Chapter Text
The wind howled through the trees as the skeleton made his way. They had been clueless about the attack that night and got caught in an ambush, he and another monster left to lure the humans away from their camp. Away from the civilians. He didn't know where Dogamy was now, but he knew he wouldn't see him again if he stopped.
He could hear their steps getting closer as he descended the mountain, their torches cracking in the wind and their swords whooshing through the trees. He was getting tired, his belt felt empty without his sword and he had already used all his magic. His movements were slowing down and he didn't have much stamina left. The skeleton could feel his eyelids get heavier by the second and his mind start to fog. Slumber was taking over him, cradling his bones and begging him to stop for just a second and take a nap.
The skeleton's eyes started to close, his blinks taking longer and longer as his skull spun.
In the dark of the night, with eyes threatening to close, he didn't see the roots of the tree as he ran . Nor the cliff that ensued.
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Sans woke up feeling his chest-plate grind against his ribs. His mind was fuzzy and his body refused to obey him.
He looked around as best as he could, he was over someone's shoulder, their armor scraping his own. His nonexistent heart started racing, if he was captured he would surely be dead, or worse. They were know to do much worse.
His mind was still sleepy but he tried to move, maybe jump out of their grab or try to attack but his arms didn't move and his spine was locked in place. Panic filled his chest as he tried everything he could to escape.
Sans hand then grazed their arm, knotted and sticky fur touching his cold fingers. A small wind blew from behind the trees as his captor hurried his pace, and a that very know smell of wet dog hit the skeletons ‘nose’. Dogamy. Or any of the dog monsters in that case. He hoped it was Dogamy.
The skeleton left a sigh in relief, his momentary panic fading with the forest breeze and the walk fo the dog. The up and down of the monster luring him back to slumber.
He was safe now, Dogamy probably succeed in leading them away so he could rest for some minutes. By now they should be near their camp so he could go back to his bed soon, '‘maybe paps can carry me there…’ were the last thoughts on his head.
He then fell back into a dreamless sleep, not even noticing the smell of dust coming from the bigger monster or the crackling of approaching torches.
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His body ached, his armature was way too heavy and it was crushing his ribs. There was a light directly in his face, he could feel the warm sun rays on his bones, was it morning already? He tried to cover his eyes with a hand but his limbs felt too heavy to move.
Sans slowly opened his eyes, the blinding light was coming from a small opening on the wall near the ceiling of… wherever he was. The skeleton noticed he was laying on the ground of some type of construction, a little house without rooms, just open space. He was on top of something soft and his head was against a pillow.
“...what” he managed to say, voice raspy from disuse. The walls were painted very badly and the wood looked a little rotten. Wherever he was wasn't in the camp.
Maybe the humans found them and they had to move? Why this place then? Why is he the only one here?
He tried to move, to sit. but any type of movement sent a blinding pain through his spine. His bones were heavy like a rock, the skeletons joints felt like they were covered in sand and his neck was stiff as if he haven't moved it in days.
“Come on” he grunted, trying to move his limbs “you felt worse before,” he tried encouraging himself. Slowly and steady, he flexed his bones and moved his arms, pushing his body up. It felt like he was lifting a boulder up a mountain, body heavy and weak. Eventually he managed to get in a somewhat sitting position.
The monster ended up breathless and slouched to the right , head heavy and relying only on his arms to stay upright. His joints burned and his spine was locked up, the skeleton couldn't feel his extremities well, his fingers were numb and his legs refused to move more than the minimal.
In his new position, he gave the place a better look.
it was… not great. The place looked like it could fall apart at any moment, the wood of the walls were rotten and the painting was almost inexistent. There were big spider webs on the ceiling, small holes on the walls near the ground and abandoned nests scattered around. Even humans were tidier than this place.
He looked at the bedding he was on top. It was a very heavy blanket, different from the ones Toriel used to make, it was fluffy and fuzzy, colored like a wolfs pelt.
‘Did they steal this from a human?’ He thought. It was rare for monsters to use animal fur.
His pillow was big and pink, with flowers adorned, he didn't know who this could belong to.
Sans spine felt like it was getting better, or maybe he was just getting used to the pain. Either way, the burning sensation was subsiding and his joints were less sand-y, he fixed his posture and balanced his weight on one hand while reaching his back with the other. The buckle was a little tricky, but he untied the leather belt holding his chest-plate in place, it fell with a ‘ponft’ on the blanket. “thank Asgore..” he sighed, finally able to catch his breath. He could move his arms more freely now without the metal crushing his ribs
After his momentary relief, the monster heard a noise coming from outside the closed door. Slow paced footsteps crushing grass, too light to be Papyrus, too heavy to be Alphys, and then a creak. He turned his head to the sound to see the door already slightly open with someone peeking their head through.
It was.
A human.
His body froze and his eyes darkened. He regretted immensely taking off his armature.
Sans didn't have a weapon, his spine was still hurting, he couldn't move right, he couldn't put his armor on fast enough and his magic wasn’t answering. He was dead.
While he stayed frozen in the middle of the floor, the human fully opened the door. It pushed it open with a little trouble but didn't step inside, the cold wind from the outside sweeping in.
It was a woman a head taller than him. She was wearing weird clothes, big boots, a hay hat and overalls, he could see she was covered in dirt and grass. ‘a cultivator…?’ he pondered, not taking his eyes from her.
Luckily, the girl seemed as scared of him as he was of her. She stayed still staring at him for some seconds before forcefully taking a step. She calmly walked into the building, leaving the door open, ‘smart’ he watched her approach.
As she strolled to the monster, she kept her eyes on him, only looking away when they made direct eye contact, sans could see the hesitation in her movements. Now that she was closer, sans saw she was carrying a white porcelain plate with something.
“Uhhh, hello” she finally spoke, still about 2 meters from him “I’m Chara” she gave him a faint smile and waited. Sans didn't answer, only watching her move. He could see she felt intimidated, looking around nervously and fidgeting with he plate in her hands.
“i, er, found you on the forest yesterday” she looked a him “i thought you were like, a corpse” she straightened after saying that, a bit regretful “not- not that you look dead it's just, i just, eh” she looked for words, lifting a hair from her face “uh, y-you know, skeleton and all…” she pointed at him with the plate in her hands.
An awkward silence ensued. ‘Wow’ Sans thought. And to think he was scared of this.
Some seconds passed but the girl said nothing more, only observing him with a hint of curiosity. Not uncommon for a human, they always seemed mesmerized by the smallest things. She kept her eyes on him, scanning the monster with her big brown pupils. Both creatures watched the other waiting for something to happen.
Her eyes darted to the porcelain she was holding, seemingly to remember what it was for.
And suddenly, she moved. She was too close with something in his face. Dread settled into his soul, he had lowered his guard and she took that opportunity. in a split second the skeleton backed off as much as he could with his currently mobility, the sudden close of the space rattling his bones. He gathered his strength and rapidly raised his arm feeling his magic drip.
A row of white bones emerged from the floor and made a straight line to the woman. Her confused face changing into fear and they shot in her direction.
The girl dodged to the side, but her right arm wasn’t as fast. A bone caught it mid air and slashed her forearm in a straight line as she pushed it back to her. Skin opening and blood spilling into the brown floor as the white plate hit it and shattered in a doze d pieces.
The woman fell back and cradled her wounded arm near her chest, her scream echoing the walls and blood staining everything. Small tears glossed her eyes, as the human made her best attempt to get up and run.
Sans felt his head throb and his chest heavy, he tried to summon another row but it only made his non-existent stomach turn, his arm was weak and he was loosing his balance.
He watched her run out of the door before he fell back, skull hitting the ground.
~
“ouch….” Sans woke up again. He seemed to be getting more knocked out than he was used to. He felt like a rock was on top of him, crushing his soul and making his breaths labored, his mind was spinning so fast he couldn't forme thoughts.
He looked around trying to get his bearings when he noticed he was back in the makeshift bed, tucked in by a blanket and head resting into the pink pillow. Near his side, his chest plate was leaning against a barrel.
Did that human come back??? why would she put him back in the bed?? His skull hurt, his head was still fuzzy and his thoughts were too tangled for him to think straight.
The skeleton looked at the door from where the human came, it was still open and he could see the outside. Green tall grass covered the ground as the sun set in the horizon, taking its bright away and tinting everything with a orange shade. ‘did i sleep for the whole day…?’ he looked at the warm colors.
The monster could see a house in the distance. A light came from the window and he saw that same human walking around the house, carrying plates and other stuff.
Eventually the human disappeared from his sight and walked out the door, making her way to where he was.
He didn't know if he was still dizzy or if just lost his fear, but the monster was calmer than before. His guard was still up, but he knew he managed to scare her by the way she cautiously walked to him.
The girl approached slowly, she was wearing different clothes than before. She had a gray shirt with short sleeves with something that looked like a childish drawing of a cat in it, her pants looked soft like cotton with colorful paw prints all over it.
Without her sun hat he could see better her straight, nut-brown hair that was the length of her shoulders, her skin was light and slightly tanned around her arms, her cheeks had a pinkish color and her eyes were a light brown.
She walked to the building but stopped right under the door frame, her face full of anxiety.
“Hi” she said, trying to fake a monotone. “Are you ok?” She asked, voice timid. She had another plate on her hands. “I want to give this to you” she articulated, raising the plate. “It's food, you didn't eat the one I brought you before..” Her voice was firm, but lacked confidence. “but you can't do that again, ok?” She took a step closer and waited for a response “Whatever-whatever that was” she looked directly at the skeleton. She waited a few seconds for a response, when none came she spoke again “d-do you understand me?” the woman stuttered.
Sans thought for a second, he had seen this before.
In the rare cases a monster was captured by the enemy they would fall down and die within days.
With that the humans changed their tactics. They would feed them and care for them, promising to return them home if they collaborated. The longer they stayed alive the more information they could get from them. But after that hey would be dusted and disposed.
Some civilians would do this too, take care of injured monsters and sell them to soldiers for a good money with no second thought.
It usually only worked on weaker monsters thought, those who couldn't by any change fight against a human face to face.
Sans stomach twisted again, a sick feeling setting into him “Does she think I'm that naive?’ he thought. Even if she healed him head to toe he wouldn't hesitate in killing her for even a second.
He knew how cunning they were. No matter how ‘nice’ they seemed to be, or how many masks they used, he could see right past them.
His soul buzzed in his chest, he couldn't let that pass, if she planed to trick him she probably already tricked others.
Only one of them would leave this place alive.
Unfortunately, he knew it wouldn't be him to survive. He could barely feel his legs, his arms felt like jelly, he didn't have any weapons or armature and he was too tired to use his magic.
Even though he hated it, he would have to play along for now. As long as he is ‘sick’ and ‘collaborative’ she shouldn't do anything drastic.
“Yes, I understand you” he finally said, talking as little as he could.
She jumped a little when he spoke, spooked. “i-i bought you food” she repeated, walking in his direction anxiously. She stopped some meters away from him, further than last time, and keeled down to his height.
With a grunt, Sans used his hands to prop himself up, his back popping and aching.“Do you need help sitting?” she reached her hand to hold his bicep. “if you touch me you will loose your hand” an empty threat, it was more likely he would pass out again, but it worked. She retracted her hand quickly and went back to fidget with the plate. Eventually Sans was able to get in a sitting-like position similar to the one before.
“Here” she raised the plate in her lap. He then noticed bandages tightly wrapped around her shaking forearm, probably from his previous attack. Even weak, he did a good number on her.
He cautiously grabbed the plate and looked inside, it was a sandwich with a brown bread and something yellow inside. Before he could ask, the human said “It's an egg sandwich” she smiled “I made it just now” The woman looked proud “ i... didn't really know what I could give to you.. but eggs have calcium right? i think it will be good for you” she rambled, a little to Sans and mostly to herself.
He thought about eating, he felt like he haven’t eaten in days and it smelled… ok. But his paranoic side was still skeptical.
He decided to grab the bread. He picked it up and spun it around his hands for a minute, it smelled normal and it didn't look like the put anything in it. ‘if she wanted the could have killed me while i slept’ he pondered, if she wanted information from him it didn’t make sense she would try to poison him.
While he thought, his stomach suddenly cramped, hunger crippling into his ribs. The human was still watching him, eyes wide. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction but his body craved anything edible. He put the sandwich in his mouth and gave it a big bite. He felt his magic cling into the food as he munched.
They sat in silence while he ate, sans would never say it out loud but it was a good sandwich. He finished every crumb, but he was still hungry.
“So…” she started, “What uh..” a pause “what exactly are you?” she tilted her head with the question. “I-i don't mean to sound rude, it's just… I've never seen a skeleton that was alive” she looked deep into his pupils.
Sans got a little confused, ‘what does she mean by that?’ he thought swallowing the last piece. “Are you an alien!?” she said with a gasp, making a surprised face. that took him out of guard “what?” he asked with an arched brow. Humans called them a lot of things, but he never heard of “alien”.
“It's like, a creature that came from space, from another planet” she explained looking at his sockets. “uh, no” he stared back, more confused than before “i came from the mountain” he almost added an ‘obviously’ but he didn't want to test his luck. The girl looked behind her, as if she could see the mountain from there “that mountain?” she pointed outside with her thumb, “Mount Ebott?” she made a confused face. Sans didn't know where she was going with this, there was no way she didn’t know, why pretend then? The skeleton decided to only accent with his head.
The girl thought for a second, looking outside. “Where are we?” The skeleton spoke before she could continue with her interrogation. If he has to answer her questions so has she.
“oh, we are in my barn!” she explained with a smile.
That place could be everything, but it wasn't a barn. It looked more like a abandoned house where ghosts liked to live with all the rotten wood and spider webs, Sans was surprised the place didn't fall down while he slept. Anyhow, that wasn't what he asked.
“i have a small farm here, and here is where i put all my stuff” she pointed at the boxes behind him. Sans huffed “I meant WHERE are we? Are we still near the mountain? or the human camp?” he gestured, waving his hand. “uuuh” her smile fell a little “we are near the Ebott mountain, right on the base actually. But i don't think i know any camps?” she scratched her cheek “ There's a city is some kilometers away from here thought” she held up a finger.
‘that's what they call it now?’ Last time he knew it was just a Human camp, now is it a city?
“anyway….” she spoke, grabbing his attention again “ what's your name?” the girl asked happily, her eyes looked deep into his sockets. “i already said mine but didn’t respond” she scratched at her bandages aimlessly.
Should he tell her? Its not like he was very know by the humans, but there was a chance she could recognize him from past attacks.
But without his armor, his magic or his sword, he could pass as a random monster like any other.
The skeleton decided to take a shot. “I’m.. Sans” he said reluctantly “Comic Sans”. Her eyes widened “It's a pleasure!” the human smiled and raised her hand for a handshake. Sans only looked at it, and then at her with a serious face. The girl slowly retracted her arm back, a little awkward.
She coughed in her hand, “you must be tired right? a lot of stuff happened today” she was already getting up, “I'll leave now so you can rest” she dusted her pants and made her way to the door. “If you need anything just scream! I live in the house over there” she pointed out. Sans scoffed, ‘like i want you to come back’ he watched her leave.
And just like that sans was left alone with his thoughts. He laid down on his side and looked at the open door, he could see part of the sky from there. “at least she left the door open…” he yawned. It was dark now, the first stars started to appear and the crescent moon started to rise from between the clouds. The cold fall wind entered by the door and caressed his aching bones. His back was still sore but it was slowly getting better, ‘just a few days…’ he could feel himself falling asleep.
~
Soon he felt the same warmth on his face as before, he raised his arm and it blocked the sun this time.
He had a nice dream last night, a memory of when he and his brother were younger. They were playing in the king's garden with another kid he didn't remember. Papyrus was still a toddler and they were collecting golden flowers for the queen. It was a short dream but it filled him with a nice feeling he hadn't felt in ages.
He slowly opened his eyes, being greeted by the soft and floral cushion under his skull. He was laying belly first on the ‘bed’ and hugging the pillow. The position helped his back stop hurting. Slowly his sockets trailed along the floor and stopped on the door, where a familiar face was standing.