Work Text:
It’s a shame the cold air has ruined this for you. Opening your eyes one thing dawned on you, feeling the cold was actually a lot worse than staring at the fresh snow in front of you. It might not help that your originally from a very warmer area and your very not used to the cold. At least you wore baggy pants and a hoodie over your graphic-tee. That will keep you warm right, right?
Well, being in the cold might be better than going back towards the possibly insane aggressive goat woman beyond the purple doors that stood firmly shut behind you. She had chased you through hallways for a few days now. There were a few moments where you thought you lost her, like when you found the tiny room with possibly poisoned candy apples that sat wrapped in paper in your bag now, or the friendly yet catty yellow flower that promised to help you, or the time you met the strange bitter ghost with bleeding eyes. Yeah… he creeped you out…
Whatever, with a shrug you moved forward limping as you fell on it wrong with your battle with the goat woman just a few minutes ago. The snow was fresh and the wind was still. So uncannily so that not a single rustle sounded from the redwoods that surrounded you. With no choice but to move forward your sneakers sunk into the snow in front of you, with each new step more biting cold seeped into your shoes making you shiver harder and harder.
Perhaps it was paranoia but you felt as though you were being watched. As if the trees moved and shifted although the only sound was a dead silence that echoed around you. Looking towards your right you thought you had seen a shadow. It chilled you more than the below freezing temperatures. With new resolve you started to walk faster.
You quickly made your way over a rather large branch that was a lot bigger than the pointed spear like stick you held tightly in your hand now. After getting about 10 feet from the stick you heard a loud snapping sound that made you scream with its suddenness. You whipped around fully expecting to see the aggressive grieving mother you left in the ruins standing right there ready to finish what she had started.What you did see was nothing. Nothing but a broken branch and your own tracks. You turned around and started moving with a new found desire to get far far away from this area.
As you practically jogged away from probable danger you neared a bridge and the feeling that someone's eyes were right on you only grew in intensity. Just as you neared a well made gate made from wood you found yourself unable to move. No matter how much you struggled you couldn't move and the sound of snow crunching behind you sent you into a panic.
“
Human
,” The voice filled you with fear as soon as you heard it, “
don't you know how to greet a new pal
...?
turn around and shake my hand
...” gruff and unfriendly, the voice commanded.
As you tried to imagine what your gonna say to this guy you find yourself turning around slowly staring straight ahead. The monster behind you was taller than you, which left you staring right at their large sharp toothy grin. One of its fangs was replaced with a shiny golden one and hairline fractures surrounded it. It’s nose ridge was kind of wide but that's as far up as you could see. You happened to notice the monster wore a large puffy black jacket where the hoodie was lined with what you think is soft ruffled yellow fur.
Then you see a skeletal hand stick right out for you, the bones open and inviting. Against your will you take it. All in once you find your able to move again due to a stinging electric shock in your palm and you yank your hand away.
A low chuckled drew your attention upwards and now you can see the voice’s full face. Two large black eye sockets greeted you, in it’s left one a single large red ring of light peered down at you. It's brow bones and eye sockets seem to be permanently contorted to show worry and anxiety.
“I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton. Welcome to the underground kitten. I’ve never seen a human quite like you before,” this guy, you assume he's a guy, has a strange accent you can't seem to pinpoint. Possibly Boston and New Jersey, “Your a adult right?”
Not being able to find your voice you just nodded up at him, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. “Are all humans as scared an’ dumb looking as you kitten?” You shook your head no. “Alright, well this is fun and all but you gotta say somethin’. I got shit to do.” His one red pupil darted behind you and back towards your face.
“Your… a skeleton?” The dumb question tumbled out of your mouth and you aren't even sure why your so surprised after everything you had seen already. And yet you couldn't stop the surprise. Sans only laughed at you before narrowing his eyes sockets, “
you
are going to be one annoying human, ain’t ya?”
“Why… um, what do you want... from me?” You couldn't help your voice wavering in worry, this guy probably wanted to kill you just like everyone else so far.
“A number of things that can really be summed up under one thing. But above all of that I want you to entertain me. Ya see, I'm supposed to be looking for humans, I'm a sentry here. My brother kinda rules this area, he ain't as nice as me. If Papyrus was the one to find ya, heheh, well, you can guess.”
You shivered at the thought. You knew everyone down here could and would kill you if given the chance. The sight of you growing more and more afraid made sans’s smile grow wider.
“Now do everything I tell ya and ya might make it out of this alive. Alright kitten?” Why the hell would you agree to something so fucking vague? And why do you find yourself nodding along?
“Great. What i want you to do first sweetie is hide for me.” He pushes past you rather roughly and pulls a set of keys from his coat pocket and unlocks the gate. He turns around and looks at you before walking forward holding the gate open for you to walk through. Once on the other side you hear the door swing shut and locking behind you. In Front of you was a snow covered trail, a broken lamp, and a small drab station of some kind. Sans pushed passed you again and headed towards the broken station to a side door and opened it with the same set of keys.
“Inside here kitten, and use my footprints so my brother wont see yours.” You tried to move as he said and you stayed inside his large footprints as best as you could. You don't think he made it easy for you because they were far apart and each step made you almost lose your balance.
Once your in the room sans pushed you back, walked in, and locked the door behind him. He pulled a stool from under a counter and you took the moment to back into a corner and look under the counter. You see a bunch of empty mustard bottles on the floor and a small shelf stocked with stuff for hot dogs.The hot dogs themselves were sitting in a red cup near sans’s leg which hidden a fairly large area away from you. Sans normally towered over you but sitting on the tiny stool now his head was around your chest area.
Sans’s eye landed on you and he pointed to the floor next to him. “Can't let my bro see you. He’ll be here soon,” you gripped your stick tightly in your hand not trusting this guy at all, but this room your in is so warm, “and stay quiet through it all”. It might be in your best interest to do what he asks of you for now. You hold your pointed stick close to your chest and sit down against the shelf where he told you and pulled your knees close to yourself.
After a few minutes of silence you hear crunching snow quickly approaching and you can see sans’s slouching form quickly stiffen as he sits straight up with his hands gripping the counter in front of him.
“SANS, YOU
PATHETIC
WHELP, HAVE YOU SEEN ANYTHING AROUND HERE YET?” The voice was louder and, with a lack of a better word, annoying. The way he talked about his brother didn't help your opinion of it.
“I ain't seen nothing the whole time boss. Just me and my thoughts.” You noticed Sans stared straight ahead and he started to sweat. Maybe he was just nervous about getting caught hiding a human.
A large CLACK sounded and sans slumped on the counter, neither of them noticed your tiny shocked gasp as it happened.
“IF I FIND THAT YOU ARE LYING TO ME THERE WILL BE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES. DINNER IS AT 8 PM AND YOU WILL BE THERE ON TIME OR STARVE.” the only sound that followed was the aggressive grating voice walking away in the snow.
Silence rang loud and clear as sans had not moved from the counter after his brother had left. You took a moment to flex your hands making sure they don't freeze on you. The hoodie was good but not great in the protection department. After a few minutes you got worried since sans had not moved.
“Uh… sans?” You didn't get an answer from him so you spoke up a bit louder. “Sans?” he jolted and a took a sharp breath before sitting up pain clear on his face and a new reddish mark on the top of his skull. The skeleton started to rub at it before hissing and pulling his hand away quickly.
“Um… i was quiet, like you said.” he looked down at you eyes wide for only a second as his face went back to default look of general discomfort.
“Good, that's good of ya. Thanks kitten.” his hands gripped the counter and started to dig in the wood as he grit his teeth. You were afraid for a second before he started to take deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.
“I found these spiders selling donuts in the ruins… they aren't poisoned i don't think. I actually ate one and it made me feel better... buuuuut it could also make me die later or something. Who knows…. Would… would you want one? It could make your head feel better?”
He stared at you and his eye sockets narrowed. “What’s the fucking catch?”
That caught you by surprise, “catch? There is no catch?” He only stared at you. “Uh, think of it as a thank you for keeping your brother from killing me” You reached into your baggy pants pocket and pulled out a spider donut in a thin clear wrapping and you placed it on the counter next to him.
It took Sans a few seconds of his piercing gaze shifting from the donut to you and back to the donut. Finally he picked it up and unwrapped it, “this does not mean i owe you kitten”. You nodded in agreement and smiled a tiny bit when he bit into the heavily frosted treat.
He stopped chewing to stare at the donut than back at you, “did you want some kitten?” you shook your head, “I’ve already had a bunch today.” And the skeleton continued to eat the purple pastry.
Sans seemed to start fidgeting; opening and closing his mouth as if to say something but deciding against it, hands anxiously wiggled against the counter, his eye wouldn't stop moving as he looked at everything but you. It worried you.
“Is someone else coming?” What if they were bigger and meaner than the last guy? Sans glanced at you and shook his head. “No. Just us kitten-”
“What's with the nicknames?” The skeleton glanced over at you as you blew hot air into your hands and rubbed them together.
“Nothin', why?”
“I just find it weird. You don't know me and you just keep nicknaming me, and you settled on kitten.”
“‘ think it suits ya. Cute like one.” His eyes stopped darting around.
“You do realize ‘kitten’ is normally given as a nickname of affection.” and sans shrugged
“What do you mean Sweetheart?” You never realized Sans’s smile isn't real until now. His smile grew again and seemed to relax as you had made a sound of amusement and leaned against the shelf. Everything is kinda tall and awkward down in the underground.
“Your a strange one Sans. Do you…feel better?” The skeleton glanced over and nodded though he looked a little disgruntled. He finished the last of the donut and licked his fingers with a translucent red tongue.
“Why be so nice to big ol' sans, huh?” He stared at the counter in front of him as if it held the answer to his question and all he had to do was wait, which was partially true.
“Why did you be nice to me first? Sans your a sentry and your brother physically abuses you when he suspects you did something he doesn't like,” You saw his body tense up the more and more you spoke, you can only hope you didn't accidentally change his mind, “The fact im alive? Well i'm more worried about you right now”
“I ain't nothin’ to worry over! I helped you cause i didn't want to file some fuckin' papers…”
“A bullshit excuse. You saved my life. Simple as that. Least i could do is help you out a bit.”
The skeleton sat there thinking on your words, his eye darted in front of him back and forth as if sorting information in front of him, solving some puzzle you could never see. Then suddenly he turned to you with smile on his face.
“Your a lot sweeter than the monsters down here, sweetheart”
The words that set you on a path giving you a wild future and an even wilder past tumbled from his mouth slapping you in the face with their bluntness. A proposition you never thought any of the monsters no matter how kind would ever ask of you, a human. Someone the entire race despised.
“I protect you in the underground. You help me get to the surface.”
His hand extended towards you, joy buzzer free. Inspecting his face you saw no trace of mockery or lies, not that that mattered, you were never good at that kind of detection.
But I digress, you responded in kind just as his wide predatory smile started to fall. Your hand, although hesitantly, extended to meet his and suddenly you had made your first deal with the devil.
“Deal.”