Music floated towards the gems from afar, beautiful lights flashed in front of them, and the air smelled of a weird mix of pizza and wet dog. A short skeleton stood in front of the gems, awaiting their arrival. A tall, flashy hotel with the letters MTT on the front loomed behind him. Sans bore a serious expression on his face, despite his mouth still frozen in his constant grin. "hey. i heard all of you are going to the core." he said. He glanced away distantly and then turned back. "would you all want to grab dinner with me first?" he mentioned. Steven and the gems nodded. Sans gestured for the gems to follow him. "come on, i know a shortcut," Sans told them.
The world turned completely dark, and Steven frantically tried to see. A small buzzing began in his head, and it grew louder and louder. Suddenly, the darkness began to fade, and Steven glanced around his surroundings. The group was in a restaurant, not very crowded and dark. Sans walked to a table and sat down. He looked up at the gems. "so, your journey's almost over, huh?" He chuckled softly. "you all must really want to go home... but why?" He gestured around the room. "down here you have, food, friends, a nice life... is what you have to do really worth it?" Sans sighed. "well, you probably won't change your minds. if it's worth anything, i'm rooting for your little family," he concluded.
Sans leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment. A plant in a corner moved a bit as if there was air blowing on it, although the rest of the room was dry and still. The gems became nervous. Sans wasn't acting like his usual self. Pearl started fidgeting with a napkin, unfolding and refolding over and over. Sans made (eye??) contact with Peridot, who glanced away apprehensively. Sans took a deep breath. "hey, let me tell you a story," he said, regaining some of his normal cheerfulness.
"so I'm a sentry in snowdin forest, right? i sit out there and watch for humans. It's kinda boring. fortunately, there's this HUGE locked door, and it's perfect for practicing knock-knock jokes. so one day, I'm knocking them out like usual. i knock on the door and say: 'knock knock,' and suddenly, from the other side... i hear a woman's voice.
'who is there?'
so naturally, I say, 'dishes.'
'dishes who?'
'dishes a very bad joke.'
then she just howls with laughter, like it's the best joke she's heard in a hundred years. so I keep 'em coming, and she keeps laughing. she's the best audience I've ever had. then, after a dozen of them, SHE says: "knock-knock"
Sans smiled a bit more, lost in a memory.
"and i say 'who's there?'"
and she says
'old lady!'
'old lady who?'
'oh! i did not know you could yodel!'
Sans closed his eyes. "wow. needless to say, this woman was extremely good. we kept telling each other jokes for hours. eventually, i had to leave." Sans smirked. "papyrus gets kinda cranky without his bedtime story." Peridot rolled her eyes. "but she told me to come by again, so i did. then i did again. and again. it's a thing now. telling bad jokes through the door. it rules." Sans put his hands in his pockets and looked off to the side. He turned back, his face grim. "one day, though, i noticed she wasn't laughing as much. i asked her what was up. then she told me something strange."
"she said, 'if a human ever comes through this door, could you please, please, promise something? watch over them, and protect them, will you not?'" Sans tapped his fingers absentmindedly on the wooden table. "well. i hate making promises, and i didn't even know this woman's name. but... someone who sincerely likes bad jokes... has an integrity you can't say 'no' to." he continued.
Sans walked a few steps away from the gems. His footsteps were completely silent, like a cat's. Greg was clearly nervous. "do you get what i'm saying? that promise i made to her... you know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything?" Sans shivered slightly. "friends..." He turned to look at the gems. His eyes turned pitch black, the former spark gone, and a dead serious tone in his voice.
"y o u ' d b e d e a d w h e r e y o u s t a n d ."
Steven widened his eyes in shock. A hostile tension formed, Steven felt a nagging feeling that something was VERY wrong. Amythest put her hand on her whip, and the gems prepared to fight. Sans calmly looked at her weapon. "c'mon pals, lighten up!" His eyes returned to normal, and he grinned even wider than before. "i'm just joking with you. take care of yourselves; someone really cares about you," he teased. The gems remained alert, still wary of his former statement.
Sans glanced at the empty table, with no food. "just put it on my tab." He cracked a smile. "anyways. could i talk to steven for a minute? alone?" Steven hesitated, and then nodded. "You all can go ahead without me; I'll catch up," Steven told the gems. The rest of the group filed out of the door, but Pearl hesitated. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay, Steven?" She glanced apprehensively at Sans. "I'm ok, Pearl!" Steven assured her.
She nodded and left. Steven turned to Sans. "you need to be careful." Sans told him. "i know chara is trying to control you." Steven looked at Sans in dismay. "How did you know?" Sans ignored his question. "she's going to try to take over when you find asgore," Sans warned. "Well then, how do I stop her?!" Steven asked. He buried his face in his hands. "I don't want to hurt anyone..." Sans patted his hand. "just make friends with everyone you meet; their combined energy will help you break her power." Steven sighed. "Ok..."
Sans made his way towards the door and then glanced back at Steven. "hey kid, i'm rooting for you- you're a lot stronger than you think." Steven took his face out of his hands to say thank you, but Sans had disappeared. Steven stood up, stretching. He began walking towards the door. 'Hmmm,' He thought, 'maybe chara can hear me inside my head?' Steven paused and thought as hard as he could.
"I'm not going to be your puppet, Chara, or my family or friends. Leave us alone, we aren't your toys that you can kill on a whim!" A short, painful headache came to Steven for a second and then stopped.
Chara had heard the message, and she wasn't happy.
________________________________________________________________________________Thank you for all of your patience in my chapters! As promised, at 20k, a face reveal! This is the only decent photo of me haha
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Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful day and again, thank you for reading!
