Horrortale : Rotten apple | Horrortale AU

Chapter 3 : The Old Lady of the Ruins

Chapter 3 : The Old Lady of the Ruins

Sans was one of the rare monsters to have known the Ruins, soon after monsterkind had been locked down in the Mountain. Walking in these quiet decrepit dark hallways made him feel very weird. It didn't look like the time he lived here : everything was falling apart and a moldy smell was floating all around him. Some inconspicuous monsters were still roaming here and there : Froggits, Whimsuns... A lot of low HP monsters, just like him, who came here to search protection of the ancient Queen. Did they even know who she was? Seeing them running away as her shadow appeared at the corner, probably.

They stopped near a huge door, which was separated the long corridor who was leading to the rest of the Underground and the Ruins. On the wall and the floor, some black spots indicated the skeleton that something had burn recently. Frisk explained to him that Toriel tried to prevent them to leave, and he could easily guess how. Usually, he was standing far away from fire magic type of monsters. Widespread around Hotlands, it was a powerful magic and able to make last damages. If some monsters were immune to it, like Undyne, a little flamme could dust him instantly in his cas.

Still silent, Toriel led him to a big staircase. She glared a moment at him to make sure her friend was still following her, then went upstairs. Sans was very surprised to find himself immediately in her home. Even if he was technically close of the monarch family at the time, he never had a chance to visit their house. Well, he was already taking care of his young brother, even if he was not orphan yet at this point, and he didn't really have time to do these sorts of things.

The house decoration was simple but welcoming. Family portraits and photographies recovered the walls : some of Asriel, the young fallen prince, but also Chara, his adoptive human sibling, who died the same day than him. Sans was too young to understand the gravity of the situation when the prince dusted in the royal palace garden. He noticed his neighbor's pain and trouble, of course, but both his brother and him had been put aside, like every time something big was concerning his father's job. He was the old royal scientist, before Alphys, but then he got forgotten from everyone except, unfortunately, Sans.

The Queen pushed him in a cosy living-room, and made a sign towards a wood table and some chairs so he can take place and make himself at home, then she escaped towards an other room, which must had be the kitchen. A little smile lightened Sans face. Asgore's living-room looked very similar to this one. Toriel came back with the biggest pie he had never seen and put him on the table. She cut a part that was equivalent to the height of Papyrus' face and put it down delicately on a way too-small plate, before decorating it with whipped cream tips all around the piece of cake. Sans contemplated the pie for a while, weighing the pros and the cons of eating this before the forty pounds of his brother's special dinner spaghettis. Oh well, he didn't travel this far to get back with an empty stomach, right? He took the spoon and took a large bite. That was actually far better than Papyrus cooking.

He ate for a bit in silence before shyly raising the eyesockets to cross her eyes. Despite his apparent confidence, Sans was actually very bashful with strangers, even if Toriel was far away from one at this point. He didn't even say a word since he passed the Ruins door, like he was scared it would change something between them. He knew it was kinda stupid, but now she was facing him, she looked very intimidating.

Fortunately, Toriel was used to speak with almost everyone and she put an end to the incipient discomfort.

"So, my mysterious door friend is a skeleton. Well, I mean, the jokes kinda make me on the track, but... Were you not all extincted by the end of the war?"

"Eh, that's what people keep saying me since I'm a babybones. We are the last ones, my brother and I. But I guess it give us some kind of attractivity." he winked. "I'm pretty sure Pap' will made women fall at his feet when he will learn how to flirt correctly. Well, if he is even into women. He kinda have a crush for Mettaton I think."