The Only One Like Me: Remastered Edition (Sans x Reader)

Chapter One: Secret Entrance

Y/N panted, breath breaking in her throat. Desperate, hot tears streamed down her cheeks. She was running—her sneakers slammed onto the asphalt turning to dirt turning to field with each step, her hair bounced and flowed behind her, and beads of sweat trickled from her brow from the pure, intense heat of summer.

Oh, by the way, she wasn't running from anything. No. She was running to somewhere.

In her hands, she cupped a single wilted and crushed buttercup. It wasn't quite dead yet—she could feel its life in hers, pulsing within her own heartbeat—but that was so easy to change. It had already been crushed underneath too many pairs of feet after being torn out of the ground and cast out to the sidewalk to die.

The flicker of hope was still strong in her, but maybe the place was just too far for her to...

No! She couldn't think that. She needed hope. Everyone needed hope.

A sigh breathed out from Y/N's lips, and her shoulders slumped as the valley came into view. It was a beautiful sight: waves of grass danced in the wind—each little green blade flickering in the blaze of sunlight—along the gentle slope. Colorful flowers spotted the grassy sea. Far in the distance, on the other side of the basin, a lush forest spread its roots, a dark stroke against the brightness of the landscape. Down in the valley, there was nothing but light.

Well, except for the one massive black dot, ringed with yellow, in the middle of it all.

She stumbled down the steep decline in her excitement, a bubbling sensation rising in her. Determination. Her shoelaces came undone, nearly tripping her and sending her tumbling, but she righted herself just in time, though not quick enough to save her yellowed laces and aglets from browning again in the dirt.

Y/N finally staggered her way to the bottom, hastily getting her footing and pushing into a dead sprint for the expanse of buttercups that stretched across the center of the valley. Her breath continued to catch, only a natural consequence of uncommon overexertion. Still, she ran, ignoring her body's unhappy reaction to her choices.

She skidded to a halt and planted herself at the edge of the patch. She hunched over to claw at the soil with one hand, scooping up handfuls of it at a time. Soon enough, she had a decently sized hole, and in went the dying buttercup. Then it was buried.

Y/N drew in a shuddering sigh. Already, she was tired. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, she had forgotten to eat both breakfast and lunch, and stress from her work shift was leeching her life and seeping into her bones, not to mention the energy it took just to run here. She didn't think she had the strength to help today.

But the flicker inside her told her that she did.

She laid her hands on top of the flower's grave, closing her eyes. Pure force of will pulled the last semblance of power she had left out of her, and a ball of warmth dissipated from her heart, flowing through her bloodstream, draining out her fingertips into the ground.

She hissed through her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as a few Joules shot through her. Usually the pain wasn't that bad. At least it was quick to dull into a light throb in her brain, this time. Sometimes it lasted for hours.

A moment or two passed. She opened one eye, then the other, and despite everything that weighed on her, she managed to smile for the first time that day.

The buttercup stood tall and proud, more alive than ever.

For that split second, she allowed the smallest swelling of pride in her chest. Her smile grew a little bigger as she looked down at the fruits of her labor.