Sans opened his eyes at the guard post. Her head felt like it was going to explode. I felt a burning sensation inside my eye socket, as if I had suffered a laceration. Every time I opened my eyes, white dots were floating around. I was sweating and the feeling on my back was unpleasant. Sans was trying to get up from her seat as she was breathing heavily, but stopped because her chest felt sore. The place where the human had stabbed me earlier was throbbing. Surely time would have gone back and no scars would have remained.
Sans lifted his shirt and checked his injured ribs. Earlier, one of my ribs was apparently broken by a toy knife. She didn't confirm, but she thought it was her left 5th rib. Naturally, her ribs were clean. There was not even a trace of her wounds. But even so, she kept throbbing. Sans smoothed my ribs. The tactile sensation from his fingertips and the unexplained pain did not seem to overlap. Rather than my ribs, I felt pain in the empty space beneath them. Sans slid his fingers under her ribs and stirred them. Nothing happened.
I had a doubt. There is nothing here, but why is it painful? Where does this pain come from? Is it pain that comes from the past? Or is it the pain of the soul? They say that feeling pain in a lost part is called phantom pain, but can feeling pain in a part that wasn't there in the first place be called phantom pain?
Sans thought as he looked down at his unscathed ribs. How did you break a bone with a toy knife earlier? If she hadn't gotten LOVE and become stronger, she would have died like before. She was amazed at how those plastic pieces could cut flesh and break bones. Actually, I was hit with a wooden stick at one point... . Oh, I've also been hit by notebooks and frying pans. Sans' mouth twitched. Sans decided that the wound, which wasn't a wound, wouldn't be a problem, so she moved on to Snow Din. She didn't know what her child could have done while she was asleep.
* * *
The first place Sans headed to was near his guard post in Snowdin. Unfortunately, there was no papyrus. He had no children. He was able to find traces of the child passing by at the guard post. There were decorations that didn't exist before. It was written in ketchup. Papyrus, who was eager to be at the guard post, couldn't have done that, so it seemed like the human left behind the ketchup that Sans left inside the guard post. The letters written in red ketchup looked eerie as they looked like they were written in blood. Sans read the writing.
'You'll regret it'
Sans' eyes widened after reading the letter the child left behind. Anxiety came over me. I had to find Papyrus quickly.
Sans repeatedly moved through space briefly and headed toward Snowdin. There were no other monsters in sight. Only dust flew in the quiet Snowdin. Dust covered inside the Dogo's guard post, dust left around by dog footprints, dust accumulated on stones exposed above the snow, dust sprinkled on the road, dust mixed with snow, dust, dust, dust. All I could see were footprints and dust. Papyrus' puzzle was also seen being neglected and abandoned. I didn't see it this time, but it was just as it was when Papyrus last inspected it, and nothing had changed.
However, Papyrus, who must have been disappointed that the person he wanted to see so much did not respond to the puzzle, was nowhere to be found.
Sans passed the three-way intersection and arrived at Snowdin Village. Snowdin Village was eerily quiet. Sans knew when the town became quiet. It was when Alphys evacuated the monsters because the child was killing all the monsters. At times like this, Papyrus always-
No, Papyrus! That child is something that cannot be corrected no matter what!
Sans threw open the door to the house he and his younger brother shared. The whole house was empty. Sans suddenly slammed the door shut.
Please, Papyrus, please... .
My legs were shaking as I walked down the road from Snowdin to Waterfall. I was afraid of what I would see in the future. With each stumbling step, scenes from previous timelines came to mind clearly. There was no way I didn't know.
The child ignores the puzzle prepared by Papyrus. No, not just the puzzle, it ignores the papyrus itself. Papyrus is not disappointed and gives the child other puzzles he has prepared. The child does not change. He doesn't respond to any puzzles and just kills the monsters. Papyrus is discouraged, but he thinks the child is not bad, he just went down the wrong path, and he tries to convince the child. But the child does not listen to a single word. Papyrus stops the child on the street. And only dust and scarves remain on the path to the waterfall. There are clearly two footprints entering the road, but only one footprint leaving the road. One remains there forever. Of all the things that Papyrus had, the only thing left was his trust in the child and he follows Sans - and he suffers a belated betrayal.
The scene came to mind clearly, as if someone had carved it into my skull. If possible, Sans wanted to open the skull and erase those memories. However, the scene Sans was concerned about did not appear until the end of the road. Sans kept wandering down his foggy path, wondering if he had missed it. No matter how much I walked around, I couldn't see any traces other than footprints mixed here and there in the hazy fog.
Papyrus, where are you?
Sans was so exhausted that he stopped searching the road and only after entering the waterfall was he able to find traces of Papyrus. At his guard post right in front of the waterfall road, a dusty red scarf was torn to shreds and hung haphazardly. The writing written in ketchup was also present here.
'gift'
There was even a malicious star-shaped decoration around the letters.
This human bastard, even if I tear him to death, it's not enough!
Something broke in Sans' mind. There was a grinding sound of teeth. Sans gathered up the pieces of cloth that had been his scarf and moved into Hot Land's laboratory.
* * *
Alphys and Undyne were inside the lab. Undyne was heavily armed and was saying something to Alphys in a serious voice, and Alphys was holding onto Undyne's hand tightly, as if she was worried about her. Looking at the exchange of words between Snowdin and humans, it seemed like they were talking about the Snowdin disaster. The two stopped talking because of Sans' sudden appearance, and then relaxed after checking who was there. When Alphys saw the piece of cloth in Sans' hand, his eyes widened and he covered his mouth.
"Bird, Sans, that can't be..." ."
Sans looked at Alphys for a moment with dark eyes, and instead of answering her words, he turned his head and staggered towards the huge console placed in the laboratory. She seemed to be talking to Alphys and Undyne behind her, but she couldn't reach him. All my mind was focused on the console, and nothing else came into play. Sans operated the console without Alphys' permission and searched Snowdin's video records. Alphys stammered.
"Oh, it would be better not to see..." ."
Alphys stretched out her hand to stop Sans from touching the console, but she couldn't stop him, so she put her hand on her chest and looked at Undyne, who was standing next to her. There was no point to her Undyne either. Neither Undyne nor Alphys knew what to do in this situation. It was very rare for a monster that couldn't get sick to lose a friend, brother, or family member in this underground world through anything other than natural death. Alphys said to Undyne.
"Well, shouldn't I stop you... ."
Undyne nodded to Alphys, went to Sans, and grabbed his shoulder. A tremor passed through her hands. Undyne said in a somber voice.
"Stop it, Sans."
Sans just shook his head to stop him, but didn't stop moving his hands. Images kept passing through Sans' darkened eyes, and she finally stopped at the image of the area where Snow Din meets Waterfall. Undyne bit her lip. Both Undyne and Alphys knew what screen Sans would see. Soon, the screen came back to life.
There was always a thick fog where the icy Snowdin River flows into the relatively warm Waterfall, but it was easy to discern what was happening through the fog.
Even though he knew that humans came to kill everyone, Papyrus showed mercy to humans. To Papyrus, who opened his arms, the human holstered a toy sword and slowly approached. Papyrus smiled benevolently and nodded his head. When the distance between the human and Papyrus narrowed to four or five steps, the human suddenly jumped at Papyrus and knocked him down. Papyrus, who was unprepared for the surprise attack, lost his balance and fell backwards. The human climbed onto Papyrus's chest, who was rubbing the back of his head where it had hit the ground, and raised his arm holding his toy sword high. Papyrus squeezed his eyes shut at the sight, but it didn't stop him from turning to dust any time soon. How many times has a human cut papyrus with a toy knife... .
Before we knew it, Alphys came up to Sans, who was frozen while watching the video, and stopped the video. Alphys looked at Sans with a self-reproaching look. He should have turned off the video sooner. But enough time had already passed for Sans to understand what had happened.
The scarf Sans was holding was not torn after Papyrus died. Humans intentionally gave Papyrus a painful death. Did he expect what he would see? Or is it just an expression of anger?
I didn't want to think any more. Sans immediately lowered her head. An animal-like howl came from Sans' throat. Undyne held onto her Sans' shoulder tightly.
"Sans."
My brother, who lost his blood relatives again and again, could only sob. He couldn't stop it this time either. This time it was as if I had killed him. If only he could have stopped the human, if only he hadn't found out that he remembered, if only he hadn't fallen asleep!
Gradually, laughter mixed with sobbing. Sans was panting, crying and laughing. It wasn't a normal laugh. Bones kept appearing and disappearing around me. The blue magic ran wild regardless of the will of the caster, strangling the souls of Undyne and Alphys. The two saw for the first time a monster out of control. Moreover, I never imagined that Sans would become that monster. Until what happened in Snowdin. Undyne powerfully unleashed the magic that dyed her soul blue. Perhaps because she did not contain the caster's will, she was able to release it easily. Undyne grabbed Sans' shoulders and shook her.
"Sans? Sans! are you okay? "Calm down, Sans!"
Undyne called Sans again. Undyne's call seemed to have helped, as Sans' trembling subsided and his flickering bones disappeared. The blue magic also subsided. Sans' laughter, which had made Undyne and Alphys the most anxious, also stopped. Sans slowly raised her head and looked at Undyne. Undyne shouted.
"Sans, your eyes... !"
Sans' right eye was glowing red, and red and blue lights were shining in his left eye. Sans grinned at her Undyne and Alphys with those strange eyes. He was out of his mind.
"Heh, this timeline... It's a meaningless timeline to me now. "If possible, let's not see each other again, friends."
Before his friends could question what he said and say anything, several Gaster Blasters appeared from behind Sans and swept through the lab. Sands' LOVE has risen. Sans couldn't stand what was so funny about that situation and laughed. He laughed and laughed again. He laughed even though he was tired from laughing. Sans' eyes, smiling like that, were empty. Like his empty heart.
When an explosion was heard in the laboratory, two royal guards patrolling Hotland drew their weapons and asked, "What's going on?" He shouted and entered the lab. It was a faithful action to my duty, but I should not have done it. As the bones protruded from the thick cloud of dust, the two turned into dust and blended into one.
There was no hesitation for Sans. If we can stop damn humans, what can we do now? With nothing to worry about, Sans walked out of the lab. Sans roamed around Hotland, killing every monster he saw. The invisible monster was found and killed.
Their dust rose and fell in the convection currents of heat, making it the first snow Hotland had ever experienced. Unlike Snowdin's snow, it was snow that did not fall due to the endless circulation of heat. There were no monsters to look at and admire because they were all dead.
A rush of heat came from the bottom of the cliff, and dust floating in the air was blown towards Sans. Sans just pulled down her hood to block the dust from blocking his view, but didn't brush the dust off her clothes. She just left it at that. I thought it was okay as it was.
Even though I was awake, the dark voice I heard in my dream whispered as if singing.
I've come too far to go back
It's a price blinded by anger
Not even a single lamp was given
Don't wander around looking for a way back
Is there any way out of this abyss?
Go, go
Make a long way, commit a sin
Do your best and run towards catastrophe.
until everything stops
There's nothing more to lose
Sans no longer denied the sound.
* * *
Sans wandered around Hotland aimlessly. To kill more monsters and get more LOVE. But now no one came. ... No, it wasn't that no one came. Sans found something new to replace the monsters she had killed so far. She was human. The two looked very similar, with her clothes covered in dust. Sans no longer denied that fact. The human smiled at Sans and greeted him warmly.
"I was wondering where you went and you were here, Sans? "There are so many things I want to ask you, so I've been looking for you for a long time."
Sans didn't respond. The human spoke despite the silence.
"I was really angry at first, but after walking around, it cooled down a bit. I was wondering what you meant when you said you also put up LOVE, but there weren't enough monsters in the waterfall. Wow, I've never seen anything like this before. This is the first time that someone other than me has killed a monster. How did you feel? huh? Oh, and unfortunately, out of all the monsters I've met so far, you were the only one that changed. Well, maybe I haven't found it yet, or maybe it's among the monsters you killed. I haven't seen Undyne, Alphys, or Mettaton yet. Have you met them? How were they? and... ."
The human being poured out the things he had been curious about all along the way. Sans consistently remained silent in answering all the questions. The human said with swollen cheeks.
"What? If someone asks a question, you have to give an answer."
"... "Why should I do that?"
"That's not the right answer at all. Well, if you don't want to answer, that's okay. But, please answer this."
The human asked, circling around.
"Did you like the gift I gave you?"
Sans smiled at his dirty brother killer. Then, he suddenly summoned several bones and fired them at the human. The bone that Sans threw was not the same as the bone she had been using. The sharp, broken end looked more like a bone spear than a simple bone. Although the shape changed, the human dodged the attack by throwing his body away as if he had been waiting for it. Bones hit the ground one after another. The human smiled triumphantly at Sans.
"I've been fooled once or twice, Sans!"
"It's not over yet."
"huh?"
The bones that appeared behind the human's back pierced the human. The heart was stuck in the sharp bone sticking out of the chest. My heart, which had found a new place, pulsated feebly. The human stretched out his body. Sans said, looking down at the human who had been hit directly in the heart.
"Heh, I guess you 'liked it'?"
He told a joke that he thought was pretty good, but the dead man couldn't react.
Time went back without fail.
* * *
When time went back, Sans now set out to find humans instead of waiting for them to come. Rather than humans looking for monsters, monsters look for humans. The host and guest were evangelized. I didn't know where to find it, so I just moved in the direction where the human appeared. Since you're from here, you can find it if you search the streets around here. It was a simple but reliable method.
Sans didn't know how far he had traveled when he found a human walking with his hands clasped on the back of his neck as if he was taking a leisurely stroll. The human also found Sans, and as if she didn't know that Sans would come directly to her, she opened her eyes wide and belatedly struggled to prepare for battle. While avoiding Sans' attack, the human lost his footing and fell headlong into the lava.
When time went back a little while, Sans moved to the spot where the human fell and died. He searched around the area. This time it was behind the shattered laboratory. Thanks to his outstanding insight and unparalleled movement ability, Sans was surprisingly talented at chasing. I guess I didn't want to know it this way. Sans enjoyed watching the human run away with the bones flying. The humans tried to escape behind the rubble, but were unable to take action.
The time it took Sans to find humans became shorter and shorter. If it was wide, it would be wide, and if it was narrow, there was a narrow path to get around in the basement. In the end, Sans found a place that humans called 'Save Point'. As soon as time went back, Sans found the human taking a breath and smiled brightly with a face full of madness. Sans eyes glowed red.
"Now, have fun. "We're going to have a crazy time!"
Humans no longer laughed.