Chapter Text
You were walking home from your favorite convenience store, carrying a paper bag with both arms filled to the brim with goodies. It's almost Halloween and you were stocking up to stay in for the holiday. You planned to have your porch light off and no decorations in the yard to make your house look as uninviting as possible.
Why? You hate Halloween. Always have. You're terrified of monsters so much so it's irrational at this point. You hate horror and all things scary. Even cartoons that depict monsters goofily give you the heebie-jeebies.
Dracula, Werewolves, Frankenstein, Zombies and hell even Godzilla and Bigfoot will get you to cover your eyes. And don't even think about bringing up the 'Alien' movies and the Xenomorphs. That kids show Goosebumps? Gave you nightmares when you were a kid.
I think you get the gist. And yeah, you know they're fake. You know they're just movies, props, special effects, etcetera, but that doesn't stop your brain from having a complete meltdown over any and all depictions of those things.
So imagine a tear on the sidewalk opens up and you, none the wiser, trip and fall into it. Imagine falling down but being spat up onto a hard tiled floor through said tear.
Imagine feeling the aches and pains of a rough landing and opening your eyes to the bright overhead lights reflecting off the white tile floor and blinding you instantly. Imagine seeing your grocery contents spilled out all over the place, some items breaking open like some cans of soda.
Then imagine looking up and around you at your surroundings and spotting three skeletons staring at you with wide opened, endless pits of darkness they call sockets.
And these weren't prop skeletons. Not the plastic kinds you find all over the stores as soon as September starts. Not the giant 50 foot tall ones people dress up year round for every holiday because they're too lazy to take it down.
Actual, moving, (are they BREATHING?) skeletons wearing clothes with what appears to be colored liquid running down their skulls to which hold a surprising array of malleability to express complex emotions no skeleton has a right to display.
You screamed. Loudly. Ear piercingly. Backing up into a corner in a pathetic attempt to get away from them.
The machine decided at that moment to fizzle out (how was it on in the first place?!) and break down, sounding like a balloon that's slowly letting out its air.
The skeleton with a grey hood over its head speaks, voice monotone and sounding annoyed. "good going, your machine brought in a human this time." It blinks and eye lights appear in the sockets, one blue and one blue with a red ring around it. It then scoffs and looks away, muttering, "jackass," but loud enough on purpose to the others can hear.
Your heart drops. Oh joy, it talks. Wait...it talks? That means it's a person...right? You frown and look down, thinking.
Your head shoots back up, causing two of the three to startle in place. "Ha-ha very funny!" you say, tone of voice depicting the opposite of being amused. "You can come out now! You got me! Ha-ha so funny, pretend to have your sister kidnapped by a skeleton cult to scare her!"
"uhhh," one of the skeletons have the gall to look confused as if your jerk of a brother didn't pay or coerce these guys into pranking you. Like he does every Halloween.
"You can take your costumes off now." You shakily stand up. You know now this is a prank and it's all fake but you still don't like how realistic they look. "My brother put you up to this right?" You don't let them answer, instead, groaning and tugging at your hair. "Where's the hidden camera? I bet he's laughing his ass off right now."
Sans is unsure of what to do. Dust stands to his right, bored, while Fell fidgets in place to his left. You tap your foot in annoyance as your eyes rove over the room. Hesitantly, not wanting you to scream like that, ever if he can help it, Sans approaches you. You flinch when he gets close so he stops.
"Please," you sound defeated, "please just take the costume off. I hate monsters." Sans takes another step back as if he was burned, hurt and confusion in his eyes. Inwardly, he laughs deprecatingly. Of course, his machine brings him his SOULmate and she's prejudiced against Monsters.
He hears Dust sneer behind him and then shuffling ascending the stairs. "we- ah, sorry..." Sans starts, "how do i explain this..." he groans, wiping his forehead. "we didn't kidnap you. we don't know your brother. we're not wearing costumes."
You eye him up and down like he's crazy. "Skeletons don't walk and talk," you say matter-of-factly. "Or breathe. What do you take me for?"
Sans supposed you might have never seen a skeleton Monster before considering him and his brother (now the others) were the only ones. How does he get you to believe he's not a costume, though? Lift his shirt? He flushes at the thought of just straight up showing you his ribs. That wouldn't exactly be appropriate.
Calmly, he extends his bony arm out. You flinch and stare at it. "You're scaring me..." you admit.
"please...just feel my hand, look at my arm, i'm not a costume." Sans gestures behind him with his shoulder. "neither is he or the one that left."
You hesitantly lift your hand and shakily place it atop his, palm flat on his. You squeak at the feeling; hard and smooth. Slowly, your eyes crawl up his arm to the ulna and radius. Sans takes his other hand, making sure you're watching him, and sticks it in between the two bones.
You scream and rip your hand away. Quickly, the skeleton throws both hands up in a placating manner. "w-what kind of Monsters are you familiar with?"
You shake your head in denial. "Wh-I-uh...Dracula? Werewolves? Fucking- Skinwalkers? Not...not walking talking skeletons?!"
Sans straightens up, eyes scrunched in confusion. He turns to look over his shoulder to Fell. The quiet skeleton shrugs. You place a hand over your heart, your breathing beginning to pick up. "Skeletons are just stupid Halloween decorations...They aren't real, you're probably having a nightmare. A highly realistic one where you can feel pain..."
The classic skeleton cringes then remembers he can find out info on your universe. Quickly, he moves to sit in his chair and read the screen. You don't notice as the sweater wearing skelly stands behind the blue jacket wearing one as you continue to ramble to yourself.
Sans and Fell read up on everything the machine found out.
Together, they utter one word, "fuck."
~~
Your world has no Monsters. No concept of SOULs or LV or EXP. Only fictional monsters like the ones you listed. Sans recognized some of them, like Dracula, as it had been an old movie he and Papyrus saw once.
His SOULmate didn't hate Monsters. You hated monsters. Sans knows the other two had felt your SOUL just as much as he did when you came through. Dust left probably because of your presumed bigotry but Fell stayed, having felt everything and was frozen in awe at the beauty of your SOUL. The song it unconsciously sang when being in the presence of your mates.
The two let out the biggest sighs of relief when they learned you didn't hate them but were just afraid of them. They could work with that. Sans spins in his chair to face you, about to speak but you shakily beat him to you.
"S-so if you're real...does that mean other monsters are real?" Your eyes widen and you stare at the two. Beads of sweat accumulate. "A-and if this isn't a prank by my brother...wh-what are you going to do to me? A-are you gonna harvest my bones?!"
Sans and Fell look on with various levels of horror at even the thought of such a thing. Surprisingly, Fell steps forward, grinning as sweetly as someone with sharp teeth possibly could. "n-no! sweetheart, you got it all wrong."
Your mouth twists into a grimace as your eyes dart back and forth, suspicious of the two. "look here." Sans points to his computer monitor. Hesitantly, eyeing the scarier of the two skeletons, you peer over Sans' shoulder. The screen shows two dots. "this," a phalange taps the screen over one of the dots, "is your universe. one where Monsters do not exist. real Monsters, like me and Fell here." He then taps the second dot. "this is our universe. the one you fell into, where a race of all different kinds of Monsters escaped from below a mountain we were imprisoned under."
You skim over the little info shown on both of the universes. "S-so, monsters exist here...like...Werewolves and stuff?"
Sans chuckles, "no of course not. the ones you're thinking of are all fiction. Monsters, the race, are made up of love, compassion, and hope. we're not the scary things that go bump in the night."
"So if the machine brought me here...you can send me back, right?" you shyly ask, eyeing the machine in question. Sans and Fell cringe, though they expertly hide it. Even if they could send you back, there's no way in hell they're going to lose you just like that. Not when they just found you.
Both skeletons let out a dry chuckle and avoid eye contact with you. "that's sorta been the problem... you're the sixth person to come through and we haven't been able to send anyone home."
Your heart drops. "B-but you're working on it, right?"
"we actually stopped working on it a year ago... we have no idea how you came through." Your blood runs cold and you suddenly feel very lightheaded. If what this skeleton Monster is saying is true...then you're stuck in some alternate universe you know nothing about where a race of Monsters walking around is the norm.
You won't be able to see your brother again. Your parents. Your friends. You look at their faces, hoping and praying to see some sort of sign that they're joking. Or maybe you can wake up from this nightmare to find yourself on your couch, having eaten enough junk food to put you in a food coma.
Anything but this.
"No..." You shake your head in denial, backing up until your back hits the machine. You whirl around to stare at it with wide eyes. "Nononono! Take me back! Please!" You begin smacking the device, desperation leaking through tears. A hand gently touches your shoulder, making you spin around and smack it off in haste. "Don't touch me!"
The red wearing skeleton blinks, hand held up in the air and eyes holding sadness within them. "please, sweetheart you have to calm down," he tells you softly. You look at him like he's crazy. Calm down? Calm down?!
You stop and blink. Or just wake up...right? Yeah, just do that instead. Calm down and wake up. Easy. Sans and Fell slouch in relief once they notice you've stopped panting and smacking the machine in panic. Maybe now they can talk to you calmly.
Sans gets close to you, about to grab your hand, when you suddenly turn to the wall and sit down, crossing your legs over one another. The two pair of eye lights confusedly glance at each other before landing back on you.
"Come on, wake up!" you tell yourself, starting out quiet. You slap your cheek lightly. Nothing happens so you smack it a bit harder. "WAKE UP!" You use both hands just once before a bony one catches both and restrains them.
You slowly turn your neck to face the one who grabbed you. He's kneeled on the floor, face twisted in a grimace as his eye lights rove over your tear-stained face. "shh," he somehow makes a hushing noise.
You stare at him, voice defeated and scratchy, "Please...please just send me home..."
Sans sighs. "i'm sorry...i-i can't." He hates the look of devastation on your face. He squeezes your shaky hands. "you're safe here. i promise. we'll take care of you, okay?" He swivels his neck. "Fell...could you have Ink clean this mess really quick?" At that, everyone's eyes look at the mess your groceries made. Sticky soda stains the floor and Hershey Kisses had spilled and scattered everywhere.
Fell nods, taking one more glance at you before leaving. Sans sends calming waves from his SOUL to yours in hope it calms you down some more. Maybe it'll help you feel more comfortable with his touch.
Strangely, he notes, it only serves to make you sleepy. You yawn, the adrenaline draining fast and leaving you exhausted.
You look down, finally realizing he's still holding your hands. Still unnerved by the feeling, you tug them away, noting his sound of displeasure and thinking it weird. The both of you stand up and Sans shuffles his foot awkwardly.
"we have plenty of room here...we can set you up in your own room and get you all the essentials you need..." You just nod, not really paying attention. "come on, let's get you upstairs to take a nap." Sans walks to the stairs and then turns around to watch you slowly meander after him. He grins and says, "i promise, you'll feel much bed-ter when you wake."
It's very small, but you manage to lift the corners of you lips just enough for him to notice.
~~
Ink stands at the top of the stairs to the basement, hands clutched together against his chest and worry in his eyes. He feels it, the waves your SOUL gives off and it's nothing like he's ever felt before.
He worries, though, because even though your SOUL feels heavenly so close to him, Ink can feel the despair and agony spilling over from it.
And it's all his fault.
~~
Axe felt it as soon as it happened. You fell through and his SOUL panged. Immediately- instinctually, Axe knew what it was and what happened. His SOULmate is here. You're here.
But as soon as the elation of your presence came, the doubt and shame moved in. What are you going to think of him? He's big and scary and slow and... But he can take care of you. He knows he can. He's a Sans and Sans takes care of his own. He might not look it, but he'll prove to you he can and will be able to take care of you in every sense of the word.
You must be so scared right now. Axe can feel it and all he wants is to wrap you in his coat, zip it up, and rest his chin on your head while you nap on him. He wouldn't want to exasperate you with his intimidating presence, though.
So for now, what he can do is make you something to eat.
Error felt a strange tingle; a prickling sensation in his chest. He ignored it as best as he could, trying to focus on the TV in his darkened room. It wouldn't go away until he acknowledged it though. Pestered, he closes his eyes to focus on the feeling.
It was his SOUL. Strange, he doesn't typically get sensations from it. Hell, he hardly remembers it being there most of the time. Error rolls his eyes and pushes the thought and feeling to the back of his mind. Who cares, he's watching TV right now, he doesn't have to time question whatever it is his SOUL is feeling. It's probably trivial anyways.
Ink can't feel. Not on his own, that is. He doesn't have a SOUL. Never had. He always questioned why it was that Error, his opposite, got a SOUL but he didn't. Why, why, why? Did he not deserve one? Was he not a real Monster? A real Sans? As far as he knew, no one else was like him. He was unique. He gained emotions from ink vials he kept on his person.
Even Nightmare has a SOUL. So why can't he have one?
When Ink messed with Sans' machine, he didn't know this would happen. He just wanted to get home. Back to where he felt safest. Where he can watch over and protect everyone. He's been here for a year and his Broomie still can't take him back to the Doodle Sphere.
Error's given up, Dust and Axe don't want to go back and Fell is indifferent. So why can't he just let it go? He's in a safe universe, he doesn't have to worry about defending AUs from Error anymore so why?
Why did he have to mess with the machine after Sans told everyone not to. It was too unstable anymore. It brought nothing but trouble. So maybe Ink was bitter. Maybe that's why he turned it on and pressed some buttons. But when nothing happened he stopped. Ink stopped and thought to himself.
The universe doesn't need him anymore. It has Dream. Someone with a SOUL and a pure heart like him can protect them. He hid in his room for a while after that. He stopped taking his vials; there was no point if he wasn't going to interact with anyone.
But then you came through and for the first time, Ink felt in his chest, the soothing touch of a SOUL. It was small, miniscule even, but he could feel it. His plain white eye lights turned fuzzy around the edges, shaking in their sockets before turning into upside down hearts; Monster SOULs.
And he felt it instantly. The call of your SOUL.
And it was calling...to his.
Dust didn't need a SOULmate. He's gotten by just fine and just because you suddenly popped up here, didn't mean he had to drop everything for you the moment he felt your SOUL sing to his. You didn't even like Monsters anyways, what good is his SOULmate to him if you hated him?
The concept is stupid anyways. Dust scoffs to himself, turning to look out the bay window he's sitting at. Ugh, his LV is flaring up with his annoyance and Dust turns at the sound of Axe getting up off the couch and shuffling into the kitchen. He wonders how the big guy will take the news.
Not his problem, Classic can tell him for all he cares.
Fell thought you were the prettiest person he's ever seen. Your SOUL shined bright and sung the most beautiful song he's ever heard. Fell never thought in a million years he'd ever see the sun let alone meet his SOULmate. Yet here you were; inexplicably brought through the machine everyone gave up on and turned off. Though somewhere in the back of his mind, Fell tries to figure out why and how it was on again but he can't possibly be bothered by it if this was the result.
After Frisk- his Frisk- passed in his arms, he had fallen deep into depression. He couldn't save her, his Angel, the Underground's Angel. He never thought he'd care much about anything after that. His brother became insufferable, not understanding and wouldn't listen when Fell tried to talk to him about it. Then he got sucked into this world. Such a nice, loving world where Monsters treated others with kindness.
After Dust, Fell was the best one to work on the machine so of course he tried to help his brighter, happier self (happier being said extremely loosely here, knowing that skeleton has a lot of baggage, too) to send everyone home but Fell just couldn't really put his all into it. Who cares if he got stuck here? Not him. Who cares if he got sent back? He'd just waste away there, too, but with constant reminders of his failure.
And then you dropped in. Him, Sans and Dust had heard something strange come from the basement and that's always not a good sign. The three had stopped at the bottom of the stairs just in time to see you come up from the floor, a strange sight considering (from what Sans said) everyone else fell from the ceiling.
It was instantaneous. The call, the song, the feeling of your SOUL against his. Monsters latch on very quickly to SOULmates so it took no time at all for Fell to accept the feeling as soon as he felt it.
But then you said you hated monsters and his SOUL felt like it splintered for a moment. He was in awe of your beauty but he may also have been disassociating at your declaration, praying it was a joke or something. Though, of course it would be just his luck to find his other half only for them to hate his kind.
Sans thankfully cleared up the misunderstanding and Fell had never felt such relief in his life. You may be afraid of them right now but...he won't mess this up. He'll protect you with his life. He'll do right by you when he couldn't with Frisk. She told him to be happy and with you here he plans on fulfilling her final request.
~~
Sans has a hand wrapped around the basement door's handle and hesitates. How are the others going to react? Dust is already misinformed and annoyed and he has no idea how Axe, Error or Ink will be. Ink doesn't have a SOUL, Sans remembers, but he's still a Sans...so if you're Sans' SOULmate...what does that mean for the artistic skeleton?
And Error... Oh boy, Sans will have to have a talk with everyone. Maybe after he puts you to bed. Eye lights glancing around warily, Sans isn't sure if any of the others are going to come running or what. He thinks about possibly porting you to the empty spare room they have but decides against it, not wanting to scare you any more than you already are.
A shuffle off to his side gains his attention. Sans sighs, "Ink, why are you hiding?" He hears a little 'Eep!' from around the corner. You furrow your eyebrows and stare in confusion, blinking slowly and swaying in place a little.
Around the corner, Ink breathes out and tries to gain the courage to face you. Should he just come out? What does he say? He taps his phalanges against the wall behind him. He hears Sans mumble something to you and then the sound of footsteps pattering away.
His eye lights shift into a blue tear drop and red circle as he sighs, titling his chin until it hits his chest. He lost his chance, Sans already took you away.
You follow the lead of the shuffling skeleton, anxiously eyeing your surroundings the entire time. You think you see another skeleton in the corner of your eye but quickly remove it from your sight all together. After ascending a flight of stairs, you walk down a hallway of rooms. All of the doors display different designs on the doors.
You stop in front of one; it has reds, blues and yellows all over it with mismatched black squares scattered around. Feeling a strange prickling in your chest, unconsciously, you reach a hand out and brush a hand down the painted wood.
Sans, noticing the lack of your shoe covered footsteps, turns around. "princess?" The Monster immediately cringes at the instinctual pet name slipping out. He doesn't know your name, but even if he did, he probably wouldn't call you by it anyways.
Your neck twitches and turns his way. "Huh?" Your gaze flickers back and forth between the short skelly and the beautifully painted door.
"you alright there?" He waves his hand, beckoning you, "come on, your room's over here."
"Y-yeah..." Maybe your chest feels weird because of the travel through dimensions? Or was it universes? (If you're even going to believe that over this all just being some sort of fever dream)
You enter your new room and take note of everything (or lack of everything) inside. A simple bed on a simple wooden bedframe. The bed spread is a deep purple with matching pillows. A single nightstand sits to the side of the bed with a single lamp on top. Finally, a four drawer dresser against the wall under a square window.
You move on auto-pilot, taking a very neat seat on the edge of the mattress. It sinks under your weight a little. You place your hands in your lap and just stare forward into the open, empty closet.
Sans sits and watches you in the doorway, smile tight in the corners. He's not sure what to say in this situation. Does he comfort you? Does he leave you alone? Stars, what he wants to do is hold you in his arms and share SOUL waves with you.
But he knows you're terrified. You've just been displaced and dropped into a whole new world. Everything you thought you knew is now changed. Monsters exist when they didn't in your world. There's magic here, how will you acclimate to that? Will you be overly sensitive to it?
There's so many different outcomes that can come from this that Sans can't possibly predict or prepare for any likelihood scenario. So for now, all he can do is send over small waves of comfort through your shared link.
It's not as strong as it could be since, while they've accepted you, you probably don't even realize you have a SOUL let alone a SOULmate even if you did feel some things subconsciously so there's no chance of you accepting them without them explaining it to you.
Which they will not be doing as that would only lead to more problems. Speaking of they, Sans needs to speak to everyone. White eye lights flick back and he sighs.
Quickly if Ink thinks he's being sneaky while lurking nearby.
With whispered words of checking on you later, the blue jacket wearing skeleton leaves you by yourself, the door clicking close behind him. Sans, if you remember correctly from back in the basement.
You frown and stare down at the head of the bed. Are you really going to go to sleep in some stranger's house? You're still not one hundred percent convinced you haven't been kidnapped for some elaborate prank. Your brother has been getting bold.
But then how do you explain the skelly man sticking his bony hand through his bony arm? You can't. Which is why you're going to lay down, close your eyes and wake up on your couch with a movie playing in the background.
Surely.
As Sans walks down the hallway, he nonchalantly does a drive by as he rounds the corner, tugging on Ink's scarf and dragging him along. "Ack!" Ink chokes as he's brought down the stairs. "C-Classic!" Sans doesn't let him go until they reach the living room.
With a gesture from Sans, Ink takes a seat on the couch with a pout, his hands squeezed in between his legs. The Monster roves his eye lights around the room; Ink is here, Dust is napping next to him and that's it. He sighs, "where's everyone?" He kicks his foot out and disturbs Dust's dangling arm.
Said skeleton snorts and wakes up violently, sitting up and looking every which way. When his multi-colored eye lights land on Sans' he grumbles and lies back down, crossing his arms. "big guy's been in the kitchen," he tells him, jabbing a thumb to said room.
Sans' bones move as if he's furrowing his eyebrows. "Ink, think you could run up and grab Error? we need a family meeting." Ink opens his mouth, smiling, before Sans cuts him off with, "without getting sidetracked. pop up, grab him, pop back down. got it?"
Ink's eyes turn into a black square and yellow circle with a look of determination. He nods and makes his way upstairs.
"Dust, where's Fell?" Sans' only response to that is a halfhearted shrug. With an eye roll, Sans decides to just get Axe for now. Walking through the doorway to the kitchen, the savory smell of a hearty dinner overtakes him. "wow, what's cookin' good lookin'?" Sans chuckles at his own words as Axe turns around.
The bigger skeleton stands in front of the stove, hunching over a large pot. "...soup." The two stand there, looking at each other as Sans waits for him to continue. He doesn't, leading to an awkward moment of silence before Sans fakes a cough into his hand.
"uh- anyway," he jabs his thumb over his shoulder, "we're havin' a meeting sooo..."
"can't," Axe says as he turns back to his pot, "busy."
Sans chuckles as a bead of sweat forms on his forehead and he looks away. "we need to have a chat about our new...roommate. this is important, yanno? surely the-" Sans steps onto his tippy-phalanxes to see the soup. It's simmering but not boiling. "-surely the soup can rest for a moment?"
Axe visibly takes in a deep breath and holds it for a second before dramatically letting it go. "fine," he grumbles.
Sans' shoulders relax and he turns to go back to the living room, knowing Axe will be right behind him once the food is safe to be left on its own. Thankfully, all of the others are already in the room and waiting.
Error is up in the corner, sitting on some of his string with a scowl on his face. Fell sits in the bay window seat while Dust and Ink retook their places on the couch. Sans decides to take a seat on the single seat recliner just as Axe shuffles in and drops to take a seat on the floor.
"ok, i'm just gonna jump right in. everyone felt something earlier, right?"
Surprisingly, it's Error who speaks first. "You mean you all felt that strange prickling sensation too?" All eye lights land on his different sized ones. He shrinks back a little before going on the defensive. "What!? Are we or are we not talking about that?"
"uh..." Sans stutters, "prickling isn't what i'd use to describe it but..." He then looks down, finger to his chin, "although a prickling sensation may make sense with your origins..."
"ahem," Dust clears his throat to interrupt Sans' ramblings on Error's SOUL. He rolls his eyes at his double's sheepish grin. "just spit it out! we're talking about the fact that the machine just pulled in our SOULmate."
Error widens his eyes in shock. That's what the feeling was for?! A SOULmate? Hell no, that can't be it. Why would he have a SOULmate?
"Ok, great, Sans has a SOULmate. So what?" Error sneers.
"Error," Ink speaks up, his eye lights plain white dots that are typically only active when he's emotionless. "She's Sans' SOULmate." He makes a sweeping motion with both arms. "We're all Sanses."
The black skeleton begins to splutter, trying to make any excuse or reason for you to not be a SOULmate to him specifically.
"Ink." Fell walks around the couch to stand in front of it on the other side of the coffee table. "ya a'right?"
All eyes land on the artist who begins to sweat rainbow liquid. "Y-yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"
"yer eyes," Axe lazily gestures to his sockets.
Ink, confused, reaches a hand up and rests it right under his right socket. "What's wrong with them?"
"nothin' they're just plain dots. you stop taking your vials?" Sans queries, worried for the Monster's mental state.
"O-oh!" Ink chuckles weakly, "I can't really control them, eheh. But, ah-" He glances around and shrinks himself back into the couch cushions. "I may have...maybe accepted her as my SOULmate?"
The room goes quiet, each skeleton processing what was just said.
"The FUCK does that mean!?"
Sans closes his sockets in thought. When a SOULmate is accepted, the first person accepts a piece of the other's SOUL, starting the link between SOULs. The second person then has to accept a piece of the first's in return, binding and finalizing the link.
So if you were Sans' SOULmate and there are currently six Sanses in one universe, all Sanses would be eligible to accept a piece from you, including a Sans that didn't have one to begin with.
"Ink...you accepted a piece of her SOUL?" Fell finally asks what everyone else is wondering.
"I-! I think so? I'm feeling so many things at once without having taken a vial in quite some time so..." The artist splutters and waves his hands back and forth. "B-but I think it's just a small piece! I don't exactly have a full SOUL or anything."
"if we all...accepted her as our SOULmates..." Axe huffs, "she's down a lot of...SOUL matter...until she accepts us...in return..."
Fell's eye sockets are the first to widen in horror. "oh shit he's right." He looks to Sans whose eyes have also widened as his eye dots shrunk into pinpricks.
Dust chuckles darkly. "psh, yeah good luck gettin' her to accept you. she hates us." Dust may have also (stupidly) instinctively accepted you as soon as you dropped in, too, but he can ignore it as if you weren't here.
'SURE, KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT! AS IF YOU'RE NOT ITCHING TO HAVE THE CLOSENESS AND GENTLE TOUCH OF ANOTHER!'
Dust sneers at his phantom brother over Fell's shoulder, earning a strange look from the sharp-toothed Monster in return. Ink whirls around to look Dust in the eyes. "W-what!?" He can't- he won't believe that unless you tell him yourself.
"no-no!" Sans holds a hand out to Axe, making sure he stays seated as he tries to calm Ink down all the while Error makes weird noises in the corner. "she doesn't hate us as Monsters, she's terrified of monsters. as in the fictional kind."
"like vampires and werewolves," Fell adds helpfully.
Ink breathes a sigh of relief and tilts his head to lie on the back of the couch. Axe nods, seemingly more to himself than anyone else and pushes himself up off the floor and heads back into the kitchen. Dust tilts his head down until his grey hood shadows his face.
So you don't actually hate them?
'AS IF YOU CAN BE ANYTHING BUT HATE-ABLE!'
"tch," Dust sits up but keeps his face in the shadows, "so then what? who gets her?" He gestures to this universe's Sans. "you?"
Fell cringes as Sans winces, "nobody gets her...she's...she's someone to be protected and cherished." He first looks to Dust, making sure his next words come out loud enough for Axe to hear from the kitchen, before looking to Error, "it'd be wrong to withhold your SOULmate from you guys so... she's kind of all of ours?"
Ink nods excitably, eyes turning into yellow stars. Axe walks back out from a steaming bowl of soup. He grunts in what everyone assumes to be in agreement to Sans.
"How do I return the piece I already accepted?" Error suddenly asks.
"you don't want her?" Fell asks, voice rising in astonishment at the end.
"I-I!" Error's cheeks flare up bright yellow as he splutters, "I don't want a SOULmate ok? Why would I care about any of that anyway...?" He crosses his arms and avoids eye contact with the others. "Besides, I clearly didn't realize I did what I did."
"pal...you can't exactly return it..." Sans grimaces, "best you could do is sever the bond before it's finalized. but that would hurt you and especially her."
Error sweat drops and goes silent. Without another word, he rips open a portal for the short distance to his room, disappearing from the conversation entirely.
"uhh," Fell glances to the others in worry, "should we be worried?"
Ink snorts, "Snrk! Nah. He won't do anything like that. He's a big softy." Sans isn't so sure about that statement but he does believe Error wouldn't just sever the bond so rashly.
A tap on his shoulder gets his attention. Sans has to crane his neck back a bit to reach Axe's eye. The red orb is bloated in its socket. "sup'?"
"made her...food," he lifts the food in question; the steaming bowl of soup.
"oh, yeah, i'm sure she's starving. how soup-er of you, Axe." No one laughs at Sans' pun and he deflates, admitting to himself that it wasn't his best.
"Oh!" Ink stands up and shouts, "Can I take it to her! Can I? Can I?"
"she's a bit...skittish right now, Ink."
"...i made it..." Axe grumbles. Fell shares a look with the original. No way in hell are they letting Axe bring that up to you. No matter his good intentions, he'd terrify you.
Sans is about to speak in attempt to let the big guy down easy when a resounding yell bounces off the walls.
"FUCK!"
~~
You woke up in the same bed you fell asleep in. Nononononono! You were supposed to wake up on your lumpy couch in your own home! Waking up here...on a stranger's bed? It just proves you weren't dreaming.
You really did fall through a crack of space and time, landing in a completely different universe where monsters like walking talking skeletons exist. You take a deep breath, hold it, then release it. You do that two more times before holding in the final one.
"FUCK!" you explode, voice laced with utter despair. You're stuck here. What are you going to do? You know no one here! Do your parents exist in this AU? Would a version of you already be here? If you aren't how will you get a job without an identity?
You're startled out of your thoughts when the bedroom door is flung open. The blue jacket wearing skeleton from earlier stands in the doorway with his eye sockets wide and eye dots wildly looking around.
"wh-what's wrong!?"
You can only mutter, "Fuck..." again at the sight of him. You lean down and put your head in your hands. "This is really happening..." you laugh in disbelief. You look up and point to the nervous skelly. "You're a real walking talking skeleton."
His eyes flicker left to right before settling on you. He nods slowly and you groan. Unsure on what his next move should be, Sans just shuffles his slipper-ed foot around on the wooden floor.
"How many are there?" you ask with an arm over your eyes.
"Monsters? i dunno, a lot?"
"No!" You cry and sit up, "How many are here? Living in this house?"
"o-oh," Sans chuckles, a faint flow under his eyes catching your attention but it leaves as quickly as it arrived. "there's seven of us."
A sarcastic laugh filled with disbelief escapes you. "Greeaaat! One for each day of the week..."
The skeleton Monster heaves a sigh and approaches your bed but makes sure not to be too close to you. "i understand this is a lot..." Sans frown deepens as he looks at you. "but i promise you're safe here. and i don't make promises lightly. it's my fault you're here so...anything you need, i'll do it."
You peak out from under your arm, eyes squinted. You find his glowing eye dots unmoving. "Can you...work on the machine?"
You watch him flinch, confused as to why he's make such a reaction. "it...it sorta broke down after you arrived. your sudden pull through was extremely taxing on it and it's practically in parts. i'd be starting from square one."
Your lip quivers at the info. You wonder how long it took him to build it in the first place but opt out of asking more about it, noticing the extremely uncomfortable face he's making. "O-ok..." you say, throwing your legs over the bed and standing up. "So what now?" You emphasize the question with a shrug of your shoulders.
The grin makes a reappearance upon the skeleton's face. You absently think it looks much better than the previous frown he sported. "well...the other's are really excited to meet you."
You cringe. Do you really want to meet other Monsters at this time? You're barely holding it together with the harmless looking one. Maybe you can just get it over with? They are shorter than you, just by a little, but it'd definitely make you feel better about meeting them.
"Maybe I can get something to eat?" As if hearing you, your stomach grumbles loudly, causing a flush to erupt over your cheeks. You groan as Sans laughs.
"sure, kid." He waves you over to follow him. "one of us already made some soup, hope that's ok with you?"
Your feet begin to shuffle towards him, a small smile gracing your lips. "I love soup."
"heheh, eggcellent."
"Uh-!" You stop in the middle of your sentence and glare at the skeleton. He turns back, grinning widely with a socket closed. "That was an egg pun, wasn't it?"
"yeah..." he somehow smiles even wider, "but if you didn't get it, don't eggpect me to eggsplain it for ya'."
You splutter and bend over, holding onto your knees as giggles spill forth. "Tha-that! Hehe- That was two in the same sentence! That was bad!"
Sans continues walking, facing forward again. You figured he was done but hear him add, "you certainly cracked up from it, though."
You chortle and catch up to him, lightly smacking his shoulder with yours. That makes his eye lights brighten and go fuzzy around the edges. Quickly, you descend the stairs and pass by a living room until you reach an archway leading to what is clearly a kitchen.
Before you can enter, though, a skeleton hand shoots out and blocks you. Sans apologizes when you reactively flinched. "i'm just gonna go in and see who's there." You nod and watch him disappear. He comes back around in under a minute and tells you, "everyone but Error is in there..."
"Uhhh...." You avoid eye contact, not wanting to be rude but also really not wanting to go in there if there's that many at once. Sans notices your hesitation and bails you out.
"it's okay, i'll go grab you a bowl." You nod in thanks as he leaves you again. Some banging goes on and you have to refrain in peeking around the corner at it. Suddenly, Sans' voice could be heard. "wait, Axe, buddy you can't."
You only hear a rumble in response and then a snicker from someone else. Whoever this 'Axe' is appears to not listen because Sans makes one last feeble attempt at stopping him just as you see a very large figure walk through the archway.
Your eyes widen and you take a step back, looking up at the giant skeleton. "Oh shit..." you whisper, taking a couple more steps back. The skeleton wears almost identical articles of clothing to Sans. But glaringly obvious is the giant hole in his head, making his height pale in comparison in the intimidation department.
The Monster turns to face you and you blanch. He has a scowl on his face and his single eye light is small within its socket. But as soon as said eye spots you his face relaxes and eye light dilates, almost filling the socket.
"heya...li'l bit," his voice is deep. Even deeper than Sans and you thought his was the lowest baritone you've ever heard. The hulking skeleton takes a single step towards you, extending the hand holding the bowl out to you. "made you somethin'."
"Ah...ha..." you chuckle nervously, noticing Sans at the corner of the archway, watching with a grimace on his face. Your eyes dart from him to who you could only assume is Axe. You're unable to even muster a polite smile to the Monster offering you food. You can't help but stare at his head wound in horror and curiosity.
"Axe..." Sans mumbles, trying to get the big guy's attention. Said skeleton ignores the smaller one with a sneer, eye darting to his side to look at him. At the moment his eye leaves you, you glance around for an exit or somewhere to go.
To your left is a door and to your right is the living room. Mind made up, you clutch the door knob and fling the door open, immediately taking a step through and almost tripping on a stair. You miss the look of surprise on both of the skeleton's faces as you shut the door behind you, quickly pressing down on the button lock.
A noise of disappointment can be heard through the thin wood as well as Sans sighing. You groan and slide your back down the door until you sit on the top stair. "'m sorry..." You hear the big one rumble quietly.
You throw your head back and make a bang onto the door, moaning in guilt. You made the big one sad with your stupid fear. He was just trying to offer you food! But then you think back on the hole in his head and one giant red eye light along with his piecing grin. An involuntary shiver rolls through you.
He is terrifying. You're not afraid to admit that. But you don't think it's his fault for that, either. You want to stand up and walk out, confront the Monster and apologize but you just can't get your body to move. You're frozen in fear, something you go through a lot.
A light rap on the wood startles you. "you okay, kid?" Sans' voice calms you down a bit and you breathe in deeply.
"Yeah," you answer as you breathe out. "I-I think so."
"listen...Axe is a little rough around the edges...but he's a big softy at heart." You want to believe Sans, you really do as he hasn't led you astray yet, but you just can't get Axe's face out of your head. Frustratingly, your mind betrays you and warps his visage into something nasty and grotesque.
You whine into your hands. Sans turns and forlornly shakes his head at his larger double. It seems like you're not coming out for a while. Axe frowns and looks down at the bowl then at the door. Silently, he places it down in front of the door and then shuffles away with Sans.
You hear both sets of feet leave after a small clink of ceramic is made against the floor just beyond the door.
You wait a few minutes in silence before cracking it open and peering out. The bowl of soup is still steaming. You snatch it up and blow on the contents before shoveling it into your mouth. You moan at the savory taste and, realizing how hungry you really are, scarf it down.
An embarrassingly loud burp escapes your throat before you can cover it and you can only pray no one was around to hear it. Thankfully, you haven't heard much except the low drones of the television in the next rooms over.
Gingerly, you push open the door slowly as to not make noise and attract attention. With the coast being clear, you step out, bowl in hand and make your way to the kitchen. You pass by the living room, keeping your head down.
Once you enter the kitchen, the hairs on your arms and back of your neck suddenly stick up. The air feels staticky and fuzzy. Finally, you notice the figure sitting at the table and freeze in place. The figure turns his head and you squeak in surprise. The skeleton is black with blue tear-like lines running down his cheeks from his sockets. Speaking of sockets, his are not endless voids of darkness, but are instead red and his pupils are different sizes with one being a small yellow pinprick and the other being a larger yellow with a blue pupil.
Your eyes have trouble focusing on his with the multiple pop ups of glitchy text spelling 'ERROR' around him.
Neither of you make a move, probably waiting for the other to do it first. Slowly, Error waves a hand across the air. A noise not unlike a staticky TV channel tickles your ears as a small tear opens up. Error doesn't take his eyes off you as he steps through. The portal closes up and you're now in the kitchen by yourself.
You mouth a silent 'WTF' to yourself and put your bowl in the sink. Brushing off the surprisingly unconfrontational encounter, you exit the kitchen and, having to pass the living room to get to the stairs, enter said room.
It's dark but the TV shines a bright cone of light at the couch in front of it. A skeleton lounges on it, lazily watching until his eyes flicker to you at your entrance. It's the third skeleton that left first when you arrived in the basement. His hood is still up and because of that, you can't make out his face except for the glow of his eyes.
"Uh..." you awkwardly lift a hand in a weak greeting, "...hey." The Monster just snorts and returns his attention to the television. Your gaze finds the stairs and you're about to move over to climb them but stop. This skeleton looks almost identical to Sans...sans the eye light colors. Maybe he's chill like him, too?
If you have to live with these guys, maybe you can try to be civil? Your eyes rove over the lounging skeleton. You frown. He's not as scary as Axe...but he's definitely more intimidating than Sans. I mean, who wears a hood indoors?
"you gonna just stand there or come watch idiots on game shows?" You jump at his voice. It's much like Sans but a little more higher pitched. Silently, you take a seat on the far end of the couch.
He doesn't seem to take offense by it so you curl up your legs to your side and begin watching what he has on; Family Feud. Well, at least this universe has something familiar to you. A little while goes by and Dust has taken it upon himself to periodically glance over to you and see what kind of faces you make.
When he makes joke about the answers, your lips twitch as if you're trying to hide the fact you're smiling. When you get one right, you silently cheer, pumping your fist into your chest. You never uncurl yourself or become more lax and comfortable in his presence though.
'SHE'S NOT EVEN THAT PRETTY. IT'S JUST LIKE YOU TO HAVE SUCH A BORING SOULMATE.'
Dust's brother suddenly comes right out of the gate with an unsolicited comment, earning a low growl from him and a roll of his eye lights. You, however, jump. Hard. Your arms reach over the top of the couch to hold on in your fright. Eyes wide, you look to Dust.
"What the fuck was that?" You look every which way for the loud yet wispy voice. "Do you guys have ghosts, too!?" you whisper yell, voice shaky.
Dust just stares at you with the widest eyes you've seen on any of the skeletons, now sitting up straight on the couch. His eye dots flick over to the apparition of his dead brother over your shoulder before back to you. This happens for a good long 30 seconds before he finally speaks.
"...you heard that?"
"You mean that loud fucking voice that somehow sounded like a far away whisper at the same time? Yeah." You emphasize with a slow head nod.
'HUH. MAYBE SHE WON'T BE BORING?'
The voice startles you again, sounding closer now. Dust begins to sweat and avoids eye contact. "i gotta go," is all he says before literally disappearing in front of you. You jump again, this time off of the couch.
"Okay, what the FUCK is happening anymore?!" you cry in utter confusion.
"you alright, kid?" One more time, you jump in your spot and whirl around to see Sans at the bottom of the stairs.
"Okay, if one of you jump scare me one more time I'm going to lose it." You breathe out and run a hand up your forehead and over your head. Sans has the gall to look pleased, though you notice a bit of sheepishness mixed in. He shuffles up to you, taking a seat and patting the spot next to it.
You reluctantly join him with a sigh, leaning back. "Dust botherin' ya'?"
"Nah," you admit. "Just standoffish I guess." Sans chuckles lowly.
"yeah, that sounds like 'im."
"Met whoever Error is, too, by the way," you mention with a shrug, halfheartedly focusing on the game show.
Sans hums, a bit surprised you managed to run into the elusive skeleton so quick. "how'd that go?"
"We stared at each other in the kitchen before he ripped open a tear in fuckin' reality and dipped," you say with a deadpan. Sans splutters in laughter from your tone and dry delivery. You smile a bit, too, his laughter contagious. "Dust also disappeared but at least he didn't rip a hole in the middle of the kitchen."
Sans groans, laughter petering out. "ah, man, they weren't supposed to do that in front of ya' so early." You look over to him and raise an eyebrow in question even though he's also watching the TV. "we call 'em shortcuts. little jumps between the void to get to one place from another."
"Ah," you hum, "sounds perfectly reasonable for a gaggle of skeletons."
"hmm, wouldn't we be more like a graveyard of skeletons?"
Your eyes widen and you sit up, unable to keep the loud, "HA!" from bursting out of you. Before you can laugh any more a yawn cuts in, making your giggles sound funny and earning a few chuckles from your couch mate.
"so looks like you just haven't met Ink yet..." Sans says, more to himself than you. You hum. All of these Monster's names are weird. Axe, Dust, Ink, Error, Fell? "oh, and don't forget Paps."
"Paps?"
Sans turns to you with a wide grin, voice full of pride, "Papyrus, my little bro. you'll love him, he's the coolest. sweetest skeleton around." You smile, the genuine admiration he has for his brother adorable.
Wait a second... "Papyrus? And Sans? Like the fonts?"
"actually, they're typefaces. but yeah."
"That's," you yawn again, "hilarious..." It's getting harder and harder to keep your eyes open. The more you blink the longer they stay closed each time and before long, you pass out with the sounds of Family Feud in the background.
Sans stays sitting, watching you with gentle eye lights. He should probably get you to bed so he can sleep, too. He's exhausted. Today has been a whirlwind of emotions. But they're good ones he thinks...well, mostly good ones.
He has you here. You're afraid and want to go home but you're still here. And based on how the machine really did break down, you'll be here for the foreseeable future and for now, that's okay with Sans.
The other's are antsy for you and Sans just hopes you get used to them sooner than later. Your SOUL knows they're your mates but you don't... but being around them more will sooth you without you even realizing it.
You breathe in deeply, breaking Sans from his train of thought. Right. He should get you to bed. The skeleton huffs as he sits up and steps off the couch. Standing in front of you, he debates on how to do this. Does he just port you to your bed? Lift you using his blue magic? Or carry you up himself?
Stars, he'd love to carry you but on the off chance you wake up, you might freak out. And he would prefer to not scare you away from him. So, with a gentle touch, Sans takes you and himself to your room in the blink of an eye.
Thankfully, you don't awake as you land on your bed. He then hums, looking you over, not sure if it'd be worth it to wake you up to get under the covers. He notes the clothes you're wearing; they're dusty and grimy from the basement floor.
Yeah, they'll need to go shopping big time for you.