Chapter Text
When you woke, the first thing you saw was the moon. Its milky light washed over your bruised skin like a lonely spotlight, filtering in from the distant crack in the darkness above. You lay on a bed of blood red flowers, fragrant with a perfume that made your head tingle as you breathed it in. You slowly sat up, wincing at the pain wracking your petite form. Pain… Pain meant that you were still alive.
Oh well, you thought shivering. If the fall wasn’t sufficient, then the cold and dark would finish you off before long. The thought comforted you.
The cavern you had fallen into was pitch black aside from the sliver of moonlight you lay in. Your every breath and movement echoed out into the darkness. You could sense that you were utterly alone. The atmosphere was permeated with a sense of neglect and abandonment. You knew this deep in your soul as you weakly called out to no one in particular.
“Hello…?”
B͝ut nòbody̕ c͏ame͠.
Sitting there in silence for a few moments, you brushed the dust off your skirt and willed yourself to stand. Feeling along the stone walls of the cavern, you made your way forward to nowhere in particular. Listening to the echoes of your own footsteps filled you with a strange sense of determination. You walked deeper into the ruins. Something was calling for you.
Eventually you came upon a small cottage, cozy and neat. It, too, was empty. You smiled vaguely as you recalled the book of fairy tales you used to love. Tales of abandonment, envy, abuse, love, virtue, purity… Happy endings… Gruesome endings… You, too, had been ready for your tale to end. Yet here you were.
Glancing briefly in the mirror in the hallway, you regarded your pale and drawn face with disinterest, then moved on.
You found yourself in a long corridor, which ended at the feet of an enormous stone door. It was broken down the middle, and you could see blinding white light reflecting through the cracks.
Taking a deep breath, you climbed through the hole.
The bitter cold and light made you stagger for a moment. You sank into snow that crunched halfway up your calves, one step at a time. Withered black trees framed your path as you as you made your way endlessly forward. The wind howled around your exposed face, sounding unnervingly like whispers.
“H u m a n .”
You thought you heard a fallen branch crack under a footfall behind you. You whirled around, your heart leaping into your throat.
.̀.͞.̴Bu̷t̀ ņob̨ody͢ ̀came.
You sighed and turned back, only to bump face first into… something . You squeaked in alarm, your vision filled with... bones. A ribcage, in fact. The ribcage of the skeleton who was now looking down at you with blood red eyes and a bemused grin on his face.
“Don’t you know how to greet a new pal?”
You fell back onto the snow and looked at him with wide eyes. The skeleton looming above you was like nothing you had ever seen before. Slung casually over his broad shoulders and bare ribcage was an enormous red and black winter jacket, complemented by black shorts, and sneakers. It would have looked comical if not for his razor sharp teeth and crazed looking eyes.
He extended a hand as though to help you up. Silently, you moved to accept it, only to flinch back at the feeling of burning electricity coursing up your arm.
“Ah…!” you choked out, unable to hold in your breathy gasp of pain.
He roared with laughter, slapping his knee. “Fuck yeah, the old joy buzzer in the hand trick. Gotta love the classics.”
As he had his fun, thoroughly amused by himself, you slowly began to sidle backwards.
His eye gleamed, and the laughter stopped as abruptly as it had started. He grabbed you roughly by the throat and held you up in the air.
“Humans are hilarious. Too bad I can’t keep you.” His grip tightened and your body convulsed.
“I’m Sans. Sans the skeleton. I’ve only got one job, see, and that’s to bring every human I find out here back to the queen. Dead or alive.” He sounded bored.
The lack of oxygen began to get to you, static creeping up on the edges of your consciousness. Just when you thought you couldn’t take anymore, he dropped you. You crashed to the ground, coughing and sputtering.
“So, let’s hear it,” he said with disinterest. “Humans always start begging at this point. Give me one reason why you shouldn’t be d e a d w h e r e y o u s t a n d .”
You blinked, then stared up at him blankly.
“Well?” he urged.
You didn’t have a reason. The only reason you were here in the first place was because you were so pathetic you had botched your own death. You might as well let this guy kill you. Then your life might serve some purpose, even if it was just for some sick sadist’s amusement.
You lowered your gaze, then languidly dropped your head onto one shoulder, baring your neck to him.