Chapter Text
A dead silent Snowdin was still a dreadful experience for Sans to suffer through. Trudging along through the snow, making his way slowly back towards the old house.
Sure, it was different than all the nightmares he’d had of dust clogging streets and looking over his shoulder, waiting for a knife to cut through him, but that haunting, oppressive
silence
only broken by the snow under his slippers…it still chilled him.
…right down to the bone, heh.
He snickered quietly at his own private quip as he circled around back behind the ol’ house he and Papyrus had called home. It’d been nearly half a year since Frisk fell down, made the trek through the Underground and eventually ended up freeing all of Monsterkind.
Six months of no progress on an old progress…man, some habits were just the worst to try and kick.
When he made it to the shed behind the house, he slipped the dainty silver key from his pocket and plunged it into the lock, cracking the door open with a low creaaaaaak as he looked down into the darkness that awaited him.
Dark, Darker, Yet Darker…the Darkness Keeps Growing…
He shook his head and let out a sigh before making his descent, flipping on the lightswitch at the bottom of the stairs. A familiar workshop greeted him, the machine in the corner still covered with a sheet, untouched as expected.
“man, if Pap’s saw how organized I kept this place, he’d probably have a conniption.” He muttered to himself with another soft chuckle, his words hanging in the air for a moment before he sighed and stepped forward once more, pulling the sheet away from the machine and staring at it for a moment.
It was smaller than the D.T. Extractor back under Alphys’ lab, but the overall design wasn’t all too different. The chamber was the biggest outlier, far more boxy. Almost shaped like a shower, funnily enough, if not for the numerous large tubes and electrical wires running along its side.
“...god, this’d be easier if you were still around, G…” Sans huffed somberly to himself, stepping away from the machine and over to where the blueprints were laid out on the nearby counter. He’d been close, six months back. So very close to a breakthrough. He just needed a way to power the damn thing, that was all. If he managed to actually work it out… “just need a little more time, G. just a little more time…”
* …?
Sans jolted at the sudden noise, whipping around to face the stairs as if expecting to see a ghost, only to sigh in relief as he realized it was just Frisk, their expression concerned from their position near the stairs.
“sheesh, kiddo, you almost gave me a heart attack! Undyne was right, we really gotta get you a bell.” He laughed anxiously, bringing a smile back to the human’s face before they pointed at him and shrugged in evident confusion. “what am I up to? ah, it’s…just an old project, I guess. trying to help an old friend…”
Frisk cocked their head to the side, glancing at the machine and frowning a bit, making another confused motion. Sans sighed heavily, suddenly feeling a weariness settle throughout his body as he realized he was probably going to have to explain some stuff to them. If anyone had a right to hear it, Frisk was certainly the best person he could think of…well, save his brother, of course.
“alright, since I know you’re not gonna drop this if I don’t tell ya…my dad was the Royal Scientist before Alphys. real bright bastard by the name of W.D. Gaster…” Sans began, snapping his fingers and sliding up a stool for Frisk to sit on as he continued. “he made the Core, y’know. had his heart set on freeing our people, just like the King. he was… determined to find a way to break the barrier…and he was certain that the answers lied in Human Souls…”
Frisk placed a hand over their chest, glancing down thoughtfully as if they were looking at something that Sans couldn’t see. He stared at them for a beat before continuing, his tone growing more grave.
“see, Gaster had this theory…if monsters could harness Determination, or D.T. for short, then they could become stronger. strong enough to break the Barrier for starters, but why stop there? what if D.T. could improve our magic, our technology? our very manner of existence? it one was determined enough…what was the limit?”
He paused for a moment, slipping open a drawer and plucking out an old photograph, sliding it down to Frisk who plucked it up and held it carefully. It was a picture of seven people, two they recognized. Sans and Alphys were obvious, clad in lab coats and all smiles. The other scientists, however…
Their faces were smudged, somehow. Like they’d physically been scratched out, but the photo itself, while old, was still in near perfect condition. Frisk’s eyes came to rest upon the tallest of the figures in the center; a lanky skeleton with holes in his hands, his face just as smudged…yet they felt a profound feeling of unease staring at his face specifically.
“he ran an unauthorized test, using the Core to attempt to harvest further D.T. from a more…unconventional source. he theoried that if we could somehow gather D.T. through time and space itself, we’d be able to harvest an almost infinite supply…but in the end, it was too much.” Sans hummed, lacing his hands together as he closed his eyes, fighting to keep his tone even. “there was an accident, and most of the staff were…lost. dear ol’ Dad included. something changed after they all vanished, too. some kinda cosmic course correction. somehow, only Alph and I seemed to remember any of them.”
That fact seemed to freak out Frisk a bit more obviously, their eyes blowing wide in realization as they looked between the photo and Sans with a horrified expression. He almost chuckled at it before reminding himself that macabre humor wasn’t really their thing.
“relax, kiddo. it was a once in a lifetime, fluke event. not likely to happen again anytime soon.” He assured them with a slight smile, before turning his attention back to the machine and sighing softly. “anywho, that’s what this little hideaway of mine is all about. after moving to Snowdin, I kept thinking about trying to help bring them back. G always had theories about timelines, alternate worlds and such…I figured if I could find a way to anchor them to this reality, maybe I could find a way to…restore them.”
Frisk frowned again, rising from their seat and gently patting Sans’ shoulder in an attempt to comfort the beleaguered skeleton. He smiled at them, and took a step back from the machine.
“eh, it’s always been a bit of a pipe dream, though. I just…had a nightmare again, last night, and I thought one last try fiddling with this thing…maybe it’d work out this time.” He explained, his smile tinged with sadness as he shook his head lightly before heading over to where the sheet lay. “but maybe…maybe it’s time to just let sleeping dogs lie, eh? give all this a break, and just enjoy my new life above ground…”
Frisk nodded attentively, flashing Sans’ an enthused smile and matching thumbs up that got a chuckle out of him. They moved to assist him in setting the sheet back up, but as they brushed past the machine to grab the sheet, it suddenly thrummed quietly.
Both of them paused for a moment, looking at the machine in uncertainty as it fell silent seconds after. Slowly reaching out, Frisk laid a hand upon the machine properly…and drew their hand back with a cry a moment later as if they’d been burned. Sans moved to check on them, but before he could reach them, his eyelights flicked to the machine as it whirred to life properly this time.
It shuddered and groaned with unprecedented power, sensors flashing in apparent warning as light suddenly flooded out from the chamber. He shouted something to Frisk, telling them to get out of the workshop and back upstairs. He wasn’t even sure if they’d heard him over the machine’s roar, but they moved back all the same even as he pressed forward, trying to find the emergency off switch.
He fumbled around for a few seconds, wincing at the sheer heat that the machine was giving off. Eventually, he found the switch, grasping it firmly and attempting to wrench it down…before he felt something grab his shirt and heave him forward, tumbling forward with a cry into the machine’s chamber and into the white light--
And suddenly he was hurtling through a sea of stars, engulfed in total silence. He couldn’t even scream, couldn’t make the slightest sound outside of a stunned gasp as he spiraled through the void stretching out far around him. It was all too much, too overwhelming…he felt like he was being yanked across reality itself at lightspeed, and just as quickly as it started…
Sans found himself falling hard against a familiar tile floor.
“ugh…that was…not ideal…” He groaned softly, wincing as shooting pains rocketed throughout his skull as he slowly tried to sit up, wincing in pain as he managed to rise to his knees, looking around in confusion.
The room around him looked just like his workshop, but…different. Dimmer, somehow, as if it was grayscale. He raised his hand in confusion, noticing his hoodie still looked blue, so whatever made the room look off wasn’t on his end.
“...Frisk? you out there, kiddo…?” He called out as he looked over to the staircase, slowly rising to his feet with some effort, managing to limp his way over to the stairs before slowly pulling himself up, step by step as he winced with effort. Christ on a bike, why did his entire body hurt so bad?
When he emerged back into the fresh air of Snowdin, he expected to at least feel a bit better. However, something was different outside as well. The stillness of the once bustling town around him felt heavier, almost solemn. He looked around in utter bewilderment, a building pool of dread in his stomach growing large with every second.
“ what the hell is going on? this place isn’t the Underground I know, I can feel it in my soul…but if that’s the case, then where the hell am I?” He thought to himself, using one of his shortcuts to dart out to Waterfall. The marshy landscape around him was similarly silent, save for the dripping of water from nearby plants.
The dread continued to build as he warped to Hotland, checking on the Lab, MTT Resort, the CORE itself, and finally New Home. With every shortcut, the anxious thrumming in his soul grew worse as his fear grew more palpable. There was no one in sight, no matter where he looked or how many times he called out. He was practically pleading by the time he made it to the castle, begging for someone to answer him, anyone!
* ...But nobody came.
“I…I don’t understand…” Sans panted heavily, his composure utterly shot as his eyelights snapped around the entrance to the Judgement Hall, just as gray, and dull, and dead as the rest of the world around him. “t-there has to be someone down here…there HAS to be!”
None of it made any sense. Only minutes ago, he’d been talking to Frisk, moments away from teleporting back to the surface and rejoining his friends and family, going right back to their happy ending…and now, he was in some kind of bizarro version of his home with no idea what was going on, or how to get back to Frisk and the others.
Now outright desperate, he practically started to jog through the Judgment Hall, only making it about halfway before he froze, eyelights flaring as he heard the low but distinct sound of footsteps approaching from the pitch black exit of the Hall before him.
“oh, thank god…Asgore? That you?” He asked with palpable relief, hoping at least a single friendly face would be present down there. Unfortunately, the dark, writhing shape that slunk out of the darkness before him was not what he’d been hoping for, especially when the figure raised its head, a gaunt and cracked visage leering at him.
“💧︎♋︎■︎⬧︎📬︎📬︎📬︎♋︎♌︎□︎◆︎⧫︎ ⧫︎♓︎❍︎♏︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ⬧︎♒︎□︎⬥︎♏︎♎︎ ◆︎◻︎📬︎ ✋︎ ⬥︎♋︎⬧︎ ♌︎♏︎♑︎♓︎■︎■︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ⧫︎□︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎🙵 ⍓︎□︎◆︎🕯︎♎︎ ♐︎□︎❒︎♑︎□︎⧫︎⧫︎♏︎■︎ ♋︎♌︎□︎◆︎⧫︎ ❍︎♏︎📪︎ ❍︎⍓︎ ⬧︎□︎■︎📬︎.”
“...Dad…?” Sans croaked, his eyelights vanishing as he stared in horror at the hollow remnants of what must have been his father, once upon a time. That face, distorted and broken as it was…it looked just like him. “oh god, Gaster…what happened to you?!”
“❄︎♒︎♏︎ ✞︎⚐︎✋︎👎︎ ♓︎⬧︎ ♏︎■︎♎︎●︎♏︎⬧︎⬧︎📪︎ 💧︎♋︎■︎⬧︎📬︎ ☜︎■︎♎︎●︎♏︎⬧︎⬧︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ ⬧︎□︎ ❖︎♏︎❒︎⍓︎ ●︎□︎■︎♏︎●︎⍓︎📬︎📬︎📬︎🙰□︎♓︎■︎ ❍︎♏︎📪︎ ◻︎●︎♏︎♋︎⬧︎♏︎📬︎ 🕈︎♏︎ ♍︎♋︎■︎ ♌︎♏︎ ♋︎ ♐︎♋︎❍︎♓︎●︎⍓︎ □︎■︎♍︎♏︎ ❍︎□︎❒︎♏︎📬︎📬︎📬︎.”
Gaster suddenly lurched forward almost like a swelling wave, growing tall above Sans as his hands emerged out from the oily depths of his melting form, purple magic glowing in both his hands and eyes as he barreled down upon the startled skeleton.
Sans barely had time to dodge as combat started trying to open a shortcut back outside only to find himself trapped in combat with his father. He fired a volley of blue attacks at his hulking form, trying his damndest to keep Gaster back. The attack didn’t even make him flinch.
He kept dodging attacks, already feeling himself grow tired as he dodged waves of bones and intense blasts from Gaster’s Blasters. He couldn’t keep up, and before long, an unexpected Blue Attack set him on his ass, resulting in him looking up in horror once more as Gaster grinned wide above him.
“☹︎♓︎♏︎ ⬧︎⧫︎♓︎●︎●︎📪︎ ❍︎⍓︎ ⬧︎□︎■︎📬︎ ❄︎♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ⬥︎♓︎●︎●︎ □︎■︎●︎⍓︎ ⧫︎♋︎🙵♏︎ ♋︎ ❍︎□︎❍︎♏︎■︎⧫︎📬︎.”
Gaster’s hands closed in once more, and Sans screwed his eyes shut as he braced himself for a fate worse than death, sending a final mental apology his brother’s way for not being strong enough to make it back home.
Before the hands made contact, however, a sudden ripple of red energy blasted into Gaster’s body, an agonized inhuman shriek escaping the towering monster as he toppled over, shocking Sans as a hooded figure flipped over him, landing behind him and hauling him to his feet.
“Come on, Bonehead! No time to waste, that’s not gonna keep him down long.” They quipped, taking him by the hand and practically yanking him back towards the exit of the Hall. Gaster let out a distorted wail and charged after them, surging along the corridor floor as Sans fought the urge to look back, fighting to keep pace with his savior as they sprinted towards the end of the Hall.
The hooded figure raised their free hand, revealing a shining knife that soon glowed crimson, a red blast shooting out and punching a hole through the wall of the Hall. They tilted their head back to look at Sans as they picked up pace, at which point he noticed their familiar set of red eyes.
“We only got one shot at this, we have to jump! On three!” They instructed him, turning their gaze back towards the hole they’d just punched in the wall, grip tightening on Sans’ hand as they drew closer and Gaster’s roars grew louder “THREE, JUMP!”
And Sans did, with all the might he had left. He soared out through the hole, flipping over in the air and getting one last look at Gaster’s hideous, melted form that scowled down at he and his savior before his world seemed to shift involuntarily, and he hit the ground hard with a grunt.
Suddenly, Gaster and the gray Underground were gone, and instead he found himself staring up at a sea of stars once more…though these ones actually seemed like the stars of outer space, compared to the overstimulating void he’d tumbled through before.
“Huh…we actually made it…not half bad, lazybones.” His savior quipped as they caught their breath, flipping back their hood and pulling down their mask as they--or rather she --turned to look at him, as a fresh feeling of icy cold dread passed over him looking into those painfully familiar red eyes.
“...Chara…?”