You stumbled blindly through the harsh snowy tundra, your head whipping around at every turn. Every broken branch served as another sign that he was closing in on you, ready to end your life once more.
"I'm sorry [Y/N]..." Flowey murmured solemnly as you let out a muffled cry, colliding with a tree. How many times had he said that to you? A dozen? Three hundred?
The yellow buttercups that had fixated themselves onto your head had formed a semi-circle around your face, covering your eyes. Now the darkness seemed frightened, a sadistic way to slowly prolong your fear and uncertainty before you finally departed this hellish realm. You were left blinded god-knows-how many resets ago, losing count as the bones had pierced through your chest, feeling the blood slowly drain from your body and onto the cold, snowy ground.
"Flower you today sweetheart?" the gruff voice sounded from behind you. Like Flowey, this skeleton - Sans, you had learned his name to be - seemed to remember the numerous times he had killed you.
There was a certain tone his voice had undertaken, a tone you had not noticed in the previous runs. Is that pity? you wondered, feeling a soft spark of hope rise inside you. Regret?
"P-Please..." you whispered, knowing that it wouldn't make any difference. Sans had killed you multiple times before, why should he stop now? If anything, he seemed to enjoy watching you bleed to death on the forest floor, but some part of you disagreed with that. There had seemed to be a part of him that recoiled from the sickening crunch as he forced the bones into your abdomen, as if he didn't agree with this any more than you did.
Is someone making him do this? you thought with a hint of disgust.
You felt your muscles clench, an instinctive reaction in preparation for the wave of bones that would soon shoot through you. Throughout the howling wind of the forest, you could hear the muffled sounds of...
(Sobbing?)
"Dammit!" Sans shouted. The rapid crunching of snow indicated that he was beginning to pace back and forth. "Papyrus is going to kill me. One job, one task, and I couldn't even do that." A stone skidded by your foot, most likely having been kicked in frustration by Sans. "Kill the human, do something useful with your life for once!" he continued to rant, his voice doing an impersonation of whom you imagined was Papyrus.
Your fear of the skeleton dissolved into that of pity. "Why are you so afraid of him?" you asked. "Papyrus is your brother, not your enemy." Images flashed through your mind of your own family, finding their rotting heads mounted on stakes throughout the village.
"Heh," Sans muttered, his much softer this time, losing its gruff tone. You detected that he too felt pity, but not for himself. "You really don't understand what the Underground is like, do you?" His voice became much harsher as he began to recount distant memories. "Show no fear, no emotion. Let your anger show. It's the only way to stay alive in these parts," he mumbled sarcastically.
"SANS!"
The two of you stiffened at the harsh voice that sounded only a few feet from where you were standing. "Papyrus!" Sans exclaimed, fear now prominent in his tone. "I-I mean b-boss, I was just about to k-kill the hu-"
"WHAT A DISGRACE!" You sensed a presence towering over you. You assumed that Papyrus was several feet tall, and that his ego was even bigger. "IF THE MONSTERS IN SNOWDEN SAW WHAT YOU WERE DOING, I'D BE FINISHED! YOU DISGRACEFUL EXCUSE OF A BROTHER, THROWING AWAY EVERYTHING WE'VE WORKED FOR. AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR YOU!"
There was a sickening crunch and a loud collision. You let out a muffled cry of protest as you realized that Papyrus had kicked his brother, sending him on a collision course with a nearby tree. You felt Papyrus' gaze fall on you. "YOU, HUMAN. DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE COST ME? I'LL HAVE TO FINISH THE JOB MY BROTHER COULDN'T!"
Papyrus let out a grunt of surprise as something slammed into his chest, knocking him several yards back. Sans attacked his brother, you realized with a dawning horror, knowing that a battle between the two would most likely destroy everything within a mile radius of the two.
"Disgraceful excuse of a brother?" Sans snapped, lumbering closer to his brother. By the sound of how he walked, you assumed that he was limping, most likely from broken bones after colliding with a tree. "Do you know how many humans I've killed for you?! How much blood I've spilt?" His voice was shaking now. "I'm done watching children beg for their lives and scream as they bleed to death. I'm done with you," he spat and began to walk towards you.
A bony hand clamped around your shoulder and you immediately felt your surroundings beginning to pulse and fade away. Are we teleporting? you wondered.
Your suspicions were confirmed as the two of you materialized in a town. The intermingling of voices began to overwhelm you, causing you to take a step back in fear. "It's fine," Sans whispered lightly in your ear. He awkwardly laced his bony fingers with your shaking ones, gently leading you through a maze of monsters.
You felt stares and whispers coursing through the bustling village. You caught traces of disgrace and Is that Papyrus' brother with a human? Heat flushed in your cheeks as you felt Sans push a door open, leading you into what you assumed to be a bar.
"Sit here," Sans whispered into your ear, helping you sit onto a wooden stool. Despite your blindness, it was evident that there were other monsters in the bar, each and every one staring at you, most likely attempting to decipher which of your limbs would rip off the easiest.
"Mustard," Sans began to order. You attempted to look at the direction of the waiter. You paused for a moment, allowing Sans to complete his order. "You're turn," he started after a brief period of silence.
"You can't just be ordering mustard," you shook your head in disbelief.
"Hey!" Sans replied in mock offense. "Mustard is a must have food, why else would they put the word must in it?"
You shook your head slowly and turned back to the waiter. "I'll have a glass of water," you said at last, slowly sinking into the stool.
"That might not be the best idea," Sans whispered by your ear. You felt chills run down your spine at how close he was to you. "Put your hand forward."
You did as he instructed and felt an enormous amount of heat. Frightened, you pulled your hand away. "The waiter, is he made out of fire?!" you shouted in disbelief and immediately silenced yourself, feeling the disapproving glances from the other monsters in the bar.
You heard Sans nod. "Then I'll have ketchup," you said at last. The waiter disappeared and came back a minute later.
"Thanks Grillby," Sans said as he began to chug the bottle of mustard. You made a gagging noise and began to chug the bottle of ketchup. You felt your stomach protest at the bitter taste of it.
Perhaps in an alternate universe does Sans fancy ketchup, you thought to yourself humorously. You felt Sans interlock his arm with your's and began to steer you towards the entrance.
"We have to go," he mumbled, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder. In the distance, you could make out Papyrus' voice. It wasn't hard too in any circumstance, as the loud pitch of his voice could literally be heard a mile away.
The two of you burst through the doors of the bar and began to run through the streets, Sans' hand grasping firmly on your's. You began to hear several growls emerging from behind you from what you assumed to be a horde of mobs banding together on Papyrus' orders.
Fear began to pulse through you. For the first time in a long time, you didn't want to die. "I won't let that happen, not anymore," Sans murmured, as if reading your thoughts. "Okay?"
"Okay," you replied, ducking as he led you into a nearby alleyway.
The two of you settled behind a row of trash cans, making no sound as the mob passed by your hiding place without much thought. You suppressed a chill as a gust of wind blew by. You felt immediate warmth as Sans removed his jacket and gently placed it on top of you.
"Aren't you cold?" you looked up at him.
"Chilled to the bone," he chuckled to himself. You found yourself liking his laugh. Unlike the harshness the Underground had forced onto the monsters, Sans' laugh was light and airy, the small flame that refused to be smothered by the dark.
You found yourself leaning your head on his shoulder, a profound sense of relief washing over you.
As long as you were with him, you would be safe.