Lost Soul

Chapter Three

The void abruptly gives way, and Sans lurches up with one hand twisted into his shirt right above his rapidly beating soul. He pants, looking around and trying to ground himself in the new environment. Sans tries to cling to the intense memory of the two gods. He doesn't remember ever seeing anything like them before. No matter how hard he tries, the memory slips into the background like water through Sans's fingers. It'll be hard to remember them unless something reminds him.

Sans tugs at the collar of his red turtleneck to loosen it up. He yawns as he relaxes, exposing his two gold canine teeth. Light purple bruises seem to shadow his eyes. Sans rubs at the bags in a vain attempt to get rid of the sleepiness. His lumpy mattress doesn't help any, nor the fact that the mattress sits on the floor. The bedframe got wrecked years ago. Sans has never gotten around to replacing it.

Now that he's awake, Sans doesn't dare go back to sleep. Boss would have a cow. Sans pauses for a moment as the frown deepens on his face. Boss? Why did he call Papyrus Boss? It takes him a moment to remember that this is UnderFell, and that he is not the owner of this body. That still doesn't explain the nickname. The relationship between the brothers vary between different UnderFell copies. Could that have something to do with it? There's a strange feeling lingering in the back of Sans's head, but he has no time to dwell on it as a crash comes from downstairs. He jerks up and yanks on his jacket from its spot on the floor.

Sans doesn't bother opening his bedroom door and instead uses a shortcut to appear in the middle of the living room. He freezes in surprise when a frying pan appears, hurtling towards his face. Sans throws up his arms to try and block it. He braces for impact, but it never comes. Filled with nervous cation, Sans slowly lowers his arms. The frying pan is impaled on a spiked bone that had burst through the floorboards.

"Red! You imbecile! How many times have I told you to use the stairs?" A tight grip on Sans's arm pulls him around to face the other monster. Boss looks pissed. Sans hunches his shoulders and looks away from his brother's gaze, starting to sweat.

"S-Sorry Boss," Sans mutters. That damn stutter is back. Boss notices it, and something seems to soften in his eyes. He lets go of Sans and pulls back for a moment to get a hold of himself. Sans is proud of his brother for it. Despite the influence of their AU, Boss has been trying harder to manage his anger after meeting the others. Sans shakes his head a little. What others? For some reason, his new memories aren't forming as clearly as they should be. Sans can't even figure out what coppy he's in yet. He's distracted when Boss starts to talk.

"I'm sorry for grabbing you, Red," Boss says begrudgingly, "That damn dog was in my kitchen again, and I almost had him before you got in the way." Sans only notices now that Boss is calling him by a different name.

"Yeah, my bad," Sans mutters. The two of them fall into silence. Just because their relationship has gotten better doesn't mean that they know how to talk to one another. Just as Sans opens his mouth to say something, Boss interrupts him.

"Don't you have one of those useless meetings to attend? You'll be late if you keep standing here and wasting time."

Sans opens his mouth to ask what he means, but then closes it. He does have somewhere to be. Sans instinctually reaches out to his magic and grasps an ability that is close to his shortcuts in nature. The empty air beside him splits open as a red haze creates a portal. This is a special ability that only a fraction of Sanses in the Multiverse will ever develop. Sans finally realizes why he's felt so odd today: he's in the original UnderFell.

His quick goodbye is an automated response as Sans's thoughts and emotions get all jumbled up in his head. The small bit of 'Red's' memory that he had been missing is now finally getting straightened out. It takes all of his stoicness as a Fells Sans to avoid causing a scene when Sans sees where the portal had taken him. The massive hall is filled with Sanses. They come from every type of AU Sans can think of, amounting to around 50 alternate versions of himself.