Predatortale

While Sans gently stirred the pot of spaghetti noodles on top of the warm stove, he kept a close eye on the human next to him. The child had taken to warming themselves up from the residual heat of the appliance during the preparation process, which definitely was a reminder of the chilled nature he and his brother were quite numb to. Being skeletons had left them with the ability to weather such temperatures; pun intended. With a heavy sigh, he set the ladle on the countertop before taking off his jacket, wrapping the kid in it to secure their fleeting warmth. The jacket was at least three sizes too big for the young human, but Sans couldn’t have them catching cold. If they fell ill it could interfere with the next crucial step.

The child looked up at him meekly, seemingly grateful for the jacket, but he could tell they weren’t too pleased with the smell. Though Sans could understand, since the jacket hadn’t been washed in quite some time. Not having a nose had offered a benefit in that regard so he never really bothered with the idea of laundry. In addition, the jacket was dirtied with dust here and there, something he didn’t feel was necessary to explain to the kid as he returned his attention to the stovetop.

“Looks like the noodles are almost ready. You wanna get the sauce from the fridge kiddo?”

They gave a light nod and waddled over to the fridge, the jacket weighing them down significantly as they went to grab the sauce. While keeping watch on them, Sans reached into his right pocket of his shorts, gripping the bottle he had stashed away with a light squeeze. It was one thing that he had been using painkillers to keep Papyrus rested, but what he was about to do next was going to determine whether his brother made it out of the underground alive. He despised the methods he was having to use, tricking his brother like this left a bad taste in his mouth, but there was no going back.

The kid returned over from the fridge, looking up at Sans’s mix of emotions upon his skull with worry before Sans offered his trademark smile, chuckling lightly as he pulled his hand out of his pocket and took the jar of sauce from the human.

“Don’t worry about it, kiddo… Just hungry. I’m sure Papyrus is, too.” The human child gave a nod, they had taken note of how the two skeletons seemed to have a more stable hold on themselves, but at the same time there was no denying it. They were hungry just like every other monster in the underground, but despite that this one was helping them to eventually escape the underground. Something their motherly guide had said they would do, and yet they still felt unease standing alone in this room with them. Something about them screamed not to be trusted, despite everything they had said and done thus far, despite Toriel’s reassurance. It was like their instincts were screaming for them to run as far as they could.

The fearful undertones of their expression didn’t escape Sans’s observation, as he lightly patted the kid’s head.

“Hey, it’s okay… The food’s almost ready, so why don’t you go join Papyrus in the living room while I finish up?”

Given the opportunity, the human child gave a few quick nods, fumbling out of the kitchen as they dragged along the oversized jacket they wore before disappearing around the corner into the living room. With the child gone, Sans returned his focus to the food preparation. As usual he reached into the lower cupboard, the canister of substitute retrieved as he prepared Papyrus’s plate first. Then he returned the canister, with the remaining contents. There was no need to take it, because it would be crucial for the next step.

Next, he reached for the medicine in his right pocket. This time, it wasn’t painkillers he had prepared, but instead a mix of a sleeping medication with sleep walking side effects and a hunger stimulant, both acquired at the suggestion of his patron. The sleeping medication was more of a hallucinogen, allowing for easy initiation of sleep, but the sleep walking would make the hunger stimulant that much more potent. Mixing the medicine into the food, he kept an eye on the entrance to the kitchen, listening to his brother speaking with the child while he started to prepare a plate for himself and the human child.

Outside the kitchen, the child had taken a seat next to Papyrus, much to the dismay of how close they were to the tall skeleton on the tiny worn down sofa. Papyrus was indeed happy to make a new friend, but given the circumstances, things were not particularly safe for them to be this close by. The smell, even without a nose, was eliciting a response from his instincts. There was prey sitting next to him, his instincts were practically screaming in his skull, but his logic would never fail him. He was The Great Papyrus, friend to humans and monsters alike. He would never fall to such barbaric measures.

Though he couldn’t deny that his new found strength had left him with a sense of unease. Just as he had recovered enough to walk around this human had appeared, almost as if his body knew this, like his true nature was starting to take hold of him. It scared him. The thought of one day losing his battle with his own inner shrilling voice in his skull encouraging him to kill. Something he never wanted to do. The substitute was enough, it had to be enough.

In need of a distraction, he turned his attention to the jacket on the human, obviously too large for their small stature. It was his brother’s jacket. It was rare that his brother would show such acts of kindness, and it was, despite how terrible he felt being distrustful of his family, suspicious that he had brought this human here of all places. However, Sans wasn’t lying. This kid had come here likely from the ruins, but as to why he did not know. With that path of inquiry in mind, he smiled slightly at them.

“So…Sans said you came from the entrance to the ruins… Why were you there?”

The human looked at Papyrus with a tinge of sadness, remembering the face of Toriel before lowering their gaze to the floor. They didn’t want to leave such a seemingly warm and safe place, Toriel was quite possibly the only one thus far that made them feel genuinely safe. Even Papyrus, as kind as they seemed, still gave them some kind of instinctual sense of restlessness and desire to bolt out the door.

“...you must have been scared. You still are.”

With a nod, the child shrunk into the jacket more, thankfully it masked their scent a bit more, making Papyrus’s inner voice quiet down even further.

“Well…I’m not sure why my brother is involved, but…be sure you don’t let your guard down… He’s…he’s not a bad monster…but…he’s made bad choices before…” Papyrus still remembered how he had been snatched by their next meal from the place they once called home years ago. Sans had rescued him and slaughtered his new friend, though Papyrus knew why they did it. He knew why the human kidnapped him, as well as why Sans made the choice he did, but it was still wrong. In his mind, they could have talked it out. They could have been friends. There had to be another way forward aside from all this senseless killing, despite everything the core of his being was telling him.

“Sans isn’t a bad monster… He’s always taking care of me…despite me still acting like a babybones…but… Human…”

Papyrus looked to them with a serious expression, any sense of trust fading in that moment as he stared quietly at them. His voice hushed as he looked to the kitchen with a quick glance before proceeding.

“...do not trust my brother…do you understand?”

It felt disgusting to have those words leave him, to be said with his own voice, but he couldn’t shake his suspicions. Bringing a human to their home never meant anything good, he knew this, and his brother had never shown any sign of kindness towards a human prior to this one, so it was unlikely that this act of kindness was of his own volition. He would protect Frisk from Sans. That was what he decided. There was no way he’d let Sans carry out whatever he had planned for this child.

With that thought in mind, he felt a sense of relief seeing the child’s knowing nod. It seems they too had the same conclusion just based on instinct alone. Papyrus hated to distrust Sans so much, but he couldn’t deny that his brother was up to something. However, even if he was, he hadn’t had the strength to lift so much as a phalange in order to investigate. It was all he could do to keep his instincts in check with this newfound strength, but he would protect Frisk with everything he could muster.

As he steeled his resolve, his brother came into view, carrying a plate for him and the child. Spaghetti was always his favorite, and Sans had gotten quite good at making it. Thanking his brother, he quickly started to eat the food, the nourishment serving to add fuel to his determination to protect the human as he watched his brother closely. The child took their share and started to eat as well before Sans returned to the kitchen to get his own. Papyrus knew it wasn’t exactly what he wanted, there was a human right next to him after all. However, maybe his brother could be convinced to not make a meal out of Frisk if he tried hard enough.

Though, convincing Sans not to eat a human, it had never crossed his mind as a possible outcome. Sans fully embraced what it meant to be a monster, it was Papyrus who was the outlier. No other monsters thought like him, all of them had laughed at Papyrus’s ridiculous notion about being friends with your food. How could you be friends, yet also hunt the very ones you were friends with? The humans wouldn’t forgive that, so why bother trying? That was the same answer he got time and time again. Nobody would side with him, not even his own brother.

When Sans returned from the kitchen, instead of carrying a plate of spaghetti he instead had a couple of brown pellets in his hand. The substitute medication that he and his brother took was the only thing keeping them stable. Keeping them sane. Papyrus didn’t like the stuff, but he knew not taking it was not going to help him protect Frisk. When presented with the medicine, he swallowed it down, quickly stuffing a bite of pasta into his mouth to wash out the taste. He didn’t like the taste, or rather, he didn’t like how it made him feel when he tasted it. It always made his instincts get all riled up due to it not being ‘the real deal’ and having a human sitting literally right next to him would only make that worse.

Upon finishing his food, he started to feel a little groggy, trying to shake it off as his brother took his plate.

“Hey…Paps, are you okay? You’re not looking so good…”

Papyrus raised a hand and nodded.

“I’m fine…”

He needed to protect Frisk, he couldn’t let himself start to drift off again, but nevertheless Sans persisted.

“Papyrus… I know you’re excited about a human being here…but you shouldn’t push yourself, okay?” Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets at his brother, causing the shorter skeleton to stiffen a bit at the reaction his concern got. “I said I’m fine. I want to…talk with the human a bit longer… I’ll go to bed a-...”

He nearly fell over onto the floor, his brother catching him as he started to feel the room spin. “H-Hey! Papyrus-!” Papyrus put his hands on his brother’s shoulders as the room spun around him, earning a groan from the taller skeleton as Frisk froze up with a mix of fear and concern.

“Look, bro, you’ll get to talk with Frisk in the morning… You really should get to bed…” Unable to argue anymore, Papyrus gave a concerned look to the human, who seemed to practically be begging not to be left alone with Sans. Given the warning he had given them, it was only natural that they didn’t want to be alone. Sans could tell his brother was worried, he had the right to be, so he then decided to make a suggestion, the final nail in the coffin.

“...why don’t you have the human sleep in your room with you? Will that make you feel better?”

Papyrus’s eyes widened at his brother’s suggestion. It was not something he figured his brother would ever suggest, but one look at his brother told him everything he needed to know. His brother knew that he didn’t trust him, and that hurt. A lot. Sans knew that Papyrus didn’t trust him, and he could see how much that hurt his brother. He had doubted Sans, he didn’t trust him with this human’s life in the slightest, and was suspecting his brother of planning something terrible. He was right to be suspicious, he knew this, but why did it hurt to see Sans so sad about it? Papyrus hung his head in shame. He wanted to trust his brother, he didn’t like making Sans feel like this, but there was no denying he was up to something. “Papyrus…please…it’s okay…I know, alright?” Papyrus leaned back into the sofa, staring at his brother who wouldn’t meet his gaze. Sans knew Papyrus didn’t trust him. It hurt Sans a great deal, but he could use this moment to his advantage. Playing up the disappointment, he let out a light, disheartened laugh. “You don’t have to say anything for me to know… It’s okay…” Frisk looked between the two as they remained tense, the taller skeleton finally letting out a sigh as he looked to his brother.

“...I’ll have the human stay in my room with me then.”

Sans gave a nod, his smile fading a bit as Papyrus finally let him help with getting him up the stairs to his room. “Come on, kid… I think we’re all tired. You and my bro can have a sleepover upstairs while I clean up.” The human quickly got to their feet, leaving their plate behind as they followed up the stairs to Papyrus’s room. They felt a great deal safer knowing they would be close to the taller of the brothers, especially when Sans was clearly labeled as untrustworthy to be around. Once they all finally made it to the room, Sans helped Papyrus get into his bed, grabbing an extra pillow and blanket for Frisk from a nearby dresser. However, before Frisk was allowed inside, Sans walked over to them at the door, leaning in slightly to look them straight in the eye. “...kid…do me a favor…do not hurt my brother…do you understand?” His words were only audible to Frisk, Papyrus already starting to drift off as the human wanted nothing more than to shut out Sans from the room and get to the side of the only one he trusted at the time. With a gulp, the child gave a quick nod. “Good.”

That said, Sans gave the blanket and pillow to Frisk, allowing the human to enter as he exited Papyrus’s room, closing the door quietly. Once the door was shut, he turned his attention to his room, making his way over to enter and shut himself within his own quarters before breathing a sigh of relief. He could practically feel the dark grin upon him as he had completed the final step. “And now…we wait…”

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Sitting at his desk as he flipped through various documents, taking notes upon the pages here and there, Gaster continued to observe the resulting values from his latest experimental trial. The lab was buzzing with various electronic appliances, their distinct humming and beeping attesting to their functionality as they continued to analyze the collected data. Typically, the monster would have preferred to have at least five to ten assistants to aid in analyzing all the data, but given how few remaining individuals there were who had retained high enough mental capacity to be of use to him he had opted to work solo.

Things were growing darker, yet darker still these days, with less and less monsters capable of stimulating enough feedback to spark his scientific curiosity in any meaningful sense. It truly was a frustrating time to be had. At the very least, Sans might have proven to be more effective in assisting his research, but his son seemed lost in sentiment caring for the weakened sibling back in Snowdin. To the older skeleton, it seemed pointless to continue with such an endeavor, especially since he had made it clear Papyrus’s physical condition would never improve, especially given how stubborn they had been all these years about proper nourishment intake. However, upon telling Sans this, he soon found his more promising offspring to be unwilling to aid him unless his brother’s care was assured, making it all truly frustrating.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Sans had been exhibiting some rather troublesome behavior patterns. Disappearing and reappearing at his own convenience and seemingly moving outside of Gaster’s observational capabilities, leading him to believe that he might be plotting something, but not like it would do the shorter skeleton any good. After all, Gaster was far stronger, higher in level and stats in general, and out maneuvering someone who seemed ruled by their emotions was certainly child’s play at best and an annoyance at its worst. Rubbing the bridge of what would be a nose, Gaster let out a frustrated grumble. He truly did not have time for this, not when there was so much prep work to be done.

Soon, very soon, they would have all the tools necessary to put what he would hope to be the final leg in the operation to freeing monster-kind. All they needed was the final human soul and he would achieve what no monster had done before him. Some assemblage of joy might be best to describe the feeling he got from such an idea, but the old monster felt such warmth of hope, instead, he felt a gratification of his efforts. Cold calculations leading to a predicted result with minimal error, a satisfying conclusion, favorable outcomes that he had predicted. Yes, he was satisfied with his efforts being rewarded, but that much was expected. He was the royal scientist after all, the most intelligent and capable monster in the underground and long before their entrapment.

Taking a few more notes as the screen in front of him let off a few more notes of data collection being complete, he was truly in his element at this moment, earning his signature smirk as he jotted down the results of another expected outcome. However, as he did this, he heard weak sobbing coming from behind, pulling him from his focus and earning a dissatisfied grumble as he swiveled in his office chair to face the source of the disruption. Upon the table not far from his location, confined to a protective containment, sat a yellow flower in a pot. However, this was no ordinary flower, as it did not have the same silence that flowers tend to have. Instead, this one had a voice, an expressive complexion, and unfortunately had a tendency to cry now and again.

With an irritated sigh, his focus upon his element disturbed, he narrowed his eyes at the contained creature.

“What is it now, F-001?”

Gaster kept his words brief, calling out to the crumpled form of the tearful flower kept in their small containment, referring to them by their experimental subject’s code name as he tapped his pencil on the desk in annoyance. It was already difficult for him to concentrate on his work with all he had going on in the back of his mind about Sans’s disappearing act as of late, but ever since his son brought him this specimen it seemed adamant to continue to be a distraction to his focus at every turn. At first the flower was stubborn and callous, with various insults to match. Then they became desperate, begging to be released after multiple corrections to their disrespect. Finally, they had reduced to this, sobbing at every other juncture, albeit quietly as compared to their previous wailing, but it was an unwanted distraction nonetheless.

Upon receiving some kind of acknowledgement, even if it was from their captor and torturer at the time, the little flower couldn’t help but feel some form of joy about that. Even if it was for a brief moment, they were being acknowledged, getting the attention they desperately craved, even if only for a brief moment. They knew Gaster didn’t care, and that this would likely lead to them being more harsh in their experiments down the road, but any attention, regardless of what it was, they craved it like an addict. Being confined to their cell like this, a tiny encapsulation with no means of stimulation other than what the doctor was willing to give, it was absolutely unbearable.

Gaster did not care how the flower felt, or for their comfort. This creature Sans had given him was only to be used as the vessel for his upcoming plans, so providing them with accommodations that gave any sense of enrichment was unnecessary, detrimental even. After all, the flower’s sense of self would be eradicated upon the completion of the experiment, leaving only a loyal and obedient weapon in its place. There was no need to provide false hope of freedom on the surface to a being that was doomed to have their ego ultimately crushed in the end.

As silence fell, the flower meekly looking to Gaster expectantly, the scientist frowned more.

“If you have nothing to say, F-001, then-” The flower perked up, realizing where Gaster had motioned his hand to. With a press of a button, an electrical current shot through its roots and all throughout its core, rattling the soul that had been placed in it to fortify its existence as a vessel. A screeching yelp echoed during the brief event before Gaster lifted his finger, ending the flower’s correction of their disruptive behavior as they twitched and crumpled in place, only tears falling as they fell silent. Nothing they could say would change things, and there was no way to elicit any emotion from his captor who seemingly lacked any assemblance of mercy in their soul. If it wasn’t for the human soul fortifying their form, they would have long since dusted.

Without giving the flower any more attention, Gaster swiveled back to his papers, finding his muse for his observations irritatingly disrupted as he let out a sigh. Rising from his seat and taking a walk to the adjacent breakroom, he sought to grab a much needed cup of stimulating beverage from the coffee pot sitting upon the countertop. At first, the existence of such a thing seemed trivial to him, having only existed to keep Sans awake during the times he used to reliably assist the doctor in his ongoing experiments. However, over time, even he had found use for the wakening effects of the coffee mixed with substitute. It was almost even addictive.

Another sigh left his chest, his ribs giving a quiet rattle before he reached out to the mug tree sitting next to the coffee pot, selecting a mug at random as he went to pour himself another cup. Upon acquiring a full amount in his drinkware, he took a long drawn out sip and leaned against the countertop, rubbing the bridge center of his skull. Results predicted success, everything was going smoothly, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had done this before, but with different variations. Months before he had awoken at his desk, having had a dream that was all too real. Like it had truly happened. It was hard to shake the feeling that he had done all this once before.

Then there was Sans’s suspicious behavior as of late, though his son didn’t exactly trust him given his lack of commitment for improving Papyrus’s health. Something Gaster had told him time and time again was not going to happen. The taller of the siblings had placed themselves in that position, they understood as much, but were still determined to fight the most basic foundations that monsters existed on. To what end he couldn’t fathom, to be friends with your food? To toy with it? No. Papyrus in earnest wanted to get along with humankind. He knew this to be the facts of the situation, however childish they may be, and it was what made Gaster conclude that it was futile to waste resources on extending the inevitable.

That of course had led to the distance that now existed between him and Sans, or perhaps that distance had existed for far longer and only bubbled to the surface more solidified by him choosing the logical path? Either way, Gaster didn’t care, and saw no point in dwelling on his damaged connections. What he was doing was for the benefit of all monsters, and that took priority, even over his own kin. Taking another drawn out sip, the royal scientist returned out into the laboratory, glancing at the screen that was monitoring the old Snowdin home for a brief second.

The cameras he kept putting up kept getting taken down, and with pinpoint accuracy. Yet another thing he had elected to stop wasting his resources on. Whatever it is that Sans had planned, it wouldn’t stop him from reaching his intended goal. Sans had provided him with the human souls, one after the next with flawless execution, along with a source to replicate more of the substitute. In turn, Gaster was able to buy some loyalty amongst monsterkind, though he found that it was increasingly difficult given the influence of another monster in the underground.

Muffet, the princess of the spiders. Despite all the surveillance in place, she had managed to elude him for months on end, only puppets acting in her stead. Catch one, the string breaks, and another would take their place. Sans had caught one prior, confirming this, meaning they would need to be careful once they did locate her main body. If she was to discover they were zeroing in, then she would likely burrow into another nesting place to avoid them and it would start all over again. So for the meantime, Sans would go after the puppets, being led astray intentionally, while Gaster used his own methods to track her down.

Aside from that, there were few monsters who gathered a large following behind them. The few who used to have a larger support either turned to dust or went through a metamorphosis of sorts, turning into massive beasts as they lost most of their reasoning, essentially making them useless to him. The one prominent existence that came to mind was Undyne, who fell into a primal state not long after an event involving Alphys, who had once served directly under Gaster as his assistant. Alphys had been very useful indeed, a bumbling nerve-wreck to be sure, but nonetheless highly intelligent and capable. She was closely connected to Undyne in the function of a romantic couple, but this served as a breaking point for Undyne after the incident months prior.

It wasn’t anyone’s fault what happened. Alphys was running a test using some new equipment, things were proceeding smoothly, until the machine she was utilizing malfunctioned. Gaster had been absent from the lab sector she was in at the time, but one who had been present was Sans. He had been assisting her in reading the results, and when the warning popped up about the malfunction, he had to make a split second decision: save himself or attempt to save Alphys. The former had a 100% chance of success, the latter meant certain death. There was no time to save Alphys, and making an attempt to do so would have meant he couldn’t be there for his brother. He chose correctly, he chose self-preservation.

However, Undyne didn’t see it that way. To Undyne, Sans was a coward, one who had left her beloved to die that fateful day, and she never forgave him. It was after that she had holed up in her home in Waterfall, transforming into her current beastly visage who roamed the submerged depths as her mind became numb. Since then, Sans had made a point not to venture into that part of the underground. Making it the most likely spot where Muffet might be hiding, thus the reason Gaster took over scouring it with water-proof probing devices. The puppets always led away from that place, making it suspicious. He gave another irritated sigh and turned his attention to the monitors that were observing Waterfall, sipping his beverage as he watched closely at the detected motion in the grass not far from the waters. The grass stilled not long after.

After giving it all the attention he was willing to do so at the time, he walked over to his desk and sat down, swiveling back to his papers as he continued his work. Everything would fall into place with time, he need only be patient. Whatever Sans was planning would fail. Muffet would fall. Undyne would be dealt with if she chose to be an obstacle. His plans would succeed and monsters would once again roam free. After all, he had the blessing of King Asgore to ensure as much. His one and only trusted friend, the leader of monster-kind had always been a source of reliability. Despite how soft-hearted the King was on a number of things, the increased LV they had gained and their trust in Gaster had supplied him more than enough resources to accomplish his goals.

Asgore, not unlike Papyrus, had a soft spot for humans, especially children, but unlike his more childish son the King knew how things worked. He would not shy away from consuming humans as Papyrus had done, making him incredibly reliable as a combatant. However, since the Queen had taken up residence in the ruins upon seeing how the King was following the correct path, he had regrettably been inconsistent in his reliability. For now he still served his purpose, as there were still subjects, all collected in Hotland, who followed his words, but even Gaster could tell the mental effects of having his significant other betray him in such a way were taking their toll. All Gaster could do was pray that it wouldn’t become another bothersome headache to deal with, as the King was crucial in keeping the remaining loyal subjects in line and not falling in league with the rebels under Muffet’s command.

Upon that topic, his mind drifted to the motherly Toriel. The one who had the largest soft spot for human children between the two of them. She had regrettably seen what Gaster had subjected one such child to during his pursuit of freeing monster-kind, leading to a fight between her and Asgore. Gaster didn’t care to defend his choices, as he felt they stood as the correct choice regardless of whatever moral ground the Queen stood upon. Thankfully, Asgore supported him, but just like Papyrus, the Queen could not see eye to eye with Gaster. Turning her into an obstacle at one of the pivotal points in the underground for acquiring fresh test subjects. If it wasn’t for her locking up in the Ruins, he would have been able to secure a crucial dropping point for resources, but that still didn’t stop him from getting what he wanted.

In that regard, Sans’s inadvertent befriending of the old monster had actually made it easier. Sans was able to keep an eye on things from his end, collecting the humans who had slipped out of Toriel’s protection, right under her nose. And soon, Sans would no doubt collect the final specimen to execute his plan. It would be happening very soon, he could feel it in his soul. All of this may have felt like it had happened before, like a gift of prophecy from an unseen force, but that only meant he was on the correct path. Monsters would make it to the surface once more. They would dominate and subjugate humanity. He was certain of this.

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Today’s the day.

Snow continued to fall gently around him as he stood still, staring at the stone slab door adorned with the royal crest. Things had to go perfectly smooth, from this moment onward, or else everything he had planned would be for naught. And although he had been prepping for this event for quite some time, he couldn’t help but feel anxious about the act he was gonna have to put on. After all, here he was, standing before the door he had always knocked against, the home of his soon to be betrayed friend.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting butterflies already, Sansy?”

Frowning in annoyance, he grumbled under his breath, listening closely to what sounded like conversation emanating from behind the door. It was finally time, and the last thing he needed was for that shrill voice to be tripping up with performance. With a deep breath, Sans gave his signature knock at the door, the voices from behind coming to a dead quiet as he called out.

“Knock, knock.”

As usual he waited. Patiently, quietly he waited for his friend’s voice. If his continued supply of nourishment provided to his friend had done anything, it should have been enough to allow them to at least answer. Then, as the silence seemed like it would carry on for an eternity, the door creaked and slowly opened.

“Who’s there?”

Sans looked up. Peering into the darkness from behind the door. Time for the performance of a lifetime.

“Bones.”

The voice seemed to weakly chuckle.

“Bones who?”

“Bones-dias, it’s great to meet ya.”

The darkness echoed with that laugh he had come to enjoy over all these years. He never did get tired of it. And now he would get to put a face to that voice, something that had never happened before, something entirely unexpected. The door opened more fully, revealing a towering goat-like monster, her tired eyes and regal appearance giving off a sense of warmth as she greeted him.

“My friend…it’s so good to see you…” Sans smiled in genuine, forgetting his goal as he got caught up in the act he was carrying out on this well-planned stage.

“Yeah, sorry if I’m a little late. Traffic is awful these days” The old goat laughed, before coughing, earning a grimace of concern on Sans’s face, to which she quickly dispelled, assuring she was fine. Months prior, leading up to this fateful day, when he had made a promise to his dear friend, the first piece had been put into place. Overtime, he had worked out a plan with this monster to serve as a guide to a certain child, to help them escape. The last human. However, like with everything else up until this point, it was all a ruse to suit Sans’s end goals of saving his brother. Betraying the trust his friend was placing in him tore him up inside, but the ends would justify the means. After all, if he didn’t do this, there was no telling what his patron might do to make things come to fruition.

Toriel gazed back into the darkness from behind the cold stone door, beckoning someone to her side, as a small child clung to her robes, sobbing and looking up at her, shaking their head repeatedly. They begged Toriel not to make them leave, wanting to stay, but the old goat gently stroked their head, wiping away their tears as they knelt down to eye level with them. Offering a warm and loving smile.

“My child…you cannot stay with me… I would love nothing more than for you to stay, trust me on this…but it cannot be. You need to escape the underground…” She then looked to Sans, with a trusting smile.

“...and he’ll help you do that.” Another knife dug into his heart as he looked Toriel in the eye, smiling with a nod, acknowledging the promise, but not giving away his intent to shatter it to pieces. His eyes then settled upon the human, who shied away from his gaze by burying their face in Toriel’s robes. It took everything in his soul to not tear this kid apart. In the previous timeline, he clearly remembered finding Toriel’s dust all over the corridor floor upon investigation. Despite Toriel’s depleting supply of supplement deliveries, he still blamed this child in some way.

Squatting to eye level with the child, he kept his signature smile plastered on his skull. He needed to perform. Right up until the defining moment. He was an entertainer after all, a puppet on strings, and he needed to win the kid over for all this to work.

“Hey. I’m Sans. Sans the skeleton. What’s yours, kid?” They meekly peaked from where they had burrowed their vision away, seeing the warm smile on the skeleton, but quickly noticing the very sharp teeth in his maw. He was right not to trust him. Instinctively, he saw Sans as a threat, and that was to be expected. Even so, the atmosphere Sans presented created a sense of ease all the same, as the kid mumbled out a response.

“F…Frisk…”

The smile on Sans’s face grew wider.

“Frisk, huh?”

It’s nice to meat ya…

“It’s nice to meet ya. I hope your bone ready for travel, cause we have a lot of ground to cover, but don’t worry. I know a shortcut.”

The small child heard his pun and giggled quietly, before sorrow returned to their eyes as they looked up at their mother figure. The two hugged tightly, Toriel growing in sorrow as she stroked the child’s head.

“Stay safe, my child… Keep your whits about you…”

She kissed their forehead gently and then ushered them over to where Sans stood. Reaching out, Sans offered his hand to the child with a smile, the hidden hunger under his breath almost breaking his facade.

“Well…shall we get going, kid?”

Frisk hesitantly raised their hand, placing it into that of the skeleton as Sans tried his best to not just rip their arm out of their socket while gently enclosing their hand in his own. Toriel looked to Sans expectantly, drawing the skeleton’s attention as she spoke.

“Thank you, my friend… I truly am sorry to place this burden upon you…but I have no one else I can ask…” Sans chuckled and gave a shrug.

“I’ll do my best, old lady.” She nodded with a somber smile, before issuing her final goodbyes to the child, the door closing slowly behind her with an echoing, yet gentle boom. Finally he had the child, but they weren’t out of the woods yet, not even close. The trees around them, skeletal and starved, all seemed to be reaching for Frisk as the winds caused them to wave and creak hungrily around them. The child jumped in surprise as they gripped Sans’s hand tighter in fright, stopping short of embracing as they shuffled closer to the skeleton, not knowing the danger they were in.

He gently patted their head, earning a light jump of fear from the kid as they froze up like a deer in the headlights, looking up at the empty sockets of what would soon be the reaper leading to his grave. Their fate sealed from the moment Toriel had closed the door. Sure, they could scream, but Sans wouldn’t let that even be audible to his friend. With the human in his hold, he was in full control of the situation, and he’d be damned before wasting all that effort put into this plot.

“Alright, kiddo…let’s get going.”

Urging them to hold on tight, Sans opted for his signature shortcut, hoping to avoid as much surveillance as possible. He had prepped for weeks with the snow fall, covering any and all cameras with a thick blanket of it over time to obscure any feed that might leak back to Gaster, and he needed to be sure that even now the mad doctor would not catch on until it was far too late.

Within a split second, they were inside the familiar abode of the skeleton brothers, skipping over the outside completely as the child breathed in a gasp of the chilled air of the living room. Trembling, the clung to Sans’s jacket, earning an irritated look from the skeleton that he quickly replaced with a smile as soon as the kid looked up at him again. They had been quickly scanning their surroundings mere moments ago prior to meeting his gaze, the sudden change in location being quite a startling shock for the small human child.

“It’s alright, Frisk… Like I said… Shortcut…” Sans was annoyed having them cling to him, but pushing them away would result in losing what little trust their short time together had fostered, bolstered only by the old lady who had given him her blessing of escorting the child out of the gaping maw of the underground.

I’m sorry, old lady… This is why I don’t like making promises…

Patting the kid’s head, he gently coaxed them to loosen their hold on him, leading them to the couch to take up refuge before wrapping them in a blanket for warmth. The house was cold, no warmth of the heater or kitchen stove that had been there once prior. With Papyrus being subdued, it had become all too still and chilled to the bone. However, with that thought, a voice called out almost cautiously from the upstairs balcony overlooking the living area where Sans and the human child now had taken up space in.

“Sans…who…who is that with you…?”

The child’s eyes widened with fear as their gaze jerked up to the tall skeleton upstairs. Papyrus, now on a lower dosing of painkillers due to Sans’s adjustments to bring on the next act of this farce, was now gazing down upon them. The expression on the skeleton filled with mixed emotions that Sans had come to be quite accustomed to over the years. Papyrus knew it was a human. He didn’t need to see to know. He could smell it. His teeth chattered for a time, before becoming still through sheer will alone as he tried to smile. Excitement for something new, a potential friend. Fear for what he might do, a hunger unsatiated for years.

Sans observed his brother intently. He needed to be careful with his words. His brother knew him all too well, so he would be able to tell if Sans was lying.

“They're human, Paps… I met up with them at the entrance to the ruins…” Confirming what Papyrus was hoping he was wrong about, but unmistaken due to the smell, the tall skeleton felt his bones rattle. Although he had a bit more strength now for reasons he was not privy to, he did not want to risk what his instincts were practically screaming at him to do.

“I see… They must be very hungry…if they came all the way from the ruins…” With that, he carefully made his way downstairs, Sans wanting so badly to hurry over to ensure he didn’t fall down the stairs, but knowing abandoning the human child in this moment might shatter the trust he had been fostering even for a short time. Papyrus thankfully made it down without incident, but fumbled slightly, earning a look of concern as Sans took one step towards his brother, before the tall skeleton raised a hand to assure that he was fine. His brother made his way over to the coach, looking down at Frisk with a mix of joy at meeting a potential new friend and encroaching hunger suppressed by his virtues. It had been a long time since he had seen a human, let alone one so small.

“I know it’s not much, but…if you’d like…I could make you some spaghetti…”

The offer of food seemed to lighten the human’s stiff visage, as they stared up more unconditionally trusting at the taller of the two brothers. Papyrus always had a way of having people judge him as a kind and gentle giant, and they were absolutely right to do so given how against eating humans he was. However, in his current state, that trust would serve as a valuable tool for Sans’s overarching plot to unfold.

“Hey…maybe I should make it, Paps? I’m pretty good at it by this point, and you still look a bit tired…” This was true, Papyrus knew this was true, so despite his need to serve his guest the best he could, he relented without much of a fuss. Sans had gotten exceptionally good at it after all. Next step was crucial.

“Hey, kiddo… Wanna help me in the kitchen…?”

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