There were no dreams this time. Of course, I didn't know that, what with dreams and reality no more than a blur through the years. Walking on the outskirts of the woods on the way back to my hut, talking animatedly to a Papyrus I couldn't see is where it happened. With a warping of sound and the air around, there was a change.
"Red? Where are ya? I wanna talk about earlier!"
A... voice? There was a silhouette just ahead. Using my Turquoise magic, I float closer. A skeleton, slightly taller than me, with a dark blue hoodie, loose shorts, and pink and fuzzy slippers. He tapped his foot to some tune while looking around as I hid behind a tree.
"Red! Come on out! I don't got patience for your games." He said.
This must be a dream. Might as well see what he wants.
"Well, I don't know a Red, but I'm pretty blue myself?" I try, wary of the fact that he may not be able to hear me.
He whips around and looks directly at the tree I hide behind.
"Who's there?" He asks.
"Um, Sans. Who are you? What are you doing here?"
I float out tentatively, crown glinting as I pull magic to me in case he attacks. It's just a dream anyway, I don't know why I'm bothering.
"Call me classic, buddy. Where's everyone else?" He didn't answer the second question.
"Everyone else? Did you call others here?"
"Oh gosh! You're probably in the middle of a timeline! Just give me your SOUL for a sec so I know which way to go will ya?"
Magic lights up my eye red as I look at him and send a small fire attack his way. He dodges, but doesn't fire one back. If I needed any more proof that this was a dream...
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to go over there and wake up. Maybe I'll see you next dream 'Classic'" With that I floated away to almost immediately fall as Blue magic encases my SOUL.
He looks at me and I gulp as he pulls out my SOUL.
Drop!Sans
HP: 1
DF: 1
Atk: 2-9999
LV: 2
EXP: 1
"UnderDrop? That's a new one. Maybe I'll drop by later once your timeline is re-!"
He stares intently at the information he could see while I saw my stats. The SOUL in his hand quivers as he seemingly unknowingly crushes it in his hand.
"You... You don't have a timeline? Or resets? Or anyone?" His eyelights dart back and forth as he reads.
He stands like that for a while, seemingly reading every bit of information my SOUL could provide. He doesn't move once except for his darting eyelights.
"Come with me." He says suddenly, releasing my SOUL.
I look at him, not really believing what I heard. He holds his hand out to me.
"Come on. I won't bite ya buddy."
Well, this certainly is a weird dream. Might as well... I slowly take his outstretched hand.
A weird feeling, like the warping of space itself. Then it disappears, leaving us back in the snow, hands still clasped.
"There's a lot to explain to ya buddy. But for now, you need to get some sleep. It's been a long time hasn't it?" He pulls me off in the direction of my old house.
We step into Snowdin and I am floored. All of the lights are on! The houses are standing! No rubble litters the snow and what was that smell? Fresh pastries and peppermint fill the air with their scents.
The light was everywhere. It'd been so long since I have seen it like this. Gold magic burst forth and mingled with the light in the air as my eyelights grew to take in every shift. I caught "Classic" looking at me in the corner of my socket, but he was no more than background now.
He steers me by the arm to a house I knew oh so well. But it was different. Lights were on in the kitchen and upstairs windows and a clacking of dishes came merrily from the open one by the sink.
A familiar shape opened the door and I would have collapsed if it wasn't for his hand on my arm. Papyrus... Why are my dreams insistent on torturing me?
"Hello Sans! Who is this with you?" He sounded as bubbly as ever, but what was with his clothes?
"Hey bro. This is UnderDrop me. Do ya mind if he stays for a bit?" Wait, what?
"Of course not brother! Swap and Blue left a few minutes ago so Toriel and I were doing the dishes! Would you like something to eat?" He leans down to my height to look into my eyes.
I can only stare into those eyes for a moment before my mask dissolves. I'm a tear stained mess as Classic shoos Papyrus off and uses Blue magic to carry me upstairs. I'm gasping and hiccuping nonsense as I try to unlock the meaning behind this strangest of vivid dreams.
"Calm down, buddy. Get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning alright?" Classic turns and leaves, shutting the door.
I look around. The room is an absolute mess. Not really unlike my own, but missing the posters and desperate pleas for help on the walls and there was an odd tornado in the corner that seemed to be composed of socks and rubbish.
I used my trick so I would not disappoint Classic and fell asleep.
It took me a full week, waking up in a pair of long sleeved purple and black pajamas, that I finally convinced myself that this was, in-fact, not a dream. At that point, I cried with a giddy happiness that I had not felt since Papyrus had joined the royal guard all those years ago.
Classic and his Papyrus worked together to help me get accommodated and comfortable while telling me about the Alternate Universes. It was so much information to take in! I had not felt this fulfilled in a long time. I was in the Classic universe that had found out how to travel to others.
I was introduced to the Fell and Swap universes not long after, and most of them were very nice. Little things still set me off. Seeing Swap Papyrus in a hoodie, so much like my Papyrus, had me crying for a full half hour. And everyone was astounded to hear my story. Seems like no one had heard about an AU missing any humans before.
Because of the lack of humans in my Underground universe, a RESET was impossible. I jumped at the opportunity to learn about them, but was disappointed to once again dash my hopes. Seeing my brother again would not happen, but at least I have these new friends.
The humans were alright as well. I still got flashes of what the Fallen King had wanted to do to them whenever I saw one, but eventually I could tune it out. There are times when I fear that I'll wake up in that hut again. But I think this is for real. I'm happy now. And I think, somehow, somewhere, Papyrus is happy too.
(A/N It's the end! It took WAY longer than I thought it would to write all of this. But at least I can work on my comic now. Drop will definitely be making appearances in Living With Universes once I start that line so expect to see this boi in comics if you follow me on Tumblr! Have a wonderful day peeps!)