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Chapter Text

you remember dying, but how? It hurt, it hurt a lot. Maybe being hit by something? Maybe a truck? Then it hits you. It hurt because something was eating you.

No, not something, someone. Someone was ripping your limbs off using brute strength and a fork, a fork. You can still feel your joints being torn apart, agonizing pain going through your main joints, your knees, elbows, and shoulders.

You can still hear them chewing loudly, it was wet, it was bloody. You open your eyes slowly, that was a miracle in its own right. The pain in you joints dying down into a low throb, replaced with the excruciating pain in your head, your hands itching up to your head to see what happened to it.

You don't remember your head getting hurt in your de— in your accident. Your hands, they're bone, they're bone, why are they bone? They should be skin... or fur... or scale- what were you before you woke up. You were something but what.

You shake away the thoughts, first things first you need to see what's up with your head. Your fingers touching your he-skull bone bone bone not skin why isn't it skin. There's a hole. A hole in your skull.

As your phalanges brush against the hole in your skull a knock rings against the door to your room. Why are you here why does the room look like that it looks kinda like Sa- "Sans Are You Awake In There?" "uhh y-yeah" A tall skeleton bursts flamboyantly into the room, eyelights glancing over your figure quickly, taking in your rattled expression.

"Sans Are You Ok?" The tall- Papyrus he's papyrus you really are in undertale.

As he sends you a questioning glance you panic shoot play dumb play dumb

“who's… sans?"

... crap not that dumb. The orange clad skeleton has a look of panic wash over his face

"I-Is This A Prank sans? If It Is It's Not Funny. You Are sans. I'm Your Brother What Happened, I'm Worried sans."

"i... d-don't know… you I'm s-sorry, where am i?"

When in doubt double down on it. You begin to play with the sleeves on your jacket and you notice your can't see out of one of your eyes, heh well that's worrying. You also notice that you have a stutter. Which you definitely didn't have in your past life. Papyrus sighs at you.

"You Are sans I Am Papyrus We Are Skeleton Brothers That Live Underground You Went Missing A Week Ago And You Suddenly Teleported Into The Living Room With A Gaping Hole In Your Skull. I Tried To Patch It Up The Best I Could."

You glance around the room taking notice of a cane resting against the foot of your bed. Papyrus goes to help you up, handing you your cane. You wobble up, papyrus grasps your shoulder it hurts it hurts you're being torn apart you're back there she's eating you she's eati-

"Sans!" You snap back, his hand is off your shoulder your joint

"sans Are You Okay? You Just Started Panicking What Happened?"

"crap s-sorry pap, I... please j-just d-don't t-touch me th-there"

"oh," his face fall just a little bit before bouncing back up.

"That Is Ok The GREAT Papyrus Shall Refrain From Touching You Brother."

"heh, than…ks man. now where are w…e going?" You stand up, clutching the cane tightly. Papyrus standing by your side ready to catch you if you fall.

"We Shall Go To The Kitchen As We Do Not Know The Last Time You Ate."

"ok… Pap, lead th…e way then" Papyrus then walks down the hallway glancing back to make sure you're still following ok, your joints are stiff and ache as you stand up, and go to walk out slowly hobbling your way to the kitchen with Papyrus stumbling slightly on the steps but managing. As the two of you sit down at the table.

"We're Going To Need To Pick Up Some Healing Foods For You If The Wound Is So Bad That You Lost Your Memory. I Can Only Do So Much With My Healing Magic. We Will Go To The Shopkeep Tomorrow."papyrus says to you seriously.

You nod your head in understanding not feeling the need to push through stutters to get your simple point across.

"One More Thing sans."

"...yeah m..man?" You look up to him confused.

"I Am Simply Wondering Why You Are Not Making Any Of Your Horrible Puns, Not That I Miss Them." Now this, this was something you would never let get out. Your secret love of puns will be taken with you to your grave. That being said, not your previous one.

"i d..don't know w..what you're t...talkin 'bout... I h..ate p..uns. with a b...burnin p..pass..ion man." You lie... you know, like a liar. Papyrus stares at you dumbfounded for a moment before seemingly breaking from his stupor.

"WHAT??!?"

Fin!

First chapter done and out there!! Uhhh I don't know where this story is going but I'll try my best to post as often as I can! I hope y'all enjoyed this!! Adios :3

Chapter Text

You and papyrus make the slow trek into Snowdin, a very slow trek. With your cane, stiff joints, overall pain, and the snow on the ground, limiting how fast you can go, you are basically an elderly snail walking next to a bunny. 

Speaking of the bunny, papyrus is looking at you, did you do something, what did you do... or was it something you said? Does he know you're not h-

"sans, I Am Wondering... If You Know What Is Happening In The Underground. Like The Current Events. You Were Gone For A Week And Then Was Asleep For Another, Not Even To Mention The Fact That You Lost Your Memory." Pap questions you, as you start to go even slower.

"n..not rea..lly. ..why? i..is somethin go...in on?"

"Well sans, The Ermm. The Core Shut Down A Little Bit Ago So All The Magic That Should Have Been In The Core And Getting Reused Got Out. So There Is A lot More Magic In The Air, So Some Of The Monsters Have Changed A Little Bit, But Some People Think That All Of The Monsters In The Underground Will Change. Because Of How Much Ambient Magic Is In The Air, The Monsters That Have More Magic, Just Normally In Their Bodies Are Likely To  Be... Changed Last. So Do Not Worry About Anyone Brother! If Anything Will Happen I will Protect You!! Nyehehe"

Huh so small monsters are scary, big tough monsters will get there... wait the core shut down? So That Must Mean I'm In Horrorta- shit ok so no food no sanity. We need food for suresies. And maybe so- 

"You Have That Look On You sans. What Are You Thinking About. If You Are Worried About Food (most People Are) There Is Plenty Of Magic In The Air That We Technically Do Not Need To Eat! So Fear Not." Papyrus begins to go to clap your shoulder as a reassurance, but thanks better of it. Thank goodness. You just nod acting like you're not worried about the fact that you're going to starve, that you are going to eat people but hey, you went through it (though not really because you died, but that doesn't count really.) other people will be fiiine... you really don't want to do it.

"ok.. then m..man i'll t..ake your w..word for.. it." The two of you stop infront of a warmly lit shop. 

"Well Then sans! We Will Get You Your Healling Items And Some New Clothes, Yours Are Kind Of Ripped, Sorry Brother" you just give him a thumbs up. Looking down at yourself you see the blue jacket has holes and tears all through it, the big pocket is hanging on by a thread. And your shorts, god you just don't like shorts at all, they are to loose and just hang off your body. Not your style. 

The pair of skeletons walk through the doorway of the warm shop, papyrus going to the food section, you just following along aimlessly, not sure where to go. You get a few stares from some monsters, you lock eyes with a large bunny monster sitting in a wheelchair. His fur is matted and brown, fangs glinting in the light as he smiles at you, red eyes blood red blood blood shining happily as he rolls  up to you.

"Heya bud im Jaylie! Or just Jay, xe/xem/xeir! it's nice to meet you." Xeir eyes crinkling as xe smiles and brings a hand out for you to shake.

"i..m san..s he/h...him/hi..s" you hesitate for a second before grasping xeir hand, seeing as you panicked the last time you got touched.

" So sans. Looks like you are in need of a fashion change. If the way you look uncomfortable in your clothes can tell me anything." You simply nod your head looking back to papyrus, still inspecting the healing foods for sale in the shop.

"I can help you out with picking out some clothes if ya want! I used to work for muffet and her side business at her clothes shop."

"Let me... tell my.. Fr..iend where I..m goin." You hesitantly call papyrus your friend, but that's all he is, not a brother not really just some guy either.

"All righty then, I'll be here!" Jay says putting the break on xeir wheelchair. You over to papyrus pulling on his shirt to pry his attention away from what looks to be some caned water.

"Pap.. 'm goin... ta look at cl..othes with..someone I....met. Xeir na..me is Jay." You hook your thumb back towards the bunny monster pointing at xem, xe glances up and waves, an easy grin resting on xeir face.

"Ok Then Brother! Do Be Careful Jay Is A Nice Person And I doubt Xe Would Do Something, I Will Be Outside The Shop When I Finnish Finding those Cinnabuns... Anywho! Have Fun Picking Out Clothes!"

You stiffly turn and walk to the large monster knees getting sore from all the walking you are doing. The cane helping but not by very much. You give Jay a thumbs up gesturing for xem to lead the way.

You walk through a suspiciously dark door before the lights flash on

"Heh sorry bud someone didn't turn on the light." Jay says from infront of you. Your eyes glance left and right at all of the clothes, there's all sorts of things to choose from. 

"Go wild. It's on me! Consider it a friend gift. Plus this Friday you are paying for lunch."

"You.. wan.. t to hang o..ut again wi..th me?" You question quietly, not wanting xem to take it back. 

"Yeah course bud! How about grilby's... at around six (6) pm, how does that sound?"

"Su..ure" you respond, the first smile on your face ( even if it's small it counts) sense you woke up in this world. Your friend friend you have a friend beams up at you.

"Perfect! So it's a plan!"

Chapter Text

You and Jay look around the large room, looking at pants and jackets for you, nothing has really caught your eye, but then you see it, a large light tan colored jacket with floppy bunny ears on it, with white faux fur lining the inside. Jay looks at you incredulously, a smirk growing on xeir face

"If ya wanted to look like me you could've told me." You look away embarrassed, but you really wanted the jacket it just looks so soft. You didn't have many soft things in your past life. Always needing to be ready for anything. Jay takes it off the hanger and hands it to you. You take it slowly, not wanting to touch xem. Jay smiles at you when you take it.

"Now let's find ya some pants Sandy!"

You furrow your brow in confusion your name isn't Sandy 

"but.. my n..ame isnt s..andy?”

"It's a nickname, relax Sandy beach" you just stare at xem and xe sighs, rolling over to the pant section.

There isn't much the stands out to you a few pants maybe but not much. You see a pair of dark brown camo  cargo shorts, big, but tight enough that it doesn't really feel like it's hanging off of you, they go down to just above your knee. 

Jay looks over to you, with the shorts in hand you smile at xem. 

"If you're all good i can go pay and we can leave." 

"Yeah... m good." You go over and sit on a bench, resting your body. As you sit there you begin to mull over what you are going to have to do. You need to stock up on food... but how? You may get it stolen from you if you get it now. Or you could start setting up traps for any animals that might fall through, learn what plants you can or can't eat.... You wonder... if you keep a monster alive and eat them if they would still turn to dus- no you are not going to eat anyone you are not going to put someone into that same position you were in. Get those thoughts out of you head.

Jay comes up to you, the sound of the wheels breaking you from your thoughts. The bag of your clothes in xeir lap. 

"We good to go Sand?" You simply nod, not wanting to get up. God it's so hard to move, pain flashing through your limbs as you take step after step to the exit of the store. You can feel the stares of other monsters on your skull. Going as fast as you can (which isn't very fast) you make it to the door outside seeing papyrus you take your bag and wave to Jay saying you goodbyes you meet up with your... friend? Papyrus. Wincing as you take a step out into the cold weather you wave.

"Well Then sans, Did You Get What You Wanted?" You settle on a nod in response, feeling so tired from the day, not exactly being fully healed.

"That Is GREAT sans, Then We Shall Go Home." You can see him glancing at you out of the corner of your working eye worriedly. 

As the two of you walk you begin thinking some more. Would it be a problem if you told papyrus you weren't actually sans? You remember your past life, the fact that there weren't monsters in the way that the monsters underground were monsters. But there were monsters ruthless beings who killed everything in their path. Not human anymore. But that's besides the point now, your aren't there anymore. But that being said, how did you know where you were before you were told? Was it from before the pl- ok ok back on track. You will tell papyrus that you are not actually sans, and this was your second life. No need to keep it from him. When the two of you get home you'll do it.

You continue to mull over what to do for the rest of the walk, and how to word it. Way to soon you return home, deciding to get changed so you're at least comfortable before the talk. Getting into your tan bunny hoodie, and your brown camo cargo shorts you look for the tall skeleton. 

He is already in the kitchen, making sandwiches for the two of you. You take notice of the fact that there isn't much in the fridge. 

"Ah Hello Brother! I Have Decided To Make Sandwiches Instead Of My Famous Spaghetti. we can't exactly afford pasta at the moment... BUT FEAR NOT Pasta Will Return I am Sure Of It." You take a seat at the table gesturing for him to sit with you. It's now or never.

"Yeah.. about th..at i am no..t your bro..ther. I was.. something el..se.. I died.. and wo..ke up as yo...ur brother... I am not.. him though." You see the gears turning in his head 

"Oh.. you died Are You Ok? Surely It Was Not Pleasant. Do you still want me to call you sans?

"No..it wasn't...but it st..ill kinda... hurts. So do...nt touch m..e.. I guess sa..ns works f..ine, I don't re...member my.. name."

"well.. That I Am Sorry You Had To Go Through That Sans. I Do Apologize For Touching You When You First Woke up. I Hope We Can Become Friends!" 

"I'm sure we can man. now what's on those sandwiches? They sure look good." The tall skeleton begins listing off what's on the food he prepared and you sigh. Might as well enjoy the time you have before the famine.

Chapter Text

Laying in your room, thinking about what to do to get food, you begin to get an itch in your blind eye, scratching it hard you feel liquid trickle down your socket,... magic.. blood? Why is it purple? It shouldn't be purple their blood is purple, the ones who caused all your suffering in your past life. Are you... are you infected? No no way. You aren't in your world anymore you couldn't be infected... maybe you could see if there is a library in the town and if there's any books about it.You are pretty nervous about it. 

That's it. You're going to see if there is a library. You exit your room with your cane, saying your goodbyes to papyrus before leaving. When you leave the house you put your rabbit hood on, so people can't see the gaping hole in your skull. Looking around you see a sign that says "librarby"... that's probably as close as you're going to get to what you want. 

Entering the building you see a green lizard person staring at you, large hulking figure hunched over to rest on the counter. Averting your gaze you pull your hood up more, bunny ears flopping at the motion. You move over to the books, scanning the covers for anything relating to magic.

You see a dusty brown book, clearly worn with age, stitched words on the cover saying

 "magic in creatures and their relation with the soul" 

Opening the cover to see faded words you begin to read. Turning to purple magic you skim the page 

"Purple magic, often times associated with perseverance souls in humans. Is magic tailored to people who persevere through their hardest moments. In humans, it is one of the more common soul types. In monsters, anything that has to do with an individual's magic is typically colored purple, to go along with perseverance."

The book definitely eased your worries about being infected with Haleef, the infection that plagued the people in your world. To many close calls with others had you on edge unfortunately.

satisfied with the answers you received, you put the book back, glancing at the bookshelf to see if anything catches your eye, and one book definitely does. "Magic for dummies" ,now, you haven't read much about sans undertale (you didn't have the chance too, it was years ago since you last saw media of any kind) you are almost one hundred percent (100%) sure that he can teleport. 

Taking the book to check out you go to leave the library. You walk up to the counter. The big green lizard in front of you is looking at you, he is staring at you the same way they did. Now you haven't fought someone in a hot second. You haven't fought anyone  as sans, and you are not ready to test your luck. 

You slowly back away, cane clicking on the floor as you do so. That all you can do at the moment (all you ever could do, that's all you were, all you are. Just prey for someone else to hunt down and eat) you quickly turn with practiced dexterity and exit the library, or librarby you suppose.

Rushing back to your house you slam the door closed, gaining the attention of Papyrus, who was looking through the pantry with a disappointed look on his face.

"...Are You Ok Sans? Did Something Happen While You Were Out?"

"yeah... somethin did.. it shook me qu..ite a bit. someone in the li...brary was.. unhinged, they were ab..out ta attack me I think." 

"Ah... That Is Unfortunate Would You... Like To Talk More About It?" You simply nod your head plopping down in a chair.

"it just... brought me ba..ck to my past life... I don' know if I told.. you this bu..t a lot of people where... sick. and got aggres...sive I was on the run a lo..t and it took a toll on m..me. I wasn't able to.. fight back then.. I'm scared th..at I can't fight back now esp..ecially with my.. cane." Papyrus takes a seat next to you. He looks in thought for a moment before finding his words. 

"Even If You Are Not Able To Fight, You Can Do Many Other Things, Plus We Are Not Sure If The Cane Is Permanent, It Could Be Temporary,"

"I guess... you're right m..an" you give him a great full smile. Papyrus stands back up 

"Of Course I'm Right!! I Am Papyrus After All! NYEHEH" the tall skeleton walks to the living room, ducking under the doorframe... you were sure he wasn't that tall last time you saw him. That being said, you were sure your teeth weren't that sharp the last time you smiled 

You stay sitting at the table. Picking at your eye socket. You need food for sure, you keep getting distracted when you try to sit down and think about it. You're sure there's some edible plants somewhere underground. You've spent to long scavenging to not know what to eat. But down in the underground? It's a tossup you don't know what's down here. You also could try and set up traps. If you want to get a head start on saving food you should start tomorrow. 

But then again you have your little meet up with Jay tomorrow...you could set up traps later after meeting with Jay. But then again you're not sure what kind of things are down here. But anything is food in the apocal- no you are not going back there it's not the apocalypse. It is a famine. (Though it's pretty darn close with how the magic is affecting people)

Ok ok ok, you've got a plan for tomorrow. Now.. you guess you can read your handy dandy teleportation book. Cracking the cover open, you begin to read.

Chapter Text

You lift your head up from the table you are laying on. Head creaking at the motion. You had learned that you can't exactly use teleportation (you think that's what sans usually could do) because of your magic color. Buuuttt there was a handy dandy section in the book about other colours of magic and what you could do with it, because you are a skeleton you can use bones and stuff normally.

However, some special magic you could do with your purple soul was you could elevate your speed, similar to short distance teleportation (a/n sorta like hunter's ability in the owl house) but you know that eventually the magic in the air will run out, that's just common sense, but you should definitely try to learn how to use a weapon, preferably lightweight and easy to wield. You used to have just a nailed baseball bat in your past life. However you should try to use something sharper, maybe a cleaver? Yeah a cleaver sounds good.

You already were able to fight in you past life, but you definitely need a brushing up on it. Especially with a different, non bludgeoning, weapon. 

Wait

YOU HAVE YOUR MEETING WITH JAY. Snapping up from your chair you hit your knees on the table. Clutching your knees in pain you take a moment to let it fade away. You rush to find a clock... 3:20 pm. Not close to six your meetup time.. You slept pretty late. But you did stay up late.

Sighing and rubbing your face you glance around the room. Seeing no one, you begin to walk around the two story house. Electing to leave your cane in the kitchen, you walk into the living room. There's a bookshelf in this room too... that would've been nice to know before you went out to learn what you needed. You pop the library book on the shelf, looking at the other titles.... Here we go "a Plant Guide in the Underground" you simply put it on the coffee table to read later. 

A loud noise startles you from your motion and you freeze. 

"HELLO Br- Sans! I Am Back!"

You clutch your chest where your heart should be. 

"Hey..man"  

Papyrus smiles widely at you. Then it falters for a moment.

"Sans, Unfortunately.. We May Not Be Able To Eat Diner today, Food Prices Are Extremely High. However! I Am Sure Things Will Go Back To Normal! Then I Will Be Able To Make My Famous Spaghetti!" Papyrus brightens up at the mention of 'his famous spaghetti' it must be good if he keeps going on about it. 

"oh, pap.. I'm meeting u...up with Jay later... like 6.. so I won't be h..ome."

"Ah That Is Ok Brother. Be Safe." You nod your head in agreement. Sitting down on the couch you smile. It's nice to have other sur- other people who are nice to you, that you can actually stay with that is. 

You go back to picking your eye socket... for protection you could probably bring you cane and use it similarly to a baseball bat in an emergency. Also if you just need your cane. You just relax on the couch before needing to get up to go to.. where again? Gr..ables? No.. Gr..illibies... uhhh no grill.. GRILLBY'S yeah grillby's you have to meet Jay at grillby's.

You grab your cane from the kitchen saying goodbye to papyrus on the way out the door. You glance around the outside, on alert for anyone who was ready to attack you. You notice how most of the monsters wandering around outside are morphed into a scary creature. You can also feel that there is significantly less magic in the air. It is making you worried for when it will run out completely, much sooner than you previously expected.

You make your way over to Grillby's, peeking the door open you hear the bell ring, and see Jay sitting at a table near a group of dog monsters. Xe perks up at the noise of the bell and waves you down. 

You hobble on over to Jay and sit in the seat.

"Heyyyy buddy ol' pal, how's it goin ?"

"Uhhh... m doin good.."

"That's good to hear! anything new with you?" You shake your head no, sinking into the chair you're sitting in. A flaming monster walks up to the two of you. What seems to be his brow seems to raise in surprise as he takes in your figure. 

"Sans... it is good to see you again, you haven't been back here in weeks. Then you just show up with a completely different style. I have never seen you in anything than that  blue hoodie"

"well.. uhm. hi? I'm not ex..actly sure what happened...or who... you are. Uh I got amnes..ia so I kinda lost m..y memories." He looks at you with an expression you can't read then nods 

"Ah well Then, I am grillby, this is my bar, and unfortunately at the moment the prices are quite high, due to a good shortage, my apologies, but you do have a tab that you can pay off at a later date. Now, what would the two of you like?"

You look to Jay uncertainly, not sure what they serve. Jay just takes over for the two of you. 

" just two things of fries G-man" grillby nods and walks off. Probably to get the food.

You lock eyes with Jay, xe has a smirk on xeir face. You look at xem blankly .

"So Sandy. Looks like you're famous around here huh?" Xe lean back into xeir chair.

"... I guess. I'm pretty.. much a cele..brity in this p..lace" you mimic flipping your hair. And Jay begins to laugh, you following along quickly at the absurdity at the joke. You giggle and begin to flap your hands as a stim. 

When you both calm down Grillby is staring at the two of you dumbfounded. He places down two small containers of fries and the pair of you scarf them down. It makes you realize you haven't eaten sense you're first came here.

You didn't notice Grillby was still standing there infront of you.

" Ive never seen you laugh so much sans" Grillby says confused. You shrug and go back to eating your small portion of fries. 

Chapter Text

You get back home from Grillby's, slowly closing the door to the house behind you, not wanting to wake up papyrus if he's asleep.

You head over to the couch and pick up the book that you placed on the coffee table to read later. Cracking the book open you see colored pictures and the names, and uses, of each plant in the underground . 

What caught you off guard was the fact that most of the plants look vastly different from each other. A blue strawberry looking thing, a tree that gives purple oranges, a bush that has white roses on it with edible leaves.

So many different edible plants, all so separate from each other, it's a nice break from your world. a plant literally called "deadly nightshade" one of the most toxic berries, that looks so similar to the classic, non poisonous, blue berries. 

Now it's just second nature to you to check what you're eating no mater what it is. Even the sandwich that papyrus gave you you checked out so you didn't get poisoned. Some of that food suspicion maybe could be attributed to people attempting to poison you.

You gather as much knowledge you have of the local, and non local, plants down here, you never know when you'll need to chow down on a leafy salad.

You suppose you could go foraging and setting traps tomorrow, not that you're tired or anything no no totally not, it's just that you.. don't feel like it right at the moment yeah.

Placing the book into a safe space you climb the stairs to your bedroom not turning the light on you stumble to your bed and flop down on it. To much social interaction left your battery drained tonight. As you slip into unconsciousness you cherish how peaceful it is.

//////

You run into the abandoned gas station, even if most of the supplies might already be looted you are so hungry anything will do. You will surely die if you don't have something, you're all skin and bones.  

You could eat a horse, (well actually no you can't because of how much your stomach shrank but that's besides the point)

You glance around at the gas station watching out for any haleef that may come stumbling out. You make a break for the doors of the seven-eleven. Shutting the doors ever so careful as to not make noise you glance at what is in front of you.

TW: for mention of blood, death, suspected suicide, knives, and cannibalism Don't read on if you don't like that please, I'll let you know when it's safe to read again!

A dead body, just lying there, a bloody knife in hand, stab wound through the chest, and blood pooled around the body soaking a hoodie beside it with the thick liquid. It was recent too seeing as the body hasn't even begun rigor mortis yet. 

Your mouth begins to water, all the shelves in the seven-eleven are bare already stolen from. The body doesn't even have a bag on it, no supplies you could take for yourself. You glance at the knife, shiny metal glinting in the light.

Taking the shiny, well made damascus knife, you steel yourself for what's about to happen and plunge the blade into the the body. Gutting it it's warm it still warm the body is still warm you place the organs aside.

Taking a deep breath you move to cut the arms and legs off blood oozing out of the veins you cut. All you can to is try to get as much meat as possible off the bo- carcass. You start to make a fire, it shouldn't alert anything if your lucky. Even if it does it would be one or two haleef not a hoard.

Once you get the fire started you avert your eyes from the bare carcass and begin to cook the meat, you're so hungry and it smells so good your mouth waters even more, and you take a bite out of the tender arm holy shit you're eating a person's arm. 

 You stuff as much food as you can down your gullet before attempting to dry the rest of the meat to preserve it.

You look back guiltily at the body and pack your things in the bag, pocketing the knife you start the move out of the building, until you hear the door open.

Ok ok you're all good I think now if you skipped for the tw 

"Holly I'm back!"  You hear a feminine voice shout. You race to a shelf to hide yourself and you hear a scream that quickly turns to sobbing, quickly looking for an exit. You hear them start to talk to themselves 

"I'll fucking murder whoever did this, get them back. Do exactly what they did to my Holly."

You race out the back door, not realizing that the lady caught a glance of your red hair. 

/////

You shoot awake, gasping and clutching your chest you move to hug yourself as a form of self soothing. Your elbows ache painfully almost preventing you from moving.

You grasp onto your elbows feeling where you got torn.

Panting heavily you try your best to calm yourself down. Or at least be quieter, you don't know how long you've been awake but you feel arms wrap around you. Moving your single eye light up you can faintly make out the figure of papyrus.

Sinking into the feeling of comfort ,you haven't been touched so tenderly in so long you miss being hugged, papyrus begins to rub your head, avoiding the hole.

You relax and begin to fall back asleep, the last thing you hear is 

"It is ok sans I've got you, I won't let anything get to you, I promise."

Chapter Text

Tw for blood for bits and pieces of the chapter 

Groggily you sit up from your bed. Your eyelights flit over to the lump on your bed. Poking it you come to the realization that it was your house mate, papyrus, slumped over the side of the bed near your feet. 

He shifts around under the blankets peeking out at you, then over to the windows, with no light shining through. He blinks up at you tiredly.

"Are you ok sans? You don't usually get up this... oh right, you aren't, actually sans. My apologies. Why are you up so early anyways."

You glance at him, uncertainly.

"If.. you want.. to call me so..mething else.... you can, I don't h...ave to use you..r brother's... name."

Papyrus pauses for a moment contemplating what you said for a second. 

"What Name Would You Like To Go By Other Then Sans?"

You sit there thinking, what should your name be? Something that represents you, you are really good at identifying plants, and you had haleef in your world, would it bother you if you think about it? Pausing for a moment to think about how it feels you nod.

"You could just call me Leef?"

"Alright then Leef! Why Are You Up So Early?" If your internal clock isn't bad it should be the time you normally wake up if you get up at a decent time.

"It sho...uld only be.. like six (6)"

"Oh.. Then I Just Got Up Late Sorry" you hop off the bed, stumbling slightly at your sore knees. Grabbing your cane you look back over to papyrus. 

"Nah it's all... good man. I'..ll probably be... out for mo..st of the day, I'll.. go out and... forage for a whil..e." The tall skeleton just nods at you in conformation. 

Slipping on your rabbit hoodie you head out of your room, papyrus following behind. You grab some rope to make snares to catch some prey that might stumble around into the trap. Opting not to grab anything to eat (hopefully you'll find enough berries to eat some on the way back) you walk out into the chilly air of 

snowdin. 

Heading for the tree line you begin to think. Who are you going to help provide for? It was always just you back in.. your old life. It was always easier to survive by yourself, less people to worry about and all.

You'll help out papyrus for sure. You'll have to teach him how to hunt probably. Now what you're not sure on is Jay... should you help out Jay? So it would be easy to cut ties with xem, but it might make an enemy out of xem. 

But you're not sure if xe could contribute much. That may seem harsh but in the apocalypse the weak and the empathetic people are the first to go.... You know what. This is a problem for future you.

Glancing up from the snare you began to make you hear a shuffling to your left, your blind side.

You slowly turn your head locating a small undernourished rabbit. Brown fur ruffling in the wind. 

Very very slowly you creep up to it, pausing when it stops to smell the air. 

Then when you're close enough to the tiny mammal, you pounce. Jumping quietly into the air you put your hands out, effectively crushing it's tiny bones under your weight. 

Wiping the blood off your hands it's their blood oh god you made a mistake, it's sticky, your blood is sticky too it's hot. Your body isn't hot anymore did anyone find you?. onto your shorts you put the rabbit into your big front pocket. Your turn back to your snares.

Grabbing a few blueberry looking fruits (if you remember correctly it's called jumblso berries) and baiting the trap. 

You move to a different area of the forest setting more snares along the way looking around for any fruits along the way. 

Then You smell something, a dog, a dog on your territory you feel anger rush through you, you grasp your cane instinctually. You growl at the intruder, stalking over to the noise you see a white ragged dog metal amour on it. Blood in its fur. Blood from your prey in your forest.

The dog's ear perks up at your noise. Freezing he looks around. Grasping your cane you walk up to him. Sending him a glare hot enough to melt ice. 

The dog tucks it's tail in between it's legs letting out a startled Yelp he turns around to run dropping the squirrel it had in its mouth. You throw your cane at the bloodied dog hitting his head, just a warning.

You follow the dog just to the edge of your woods. Till he meets up with others of his pack. You back into a bush that you can't see through. You hear woofs and barks as he gets his point across with the others. 

"Really? Sans took the forest? LD are you sure you didn't imagine him? I would have thought that he wouldn't go feral until later." More barks and whines. 

" he's right Dogeressa, there's nothing in the woods other than some measly squirrels it'll be fine. It's not our problem when he goes feral" you hear a sigh.

"Yeah yeah you're right we'll just let him have it, I'm sure we can take it back need be."

You shuffle back into your woods having gathered what you needed to.

You pluck some berries on your way back placing the squirrel into your blood soaked pocket next to the rabbit. You attempt make your way back home.

On your way through town you see Jay waving at you, walking over the xem you smile. 

" heya Sandy! How you doing?" Xe smiles right back at you.

"I'm do..ing good, a...ctually... uhm I go.. by Leef now." Jay gives you a thumbs up. Easygoing grin not leaving xeir furred face.

You pause for a moment. Making your choice you reach into your pocket and fish out the squirrel you got(it would be rude to give the rabbit to a bunny to eat) You hand it over to Jay. 

"I got ...this for yo...u Jay bird,... you don't ne...ed to eat.. it but.... Here you.. go" you give Jay a quick head pats and turn around. 

"Thanks Leef!" Xe yells out at you and you walk to your house. Opening the door quietly you walk into the warm house. You gut the rabbit with practiced hands and shove it into the freezer. 

Then you hear it, quiet sobs, muffled by a door. You pause and begin to creep up the stair towards the noise.

Chapter Text

You creek open the door to papyrus's room, where the crying was coming from, glancing at the bed you see his form shaking on the mattress.

"p-pap are... you ok?" His head snaps up to meet your gaze. Eyes burning with something you only seen once before directed at you, hate. 

"What do you think Leef? My brother died and you didn't even let me know when you first woke up. You just said how hard your life was." You begin to back away slowly in fear.

"Papyrus.. I-"

"No. You Wore My brother's name even after you oh so gently told me how you weren't him." You swallow thickly taking another step backwards you say.

"You cou...ld've told me yo...u were uncomfortable.... with it." 

"Well it's not about how uncomfortable  it was. It should be basic common sense not to go around impersonating a newly DEAD PERSON" papyrus gradually raises his voice until he's shouting at you.

You take another step back until you're back in the doorframe to the room. Papyrus stands up and moves until he's towering over you.

"My brother died. And I tried so hard to be nice to you. But all you did was go out with your bestie" he sneers. 

"You just decided to spend all your time with that- that stupid bunny. You don't even know what xe did to people . I'll bet xe's going to do it to you too."

You stare silently at the tall skeleton eye wide. You're sure Jay didn't do anything. Xe seems so nice. You can bring it up to xem at a later date. For now you need to get your house mate to not tear you apart.

Papyrus gets even closer to you.

"Jay made a little trip to hotland. Right before Sans, the REAL sans, disappeared. I wouldn't be surprised if you and Jay were in cahoots with the queen."

You unconsciously stiffen at the mention of the queen and you eye socket begins to burn. You start to yank on the bone.

"You are just a CLONE of sans. You should feel ashamed of yourself for impersonating him for so long. All You Did Was Eat My Food And Make Supplies Run Low.I know when you had that nightmare you were muttering about dying in an apocalypse. You couldn't even survive a couple of mean people. What makes you think you'll survive down here."  

You freeze at that. You are just a clone, you killed sans. Sure you've been yelled at before, but you actually considered papyrus a friend this time.

"Leef. Get out of my house. I never want to see you again" With that you turn tail and run out the room, a bone hits your arm. Papyrus it trying to kill you but he only wants his brother back. But you're not his brother you have to run run run get out of here leave the house go go go.

You run out of the house as fast as you can. You try to make it to your forest. But on the way you see Jay. Xe starts to wave until he sees your expression. Your eye is blurry from tears. Purple blood coating your left sleeve. When you make it to the brown bunny monster xe looks worried for you. 

Xe grabs onto your shoulders and it just makes you sob harder. The brown bunny let's go quickly and ushers you into a... house? Can you call it that? It looks more like a dirt cave than anything.

 Jay sits you down on a chair. And hands you a cup of tea. You never were a tea person. Coffee is better oh god you want coffee. You want to go home, your real home. Before this and before the plague, you want to spend hours reading fanfics and watching tv. You want the warm dino nuggets your mom promised to make before she got infected. You want a can of your Dr. chek soda. Oh you just want to be done, you're so tired. 

You feel a blanket on your shoulders, snapping you out of the trance you were in. You blink up at Jay as xe moves into your sight. Xe rubs your back as you sob. Xe keeps going even when you have no more tears to spill. 

Jay engulfs you in a hug, you're greatfull for the fact xe didn't ask any questions. 

"Pap... papyrus.. kicked m...e out." Xe nods at you and just keeps hugging you. You feel so warm. This is what you want. You wipe your eyes and slowly relax, at least you have a friend at this time. You give xem a weak and tired smile as you lean on them

Chapter Text

It's been a month sense your little.. skirmish with papyrus and the famine has gotten much worse, Grillby's doesn't sell any food anymore. Most of it has been confiscated by the queen. And most of the magic has been depleted from the air.

You've still been living with Jay. But you've been spending more time in your forest lately picking plants and such. 

You've gotten relatively well versed with using a cleaver, although if you are attacking purely to kill and not to eat, (or just trying to kill a monster for any reason as the dust doesn't get ruined by being smushed) you will use a nailed bat you've replaced your cane with.

Some big changes have happened to you because of the whole magic in the under ground thing.

You've gotten more hunched over. So much so that you need your cane (bat??) to just stay balanced. Your feet have gotten bigger so you can jump higher (although you trip when you try to walk normally) 

Your joints have gotten better, now it's only when you're moving around for long periods of time that they start to hurt. So you try to keep fights as short as possible 

You haven't grown that much in size, although Jay has. Xe is towering over you whenever you two talk even while in xeir chair cry come just below you , although xe aren't even close to papy-... to some tall people you know. Jay has also gotten more feral. Many people have. Yourself included.

The only comfort you got from when after papyrus yelled at you is that magic in the air might have affected him, like his magic didn't recognize your magic as a friend, and made him angry. Basically he was a bout to get more feral real soon.

You... you know what, no you're not afraid to admit it. You killed anyone who dared go into your forest, and of course you weren't going to let them go to waste, so you also found out that monster dust actually didn't taste that bad. Sort of like poprocks. The flavor changes based on their magic type. 

Right now you're in your forest ,you've become something of a cryptid to the folks of Snowdin. You're hunting right now, you're just kinda sitting here in a bush. 

You think you're lv 6 by now. You don't know you haven't really ever checked yourself when you got here. You don't know how to.

It's different when you kill a monster than when you... do the thing to humans. It is kind of like when you kill the haleef in your homeworld. It just doesn't seem like a real life you're taking. (Although that may be the lv talking) 

Anyway. You think that the dog squad have been planning to take your forest back. You heard them group up on the outskirts of it making up plans. And using your awesome deductive reasoning skills, it's probably plans to take your forest. 

Because of this you've been going around the edges of the forest, just making sure no one went in. 

You hear a rustle to the right of you, your eyelight flicks over the the sound to loud to be a little animal. You hear some quiet shuffling then silence. Looks like there's an intruder in your forest.

You grip your bat in both hands, growling, and ready to give someone the jump scare of their lives. 

"Leef, you there bud? I got some news for you."

You immediately relax your iron grip on the bat, and stand up, it's just Jay, you didn't realize the noise was wheels, and not footsteps.

"Yeah.... I'm here, wha...t is it?"

"So uh the first death to starvation happened today, and uh... it was Chloe, the shopkeeper." You glance at xem, you were never good at reading people but you would be dumb if you didn't know xe was sad.

"Was she... related to yo..u?" Xe just gives a nod.

"One of my aunts, you know how it is with rabbit monsters heh..." you take a moment to think of what Jay might need for help. 

"Let's get home, the...n you can tell me all about her. Good memories.. will help." You say confidently, like you didn't just pull it out of your ass. 

Xe just nods at you and slumps down. After getting permission to push xeir wheel chair the two on you make your way back into Snowdin. You feel eyes on the two of you so you pull your hood up and continue on your not so merry way. The eyes leave before you get home so you're not worried.You give Jay a pat on the shoulder as you walk into the snow mound thing that you call your home. 

You set xem up on the couch blankets galore and give xem the last cup of tea you have in the house. You rub circles into xeir back as you listen to xem explain how Chloe was. How when xeir mom was busy working Chloe would take xem.

"Aunty would've liked you Leef" you give xem a soft smile and a long hug. You're not sure what to say, you were never good in these situations.

"She sounds lov..ely. What do you say we g..o on a walk to talk our minds o...ff this? We could go ..to Grillby's to hang out?" Xe smiles and nods. 

"Sure Leef. We can hang with your fans" xe jokes, feeling slightly better.

The both of you get ready to go out when a sharp pain of hunger goes through you, you've been giving most of what you catch to Jay. (Though you considered giving some to papyrus he made it very clear he didn't want to see you again so that's out of the question.)  

shaking off the pain you stand by the door waiting for Jay. When xe rolls up you give a thumbs up and exit the house. 

Chapter Text

The rusty bell rings as you and Jay go up the ramp to grillby's. The fire monster waves at you, along with some random rabbit monster you've seen every other time you've entered the bar.

You and Jay make your way over to a table. The group of ragged dog monsters glance over at you. The one you learned was called "Gd" or greater dog, started drooling when he caught sight of you. Must be hunger, or just the fact you're made of bones and you know...he's a dog. 

You begin to talk with Jay, keeping an eye on the dogs while doing so, unconsciously clutching your bat even tighter, leaving indents in the bat where your claws are piercing the dirty, dusty wood. 

Jay snaps xeir fingers in front of your face. You snap out of your thoughts.

"Hey Leef, I was asking what kind of things you do in your forest? Maybe I could come with you one of these days" 

you're apprehensive to agree with this. You really don't want Jay to get hurt. Especially with the dog squad eyeing your forest. But you really could use an extra set of eyes in there, heaven knows your eye isn't the best.

You think about it for a moment, weighing the pros and cons.

"Sure, so long.. as you actually liste..n to what I say.. and you'll go ho..me when I... tell you to." Xe gives you a lopsided grin and a mock salute. You sigh, you just know you're gonna regret this when xe is yapping in your ear the whole time. 

You can't help but to savor this moment with Jay, who knows when it'll be calm like this next. 

Just as you relax into the booth in the bar the bell rings, immediately jolting you back into alertness. 

It's papyrus. What is he doing here, he looks... well let's just say he's looked better (you all have) his scarf is tattered and he doesn't have that smile on his face anymore.

He glances at you for one moment, something- god you wished you could understand what people are feeling this is so frustrating,-flashing in his eyes before he goes to sit down with the dog squ- 

The dog squad. He's sitting with the dog squad, first they try to take your forest now they take your friend from you. They need to pay you need to feel their dust in the grooves of your bat. You need to feel as their bones crunch and the magic blood spills onto the snow from the rusty nails. You need to paint the ground with their colorful blood. You bet gd would have justice,yellow blood. Ld would have patience, light blue. Dogarressa would have-

Jay taps your shoulder and you flinch away. Xe points to the door with a questioning look on xeir face. You nod and stand up. You glance back at papyrus as he sits there with the dog squad. You tear your gaze away as Jay comes up to you.

As you exit the bar with the brown rabbit monster in tow you feel eyes on you again, well not really on you, but you have this feeling that they are looking for you. gosh you should just keep your hood up. As you fix your hood onto your skull the eyes land on you for a moment but go away soon after.

When you see the house in the distance you trip over your big feet, you got distracted and forgot to focas on how you walked. Your face gets shoved into the snow and it goes into your eyesockets.

You can hear Jay laughing at you from behind. You slowly get up, your joints protesting from the cold. You scoop up some snow from the ground and toss it at Jay. Effectively getting snow on xeir face too. 

Xe bends down and scoops up more snow. And chucks it at you, your hood fell down, so the snowball goes into your skull. As you open your mouth and shake your head in an attempt to get the snow out, you hear Jay shout

"GOALLL" you laugh and continue the snowball fight. Only stopping when you almost are unable to move from your joints. Jay helps you up and the two of you make it into your house. Laughing and giggling the whole way.

After you both dry off with a towel you sit on the couch. A blanket over the both of you. You and Jay just sit in a comfortable silence. 

You mull over the event of the day, papyrus joining up with the dogs, that probably means that when the dog squad invades your forest papyrus will be there.... We'll it wouldn't be the first time you'd have to kill someone you considered a friend. 

You had to kill your sister in your past life after she got infected with haleef. Jess was her name, you two would usually cook dinner together, but when you two escaped the house after your mother got infected, she got bit by a wandering haleef when searching for supplies. And didn't tell you until she was standing infront of you, drooling and a bite on her leg oozing a purple puss, and purple spikes protruding from her back in a mess of blood and skin. 

She's where you got your bat from, Jess was a big baseball player, so you killed her with her own bat. And left her on the street to rot. 

If papyrus tried to take over your forest with the dogs you wouldn't discriminate, you'll kill him.

Chapter Text

It's been a couple months sense you agreed to let Jay come with you in your forest. Xe did come with you once, but nothing eventful happened. You've been making excuses every other time xe asked to go. 

And Jay finally called you out on it. Saying that you didn't trust xem... that was the first argument you got into with xem. You avoided xem for a while but you decided to confront Jay , throwing the truth at xem.

You truly didn't want to lose Xem, and you said so. Jay understood, thankfully and simply asked to go with you the next couple of times you went out. After much thought you agreed. 

That brings you to now. Glancing back over to Jay to make sure xe had a coat and everything. Xe is clutching a basket for any forgeables  you may find. Your stomach growls painfully at the thought. 

It's been so long sense you last ate, Jay as well, xe is so thin,most of the fruits being out of season. And the animals dying from lack of magic in the air, and you giving any food to Jay, the monster dust, as good as it tastes, it does not give you even barely enough magic to live on. 

Jay doesn't have as big of a magic capacity as you do, which means xe would starve faster than you. All of xeir family dying is just proof of that.

You swallow thickly and ignore the pain, opting to hover over Jay worriedly. Xe just laughs at you.

"I'll be fine leef. Plus if anything happens you'll protect me right?" 

"Of course.. Jay bird." You exit the house with Jay in tow.

You slowly make your way to your forest. You recently made the discovery of a new section of the forest, near the ruins, you plan on going there with Jay. 

You enter the forest, immediately switching into alertness, you smell the air, nothing out of the ordinary, you take a quick listen to the things around you. Eerie silence as usual. 

Satisfied with the information you make your way over to the ruins, Jay following you, not asking questions. You step silently on the snowy ground. You see the purple stone door of the ruins, and a bush beside it.

You two are careful not to make any noise. You know there's someone behind the door. The last time you were here you heard a feminine voice making knock knock jokes to themself. Strange, but you're not one to judge.

You glance around the place, the trees are much denser over here, and there are more jumbslo berry bushes, although there's nothing on them. Jay whispers over to you.

"Hey leef, there's a camera in this bush." You see xem point at big bush, just outside the tree line . You slowly make you way to it. There is indeed a camera in it. It's not dead so that's a win. It's also not recording like you expected it to. (Why did you expect a random camera in a bush outside the ruins to be recording?)  

You take it in your cold fingers examining it for anything wrong, when you can't find anything you speak up 

"Looks lik...e we could take pictur..es or videos with it." Jay grins at you and takes the camera from your hands.

Xe gestures you over and smiles pointing the camera at the two of you. You just roll your eye and stick your tongue out. Jay slaps the back of your head lightly, making you chuckle slightly as xe takes another picture of the two of you. 

Jay hands over the camera to you, telling you to take a picture of xem, you do so making sure to get it while xe is blinking. You give the camera back to Jay and continue on your way. 

Your hear the click click click of the camera every once in a while, you smile softly at that, happy Jay got something to entertain xemself with.

You pause for a moment as you hear shuffling, gesturing for Jay to quite down your eyesight scans the woods infront of you. Sniffing quickly you smell a rabbit in the bush infront of you.

You slowly crouch down, telling Jay to stay put, you move forward, making sure you're downwind of the creature so it cannot smell you. 

When you can see it, you push off the ground with your strong legs, clutching it in your hands in one leap. You quickly snap its neck and stand up. 

Huge smile on your face, you hold up the rabbit for Jay to see, proud of the catch, you feel your eyelight change slightly, not thinking much of it you bounce over to the large rabbit monster, xe points to the camera and you nod, agreeing to get your picture taken, what can you say, you're in a good mood now. 

Jay takes a picture of the two of you and you decide to go back home, more than content with what you gathered today, plus the day is almost over. 

You clutch the dead bunny in your hands and pet it slightly, it's so soft. You pet it until you two get home. Jay goes into the living room to get rid of the basket and coat. While you make your way into the kitchen, skinning and gutting the rabbit with practiced speed. 

You start a small fire to cook the carcass, it's not like there's any power in the underground anymore, you can't really use the stove. 

You finish cooking the rabbit, and give it to Jay. Xe turns it down and gives you half.

"You need.. to take it Jay." You say, trying to give back the half rabbit.

"Leef you haven't eaten in 4 months, you need it much more than me, at least take half of it" you sigh, giving in. You take a half of the half a rabbit you have. So you end up with a rabbit leg, a quarter of a rabbit.

You savor the taste. It tastes so good. Before you know it the meat is gone. And your hunger comes back at full force, urging you to eat more. You shake it off, telling yourself the rest is for Jay, you do take the bones though.

The bone marrow helping to tide over the hunger, not to mention the fact Jay's jaws aren't strong enough to break the bones. When the both of you are done scarfing down you food you go to sleep. Big blanket on the couch on two of you.

Chapter Text

It's been so long sense the last memorable day. You've stoped counting at this point they've all melded together, trying to keep track is just doing more harm than good.

You're pretty sure the dog squad forgot that the forest used to be theirs, they haven't even been going near it lately. 

Many of the monsters in the underground have begun to grow or change even more, the dog squad have extra teeth, they're also sharper, like sharks. Jay has an extra set of ears. 

You are growing a pair of horns, they first sprouted some time ago, you fainted in your forest after a particularly bad hunger pain, they were just there when you woke up , and just kept growing since then, your hunger pains have been much worse since then, now it feels like your body is tearing itself apart, you always just feel hungry.

The horns remind you of a windigo's antlers, or maybe a jackalope, they just look like deer antlers with a lot of points, but they haven't shed yet so you'll call them horns. A jackalope fits with your rabbit hoodie at least. 

Although a windigo's fits with how you're a skeleton and eat people, and how a windigo is like the embodiment of endless hunger, that's kinda super sad.... If anyone asks you're going to tell them they're jackalope antlers.... wait, you're getting off track.

 You're not sure about  what Papyrus is growing as of now, but you're kind of curious to find out, as much as you really don't want to see him again.

You also don't know why this is happening to monsters, your only guess is that their body is getting rid of their magic reserves and changing them into something physically a part of them that can help. 

Although you haven't used your magic, you always had the vibe that you could use it if you wanted to, now that feeling is gone.

Basically you think every is just adapting to the lack of magic in the underground. 

Because of this you've gotten used to taking Jay with you now, barely ever not having xem rolling on alongside you. Xe has much stronger hearing than you with xeir four ears.

The both of you have gotten much much stronger. With you still killing anyone who entered you forest, plus anyone who hurts Jay, you have much more lv than xem that's for sure.

Not to say that Jay is weak or anything. Xe just refuses to deal the killing blow. Something about xeir religion and not allowing any lv to get into the afterlife. You don't know, you were, and still are a proud atheist at least in your past world. there either wasn't a god, or they are a bitch, so religion didn't matter much to you as long as people are nice.

After that measly rabbit all that time ago, you haven't really gotten much else; a squirrel... yeah that's about it, of course you gave it to Jay, xe was on xeir last legs before you got it, you really thought you would lose xem that day.

Jay bounced right back up and continued to come with you into your forest. You were reluctant to bring xem, but your eyesight has gotten much worse (it's difficult to focas on objects in front of you), not to mention your back is just plain painful with your horns growing in so again you agreed. 

A couple months later, and that brings you to now. You are both sitting in the forest waiting for prey to come stumbling along. And Jay is trying to hand xeir camera over to you.

"I'm telling you.. Jay, it's your cam..era, you found it, you ke..ep it" Jay just sighs at you something flashing in xeir red eyes you can't pinpoint. 

"Listen leef. I know you don't want to take it from me, but please. I just don't think I'll..... please take it." You take a moment to register how Jay said xeir words, you nod, and reach to take the camera. 

After you place the delicate piece of technology into your pocket you hear shuffling to your left. You prepare for prey you could catch. Hushing Jay and freezing.

What you hear next however, is absolutely not some tiny squirrel or bird. What you hear, is barking.

(Heyyy so tw for blood, death and fighting!! Please don't read this part if you have a problem with it, I'll sumerize it at the end)

You clutch your bat, abandoning your cleaver beside Jay for xem to have something to protect xemself with.

Just then, you see dogeressa on your right, she lets out a loud warning yip. Letting the rest of the group know that they're busted. she growls at you, showing off her many sharp teeth.

You realize that Dogeressa smells like mud, she hid her sent from you. They're trying to take your forest.

You begin to swing at the female dog monster, trying to protect Jay from her, xe obviously doesn't have much mobility in battle.

You wack doggeressa in the shoulder, effectively cutting off her bark. It is then that the rest of the dog squad, including papyrus bust out of the bushes to the left of you, in your blind side. Papyrus has antlers too, except they looks different than yours, his look like a moose's.

Dogamy swings his axe at you, as you attempt to dodge out of the way Ld swipes at you with his sword. You just barely dodge the ax, your arm getting cut with the sword in the process. 

You knock Ld down with a well aimed swing to the legs with your bat. As he falls down you quickly bash his head in with your wooden weapon, dusting him right there his blood is light blue, you could paint a sky with it. Snow could be clouds, and Gd's could-

-gd goes for Jay.... He goes.. for JAY  you watch almost in slow motion as Jay clutches your cleaver and swings wildly in an attempt to keep Gd away. Xe- 

You can't focas on the fight beside you, because dogeressa and dogamy are right next to you, swinging their axes in sync, causing you to dive, cutting dogeressa's leg in the process with the sharp tip of your antler. 

You quickly hop up off the ground. Your powerful legs helping you along. You glance over at how Jay is doing. Xe is holding xeir own fairly well against gd. You notice papyrus standing off on the sidelines, staring jaw agape at the scene in front of him. 

You clutch your bat, your claws dig into the dusty wood as you strike dogamy with the weapon, he falls down. And you don't notice as Dogaressa quickly moves into your blind side. But not quick enough, as you kick dogamy to the ground. And deal the final blow to the large dog monster.

You feel yourself get tackled to the side. Dogeressa is shouting at you, but the sound fades into the background as static is buzzing in your mind like a blizzard, urging you onward. 

The amoured dog on you punching you over and over, as of now you're not physically strong enough to fight back. She swings at you until you ache all over, and you feel one of the points on your antlers chip and come off.

She gets up abruptly, you follow after her you grasp you bat, your eye widens when she walks over to Jay, xe knocked gd out, seemingly by using his own spear. Jay is catching xeir breath at the moment.

dogeressa pulls her arms back, axe glinting in the light. When You realize what she is trying to do, you go to strike her with your bat as fast as you can, you ache painfully from the beat down. You're not fast enough.

You watch as dogeressa cuts into jays neck with her axe. Dark blue blood spraying onto the ground. You freeze in shock as jay's head rolls on the ground, spurting magic blood, and dusting almost immediately. 

You spin over to dogeressa, and with speed you didn't know you could have, you whacked her with the bat. Slamming down over and over again as her dust poofs up into the air each time. You turn to the unconscious form of gd, him soon following the rest of the dog squad in death.You swing at the dust and continue until you are shaking with the effort. 

You stumble over to the remains of Jay. Clutching it in your boney hands. You wail, you cry for Jay, and for all the people you killed and regretted.

You hiccup and look at papyrus.

"P-please. H...eal Jay, bring xem b..ack, use your h-healing... magic. P-please please... please I-I can't. I ca..n't do this without xem... I'll do anything, just pl...ease bring xem back" 

Papyrus just looks at you with wide eyes. His eyelights are shaking in fear. That is fair you suppose, you did just kill his entire friend group. But you feel a flash of anger, red hot coursing through you, you did say you would kill him if you came into your forest.

Papyrus backs away, until he turns around and runs. You grab the cleaver you gave to Jay, and chuck it at papyrus's residing form. You don't know if you hit him or not. All you know is that he threw a bone right back at you through the tree. It misses you, but that's not the point.

you sit there on the ground, kneeling over the dust of your one friend in this cruel world, magic tears occasionally dripping down onto the soggy dust, wet with dark blue blood and purple tears, mixing together into a horrible deep indigo.

You eat Gd's dust by the handfuls, you won't let it go to waste no matter what, and you're just so hungry 

Just then you hear an almost wet sound. Followed by a deep voice saying 

"You're quite the difficult one to find Sans."

(Ok if you skipped for the tw leef killed the dog squad and Jay is dead, that's basically it)

Chapter Text

"You're quite the difficult one to find Sans."

You looks behind you towards the voice, and you see the form of... a goopy octopus? No no it's a skeleton. But how does he know this body's name? 

You wipe your tears away, dropping your handful of dust from gd, getting caught mid bite. time to burry your feelings and cry about it later.

"Uhhh... hi?" You notice the figure seems almost caught off guard by your.... Why is he caught off guard? Oh well, you brush it off and wipe your dusty hands on your shorts, you wave at him, he seems... ok.

The skeleton clears his throat.

"So Sans, my name is Nightmare, I am here to offer you a deal. You come with me, I give you food, shelter, a home, anything you might need. And you can come on missions for me, this usually entails scaring or fighting people. You see I am the king and guardian of negativity. To do my job I need to keep the balance of positivity and negativity in check. My brother is currently spreading to much positivity than is needed, which is why I need help"

You just stare at nightmare blankly, not gathering anything from his long monologue- also because you're still reeling from the death of Jay, and you're so hungry, you should attack the figure where he stands and eat all that goop right off him. but whatever, you're not bothered you're not bothered you- you'll deal with xeir death later. Now isn't the time- 

What would Jay say to you? "Oh come on Leef you just met the guy, it's rude to not pay attention to people, you gotta be all ears even though you've got none"

the goopy figure sighs and restates his whole thing 

"I'll give you food and stuff and get you out of your au and you give me help to keep the balance between emotions. I am Nightmare"

You take a moment to process what he said. You're able to get out of here? Hell yes, (you'd bet Jay would like it too) But that still doesn't explain how he knows sans. 

"Anyways, the multiverse theory is real yada yada yada... you'll need a new name because my whole group are Sans" oh. So he's like. From a different world. You mean, it kinda makes sense. You were from somewhere else. Yeah checks out.

"Leef....My name is leef. Sp..elt L-E-E-F"  god, you can only imagine what Jay would say at spelling your name to the figure. "wow spelling your name? Now he'll be able to forge documents with your name!! Nice thinking Leef, you can get a fake ID to get drinks with!" God you miss Jay. 

nightmare nods at you, you are certainly not telling him that you aren't Sans, look at how that turned out with papyrus. 

"Is that a yes leef?" You nod. And shuffle around awkwardly. Glancing at the piles of dust beside you. Why did you let Jay die? Why does it still feel like xe is still here. Like you can hear xem whispering to you?, 

you move to hide the piles of dust, worried about how your new... boss? Will react to it. He simply glances at them, not taken aback in the slightest.

"Alright, is there anything you'd like to grab before we leave, say goodbye to your papyrus or anything of the like?" You flinch when he mentions papyrus's name. No doubt him hating you now.

"Y...yeah please" as you go to leave your see him go to follow you. Uh ok then guess he's coming with you.

You walk to ja- to your house... "nah it's A ok Leefy Branch! It can be your house now! Since I'm dead and all" nightmare raises a brow when you walk past papyrus's place.

You enter the den thing that you've been living in. You'll grab... you don't have much you want to take with you. 

You grab the tattered blanket that you and Jay used to use, Jay loved that blanket, Chloe xeir aunt made it for xem. "Aww you remembered Leef! How sweet!" Why can you still hear xem? 

You also grab a small vile and a string. Planning to take some of jays dust with you, as a momento.

"Ok.... Could we g..o back to where you found.. me?" Nightmare nods and follows your lead. 

As you bend down to scoop up a small amount of dust off of the abandoned wheelchair into the vial nightmare looks at you... you don't know what he's thinking god you wish you did 

"I'd bet that he's confused~ he doesn't know me!!" Jay whispers to you. Xe is louder now you have xeir dust, when you turn it's almost like you can see xeir ears flapping in your peripheral vision when you turn.

"You good?"

"Yeah...let's go" nightmare opens a portal in front of the two of you. You pull up your rabbit hood to cover your skull hole awkwardly, having to maneuver your antlers into the shoddily crafted holes in your hood. Thank god for Velcro, or you wouldn't be able to wear your hood anymore.

The skeleton in front of you gives you a look and steps through the portal, you hot on his heels.

When you look take in your new surroundings you hear thudding from the room beside you. 

You freeze at the sound, glancing at nightmare, who seems undisturbed by the loud noises, hurting your delicate ears. No doubt hurting Jay's too... wait why are you saying that like xe is alive... xe is dead you saw xem dust. You hear Jay laugh slightly.

You watch frozen in your spot as another skeleton comes hurtling through the door in front of you, clad in a blue sweatshirt, a target floating in front of him and black liquid pouring out of his eye sockets.

He comes flying at you, as you're frozen in your spot with nerves. You freeze as a wet feeling wraps around your waist, looking it's from Nightmare, moving you out of the way of the flying person.

You flinch at the feeling of nightmare touching you, a combination of your bruises from the dog, and just your... bad past with touch making your breath heavy. 

Nightmare quickly retracts his tentacle from you, looking at you worriedly, he notices your panicked eye. 

You simply move away stiffly, yanking on your blind eye socket and looking for any way out, making eye contact with Jay. Xe is floating, xeir brown fur around xeir neck is stained blue by xeir blood, but xe has purple speckles on xeir ears, otherwise xe looks unchanged, beside the fact xe is partly see through of course.

You freeze at the sight of Jay. Looking away you see the skeleton that was tossed at you get up.

"Heyyyy I'm killer, you must be the new recruit huh?" He goes to lay on his stomach, kicking his feet like a schoolgirl. 

See

"Sorry I came flying at you, just can't help falling for people you know?" As Killer says that you crack a small smile, hearing Jay laugh right next to your ear. breaking you out of whatever trance you were in. You relax as he gets up off the floor, glaring at another skeleton, this time a black glitchy one. Wielding strings like weapons. 

"That glitchy guy over there is error, he don't like people touching his choco-lat-ay" you raise an eyebrow at killer's weird pronunciation of chocolate but you brush it off. Waving at Error you stand there awkwardly glancing at Nightmare He just smiles at you and shouts 

"THE NEW RECRUIT IS HERE, INTRODUCE YOURSELVES" you flinch at the loud noise and he looks to you apologetically. You hear two people come tumbling down a set of stairs to your right. 

Turning fully to actually be able to see the two people, you see two more skeletons, one is in a blue hoodie with a grey hood pulled up. The other one has an extremely poofy black and white hoodie, that you're itching to touch.

"Hiya I'm dust. This is Phantom" he hooks a finger behind him, pointing at a ghostly form of papyrus, you avert your eye quickly, not realizing that Dust is looking at Jay's form. You look towards the fluffy one.

" I'm cross." Not as nice as you'd expect from the fluffy attire but looks can be deceiving. 

"I...m Lee..f" you say slowly, glancing at all of this body's counterparts.

"Ok you all are dismissed, I need to speak to leef alone" as they all disperse you turn to Nightmare. Worried for what he may ask you.

He looks you up and down

"I hate to do this because you just came here, but I'm going to need to check you, just to make sure you're ok physically" you nod as you give your permission, you would like to know what your lv is.

"Leef"

Hp 100/300

Def 30

Atk 200

LV 16

*this creature is all skin and bones,  looks like they just saw a ghost*

*this creature is all ears*

Huh so lv 16... but why do you have two different flavor texts?... unless Jay is- no. Jay is dead. 

Nightmare takes a moment to read the stats in front of him looking at the flavor text he pauses, glances at you, and closes the box

"I'm going to go get supplies for tonight. The living room is straight through that door killer came out of. I'll be back"

You watch as nightmare creates a portal and steps through it. You glance around the now empty room, quietly whistling to yourself.

Chapter Text

You slowly walk in the living room, after being left alone by Nightmare, Jay floating on after you. You think that you're.. being haunted? Or you're crazy and just imagining xem... you're probably crazy.

A glowing tv is in front of a navy blue couch playing some animal show... you don't know how to use their remote soooooo guess you're watching this now. "Awww I love kittens!!! They are so cute and fuzzy!!"

You plop down onto the couch, hearing some kittens mewling, you clutch the blue blanket you took from the house tightly. You look towards the screen, watching as someone.. holds a... white... dog..dog it's them all of them they killed Jay and now they're coming for you. 

You can hear Jay screech loudly from beside you. You swing your bat at the screen, effectively turning off the horrid show in front of your face, a loud, satisfying, crunch goes through the mansion as you do so, but Jay stoped screaming.

You hide behind the couch quickly, not letting Dogeressa have the chance to

Get you. A glitchy voice calls from the room over.

"I swear to everything that you hold dear, Killer if you broke the coffee table again I will string you like a puppet" you flinch at the noise. Error needs to be quiet, or the dog squad will get him too.

Error pops his head through the door, eyelights widening as he sees your form, huddled behind the old couch and a broken tv sitting there. 

The dark skeleton stands there, shuffling around as he tries to think of what to do to calm you down. His eyes get wide with an idea as he slowly walks towards your trembling form.

He takes some of his strings and lump them together in a vaguely hand like shape, patting your shoulder gently, 

Error goes to say some reassuring words, not good with emotions. But you don't give him the chance to fumble with words, because you screech, feeling your shoulder getting torn apart from you body, and instinctually swing your head at his hand, attempting to cut him with your horns, but only succeeding in getting them caught in the strings.

you feel yourself get lifted into the air by the strings tangled on your head, Error just sighs muttering 

"I swear, this is the last time I babysit for Nightmare" as your breathing slows down you actually realize that the dog on the tv screen was not real, and that you just attacked one of your new housemates.

 You listen to Jay apologize for screaming like that. You very quietly tell Jay(?) that it's ok. You're still not sure if this... ghost? Is real or not. But you just don't care. you just want Jay back.

You stop talking to Jay when hear footsteps approach error and you, error having moved to the couch and seemingly started knitting or something. You hear as Dust enters the room from the left, muttering to phantom. You go to turn to actually see dust but the strings keep you from moving at all, guess you're not gonna be seeing him.

Dust just pauses, and stands there for a moment.

"Hey leef. So uhh I was going to ask something but it seems you're tied up at the moment." You sigh at the bad joke (internally giggling) you hear error scoff and go back to knitting.

"Hi dust, uh s..oooo how are you doing?" You say. You get no response, either he left, or he just gave a thumbs up or something, you didn't hear him leave so you'll choose to believe he's still here.

"You're uh.... You're gonna need to say ho..w you are because... yaknow... can't really see you." Error sighs and  swings you around so you're facing dust.

"Ohhh hey dusty" you say smiling at the skeleton in front of you. He waves and says 

"Yeah I'm uh. I'm doing good, so I wanted to ask-" before dust could get his question out you hear a portal pop up to your left, god damn, doesn't anyone approach from the right side in this house? you sigh and glance at dust, who mouths to you "nightmare" oh so it's the goopy guy himself, ok.

You feel as you get dropped from the strings you were in, and you turn to Nightmare. He glances at you, sighs, and gestures for you all to come with him. 

You get lead to a big table full of foods of all kinds, your eyes are glued to the table, your hunger pains coming at you full force. You wince and almost double over, you simply grip your middle tightly. Jay whispers reassurances to you.

...you shouldn't take that much food, you don't want to be kicked out for taking their supplies like with papyrus. You sit down in between dust and killer. The two of them immediately start stuffing their faces, you sit there. And you sit there. And you sit there, in absolute agony as hunger pains tear through you. 

It feels as if fire ants got into your bones and started bitting every inch of you they could find. Put simply, you hurt.

Nightmare clears his throat, getting your attention, he points at the food laid out infront of you and you shake your head. Nightmare sighs, and reaches over the wood table to grab a  bowl, he fills in up with some kind of soup, and hands it to you. 

You look at the steaming bowl like it's the holy grail, and the others notice, it's not like you were hiding it. You glance at Nightmare, silently asking for permission to eat the soup. He nods at you.

You slowly scoop spoonful after spoonful of the salty soup into your mouth, savoring the flavor with every bite. 

Even after everyone else is done eating, you sit there eating the chicken soup slowly, partly to not throw up, and the other part because you don't want it to end. 

Even as the soup is cold and the table is abandoned aside from nightmare, you continue eating the heavenly liquid until the bowl is empty, and you're relatively satisfied it sure didn't compare to any human meat, and you're still hungry. 

Huh. Jay isn't talking to you anymore... actually. You can't see xem anymore.. panic slices through you at that. It's just a ghost why do you care if it's not around?

Nightmare stares at you as you place the bowl onto the wooden table.

"I am going to need to ask you.. what happened in your au? You certainly do not need to answer me if you do not feel comfortable, but know that I won't tell any of the gang what you say" 

You think for a moment, and take a deep breath.

Chapter Text

You sit there detached as you speak about your au to nightmare (mainly just stating facts like how everyone was starving and stuff like that, not really getting into your personal life, or mentioning Jay), of course it was nice to talk to someone about what happened it just.... You left such a huge portion of your life out, it doesn't feel worth it.

..Well that seems like a mean thing to say about someone who is listening to you, sure you feel safe around nightmare, he has the same sort of vibes as the dark. Sure it can be terrifying, but at the same time it's calming, peaceful.

But he was searching for a sans, it feels like you're trying to be someone you're not when he refers to you like that. Or when he asks about your papyrus, it's like you're back there, throwing a cleaver at him, or he's throwing a bone right back at you.

But nightmare sat there calmly, he barely asked questions (although the ones he did ask were hard to answer truthfully) 

he understood what you're feeling to some extent, and said that you didn't need to go out on missions if you truly didn't want to. You said that, yes you would like to go on missions, get the pent up feelings out one way or another.

He showed you where your bedroom was, it was simple, clean, but nice. The bed was extremely soft as you laid your head on it, so much better than the couch you were sleeping on for the past however long you were staying with Jay.

You spent your first night here slightly panicking about Jays ghost. But by the time you fell asleep and woke back up xe was back...

Plus you had some of xeir dust with you (you're wearing the vile as a necklace and you think that is why you can see xem) you just hope that this is what xe believed in after death, and you weren't keeping xem from xeir afterlife.

But that brings you to now, your rabbit hoodie is abandoned on the floor, and you just have a blue tank top and some grey sweatpants on. 

You hear someone walk near your room, you don't think much of it, surely whoever it is will knock....The door busts open, and out comes killer, who immediately pauses at the gapping hole in your skull, right, you had your hood up for the entire first day.

"Wow bud, I didn't know you were religious, just take a look at how holy you are, and didn't think those antlers were real, good to know I suppose" you feel a flash of anger when killer calls you "bud" only Jay can call you that. you sigh and get up, slipping on your jacket, guess you can go without the hood today.

"Don't.. call me bud." You glare at killer. But he obviously doesn't get the memo as he goes to say

"Right right ok bud, how'd that happen? And how'd you get them antlers? if I'd known I could grow some I'd be all over that. Oh oh but I was here to invite you to watch some movies and play board games with the gang! so we can walk and talk, but I'd like to know" you stand up, even hunched over normally you're still taller than killer.

You just grab your bat and walk out of the room, following killer with him pestering you to tell him what happened. You just sigh and say

"..I don't know" you truly don't know what hurt your- san's head this bad that you got a hole in it. you weren't in this body when he got wounded in the back of his head like this, so it was San's injury not yours. Your horns... you also don't know why you have them, they were just kinda there when you woke up from fainting once.

You continue following killer into the living room. A brand new tv is sitting there, nightmare must have gotten it after you went to sleep. 

You glance away guiltily. Killer pats your back reassuringly, you flinch away, you notice Jay glaring at Killer when you move "tell Killer that the next time he touches you I'll posses his hand and make him tear off his own ribs one by one" you glare at killer.

"Don't touch me Killer" 

 Killer chuckles and you glance back over to the middle of the room, a bunch of games are sitting there like twister, uno, and monopoly. You still feel bad about the tv.

"Don't sweat it leef, I think we all broke the tv when we first came here, that was a new record though, not even an hour here! good on you." 

You sigh and plop down onto a green beanbag next to error. Dust and cross are situated on the couch and killer is moving to sit with them. 

You watch as Jay goes over to dust, xe says something but gets cut off by dust's ghost friend, Phantom. He looks excited but you can't hear him speak from where you are.

"I'm pretty sure we're gonna be watching "a dogs way home" ol' crossy here has a soft spot for those slobbering fur balls ." Cross glares at Dust who said that to you. Dust then flips off the fluffy skeleton. 

Oh... a dog movie, what the fuck is with the gang and dogs, first the show the first day, now the movie today. You  glance around for an escape, you don't want to break this tv too. You place your bat aside, out of reach, begin lightly tugging on your eyesocket.

Nightmare comes into the living room with popcorn and chips galore. He placed them on the coffee table and glances at you.

"Did the gang tell you we're going to be watching some dog movie?" 

"It's a dogs way home boss" cross says quickly, correcting his words. You nod at nightmare's question, fear going through you, yep you sure know, it's those god damned dogs. You start to yank your eye socket, chipping the bone even more, yearning to feel your bat in your hands. 

Jay floats over to you, muttering reassuring words to you "hey it's ok, the dogs aren't real. You killed them remember? You won't hurt anyone here, they all can handle themselves."

Nightmare sighs and says 

"Leef, if you don't like dogs say something, you have to let us know if something's the matter." You quickly pull your hood up in embarrassment. Dogs are probably the lamest fear ever. Your cheeks get hot and you curl in on yourself.

You can hear killer holding back laughter. Even Error chuckles from his spot beside you, Cross is eerily silent.

"Nah it's good leef... I'm scared of  open spaces, like big fields and stuff."Cross says to you. That does make you feel a little better. You pull down your hood and glance away. 

Nightmare pinches where his nose would be. And dust chuckles slightly 

"We can just play uno or something" dust says. you get excited at the mention of uno, perking up slightly, you and Jess used to play uno a lot before the outbreak, you then taught Jay how to play, although xe preferred playing board games 

(you played uno and go fish specifically with Jess, after she died... well you got really good at pretending to play uno with people) After agreement from everyone you are set up around the coffee table, seven cards in each skeleton's hands.

Cue the time skip as the single game goes on for so long. Cross frustrated as each time he gets uno Dust or Killer stops him. Error shouting at how he has almost 20 some cards, Nightmare the silent killer, throwing everyone under the bus, get a card out of the deck and didn't hold it right? Nightmare is sure to make the entire gang know what color it is.

Then there's you, Throwing death glares at anyone who even glances at you with cards in their hand.... And Dust just gave you a plus four.... That's it. You jump up and pounce at Dust, tackling him. He can hold his own very well, and you're both unarmed, making you at more of a disadvantage than him.

You two go rolling across the floor knocking over the chip bowl. The little skirmish lasting longer than you expected, making your joints ache painfully, especially since you haven't healed from your beat down from the dog. 

You continue fighting until Nightmare clutches you both with his tentacles. You would flip dust off if you could get your arms to move. But your joints arent being corporative so you settle for glaring at him, whatever Nightmare saying going in one ear and out the other. Especially with Jay screaming in your ear

“You don’t understand Leef, if you live, laugh, love, anything is possible!! You just didn’t love hard enough!!”

You stare slack jawed at Jay, you didn’t think that live, laugh, love was a thing underground.

You snap out of it when you get dropped on the ground. Killer and Cross laughing and cheering.

"I like this guy's spunk" Cross says pointing to you, still laying on the floor in pain.

Chapter Text

///

Dust: I have a question. 

Error: Shoot. 

Dust: Is the S or C in scent silent? 

Killer: Fuck you, I'm going to be thinking about this all day. 

Error: Okay well, cent is pronounced the same way as scent so I'm gonna say the S is silent. 

Dust: Okay, but sent is also spelled the same way. 

Killer: Google says that the C was added in the late seventeenth century, so I guess the S is silent. 

Leef: Plot twist, both the S and the C are silent and the E actually makes the sss sound. 

Killer: Leef is not allowed to talk anymore.

///

Cross: Leef, you need to calm down. 

Leef, slamming their fists on the table: BUT HOW CAN IT BE "BIRTHDAY CAKE" FLAVOR IF A BIRTHDAY CAKE CAN BE ANY FLAVOR?!

///

Killer: Leef, I have a question. 

Leef: What is it, Killer? 

Killer: What color is an orange? 

Leef: Killer, you bonehead! Its color is the same as its name. Just like a lemon.

///

Cross, to Error: You're not Mario. Lets get something fucking straight, you're Luigi at best.

///

Leef: I don't know the first thing about clothes. Pretty much all I can do is look at something and tell you if it's clothes or not. This chair? Not clothes.

///

Nightmare: Why were you up yesterday until 3am? 

Error: How did you know I was up until 3am? 

Killer: We could hear you clapping to the FRIENDS intro every 25 minutes.

///

Cross: Error, I beg of you. Please, PLEASE go to the doctor. 

Error: Hey, I'm sorry. Is this OUR stab wound?

///

Cross: Thanks for opening my message and not responding. 

Killer: All good bro, any time. 

Cross: Fuck you.

///

Killer: Could you maybe just like... stab me... right in the gut. Just REALLY twist it in there. 'Cause that honestly seems less painful than this conversation.

///

Nightmare: *Locks Dust in the car.* Act like a child, get treated like a child. 

Dust: What? Isn't it illegal to leave a child locked in a car?

///

Leef: Sometimes I talk to myself for no reason. 

Leef: Omg me too!

///

Killer: Tommorrow's garbage day. 

Cross: I can't believe they made a whole day dedicated to you.

///

Cross: Leef, you look deep in thought. What's wrong? 

Leef: Did you know you can look at any object and know what it's like to lick it? Even if you've never touched it before? 

Cross: I'm never asking you anything ever again.

///

Killer: I have a plan. 

Error: Good! As long as we aren't breaking the law again, I'm open to hearing it. 

Killer: ... 

Error: ... 

Killer: I no longer have a plan.

///

Dust: Twilight Sparkle was the main character because she represented the element of friendship— 

Leef, tied up: PLEASE, I JUST WANT TO SEE MY FAMILY AGAIN! 

Dust: I'M NOT DONE! 

Dust: And Rainbow Dash was the sporty girl—

///

Killer: New year, new me. 

Cross: Bitch, it's August. 

Killer: Time is an illusion.

///

Killer: Someone's trying to break in. Call the cops! 

Leef: *loads shotgun* I got this. 

Killer: Last week you fell up the stairs, what do you mean-

Leef: Killer, you DONT UNDERSTAND! I WAS AMERICAN, GUNS FLOW THROUGH MY VEINS!! 

///

Leef: I may be stupid. 

The Squad: ... 

Leef: Oh, did you think I was going to finish that sentence?

///

Dust: Guess who just found out the difference between wax paper and parchment paper the hard way? 

Error: Wait, what's the difference? 

Dust: One you can use in the oven safely, and the other you can also use in the oven... if the thing you are trying to make happens to be fire.

///

Cross, bleeding out on the ground: Blood loss? No, I know exactly where it is.

///

Killer: Good morning. As you begin your day, remember that violence is always an option and often the answer. 

Dust: 

Killer: 

Dust: ...Please, go back to bed.

///

Killer:  Guys, there's a monster under my bed and it's really ugly. 

Dust, on the bottom bunk: Honestly, fuck you.

///

Leef: Was I a boy? Was I a girl? It doesn't matter. I'm going to burn your house down now.

///

Nightmare, seeing a banana on the car seat: What the FUCK?? 

Nightmare, buckling the banana up: Fucking buckle UP, it's the LAW!

///

*Leef rushes by with an armful of water bottles* 

Cross: What's going on? 

Dust: Leef wouldn't drink water. 

Cross: ...And? 

Dust: And I asked them how fast they could chug an entire bottle. 

Leef, loudly: 16 OUNCES IN TEN SECONDS, BITCHES!

///

Cross: Hey, Error, do you have feelings for me? 

Error: Yeah, anger.

///

Nightmare, rubbing their temples: I am not proud of what I am about to say, but someone get me a cigarrette. 

Killer: But Nightmare, we don't smoke. 

Nightmare: Cut the crap, Killer. I'm not an idiot. I know that one in five people smoke. 

Nightmare: *points at Leef* One! *points at Error* Two! *points at Cross* Three! *points at Dust* Four! *points at Killer* Five! 

Nightmare: Now, I am going to close my eyes, and when I open them, there better be a cigarrette between these two fingers! 

Dust: *puts a cigarrette in Nightmare's hand* 

Nightmare: Thank you. ...Light? 

The Squad: *all simultaneously pull out lighters*

///

Cross: Killer, I don't think I can handle any more of your tomfuckery. 

Killer: Oh yeah? Well I can keep going until you're all tomfuckered out!

///

Killer: And I'd love to be sorry for that, but we all know I've done much, much worse.

///

Error: Leef, you can do anything! 

Leef: Anything? 

Error: Anything! 

Leef, holding a torch: ANYTHING?!?! 

Error: Wait, not that!

///

Error: You can do it Killer! 

Error: But if you can't, at least your death will be quick, painless, and really cool to watch.

///

Leef: Why does Nightmare always do the laundry so loudly? 

Dust: So everyone knows that no one helps them out in the house. 

Nightmare, in the distance: *slams the washing machine shut*

///

Leef: *dangling from a rope over a pit of fire* Remember when I said I'd tell you when we're in too deep? 

Dust: Yes? 

Leef: We're in too deep.

///

Error: Hey Leef, I've got an idea for how to solve this. 

Leef, pulling out a shotgun: Yeah? 

Error: Wh- No! That's not the idea, Leef!

///

Dust: How did none of you hear what I just said?! 

Error: I've been zoned out for the past two and a half hours. 

Killer: I got distracted halfway through. 

Cross: Ignoring you was a conscious decision.

///

Leef: I'm bored. 

Also Leef: Wanna commit first degree murder? 

Leef: Sure! 

Nightmare, hearing them: No- Stop, don't do that! Put that knife down! Put Dust down!!

///

Dust: Sometimes I wonder if I'm hearing voices. 

Dust: Then I remember that's the last bit of sanity I have trying to get me to fall asleep at a reasonable time.

///

Dust: What type of dog is this? 

Leef: That's a tortoise.

///

Dust: Where have you been all day? 

Cross: Oh, just dealing with things way beyond my maturity level.

///

Leef, excitedly: Heeyy!! 

Dust: Hey, someone's excited. 

Cross, deadpan: Yeah, and it's making me sick.

///

Error: How has life been treating you lately? 

Leef: Horribly.

///

Nightmare: At first I thought you were foolish and incompetent. 

Leef: My apologies for whatever misstep I may have taken to dispel that impression. It was an honest mistake, I swear.

///

Leef: *watching their house burn down* 

Leef: 

Leef: *starts filming* Waddup, guys, welcome to my vlog, today's topic: how to get away with accidentally committing arson because you forgot Spaghetti O's cans are metal and thus non-microwavable! Step one: deny everything.

///

Nightmare, looking at the squad: Okay, so I need to become a therapist faster.

///

Cross: Okay. Hypothetically speaking, how mad would you be if I burned a hot pocket so badly it could probably fall off a ten-story building and be completely fine? 

Nightmare: Cross, what did you do? 

Cross: Take a guess.

///

Dust: Man, it smells like wrongdog out here. 

Cross: 

Cross: Dust, are you alright? 

Dust: *sobs*

///

Killer: What the fuck. 

Killer: ESPN is showing 2003 national jump rope championship. 

Killer: Who the hell watches jump rope competiti- ooh bouncy.

///

*Everyone is playing a board game together* 

Dust: I will put 'A' down to make 'A'. 

Cross: I will add onto your 'A' to make 'AT'. 

Leef: I will add onto your 'AT' to make 'RAT'. 

Nightmare: I will add onto your 'RAT' to make 'BIOSTRATAGRAPHIC'. 

Leef: *flips the board*

///

Dust, hungover: Please tell me I'm imagining that I claimed I was king of the ducks. 

Killer: I would, but then I would be lying to the King of All Ducks.

///

Police: You're under arrest for trying to carry three people on a single motorcycle. 

Killer, with Cross and Dust behind them: Wait, what do you mean THREE?! 

Police: Yes...three. 

Killer: Oh, my God— What the fuck!? 

Police: Wha- 

Killer: LEEF FUCKING FELL OFF!

///

Killer: Leef told me that brown is just navy orange, and I have never been more disappointed with something I agree with.

///

Leef: I'm the smartest, wisest person in this group. 

Error: Really? Then why is your hand stuck in a vending machine? 

Leef: I paid for my Mars Bar, I'm getting my Mars Bar.

///

Dust: If you see me talking to myself, go away! I'm self-employed and we're having a staff meeting!

///

Dust: Cross? I mixed redbull with coffee and now I can see sounds, should I worry? 

Cross: Dust, I swear to god—

///

Dust: Sweet dog you got there. 

Police: Yes, this is our new drug sniffing dog. 

Dust: Still training huh? 

Police: What do you mean? 

Dust: 

Dust: Never mind.

///

Dust: I'm doing what I can to jog your memory. 

Leef: It's jogging, I guess. Its tiddies are jiggling a little. 

Dust: Nice.

///

Killer: I don't know, it's not my cup of tea. 

Cross: Well then whose is it? 

Killer, staring at a cup of tea: I don't know!

Leef from another room: I swear to god, you don't want to know what will happen if any of you spill the tea.

///

Killer: Who the fuck-

Cross: Language!

Killer: Oh sorry...Whom the fuck-

Cross sighing: No.

///

Dust: I am very small and I have no money, so you can imagine the kind of stress that I'm under.

///

Nightmare: Killer, what are you doing?

Killer: *shaking a cat shaped piggy bank* I'm just trying to figure out how much change I have inside.

Nightmare: You could always take it out and count it.

Killer: Where's the fun in that?

///

Killer: We've been conducting an ongoing study to see what Leef will and will not eat.

Dust: Grass? Yes!

Killer: Moss? Yes!!

Dust: Leaves? Ohh, yes!

Killer: Shoelaces? Strange but true!

Dust: Worms? Sometimes!

Killer: Rocks? Usually nah.

Dust: Twigs? Usually!

Killer: Cross's cooking? Inconclusive!

Error : How did you... test this?

Killer: You just hand them stuff and say 'eat this' and if they eat it, they eat it.

Error : ... I don't know how to feel about this.

Cross: IS THAT WHERE ALL MY SPARE SHOELACES WENT

///

Dust: I truly believe that water can solve all your problems.

Leef: Weight loss? Drink water.

Cross: Clear skin? Drink water.

Killer: Want to get rid of someone? Drown them.

///

Killer: We need a plan to beat them.

Cross: Okay, listen up. First, we fill their shoes with wet cat food.

Killer:

Cross: Judge me all you want, I get results.

Leef: And after you beat them you get a little reward snack afterward!!

Killer & Cross:..

///

Leef: If I make you breakfast in bed, a simple "thank you" is all I need. 

Leef: Not all this "how did you get into my house" business.

///

Killer: Please! Pretend I'm useful!

///

Killer: Why would you give a knife to Leef?! 

Error, shrugging: Leef felt unsafe. 

Killer: Now I feel unsafe! 

Error: I'm sorry... 

Error: Would you like a knife?

///

Nightmare: If the thought of something makes any of you giggle for longer than 15 seconds, you are to assume you're not allowed to do it.

///

Chapter Text

You’re just sitting in your room, it's about midday and you're in the mansion alone, the rest of the gang having gone on a mission or something.

You're almost healed up, about one more week and then you'll be good to go on missions. You were told the first one would go with Dust and Killer, just to get a feel for how you work with less people than the entire gang.

You've been meaning to ask Dust about whatever question he wanted to ask you, but you haven't gotten the chance.

You reluctantly get up from your cocoon of blankets, and decide on decorating your room.... Well maybe not decorate it, you'd need to go to a store for that, buuuuut you will fix your bed. 

"OOOOO we should ask Nightmare to go to the store to get stuff!! I want a pet! Would he let us have a pet? I want a pet animal" Jay says to you. 

"Well... I guess it co..uldn't hurt to ask..." you respond. (Even if xe isn't real you just want Jay again, these voices and hallucinations in your head are good enough) 

There's this super nice gap under the bed that you can fit into with your horns. And you've always liked small spaces (on your own terms) so you're going to move your blankets to under the bed, and maybe take a nap while you're at it.

As you begin shuffling around you feel something drop from your pocket. A little metal piece... what thing of metal did you have in your pock.... Jays camera. OH ITS JAY'S CAMERA.

"FUC...KING SHIT C..OCK BA..LLS"  

your curse rings through the empty house as you carefully scoop the pieces of what was a camera from your pocket onto your bedside table. You take a look at the pieces, you were never mechanically inclined. 

You pace back and forth breathing heavily, this is like your only thing from Jay. GOD FUCK ok ok it'll be fine. It'll be fine, lie to yourself until it's true. 

You travel down into the kitchen, tripping down the stairs of course, and you grab a little plastic bag. And go back up the stairs to your room. Carefully this time.

Ok ok what you're going to do is: step 1: carefully place the pieces into the bag... step 2: close the bag... and step 3: ask nightmare for help.

You sit on your bed for a moment, tapping your foot quickly wiping tears you didn't know you spilled god you started crying because of a broken camera, fucking lame ass bitch. 

"Oh Leef... it's ok, even without the camera we still spent all that time together, you have your memories" 

"Yeah...you're r..ight. It'll be fine it'll...be fine it's just a ca...mera." Ok ok step 4: breathe and take your mind off it until nightmare comes back... 

OH OH! You were gonna move your blankets, you'll do that. You take the sheets and pillows off the bed, clutching them you shovel them into the little nook underneath the bed.

You shuffle yourself in there when you're done savoring the warmth. You sit there in peace, falling asleep. until the gang comes back home. And nightmare comes into your room.

He looks a little beaten up but seeing as how he isn't actively dusting you'll say he's ok. He glances around for a moment looking for you until he sees the edge of a blanket under the bed. And your tear stained eye glowing purple in the darkness of your room.

You mutter to Jay, apologizing for ignoring xem around people. Xe said it's ok but you still feel bad.

He bends down and you immediately feel much calmer. In a low, soothing voice he asks you

"Are you alright Leef? I felt a lot of negativity from here earlier. Is something the matter? I apologize for not getting here sooner, I was caught up in a fight" You shuffle out from under the bed, and grab the bag containing the bits of the camera.

You clear your throat and straighten up as much as possible without straining your back, knowing you were acting childish.

"I broke a.. camera... that I hold very de..ar. Could you... fix it please" he grabs the bag, glances inside and nods. 

"No I cannot. But I know someone who can, his name is Sci, I can give him a visit if you'd like?" You nod and wanting to get out of the house you're eager to come along

"Are we going on a trip?!? Please let this be a normal field trip" Jay says to you. pfft with Nightmare? There is no way.

"Could.. I come wit..h?" He nods and hands over the bag to you, opening a portal and walking through it.

You didn't expect to go immediately, of course you trip why wouldn't you? God this is probably a first impression with someone fuuuuuck. 

As you go tumbling through the portal you fall face first into a shag carpet... at least it's soft. You hear Nightmare chuckle. And lift you up by your shirt.

"Well I can see why it's broken" Nightmare says, you stand up from your spot on the floor(ignoring Jay doting over you to check if you're ok) to see another sans, this one is adorned in a lab coat and is clutching some wires.

You straighten up to your comfortable height, waving at who must be Sci. He quickly glances at you looking you up and down, pausing at your hole and horns. Then turning to nightmare with a questioning look on his face.

"So Sci, this is Leef, one of my new recruits, they wanted to ask you something" god way to act like your mother, putting you on the spot like that. 

"Uh... I bro...ke a camera... and was wond...ering if you could fix it.. please" you hold open the bag to him, Sci takes the crinkly plastic from your grasp, and moves to a table placing all the pieces of the camera on it. 

"All the internal functions are working just fine, luckily, it's just the casing and lens that needs fixed. So yeah, I could fix it up for you, and you will still have any old pictures you took." 

You let out a sigh of relief and look at Sci greatfully.

"Thank..you so much... what can I do to rep..ay you?" 

You dig in your pocket for a moment, until pulling out a chip bag. It's not a lot of magic but it'll certainly be enough to... right... people aren't starving anymore. Now you just look weird for having chips on you. well you cant really take it back so you hand it over to him. Sci glances at you confused.

Jay just looks at you sympathetically, 

"Really, if... there's anything I could do for you p...lease let me know. Act..ually, what's your favorite food or desser..t?" Sci just looks over to Nightmare, confused at this whole exchange. Nightmare gives him a look  that you personally can't read but Sci seems to get it as he says

"Oh, well I like chocolate chip cookies" you nod and Nightmare opens a portal for the two of you to go back through. You say your thanks one more time before ever so carefully stepping through the goopy portal.

Guess you're going to make cookies.

As soon as you get back into the mansion you get to work, (after getting permission from Nightmare of course) 

You would've been perfect grandma material in your past life (if you lived long enough) you make some banger cookies.

You take stock of the kitchen, making sure it has everything you need. You start it up, adding some more chips than you usually do. In the middle of putting the cookies on the tray, you hear Killer walk in, and laugh loudly.

"Ahahahaha Oh my gosh Leef. You got flour all over you"

...well you never said you were a clean baker. You look over to Killer, put the cookies in the oven and fully turn to him.

"Well... you can't bake a..nd just not make.. a mess." Killer chuckles at that, and says 

"Who are you making them for?" 

"Oh ...uh, Sci is.. fixing a camera for me, so I w..anted to repay him." Killer nods, rubs a finger on the tip of your horn and shows you the flour he pulled off. How'd you manage to get flour up there? 

Killer just laughs at you and makes his way out of the kitchen, grabbing one of the cooling cookies. You dust yourself off, effectively getting the flour off you.

The oven beeps, and once you get all the chocolatey goodness cooled and put in a container you go on the search for Nightmare, eventually finding him in the living room with Error, a Spanish show playing and him reading a book.

"Hey boss.... Uh coul..d we go back to Sci's pl..ace, I made ..some cookies  and wante..d to give them to him." Nightmare smiles at you

"Sure thing Leef, just so you know, you could go to Error too if you wanted to go somewhere outside of this au, he can also make portals." You nod at him and clutch the cookies in your hands tightly as Nightmare makes a portal and walks through it.

You're both outside of a wooden house, oh this must be where Sci lives. You knock on the door and stand there for a moment, hearing shouting from Sci. 

"ONE MOMENT! Pap get the door please!" you see a little skeleton through the crack of the door. "Awww he's so cute! Did papyrus look like this when he was younger?"  You discreetly shrug your shoulders at Jay.

"Pap" brightens up at the sight of Nightmare. He shouts at Sci 

"ITS MR NIGHTMARE AND SOMEONE ELSE" you hear clattering as Sci walks to the door. Seeming surprised by you being there.

"Uhh... I made some coo..kies as a thanks for fix..ing my camera... I hope you don't have any al...lergies." 

"Oh Leef, perfect timing, I'm almost done with it. Come inside come inside" Sci ushers you and Nightmare into his living room, sitting you down on the couch.

"You guys can stay here until I finish if you'd like, it won't be to long" Sci says. And he places the cookies on the table, turning to pap Sci says

"Ok, pap, you can have two cookies. Ok? Mx. Leef was kind enough to make them, you don't want to eat them all now and get sick." 

Oh god, "Mx. Leef"? you feel old now, you were only 19 when you died (like right before your birthday) . now suddenly you're a Mx.? Sci leaves the room, leaving pap here with you and Nightmare. 

"Pffttt 'Mx. Leef' you know it has a ring to it. Maybe I should start calling you that instead of Leefy Branch." 

"I swear... Jay Bird, do...n't you dare."

...oh shit you said that out loud. But nightmare already pulled out a book, ok he probably didn't hear you, thank god.. Pap looks to you with stars in his eyes. 

"I Am The Awesome- No The Amazing Papyrus! Who are you talking to? What Kind Of Cookies Did You Make Mx. Leef?" He bounces up and down and you get up to take the cover off of the container

"Chocola..te chip,..  and don't tell anyone, But I was talking to my.... ima..ginary friend, xe doesn't like.. people knowing abo..ut xem though" pap gasps and pretends to zip his lips. and hurriedly takes two cookies. Popping them in his mouth immediately, he squeals 

"I'm awesome imaginary friend material!! Such high standards to be held up to. But I've got this!" You giggle slightly at Jay's antics.

"Oh My Gosh Mx Leef They're So Tastey!!!" Good to know he accepted that Jay is your imaginary friend. He shoves the rest of the cookie in his mouth, immediately taking his other one and eating it too. 

Pap glances at you for what must be the first time, because he gasps at your horns, you chuckle at his reaction, and sit on the ground in front of him.

"Oh My Gosh Mx. Leef You're Like A Deer!! Are The Antlers Real? Can I Feel Them? Why Do They Look Like That?" 

You take a moment to consider his questions. Then saying

"Yes they're real... they look like this be...cause I'm a skeleton. Sure you can fe..el them." You tilt your head towards the tiny skeleton giving him permission to touch the brown horns.

He reaches his hand to your head as you hold back a flinch he's not trying to hurt you, it's just your antlers it's fine. 

You don't notice as Nightmare looks up from his book, cracking a small smile at the sight in front of him. You, a large, scary skeleton, littered with cracks, sitting down in front of a child letting them touch your large horns.

Sci sees the same thing as he walks through the doorway, the camera clicking as he takes a picture.

"Well the camera is working, I also made the case much stronger, so it should hold up with whatever you get up to. And Paps, it's time for Mx. Leef to go home. Say goodbye" 

Sci hands you the black camera as you stand up. Pap pouts at him, Jay also pouts at you. Pap then wraps his tiny hands around your legs, you freeze at this. And stare at Nightmare terrified, silently begging for help. He chuckles at you and pats Pap on the head 

"Ok paps, we're going to leave now. We'll see you next time" pap let's go of your legs and waves at you two as you walk through a portal Nightmare made.

Chapter Text

After the whole camera fiasco it's already night out, shockingly, so you and the gang eat dinner together, (this time Killer cooked, it was some killer meatloaf) 

You're still shocked at how uncaringly Paps hugged you. He didn't even hesitate, now that you think back on it... you didn't not like it. You just flinched out of reflex.

Well that's enough thinking for tonight you think as you go to sleep. In your brand new lil nook of course, you enjoy the peace while it lasts. 

//////

You're in your forest, on one of the days Jay isn't there with you. You don't know what makes this day so different. But you're so hungry. It's as if each of your bones are turning inside out in hunger. It's all you can do to just stay standing. 

...Never mind, you can't even do that. You fall onto the soft snow, passing out. But waking up very soon after.

The hunger is even worse. You will do anything to get rid of the pain. You stalk around the forest. Sniffing constantly, trying to find something anything to eat.

What you smell... is the most delicious smell ever. You can't describe it, all you know is that you want- no, you need whatever is making that smell. 

You slowly travel through the woods. Following the smell until you come across a little clearing, and a small figure standing inside it.

(Yo yo tw for gore, child death and cannibalism! Don't read this bit if you don't like that!! I'll tell you when it's over!!) 

A small human child, standing there in a dirty pair of brown overalls and a purple and yellow striped shirt. You're just so hungry.... Anything will do, you're not in your right state of mind, you know that.... But... you just don't care.

You let out a low growl. Chuckling at the startled noise the kid makes, they trip over their own shoed feet. You slowly walk up to them. The dark illuminating your wide purple eye.

The child goes running. You smile showing off your sharp teeth Gosh a chase is exactly what you wanted today. you slowly go after them, making sure to be loud enough that they know you're there.

You follow after the kid until they give up, no longer being able to run. Legs trembling under them as the fall to the snowy ground. You ever so slowly step into view of the child. They wail for their mommy, for someone called "flowey" but no one came, only you.

They begin to scream, loud and high pitched, almost like a pig squealing. Hurting your ears, who does this brat think they are?  Shut them up shut them up shut them up You jump at them, clawed fingers easily tearing into the soft flesh of their leg. 

You smile as you peel the skin of their leg back, exposing muscle and flesh, juicy, juicy flesh it's red, red red blood. It's nice and warm and sticky. You like the sticky blood, it's warm, you like the warm, you're always so cold... your decomposing torso is cold you don't have blood anymore. You like the blood. Why does this child get to have their limbs and you don't? It's not fair. It's not fair it's not fair it's not fair

You quickly go in for a bite, tearing off the right leg in the process. You don't mind that its a little raw, adds to the flavor. You also don't mind the red blood soaking into the snow. Painting a red sunset with the blood, warm blood, sticky blood, warm blood sticky blood, warm blood sticky blood,

You continue eating the leg, then the other leg, then the left arm, until there's nothing but some shiny white bones left of the frail human's three limbs. 

Huh. The kid is still alive, barely, but their heart is still faintly beating....well at least they kept their flesh warm for you. How kind of them, you did eat the limbs quickly after all. She didn't eat your limbs quickly... you're not alive anymore. You're doing this kid a favor really. Anyone else would make it long and slow. You... You eat quick. Quicker than Her.

You tear off their last arm twisting and tugging at the joint to pop it off, it's a nice sound when it's not coming from you.. you like the sound. It's nice, it's like tapping on a glass. It's a nice sound, you'd like to hear the sound again.You use your claw for the bit of cartilage you couldn't rip. It comes off with a satisfying snap it's a nice sound. A better sound than flesh tearing. But you like that sound too.

(Yo yo, if you skipped for tw then you ate a human kid :D) 

You go to take a bite into the arm, but you see a figure, a tall person, trying to take your prey. You don't recognize the face, so you go to attack them don't let anyone else take food from you. Never again. Not after last time

A bone comes flying at your head, hitting you near your eye. Simply chipping a large chunk off of your eyesocket, and making you so very angry. Kill him kill him. His dust would be light blue, and maybe green. Light blue is your second favorite flavor of dust. Your first favorite is dark blue.

You pounce at the tall boney person snarling at them. They say something but why would you listen to a no good, little thief like them? 

You grasp their shoulder. Pulling, pulling, pulling. Until they rip you off, and run the opposite direction. Thief thief they're a thief, you don't like it when thieves take food you'll make sure this thief can't take anyone's food again. You'll make sure this thief won't be able to walk again.

You give chase, until a pain in your skull stops you in your tracks, it's so painful. It's like your skull is cracking into fours, and growing something. You writhe there in pain. Eventually passing out once more.

/////

Oh god. You snap awake. Hitting your antlers against the bottom of the bed. You quickly get up, pacing in your dark room. Oh god ok ok, guess you found out what happened when you passed out that day. You yank at your eye socket harshly, pulling off some more bone in the process. Jay isn't here, why is Jay gone?

You quickly make your way to the kitchen filling a glass with water. You don't think you can stomach any food after that nightmare, despite how hungry you are. You're always hungry. You don't like being hungry. The last time you weren't hungry was when you ate that kid. You should do that again. That kid was tasty.

You ignore the thoughts and chug the glass of water in your hand, you can still taste the coppery blood of the human in your mouth.

You're in the middle of refilling your glass of water when you hear someone step into the kitchen groggily. It's Cross. eat him eat him eat him. He may not be a human but that doesn't mean he wouldnt taste good when you eat his dust

He grunts at you in greeting, and pauses as he sees tears rolling down your face, your fists clenching the countertop so tightly you think it may crack.

"You good Leef?" You sit down at the table shakily, Cross joining you.

"ni...ghtmare." Cross nods at you in the darkness of the kitchen, nothing but yours and Cross's eyelights lighting up the room. Cross sits there for a moment. Until he speaks up,

"You wanna talk 'bout it?"

You shake your head. No you don't it was horrible, you don't want to eat anyone ever again. And he nods in understanding. You both sit there comfortably in the silence. Cross gets up and walks to the fridge.

"You want anything? Juice or something?" You think for a moment human, human you want human meat, it's so tasty and you're so hungry, aren't you allowed a cheat day every once in a while?

"Chocolate ...milk." Cross takes out two glasses, and fills them to the brim with milk, mixing in chocolate syrup into each one. He hands one to you and sits back down with his own.

You two sit there sipping on milk and talking about nothing in particular, just your favorite colors, until the light switches on, it is still far to early for anyone to be up.

You and cross glance over at the skeleton who disturbed the peace. Dust just stands there, flicks the light back off and quietly asks something

"can i join you?" You see the faint glow of magic tears. And nod at him, getting up to get him a glass of chocolate milk.

You two settle down at the table, joining cross. And you go back to talking about nothing important.

Eventually the chatter dies down, and you three are left there in silence until the light comes back on and you see killer in the door way.

"Woah! What party did I miss?" He nearly shouts.

Chapter Text

"Woah! what party did I miss?"

You Dust and Cross turn to Killer who just spoke, Cross just slams his head onto the table as Dust begins to laugh. You just take a quick breath, startled. 

You notice that Jay came back... why did xe leave in the first place? You know that xe isn't simply going somewhere else or you would have seen xem leave.. it's just like one moment xe is there, and when you blink xe is gone.

You sit there in thought as Killer begins to speak 

"Oh shit. Were you guys having an emotional moment... oh fuck uh pretend I'm not here" you three watch as Killer grabs a granola bar and casually walks out of the kitchen.

Cross lifts his head off the table and groans.

"Ima take a nap" cross follows Killer out of the room, leaving you and Dust there alone. "Oh Leefy you can ask Dust about his question now! Perfect timing!"

"Sooo... Dust.. what was the que....stion you had when I... first came here?" Dust seems caught of guard by your bluntness.

"Oh.. I was wondering who your ghost is... I know why Papyrus is following me. But I've never seen them before." He points to Jay as he says that,

"omg alternative universes and he hasn't heard of me!! This calls for an epic intro like one of those anime's!!" 

Jay goes up to Dust a huge smile on his face as xe rants to him "I am Jaylie, or just Jay xe/xem/xeir!! The one and only Rabbit monster left in the underground, and you know I'm Leef's bestie and imaginary friend! And well-" You cut xem off.

"This is...Jay.. I got xem killed..." 

"Oh my gosh Leefy Branch, you did not get me killed!! Get that through your thick skull. You tried your best and happened to fail."Jay sighs and turns back to Dust 

"The dog squad killed me, I'm here for breaking Leef's... bad habit. I may stick around longer but that's why I'm here with him" Dust stands there taking that in Phantom comes floating through the door way.

"Oh brother! Did you finally meet Jay? Xe is just lovely, xe cares so much for Leef. Almost as much as we care for each other!!"  

"Yeah I just met Jay now, we're going through introductions. So Leef, This is Phantom, or my brother papyrus. And he's sticking around because I killed him."

Oh damn, but you can't really blame Dust for killing Papyrus, you were planning on it. You nod your head in understanding at Dust.

"Dust!! We both know you had your reasons for killing me." Phantom sighs, rubbing where his nose would be, he turns to you

"He had no choice but to kill me. It's complicated but it is truly a pleasure to meet you Leef. If it's not to rude to ask... how old are you and Jay? including the resets I mean"

Dust rubs his neck in embarrassment

"Well it is kinda rude Tom" omg a nickname for Phantom being Tom?  That's adorable. Well you were 19 when you died. Your birthday is like June 2nd, 

"Depends... what's the da..te"  "that's the saddest thing you've ever asked Leefy Branch"

You chuckle sheepishly and agree with Jay. Dust responds to your question

"Its May 7 right now." Well how long were you underground? Like a year? Two years?

"Uhhhh Jay how long were we friends?" That's when you woke up so you can use that for reference at least

"Uhh like 7 years I think maybe more? I'm not exactly sure how long we were sta- down there."

Uhhh so 19 plus 7- holy shit you were underground as sans for 7 years? Oh shit uh uh fuck, you thought you were down there for like 2 years maybe. Sure it felt like a long time but you just accounted that to starving for a long time. your breath begins to get heavy, 

- ok ok never mind that, math, 19 plus 7....carry the one, do the long division, uhhh negative numbers, improper fractions uhhh uhhh shit math... 

"Uh... what's 19 p..lus 7" 

"Holy shit you were 19 when the resets started??" Dust exclaims at you.. resets?? What? Oh uh undertale lore right right... 

"Oh.. uh I didn't have r...esets.. I had something... else going on"

"Oh well still!! You're a literal Child Oh my gosh. I fought a child over uno, oh stars that is horrible."   

You stare blank faced at Dust, you're not that young, you could handle yourself better than other people your age. You surviving this long is proof of that, you had to protect other people, you just kinda forgot that you were young.

You're not sure how old this body is though.

" oh Leef... you... oh hun, you're 26. Ohhh"  god no need to say it like that Jay clears xeir throat awkwardly

God why are you the young one, sure magic makes people age different mentally but you don't know how old sans was when you took his body. 

You just know that your mental age didn't change, most monsters slow down growing physically at around 20 years old. The aging process goes quick then slow. 

Dust just stares at you, Jay looks over at you sympathetically, you and Jay are pretty much on par with how you act though, that's really the deciding factor in the underground, as magic levels cause everyone to age differently.

you're really getting tired of those sad looks that everyone is giving you, you clench your fists, you regret leaving your bat in your room, as now your claws are digging into the bones in your hand.

it's not like it's bad you had to go through all that stuff when you were young, it's just as bad for the adults, hell, Jess was 12 you had to protect her from stuff. Jay was in a wheelchair for gods sake, xe needed you too.

Dust clears his throat, effectively cutting off your train of thought,

"Ah well don't let killer find out about your age, he would be so excited to not be the youngest one here anymore,"

"Oh... well we're i came... from it was an accomplis..hment to even live to the next day.." you snap back. Dust just stares at you sadly,

now it is really brushing you the wrong way, purple blood begins to drip down your hands.

"Oh would you stop g...iving me that look, li...ke I'm- im, I'm just some lost little kid!! IVE EA...TEN PEOPLE IVE KILLED PEOPLE, IV...E KILLED PLENT...Y OF ADUL..TS I HAVE BLOOD ON MY HA..NDS, IM NOT SOME INNO...CENT LITTLE PORCE...LAIN DOLL THAT NEEDS TO BE BUBB...LE WRAPE..D,...Ive lived this lo...ng haven't I??  I- I d..on't need yo....ur pity. I don't need your sad little loo..ks"

You tug at your eyesockets harshly, breaking even more of the bone, this time on your working socket as well. 

tears are dripping out of your eye at this point, mixing with blood. God you just wished that- kill him kill Dust, see what he made you feel MAKE HIM FEEL IT BACK, MAKE HIM KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO DIE. TAKE HIS DUST 

HE DOESNT DESERVE THOSE LIMBS JUST KILL HIM, YOU DONT EVEN HAVE TO EAT HIM BUT IT WOULD TASTE SO GOOD, JUST WRAP YOUR HANDS AROUND HIS BONEY LITTLE NECK AND PULL, JUST TUG AND DONT LET GO.

You faintly hear shouting ring harshly in your ear. god, you should eat him that would shut him up for once

You growl and snarl at Dust pouncing at him, you head but him with your antlers, cutting him and causing him to run, gosh yes yes yes you love chases chase him chase him  your mouth finds his arm, as you bite down tightly you feel someone grab you with tentacles. You struggle until your limbs are held to tightly to move.

You hear static in your head, and some faint shouting, you let out a low growl, baring your teeth at the figures in front of you when did more people come here? "Leef" Well it doesn't matter. It'll be an all you can eat buffet. Gosh theyll be so filling, they "Leef!" have so much more magic than the starving monsters in your underground.

"Leef!!" Why can't you move your body on your own? Your jaws snap at the hand waving in front of you almost catching it.

"Jeez what is up with Leef? No lv problems have lasted this long for any of us" 

is that Cross? Will he help you get out of your own mind? You're as hungry as when you... when you ate that kid.

...you're scared...you want Jay. Why can't you control your own body, you hurt people...

"Hey Leef are you there? If you are you have to take deep breaths. You need to calm down."

You try to do what Nightmare says, but it's like you're trying to breath through molasses. You struggle to breathe as your body tries to escape Nightmare's hold. 

"That's it Leef. Breathe, no one is going to hurt you here, I'm not sure what Dust did but I am sure he did not mean it"  you feel the hold around you losen as you're set on the ground, hugging your knees to your chest. 

Your vision is blurry but you can see the figures of the whole gang staring down at you, one person is missing, you'd guess that the person is Error.

You can taste someone's blood in your mouth mmm light blue, patience. There is so much magic in this blood. You want more, you want this person's dust.

You unconsciously lick up the blood around your mouth, savoring the taste as much as you don't want to eat it you need the magic.

"Jeez Leef, what set you off?" 

"Killer..."

"Right right, I'm going, sorry."

As you watch what you now know is Killer walk out of the room you turn back to the rest of the gang. You are sitting there on the floor. You don't think you can move at the moment without hurting, You must have been struggling for quite a while.

You rub at your eyesockets to get rid of some leftover tears, but Nightmare gently takes your hands away from your face.

"You really did a number on your eyesockets, you'll have to stop picking at them, it's not good for you"

"...o..h" your voice is scratchy and hurts to use.

"Cross take Dust to go clean up, I will handle Leef."

Your vision may still be blurry, but you just know that you saw light blue blood drip from Dust's arm. Shit you hurt Dust.

"Ok Leef, I'm going to need to clean up your eyesockets." You nod slowly. Shit man you hurt Dust, you feel as more tears drip from your working eyesocket. You are such a fucking crybaby.

You hear as water begins to run from a faucet, Nightmare grasps a warm towel he just wetted and moves towards your face.

"Alright Leef, I am going to wipe the blood off. It may hurt a little, but I am not trying to harm you. After that I will put an ointment on it to help it heal correctly."

You slowly nod and Nightmare approaches you slowly. You hold back a flinch as he touches the damp hand towel to your face, soaking up any blood that was still spilling from the cracks.

"h...ow ba..d di....d I.... hurt D...ust?"

Nightmare takes some paste from a container you cannot read the label of and smears it around the chipped bone of your working eyesocket.

"No worse than the Star Sans could do." 

....Star Sans...Star Sans.. you can't quite put your finger on who those people are but they must be pretty memorable if you can still remember them now.

 "...wh..o's tha..t?" You begin to fidget around on your spot in the floor, the prolonged contact with Nightmare setting you off a little bit, you push past the thoughts of eating him in order to listen to what he has to say.

"The Star Sans are made up of Ink, or the 'protector' of the multiverse, Blue, or underswap sans, and... my brother, Dream. The Guardian of positivity."

Nightmare moves on to your other eye, the one you usually tug at, and you wince at the harsh sting you feel when he puts the ointment on the jagged bone.

"Their main goal is to stop us from spreading negativity, and in Inks case, from Error destroying au's." 

Oh yeah. It's coming back to you now, sometimes they're little goody two shoes, sometimes they are idiots and uhhh, that's all you remember.

In the time it takes you to think about the star sans Nightmare has finished up on your eyes. He gives you a quick pat on the head and gets up.

"You'll probably want to put some more of this on your eyesockets tomorrow. It'll help you with your vision at the very least."

You get up, joints creaking as you do so and you nod at him.

Welp... guess you're off to find Dust to apologize.

Chapter Text

Dust: You really put aside everything and came all this way for me? How did you even get here so fast? 

Cross: Several traffic violations. 

Error: Three counts of resisting arrest. 

Leef: Roughly thirteen cans of energy drinks. 

Killer: Also, that's not our car.

///

Leef: Man, they look like a real handful. How do you deal with them? 

Nightmare, watching Dust screaming, Killer trying to set a sleeping Error on fire, and Cross choking on air: I don't know either.

///

Dust: *closes a cabinet* 

*a crash is heard behind the cabinet door* 

Nightmare: What was that? 

Dust: The sound of someone else's problem.

///

Nightmare: I have the sharpest memory here - name one time I forgot something! 

Killer: You left me, Cross, and Dust in a Walmart parking lot at 2am a day ago. 

Nightmare: I did that on purpose, try again.

///

Leef: What am I supposed to do? 

Cross: If I were you? I'd try and make peace with whatever deity, pantheon, or Divine Other you believe in. 

Leef: I'm an atheist. 

Cross: Then just get ready to die I guess.

///

Nightmare, working at McDonald's: Sorry sir, we don't serve a McFuck here, so either you throw that one slice of pickle out or we're gonna have a McProblem.

///

Killer: When you've been on the internet for as long as I have, you develop thick skin. 

Cross: Navy blue isn't your color. 

Killer: Navy blue brings out my eyes you prick! *Chases after Cross *

///

Nightmare: You either buckle down and do your work or you'll end up at McDonalds. 

Leef: We're going to McDonalds if I don't do my work? 

Nightmare : NO-

///

Dust: Hey, can we stay in your dorm tonight? 

Nightmare: Why? 

Dust: Cross fiddled with an ouija board and cursed ours. 

Leef: Error doesn't know how to banish spirits, so they just throw salt at them and yell "DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A HOTEL TO YOU?!"

///

*The squad has just arrived in a new city. Leef looks around at the wanted posters to see if they're on any of them.* 

Cross: Leef, are you a criminal? 

Leef: Not here, I'm not!

///

Nightmare: And what did we learn, Killer? 

Killer: Tackling someone isn't the correct response to being asked a simple question.

///

Error: I came out here to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now.

///

Nightmare: If you could guess, how many brain cells do you have? 

Killer: Dorito's cool ranch. 

Nightmare: 

Nightmare: I'm just gonna assume zero for now. 

Killer: I love that song.

///

Nightmare, filling out legal paperwork: Were you guys born AMAB or AFAB? 

Killer: Bold of you to assume I was born at all. 

Error: I personally was created in a lab. 

Leef: I just straight up spawned lol.

///

Nightmare: Honestly, I am so evil. So full of darkness. I feed off the souls of the living I strike fear into- 

Dust: You sleep with a teddybear. 

Nightmare: He's my sECOND IN COMMAND IN MY ARMY OF DARKNESS!

///

Nightmare: Hey, what's the name of the guy who lives down the hall? 

Cross: His dog's names are Walter and Rose. 

Nightmare: That's not what I asked. 

Cross: That is all the information I have.

///

Nightmare: Today at 7 am, Cross poured a Monster energy drink in their coffee, said "I'm going to die" and drank the whole thing. 

Error: I watched Cross brew their coffee with Monster instead of water. Three cups in two hours. I think they ascended into the astral realm. 

Dust: The survivability of the skeleton 

race never fails to amaze me.

///

Nightmare: You are, of course, wondering why it is I have brought you here tonight. 

Dust: Actually, Nightmare, after all these years, I just sort of go with it.

///

Nightmare: What do you call quantums of electromagnetic radiation that don't get along? 

Leef: What did you just say- 

Nightmare: Foetons! *Laughs* 

Leef: Wh-what?

///

Cross: Dandelions symbolize everything I want to be in life. 

Killer: Fluffy and dead with a gust of wind? 

Cross: Unapologetic. Hard to kill. Feral, filled with sunlight, bright, beautiful in a way that the conventional and controlling hate but cannot ever fully destroy. Stubborn. Happy. Bastardous. Friends with bees. Highly disapproving of lawns. Full of wishes that will be carried far after I die. 

Leef wistfully: Edible.

///

Killer: Start talking! 

Dust: Well, I- 

Killer: Shut up!

///

Error: You know, on second thought, Gum would be perfection. 

Killer: *Gives them a strange look and hands them a piece of gum* 

Error: *Thinking* Gum would be perfection. Gum would be perfection. I could have said gum would be nice, could have said I'll have a stick. But no no no no no, for me, gum is perfection. I loathe myself.

///

Dust: DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT JOKE WAS FUNNY? IT WASNT. NOBODY IS LAUGHING. 

Dust: *pulls up a graph* THIS IS WHEN YOU TOLD YOUR JOKE, YOU HAVE SONGLE HANDEDLY RUINED COMEDY! IVE ALSO ASKED MANY COMEDY SCHOLARS ON THEIR OPINION OF YOUR JOKE AND THIS IS WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY! 

Error: I've been researching comedy for the past 20 years, and I have genuinely never seen a joke this bad. We have used quantum physics to look into alternate universes to see every joke made, and yours was still by far the worst. 

Dust: CONGRATULATIONS! YOUVE SINGLE HANDEDLY CREATED THE WORST JOKE IN HUMAN HISTORY! HERES A MEDAL! *pulls up a horrible ms paint drawn star that says "you need help*

///

Cross: *holding a salt packet* It's just a little sodium chloride. 

Nightmare: Actually Cross, it's salt. 

Cross: That's what I said, sodium chloride. 

Nightmare: Uh Cross, that would be salt. 

Nightmare: *takes salt packer from Cross* This is iodized table salt, which in addition to sodium chloride contains anti-caking agents and potassium iodate, which is added to prevent iodine deficiency. So not only are you being overly pretentious by insisting on using scientific terminology for everyday items, you are factually wrong. Your arrogance is your downfall, you annoying little shit.

Leef, holding a glass of water having just walked into the kitchen:... what the fuck?

///

Killer: Plants have feelings too?! What is this? Now I can't have food! 

Nightmare: You can eat a rock. 

Error: Air. 

Dust: The fabric of time and space. 

Leef: Chugging a bottle of bleach can solve all your problems. 

Killer: You guys are not helpful.

///

*While the Squad is in a battle* 

Cross, trying to warn about the location of an enemy: To the left! 

Killer: Take it back now y'all!

///

Dust: Do you think different paints have different tastes? 

Leef: They do. 

Error: ...Why did you say that with such certainty?

///

Nightmare: While I'm gone, you're in charge Killer. 

Killer: Yes! 

Nightmare, whispering to Cross: You're secretly in charge, but I don't want them to feel bad. 

Cross: Obviously.

///

Killer: How are we supposed to put a tracker the size of a penny on Leef without them noticing? 

Cross: Hey, Leef, I bet you 5 bucks that you can't swallow this penny. 

Leef: *takes and swallows tracker* Pay up, loser. 

Killer: ...

///

Nightmare: What do you call disobeying the law? 

The Squad: A hobby. 

Nightmare: *crosses their arms* 

The Squad: That we do not engage in.

///

Leef: Don't quote me on this, but I believe cannibalism is illegal!

///

Leef: We're going to a candy store?! 

Nightmare: No! It's nighttime, candy stores are closed. 

Dust: We're gonna ROB a candy store?!?! 

Nightmare, sighing: No-

///

Error: What's your biggest fear? 

Nightmare: I am incredibly arachnophobic. 

Error, under their breath: You don't want spiders to get married?

///

Cross: If you kill me, my teeth only have a 2% drop rate. 

Killer: What? 

Cross: Good luck.

///

Store Worker: Would a "Nightmare" please come to the front desk? 

Nightmare, arriving at the desk: Hello, is there a problem? 

Store Worker, pointing to Killer, Leef, and Dust: I believe they belong to you? 

Killer, Leef, and Dust, simultaneously: We got lost. 

Nightmare: I didn't even bring you guys here with me—

///

Dust: I was voted "friendliest classmate" in high school. 

Killer: I was voted "most likely to become a clown"... 

Leef: You think that's bad? HA! I was voted "most likely to get rabies"!

///

Leef: HYDRATE OR DIE-DRATE! 

Leef: *aggressively throws water bottles* 

Killer: Uh... what's up with them? 

Nightmare: They're trying to yell mental health and wellbeing into us. 

Leef: I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU! 

Dust, crying: It's working.

///

Killer: Can we go to a haunted house? 

Nightmare: What's wrong with the one we live in? 

Killer: Wh-what? 

Nightmare: Goodnight, Killer.

///

Error: I'm gonna need a human skull but you can't ask why. 

Leef: Only if you also don't ask why. 

Leef: *pulls four pristine human skulls out of their bag* 

Error: ... 

Error, grabbing a skull: This one will do.

///

Killer: So, I heard you like bad guys... I time travel in Animal Crossing.

///

Error: Coca Cola can remove rust from metal, imagine what it's doing to your body. 

Killer: Pfff, getting rid of the rust, idiot. 

Error: THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS! 

Dust: Hmm... I've been drinking soda and my body's rust free... not sure where you're getting your facts from...

///

Error, handing out popsicles: Which flavor do you want? 

Leef: Blue flavor! 

Error: Uh, you mean Blue Raspberry? 

Leef: Blue flavor! Blue flavor! 

Error: Blue is not a flavor! 

Leef: BLUE FLAVOR!

///

Leef: I learned a valuable lesson that day.

Nightmare: I'm guessing they are all horrible distortions on the lesson you actually should've taken away... 

Leef: DEATH ISN'T REAL AND I AM BASICALLY GOD!

///

Cross : I don't think we can mansplain, manipulate, or malewife our way out of it this time. 

Killer: *cracks knuckles* Manslaughter it is!

///

Nightmare: I haven't seen Killer  and Leef for fifteen minutes now. 

*Outside a nearby window, a car without a driver inside is seen rolling down a driveway, with Killer  and Leef running after it in a panic. Nightmare doesn't look outside at all.* 

Nightmare: That probably means they're getting into trouble.

///

Chapter Text

Soooo... if Dust is getting his wound cleaned where would he be? You glance around with your blurry vision, you take a quick breath to steady yourself 

"O...k... step one....: find Du..st. Step tw...o-"

"Would you like to know where Dust is?" Shit. You forgot that Nightmare is still here. Well so what if you talk to yourself? You're still not exactly in your right state of mind, so fuck him you guess.

"Yea..h" you reach up to pick at your eyesocket but Nightmare takes your hands away. You flinch a bit but not as badly as the first time, you move to fiddle with the bunny ears on your sweatshirt instead.

"He would probably be in the bathroom, there are plenty of first aids around and the bathroom is the calmest place to deal with injuries, at least in Cross's opinion." 

You didn't exactly realize there were bathrooms here, of course there would be, it just hadn't crossed your mind. 

Gosh you should just take a good long hot shower once this all gets settled, you haven't used hot water in a long time, it was mostly bottles or streams you used when needed.

You follow Nightmare as he leads you to a bathroom door 

"Now, just know, you are not in trouble for what happened back there, it was likely the Lv you have. But just because I forgive you does not mean than Dust will."

Nightmare calmly walks away with you left standing near the door to the bathroom. You take a moment to hype yourself up and you knock on the closed door.

You tug at your eyesocket as the door creaks open, it's Cross that opened it. You can see Dust sitting on a toilet seat lid with a bandage around his arm.

"What do you want?" Damn, blunt but straight to the point, at least Cross isn't letting you stall.

"I.. wann..a apol..ogiz..e.. to D..ust." The skeleton that is mentioned looks up at the sound of his name. Throws up the peace sign and turns to you.

"Heyyy Leefy" you wave at him and you see Phantom hovering over him. (Where did Jay go, you want Jay back only Jay calls you Leefy) 

Cross glances from you to Dust. Then back at you, he sighs and begins to walk away.

"I'll leave you two to it, don't break each other. Stars I swear Leef will be worse than Killer when it comes to Dust." Cross mutters the last bit but your ears can pick it up. Once Cross fully leaves the bathroom you begin to speak.

"I am... so.. so...rry. I-I... don't know wh...at came over... me, and then you were ...bleeding.. and I fully understa...nd if yo...u never want to talk to ...me again b.ut please... don't be .ang..ry... I don't th..ink I can take it if you wer...e angry... But you have a right to be, don't g..et me ...wrong. Go..d fucking damn ...I'm so sorry." 

Dust sits there in silence for a long tense moment, you are fully expecting him to toss a weapon your way and cast you out. But then he starts to laugh, first a chuckle, but quickly turning into and almost full on cackle.

"BahaBAHAHAH Oh my gosh Leef, It'll take more than a little nip to make me angry. Do you even know the kind of scrapes I get when I'm out of missions?. I'll be fine, I shouldn't have brought up your age." 

You let out a deep breath and you allow your claw to drop from your cracked eyesocket. 

"I..am so..ry though... is there anyt..hing I can do... to make.. you forgiv...e me?" Dust gets a devious smile on his face.

"Well...since you're offering..."

///

You can not believe that you are doing this. With Jay watching you too..You know what? No. You're going to embrace it. You cross your legs in the chair and give your biggest, most charming smile to Dust.

"Bravo Leefy Branch!"you hear as Jay claps at your epic pose

Your camera in Dust's hands clicks as he takes a picture of you in this pink frilly dress. It's like your classic light pink princess dress that every girl in your town wanted when they were young.

You hold you head high to show off your yellow plastic Tiara and you stand up, adjusting your white elbow length gloves while doing so. Time to get your inner theater kid out.

"Oh..Dust" you mimic fluttering your eye lashes, you put your arm over your head dramatically.

"Oh... will anyone sav..e me from the big,.. bad, evil drag..on?" You say in your most damsel in distress voice. Jay begins to go along with it as well, roaring loudly and pretending to be a dragon. You hear as Dust laughs uproariously. 

"Only a knig..ht can sav..e me after I was trappe....d in the... tower" you fight back a smile as you continue your performance, Dust taking many pictures. Sadly not capturing Jay in xeir dragonish glory.

"Oh... if only the k...night would come and save... me, it's been awful... being stuck in this...tall tower with...out a big, strong, man in h...ere with me." 

Jay pretends to claw at you, causing you to let out a girly screech

You notice Error walk into the room, coffee mug in hand. He stops at the sight of you. And turns right back around muttering "nope, nope, nope, not today, I'm not dealing with this today."

Dust places down the camera quietly 

"Oh.. gosh, the dragon... surely will kill me... if my knight in shining amour... doesn't arriv..e soon."

You watch as Cross and Killer come into the room, fighting and bickering. They stare wide mouthed at you until they hear your next line.

"Oh if... only a knight or two woul...d save me from t...he dragon killing me then my life would be comple...te." 

They seem to get the hint to join you in your little improv skit and Cross and Killer begin duking it out with the air, well, what they think is the air, they are waving imaginary swords at where Jay is

"I will not let you hurt the princess you monster. Never again will you reek havoc of this fine town. Now die you foul beast." Killer says

"Never show your self again. Or you will make us slaughter you once more." Cross proclaims boldly

Jay flops down on the ground and sticks xeir tongue out to signify xe is dead.

"Oh.. thank the good lord... you killed the dragon... how could I...ever repay yo...u?" Dust steps up, gaining everyone's attention 

"Oh.. hahaha... you foolish mortals. Did you truly believe that would be the end of destruction? That dragon was simply a pawn I took control of. And well.. being able to take down a dragon... you must be very strong." 

As Dust continues his evil monologue Cross falls to the floor, clutching where his heart should be. You and Killer gasp in sync.

"What are you doing to me? You-you witch!" 

"Oh... just your classic little possession spell. Trust me you won't feel a thing pretty soon."

Cross soon stands up. Grasps his air sword, and swings at Killer.

"Oh no... my knight.. how hor..rible it is that h...e is dying." You pretend to pat your eyes dry.

"I-I I can't kill my bro. He is my bro, mi amigo, my radical dude. I'm sorry Cross. But I won't kill you." 

Killer sinks to the floor, sniffing like he is crying. This almost broke you. But you kept a stone face, only a twitch of a smile, unlike Dust who is an absolute snickering mess 

"You'll have to kill me before I lay a single hand on you." Killer says bowing in front of Cross's still form.

"I see... your-" Dust snickers " -bromance is to strong for my tricks. Then... can I ask one thing of you?" You three nod. 

"Live a happy life for me?" Dust wiggles his fingers and falls to the floor, dead. 

You four burst out laughing, signifying the end of the skit. You hear a slow clap and you help Dust up off the ground. 

The four of you turn around to the noise of the clapping and you see Nightmare sitting there on a chair, book lain abandoned beside him.

"Bravo." Your face feels like it's in flames, yes you're embarrassed, but you are still in character at the moment, so you mimic flipping your hair. And you bow

"Ah... thank you... ah than..k you. We'll be h...ere all week." 

"Yep, we'll be here forever."  Killer says

"Won't leave, can't leave" Dust states

"We live here." Cross says dryly 

"Gosh... I can't be...lieve we liv..e in a thea- woah... hold on..." Nightmare looks at you amused as the other three glance at you, still donned in your pink dress.

"We could te....chnically call the hous..e a theater... now! Cus like a th...eater is the building... that a produ...ction takes... place in, and we just did... a production." 

The three that joined your little improv skit begin laughing 

"Nightmare theaters" cross says jokingly, naming the new play house you came up with. You gasp.

"Omg... what if we m..ade it official? Do y'all... have paper a...nd pencils?"

"... I love the way you think." Killer says and he rushes off to who knows where and comes back quickly with a poster board and a pack of crayons.

You plop down on the floor with Cross Dust and Killer, they hover over you as you write on the poster board.

Nightmare Theaters

Creators of any and all of your strange nightmares.

You add a picture of popcorn on the poster and pass it around the circle of people that you formed so each person can add their own touch.

Cross adds a criss cross border, Dust adds a little picture of the happy/sad theater masks with blood on them, and Killer adds little knives.

When the poster comes back round to you glance to Jay, silently asking xem what xe wants to add.

"Oh, em, gee. Add like a drippy underline to the name, like it's blood. Gotta keep the theme going."

You nod and do as requested. You then hold it up to Nightmare proudly, smile wide on your face. 

"As much as I would love to put this on the front door no one actually uses the door. More people would see it if I put it on the fridge."

There is general agreement amongst the group on the ground, Nightmare takes the poster from your grasp and walks to the kitchen, the gang following him. you and Killer bouncing after him while Dust and Cross walk after casually.

You four watch intently as Nightmare sticks the poster to the fridge with a basic grey magnet. 

Kinda reminds you of when you put Jess's art up on the fridge. You're able to see the crappy crayon drawing of your past family in the silly poster.

No one has put your art on a fridge before. Such a loser You're finally no longer the protector, you're the young one. You finally get the break from the stress you wanted. 

"...thank yo...u guys..

Chapter Text

///

It's been chill for the most part, it's been like two days since you got forgiven by Dust, and you absolutely kept the dress. Who's knows when you're going to need a princess peach cosplay as a bad sans.

But today's the day, you're finally going out on a mission with Dust and Killer, apparently Nightmare will be watching through one of Error's one way portals just in case y'all get into a a bad kerfuffle.

 You're pacing back and forth in your room, yeah you're confident in your fighting abilities, you're just nervous. 

"Listen Leef, it'll be ok, if anything goes wrong Nightmare is there to intervene." 

"Yeah... yeah yea...h you're right J...ay, yeah..." your hand goes to yank at your eyesocket but you catch yourself before you do so. 

You grip your nailed bat and straighten out your sweatshirt, taking a deep breath you ready yourself to leave the safety of your room.

"Ok... it'll be fine..." with that last bit of encouragement you creak open the door to your room and walk into the kitchen, planning to get some food before you go on your mission.

You pop into the kitchen and you see Nightmare in there sipping on a white coffee mug that seems to say something. you also notice Killer and Dust playing rock paper scissors in some of the other chairs. He turns to you and gives you a rundown on what to do.

"Right, basically you just want to spread a bunch of negativity, make people angry, sad, scared, I don't care what you do or what emotion. Kill people, torture people, or even make them bored, do whatever. I'll be sending you all to Underswap. Now Killer, Dust, I expect you to protect Leef, this is his first time going out on one of these missions, if they get hurt and I find that it's your fault you will be punished accordingly."

Killer plops his head on the table with a groan

"I don't waaaaannnnaaa do the dishes again." 

"Then do not let Leef get hurt because of a foolish choice on your part."

Nightmare get up and makes a portal Killer and Dust hop through immediately, but Nightmare holds you back. He hands you a little granola bar and speaks to you.

"You'll do fine" with that you walk through the black portal.

As you step into the new universe you pop the granola bar in your mouth.

Killer is bouncing in place and Dust has a dark smirk on his face.

"Right right, we're just gonna split up and meet up back here in like a little bit." Dust says. Killer speeds off at that, holding a couple of knives in each hand. 

You glance at your environment, snow snow snow, and some more snow, great. You just pick a direction and walk.

"Soooo what evil deeds do you plan to do." Jay asks, with a dramatic finger wiggle at 'evil deeds' 

"I do...n't know, I could... always kill someone...and eat the...m in front of their fam..ily."

"You know, you may have more than a few screws loose if that's your first thought, but perfect! Although I'll probably leave soon because of it."

You send Jay a questioning look, "wha..t do you mea..n?"

"Well when you eat someone, or want to eat them real bad i like... I don't know, it's like I fall asleep? I'm not sure but it doesn't hurt or anything, I just know that time passes when I'm gone." Right so you have your reason that Jay keep disappearing.. speaking of xe's gone.

Welp guess you're gonna treat yourself today a cheat day finally. You skip around until you see some buildings you knock on the first one you see and sure enough there's people in there.

A tall bear monster is standing infront of you, a large smile on his face. you quickly hide your bat at strike up a conversation, brushing off any questions about why you're at his house, until you hear a commotion outside, sounds like Dust is busy.

"Come... on outside... the weat..hers just lovely.." the monster turns you down politely. With that you give a dark smile.

"Oh! I'm sorry... that wa...sn't a question."

You grab ahold of the monster and yank him out of the door. You're now in almost the center of town, you can hear Dust a little ways infront of you fighting someone.

(Hey tw for cannibalism! I guess.. monster cannibalism but you know. Also death and fights!! Skip if you don't like it I'll let you know when it's over.)

You look down at the bear under you and start biting. His body turning into dust as you rip chunks off. He screams loudly.

The other residents stare in shock as you devour one of them. A little yellow monster with no arms starts shouting at you.

"Yo yo, that ain't really nice mister bad guy, Undyne is going to beat you up if ya don't stop"

You jut your hand out at the child and push him away, you turn back to the bear monster and take another bite. you're sure to do it slowly nice and slow let the screams echo

Green blood spurts out of the bear monster's body staining the snow. You take bite after bite until he dusts fully, even then you eat the dust. The residents toss things at you but you keep going until there nothing left but the green blood staining the melting snow.

(Hey tw over, you just ate a guy, there's still fighting tho)

You lunge at some rabbit monster, making them yelp and step back.

You brush yourself off casually and grip your bat. Planning to kill another until Dust and Killer come running at you.

"Go go go, this aus judge found us. Go back to the meet up." Dust says, wizzing past you. Then just straight up disappearing and reappearing farther in front. Killer does the same.

You glance back and see a tall figure in bright orange chasing after them.

You quickly turn tail and run along side the others, long legs and powerful strides easily letting you catch up, at least until they teleport. Seems that your pursuer can also do that.

"Leef! Shortcut to the meet up, we'll meet you there" Killer shouts teleporting away with Dust, you take off to where the portal should be, powerful legs letting you run fast, but the tall skeleton teleports in front of you.

It's papyrus. You grasp your bat and take a swing. Knocking him out the way harshly, at least until he teleports up above you. He summons a bone and seems to be planning to hit you with it.

You duck and roll out of the way, as you're jumping up to avoid another attack this world's papyrus hits you with the dense bone. Hitting you right on the femur.

You swing your head around scraping your sharp horns against his arm.

You go to take a wack at Papyrus's legs with your nailed bat. He teleports out of the way faster than you can change your direction, or balance yourself correctly. Making you go tumbling to the ground.

This au's papyrus puts his foot on your back, pinning you to the ground.

He goes to say something but you hear a wet sound. A black portal opening underneath you. You fall to the ground in front of Nightmare, seems you're back in the mansion, face first on the red carpet.

Killer and Dust runs up to you.

"Why didn't you shortcut? Didn't you hear Killer? It wasn't that far away." Dust says quickly to you.

Killer nods along with him, throwing up his hands.

"Gosh did you want me to do the dishes?" Killer whines at you jokingly.

You pick at your eyesocket, embarrassed. You're around a bunch of magical monsters and you don't have magic yourself, your face gets hot at the thought.

You clear your throat, stalling for time to formulate a response.

"Well... ehm.. uhh... I can't rea..lly use magic." Nightmare looks to have a deep thinking look on his face while the others throw questions at you.

"Like can't? Or like you just don't know how?" Dust says

"You're made of magic, how can you not use it??" Killer questions

You tense up. 

"Heyyyy im back Leefy Branch. What's u- oh shit who do I need to beat up? I'll fucking throw hands bro." You sigh,

"Leef, relationships are built on trust, I may sound preachy but it's true, they already know you're scared of dogs, they won't cast you out because of something you can't control, im sure they're not like that." 

Dust nods along with Jay, he may not know what xe is talking about but he just wants answers.

You look over to Jay do you reaaaally need to tell them you shoot Jay a look and xe glares at you steadily, 

"Leef just do it, it'll be fine. The worst that'll happen is that they make a few jokes."

You clear your throat and speak up, Killer standing there bored after the long silence. Nightmare has that thinking look on his face again. You didn't notice that he wrote something down in a notebook while you were conversing with Jay.

"In my au.... Magic was scarce in the environment. So our bo...dies had to adapt to the...magic levels in the air and t...o having mor...e fights breaking out. Our bodies turned our magic reserves i...nto physical things to... help protect us better, it was more energy... to keep magic reserves full rather than just gettin...g rid of magic all together." 

You gesture towards your antlers. 

"Which... is why I have these I think. So uhm, yeah I don...'t have magic any...more now, anything that isn't keeping... me alive that is."

"I see... would you be apposed to me taking you to Sci again at some point to check out your magic?"

"Oh uh... sure.. why not."

You are acutely aware of blood dripping down your leg onto the hardwood flooring of the room.

You clear your throat and excuse yourself from the conversation.

You make your way to the bathroom. If your memory serves you correctly there should be a first aid kit somewhere...

AHA there we go. You sit on the toilet seat lid and get to work disinfecting your leg.

"Jeez Leefy Branch what happened?"

"Some alternate... Pa...pyrus attacked me cus I...was doing the thing."

"Gosh, does it hurt?" 

"It's an.. open wound gu...shing blood... what do you.. think Jay Bird?"

"Ok then you're in pain. Where'd your bat go?" 

You finish wrapping up your leg and look around

"Oh well... if it's not here it... must be in the... room I fell through the portal in.."

You make your way to the room you arrived in. Getting antsier by the second.

"No.. no.. I left it here some...where I'm sure of I..t."

That bat has been with you through thick and thin, ever since you woke up in this world you've had it. You were cleaning out a room back when you still live with Papyrus when you found it.

Some little friend of Jay's gifted you the nails when you moved in together. You can't have lost your bat.

"No.. no... Jay are you sure you didn't see me...holding it whe...n you came back??"

You screech to a halt when Nightmare comes into the room looking tired. Your hand drops from your eye immediately.

"What's the matter Leef"

"No.. no.. it's it's nothing.."

Nightmare looks so tired you shouldn't keep him

"Leef..."

"Ok... ok... I lost my... bat somewhere.."

Nightmare sighs and rubs his face.

"Killer has it and it cleaning it. He felt bad for leaving you. So he's getting the rust off the nails."

You pale at that. The rust was there for a reason! so that even if you just scratch someone they'll get tetanus eventually. It's a show of time, of wear and tear, proof that you're actually here and time goes by, that this isn't some twisted dream.

You begin to shake with frustration. You don't like people touching your stuff. Especially stuff with sentimental value.

Your claws dig into your palms, if you had had your bat, it would have saved you from causing your hands to bleed. 

You didn't have much you could call

yours in your past life, you had to be ready to pack up and move at a moment's notice. If someone touched your stuff that usually means that they are going to break it.

Killer is going to break your bat. 

Every single one of your prey's blood is on that bat.

"Leef, hun, I'm sure Killer is being careful with your bat. He has plenty of weapons he can take care of yours"

"Yeah...yeah... heh.. it'll, it'll be fine... you're right Jay."

Nightmare stands in front of you along with Killer and clears his throat. When did he leave?

"Killer."

"Right uhm.. sorry for touching your stuff without asking you. But I didn't start cleaning it yet. I was just getting stuff ready. Sorry"

Killer hands your bat over to you. And you immediately start looker over it to make sure he didn't sabotage it or something.

...nothing but the normal amount of scratches. You let out a sigh and look up to Killer.

"Thanks.." 

Chapter Text

You are sitting on the couch along side Error. You were told to sit back for their next mission after finding out you didn't have magic, you feel a bit weak but you've been training your flexibility, just a bunch stretches in the morning so your joints don't hurt so much throughout the day. You've already made great progress, you can already touch your toes without much pain!

Error is just waiting to be called for backup later when Nightmare needs help. 

No matter how many times you begged Error to let you come with he said no unfortunately. You just want to prove yourself after how horribly your last fight went, you don't want to just be useless.  

You just weren't prepared for a teleporting enemy.

The Spanish show Error put on goes in one ear and out the other, in favor of listening to Jay ramble on and on about how xe wants to learn Spanish.

You know enough to have an extremely broken, simple conversation, or to yell directions of enemies. 

You had this one friend, before the plague started, they spoke Spanish because they were from Puerto Rico, just visiting some distant family. 

yeah they could speak English but it was quicker for you both to learn a bit of the other language. 

You're pretty sure Ziggy was their name, you spent a lot of time with them when the plague first started, almost 4 years, you had just recently been on your own when you died, only 2 ish years.

so even now you sometimes shout out directions in Spanish when you're really panicked.

Their uncle was this cookey old biology professor who's house was basically a bunker, professor Hidgens was his name, he was pretty much a doomsday prepper which is why you were trying to get to his house once the haleef started coming for you. 

But that's enough dwelling on the past... Jay is talking to you.

"Omg Leefy, you have to ask Nightmare if we can have a pet!! I realllllyyyyy want one. Pretty please? I'll promise to take care of it."

You wouldn't trust Jay to even take care of a rock. But maybe you could ask Nightmare for like a fish or something... 

Right, you'll put that on the good old mental check list.

Error suddenly gets up, and teleports away.. cool... you're here alone now.

"Jay bird... ima ask Night..mare for a fish when... he gets home."

"Omg thank you thank you thank you!!"

"Anyways...we could pro-"

You hear a loud clang and the lights and tv flicker off.

"O...k... then. Power went out. Fun f..un fun."

You glance around in the darkness, you large eyelight tinting everything purple.

You begin to shiver, god the heat must have been doing some heavy lifting if it got this cold this fast.

Not even your underground was this cold and it was crisp down there.

You begin to go on the hunt for blankets, even towels.

You bring your large bundle of cloth to your room. And you lay on your bed, the floor would suck up to much of your heat.

You slowly fall into an uneasy sleep.

You wake up to something poking your side. You peek open your eyes to see Error nudging you with a pencil.

"Heat's out, we're gonna bunk in my anti-void. Come on."

You groggily get up and sneeze, god you feel like shit right now. You take your old, reliable, blue blanket you and Jay used.

Following after Error you see the rest of the gang bunched up in the living room like a bunch of penguins.

"Holy shit Leef, how'd you fall asleep in this??" Killer's loud voice brings out a headache you didn't know you had.

You let out another sneeze and wrap your blanket around yourself and pull your hood up over your head as everyone minus Nightmare walks through Error's portal into the anti-void.

The bright white blinds your eye for a moment as you plop down on the floor. 

"Leef. Leef. Leef. Leef. Leef. Leef. You good?" Killers doesn't stop calling your name until you turn to look at him

You let out another sneeze and you lay back down, shivering under your blanket.

You don't know how long you were sat there sick. Nothing but the noises of your companions to keep you up.

Eventually Error leaves and comes back with Nightmare, who says something, but your head is swimming, making it difficult to focas on anything.

Someone picks you up, you would flinch if you had the energy but you're just so weak at the moment so you just tense up slightly as tears prick your eyes.

You haven't felt this weak sense you died. The thought of that sends panic coursing through you.

You feel as heat wraps itself around you, you open your eyes you didn't notice were closed and are met with your room. As unfurnished as ever.

The rest of the day is a blur, your high fever making most of it feel like a dream. With you fading in and out of sleep it's hard to tell how long you were sick.

///

eventually Error comes into your room, holding another bowl of soup.

"You feeling better?"

"Ah.. yeah.." 

"Good, because you were talking crazy whenever you woke up, Nightmare wants to ask you some questions once you eat."

Error looks at the soup, and then to you. He sits down on your bed and glances at you again.

"Do you think you can feed yourself?"

You shift around to try to get a sense of your strength. You're a little weak but you feel much better than before.

You simply nod and take the bowl sipping the broth and listening to Jay.

"Dude you were acting crazy, you were all 'wowowow I'm hunnnngryyy' and like 'that's not very slay of you'  or like just start shouting profanities whenever someone tried to talk to you"

You nearly choke on your soup at that. Gosh, this is why you try not to be sleep deprived. Or you'll turn into a little bitch.

Error just stares at you and takes your empty bowl from you. Leaving you there listening to Jay talk about the weird stuff you did, ranging from trying to eat the blankets to yelling to see people's blood.

You were acting super paranoid apparently.

You look up as Nightmare enters the room he sits down on a chair next to your bed and wastes no time jumping into questions.

"Just know that you don't have to tell me anything you don't feel comfortable with. Now, who is 'Jay'?"

Jesus fuck, starting off with the hard ones huh.

"An..old friend" 

You fight the urge to glance at Jay 

"Leef, you don't have to keep me a secret if you don't want to. I'm fine with people knowing I'm dead."

It feels like Nightmare is staring into your soul

"Then why were you talking to them whenever you are alone."

Of course he knows you were talking to Jay. You take a deep breath to calm yourself, cats out of the bag now.

"Xe's dead, I...see a ghost of xem, like Du..st sees his brother."

"Alright, could I speak to this.. Jay?"

You look up to Jay and xe nods, seemingly chill with it.

"Sure..go ahead, xe is rig...ht here" you point over to where Jay is currently floating

"What kind of fish would you like? I'll take Leef shopping once they are ready."

"Gasp!!! Uh.... I don't know fish types, could I just look and pick at the store??" 

Ignoring the fact that Jay just said 'gasp' out loud you turn to Nightmare and translate.Nightmare nods his head and moves onto the next question.

"Why are you scared of these 'haleefs?'"

You freeze at that. And your breath gets heavy 

So many people have died because of haleefs. You nearly did as well.

You have killed because of haleef.

All because someone ate a shitty apple with a bug in it.

You feel as tears start dripping from your eyes

Why are you crying?

It's not that bad.

You're ok now 

It's been years

You haven't seen a haleef in years

It shouldn't be bothering you

So then why are you crying?

The past can't be changed

What's done is done

You should be fine

A haleef wasn't even what killed you

But even still you can't get the picture out of your mind

A haleef, purple spikes jutting out of its back 

Bent over your mom in the kitchen 

Purple blood dripping and mixing with the red of your mother's

Purple

You used to like the color purple

You used to like purple anemones 

You would clutch onto the flower and pray to whatever god there was for protection

But no one ever saved you

So you gave the flowers to Jess 

And became the protector that she needed

But it wasn't enough

Jess died

Jess died because of you

All because you didn't worry enough

Jay died too

All because of you

You used to like the color purple

Now you can't even look at the color

Not without wanting to vomit

Fucking pussy

It's been 7 years

You should be over it

So then why are you crying?

It's all been you leaning on people

All throughout your life

You just take from others

You shouldn't be crying

You're just selfish 

You used to like the color purple

The meaning of royalty 

But haleef

Were far from royal

You used to like the color purple 

Purple anything

You used to like the color purple

Any shade

You used to like the color purple

From flowers to clothing

You used to like the color purple

Not anymore

You don't like the color purple

All you can see are dark bruises 

You don't like the color purple

The spikes and blood of the haleef

You don't like the color purple

Your own blood now

You don't like the color purple

Jess's blood before you killed her

You don't like the color purple

Haleef eyes

You don't like the color purple

Even haleef teeth are slightly purple

You don't like the color purple

But you used to

Chapter Text

You're sat there on your bed for a long time, stuck in your mind for god knows how long. 

But eventually you come back to what you think is reality from Nightmare touching you, not exactly the best way to come to for you

You flinch harshly, and scramble off of the bed to get away from the dogs it's the dogs, they're coming for you, you didn't escape and now you'll pay with your life 

You're so unbelievably fucked. It's the dogs, run run run, get away.

You get tangled in your blankets and rip them off, getting to your little hidey hole underneath your bed.

"Oh Leef, hon, the dogs aren't coming to you, it's just Nightmare, it's ok."

When you only scooch farther back under the bed Jay sighs and floats closer.

"Leef, can you breathe for me hon? You're safe here."

You are yanking at both your eye sockets at this point, blood and tears staining your hands, your breathing is fast and shakey. 

You're so scared. But you trust Jay right? Xe has been nothing but kind to you.

So you try your best, fighting to move and giving a jerky nod.

"All right Leef, here's how we're going to breathe: 'In..two..three..four... out..two..three..four' alright?"

Xe repeats the words until you are matching with minimal shakes.

"That's it Leef, I should not have brought up such a sensitive subject, I apologize nor should I have touched you, that was foolish on my part."

"..." it felt like you were dreaming. The thoughts passing through your head didn't seem real. Everything had this sort of haze when you move. 

It's as if the negative emotions and thoughts in your mind are being siphoned out.

A simple apology won't get rid of the thoughts you had, you remember what you were thinking, even if you aren't thinking it anymore... 

You don't want to be rude you just... don't want to have to fight through your voice to just talk, or be around people at the moment.

"I'm... sorry. But plea..se leave"

Nightmare simply nods and walks out of the room calmly.

Jay hovers near you and looks to you

"Do... do you want me to leave too?"

... do you? 

You just shake your head no and sit on your bed. 

You still have that post sickness ick but you feel relatively fine. You could really go for something other than soup though.

Why did you react that way to just a simple question?

Your literal name is a reminder of what haleefs did to you. 

You just need a second to recoop after that, and you don't think you can face Nightmare at the moment.

But didn't he say you could go to Error if you wanted to go to a different au?

Error knows stuff, he probably knows a calm au right?

You weigh your options for a bit. Debating the pros and cons, ultimately deciding to search out Error.

You creak your door open and step out into the hallway, if you remember correctly... errors room should be.... Right... here... 

Aha! There we go. A tiny blue sticky note with Error's name decorated the plain white door.

You go to knock on it but Error beats you to it. Opening the door just as you raise your hand up to knock.

"What do you want?"

Oh fuck. You didn't think this far ahead course you didn’t.

"What's.. a chill au....Can you ta...ke me there."

Error seems to think for a moment before nodding and opening a portal.

"I'll take you to Ccino's cafe, he's 'chill' as you say. And you can get food there." Error hands you a little red ribbon and hands it to you.

"I'll come get you in two hours. if you want to come back early break this ribbon and I'll come and get you."

Oh.. so he's just gonna send you on your way. Cool.

You give Error the peace sign and step through the portal he ever so kindly made for you. You do notice that Jay didn't come through with you... xe must not want to come then.

Tying the ribbon around your wrist your glance around hearing someone call 

"Ah Error! Back so so-"

A sans walks up behind a counter you would order at from the back room.

"Oh, you're not Error. Do you know him? Is that why you came through his portal?"

The sans walks up to you, undeterred by your height and... current deshivled appearance and continues his talk

"Oh oh, I am Ccino! Welcome to my cat café! It's almost rush hour so excuse me if I can't talk for very long but I haven't seen you around before."

You look the skeleton in front you you up and down, before relaxing and speaking up 

"I'm.. Leef. I've been run..ning with uh..." you stop before you say Nightmare's name. Is this guy going to attack you if you reveal yourself to be one of the 'bad guys'? 

"Ohhhhh are you part of the Bad Sans? It's all good, Error comes in all the time, I won't hold it against you, just don't get up to trouble here and there won't be a problem!"

You nod at Ccino and shuffle around. You didn't really want to have to socialize, and with Jay not here it's eerily silent.

"Right well, pick somewhere to sit and I'll be with you shortly."

With that Ccino turns away and hurries off to wherever he came from.

You pick a seat by a couple of windows and wait. He said something about this being a cat café, but you don't see and single cat around.

That is, until they come rushing out of a room and around you.

Ccino comes back and chuckles at the sight of you with a bunch of cats on your lap.

"Sorry for them all barging at you. I just fed them so they were all in the same place. Now, what can I get you Leef?"

Oh uh... you glance over the menu written on a chalkboard in front of you... you don't know half of the junk on it, not to mention you can't read it from where you are.

"Do you.... Have apple juice? Pl...ease"

Ccino nods and hurries off, leaving you with the cats.

One of them is trying to climb up your jacket and onto your head, deciding to help him you pick the white cat up and place him on your skull

He jumps right onto your antlers. Unbalancing you a bit.

You have zero clue how he can be comfortable up there but that's not your problem.

Finally the cats disperse and your left with three of them. The one on your head and two napping on your lap.

Ccino comes back with your apple juice

"Anything else? We got desserts, snack stuff like pretzels or crackers, what would you like? And don't worry about pricing, it's on the house for your first time!"

You think for a moment. What's something you you haven't eaten in a long time that you really want?

"Do you have... gummies?"

"Oh yes we do! I'll be right back."

You relax into your seat when the bell rings and a skeleton steps through the door.

He clocks you and makes a b-line for your table. His eyelights light up and he smiles.

"Hello friend! Is this seat taken?"

You shake your head no, careful not to jostle the cat off your head. 

Ughhhhh you really didn't want to have to interact with people.

"Ah what is your name?? I am the magnificent Blue!"

Blue... Blue.. why is that name familiar? Blue.. Bl- 

Blue. He's a part of the Star Sans. Shit. He's gonna beat you right the fuck up.

You don't want to call Error unless it's really important. This... you're just a little spooked, it'll be fine, it's not an emergency.

You try to control your breathing and look at the little skeleton in front of you.

"I'm... Leef."

"Oh! Do you know Killer? I think he was muttering about you during one of our fights!"

Oh uhhh shit. You shouldn't tell Blue that you're a part of the Bad Sans. 

Fucking god. You really don't want to be interrogated like this.

You're tired, Error told you this was a chill place. 

You gently take the cat off of your horns and slam your head on the table. With no regard for being polite  to Blue. 

He ends up needing to move his arm out of the way to not get hit with your horns.

You cradle the cat in your arms gently and sigh.

"Ohhh. Do you just want to relax? I can be quiet! You won't even know I'm here"

Would it be rude to just walk away? Fuck it. You don't care, you're tired and socially drained. Ccino was one thing because you had to talk to get food. But Blue is talking just for the hell of it.

You scoop up the cats on you and grab your apple juice, moving to a different table.

Two more skeletons walk through the door. One clad in bright yellow and another wearing brown.

"Ah Blue! There you are! I was worried when you weren't there!"

"Ink.. I told you I took him here." 

You take a swig of your apple juice like one would with whiskey and hold the cat to your chest. Ccino comes back with your gummies and takes the Star Sans order.

You try to look as unapproachable as possible in your seat. But that is kind of hard to do with little fruit gummies, a cat, and a cup of juice.

You try to ignore the conversation that is going on next to you (it would be rude to eavesdrop) but it's kind of hard to ignore when Blue says your name

You shift under the gaze of the Star Sans and stroke the cat, trying desperately to not get overwhelmed.

All you wanted was a break

Would it put Error in danger calling him here? Well you know Ink hates Error the most, so like...

Or you could just up and walk out. Yeah ok.

You pet the cat a bit more and stand up, walking towards Ccino.

"Ah, Leef, anything I can help you with?"

"How.... Much do I owe... you for the food."

"It's like I told you, on the house for your first time here."

You nod at him and bid your goodbyes, avoiding looking at the table holding the Star Sans.

After setting down the cat, you step out of the door, barely looking around and ripping the ribbon.

Error comes almost immediately through a glitchy portal. He sends you a questioning glance while you walk through the portal back to the mansion.

Once he comes through you speak.

"You have...zero clue what.. chill means"

Chapter Text

Cross: What do you want to eat?

Leef's thoughts: THE SOULS OF THE INNOCENTS!!

Leef: a bagel.

Leef's thoughts: NOOO

Leef: two bagels.

/// 

Cross: How do Dust and Killer usually get out of these messes? 

Error: They don't. They just make a bigger mess that cancels the first one out.

///

Nightmare: You use humor to deflect your trauma. 

Killer: Awww, thanks- 

Nightmare: That's not a good thing. 

Killer: All I'm hearing is that you think I'm funny.

///

Cross, talking about a puppy: If I didn't know better, Leef, I'd say you were scared. 

Leef: psh, me? scared? 

*cute little bark* 

Leef: DID YOU HEAR THAT?!

///

Dust: Are you busy? 

Error : Yes. 

Dust: Cool, listen to this...

///

Nightmare: You know you can die from that, right? 

Error : *smoking a cigarette* That's the point. 

Dust: *drinking alcohol* We're trying to speed this up. 

Leef: *Eating raw cookie dough and nodding*

///

Nightmare: For self defense reasons, I'm going to pretend to be a burglar and you guys have to act wisely. 

Leef, Killer, & Dust: Okay. 

Nightmare: If you don't want to die, give me all your money. 

Dust: Bold of you to assume I have money. 

Killer: Bold of you to assume I don't want to die. 

Leef: Bold of you to assume I can die.

/// 

Leef: Welcome to my very first vlog, in which I try different hair products! 

 Leef: *sprays hairspray in their mouth* 

Leef: Well, right off the bat I can tell you this one is not very good.

///

Dust, shooing Error away: Can you go be depressed over there? You're bumming out my whole area.

///

Killer: I think I did fairly well on my anatomy quiz! :) 

Dust: I forgot I was doing a test. 

Killer: Dust. 

Dust: I said the vertebrae was the back stick because I thought it was funny.... 

Leef: Dust.

///

Leef: Hello friends! 

The Squad: 

Leef: You might be wondering why I'm taped to the ceiling

Leef: Well, you see, I am just a silly guy.

///

Dust, to the Squad: If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands! 

*silence* 

Dust: Damn, y'all depressed as fuck! 

Killer: You didn't clap either- 

Dust: SHUT UP!

///

Cross: You think you're smarter than everyone else. 

Killer: I don't think I'm smarter than everyone else. I know I am.

///

Killer: That sounds super! Doesn't that sound super, Dust? 

Dust: No. 

Killer: I think I speak for Dust when I say it sounds really super.

///

Nightmare: Are you having another depressive episode? 

Killer: A depressive episode? 

Killer: I'm having a depressive series and we're just on season one.

///

Leef: Hey, you want a tarot reading? 

Error: Those are Pokemon cards. 

Leef: You got a magikarp. 

Error: ... 

Leef: It means 'fuck you'.

///

Leef: So uh, for this party and everything, do you, uh... 

Killer, sighing: You don't know how to dress for this, do you? 

Leef, panicked: WHAT IS CLOTHES???

///

Leef: Why's it called an oven when you of in the cold food and you of out hot eat the food? 

Dust: ...What???

///

Killer: Those darn tall people. 

Dust: Darn em' indeed. 

Cross: Don't worry, they'll be gone soon enough. 

Leef: *sharpening knife* Yes. Dead. 

The Squad: 

Leef: Hahaha...

Leef: ...Is this self-destructive behaviour?

///

Killer: So, you've finally arrived- 

Killer: Here to save prince- 

Killer: I've been waiting for this day- 

Killer: Stop skipping my dialogue- 

Killer: Seriously, stop- 

Killer: MOTHER FU-

///

Leef: Hello, McDonald's, I would like to purchase 130 chicken nuggets. Prepare yourselves.

///

Leef: I hope you all make it to adulthood! 

Dust: That's a great prayer. 

Cross: A needed one. 

Dust: A needed one indeed.

///

Nightmare: Error, you're in charge! 

Cross: Error, can we start a fire?

///

Killer: What's worse than a heartbreak? 

Leef: Stepping on a cat's tail and not being able to explain that you're sorry.

///

Nightmare: Where is everyone? 

Cross: Leef had a nervous collapse, Error is looking after them, Dust is trying to kill Killer, so I'm in charge. 

Nightmare: Oh my god! 

Cross: I know, right?

///

Cross: Go to hell!

Leef: Oh I've been there already, it's a lovely place, but thank you for the recommendation.

///

Dust: Wait- Your arresting me because I'm a homo?! 

Cross: ...Homicide. You killed your whole family.

///

Leef: I'm gonna eat the chicken breasts! 

Dust, snickering: Yeah, eat what you lack. 

Error, deadpanning at Dust: Then maybe I should order brains on delivery for you.

///

Error: Are you trying to give me a fucking aneurysm? 

Cross: Pretty sure we all are. 

Nightmare: I wasn't. 

Dust: I was. 

Leef: I was trying to stop them, for your consideration. 

Killer: I just cause aneurysms naturally.

///

Dust: Do not come over to my house. If the house is on fire you may knock once, if I don't answer assume I set the fire and I want to burn to death.

///

Error: Hey guys, what do you think about making that beach trip an annual thing? 

Cross, Leef, and Killer: No! 

Nightmare: Alright, that's it, you guys. What happened out there? 

Cross: What? We took a walk. Nothing happened. I came back with nothing all over me. 

Nightmare: What does that mean? 

Error: Come on, what happened? Leef? 

Leef: Alright. 

Cross: No. Leef, we swore we'd never tell! 

Killer: They'll never understand. 

Leef: But we have to say something. We have to get it out. It's eating me alive. 

Leef: Cross got stung by a jellyfish! 

Cross: Alright! I got stung. Stung bad. I couldn't stand. I- I couldn't walk. 

Killer: We were two miles from the house. We were scared and alone. We didn't think we could make it. 

Cross: I was in too much pain. 

Leef: And I was tired from digging a huge hole. 

Killer: And then Leef remembered something. 

Leef: I'd seen this thing in the Discovery Channel. 

Error: Wait a minute, I saw that. On the Discovery Channel. Yeah, about jellyfish and how if you— EW! You peed on yourself? 

Nightmare and Dust: EW!! 

Cross: You can't say that! You don't know! I thought I was gonna pass out from the pain. Anyway, I tried, but I couldn't... bend that way. So... *looks at Leef* 

Error, Nightmare, and Dust: Ew! 

Leef: That's right. I stepped up. They're my friend and they needed help. If I had to, I'd pee on any one of you. 

Leef: Only, uh, I couldn't. I got stage fright. I wanted to help but there was too much pressure. So, I, um, I turned to Killer. 

Killer: Leef kept screaming at me, "Do it now. Do it. Do it now." Sometimes, late at night I can still hear the screaming. 

Leef: That's because sometimes I just do it through my wall to freak you out.

///

Error: What happened to Leef? 

Cross: They died. 

Error: They what? 

Cross: They died, but they're okay. 

Error: ...Can you please clarify? 

Leef: Clarification is for the weak.

///

Error: An apple a day keeps the doctor away! 

Dust: An apple a day can keep anyone away if you throw it hard enough.

///

Error: Remember! Curiosity killed the cat! 

Leef: Yes, but you forget that satisfaction brought it back. So yes, Killer, go find out if that thing can catch fire! 

Error: You're a bad influence. 

Leef: And you don't know your sayings.

///

Cross: What do you call a dictionary on drugs? 

Dust: If you say "addict-ionary" I swear I will cut you. 

Cross: I was actually going to say "high definition", but your answer's much better. 

Dust: ...

///

Cross: They called me the B-word. 

Leef: Motherfucker doesn't start with 'b'.

///

Cross: *nudges Leef at 3am* Pretty fucked up that we depict the moon as a girl and the sun as a boy. They're just floating rocks in space. Leef? Wake up, Leef! Listen! They're sexless! 

Leef: The sun isn't a rock, go back to sleep.

///

Error: You made enough pasta that you could take it to lunch tomorrow. Put it in a container. 

Leef: Shovel the pasta into your face. Do it. Put it in your face. The future is meaningless but the pasta is now.

///

Dust: .. .----. -- / ... --- .-. .-. -.-- (translation: I'M SORRY) 

Killer: What's that? 

Dust: Remorse code. 

Killer: I'm even angrier now.

///

Cross: I didn't even realize how sarcastic I was being. It's starting to become a problem, I think.

///

Nightmare: Treat spiders the way you want to be treated. 

Leef: Killed without hesitation.

///

Cross, at Leef's funeral: I need a moment with them. 

Everyone: Of course. *They leave* 

Cross, leaning over Leef′s coffin: Okay, listen here you little shit. I know you're not dead. 

Leef: Yeah, no shit.

///

Killer: Ew. What kind of tea is this? 

Leef: I boiled gatorade.

///

Killer: Happy October 32nd! Second Halloween! 

Cross: That doesn't exist. 

Killer: Not with that attitude.

///

Nightmare: I'm telling you, my team is competent. 

Killer, rushing in: Nightmare! Leef tried to make pasta in the coffee pot and now it's broken!

///

Leef: ARE YOU- 

Killer: Fucking. 

Leef: KIDDING ME?! YOU- 

Killer: Fucking. 

Leef: IDIOT! 

Nightmare: ...What was that? 

Killer: Error banned Leef from swearing, so I'm helping them out.

///

Error:  Oh man, you have any shaving cream? 

Leef: No, I don't like the way that it tastes. 

Error: Wait... you eat shaving cream? 

Leef: No. Why would I eat it if I don't like the taste.

///

Error: What can therapy do for me that screaming in my car for 30 minutes can't?

///

Killer: I'm a firm believer in "if you're going to fail, you might as well fail spectacularly."

///

Leef, going fishing: I'm going LIE to fish!

///

Cross: Come, Leef. Error doesn't want to talk to us right now. They're just too polite to say it.

///

Killer: No thanks. 

Killer: I'm god.

///

Error, holding an antique bottle: Is this whiskey or perfume? 

Leef: *grabs and chugs the entire bottle* 

Leef: 

Leef: It's perfume.

///

Killer, gesturing to Nightmare: Dust, look what you did! You made Mom upset! 

Dust: Mom, please don't cry, we're sorry! 

Killer: I'm sorry Mom... :( 

Nightmare, near tears: I DON'T REMEMBER GIVING BIRTH TO ANY OF YOU!

///

Error: *seductively takes off glasses* Wow, you're... blurry.

///

Nightmare: How late were you up last night? 

Killer & Error, in tandem: Me? 

Nightmare: No, not you two. You stay up late all the time. 

Nightmare, to Leef: You.

///

Leef: Yum, thanks! 

Kidnapper: *puts more tape over their mouth* I said stop eating it.

///

Chapter Text

You search out your room and hide away under your bed. You just need a good long moment of silence after so much social interaction.

You're tired 

And so you fall asleep 

Not sure for how long. But you know you wake up when Killer comes busting through the door. 

"Leef Leef Leef, Nightmare is letting us go on a supply run to a pacifist au for random shit! Crossy boy is coming with too! So we can just grab whatever we want! Cross'll handle the important stuff!"

You finally feel well-rested, so might as well get up to some antics, you can even grab Jay's fish!

You shoo Killer out of your room and turn to Jay. Xe is just floating there in thought.

"Jay Jay Jay Jay,...we're gonna go ge...t stuff, you'll wan...na come with to get yo...ur fish!"

"Omg bet!! Ok ok I'll come along.... Hey Leefy. What do you call a fish with no eyes?" 

You simply give a questioning noise while trying to look presentable.

"A fshhh" you sigh disappointedly and walk out of your room. Meeting up with Killer, Cross and Nightmare.

You don't hold a grude against your boss, not at all. plus, you actually got a good sleep afterwards, so no harm no foul.

You quickly grab a pack of saltines  and step through the portal Nightmare made. 

Cross and Killer glance at you in the new universe. A large mall standing in front of you.

You don't give it a second thought, but Jay is gasping next to you, looking up at the blue sky. 

Oh... right, you were underground.

You stand there for a moment taking in the fresh air. 

"Leefy... we're actually on the surface. I... it's so pretty."

"You...can stay here if y..ou want.. I'll co..me for you when I find... the pet store."

Jay just nods at you and sits there staring up at the clouds.

"Who're you talking to Leef?"

Right, Killer and Cross don't know about Jay. Well they're chill with Dust at least, and you'll throw hands if they're mean to Jay.

"Old friend... xe's a ghost... long story. Kinda like Dus..t's brother, xeir na..me is Jay" 

If they think your crazy, oh well, maybe you are.

"Cool" Killer replies, 

"You wanna stay out here for a while longer? Take in the surface?" Cross continues, Killer is bouncing on his heels excitedly 

You just shake your head and take a step forward towards the large mall, humans and monsters spilling around you.

Jay'll find you when xe wants, for now you just stick by Cross as you enter the busy building.

Yes you've been in a mall before, just.. not one that wasn't abandoned. There's just more people than you'd like.

You flip up your hood to cover your hole and get on the move.

You get the necesites, clothes, soaps and stuff, you did get some gold from Nightmare so you didn't have to worry about prices that much.

And you were right, Jay did come find you, right on time too. As soon as you catch sight of a pet store Jay comes floating through a wall

As you navigate the store xeir eyes light up at the sight in front of you, a wall of fish tanks staring back at you

You silently gather any supplies you may need, as Jay stares at the little fish.

"Oh. my. gosh. I want this one" xe points towards a little goldfish with black spots, you soften a little at the sight, Jay just fawning over a tank. 

It's moments like this when you wish you could take photos of Jay. But you'll savor the moments while they last.

Back to the fish however, you do realize that black spots on a fish is not good. it's probably the water or something so you'll be sure to watch it carefully.

You search out a worker to scoop the fish and put in a tiny container for now.

"I'm gonna name him Bubbles!!" 

You smile fondly at the name and precariously stack your objects in your basket.

After you get rung up you meet with the rest of the group, Bubbles in hand.

You barely speak any words to the two other skeletons, favoring to just stare at Bubbles, Jay is also talking extremely loudly at you about taking great care of the little fish.

Killer breaks his own ribbon like what Error gave you, and a portal appears in front of you.

You hurry off to your room to drop of your bags and quickly locating the stuff you bought for Bubbles, you're careful not to jostle him around to much though.

"Where... should I put the... tank Jay?"

"You could leave put it in your room, but then Bubbles would be lonely... you can put it in the living room! Then he would always have company!"

You nod and get to work. You lay down rock and gravel in the 15 gallon tank after washing it 

You set up the heater and filter in the water.

You plant a couple of common aquarium plants such as Java moss and anubias, both beginner friendly and entertaining for the fish.

Your tank is more squat than tall, more surface area is better for a goldfish, they don't like going that deep into water.

As you are doing this just on the floor of the living room Jay is doting over Bubbles, baby talking at him and just generally messing with him (not hurting him)

You just need to wait for the water to get unclouded and Bubbles will have his brand new home!

You praise Jay for picking out the perfect fish. And talk about goldfish can get super big if they have enough space and food.

At that Jay changes topics and begins ranting at how big Bubbles will get, and that he will be able to swallow a human whole.

"One day Bub...bles will rule us.. all"

"EXACTLY!! you get it! Bubbles is my lord and savior! I will kill for him"

"I've seen kingdoms... rise and fall, yet none... were strong as Bubbles here before.. us."

You move to sit next to Jay, staring down at the little goldfish.

"Never in all my years, have I seen such a good boy"

You nod solemnly 

"The.. bestest boy." You say seriously very very good boy

"What the hell is up with you?" 

You turn to see Error standing behind you and rubbing his brow tiredly. 

"I come in here to watch Undernovela, and you're... just here, doing one weird thing after another. You're crazier than I am"

"Jeez, let a... person talk to the.. voices in t...heir head in peace" 

Error just stares blank faced at you and walks to the television clicking the remote, turning on Undernovela.

"Is that all I am to you Leefy... a voice...in your HEAD" 

Jay says dramatically at you

"No...you're the best voice.. my best imagin..ary friend."

"I will beat anyone who fights me on that title"

You snort "Bold of you to... assume you could reclaim that titl..e once you loose it"

"Oh please, you'd never find anyone better than me to be your imaginary friend."

"True..true"

You say jokingly. You and Jay laugh a bit until Error speaks up.

"You done talking to the voices? A new episode of Undernovela is coming on. If you wanna watch it you gotta shut up."

You share a look with Jay and let out a few more giggles. Before holding Bubbles and sitting on the couch next to Error.

The water in the fish tank will clear up soon you think. But this is nice.

Chapter Text

You've finally put Bubbles in his tank and you think he likes it!! You've yet to find out if Nightmare can sense the emotions of an animal or you would ask him.

But Bubbles is lovely, and is happily swimming around in the tank. 

You're finally allowed to go on another mission after getting all healed up now your joints are only creaky when it rains or you do a lot of stuff without resting.

All in all you'll call it a win.

You've also been cooking more often for the gang, you forgot how much you enjoyed cooking a real meal that wasn't just a can of vegetables or an animal over a fire.

Cooking is a comfort for you now. You're able to know exactly how much food y'all have in the house without seeming like a creep, looking through the pantry randomly.

  Anyways, you're in the living room sitting and watching Bubbles swim around his tank, you're eating some waffles while you wait for the people to come down.

Apparently Killer and Dust are gonna be on the mission with you,( after reminding them many many times that you can't use magic) they wanted to redeem themselves or something, and you can't exactly say no.

The two others slowly trickle into the living room, now just waiting for Nightmare.

Y'all go through the usual motions, making sure you have your weapons, stretch a bit. 

Once Nightmare arrives he conjures up a portal and pauses.

The portal looks more grey then anything.

No one comments on this, but you Can tell that Nightmare noticed as well. Dust is talking with Phantom, and Killer is staring off into space.

Nightmares makes the motion to close the portal. But it simply flickers slightly and starts pulling on all the creatures in the room.

Alarm goes through everyone as Nightmare tries again and again to close the portal. But nothing happens, the pull just becomes stronger. 

Then your vision goes black

///

You awake with a sharp pain on your arm. As soon as you open your eyes you get assaulted with a bright light directly in your eye. You look up to Jay, who is looking very rattled 

"Holy fucking shit, I don't know where we are and everyone is unconscious and you weren't waking up and I.... I'm scared Leef."

You jolt up, panicked, Jay never calls you just Leef.

"No.. no Jay Jay, itll be fine, that's what you always tel...l me right? I'm awake now, I'm sure the ot...hers will fol...low suite.."

"Yeah... yeah"

"That's right... it'll be fine... we're fine..."

You look around at your surroundings.

You seem to be in a dark room, a machine in a corner, screws strewn around the room, along with other bits and mechanical bobs that you don't know about.

You look down to your arm, trying to stay calm despite the situation. 

Shards of glass are stuck in your arm, dripping purple blood on the floor. Fuck

Following the pool of your magical blood you see Bubbles, flopping around in a puddle of water, slowly mixing with your blood.

You do admit that you panicked a little bit. Bubbles is slowly enveloped in your blood.

A Sans opens a door you didn't notice. He intakes a sharp breath, sighs tiredly, and clears his throat, effectively waking up the others. How you didn't wake them up you don't know, with you speaking with Jay and narrating your thoughts.

Nightmare jumps up, quickly shielding you and the rest of the gang behind him.

You scoop up Bubbles before Nightmare can step on him and stand back.

Quickly murmuring to Jay that you need water real soon if Bubbles is to survive.

You listen as Sans speaks quickly, like a cashier who has recited the same speech millions of times. 

He informs you all that you are trapped here, the machine dragged them in, and there is to be no fighting. 

Killer is joking around like always, but even you can tell that he is unnerved.

You run your fingers along the purple tainted scales of Bubbles as who you were told was Classic, the og, the original Sans.

You tap Nightmare on the shoulder quietly whispering and holding up Bubbles

"We need...water for him"

You watch as Nightmare nods and addresses Classic.

" I need water, preferably a glass or jar."

Classic stares at him incredulously until glancing back at you, hunched over yourself and whispering to Bubbles, in and attempt to comfort the little fish without touching it, 

He quickens his pace a bit before leading you to a red carpeted living room. 

"This is Stretch, he'll be dealing with you while I get your jar of water."

Classic then blips away, leaving you with an unnerving Papyrus staring at you, effectively making you and Dust tense up, for very similar reasons. There's a long silence until Stretch speaks up

"Yo, 'm Stretch, there's a buncha other au folks, they're just out 'n about"

Classic shortcuts back into the room with a large glass jar with a label for pickles, though you can tell it was washed, or at least rinsed by the water dripping off it.

You very very gently hand Bubbles off to Dust, and take the jar in your hands, quickly smelling it for any traces of the salty pickle juice that would surely kill Bubbles if he were to breathe it. 

After inspecting it you nod to Dust, who sets the fish into the water.

For a terrifying moment you think that Bubbles has died

 you don't notice that Bubbles is slightly tinted purple and has some extra purple fins, nor that he is breathing a little better than he should have been able to in untreated tap water

You let out a sigh of relief when you notice Bubbles start swimming around.

Looking around you notice that there are many more skeletons in this room than there were previously.

You clutch the jar to your chest and glance around, how much did you miss?

Killer jumps up and speaks

"And This is Leef! They really like fish!"

Oh... so you just zoned out all of the introductions... well that's a problem for future you to figure out the names of the people,

For now, current you need to worry about seeming like a dull fisher Dad who only talks about the fish he caught and how much he hates his ex wife.

"Yeah... I'm Leef... I only like one fish though, I prefer... rabbits."

You ignore the coos Jay sends your way in favor of watching Bubbles swim around.

"Awwww I knew I'd never loose my best friend position"

You smile at Jay and relax a bit, much more calm after looking away from the crowd in the room (and having your hands occupied by the jar but you'd never admit that to anyone)

"Wow. Couldn't tell by your jacket."

You snap up at the sarcastic comment

A edgy papyrus clad in black stares at you with a scowl on his face

You send a glare hot enough to melt steel, you got WHISKED out of your calm life and this bitch has the AUDACITY to use that tone when speaking about Jay?

(You know it was more directed to you than Jay, but that was the last straw)

"Excuse me?"

Your voice sends chills down some of the nicer brother set's spines, you hand your jar off to Killer, who is the closest to you and walk up to the Emo himself.

You slap on your fakest smile and stare him down.

"It's just that.... I thought I heard something... insulting rabbits."

You dig your claws into your hands, wishing you had your bat to bash his ugly little skull in, but you left it with Nightmare after Classic requested not to carry big weapons like that.

"Oh boo hoo, that head wound must have done some massive damage to think you can talk back to me, the Terrible Edge."

Your smile is dripping malice by now, and you have to physically restrain yourself from pouncing here and now.

"God damn... didn't know your... ego was that much large...r than your brain you fuc..king bitch"

"You can't even form complete sentences without trailing off, I don't want to hear anything from you, you little rodent."

Rodent?? RODENT??!? You'll show this god damned cunt that even rodents can bite.

You realize that a pool of blood is forming on the carpet, and you grab a hold of Nightmare to ground your self. 

If the rule is no fighting you will not fight. But you'll find Edge later and propose a meeting place outside of the house to... settle this dispute 

Chapter Text

It'll be fine, you'll be fine

That's what you're thinking as you sit down, you definitely didn't just pick a fight with an edgy Papyrus, totally not.

Maybe if you get him to think you're crazy he'll leave you alone? But you should still beat him up, would be better to fight back, show you're not a pussy

That's the best bet you've got now, your really don't want to be beaten to a bloody pulp. You'll need to be the one doing the beating

Edge stomped off to somewhere and you are unconsciously digging into your eyesocket.

"Holy fuck Leefy! You really stood up for yourself! Good on you!"

Killer claps you on the back (you were able to stifle your flinch you realize proudly) and hands over Bubbles.

"Haha, nice Leef! Fuck that guy!"

Killer says to you. You preen a bit at the praise and Direct your focas to the skeletons in the room. 

Of course they're staring at you, you weren't exactly quiet.

Classic clears his throat and speak up.

"Well.. if that is over we really do need to finish introducing everyone, we only got through the newbies."

Oh. So you didn't miss introductions, good.

"As you know, I'm Stretch, by bro isn't in this universe, luckily."

"I am the MAGNIFICENT Black, and this is my brother, Mutt" The tiny skeleton hooks a thumb over to where a tall Papyrus is lounging. 

"I'm Honey~ nice to meet you cutie" Honey is dressed in a sleeveless pink shirt and shorts, 

"I am Honey's sibling, Lavender." Lavender is very soft spoken, but not in a shy way, more of a calm soothing way, but you almost need to lean closer to hear them

"I'm Fell. Edge is my br- boss"

"Welp-" Classic claps his hand together "-the Horrortale bros aren't in the house just yet so we'll start cooking dinner and they can introduce themselves when they get here."

Nightmare raises and eyebrow and speaks

"Where will we be sleeping?"

"Oh right, beds, ok Nilla, could you show them where they'll be staying?" You don't mention that this 'Nilla' person hasn't been introduced yet you just brush it off

"Of course brother!"

You and Dust glance at each other quickly, 

"Follow me new brothers! You will have to share two rooms as none of you brought one of me with you! I wonder why... Anyways! I hope you..." Nilla chatters on and on as you zone him out.

You immediately hear whispering from the group as you get lead away. 

You're no longer hovering around Nightmare but instead you and Dust are stuck to each others sides. 

"Come on Leefy Branch, it's not even your Papyrus. You didn't do anything to this guy." Jay says calmly

"Yeah Dust, you did nothing to Nilla, he has no reason to hate you, I don't even hate you." Phantom speaks up

You and Dust share a look. Without realizing it you hooked hands and are squeezing each other tightly. 

You clear your throat, embarrassed, but you do not let go of Dust. 

It doesn't feel the same as when someone is touching you just cus. You enjoy this touch, maybe because you knew about it, maybe because it isn't harsh. But you do know that you like it

Killer looks to you and Dust and gives a mischievous look

" why can't you hold my hand?? I'm shaking in my boots over here from this Papyrus, he's spooky."

"I hav..e Bubbles.. in my arms" you respond 

"I don't want to." Dust says blankly 

Killer lets out a dramatic sigh and flops to the ground. 

Nilla looks to you and stops walking 

"Oh! How did you know this was one of the empty rooms? Well this can be your room! You three can share this room if you'd like!, the bed is big enough!"

You three let out noises of agreement as Nightmare gets the room to the left of yours.

Nightmare gestures for you to follow him, you do so and ask what's up.

"Leef, I was under the impression that you were from Horrortale."

"I... thought.. I was. Why?

"Well apparently there are Horrortale brothers here already. And only one set of brothers from one au are here. What is up with that?"

Did you... did you stop this set of horror bros from getting food from Nightmare? You feel really selfish right now, you hadn't even stoped to think about how you doing stuff in your au could change it.

Maybe you aren't even from Horrortale. Or you changed it so much that it's not Horrortale anymore. Shit. 

"Is there... a way to find out w...hat au Im from?"

Nightmare seems to think for a moment before deciding on something.

"Yes there is, it just takes more magic for me to do. And I'll need to take your soul out for it"

You nod you head and give the go-ahead. Nightmare wastes no time, pulling out your soul. It is a purple upside down heart. The point is slightly dark blue and the humps of the heart are a cyan. Then text shows up in front of you

—————————————————

—"Leef" also known as "Leefy" or "Leefy Branch" (real name is unknown)

—Jaylie Boster also known as "Jay" 

or "Jay Bird"

— Ṇ̸̗̥͔̒̑ö̶̭̯́̓͝͝ ̵̣̟̫̐̋̈́n̶̢̩̭̱͌͋a̴̻͈̔̕͝m̵̢̛̟̭̃͝e̴̢̮̥͋͜ś̴̜̿́ ̸͎̭̰͛f̵̨̭̦̹̊͋ö̷̳̟̯͜r̷̨̘̍͛̒ ̵̡̭̖̭͛́t̵̤̗̮͆ḧ̶̖̦͇̘́̄̚ȅ̸̝̞̩̦ ̵̡̨͊̀̓f̴̢̨̭̻̋̾͂o̵͚̫͒̚r̶̨̓g̸̱̜̪̫͑͌͆̔ơ̶̙̰̈́̈́̕t̶̨̏̂̆͋t̶͉͙̀̐̿͑e̵̡̦̥͖͘n̴̩̈

//

From Undertale Au known as

" H̶̡̬͙͒̊o̵̡̹̘̠̺͔͈̯͋̕r̴̙̞͌r̸̢̬̭̥͔̙̓̈́̂o̸̪̙͕͊̒͊̍̅̇r̴̢̠̟͕̮̳̮̫̅̓̊̕͘̕ ?Tale"

Â̶͖̭͘ ̷̄̐͜s̴͕̮̓t̶̜͐o̷͈̽̿r̵̠̈́͊y̸͎̏̿ ̷̣̋o̵̎̅ͅf̸͍̂͜ ̸̜̈a̴͍̫̒ ̴̦͈̈́ṗ̴͍̪͋ö̷̬́͋s̵͎̱̾s̵͓̊ẽ̷̖͙s̷̖͋͆s̷̲͐e̷̟̣͂ḏ̶̈́ m̸̙̘̉̿o̴̹̫͑n̷̨̽s̷͓͌͠t̴̩͕̾ẻ̴̲̚ͅṙ̷͇̦̚?̵̧̡͂̎̋͘͜͜?̶̡̯̠̆̌̚ ̴̻̹̉̅l̶̖͕̐̐i̶̫͐̃v̷̥͌i̴̲̳̒ṉ̷͋̐g̸͕͛̕"̴̜̀l̶̥̞̊̎i̸̫̍f̷̲̲̃ę̶͓́̾"̶̼̗̬̘̝̝̙͉͒̾͐͑̓̚̕ ̷̗̐á̶̧s̴͍͎͐ ̸̭̪͊n̷̠̓͐ö̷͔͖́r̸̡͚̕m̷̬͛̊ả̸̘̙l̷̯̐́,̸̬͛͋ ̶̹̟̓͂w̴̩͋͑ė̵̯̲̽ḻ̶̡͌̿l̷̬̠̒...̸͎͈̀͂ ̸̩̄ȃ̷̛̞ș̵͑̆ ̸͎͂n̷̲͗͠ő̷̲̬r̴̥͍̎m̵̮̰̿a̸̛̟l̸̥̊ ̶̺̥͌ã̴̱̻̑ŝ̸̨͕̽ ̴̢̗̆͠ṕ̷͚ö̴̞̌s̵̰͂̑s̴̛̔ͅi̶͓̽͑b̸͓͂͝l̵͍̝͒͠e̴̠̦̅͌

//

Hp 300/300

Def 30

Atk 200

LV 16

*this creature has a hole other problem than originally thought *

*this creature is ready to fight someone*

* T̶̥̈h̶̢̋i̶̥͘s̶̯͗c̶̫̋r̶̲̐é̴͜a̶̰̽t̸͙̀u̷͚͆r̶̹̕e̸̬̾ ̸̬͝i̷͖͊s̵̢̈́ ̵̪̇Y̷̨̛͔͚͚̼̬̅̍̉̄̾ȩ̸̗̖̖̰͇̖̒́̕a̷̞͈͕͋̊r̴̜͎͍͖͊̊̚n̸̦̎̓̆̌̂i̸͚͕̣̼̬̍̓̽͊̃͘n̴͍̭̻̖̮̣̂̔g̴̳͉̱̲͖̰̬̎̀̕ͅ ̴̨͇̣̘́ͅf̸̟̫͕̻͉̳͍̬͋͛̏͌o̴̺̮̘̍͝r̶̢̼͇̦̾̇͆͝ͅ ̵̥̃͑͒̚ḩ̴͈̗͔̜͍͗̒̈́̚ͅṏ̴̤̣́͌̉̆͌͗͒m̴̧̠̜͍̫̱͎̆͗̅̎̍ͅḙ̶̢̟̠̺̼̖͛̔̄͂*

*these creatures would be an easy target if they were ȃ̴̻l̶̲͝l̴̮̓ alive*

//

Soul trait: Perseverance 

Soul trait: Integrity 

S̷̭͂̉ơ̷̗̊̋u̷̧̮̓̋̚l̷͖̓ ̵͇̰̹͂́̉t̶̯̦̼̀̄r̴̭͖̅ạ̶́̎͜͝ͅi̴̗̳̹͛͝t̴͙̯́: P̷͔͉͇̼̖͔͍͆͐͆̍a̸͈̜͑ṭ̶̠͙̟̦̗͇̹͂́i̸̫̞͕̫͓͔̔͐͜ȩ̵̨̘̪̯̫̭̗̝̮̣̥̟̑ͅn̴̹̪͈̩̓́͐̒͝c̴̝̲̦̯̰̖̹̜̳͎̫̰̮̫͑̇̓̊̀̅̒͜͝e̴͕̜̰͙̖͈͚̘͒ ̴̠͊̊͊

—————————————————

Nightmare seems to pale at the text in front of him. 

"Well, it seems we know how Jay is able to stick with you, you must have absorbed a shard of xeir soul as xe died or something along those lines.. I'll be honest, I was a little iffy on if Jay actually existed or not, this is solid proof I suppose. But, it also seems that you have an uninvited guest living in your soul."

"Oh... shit so I'm like ... straight up possessed."

"Well luckily you still have control over yourself most times. If I had to guess what I previously thought was an Lv attack was actually a little guest appearance."

You nod a bit, you're a little unnerved at the thought of the creature making a home in your soul being called a guest. But maybe it's friendly? 

No that's wishful thinking 

"So Leefy Branch... we're like connected, but like with a third wheel. Cool cool.... At least you know about it now?"

Jay's voice snaps you out of your little trance long enough to hear Classic to shout that dinner is done.

Guess you're gonna deal with this like how you deal with everything: ignore it until it becomes a problem and deal with it then.

Chapter Text

You decide to burry your feelings from the little... moment, to unpack at a later date. After that little revelation that you have a parasite or something 

plus you somehow messed up your au so much that it got all glitches or something...right now you just want to hop in bed.

However, you're super hungry and you wouldn't miss dinner for the world. Sure hope it's human

You pick at your eye for a bit and join up with Killer and Dust, who are chatting outside of your joint room.

"And THAT is why we should build our own missiles and distribute them to the homeless!" Dust says, waving his arms about.

You can't hear anything with Jay cackling in your ears.

"Pfffft oh my gosh!! What a very needed mood change"

You scrub your face tiredly.

"Let's just go to dinn...er, I can't deal with this shit r..ight now"

The three- or is it four because of Jay? Or five because of the other thing? not very nice to call people things

-The skeleton group makes their way down the stairs. Spaghetti is sitting in a big pot waiting to be taken from.

You find a set of four empty chairs alongside the long table in between Honey and Black.

You take a seat next to Honey, he winks at you and you give a small smile before sitting down.

Killer sits on your right and you grab a plate for the spaghetti.

Edge seems to glare at you all throughout you getting your food. You pointedly do not even spare him a glance he can fuck himself for what he said to you

You flip Edge off and crack your fingers threateningly. Trying to tell this bitch to not to mess with you but Edge just snarls and scoffs, rolling his eye lights.

As you grab a portion of the spaghetti the door opens, revealing who you know to be Horror, or Mars, or Axe, whatever name he goes by here. The person who you stole a home from.

You stare at him as well as you can with one eye, finally taking in the details of what you should have looked like. 

Most obviously he doesn't have your antlers 

His hole is more on the top of his head, while yours is in the back.

His outfit is obviously different, he has old dried blood stains splattered on his jacket, while you have the blood painstakingly cleaned as best as you could. 

He seems to be staring right back at you. Taking in the same details that you did. But you have something else running through your brain.

Is this gonna be fannon or cannon Horror?

Since he didn't have the chance to be in the Bad Sans is he starving still? Or has he been here long enough to be like the big teddy bear that you often saw him represented as, or maybe he even made it to the surface in his au.

You both are just waiting for the other to say something, for the other to back down. But Jay interrupts your train of thought

"Wow Leefy, you seem to have gotten the long end of the stick."

You nod at Jay and decide to be the first one to speak, introducing Jay right along side you.

"I'm Lee..f he/they pronouns, from.... horror...tale I think. And this... is Jay, xe uses xe/x..em."

Horror/Mars/Axe looks at you for a second longer than comfortable before replying 

"'M Mars... he/him this is Jupit...er also he/him... from horrortale"

"Hello.! I-" Mars sends Jupiter a look that obviously says something that you can't FUCKING READ

But from the way the Mars steps in front of Jupiter you'd say he doesn't trust you. Great just what you needed, Mars to try to dig dirt on you 

"Thanks for introducing me too!!"

... are you ok with people to think you're crazy? Because no doubt they will ask questions if you just start yapping into what they think is thin air... Dust is talking to Phantom so maybe they'll just asume that that's the reason why you're with the bad sans.

Sure, fuck it, they'll already be wary of the blood stains and stuff, doesn't hurt to add one more thing onto the pile.

"It's no pr...oblem Jay."

Like you thought, most of the skeletons sat around the table look at you funny, but you couldn't care less, because you just tasted the spaghetti and oh my goodness it is the best thing you've ever tasted.

You love pasta in general you're more of an Alfredo person but spaghetti sometimes just hits different. The meat is delicious too... not as good as human or anything... but at least it's fresh, not store bought.

"Is it good Leefy Branch?"

"Oh my fu...cking god, this is aweso..me"

You almost melt into your chair, you start shoveling the food into your mouth as fast as you can, 

now that you aren't on the brink of starvation you can eat as fast and as much as you'd like before you get sick.

And oh boy you take advantage of that, you admit you aren't the best cook. But you can tell the meat in the sauce is fresh, maybe venison.It just made it ten times better.

"Ah, I'm ha.ppy you lik.ed it! Nilla and I m.ade it!" You turn to Jupiter, of course he is good at cooking 

You make a motion of tipping a hat 

"We...ll, my comp...liments... to the chefs, but who g...ot the meat? Deer I thin..k"

"I did... went hu...ntin in the fore..st"

Oh cool- wait, There's a forest here?

You just now realize how much you're itching to go out, to not need to hold back your instincts, to just go wild.

You give a thoughtful hum and nod. Shoveling more food into your mouth, maybe you'll ask Mars if you can come with him one time, maybe you can help him defend the forest, it'll be mutually beneficial, he gets help and you get a release.

"Maybe you can ask him to share the forest with you!"

You nod silently at Jay and give it some more thought.

If he says no you could always just go to a park and chilax outside. Make it a day or something 

You slow down your eating a bit to listen to other conversations, Honey is talking to Lavender about shopping tomorrow, maybe they would be up to stopping by a park.

"Yeah, we can hit up Muffet's Boutique, she's usually ok with us perusing around. I'll see if anyone wants to come with, maybe the newbies want to take in the surface."

Honey turns to you, you try to play it off as if you weren't blatantly eavesdropping but unfortunately you fail.

"I'll take it you want to come with us?"

He turns to Lavender, who gives a smile and a thumbs up, agreeing with letting you come.

"Sure you can! As long as you don't attack any humans or anything. We'll be going to the mall. Anyplace you want to go?" Honey questions 

"Is there a p...ark near the mall or so...mething? If that wou..ldn't be to out of the way"

"Oh! Yeah of course there is! We could pack a lunch and eat there" Honey responds, already planning.

"Woah woah woah" Classic says, butting into the conversation.

"We still have to make sure that they won't kill anyone they're the Bad Sans for goodness sake, in case you forgot" he continues. Stretch nods along, pitching his two cents in as well.

"They may not even actually be stuck here. For all we know they're just here to cause trouble." 

"Pft, like Bunny Boy could do anything to us" Edge says, rolling his eye lights "he doesn't even have any LV I can feel" he continues confidently

You aren't even gonna begin tell him how wrong that is

Killer seems to take offense to what Stretch said "oof- how im wounded so." He puts a hand over his head, flipping Stretch off with his other hand

"My, How'd you get that idea?" Dust questions slightly sarcastically 

"If we wanted to be here we'd be more obvious about it, we aren't exactly known for stealth." Nightmare says smoothly.

"Yeah we...would've come in guns blazing... not try to talk with y...'all" you say, still eating, not willing to let the food go to waste.

"I say we should let them go! how much damage could they do to a park?" Nilla says enthusiastically 

Honey sighs, muttering something about getting stress lines. "If it'll scare you that much Classic, just come with us."

"oh my gosh fine, I get it, you all want to get arrested, great, and me coming with you was never up for debate."

God damn, this guy and his need to be in charge, should slap him upside the head, maybe that would knock some sense into him. As if you would choose to be here, you had a good thing going in Nightmare's mansion.

"Well it's great that we settled this," Lavender says, "now, how does three pm on Wednesday sound? Have a nice dinner picnic, it's spring so it shouldn't get to to cold."

After everyone makes their agreement, some what begrudgingly from the meaner groups, you all finish eating, and go about your night.

Chapter Text

Dust: Why do I always try to tell people we're cool? We are so very uncool.

///

Killer: Do you ever wonder why you're still single? 

Leef, eating mayonnaise straight out of the jar with a spoon: Yeah... I mean, I'm perfect! Who wouldn't want to date me? 

Dust, sighing: I can name a few people...

///

Error: *very seriously* You need to stop doing weird things to cope with the stress. Going outside might help. 

Leef: I went to the park today. 

Error: There you go! I hope you got something from that. 

Leef: *opening their coat* This duck.

///

Leef: Cronch. 

Leef: You hear that? That's the sound of me eating sticks. 

Cross: No, don't— 

Leef: Too late.

///

Killer: I'm serious! They're watching me! They've even got an agent following me! Don't you believe me? 

Nightmare: Look, it's not that I don't believe you... It's that I don't believe you and I don't care.

///

Error: Blue M&Ms are the best. 

Killer: whAT IS THIS SLANDER? 

Error: What about it? They are. 

Killer: I WILL NOT ALLOW SUCH LIES ON MY CHRISTIAN MINECRAFT SERVER! 

Killer: THE RED ONES ARE THE BEST! 

Error: YEAH? WELL YOUR MOM'S A HO! 

Leef: They're all chocolate inside, the colors don't mean anything. 

Cross: I like the yellow ones. 

Error and Killer: SHUT THE FUCK UP DUMBASS!

///

Nightmare: Get in, loser, we're committing vehicular manslaughter!

///

Cross: We are gathered here today because someone- *glares at Leef's coffin* -couldn't stay alive!

///

Killer: I printed up a bunch of fake safety inspection certificates. Go slap one on anything that looks like a lawsuit. 

Nightmare: Killer, is that legal? 

Killer: When the cops aren't around, anything's legal!

///

Error, singing: I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need— 

Nightmare: A family. 

Killer: A better love life. 

Cross: Mental stability. 

Leef: *clueless* Bagels?

///

*out grocery shopping* 

Cross: *takes a free sample twice* 

Cross: Robbery and Fraud. I am a Rebel.

Dust: Leef, we're hungry! 

Killer: Leef! What's for dinner? 

Cross: We're hungry, Leef! 

Leef, frying a bottle of ketchup over the stove: *screams*

///

Killer: Why do you act like we're three year olds? 

Nightmare, exasperated: WHY?!? 

Nightmare points at Dust: YOU TRIED TO HYJACK A CAR! 

Nightmare points at Killer: YOU NEARLY JUMPED 20 FEET OFF A CARPARK! 

Nightmare points at Leef: AND YOU ATE MULTIPLE DRIED LEAVES AND ROCKS OFF THE GROUND! 

Nightmare: AND YOU ASK ME WHY????

///

Killer : Amazing! Dust, your just like Sherlock Homeless! 

Dust: IT'S HOLMES!

///

Error: I desire moisture. 

Leef: Please just say "I want water" like a normal person.

///

Error: Killer has no idea I'm high. 

Killer: You're high? 

Error: Oh, I'm sorry. 

Error, leaning over to Dust: Killer has no idea I'm high.

///

*Killer is substitute teaching* 

Student: What did you say? 

Killer: I said, whoever threw that paper, your mom's a hoe!

///

Error: I wanna die. 

Dust: We all do, you aren't special!

///

Dust: *makes Leef a cup of tea but puts salt in it* 

Leef: *sips tea* 

Dust: 

Leef: *finishes tea* 

Dust: Didn't it taste bad? 

Leef: Yeah, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings so I drank it all. 

Dust, tearing up: Oh, okay.

///

Leef: Underestimate me. That'll be fun.

///

Error: Go to sleep or you'll hate yourself in the morning! 

Killer: I'll hate my self in the morning regardless.

///

Error, having recently lost their glasses: KILL THE BUG!!! 

Cross: ....That's a gecko—

Error: I STAND BY WHAT I SAID!

///

Dust: I think my guardian angel drinks.

Killer: I think my guardian angel retired so they didn't have to deal with me.

Cross: I think my guardian angel got reported to HR for harassment.

Leef: Y'all have guardian angles? I got a muddy rat on fire watching over me.

///

Dust: Heyyy Leef, how's your... drink?? 

Leef: What do you mean drink? It's coffee. 

Dust: You sure?? *Looks to coffee maker* 

Leef: *Looks to coffee maker* 

*Cement sitting beside the coffee maker* 

Leef:...I'm on my third fucking drink right now, I should be dead.

///

Killer: Something's off. 

Dust: Maybe you've finally developed human emotions and feel bad for hurting people. 

Killer: No, but that's funny.

///

Error: Kill him. 

Cross: This is the kind of quality advice I look for.

///

Nightmare: *sees someone doing something stupid* 

Nightmare: What an idiot. 

Nightmare: *realizes it's Killer* 

Nightmare: Wait, that's MY idiot!

///

Dust: A mouse! 

Killer, pulling out a knife: Go back to where you came from or I'll stab you. 

Leef, pulling out a frying pan: It'll make a nice meal! 

Nightmare , giving the mouse cheese: You deserve a treat, little guy. 

Cross, gasping: It's Ratatouille! 

Killer: His name is Remi, dummy. 

Dust: ...I was going to say to just trap it and throw it out the window... what is wrong with you people.

///

Cross: I'm sorry. Please talk to me. 

Leef: 

Cross: Hello? World's most amazing person?? Sweet pea? Precious cinnamon roll that's too good for this world, too pure? 

Leef: 'Sorry' doesn't bring back my fucking M&Ms.

///

Killer: I have one brain cell and it bounces around in my skull like a windows screen saver. 

Killer: When it hits a corner perfect, I'm allowed one good idea.

///

Error: If Cross is really a vampire, those wooden stakes will kill them! 

Dust: But if they're not a vampire, those wooden stakes will kill them.

///

Nightmare: Did you miss me while I was gone? 

Killer: You were gone?

///

Cross: I hate you. 

Dust: Well, according to this picture I drew of us holding hands, that is untrue.

///

Dust: Do you even know what an amulet is? 

Leef: Of course I do! I eat amulets sometimes. I like the ones with cheese and onions! 

Dust: Leef, those are omelettes. 

Leef: Oh. Then I've got nothing.

///

Leef: I made lightly fried fish fillets for dinner. 

Error: Leef, It's 1:15 am, what the fuck. 

Leef: Do you want the lightly fried fish fillets or not. 

Error: Well, I mean yeah. 

Leef: So come downstairs while they're still hot. 

Error: Wait, you just made them? 

Leef: Yeah, I wasn't tired so I decided to make lightly fried fish fillets. 

Error: Say lightly fried fish fillets one more time Leef.

///

Error: I think I mostly want to see

what happens when this whole place breaks apart.

///

Nightmare: We're all in this together. If one of us falls, we all fall. Nobody is expendable on this team. 

Dust: Sounds fake but ok.

///

Cross: it's illegal to look better than me. 

Error: I guess we're all going to jail then.

///

Leef: Look, Error! It's the good Kush! 

Error: It's the dollar store, how good can it be?

///

*Cross is laying on the floor with their eyes closed* 

Killer: Hey, are they sleeping or dead? 

Dust: Hopefully dead, I hated them. 

Killer: Yeah, me too. 

Cross, sitting up: First of all, fuck you guys.

///

Killer, ordering Starbucks: Hey, I just got my heart broken, what do you recommend? 

Leef, who's running the drive thru: ... 

Leef: Tequila.

///

Killer: Any advice before Cross and I fight? 

Leef: Don't wet yourself in public. 

Killer: Not the kind of advice I was looking for!

Dust: Make sure to not be around any married people!

Killer:... Right.. well I'm gonna go..

Error, not even looking up from their phone: Go for the jugular.

Killer: Ah ok thanks Error :3

///

Killer: You know, when Dust comes over, Leef can get a little... 

Cross: Psycho? 

Error: Scary? 

Nightmare: Violent? 

Killer: All three.

///

Killer: BWWAAAAAAAAAA! Oh, you hear that? That's the wrong opinion alarm. 

Cross: That is not something you actually have installed. 

Killer: Sorry, say again? I couldn't hear you over my alarm that YOU SET OFF with your WRONG-ASS OPINION.

///

Dust: Did you hear that!? Killer just threatened to destroy my lego AT-AT! 

Cross: ...You just threatened to kill them in their sleep.

///

Dust & Killer: *accidentally set the kitchen on fire* 

Dust: We need an adult! 

Killer: Dust, you are an adult! 

Dust: We need an adultier adult! Get Nightmare!

///

Killer: What's the status up here? 

Cross: Fucked up, about to die, Nightmare's a nerd. The usual.

///

Leef: Don't ask me what I'm talking about. I don't know, okay? I'm just the vessel. The message has been gifted. I've moved on.

///

Nightmare: Can I have some water? 

Cross: *starts chugging their water bottle* 

Cross: *chokes from drinking too fast* 

Cross: *spills water all over themself* 

Cross, coughing: I don't have any water.

///

Chapter Text

Now that that's settled, you're walking up to your shared room, relatively satiated by the large meal... you just hungry for something else.. 

you shake the thought out of your head, not realizing you stopped in the middle of the hall you continue on your way

Until you hear someone stomping up behind you and you turn to face them, ew, it's Edge

"W..hat do you.. want emo"

"I want some peace and quiet. I should be able to walk through the halls without getting blinded by an ugly bastard."

Oh this fucker- 

"Oh I'm s..orry," you say as if talking to baby, mocking him with a little pout "but I ca..n't get rid of th..e mirrors" you glare at him until you get interrupted by Honey.

"Now now boys, as much as I would love to see you get all down and dirty fighting, it's against the rules. But theres a lovely yard that's ripe for fights"

You scoff a bit, until you think about it, you really want to beat the crap out of him... 

You pointedly spin on your heel and turn around, pushing past Edge and walking to the front door, if he follows you he follows you. If not... then fuck him

You pass by the living room and see Nightmare on an armchair reading a book. Killer and Dust are somewhere else so you simply plop Bubbles on the coffee table near Nightmare and keep walking

"Holy shit Leefy are you really gonna fight Edge?? Won't that like..." Jay sighs and floats on after you, you keep your head up, you can hear Edge swearing about how you shouldn't turn your back to him, but you just ready yourself for an attack and keep walking

As you make your way outside you briefly glance around, it's in the middle of nowhere, woods surround it on all sides with a clearing around the house. 

You strut over to the middle of the clearing and stare and Edge following Honey, Killer, Dust, and Stretch trailing after them. 

Killer and Dust are messing around and shouting to you

"Hell yeah Leef!! Kick this fucker's ass!" Killer says, cupping is hands around his mouth to make his voice travel

"Yeah! You got this Leefy Branch! You're better than this guy!"

Gonna need to take him down quick, we don't know how well we can fair without a weapon, use our body weight to our advantage, use our claws, our teeth, doesn't matter if you fight dirty it's simply called winning.

As Edge walks up to you, looking like he is barely containing his anger, Stretch speaks up, while Honey gives a whistle and fans himself

"All right! Some ground rules! No weapons! Only magic and your physical body! No dusting the other! You stop when the other taps out. Or I'll have to interrupt. You start when I say Go." 

You and Edge seem to be sizing the other up, apparently he doesn't feel any LV from you, so you could use that to your advantage. Get him to think you're weak, then pounce

(Pspspsp hey there's gonna be fighting <3 skip if you don't like that!)

"Three! Two! One! Go!" Stretch calls out, Edge immediately jumps in, summoning bone attacks from beneath you, causing you to jump.

Ok ok maybe this was a mistake, no going back now, suck it up and keep going, fake it till you make it, you've got this.

You launch yourself off the ground and attempt to tackle Edge, if you get close enough, his projectile bones will be hard to aim at you. 

Edge ducks and rolls out of the way of you, but not quite fast enough to not get scratched by your sharp claws. 

You land in an animalistic crouch and bounce back up, dodging the bone attacks that come flying at you, at least until one flies at your arm. 

Your breath hitches and you get a flash of the day when your Papyrus kicked you out.. it wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault you got sent here. It wasn't your fault you got reincarnated. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't. It wasn't. IT WASNT

You suddenly get angry, so very, very angry. This BITCH. Calling you names and now making you fight?? Just to not seem like a pushover?? Oh FUCK this guy.

You close the distance between the two of you quickly, and give Edge a jab in the ribs with your elbow. Twisting around him you ignore the pains of bones hitting you and claw at Edge's shoulders, spilling his blood onto the grass, 

Edge immediately changes tactics, twisting around out of your tight grip, summoning a hard bone he grasps it and begins swinging it, similar to how you would fight with your bat.

Finally something in your wheelhouse. You know the disadvantages of a bat, he can't easily quickly switch directions, so you use that to your advantage, moving sporadically, but low to the ground, your legs wound tightly so you can spring out of the way quickly. 

It seems you're locked in a stalemate until you pounce, going for Edge's waist you spring up, claws out, trying to position yourself to knock him over, and low and behold, it worked

You knock the tall skeleton over and throw punch after punch until you feel something surround you and you get lifted up, seemingly by your soul, you struggle, bearing your teeth and growling you fight whatever is keeping you still. 

Oh, if only we could eat this bitch, ughhhh I am really craving some dust right about now.

(Fighting is over! P.s- you won)

Stretch grabs you by the shoulders, throwing you into overdrive 

Fuck fuck fuck fuck you're gonna get beaten up youre gonna get killed fuck you gotta get away gotta run, Papyrus is gonna make sure you stay out of his life now.

You faintly hear shouting, then the cold feeling of Nightmare touching you, that's ok he won't hurt you, Papyrus will though, but Nightmare will keep him away, he'll help you, Nightmare will make sure the dogs won't get you, he is much stronger than you 

You go limp in Nightmare's hold and feel yourself get carried somewhere, until you get placed on a bed. You distantly feel him tending to your wounds, you sit there staring off into the distance, still trapped in the past. Papyrus shouting at you

"It's no..t my fault... I'm sorry... ITS NOT... ITS NOT MY... MY FA..ULT..." 

You scramble out of the way of the hands touching you, you don't want to get hurt anymore. You begin to shake in fear, you don't want Papyrus to hurt you.

"Leef I need to clean your wounds, I can't do that if you are in a corner"

You ball up in your spot near the wall, trying to get as small as possible, eyes not leaving from Papyrus's form

"Nilla, could you please get some more bandages?"

"Of course!"

Papyrus leaves the room and you faintly relax.

"Now then Leef, will you come out of the corner? You are just getting blood on the walls"

You don't back away when Nightmare comes closer. And you don't run, even when you flinch at the touch.

"You're doing a good job Leef. You're all good."

The goopy skeleton finishes wrapping the last of your wounds and stands up, you not moving from your spot.

"You did a good job in the fight, I knew it wasn't a mistake to get you to join me... I'll leave you to it here."

And he leaves, in comes Killer and Dust. A worried look on their faces

"Gosh Leef, you look like some kind of cornered animal." Killer says, chuckling

"Not a good look on you, I gotta say" Dust states. 

"You fucking kicked Edge's ass though! He won't be messing with you anymore!!" Killer claps his hands together.

You realize that Dust is holding Bubbles, when he notices you looking he hands him over to you, you hug the glass jar close to your chest and finally fully relax.

Chapter Text

You've been sitting in your shared room for a while, Killer and Dust appear to be sleeping right now, you all decided that the bed is first come first served, so at the moment Killer is laying in bed, Dust on the carpet with a pillow and a blanket.

You're settled under the bed, it's a bit dusty but that's a problem for future you, theres not nearly as much space as your old bed but whatever. Jay doesn't sleep but xe is off exploring or something, leaving you only with your thoughts, your thoughts on the fight you won.

Yes you're proud you won it's just... the way you reacted wasn't the best, back in your world, doing something like that would've been a good thing, making sure the haleef was dead, best to tear it up or beat it to a pulp, just to make sure it wasn't somehow alive, because even if they couldn't talk, they would hold a grudge.

Even in the underground you shouldn't leave your victim alive, you needed to eat their dust, and can't do that if they were alive. 

But you're not in your own world, you haven't been there for years, you're not even in the underground anymore, you should be able to hold yourself back. 

And why are you so scared of Papyrus? Edge obviously triggered something in you when he hit you, making you be reminded of the Papyrus from your au, but why? It's just another person. You could easily kill him. So why are you scared?

.... Are you actually scared? Or do you just not want to face him, the harsh gaze he bored into you.. 

Even after all that, after the fight, you still acted like a scared little animal afterward. In your old world flight was often better than fight, you only fought if you were cornered, or you couldn't safely run.

Fuck it. You're not dealing with these thoughts right now, deal with this later, just ignore your emotions until you can't anymore.

You wiggle out from under the bed, as silent as you can be, of course your roommates wake up, why wouldn't they? They are crazy insane killers, much more qualified to be at Nightmare's side than you are

Dust whispers from his spot on the floor.

"Where are you heading Leef?"

"Kitch...en... I'm thirsty.." 

With that you walk out of the room, clicking the door closed you head down to the kitchen, now's the time to check on the food reserves. 

You open up the large fridge glancing inside, it looks very well stocked, the food looks stuffed together in there, there's some raw meat marinating in a small container... surely no one would notice if you just... take one of the pork chops. 

So you do just that, washing your hands a bit before delicately taking one of the pork chops out of the marinade. You plop down on the floor of the kitchen and bite into the raw meat. 

Ugh that's the good stuff, so so much better than canned peaches, if you have to so much as even look at a can of peaches ever again...

You happily eat the food until you hear someone enter the kitchen, you shift a bit until the figure reveals themselves to Mars. The red in his eyelight mixing with the purple of yours, lighting the kitchen in a magenta haze. 

He locks eyes with you, before speaking up

"What're... you doin..?"

You are sat there on the floor with a mouthful of raw pork chop... yeah this looks bad for you.

"I'm so s...o so sorry for stea...ling your food. I d...idn't mean anything by it. I co...mpletely understand if you... kick me out for it, Im so.. sorry, I was jus...t hungry and the pork caught my eye it'll n...ever happen again I sw...ear ."  

You rush to get your apology out before Mars can attack you, you are not in a spot to get in another fight right now and really don't want to get kicked out of another house.

Mars stares at you thoughtfully before reaching into the pantry and pulling out some beef jerky, he sits on the floor beside you. Mars munches on the jerky until you strike up conversation.

"So.... What are yo...u doing up?"

"Couldn' sl..eep" he responds, the way he speaks is nice, it's soothing... you could fall asleep listening to his voice. Now would be a good time to ask if you could enter his forest.

"So... I heard you uh..." you give up trying to be polite, that just ends with you fumbling your words anyways, he seems like the type to not care. With a sharp exhale you reword your request 

"You own thes...e woods,i want to be in the.... woods, could I please ent..er." You ignore the fact that you sound suspiciously like a vampire and await Mars's response. 

He seems to be sizing you up, trying to get a read on you, and you tend to wear your heart on your sleeve when it comes to emotions. 

"If you wan...na hunt in there you need ta get a license... you need to do it legall...y, Classic... gettin you an ID... soon."

Right.... Laws.... You don't think you'll be able to hold back if you see something other than Mars is the forest. Or you could just do it illegally... who would try to track you down over one dead deer?

"If I don't plan... on hunting... could I tag along w...ith you tomorrow?"

You finished eating your little midnight snack and are just nawing on the bone. Mars has already polished off his bag of jerky and is looking at you.

"If ya do hunt.... I won' stop you, don kill a human or Class...ic will be houndin... you bout it"

"So can i go int...o your forest tomorrow?"

"Yea.. i'll show y..ou round"

Chapter Text

without knowing it you fell asleep on the floor of the kitchen, that would've been the end of your life in both of your old worlds, but not here apparently.

it was Mars who woke you up, tapping you slightly on your shoulder. you jolt awake at that and whip your head around to get the large skeleton in your line of sight.

sunlight is streaming in from the windows so obviously it's morning. Mars is crouching in front of you, and Jupiter is standing by a griddle, cooking some pancakes, Nilla is making a boatload of eggs and bacon, while Lavender is preparing toast.

huh, you really slept through all of that? that's unlike you.

"Lavender is asking what you want to drink. he mentioned condiments?? i really hope you don't drink ketchup or something..."

Jay is floating by your face, xeir question are sort of weird until you remember that Sans would drink ketchup. ew.

"so, what would you like Leef?"

"do you hav...e juice?"

Lavender peers into the refrigerator, mumbling something before turning back to you.

"we have orange juice or apple juice,"

"apple ple..ase"

he nods at you and turns back to buttering the toast, glancing at you he speaks

"it'll be a while until we finish cooking, so you could go wait or nap or something."

you take your cue to leave the room and wander into the living room, obviously you don't plan on napping because you just woke up but you take in the scene infront of you

Killer and Dust are playing cards on the coffee table and Edge is perched on the couch with his legs crossed, and head held high, he seems to be trying to hold onto any dignity he has left after losing the fight.

Edge's eye lights flick to you and he seems to stiffen, you struggle to holdback the pure joy at being feared, even if it won't last long

you realize that Nightmare is sitting in an armchair reading a book, don't know where he got it from be oh well.

you glance back at Killer and Dust's game of cards, they seem to be playing go fish so the only logical thing to do is to ask to join in, also joining the yelling match that is happening.

this brings you back to the times in Nightmares castle. you may not have spent much time with the residents but you do miss Error and Cross. 

"DUST I KNOW FULL WELL YOU HAVE A STARS DAMNED FOUR"

"WELL YOURE CHEATING HOW WOULD YOU KNOW THAT???"

"WELL JUST GIVE HIM T...HE GODDAMN CARD THEN D...UST" you but into the argument 

"HES A CHEATER IM NOT GONNA GIVE MY CARD TO A CHEATER"

"THATS NOT HOW YOU PLAY!!!" killer shouts right back

"KILLER KNOWS THE... CARD CUS YOU ASKED FOR IT DUMBA..SS"

you missed this, this shouting just to shout, and not getting interrupted because of how slow you talk, because everyone is talking over eachother 

"LISTEN SHORTY I CAN GO AT THIS ALL DAY JUST GIVE ME THE CARD"

"SHORTY?? SHORTY? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING SHORTY BITCH?"

"LISTEN SHO...RTSTACK JUST HAND OVER THE FUCKIN...G CARDS"

you place you hand over Dust's head to prove your point that he's short. you're surprised he's not tearing you hand off here and now.

"IM NOT SHORT YOURE FREAKISHLY TALL FOR A SANS YOU TOOK MY HIEGHT"

"alright... short stack" you say amused. with that Dust tackles you, Killer hopping in the fight just for the fun of it, you three scrabble like a group of street cats until Nightmare stops you, much sooner than he usually does but- oh right you're in a random universe... oops 

Nightmare grabs the three of you in his tentacles and pinches where his nose would be if he had flesh.

"what do you three think you're doing?"

"we'..re just be..ing silly" you say, slightly out of breath from the play fight, with a smile on your face you go slack in his hold.

"yeah! it's not our fault we're silly goofy guys!" Killer says, building on your response 

"it's their fault, they started it." Dust says, wriggling in Nightmare's hold

"need i remind you they have a rule against fighting in the house?"

the three of you groan and nod.

"so, you will cook dinner tonight, or help whoever is already doing it."

that's hardly a punishment to you, you enjoy cooking. you'll have to take stock of what's there and-

"not you Leef." Nightmare says, cutting off your train of thought

"to keep it a punishment, you won't partake in the cooking you'll be washing the dishes."

"but tha..ts the worst part.." you say, stretching out the vowels as you complain.

"exactly. it is a punishment"

Nightmare sets you three on the ground and you promptly flop down next to Killer, Dust stands there with his head in his hands, disappointed.

"ughhhh... Killer.. why'd you ma..ke me fight..."

"i didnt make you do shit, you choose to fight the shorty."

Dust lets out a groan at the nickname and you look at Killer

"bit...ch"

"loser"

"pu..ssy"

"motherfucker"

"wet... cat"

"dick"

"cock..sucke-" 

you and Killer get cut off from your little spat from Lavender clearing his throat, it seems breakfast is ready, the household sitting at a table in the room next to you, looks like you two are the last ones to get to the table.

you give a joking glare to Killer 

"w...e're not finished here... cock sucker."

"oh... i know, fucker."

you get up and walk towards the dinning table, taking in the stacks of pancakes and bacon sitting on the table.

you find an empty spot next to Mars and Killer. and you load the food onto your plate, glowing with joy, you haven't eaten pancakes in so long. theyre your favorite food. your mom used to make the best chocolate chip pancakes

unfortunately these ones are plain but theyre amazing all the same. Killer gasps mockingly at you

"Leef! i cant believe youre eating Dust!! the shortstack!" 

Dust flicks a piece of his bacon at Killer and you snicker, until Nightmare glares at you, theres no real malice in his eyes but you know well enough that you should stop.

you continue eating, holding back laughs whenever you look at Killer.

Chapter Text

You search Mars out after breakfast, intending to go in his forest with him. you let Nightmare know where youre going, of course, and get on your way

Mars is leading you to the clearing you fought Edge in, there is a fence you didnt notice before, stopping the forest from 'overtaking' the yard, that is what Mars said Classic told him at least.

"ok Leefy Branch!" Jay claps xeir paws together, somehow making a noise even without a physical body.

"i may go off on my own way, just to scout around, divide and conquer you know? plus i dont really like watching you get all.."

xe trails off, waving xeir arms about in a vaguely bear-like manner. all four of xeir ears flopping around with each motion.

"i ge..t it" you say nodding at Jay. you know you can get a little.... weird when you truly let yourself go, although you dont plan on doing that, you respect xeir decision. 

Mars looks at you strangely but seems to brush it off, just another one of the weird things you have going on.

He leads you to a gate in the fence and opens it for you, you step through, barely containing yourself, oh you want to let loose. 

"theres a pon...d in the middle an' alot of streams... ya shouln' get lost if you... know what youre doin'"

you nod at him, almost shaking with excitement, with that Mars leaves you on your own, walking off to your left while you look around, taking in the smells and sights.

of course the smells are different, they're different trees from what you had in the underground, what you had were evergreen, kind of, they were some magical variant of the human trees.

and these trees are deciduous, loosing their leaves in the winter and theres that wet slop on the ground from mud and wet grass, making each step you take make a squelching noise.

its all a vibrant green, wildflowers strewn about in clumps, the sun coming through the trees and dappling the undergrowth in its bright light.

its certainly a sight to behold, one you havent taken in sense before the outbreak. a beautiful view like this... it makes you wonder how long it will stay this way. 

Almost as soon as the haleef started killing, those people who watched zombie shows took to the woods... but with so many people going there.. it lost its intended effect of not having many people. 

in your world every step you took in the forest was littered with bodies, giving it the overwhelming sent rot and decay, but it was perfect for the plants. not having folk cut down trees because theyre in the "wrong place"

or people not using fertilizer on crops, making the ponds and lakes not have so much algae, and having more fish. it was nice in a twisted way. humans did so much bad to forests, 

the haleefs were beneficial to the environment as much as you hate to admit it, you'd much rather say that they were destructive, killing everything in their paths but thats not true. they only killed humans, 

if you managed to stay clear of buildings, mask your scent with something else, and hide or manage to look like some funky wild animal, you'd likely be completely overlooked by the haleef.

perfectness does not last forever. but perfectness doesn't exist, it all depends on which way you look at something yeah yeah all that inspirational quote shit

you realize with those long, arguably unnecessary, thoughts on the differences of the forests in each world you've lived in, you came to the pond, with a dead rabbit clutched tightly in your claws. 

you jolt a bit, something in your mind telling you that you weren't supposed to hunt in here. its a little brown rabbit, but most rabbits are brown in the wild. its tiny but not a baby, you'd guess a runt that managed to survive.

you pet its fur, making you oddly awfully reminiscent of the days spent sitting next Jay on xeir couch, side by side, chatting up a storm to ignore the ever growing hunger pains. at least xe doesnt have them anymore.

...you miss being able to hug people like that, without worrying about getting hurt... you miss a lot. 

you miss Jess. that innocence that you both had, the only worry you had being wether or not you were going to spell "fiasco" right on you next spelling test.

you miss not worrying about your next meal. 

you miss groaning at your mother, who was just trying her best, whenever she tried to feed you asparagus.

you miss helping Jess with her schoolwork.

you miss eating out at Grillby's with Jay

you miss those long talks in the booth with xem

..you miss living with Papyrus

you miss not having horns

not having claws

not bleeding purple

you miss being able to see out of both eyes

not having these joint problems 

you miss a lot

but you dont miss the looks Papyrus shot you when you left

you dont miss the effects starving had on everyone 

you dont miss eating dust

or eating humans

you dont miss that deep seated hunger you always felt

you dont mi-

Mars comes out of the bushes to the left of you, causing you to jump and swing your head around, itching for your bat untill you take a look at who it is.

Mars looks at you, then at the little bunny in your hands, your claws pierced its skin, making blood drip down to the ground, patches of fur are rough and ruffled.

you look down at it then back up at Mars.

"Classic is go...nna call everyone for supp..er.... if you wanna skin t..hat we could co..ok it." he says pointing down at the carcass in your hands.

you get to work gutting and skinning the rabbit with your claws, Mars standing there staring until youre finished.

you get up and walk out of the forest, until you hear a loud noise coming from the house, and that familiar feeling of being around Nightmare, just much stronger.

Chapter Text

Killer: If karma doesn't hit you, I fucking will.

///

Killer, reading a recipe: Beat three eggs? 

Dust: It means like in hand-to-hand combat. 

Killer: Ohhhh- 

Leef: Both of you get out of my god damned kitchen.

///

Error: I hate taking off my glasses, because without them, my vision goes from Full HD all the way down to buffering at 240p and I just can't handle that.

///

Leef: I'll be famous one day, but for now I'm stuck in this house with a bunch of morons.

///

Leef: Clownery. Tomfoolery. Absolute fuckery, I am going to revoke your life privileges.

///

Killer: Dust is a little bitch. 

Cross: Why? 

Killer: Number one, they're little. Number two, they're a bitch.

///

Error: "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" - Charles Darwin 

Leef: What the fuck? Begets isn't a word. Quit trying to make up words, fuckface.

///

Cross: You're just being paranoid. Again. 

Dust: When have I been paranoid? 

Cross: Um, when you first met Leef you thought they were an undercover cop...? 

Dust: No one has an eye that big, I thought it was a surveillance camera! 

Cross: And last year you were sure Killer was a mermaid! 

Dust: They hate wearing shirts! COINCIDENCE?! 

*Later, when Dust's theory is proven wrong* 

Cross: Do you have anything to say for yourself? 

Dust: I still think Killer is a mermaid.

///

Killer, opening a Capri Sun: Guess I'll drink my sorrows away.

///

Nightmare: PEASANT. I REQUIRE SUSTENANCE. 

Cross: You know there are other ways to say you want McDonalds. 

Nightmare: FOUL PLEBEIAN. YOU DARE SPEAK AGAINST ME— 

Cross: *sigh* What do you want? 

Nightmare: Chicken nuggets please.

///

Error: I have passed the transitional stage of internet geekhood. 

Error: I was cashiering at work today, and was punching in the code for plums, which is 4040, and the 0 key doesn't work this well, so I punched it in wrong. And the machine flashed up "Item Not Found: 404". 

Error: And I actually laughed out loud.

///

Nightmare: Are you mad? 

Killer: No. 

Nightmare: So sharpening your knives at 3 in the morning is just a hobby?

///

Killer: we could make a boys club! 

Leef: Im non-binary. 

Killer: 

Killer: Anti-girls club.

///

Error, about Killer: Dust, they're an asshole! They have purposely stabbed you on more than one occasion! 

Dust: Some of those stabbings were accidental! 

Error: 

Dust: Okay, well, I know for a fact the third time was accidental.

///

*Leef sneezes* 

Error: Leef, are you sick? Here, let me wrap you in a blanket and hand-feed you some warm soup while singing you a lullaby! 

*Cross sneezes* 

Error: Oh my god. Shut the hell up.

///

Dust: Hey, what's your Netflix password? 

Nightmare: ihopeyoudie 

Dust: Thank you!

///

Cross: We might have gotten into a bar room brawl back in the city. 

Killer: Well, that was entirely predictable. 

Cross: One of them punched a gang member. 

Killer: Dust? 

Cross: Leef, actually. 

Killer: Oh, that was going to be my second guess.

///

Dust: Dom or sub? 

Leef: I guess Domino's, since I don't go to Subway that much. Don't see why you'd put them in the same category though.

///

Leef: Hey, Error you're smart, tell me what would happen if I chugged 3 gallons of chloroform. 

Error: Have you ever been to a mortuary? 

Leef: Yea, my grandma lives there. 

Cross: That is the worst response to that question.

///

Killer: My life isn't as glamourous as my wanted poster makes it look.

///

Nightmare: Don't weep for the stupid. You'll be crying all day.

///

Killer, on the phone: I better go...kay, call me later... byeeee! 

Dust: Friend of Yours? 

Killer: Nope, wrong number. 

Dust: ???

///

Killer: Ugh, there's always that weak bitch in the group who isn't down with murder. 

Killer: *glares at a broken knife* 

///

Error: I'm having problems with a guy... 

Leef: Like his dead body won't fit into your trunk kind of problems, or you like him kind of problems?

///

Leef: If I die, my funeral will be the biggest party ever and you're all invited. 

Dust: "If" 

Cross: Great, the only party I'm ever invited to and they might not even die.

///

Error: I thought you were going to give me a book recommendation or something. 

Killer: *laughs* Book recommendation? I can't read!

///

Error: How does one turn their emotions off? 

Leef: Okay, so first go to settings. 

Leef: I'm a fucking idiot, I thought that said emojis at first. 

Error: No, I'm still willing to try this, go ahead. I'm at settings, what do I do next?

///

Leef: Screw lactose intolerance! I will consume as much dairy as I want! 

Leef 2 hours later, crying on the floor: WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH?!

///

Leef: Astrology is fun because I can pretend that all of my behaviors are just a result of being a Gemini and not symptoms of mental illness. 

Error: Being a Gemini is a mental illness. That's not hate it's just a fact.

///

Cross, about Killer: I could fix them, but honestly whatever the hell is wrong with them is way funnier. 

Leef: That's what any god probably thinks about me.

///

Killer: Dust's gonna kill me. 

Cross: No, they'll probably make me do it.

///

Dust: Cross? You just drove through a stop sign without stopping. 

Cross: I'll stop twice on the way back.

///

Leef: You don't think I can fight because of my gender! 

Cross: I don't think you can fight because you're in a wedding dress. For what it's worth, I don't think Killer can fight in that dress either. 

Killer: Maybe not. But I would make a radiant bride.

///

Leef: What is the one thing I told you not to do? 

Killer: Burn the house down. 

Leef: And what did you do? 

Killer: I made dinner. 

Leef: 

Killer: 

Leef: 

Killer: And burnt the house down.

///

*Leef is cleaning the house and they find an empty bottle of orange juice* 

Leef: Clear orange juice? 

Leef: Oh, it's empty. 

Error, who has been watching the entire time: I live with an idiot. I live with an idiot. I live with an idiot.

///

Cross: Guys, Dust is missing. 

Killer: Good.

///

Error: My bad, It's a knee jerk response. 

Cross, holding Killer's unconscious body: WHOSE KNEE JERK RESPONSE IS TO START THROWING BRICKS AT SOMEONE???

///

Killer: I think I'm falling for you. 

Leef: Then get up.

///

Leef: I'm going to hell. 

Dust: Probably. 

Leef: I'll pick you up? 

Dust: *nodding* Carpool, better for the environment.

///

Error: Ooh, let me see! *Takes a piece of paper from Nightmare* 

Nightmare: ... 

Error: 

Error: Oh wait, I can't read.

///

Killer:  I'm gonna mix a can of Red Bull with seventeen shots of espresso in a fishbowl and then chug it while Kids by MGMT plays in the background so I can perceive twenty-three spatial dimensions and fight my own soul.

Chapter Text

you dont know how you should feel about this, a loud noise and then boom, Nightmare's aura but like times ten...

you pick up the pace a bit, speed walking to get to the house, you do so and bust the door open, apparently stepping into the middle of an argument 

Blue, Ink, and Dream are here now, great. you werent exactly nice to them last ti- oh riggghttt these are the people you fight with Nightmare! cool! you don't have any weapons... you bet Killer has a knife that you could borrow.

Ink is shouting at Nightmare, blaming him for being here. You never liked strangers yelling at people you like

you look down at the skinned rabbit in your hands. youre not usually one to waste food but.... you can still eat it, youll just wash it

Ink lets out a yelp at the carcass slaps him in the face, effectively shutting him up.

you have a large grin on your face and you high five Killer proudly.

"You!!!" Ink points at you with his loud shout

"What ab..out me?" Blue seems to be holding back a laugh and Dream's smile gets a bit more real. Killer is giggling beside you and Nightmare, like always, is deadpan.

"You're the one Blue was talking about!!" 

welp, its time to Gaslight, Gatekeep, and Girlboss. minus the gatekeep, and you're girlbossing 24/7.

"w..hat?" you say, slapping on a confused look

"yeah, you were the one in Ccino's café weren't you?"

"who's Cc..ino?" Blue stares at you a bit, squinting his eyes. You think about the most confusing scenario youve been in, just so the look on your face in believable.

you think about that time in the underground with Jay, when xe spontaneously decided to play tag, and xe jumped out behind a door to tag you, while you forgot what tag was.

Dream buts in before Ink speaks again

"are you sure?" Dream seem to be looking in your soul to determine if youre lying or not, you feel a twitch of amusement but smooth it down with more confusion. 

"yeah... ive never seen you b..efore, well ive hear..d of y...-" Blue cuts you off before you can finish your last word.

"oh! im sorry, I just thought you were this person named Leef is all." your polite smile twitches a bit when you get cut off 

"its o...k... j-"

"oh good! I thought you were going to be angry! You just have the same antlers as him is all. at least that means you aren't with Nightmare! now we can be friends!!" 

great... he cut you off again. your smile falls and you share a look with Killer begging him for a knife. he goes to reach into his pocket for one but Dust stops him, inclining his head towards Nightmare, ugh he wouldnt want you fight this guy

you give a bored look to Dust, begging him to let you have the knife. and Nightmare sends a warning glare, you sigh and cross your arms, shifting your wight to your right foot.

Dream puts a hand on Blue's shoulder, 

"well can someone explain where we are? especially with m- Nightmare's gang?" 

Classic speaks up for the first time during this whole debacle, making you realize that the entire household is here and saw you gaslight the protector of the multiverse into thinking you weren't Leef. this is going great so far

"first off, you are in my au, my machine malfunctioned and no one has been able to teleport out, Nightmare also is here unfortunately." Classic mumbles the last part and you send him a glare 

"Second off," he shoots the glare right back at you 

"that is Leef. he was lying, there are some rules ill go over soon but we are going to be starting dinner soon." Classic continues, seeming to hold respect for these folks.

You pick up the rabbit from the floor as the skeletons disperse, Killer and Dust sticking around, intending to cook dinner, you groan thinking about doing all of the dishes. 

you brush the dust off of the meat and blow on it a bit.

Blue seems to be vibrating talking to you.

"do you mind if i help cook dinner? i can make some of my famous tacos!" 

you stare him down, turning to Killer, Dust, and Mars, silently asking them if they were ok with him. Mars herds the four of you into the kitchen.

you make a bee-line to the sink and wash the rabbit, inspecting it for any lasting dirt. it seems good enough that it wont get anyone with a weak stomach sick.

Jupiter wanders in the large room and smiles at you

"oh! wil.l you be hel.ping cook?" you shake your head at him drying your hands on a rag

"i... cant cook today... ill stick around to do d..ishes though." you say, handing your rabbit to Mars for him to deal with. 

"ah! ok! we can sho.ut for you wh.en we nee.d you!"

you give Jupiter a thumbs up and you leave the kitchen, only to immediately get pounced on by Ink,  metaphorically of course.

"So! Leef right?" you stare at him, feeling much more vulnerable without Killer and Dust by your side.

"y-" 

"great! so as you probably know, im Ink, Protecter of the multiverse! im here to offer a place on the good side! so, i know you have no LV, but youre still on Nightmare's side."

you dead pan at Ink, does he actually think that you have no lv? this dumbass

"so im just telling you that he wont hurt you anymore! and im going to try my best to unbrainwash you!" Ink strikes a pose at the end of his little... declaration 

"i hate to brea...k it to you bu...-" he cuts you off again what the hell is with these guys and not letting you finish speaking??

  at least Edge was polite enough to let you finish speaking, he just was a bitch about how long it took, but this fucking guy.. you should bust his teeth in

"its ok! its just me being nice, you know its kind of my job to protect innocent skeletons like you!" 

"ok... well im n..-"

"Please, really dont thank me."

oh this fucking bitch you clench you fists and glare at Ink so so pissed off.

Dream steps up to the two of you and looks at Ink.

"ok Ink, i think he-" Dream places his hand on your shoulder, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back 

Chapter Text

Dream touched your shoulder, this bitch just touched your shoulder. your emotions you buried finally overflowing.

you wrench yourself away from the hand and begin to shake, your bones rattling in a way you never realized they could. tears well up in your eyes and you try to run from Dream, but Ink blocks your path, saying something you cant understand, the stupid fucking smile still on his face

all you can hear is your magic fizzling and popping in your ears and horrible horrible thoughts of ripping that vile hand off of that arm, but i thought you didnt have magic anymore?

your limited eye sight goes fuzzy, Ink saying something else, and Dream stepping back. a low growl rings in your ears, it takes you a second to realize that it is coming from you.

you stare at Ink, any outsider watching would liken your body language to that of a cornered animal, putting up any defense short from attacking so that they can to stay alive.

many people are shouting in your ears, their figures looking like blurry blobs as they crowd around you. 

you distantly recognize the black tentacles to be Nightmare's. but anything other than that is unrecognizable.

all you want to do is escape 

you need to LEAVE 

YOU NEED TO GET OUT

GET OUT

GET OUT

GET OUT

WE NEED TO LEAVE

without realizing to you wrenched you eyes shut so tightly that any and all tears in them drip down to the hardwood floor with a silent

  tip.. tap.. fizzle.. tip.. pop..

then the unwelcome voices all around you go silent. leaving you with the normal amount.

you are sat on the dirt shivering and sobbing, 

sobbing out all your pain

sobbing for all of your dead family

sobbing out all your stress

shouting into the trees a broken cry

clawing at your eyesockets with each tear that hits the grass wait grass??

you want your mom. 

every single emotion that you previously bottled up comes flowing out of you in waves,

anger one moment 

frustration another

heartbreak for a second

then guilt

jealousy 

doubt

regret

fear

despair

every thing you pushed down comes out

with each yank at your eye sockets you go through another emotion, memories flashing strongly in your mind

woah woah calm down kid... it.. it'll be fine, some guy touched you is all... dont tear out your eyes because of it

its so much more than the fact that you got touched, so so so much more than that

blood mixed with tears coats your hands, sobs continuously wrack your body, you realize just how tired you are, and just how much you hurt. you can hardly move your joints, 

you sit there on the ground, having cried your eyes out, almost all alone until a branch breaks near you, you whip your head around, probably a little more easier than it should have been, although you struggle to make out who it is you recognize Nightmare and Killer.

you rock back and forth on the dirt, the two sans take a seat a good distance aways from you.

the two of them speak in low voices. you wipe your eyes, only causing pain, and smearing the blood across your skull. 

you try your best to stop crying, to bottle the emotions again now that people are here I dont want people to see me like this

its Killer that speaks up this time, in a quiet, serious voice you have never heard from him before

"if you need to let it all out do that Leef, i sure as hell wont judge you."

you let out a whimper, the tears you held back coming back full force. you burry your head in your knees, wishing for the soft flesh and skin to cushion your bones. 

was it always this cold in this body?

"Leef, are you still with us?" you look up at the sound of Nightmare speaking to you. 

why do i feel so lightheaded?

you give a jerky nod, the shaking hasn't subsided. you gaze at the blurry forms of your family, squinting a bit. they look to be whispering, 

you go to pull up your hood, pushing past the pain with unsteady hands, wracking you with another bout of sobs.

i feel so tired

you feel your eyes slip closed for a moment, only for Nightmare and Killer to shout at you. 

kid you gotta stay awake

but im so cold... and so tired 

if i go to sleep it will go away

listen just try to stay awake

but thats so much work..

you become acutely aware of the sharp pains in your stomach. hunger so bad, like your stomach is tearing itself apart, you've felt this only once, and it was before you first resorted to cannibalism.

your eyes slip closed again and you feel Nightmare's arms wrap around you.

its still so cold...

your entire body feels like it has terrible pins and needles. you shake even harder, feeling the warmth of another being and still being cold.

stay AWAKE LEEF!

i dont think i can...

im sorry...

you go limp in Nightmare's arms.

Chapter Text

you smile wide, teeth glinting in the small sliver of light filtering through the leaves. your eyes wrinkle up, causing you to squint. Ziggy laughs along with you, a calm moment in the middle of chaos, their thick curly black hair tied up in a ponytail bounces as they laugh.

"alright ****! whats on the good old mental checklist for today?"

you shift around in your spot on the branch you're sitting on, trying to recollect your thoughts.

"well... we're gonna need to go out on a supply run today. our rations are almost out, even with us foraging. The Walmart is out of edible things so we're gonna need to look for another place."

Ziggy gets a frown on their face, but they've always been the optimistic of you two.

"im sure we'll find a place! the moment we get discouraged is the moment we have no more chances!"

"ewww" you lean back into the needles of the evergreen tree,

"all this motivational shit.. its something my mom-... its something i would have hanging in a bathroom" you continue, rewording your statement before you get sad remembering your mom

"welp, you'd think you'd be used to it by now huh?" Ziggy says, shrugging their shoulders 

you chuckle a bit, and squeeze the branch you're sitting on as to not fall off.

"well we need to get supplies no matter what, so i say we head East, go past the Walmart and hope for the best."

"hoping can only get us so far ****" 

"and here a thought you were an optimist." you say smuggly, 

you pull your ragged deer pelt over your shoulders, being sure to cover your skin. 

you nod at Ziggy and get down off the tree silently, immediately shifting to survival mode. communicating through hand gestures, neither of you know sign language, so your next best bet was to just make stuff up.

you tighten your grip on your bat and look around, searching past the trees for that familiar purple color of the haleef.

you silently tell Ziggy that it is safe. and they jump down next to you, wrapping their pelts around their body. they sewed them together themself. 

fox pelts mixed with rabbit, anything to make it big enough for them to wear.

they hold their knives close to their hand, fingers twitching, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

you two start heading east, you've just made it past the treeline when a ear piercing scream tears through the air.

Ziggy and you share a look, before deciding to check it out.

you creep towards the scream, more likely than not its someone who is getting attacked by haleef. but if you get to them quick enough.... you may be able to help

your thick layers rustle around you as you step, giving you the protection you need from the elements and the haleef. snow crunches underfoot despite your best efforts to stay quiet.

another scream rings around you two, followed by growling a barking, much closer than before, inside of a small building. you slowly open the door before hearing Ziggy clap and you get pounced on by a haleef. 

that extra second that Ziggy gave you was all the warning you needed, you both spring into action. the enlongated body of the haleef twisting around grotesquely. 

you fall into the familiar motion of fighting, Ziggy taking the rear and you taking the front. the teeth to big for it's human skull drip with purple venomous saliva.

it lashes out at you, snapping and biting, you've always been the better dodger compared to Ziggy, so you use your effort to distract the creature, getting a few hits in on its face while Ziggy does most of the heavy hitting. stabbing at its organs 

the creature's spiked tail lashes out at Ziggy, they were barley able to dodge out of the way before the haleef switches targets and starts clawing at them instead.

you take the opportunity to swing at its head without getting swatted at yourself. its skull crunching under the pressure like a tortilla chip. 

Ziggy gets to work sawing the limbs of and you pound the head with practiced speed until it is little more than shards of bone and grey skin, purple visera dripping from your bat as you finish the job.

you and Ziggy slowly enter the building, scanning the area for any more haleef. a loud barking alerts you of where the person is, you tip toe your way around the house, entering where the barking is coming from. 

two men lay dead on the bed. you can tell it was a haleef that got to them.

you look down at the barking, it is a large dog, a brown and white mutt with a yellow collar on it, telling you his name is "Rouge"

it is dripping its blood all over the floor, and he is coated in haleef blood. Rouge weakly wags his tail at you, but hardly moves away from the two men. 

you are weary of the dog, and you can tell Ziggy is too. they tighten their grip on their knives and you try not to show fear, treating the dog like a wild animal. 

if the blood got into his body its only a matter of time before he attacks you, and it is much harder to fight a haleef that took over an animal compared to one that took root in a human.

you swallow your nerves and step forward, raising your meat clever above your head over Rouge, deciding not to use your bat on this poor dog. you pet him weakly and bring your cleaver down on his neck, he makes no move to escape your knife.

and with a low crack, you hit bone.

he lets out a high pitched mix between a squeal and a whimper as you cleave through his neck. 

it makes a jerking motion before it lies still. you turn to Ziggy, a weak smile on your face, masking your sorrow with humor like you always do.

"i guess a needed a new pelt anyways.." 

you force a horrid laugh and get to work skinning the dog, it wasn't a lie that you needed a new pelt, your deer skin is patchy and ripped, you're surprised that it is still holding itself together.

you find that the meat is surprisingly clean, for it being infected by haleef. it makes you wonder if you could....

no

you're not going to eat a dog. thats just straight wrong.

Ziggy works on dismembering the dead men on the bed. dont want them waking up as haleef to you salivating over their dead dog.

you pack up your supplies, hanging the skin out to dry as the sun sets for the day. you and Ziggy take shifts at night 

you continue to work the hide of the dog, making it soft so you can wear it. you take a look at Rouge's collar, guilt you've been suppressing coming back to you, you push it back down, pocketing the colar you get to work searching the house for food.

you're shocked to find that there is not a speck of food in the entire building. your stomach growls loudly, you'll be fine for the rest of the day, 

you only have one more pack of rations with you. you've given Ziggy the rest, its the least you could do since they were the one killing the haleefs most time. 

Chapter Text

You and Ziggy have packed up from the house, though you still haven't found any food for you two... but that is fine! it will have to be fine...

time to search for a store to get supplies at. you obviously need food but you also need new shoes, the boots youre wearing are worn through. 

you look back at Ziggy, they always insist on grinding the remains of the haleef you kill. you dont know why but you could care less, its their energy they're burning.

they give one last stomp on the loose grey skin and shards of bone before turning to you and giving a thumbs up. 

they walk up to you, silently asking which way you plan on leading them. you decide to just keep heading east, eventually you will hit either town or forest, and either one will work for what you are trying to gather. 

you faintly feel the cold brush against your cheeks as you step out of the house, Ziggy in toe.

you clutch your bat tightly in your hand, putting your cleaver into its sheath at your hip, and creep around out of the town, pausing only slightly as you get met with another forest.

you turn to Ziggy to gather their opinion on where you should go, they only shrug their shoulders and start heading towards the tree line.

you nod and follow along, the muddy puddles on the ground catching your attention, 

whenever you catch a glimpse of yourself in the water you look a lot more boney. 

not in a "oh hey, i should really eat soon" kind of way, although that should be the case, its more of a "holy shit im a fucking skeleton" kind of way.

you just brush it off and continue walking, following Ziggy's lead until dusk approaches and you both decide to set up camp for the night,

you are extra careful to not to make to much noise, who knows how many haleefs are in here. 

soon night falls, and Ziggy takes first shift, they quietly tell you that you need the sleep more, and saying that they will just stay up all night. so scratch that, they dont take first watch they take watch. period.

you protest slightly before caving, your left eye feels itchy.. but not on a surface level. if this itching was on your hand you would begin biting it to scratch the itch but unfortunately you cant do that on your face, so you just rub your eye and ignore it

you unfurl Rouge's pelt... the pelt you gathered. and place it on yourself, curling up under it and attempting to fall asleep

but sleep does not come easy. why would it? im in the middle of the end of the world, i shouldnt be able to relax with a snap of the fingers

you sit there for a long while before getting up. its new moon.. you could have sworn that shouldn't have been the case for tonight.. 

you glance around for Ziggy, they are nowhere to be seen. the cold of the night cutting into you harshly, you can't help but feel uneasy. but they could have just stepped away for a moment exactly! i dont know what they are doing! better to just go back to sleep!

despite the urge to fall asleep you stay awake, glancing around, searching for Ziggy... and they still dont apear anywhere.

now you are starting to get anxious, where are they?? it would be easier to recollect yo- my thoughts once i sleep, im no help to them when i cant even stand.

it smells so sickly sweet where you are, the smell of rotting fruits permeates the air, almost making you choke on the smell, (that shouldnt be. it should smell of rotting meat, bodies are all around you. not this sweet smell)

you shift your weight under the dog's pelt, attempting to get up to look for Ziggy, ignoring your thoughts, 

but you find you cant get up, the pelt feeling awfully fuzzy for being fur, almost like- it's probably nothing! you'll be fine!

maybe you would be better help once you sleep, if youre so exhausted that you cant stand then you will be no help in a fight. 

you lay your head down, relaxing (although you definitely shouldnt) and you sit there, you mind empty, half asleep, 

before you feel this crawling on you, but you cant find it in yourself to care that much, its just-eh ehm. its just the grass on your b-skin! y-I am on the floor after all.

a warm sensation runs along your body, a squirmy feeling across your skin (it shouldnt be skin. it should be bone ) yes we have skin silly! you are human after all!

oh. right. ok. it feels like worms, the squirming worms, wriggling worms against your exposed... skin?

yes you still have— yes you still have skin. now yo- I should really get back to sleep! 

it feels almost as it you are in a pile of worms, only tiny pricks you are able to register, the slithering doesn't go away though, it gets stronger, fatter, faster. 

you try to care. You try your best to feel alarm at this predicament you found yourself in, but with your inner thoughts (its not your inner thoughts. you need to snap out of it Leef) you just cant find it in your self to care

your eyes snap open, you didnt realize you ever closed them, and you look down at your body, though there is the layer of fur you see glowing purple spots in all the same places you feel that terrible squirming

the fur over top of you isnt just fuzzy on one side either, white mold coats in, holding it to the ground and you.

purple light shines from you face too. letting you see. a dull wave of panic rushes through you. the purple worms digging deeper into your skin with each second passing. you lay there helplessly.

you can feel them laying eggs in you

oh god

little clusters of purple show up, a lot more dull than the worms, (probably because they are in your skin)

alright. now that i have you here we need to talk. 

what the fuck. great. now you're hearing voices too

im not just a voice. i am here to talk

...about what?

i want you to hold my eggs, and bring them to someone's world, feed them, and allow them to cleanse the world of humans, and i will help your friends go home

well thats just crazy. im not going to. what? put your darling worms into apples and let someone get infected as a haleef like you did here?

well its up to you when you choose to let my babies hatch, no harm will come to them if they stay in your body for a long time.

what do you even have against humans?? and why get one to do your bidding?

oh.. you still think... pffftt hahahaha. you still think you're human, how adorable Leef. 

you are a monster, not some random skeleton either, i helped you all while you are alive. 

ever wonder why you never succumbed to starvation? didnt you ever wonder who that little voice in you head was helping you? telling you what you need to feed yourself? i had to work very hard to get that voice there.

the Sans that you took a body from... well.. i made a deal with him, i ended the resets, got rid of that pesky human, and helped him out, got him to let the worms take him, control him, 

that oh so helpful voice is the Sans from your second world, i believe the name he chose for himself was Fluke. so he is here, in your body, watching your choices, unable to interfere unless getting you to feed.

so you didn't kill your Sans, or Fluke now.. well thats a relief, although he's stuck here, with a worm doing stuff..

And well i didnt take you here per say, but i did influence your.. thoughts a bit.

now, what do i have against humans? thats what you asked right? well... they just destroy everything in their path. even the planet is not safe from them. it would do so much good to get rid of them

you can agree right? how ugly everything was before i set my children on the earth. so much pollution. you can have the chance to heal your buddy "Classic"'s world.

the worms get harsher, your joints swelling and glowing from the eggs they lay in you

you can no longer even move your skull, warm blood coats your body, bright purple pooling around you. you dont know if its your blood or worm... stuff

the choice is yours Leef, ill be waiting. none of your friends will get hurt. only humans will get eradicated, its not your world anyways, no strings attached.

you can choose where to go, which universes to travel to, who knows you. they can feel the pain that you felt for years, you can get out of Classic's universe with your friends!

dont you want to know your real name? dont you want to know how you got a second chance? i can tell you. just allow my children to hatch, allow them to feed off the humans.

it isnt your world that youre trapped in. you could help the gang get out. get them back to their homes, 

my babies will treat you like family, isnt that all you wanted? a family to call your own? to be able to protect and provide for them like family. you can do that, my worms will treat you like a parent. just allow them to hatch.

the deal is appealing to you... you consider it for a long while, long enough for this creature to speak to you again.

again, it is up to you, just tell my worm when you make your decision.

and then pain overtakes you

Chapter Text

Leef: If you really want to get back at a man, scare him with a pregnancy test. I've got a whole box of old positives at my house. 

Dust: You're an American treasure.

Cross:... where'd you get positive pregnancy tests???

///

Killer: Oh no! I'm doomed! 

Cross: Seriously? All you have to do is not insult Dust at their own memorial service. 

Killer: Exactly! It's impossible!

///

Leef: What's wrong with you? 

Dust: Off the top of my head, I'd say low self-esteem, a lack of paternal affection, and a genetic predisposition for anxiety and depression.

///

Nightmare : What do you have? 

Killer: A KNIFE! 

Nightmare : NO!

///

Dust: Well Killer, I have to say, I'm really disappointed. 

Killer: Well, you didn't HAVE to say it. You could've just thought it.

///

Killer: You treat an outside wound with rubbing alcohol. You treat an inside wound with drinking alcohol.

///

Dust: I wasn't hurt that badly. The doctor said all my bleeding was internal, that's where the blood's supposed to be!

///

Leef: I have so much energy, I want to run a marathon or commit a crime... which should I do? 

Nightmare : Please don't get arrested. 

Leef: No promises! :3

Cross: Why not both? Get creative! 

Leef: Wonderful suggestion, thank you. 

Nightmare : Please don't encourage them, Cross.

///

Nightmare: What's your favorite color? 

Error: Stop asking stupid questions. Ask me something logical and mature. 

Nightmare: How many moles of sodium bicarbonate are needed to neutralize 0.8ml of sulfuric acid at STP? 

Error: My favorite color is pink.

///

*Dust and Cross are planning to break in somewhere* 

Dust: We need to distract the guards. 

Cross: Right. 

Dust: What are we gonna do? 

Cross: I'm gonna break their elbows while you poke their eyes. 

Dust: 

Cross: 

Dust: Deal.

///

Cross: Life is like Dust. It's short.

///

Dust: You might not know this, Cross, but I am a flawed person. 

Cross: I do know that.

///

Cross: Theater kids are just choir kids who joined forces with the band and strings kids.

///

Cross: This is a bad idea. 

Killer: Then why are you coming along? 

Cross: Someone has to get your injured ass home.

///

Dust: My life is a little too much panic and not enough disco. 

Leef: My life is a little too much fall and not enough boy. 

Cross: My life is a little too much chemical and not enough romance. 

Killer: My life is a little too much imagination and not nearly enough dragons.

///

Nightmare : You have an impressive pain tolerance. 

Dust: Thanks, it's the trauma.

///

Dust: You're overthinking this. 

Leef: You don't know the appropriate level of thinking, Dust. What if I'm underthinking?

///

Leef: Firstly, how dare you use mathematics to make me look stupid! 

Leef: I'm actually very good at math. 

Leef: Thirdly, I think you might be right.

///

Killer: Oh, so when crows remember people who wronged them and hold grudges, its "intelligent" and "really cool". 

Killer: But when I do it, I'm "petty" and "need to let it go".

///

Leef: You're pathetic! 

Error: You're pathetic-er! 

Killer: You're both losers.

///

Leef: I just drank a lego piece.