Lost Soul

Chapter Two

Sans wakes up in a cold sweat. He chokes and then starts coughing, clawing at his neck. Sans's eyes quickly dart around the room. It's not his room. He sits up as confusion sets in. Why...... Why is he scared? Sans shakes his head, adjusting to the new memories that are making the old ones dull down. Exhaustion weighs him down. Another nightmare woke him up too early.

The bedroom is remarkably ordinary. Sans soon realizes why. He's in Undertale. It's not the original, of course, but Sans is part of a copy of the original universe for the day. Sans rolls over and burrows back into his blankets. It's too early for this. Sans feels heavy and worn out. He wouldn't mind laying in bed all day. The bedroom door slams open right as Sans is falling back asleep.

"Sans! Get up, you lazybones!"

Sans only groans response. He doesn't move. Footsteps stomp into the room, and Sans is yanked out of bed. His blankets fall away, and Sans is left staring blearily at his brother. Papyrus holds him at arm's length in the air.

"You can't lay in bed all day, brother. Your sentry station can't be empty for the entire day!" Papyrus complains.

"Oh come on, Pap, I bet it would be real rib-tickler for Undyne if we both played dead for the day," Sans replies, suppressing a chuckle.

Papyrus drops him in utter disgust. "I am sure Undyne would NOT find our absence amusing! Hurry up and come down for breakfast." With that, Papyrus storms out of the room, muttering under his breath about the annoyance of puns. Once he's gone, Sans lets out a little laugh. He's still in a heap on the floor. He was expecting that reaction, but Sans loves to tease his little brother. He remembers taking care of Papyrus as a baby bones. Right now, it feels real. Sans's dread for the coming day is all the more real because of it.

Sighing, Sans finally gets up and pulls on his favorite blue jacket. It's clean enough. Sans makes his way into the hall and down the stairs to be greeted with the banging and clattering of pans. He swallows nervously. Sans loves his brother, but Papyrus's cooking? Not so much. The kitchen smells like sulfur when he walks in.

"Hey, Pap, I think I'm gonna get to my post early. I have a good feeling about today," Sans says. He smiles as he walks in, but the second half of what he said is a lie.

"Are you sure, Sans? What about breakfast?" Papyrus asks, setting down the pan of spaghetti sauce he had been cooking.

"No worries. I buried a container of pasta in the snow next to my station."

"That is not sanitary!"

"Maybe so, but it's still your cooking. It's no impasta."

Papyrus yells and throws a tomato across the room, barely missing Sans. The elder brother laughs and ducks out of the house before any more projectiles can be thrown. Sans doesn't feel bad for skipping out on breakfast since it happens often enough in this AU. Instead of heading for his station, Sans turns towards Grillby's bar.

The restaurant is always lively no matter the time of day. Sans greets each monster as he walks through the tables. They return his easy smile and crack up at his jokes. Grillby's is one of Sans's favorite places. It's nice to have somewhere to relax where it's nice and warm. The easygoing environment helps settle Sans's nerves.

"I'll have the usual, Grillby," Sans says once he is at the bar, wearing a smirk. The fire elemental behind the counter sighs, clearly fed up with Sans's strange addiction. Nevertheless, Grillby pulls out a bottle of ketchup from under the counter. Sans thanks him before paying and heading out of the bar. He takes a sip of the ketchup and nearly gags. It tastes awful to drink it straight. Confused, Sans takes another gulp, and to his surprise, it tastes perfectly normal. It takes him a moment to realize what happened. Sans slipped out of character. For a second, he wasn't an Undertale Sans. He doesn't know if he was simply himself or someone from a different life he lived, but for a moment, he remembered distinctly hating ketchup. Sans drinks another sip. How could he dislike ketchup? It's delicious.