I'm not one of you <Frans>

CHAPTER 62: Welcome to Hotland!

Time: Unkown
Location: Waterfall? Hotland?
I was confused as to where I was. Sans said something along the lines of Hotland, but I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I could tell of the increasing temperature, was this the core of the earth coming up as I detected a while ago?

I looked at him strange, "Hotland?" I asked, walking at a pretty swift pace to catch up to him in order to walk next to him. "It sounds familiar.." I said, trailing off and humming slightly. Putting my thumb on my lips, I thought long and hard about where this word had come into play. I know I had heard it before. "Shut up. Don't tell me." I said, before he even began to take a breath in response. "I got this.." Where did I hear it? Was this all some weird dejavu?

"I said it when we were in Snowdin." He said, ruining my fun, and walking forward. "Hotland is probably the third to last, now that I think about it, because of the core and new home.." He said thinking out loud to himself. "Not second.." He said, chuckling a little when he saw my face of disappointment.

"I can't believe you told me!" I shouted, gasping and making a scene. "I was going to say that anyways.." I Said, crossing my arms while I continued walking alongside him. "I'll get you back, trust you me!" I said, huffing slightly. "My reputation..."I whispered to myself, but loudly enough for him to hear it, and I was satisfied when I heard his chuckle of amusement that came shortly after.

"It's what I-..." He stopped, as if everything both in and on his body froze, and he looked down at the ground in wide eyes, as if he were scared all of a sudden. His joyous additive was suddenly gone, and he got serious and dark. What was happening?

"Sans?" I asked him, obviously concerned with his well-being. "Are you okay?" I asked him, stopping in my tracks to look back at him with worried eyes. It seemed all that I had done was worry over these past few days.

"You..." he looked up at me, not quite in a rage, as he would after waking up from a nightmare, but more of in awe and sadness. A sudden feeling of melancholy blew over his complex, yet simplistic face. "...Gave it back?" He said, exhaling slightly and flexing his fingers in front of him, looking up at me, scared. Not of me, but of something else. "Don't you feel determined?"

I was filled with hopelessness.

"Sans," I said, confused. "What do you mean? What are you talking about?" I asked him. Worrying by the minute, I wasn't sure what to do in this situation. I had never been in it myself to really tell. "Are you okay?"

He sighed quickly, and shook his head, walking forward and eventually past me. "I'm fine." He smiled, continuing to walk forward. "Just don't worry about it." He said. "I'm going to fix this."

"Sans..." I said, turning around to face him, only to see him getting further away. I quickly moved ahead to catch up with himX but he was walking at a brisk pace, and entered a mountain of some sort that was buried beneath the caverns. There was an excess amount of heat coming from this small opening.

"Just forget it." He said, almost coldly. Had I done something wrong? What did I do? "I don't want you to worry." He smiled once again. I could hear it in his voice, the pain of a forced smile. The fake joy was eminent; had he always been like that?

"Okay.." I said, trying to think of a new subject to at least chat about so we were not in dead silence for a while. "If you say so." I said, still thinking. I needed to think of something quick.

"I do say so." He said, leading me past a sign that read 'WELCOME TO H' in all caps. It appeared that the sign was broken, and I could guess that it meant to say Hotland.

Suddenly, I remembered through bits and pieces of hazy memories, how Sans disappeared in front of me while I was beginning to black out. It was fuzzy, but I was conscious during the time. Was I dreaming? Or was that really real? "Hey Sans?" I asked, walking text to him as a bright light began to emerge from the darkness, along with more heat. It was sweltering.

He hummed in response, so I took it as a cue to continue my question. "What other magic can you do?" I asked, just casually so that if I were dreaming I wouldn't sound crazy. "Like... in general."

"You've seen pretty much the jist of it, I'd say." He said lazily, growing back into his relaxed pose and speech. It was comforting, to be honest. "Blue magic, bones, blasters..." he named off, looking up at the ceiling as if he had to count to make sure.

"What about teleportation?" I asked, oddly specifically. It was obvious I didn't know when to shut up, because Sans' posture stiffened, and he turned around just before the exit. It was almost unbearable, it was so hot. I had already began to sweat, and I was hoping that crossing this portion of the underground didn't take as long as Waterfall.

"Why did you guess that specifically?" He narrowed his eyes, looking at me skeptically.

"I saw you disappear, when you went to go look for food for me to eat." I said. "But I wasn't sure if I was dreaming." I rambled. "The more I think about it, the more clear it gets, and I don't want to point anything out or anything but that would have really came in handy during certain times." I said, just looking at my hands, confused and ranting on and on, it seemed like I never ran out of breath or words to say. And if I did run out, I'd just repeat myself over and over again.

"So you were awake then." He said, humming. "That's unfortunate." He said, turning around and stuffing his hands inside his jacket pockets and began to walk away.

"Why?!" I asked, making him stop in his tracks. "If you wanted to get out of here so badly, then why didn't you just teleport to the end??" I asked him, trying to wrap my head around the situation. "Or at least get us out of scenarios that we could have been safe from?!" I asked, "why??"

"Well," He said, after a moment of silence, and turning around to face me again. "I don't know about you, but after a while, I didn't want to jump to the end." He said. "I just wanted to walk with you." He continued, making my eye widen at what he was implying. "And to be honest, I thought that's what you might have wanted too, being a science nerd and all." He said, mumbling the last part slightly. "But if you want me to, I will..." he said, "...only with reluctance."

A light dusting of purple brushed over his cheeks, and it was only then did I realize that that was in face a form of blush spreading over his skull. My eyes widened again, and my mouth hung open slightly at hearing his delicate words travel through my head. Was he really saying this to me? "Only if you feel this way..." I said, smiling slightly. "Then I guess I have no choice but to travel with you for the rest of the way, Sans the Skeleton." I said, grinning a wide, shy grin.

"It's a pleasure, Frisk the Scientist."