.” She blushes. “Um… t-thanks!” She turns to me.
“And h-hello, Sans!” I wave and step inside.
“you aint gotta say my name in capitals, alphys. waste of time.” Papyrus groans. “YOU AND YOUR FORMALITIES! IT DOESN'T MATTER, ALPHYS.”
Papyrus looks around the lab. “THERES A LOT OF… POSTERS ON THE WALLS. WHAT IS A “KISSY CUTIE?””
Alphys looks mortified. “O-oh, um… u-uh…”
I’ll bail her out. “its a show, paps. its some character.” Alphys exhales a sigh of relief behind me. “Y-yeah…”
“MAYBE I’LL WATCH IT SOME DAY. I WILL BECOME THE NUMBER ONE FAN!” Alphys grumbles behind me. “You can’t become the number one fan… I-im the number one fan..” Papyrus leans down to her level. “I WILL SURPASS YOU!” She smiles, furrowing her brow. “You won’t.”
I sigh. “i think we’ve lost the point of our visit already. record timing.” Alphys turns to me, a sarcastic smile on her face. “If you w-want to leave that bad, just s-say it.” I sigh and smile. “perish the thought. it puts a chill through my spine to even consider leaving.” Papyrus lets out an exasperated sigh. “THAT WAS AN INCREDIBLY LAZY PUN, SANS. EVEN YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT. PUT SOME BACKBONE INTO IT!”
I sigh. “well, what did you wanna do, alphys? how’re you gonna test me?” She smiles. “Oh, um…”
BANG
“Oh.”
BANG
“Oh no…”
“ALPHYS, WHAT IS THAT OBNOXIOUS BANGING NOISE?”
BANG!!!
The wall behind Alphys bursts and… a large metal rectangle bursts out. With a wheel and some lights.
“HELLO, HELLO EVERYONE! IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU, STRANGE SKELETON MEN I'VE NEVER SEEN. ALPHYS, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT FAN MEETUPS?” Alphys laughs. “Mettaton, they aren’t fans! T-they’re here for some… stuff. E-experiments? Also, you’ve gotta stop breaking that wall, A-asgores getting sick of fixing it…”
“TOMATO, TOMATO, ALPHYS! I WILL BURST THROUGH ANY WALLS I LIKE.”
The hands from his sides reach out and shake our hands. “WHAT ARE YOUR NAMES?”
“sans.”
“PAPYRUS! NICE TO MEET YOU!” Mettaton nods. “IT IS ALSO NICE TO MEET YOU!”
“as you were saying, alphys?” I kind of want to at least get started on this whole testing thing today…
“Oh, u-um… can you summon a bone?”
“sure.” One appears from under the ground in between everyone. Papyrus smiles. “IT’S NICE TO SEE YOU USE YOUR ATTACKS, FOR ONCE!” I shrug. “if i must, i must.”
Alphys leans forward and flinches before she can even touch the bone. “U-um… I don’t want to touch it.”
Papyrus shrugs. “WHAT IS THERE TO WORRY ABOUT?” He reaches his hand out and touches the bone momentarily.
SANS HAS GONE OUT. I AM RATHER BORED.
HE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT GREETING EVERYONE, THEN LEFT ME IN THIS HOUSE.
…
WELL, HIS LOSS! I’D LIKE TO EXPLORE.
I AM UP THE STAIRS IN MOMENTS WITH MY AMAZING FLIGHT ABILITIES! NYEH HEH HEH! THERE ARE 2 ROOMS HERE. ONE IS BIG… AND THIS ONE IS SMALL.
…
I WILL TAKE THE BIG ONE, BECAUSE I AM BIG! SANS CAN HAVE THE SMALL ONE.
I blink a couple times. Papyrus is staring at the bone. “I DIDN’T KNOW YOU COULD DO THAT.”
I laugh. “so thats how you decided the rooms? how selfish of you.” He pouts. “I AM SORRY, BUT I AM BIG!” Alphys grabbed a notepad at some point, and is writing something down.
“S-so, what was it?”
I turned to her. “it was that papyrus gave himself the big room and me the small one. a pretty minor mistake, i think.”
Alphys nods. “I-it seems like you can see bad m-memories. Or, r-rather, memories where someone is d-doing something bad. But that's j-just an assumption! I don’t have e-enough data yet.”
I sigh. “so what? i can see what people have done, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. what about my measly attack and defense?” She shrugs. “I-I don’t know! Maybe it h-has something to do with that ability… I've n-never seen anything like that before…”
She nibbles on the end of her pencil as she thinks. “S-so I need more data, but I don’t… want to s-show you any more of my own… uhm…” I nod. Papyrus looks intrigued. “fair enough.”
She adjusts her glasses. “I-I also remember from yesterday that I still felt a little weird a c-couple hours later. I had t-this strange nauseous feeling."
This is weird. Last I remember, I’m not able to see memories.
…
What do I remember? I was in snowdin, and before that… I was…
…
“SANS?” Mettaton shook me from upstairs. “uh-what?”
Papyrus looks worried about this. He shouldn’t be.
“A-anyway… unless you want to sleep, I-I have one more idea.” I shrug. “i suppose i've got nothing better to do.” She adjusts her glasses.
“I-I think Asgore would have an interesting effect with this ability. A-are you willing to go see him?”
Papyrus gasps. “ASGORE!? THE KING, ASGORE!? SANS, WE MUST! COME ON!” I sigh. “alright, sure.” Mettaton descends from the upper floor, his hands stabilizing his landing. “OHH! ALPHYS, MAY I COME WITH? I WANTED TO ASK HIM ABOUT GETTING MORE FUNDING FOR MY SHOW!” Alphys shrugs. “S-sure, I guess…”
I smile. “i know a shortcut.” Papyrus groans. “OH, ALRIGHT, JUST THIS ONCE! I DON'T WANT TO WALK ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE UNDERGROUND…”
…
I feel flowers underneath my feet as I take a shortcut with the others. Papyrus looks around the large castle chamber. “WOW! THERE ARE A LOT OF FLOWERS.” Alphys nods. “Y-yeah, he keeps them as a hobby.”
I hear a shuffling of feet behind me and I turn around. Alphys straightens up, holding her clipboard. “Y-your majesty!” Papyrus follows in Alphys’ lead. “YOUR MAJESTY!”
Mettaton wheels over to him. “HELLO, KING ASGORE! CAN I GET SOME FUNDING?”
Alphys sighs, exasperated. “N-not now, Mettaton.”
Asgore finally gets a chance to speak. His voice is… interesting. It’s more calm than I would’ve expected. He seems… mellow. “Hello, Alphys. Mettaton. Who are these 2 you’ve brought along?”
Alphys adjusts her coat. “Sans and P-Papyrus! They’re 2 skeleton brothers who’ve been in s-snowdin, apparently.” Asgore walks forward, somehow not crushing any flowers beneath his feet. “Pleasure to meet you.”
He reaches a hand out of his cape, firmly gripping my hand. “nice to meet you, asgore.” He smiles. “Most people say majesty, or king. Something of the like. It is nice that you are… casual.” I nod. I like this guy.
He turns to Papyrus, grasping his hand. Papyrus looks very excited. “HELLO, KING ASGORE! OR NOT KING ASGORE! OR MAJESTY ASGORE! WHATEVER YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE CALLED! YOU ARE VERY COOL!” Asgore laughs. “You are cool too, Papyrus.” Papyrus beams.
“What brings you 2 here?” Alphys speaks up again. “W-well, Sans has a… thing. I d-don’t know how to describe it, he can… s-see the past? Kind of? But o-only the bad parts. I think. I-im not sure.”
Asgore sighs. “Doesn’t sound like a very fun power to have.” Alphys nods. “Yeah…”
Mettaton looks up at me. “WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAR ON MY SHOW? YOU WOULD MAKE A VERY INTERESTING GUEST.” I shake my head. “nah.” He shrugs. “YOUR LOSS.”
Asgore glances back at me. “So you wish to test this on me?” I nod, my eyes downcast. “if you don’t want to, thats completely fine too. something tells me that you have enough on your plate.”
He hesitates momentarily, looking down at me. He eventually sighs. “I came to terms with what I had to do a long time ago. I want to help my people, and that includes you. Now summon.”
A bone appears at his feet, between us all again. He reaches out, hesitating only a moment before his finger grasps only the tip.
I am breathing heavily. I am breathing far, far too much. My trident is out, thrown against…
A child. They stumble backward and cough before…
“No. No, no, no no no no-” My own voice comes from my throat, hollow. I rush to their side, holding them up with one hand.
“Stay determined. Stay awake.” I mumble to them, my eyes closed. I look down at the trident. The entire back is covered in…
Blood. They cough again, some seeping out onto their shirt. They gasp. “Stay determined… s-stay…”
I’m awake. I’m… shaking. “SANS! SANS, YOU FELL BACKWARDS! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” Papyrus is at my side, shaking me awake. I mumble something out in response. “hows… asgore?” I get to my feet, shuffling among the flowers. They don’t feel peaceful anymore.
Alphys is at Asgores side, holding him as he is on one knee. He is breathing heavily.
“A-asgore, god- I-im sorry, im s-sorry, I should’ve.. S-sorry, im s-sorry…” Asgore exhales, his chest falling. “Haaaa… S-say no more, Alphys. I am alright.” He gets to his feet, one hand planted on the ground. “That was… too much.” He mumbles. “Too much.” He wraps himself up so the purple coat is around his entire form. It doesn’t look mellow anymore.
“asgore, im… sorry. i didnt think it was going to be that bad.” He simply waves a hand and gives a weak smile. “It is alright, Sans. That was not your fault.” Alphys is back on the clipboard, writing something down. Mettaton has gone silent.
“S-so I guess it’s worse b-based on LV, then… or t-the things you’ve done…” The rooms gone cold.
“im gonna… go.”
Before any of them can speak, I’ve taken a shortcut.
…
That was stupid. I shouldn’t have left. Well, I can’t really go back now.
Where did I even end up?
I take a look around. It’s… calm. Quiet. Is it nighttime already?
Where am I?
I feel around for a light switch, grasping at something in the dark. I grab something and pull.
I’m in the room behind the house. With this… machine.
The note on the desk is still there, but…
I pick it up and flip it over. The other side is written in Comic Sans.
i’m here. i don’t know what i expected, but im… here. wherever here is.
There’s nothing else on the note. Did I write this?
Why can’t I remember anything?
My hand falls to my side and I summon a bone on instinct behind me. Like I’m just waiting for something to try to get inside of this room, even though I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who knows this exists.
And whoever speaks wingdings.
I look at the bone. Memories, right?
I reach out, my hand near the tip of the bone. I can control my magic enough not to make it do damage, so…
Only one way to find out.
im looking at someone. something. i cant even tell what im looking at.
“hey, . are you sure about this?”
…
“really?”
…
“mm. ill… see you on the other side.”
Who… was I talking to? I was their friend. Someone's friend. Someone. Friend. I wrack my brain for answers, but I don’t think I’m getting any. I… was going to meet someone on the other side.
Is this the other side? Snowdin?
My head hurts…
I check my phone. 1 message from Alphys.
hi im sorry come back if you want to tomorrow i know you feel bad dont come back again today please im busy i cant
Crap. Crap…
I check the time. It’s 9, according to this. I think it was 4 when I went out. I really spent all day doing this…
I sigh as I take a shortcut back into the house, ready to go to-
Not to bed. Papyrus is on the couch, staring at me. “SANS.” Shit.
“uh… hiya, paps.” He is looking through my soul. I could swear he has the ability that I just learned I had.
“SANS, JUST… DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN. YOU CAN LEAVE WHENEVER YOU WANT, JUST TELL ME.” He walks over to me and wraps me in a bearhug, and I let out a sigh of relief.
“you have no idea how worried i was about this, papyrus. thanks a million.” He nods. “I AM GREAT… BUT YOU ARE ALSO GREAT! GREAT PEOPLE HAVE TO STICK TOGETHER, SANS.”
I nod as he lets me down onto the floor. “NOW, GO UPSTAIRS.”
I teleport up the stairs into my makeshift room. Papyrus doesn’t even complain, though I hear him float up the stairs in retaliation.
I know she said not to, but… I can’t just not apologize. I’ll be quick. I know a shortcut…
I think I miscalculated. I’m not outside the door, I’m inside. It’s completely dark, save for some light upstairs. It’s also almost completely silent. Almost. I can hear something else, though.
…Someone else.
I walk up the stairs. I don’t know why I’m sneaking around the place, given that I’m her friend. I think.
snff…
Oh.
I could turn around right about now. I should, in fact. This is an invasion of privacy. I take another step.
I take another short-shortcut near the bed. I can hear her sniffling in the bed.
“heya.” Alphys gasps, almost falling onto the floor. She catches herself on the nightstand.
“H-huh-?! snnf.. S-sans, w-why are you i-in my house-?” She groans something and her head falls back into the pillow. “I-i shouldn't've made you go see Asgore, I just… I j-just made it w-worse…” I can hear her trying to stifle her crying.
“well, i came to apologize about leaving so suddenly. i probably could’ve stood to handle the situation a little bit better.” She makes a noise somewhere between a sneeze and a sob.
“and… to give you this.” I pull out the cinnamon bun from earlier. It’s still hot, somehow. “i kinda forgot i was going to give this to you, with all the conundrum going on. better late than never, yeah?” She sighs and rubs her snout as she takes it from my hands. “T-thank you, s-sans… better than i-instant noodles…”
I give a weak smile, even though it’s completely dark in the room. “most things are better than old dump instant noodles, i think.” She laughs under her breath.
“Y-yeah, I suppose t-they would be…”
“hey, its kinda dark in here. don’t you have any lights?” She sniffles and sighs. “Yes, b-but who wants t-to see themselves m-mope…” I chuckle. “fair, i guess.”
Might as well… “hey, alphys. speakin’ of lights, wanna see something cool?” She nods. “Sure, a-as long as it’s not cool like the other thing…”
“alright. i’m gonna change your soul color, so be ready for that. alright?” She nods.
I turn Alphys blue, my own eyes flashing a brilliant yellow and blue. I always did like that look…
She gasps. “Woah… woah, that’s so cool! A-and it makes so much sense!” I blink. “what?”
She grabs her glasses from the nightstand, looking around for something. “Ugh, I don’t have my l-lightswitch… Can you d-do that again?”
“my pleasure.” My eye flashes on again, illuminating both her and the notepad she picked up.
“S-see, your attacks… they deal damage o-over time, and they see into the past, y-yeah?” I nod. “W-well, your eyes actually correspond to that! Your e-eyes flash both cyan blue, the c-color of patience, and yellow, t-the color of… justice.” She writes that all down, presumably on the same page she was nothing the rest of my stuff in.
“Y-your abilities actually make a lot of s-sense when I think of them that way!” I nod slowly. I guess… that actually does make a lot of sense.
“so, what, im an open book? My techniques are in my eyes?” she laughs. “Well, no? B-but yes? Kind of? I don’t know! T-that’s really interesting, though. And your e-eyesockets are just weird in general… t-that weird light thats just… there…”
She pauses for a second. “A-anyway, in summary, that’s cool!” She smiles. “T-thanks for coming! Even though I e-explicitly told you not to…”
I smile. “anytime, alphys. ill show up more when you tell me not to.” She groans. “Please d-dont…”
I hop off the bed and walk towards the stairs. “i guess ill see you later, then. papyrus might want a story.” She laughs. “Alright, Sans. B-bye!”
And I’m back home.
…this isn’t home. Where the hell am I?
I turn to all sides. It’s night time, so it’s pretty dark, but it seems like I'm in some corridor. Everything is stained a gold color.
Why did I get here? I’m losing control of my magic, or something…
I feel… uneasy.
And nauseous. I fall to one knee. “ugh…” I probably strained myself too much with all of the shortcuts today.
I sigh as I get back to my feet.
This exact spot… it reminds me of something.
I don’t know what. Or…
!?
I spin around as someone's hand touches my shoulder. My eye flashes cyan as I look behind me and turn whoever’s behind me blue. Asgore puts his hands up in surrender. “W-woah now! You showed up in my path, not the other way around!” I sigh. “yeah, you’re probably right…”
He smiles politely, though he's clearly tired too. “Today was… an interesting day, yes?” I nod. “far too interesting, actually.” He laughs curtly. “I suppose that is also correct.”
I sigh. “sorry, asgore, im tired. can i go home?” he chuckles. “You may. How did you end up here?” I shrug. “bad shortcut, i guess.”
He waves at me before I attempt to take the shortcut again. This time, I actually ended up in my room.
I lie down on the bed and sigh. Today was entirely too eventful. I don’t want my days to be like this… anyway, I’m off to bed.