Chapter Text
"If you want it that much you will have to agree to certain… conditions," He began. "You mustn’t tell anyone."
He stared at Sans as if He was asking with his broken gaze. Restraining a shudder, Sans crossed his arms, wordlessly.
"You will regret it otherwise," He said, matter-of-factly. "Do not let anyone see you; it will cause an anomaly."
The way He said it was weird. How did He know? Probability? It seemed like He was inspecting the way Sans reacted closely, which further added to the poor skeleton's discomfort.
"If by any chance anyone sees you, make sure they cannot utter a word about it."
Sans sighed, still watching Him warily. He couldn't let his guard down. "aight."
His grin widened. "In that case, if I may...."
A sharp pain quickly coursed through Sans, his vision and senses blackening.
.
.
.
Sans hissed as he returned to himself. A throbbing pain lingering in his left eye as if it had been burnt. The way his head felt like the void was spinning around him only added to it.
"what..."
As he started to sit up, he realised there was something in the way; something tying him down.
"Do not bother attempting to flee, I already took care of that.”
"why am i tied up, again?" he asked, carefully studying His body language. Sans couldn't trust any of this.
"Eye guess you don't remember. I injected the substance I mentioned, you fainted and woke up briefly after," He started. "You weren't yourself. It was as if the substance was trying to take control, making you thrash and jerk while your eye socket flashed, burning a big and intense yellow and blue flame. It… looked as though it was trying to escape from you," He described. "You were showing signs of pain, attacked everywhere you could reach, including yourself, and pulled at the fire of your eye in a feeble attempt to get it away, so I tied you. I have something to test as well as news to tell.”
"what is it?" Sans asked, voice void of emotion as memories rose in his mind.
"The substance strained your soul too much and your HP lowered considerably."
"how much is considerably?"
"Well..." He tugged at his chest and Sans could see his soul hover in front of him, the figure smaller than he remembered.
"1 hp," Sans breathed out, shocked. He quickly put his soul back, not liking the feeling of exposure in front of the scientist.
"Exactly. Now you will have to be extremely careful. A single punch could kill you." At Sans's reaction, He shook his head. "Don't panic yet; your reflexes and power have changed. Your attacks now have something I call 'karma'. If your enemy's LOVE is high, your attacks will inflict more damage. It could deal a lot more than 1 HP per second, too."
"one hp per second?" he was surprised, he had always had weak attacks, but 1 HP?
"Yes, but as I have said before, the longer the enemy takes your attacks for, the more damage they deal. The higher their LV the higher the damage of karma." He approached the skeleton, not failing to observe how Sans tensed visibly. He untied his arms and torso, watching how Sans attempted to sit up.
"Do not sit up fast or the pain will increase."
He sat up slowly as the scientist said, a headache instantly hitting him anyway. He leaned his head on his hands as he groaned. Surprisingly, the scientist had his hand on Sans' back, bringing up some unbidden feelings. He quickly ‘caught onto his slip’ and amended his mistake, retrieving his hand.
"what about my legs?" Sans asked, frowning.
"I need you to test something related to your new powers."
Okay, He caught his attention.
"Imagine yourself next to me and try to feel the matter and the space around you. When you feel the space, reach out to your magic and pull."
With a hesitant look, the skeleton closed his eyes and felt the space just like he used to when he heard someone sneaking on him, then imagined himself next to Gaster. He hesitantly pulled at his magic, and when he opened his eyes, he fell to the 'floor', hitting his tailbone painfully. At least his head was no longer the only thing that hurt.
[-0.01hp]
"what…?" he stopped as he heard how the scientist was mumbling to himself in that language. He was writing down something while using that calculative expression.
"✌︎♍︎⧫︎♓︎❖︎♋︎⧫︎♏︎♎︎ ♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ❒︎♏︎⬧︎⧫︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♋︎♌︎♓︎●︎♓︎⧫︎⍓︎ ⧫︎□︎ ⧫︎♏︎●︎♏︎◻︎□︎❒︎⧫︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ " He looked back at Sans. "Do it as far as you can."
Sans closed his eyes again and focused on the space ahead of him. The farther he focused, the harder it was for him to keep his thoughts concentrated in the space long enough to teleport. He opened his eyes and the wave of exhaustion didn't come over him as he expected. He figured it was because the void was nowhere and everywhere at the same time.
The scientist muttered something from a distance and teleported next to Sans. Several other tests took place, and before Sans left, He explained briefly that in order to teleport outside the void, Sans had to reach out to the void and tug at it. After that, Sans used all of his mental strength to feel the space in Grillby's and teleported there. He opened the door to his friend's establishment.
"Excuse me, we’re clos—" Grillby announced before glancing at the skeleton. "Oh, Sans, it's you.” The bartender shook his head. "Papyrus came a few hours ago looking for you, he said he had been searching for you all day long."
"shit. he must be worried." He debated whether to go home or stay and have a drink. He really didn’t want to face his brother right then.
Grillby sighed, used to his antics by now. "I believe you must be hungry," he said, arching a ‘fire’brow to confirm so. When he earned a nod from Sans, he went to the kitchen and prepared Sans's usual. Not much after, he came back with a burger, some fries, and his handmade ketchup. "In your tab, I guess?"
"yeah. sorry 'bout that, i guess i need to ketch-up with it soon," he said as he laughed at his overused joke. He took a bite of the burger, and after a chug of ketchup, Sans fell asleep, skull barely missing the plate. It seemed like all the focusing on space took a toll on him, not to mention the stress his soul went through because of the magic and the liquid injection.
Grillby gently shook his shoulder. "Sans?"
No response. He was fast asleep.
Grillby decided to call Papyrus, and literally five seconds after calling his brother, he showed up at his establishment, sighing as he scooped Sans up and thanked Grillby for taking care of him. Grillby was finally free to return to his home after he cleaned everything quickly.
✧~~☆~~✧
It took some months, but Sans was finally able to dodge and use his teleporting without exhausting himself as much. The scientist said he was good to go a month ago, and Sans found himself going to the surface every night.
Yes, teleporting outside the barrier was a thing he could do now. He had agreed not to use it with other people, though, and even if he didn't trust the scientist at all, he trusted his rules earnestly.
That night wasn't different; he teleported out and stayed close by, not daring to go near the town in case his focus didn't let him teleport as quick as he needed to if he had to. Still, he very much enjoyed the refreshing breeze lightly hitting him. His past definition of 'fresh air' changed drastically. He could enjoy the wind while finally watching the stars, and he'd often bring his astronomy and constellation books to learn as much as he could every night. Papyrus asked his brother why he was acting so tired all of a sudden. Not only had he been staying up at night, but the strain his soul went through notoriously lowered his stamina, not to mention how focusing was exhausting. Luckily, his job let him sleep some hours in his posts, but Papyrus knew he was far from a healthy sleep minimum, even for Papyrus’s standards, and he knew that too, even if he wouldn't admit it.
Animals usually snapped him out of his daze, startling him enough to jump to his feet and ready himself to teleport, but when he found out the vastly big amount of animals on the surface, he found himself reading about them, too, alternating from stars to biology and quickly upgrading his knowledge until he could no longer find any book that satisfied his hunger for understanding. The library left much to be desired, and so did the dumpster, since he'd find everything crumbling and falling apart with the water and the dirt.
Funnily enough, his mind kept drifting to the way the scientist's hand pressed against Sans's back instead of focusing on the things that left him in awe. The gesture wouldn't stop bothering him over and over again. What if he didn't do it on purpose? What if it was manipulative? It surely was manipulative. It had to be. Why, if else? The gesture kept bringing memories of when everything was much better. Sans, Papyrus and Him. Happy.
God, he always messed everything up.
He sighed, exhaustion falling upon him, his shoulders hunching as well as his head dropping. His gaze snapped back to the stars, the feeling of exposure slightly overwhelming since he didn't have something to cover the outside from him, a ceiling that kept him hidden from everything. He just got out of the Underground, yet he wondered about other forms of life outside the Earth, about the universe, the endless galaxies forming millions and billions of complex systems that for sure held life…
✧~~☆~~✧
You walked out of your class when the bell rang and headed to the music room. In the way, the girl that was praised by every student, Daisy, roughly brushed you with her shoulder.
"Hey," you complained.
She whirled around and fixed her hair. "What?" She scowled. "Did I hurt you? Are you going to cry?" She rolled her eyes.
"No, but..." You looked down. It’s stupid. Why did you complain in the first place?
"Ugh, you are so pathetic I can't even. Grow a pair, loser," she scoffed, turning around to leave.
"Hey, you, weirdo!" a guy called. "Did you just hit my girlfriend?" He grabbed your shoulder, turning you to face him.
"I already told you I'm not your girlfriend, Jayce", Daisy turned around and faced him with disgust clear on her face.
"You will soon be." Jayce grinned.
"Uh, no. In fact, she was the one who hit me," you said, jumping back to the topic and looking away, hoping he wouldn't start screaming at you.
"Are you implying my girlfriend did something bad? That's like, impossible. She's an angel." He glared at you, daring you to keep talking so he could get his macho-man display.
"You are annoying," Daisy hissed at him.
"I should leave, I just- I don't want to fight." You smiled, begging for life to spare you.
"Fight? Why don't you, do you think you could beat me?" He raised the volume of his voice aggressively.
"No, that's not what I meant. I... I don't want to fight, that's all."
"That's what I thought," he smiled, victorious. "See? I could protect you, people are scared of me.”
"She is scared of you because she is trash. Besides, I don't care about that if you can't even last fifteen minutes in bed." She crossed her arms and squinted her eyes, defying him.
"Wha- hey! How do you know I only last fifteen minutes?" he asked as he faced Daisy. He quickly covered what he said, though. "I mean- what makes you think I only last fifteen?" By now, he was solely focused on her, leaving you behind.
Taking advantage of the moment, you slowly walked away, ashamed of not being able to stand up for yourself. You headed to the music room, and as soon as you entered you let out a breath you were hoping to exhale since it started. The several buildings of your university were connected, and even though there wasn't any degree in which music was required, they had built an art and a music classroom to go there during anyone's free time. The teachers usually organised small classes or some fun projects, and they were the ones responsible for the events your university sometimes organised.
You took a seat to play the piano, stretching your fingers until they cracked. You started warming up by playing some scales, then you played the first thing that came to mind. “Quiet resource.” Repetitive, easy, and beautiful, with melancholic tones that fulfilled your need to express yourself in some way other than neglecting your feelings.
Your fingers danced with the keys. You didn’t think about anything, your mind blank as you listened to the music you loved. Your whole body inched close to the instrument as the melody needed more strength and emotion, and away when it was but a whisper, your eyes closed.
A breath fell out of you when it finished, your focus coming back to your senses.
“You have improved quite a bit.”
Flinching, you looked back to see the music teacher smiling at you. Your cheeks warmed and your stomach tingled with sheepishness.
"I like this song... It suits you."
"Oh, thank you... I'm glad you like it." You smiled at her, rubbing your arm.
She smiled warmly again as the bell rang, signalling your time to leave. The music teacher started to organise some sheets for her next class as you took your leave, as she said goodbye
.
"Do you ever stop contributing to acoustic pollution and go out to talk to anyone, freak?" Tony, a mean guy from class asked, making his friends laugh.
"Why would I talk to anyone if they are all mean to me? That would only contribute more to acoustic pollution" you said, not willing to look at him.
He stood up from the back of the class and approached you, chin tilted up. He slapped a hand on your table. "We are mean to you because you are a disgrace. You are just bothering. You are in the way," he spat.
"Doesn’t that contradict what you just asked? If I am already in your way, why would I talk to you?" you reasoned.
Snickers were heard at the back of the class, his friends laughing at you for being reasonable.
"Just shut up already." He glared at you as if he was someone superior. "Look, I play the piano, I don't need to talk to anyone, I’m better off alone," he mocked, imitating your voice.
"Everyone to their seats, we are going to start," your chemistry teacher said. She impatiently waited for everyone to go to their seats. "Now, regarding our last lesson..."
✧~~☆~~✧
"Please just don't come back. We don't want to see your face here," the awful group of boys laughed.
You glanced at your thermodynamics teacher, hoping he heard it. He was wearing a poker face and he acted as if he didn't hear anything.
Great.
You sighed, looking down, hoping to leave and go home—no, to go somewhere else. To end having to deal with that kind of shit.
You bumped against the music teacher and she turned to look at you, about to lecture you for not paying attention to where you go, but as soon as she recognised who it was, her expression softened and asked you to come into her class.
"Are you okay?" she asked once she locked the room. "You seem to be more down than usual," she observed.
"I'm as good as always," you said without energy. "It's just the age. You know... Focusing only on negative things, thinking everything sucks... Classics." You heaved a sigh while the teacher stared at you, seemingly thinking.
"You know, that's the case of most young adults, but I don't believe it's yours," she started. "Whenever I catch a glimpse of you talking to someone they are either annoying you or ignoring you," she developed.
"That's... I'm used to that." you shrugged dismissively.
"You shouldn't be," she harshly says, frustrated. "It's not your fault you are not like them. It's a bit dumb how they despise you when you didn't do anything wrong."
"Well, yeah, but that's how it is. I can either be mad at that or I can accept it. I have to deal with it," you said, crossing your arms.
"I... I was just like you, (Y/N), I didn't want to talk to them because I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I'd go to the library to read, or just memorise music sheets to pass the break time... I know it ends someone's hope." She glanced at you, earning an understanding nod from you. "But, from my experience, at the end of the dark tunnel, there's light. After enduring those mindless people, I met people who were worth it. I met people who cared and enjoyed my company. You just... You just need to wait, okay? Please, don't give up. It will come. You have so many positive qualities and interesting hobbies... You were just unlucky with the people around you. There are people interested in you, you just need to find them."
You looked at her eyes, hoping to find what you needed to believe her. She warmly smiled and you felt a sensation of determination to keep going just a little while longer.
"Thank you, Miss." You smiled back.
"Always."
You waved and left.
You finally reached your home after twenty minutes of walking back. You weren't sure if you wanted to go in, but you didn't have much of a choice. Sighing, you walked up the stairs of the porch and opened the door. "I'm home," you said, voice lacking energy.
You'd have fallen to your knees if you didn't know that your mom would come over there and do as she always did; insult you, scold you and demand you to go get her alcohol and tobacco. As soon as you left the university you went to work in a programming job. You were good at it, yeah, but you couldn't work as much as you'd like to since you had to do a lot of other things. With what you earnt, your mom bought her "numbness substances". You didn't have enough time for what you wanted to do, as soon as you left the job you needed to study, cook dinner for both of you and then go to sleep, although, sometimes, you headed to bed later since you wanted to draw and listen to music.
Your mom waddled to the entrance. "Where the fuck were ya at? You're later than usual, they called from your job to check on you and I had to chat with 'em. You better have an explanation." She stared daggers at you.
Late? It must be because of your discussion with the music teacher. Your thoughts afterwards might have slowed you down considerably, too. "Right, about that. I-I'm sorry, mom, a teacher called me and I had to talk to her."
Your mom gave you a -what the fuck did you do now- look.
"What for?"
"I had... some problems with other students," you admitted, not wanting to talk about it.
"Oh? Did you beat the shit outta them?" she asked, somehow happy by imagining that. You shook your head. "Well, whatever. Just make dinner so I can take those pills already"
You nodded, tired, and headed to the kitchen. In the fridge, you could see some syringes, some liquids labelled with some names you didn't want to search up, and a couple of eggs. You took those and stirred them till they were a homogeneous mixture. You put the stirred eggs on the pan and cooked them, setting up the table and serving the food soon after. Your mother looked disgusted at the food, glancing at you. "This shit again? The fuck's wrong with you, (Y/N)?" She didn't even give you time to answer and slapped the table, a loud ‘thump’ reverberating in the room. "I told you I was sick of this shit, can't you understand?"
"I-I didn't have time to shop, and this was all we had-" You were cut off.
"That's not my problem, god you just like to see me rot," she spat before leaving.
Your lips trembled, and you tried as hard as you could to hold yourself and your shit together. You sighed, breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm down. You went to your room, took your sketchbook and pencil case, (you couldn't leave either live without these two), and left the house. Your mom heard the noise of the door opening.
"Where the fuck do you think ya goin'?"
At the lack of answer from your part, she hissed for you to come back, and when you started running away, she threw a bottle at you, missing by a large distance.
You ran to the spot you frequented when you needed to calm down. That day wasn't your best one, but it was far from the worst. When you reached your usual spot you looked for anything you could draw to disconnect, and ended up sketching the landscape full of trees coated by snow. Halfway through, you remembered your teacher's words, to have hope, to remember people are waiting for you to meet them, that there are people who will love you. It reminded you of a song.
"When the light is running low, and the shadows start to grow, and the places that you know, seem like fantasy," you sang, checking if you could hear anyone nearby when you finished the first part. More confidently now, you kept singing. "There's a light inside your soul, that's still shining in the cold, with the truth, the promise in our, hearts~"
You took a deep breath. This reminded you of what your teacher told you, the light at the end of the dark tunnel. "Don't forget." Tears started to form in your eyes. "I'm with you in the dark~"
✧~~☆~~✧
Sans was starting to find it hard to keep his eye sockets open, but something woke him up for good. A voice. He was about to teleport away, but he heard sobs and his curiosity couldn't let him leave. He approached the source of the voice, and he could see a human from behind a tree. They were writing down something, no, drawing something if the way they were moving a pencil was something to go by. They, or, she, judging by her voice, started singing a slow and soft tune. There was something in his soul begging him to get closer, to call out for her, but he quickly discarded that.
Her voice was melodious, he thought. It was a shame he'd have to leave as soon as possible. When she stopped singing, though, he could hear her sobs again as she closed her sketchbook and gazed up at the stars. She stood up, looked in different directions as if she was wondering where to head to. She stepped closer to where Sans was hiding, and he cursed under his breath before beginning to concentrate on teleporting.
"H-hello?" she asked shyly, seeing a hooded figure stand close to a tree.
Sans struggled to focus and he decided he'd rather teleport close and not get caught, so he teleported behind a tree close by. Bewildered, the human looked around and stepped back, almost afraid of what she just saw, or at least thought she saw.
✧~~☆~~✧
You were walking to a hooded figure who muttered something, curiosity taking over you. You couldn't see quite well since it was night, and after you called out for the stranger, they disappeared, startling you.
What the hell?
You stepped back, afraid of what your eyes just saw. What your eyes didn't see, however, was the hole you stepped back into, breaking some vines covering it, your body losing balance as you stumbled back and fell.
You screamed. Screamed hard. God, your throat hurt, the wind strongly hitting your back was too cold for that season, and the sound of the wind quickly going through your ears didn't help you calm down. How long was the fall? Why didn't you already hit the ground? Were you dreaming, like in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? How long had you been falling for? It felt like hours.
The sound of wind abruptly stopped, and before you could register the blue aura covering you, and before you could feel something grabbing you, your back hit the ground.