The Path We Walk

Ch. 1 Why?

Why did things have to go so wrong? I had a brother, father, friends, and a peaceful home on the surface. We finally got our happy ending. We had hit our five year anniversary. So why was it all ripped away? I spent years preparing for Frisk to fall into the underground, to get the perfect ending. Studying magic and souls to help Chara and Asriel have new bodies. Fixing the machine. Saving Gaster from the VOID. Helping the kid make friends with everyone to get the pacifist ending. Helping to come up with a plan to make peace with humans. All the while, preparing for any worse case scenario I could come up with. From the core breaking down to making an escape plan to leave if my universe is being destroyed.

I wasn't lazy like my counterparts, though I still enjoyed a nap or two. I trained hard in magic from healing and divination to bone attacks and elemental magic. My soul has strong traits because of my previous life as a human. I learned to cook and bake for Papyrus. I worked 4 sentry jobs and acted as the royal judge. I had a few hobbies. Learned multiple languages. Was friendly to everyone. So why do I have to live through this hell. For gods sake, I even befriended Flowey and Chara! So why did Frisk reset?!?! Not only that but go on a genocidal rampage!

Was I really that bad of a person in my last life that I'm not allowed to have a happy ending? I know I had made some mistakes, but after being reborn as Sans I thought I was given a second chance to do better. To be better. I don't know how much longer I can hold on to my HP(HoPe). It started to drop a bit a couple of resets ago. Luckily I'm more determined then other Sanses, so it's a lot slower then it could be. And, I already had high HP to begin with due to refusing to give up after everything I've lived through. But, even I have my limits.

*Knock* *knock*

" SANS SISTER, IT'S TIME TO GET UP. GET READY, THEN COME AND EAT MY BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI."

"I was just getting up. I'll be down in a few Pappy." I say as I reluctantly roll out of bed.

I feel your confusion from across the omniverse. SISTER!?!? Well let me drop the monster facts of the week. #1 All skeletons are asexual. #2 Skeletons use what's called an ecto body to summon the parts necessary for sexual and reproductive activities. #3 Ecto bodies can also be used to protect our bones #4 We can take a piece of our body (like our ribs or the palm of our hand), incubate it, and PRESTO! Baby skeleton monster! That's how Paps and I were made. #5 We can also reproduce the normal monster way which is with our souls. So, we don't have genders just what we identify as. #6 All skeletons are boss monsters. So after we reach maturity we only age when we have children, but will stop when they no longer need to feed off of the parents magic. #7 From what I've figured out the entire monster species doesn't really care about the gender of our partner though they still have preferences. Waving the rainbow flag here people. I just go by female pronouns because they make me feel better than male or they/them. And, I feel prettier.

Not to say I'm not attractive for a skeleton. I actually have a nice lithe shape. I'm not tall by any means. Only about 5'6', which isn't bad for a human and taller then cannon sans' height. But all of the monsters I know are taller then me. I have wide eye holes and my eye lights are cyan on the left and faint green on the right. Which I love. My bones have a nice shine to them from taking care of myself. And, have long beautiful red ecto hair with thin streaks of yellow, cyan, and green that I keep braided or tied up.

I head to my closet for my clothes for the day. After resetting so many times I'm running out of outfit ideas. It gets boring wearing the same thing over and over. At least I have a decent selection of cloths that I either found at the dump and up cycled, or made myself. I miss my cloths from the surface. I had a walk in closet of cloths. I settle on wearing a black turtle neck I knitted myself under a pair of jean overalls. Then put on a pair of short socks and brown boots that were still in decent condition. I lastly went to my dresser and braid my hair. Tie it in a bun and put on one of the fake flower crowns I made. It was made with wire, green yarn, and cyan glowing crystals from waterfall shaped into flowers. I actually have a small business selling accessories I make. Made decent money too. Before I died I had a collection of books on a wide topic of stuff from outdoor survival and cooking to arts and crafts. Which somehow ended up in my inventory. Along with a few other items.

I'm kind of glad I still have my stuff. It probably would have been left to dust in my hideout by my corpse. My old world was kind of having a zombie apocalypse. How COVID turned into a zombie virus is beyond me. But my money is on some idiot in a lab seeing if they could. I don't like thinking about how I died. It was quite depressing. Instead of being epicly eaten by zombies, I end up bleeding to death from a bullet wound. Alone. Survivors of the apocalypse are quite cut throat when it comes to fighting over supplies. And you don't know who to trust that won't stab you in the back. Oh well, better head down stairs and eat. Even if I have no appetite.

I walk out my room and down the stairs. Pappy's cooking smells great. I'm glad I made sure to teach him how to cook. Saved my tongue a lifetime of misery even if it was the greatest test of patience in my existence. How Paps ended up getting noodles on the roof I will never know. As I make my way to the table and sit down I see Paps walk over with two bowls of spaghetti.

"Smells great Paps. You do anything different with the seasonings?" I ask.

"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AFTER MASTERING BASIL, HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH OREGANO. I HOPE TO CONTINUE TO IMPROVE AND PERFECT THE ART OF SPAGHETTI MAKING. AND I HOPE MY FAVORITE TASTE TESTER CONTINUES TO ENJOYS MY FOOD," he replied.

"Aw Paps, of course. No one makes spaghetti as great as the great Papyrus. You couldn't pay me to miss your spaghetti," I told him as I began eating my food.

It tasted great. Could be heavier on the oregano taste, but otherwise great as always. Even after all the resets it hasn't changed. This is how I know he doesn't remember them. It's always exactly the same. But, I wouldn't give it up for the world. He doesn't have to suffer from remembering the genocides like I do. My bright, optimistic little brother would be torn apart watching everyone die over and over. I play my part, so he stays happy for as long as I have him. Because I know there are so many ways this could go even more wrong, most of which I lose him. I loved undertale before the apocalypse. I was heavily into the fandom. Even had a Sans and Nightmare plushy, which I have in my inventory. Things can go bad anywhere from turning Horrortale to Error destroying my universe.

I finish my food and go rinse them off. "Bonefide master piece Pappy. Maybe add more oregano and it will be even more perfect." I told him. I'm not very good at making puns. More into sarcasm and moments of being over dramatic.

"NEYH HEH HEH! THANK YOU SANS. I WILL MAKE SURE TO ADJUST THE OREGANO NEXT TIME. NOW, WE NEED TO GO CALIBRATE OUR PUZZLES. I HAVE A FEELING TODAY IS THE DAY WE WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! I HOPE THEY ENJOY MY PUZZLES! THEN, I WILL TAKE THEM TO THE CAPITAL! I WILL BE CELEBRATED BY ALL AND BECOME SO POPULAR! I WILL BEFRIEND EVERYONE IN THE UNDERGROUND AND BE SHOWERED IN HUGS AND KISSES! UNDYNE WOULD ALLOW ME TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD. THEY WOULD MAKE A HOLIDAY JUST TO CELEBRATE MY GREATNESS!" He exclaimed.

"Of course Paps. But, if you ask me your already the greatest in my books and you don't need some human to prove that. Besides, you have Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, and I. And we all know how great you are. So you don't need to prove anything to anyone, because your friends and family already know it." I told him.

"THANK YOU SANS. I APPRECIATE YOUR KIND WORDS. I JUST SOMETIMES FEEL LIKE I'M NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY. I MEAN I'VE BEEN TRYING TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD FOR YEARS BUT UNDYNE SAYS I'M NOT READY. THEN THE OTHERS HERE IN SNOWDIN SEEM TO SEE ME AS A BIT OF A JOKE." He told me.

"Oh Pappy, your not a joke. Ok. And anyone who thinks that can go shove it. Your the great Papyrus! Future royal guardsmen. Spaghetti master chef! And greatest friend and brother anyone could ask for! So I don't want you thinking otherwise. Got it." I said with conviction.

"YOUR RIGHT SISTER! HOW CAN I POSSIBLY DOUBT IT! I ALWAYS APPRECIATE YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT. NOW LET US GET GOING. THERE ARE PUZZLES TO BE CALIBRATED!" And with that Papyrus sped out the house.

Papy might not remember the resets but his soul does. Everyone seem to have dreams and flashbacks of the resets. Or even react instinctually in fear to the human. But that isn't all that surprising to me. I head for the door and grab my jacket and scarf off the hooks. My jacket is black leather with a grey hood and white fur trimming. It was tougher then my blue one. My scarf has yellow, cyan, red, and green galaxy patterns. It's was tricky getting the dye to go on right, but so worth it.

As I head out of the house, I feel a chill down my spine. My instincts screaming at me that something is going to happen. Things are changing this reset. For better or worse remains to be seen. But you know what they say. Things always get worse before they get better. Let's hope that it all works out.