Till Death Do Us Part - Dust Sans x Reader

Chapter 2

You couldn't grasp what was happening. You were held by your neck above the ground, gasping for air as you stared death in the face. There was no doubt in your mind that you were going to die, that everything you had ever done was for nothing. That you would never make it back home. But just as these thoughts entered your mind, his ice cold voice cut through the overbearing silence.
"Out of the millions of resets I've been forced to experience, there has never ever been another human to fall down.." he chuckles softly, as if this was some funny joke. "Eh, doesn't matter though." Sans shrugs, dropping you and summoning a bone in his hand, snapping it in half and pointing it at your throat.
"W-wait!" You managed to whisper out.
At first you weren't sure if he even heard you as he seemed to be lost in his own head. There was nothing but insanity behind his eyes, so you weren't sure what he could even be thinking of. But suddenly, he pulled back, staring you down like a predator to prey. He appeared to be waiting for you to continue, but all that came out was a rasp.
".... what happened to you? I remember seeing you before.. and you were so lovely, and you never wanted to hurt anyone. But now?" You vaguely gesture to all of him. "Now you're covered in the remains of friends, family, people you held close. Why? What happened to you?"
He was silent for a while, as if he wasn't even sure what had been asked. But, without warning, he burst out laughing, as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard.
"My, you're so naive.~ You clearly know nothing at all yet you're trying so hard to tell me how I 'used to be'?" Sans pulls you closer to his face, amused when you instinctively try to pull away. It was clear he took great pleasure in intimidating those who he deemed were lower him. "You're hilarious...~"
You shoved his hands off you and get to your feet so that he didn't have the advantage of towering over you whilst you were vulnerable. You dust off some snow from your clothes and try to steady your breath as he watches you, more than amused.
"It is strange though. If you're here, that means 1 of 2 things. Either, Frisk has somehow lost their determination, or.... you have more determination than them; allowing you to be here in their place."
Sans sighs, looking up towards the cavernous ceiling that was far above both of you. He seemed to be a little bit more at ease at the thought of Frisk no longer able to be here.
"I guess me immediately going on a mad spree to kill everyone as soon as it reset again was bad on my part, huh?" Sans sighs out, kicking his feet in the snow idly.
You give him a confused look, turning your head slightly to look at the entrance of Waterfall.
"But theres still monsters left in Waterfall and Hotland, right? Not all hope is lost-"
He abruptly cut you off. "No, they are all dead."
All dead? You felt yourself fidget uncomfortably, only now realising how dangerous Sans was. This means that in the small amount of time you spent talking to Flowey and walking through the Ruins, he had massacred almost all of the underground. The thought alone terrified you. A skeleton you once thought was a lovely character from a game was now a cold hearted monster in your eyes.
"Well, this has been entertaining." Sans grumbles with a roll of his pinpricks, "But I would much rather spend the rest of eternity in the Underground, alone, without any humans around."
He summons a gaster blaster that was aimed straight at you. A purple glow began to emit from its mouth as it slowly opened wide. Fortunately, before your demise came, slow clapping could be heard from next to you both. This seemed to have startled Sans as well as his gaster blaster vanished and his attention was turned towards the noise.
"Well well well, the negativity emanating from here is divine.~"
You were horrified to see another Sans standing across from both of you. Except he was completely pitch black, his body melting and dripping with goop. Small black tendrils were coming out his back and seemed to move of their own accord. His right eye was completely covered up in whatever substance his body appeared to be leaking yet his left eye was visible and glowed a soft blue. You could practically feel the malice around him and it wasn't hard to tell that he was here purely for bad intentions. It was hard not to tremble in terror just at the sight of him. He looked like the devil himself; a demon from the deepest darkest depths of Hell. He seemed to notice your fear, and the goop on his face split apart to form a horrid smile.
"Who the hell are you?" The other, non-goopy Sans spoke up finally.
"Call me Nightmare. And you are?"
"Sans. Sans the skeleton."
Nightmare let's out a low husky laugh as he wipes away a non-existent tear.
"I know you're a Sans. I'm a Sans too. What I want to know, is your name." Nightmare steps closer, waiting patiently to hear what Sans had to say.
He was a bit confused, only now finding out about the possibility of there being more than one Sans. He turns to you to see if you could be of any use, but all you could offer was a small shrug.
"You sure are covered in quite a lot of dust. Am I safe to say that you murdered people to get all that dust on you?"
Sans sort of nods.
"Perfect then. I'll call you Dust.~"
The name seemed to fit well. You realised that the two mad skeletons were beginning to engage in conversation, so you slowly began backing away, trying to figure out some way to escape. However, without even turning to acknowledge you, black, gooping tentacles shot out the ground around you, preventing you from leaving.
"Shit..." you grumble.
"Quite odd though, that you have a human down here who is neither Frisk or Chara." Nightmare glares at you as if you were scum. He moves towards the cage of tentacles you've been trapped in and smirks.
"So, what's your name, hm? And why are you down here?"
You wondered if it would be wise to reveal your identity not only to Nightmare, but Dust as well. However, you quickly realise that these monsters can and will kill you if they see fit, and you didn't want your inevitable demise to come early by angering them, so you decided to answer.
"My name is Y/N. I'm actually not too sure how I got here, honestly. One moment, I'm sitting on my window ledge, admiring the view, the next I'm falling to my death." You suddenly pause, as if recounting the events that transpired. "But as I was falling, and thought I'd hit the ground.. this black hole opened up. I kind of fell into it and before I knew it, I woke up on a bed of flowers I guess."
Nightmare and Dust gave each other a look, causing you to sweat nervously.
"As unbelievably stupid that sounds, I guess we have no way to prove otherwise, and something like this has never happened before..... so we have no other choice but to believe you.." Nightmare grumbles that last part as he makes the tentacles around you disappear.
You go to thank him but he interrupts you.
"Don't bother. I'm not doing it because I care, I'm doing it out of convenience."
"But how is it convenient that you've released me? What if I try to attack-"
Yet again, he cut you off.
"I released you so that I don't waste my magic on a human who couldn't even hurt a fly if they wanted to. A pathetic human like you would be dead before you blink if I so wish, so don't talk to me as if you're smart or you know something that I don't." Hatred dripped off each and every word as his eye glared deep into your soul. You could tell Nightmare resented you with every fibre of his being, even if you haven't actually done anything to elicit such feelings.
"She must be at least vaguely important if she is somehow here, so... I have a proposition. Dust, I would like you to join me. All you have to do is promise your undying loyalty and servitude to me and I'll give you a safe place to live with food, water, money and possibly anything you could imagine."
Dust chuckles and holds out his hand to shake.
"Alright, I suppose that's not that bad of a deal. Beats spending my time wasting away alone down here I 'spose."
Nightmare grins, shaking his hand.
"Wonderful.~ Oh, and one little thing.~ You'll be taking care of your little human pet for the time being until I can figure out why they're here. And how."
You furrow your brow, a little annoyed at being referred to as a pet and even more annoyed that you're not allowed a say in this matter.
"Hey, I'm not a pet! And what about if I don't want to join the both of you? I'm my own person!" You exclaim, having enough of being excluded from a situation that you're involved in.
"Shut it, pet." Dust hissed out, glaring. "You're nothing but a stupid human. You don't get a say in this shit. Now be quiet before you regret it."
You bite your tongue, not really in the mood for confrontation. Besides, at least you'll get a room and food for the time being, so it beats the current situation.
A black, gooping portal opened up behind Nightmare, slowly showing a new location. It appeared to be midnight, a beautiful full moon shimmering in the sky. A large, gothic castle stood a little in the distance.
"That's where Nightmare lives..?" You whispered to yourself as all three of you enter the portal to the new area; abruptly shutting behind you once all of you were outside the castle.
You found it hard to comprehend, having never seen such a magnificent building before. However, the time for staring was short lived as you all walked into the castle, presumably to be taken to your individual rooms. The walk was silent as you all traversed down what seemed like endless hallways, twists and turns before eventually stopping outside a door.
"This is where both of you will be staying from now on." Nightmare speaks up, breaking the peaceful silence.
This causes both you and Dust to give him a strange look.
"What do fuck are you on about? I gotta share a room with her?!" Dust hissed out your name while you just glare at him.
"He has a point. What if he tries to kill me or something? And I'm a girl; I deserve my own privacy."
Nightmare huffs, pushing open the bedroom door showing how large it was inside. There were two king size beds along with a private bathroom and a small lounge area. Everything was in shades of grey and black, as you would expect from someone like Nightmare. You gingerly take a step into the room, followed shortly by Dust. It seems like you were both heavily judging this situation.
"Breakfast starts at 10am, lunch is at 12 and dinner is at 6pm. Everyone should be in their rooms at 10pm. Don't let me catch you both outside past that time."
And with that, Nightmare disappeared in a puff of black smoke, leaving you alone with a murderer. You contemplated asking if he was alright. After all, this is where you both were going to be living, and you at least wanted to get along with your roommate, but as you opened your mouth to say something, Dust speaks up.
"I don't know why the fuck Nightmare made me share a dumb room with you, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be fucking nice to you or give a shit about you, got it?" His harsh, cold words pierced through you, eliminating any possibility of being on good terms with him for the rest of your time living here.
"Y-yeah I wouldn't dream of it." You stuttered out, cursing yourself for sounding so pathetic.
He merely rolls his eyes and lays on a bed that was next to a tinted black window which overlooked the castles courtyard. You decided to take the bed closest to the private bathroom. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, you watch Dust quietly, noticing the way his chest would rise and fall with each silent breath he took. You could see small, almost invisible, cracks all over his body, and you didn't even know how many more there were hidden under his clothes. You also couldn't help but notice the bags under his eyes. He probably hasn't slept for a while.
"Will you quit staring at me?" He suddenly speaks up, startling you out of your trance.
You could feel the heat rushing to your cheeks out of sheer embarrassment and shame.
"S-sorry.. I just, have a question you never answered back in Snowdin.."
He makes a small grunt, signalling for you to continue.
"What exactly happened to you?"
It was silent. You knew that it was stupid to ask, but you couldn't help it. You were curious, and also concerned that this Sans was completely different from the one you saw in the game. Dust takes a deep breath before opening his eyes and rolling on his side so he could face you.
"Fine, I guess I'll explain a bit. Basically, long before you fell down, there was a human called Frisk. And basically, they had lots'a Determination which allowed them to reset to certain points. If they died, they'll reset just before they die, if they mess up an interaction, they'll reset so they can choose the better option. And the first time in the underground, they made so many friends." Dust eyes were filled with a comfortable familiarity. It seems like whatever he was reminiscing on brought him a small bit of happiness. "We had such great times and eventually, they freed us from the Underground. And we all kinda just.. lived life on the surface, something that had never happened before. But, for whatever reason, I guess Frisk just... got bored. So, they decided to reset and kill everyone in the Underground, just to see what'd happen." His expression quickly changed into a grimace as memories of the genocide flooded back. "And they were never satisfied, it's like they had this sick enjoyment watching their friends and family die. And it never ended no matter how much I'd try to convince them to change. Eventually, after about 100 or so genocides, I noticed someone else with Frisk. Another child, Chara, who seemed to whisper ideas and advice on what to do next. That's when it got worse. Millions." He paused, giving you a serious look. "Fucking, millions of genocides. Millions of the same bullshit having to watch my brother die. And the only way I could think of stopping it was if I killed the monsters instead and tried to get more LOVE than Frisk so that I was stronger and wouldn't die. And even after killing them over and over, they would just reset and try all over again.. it drove me mad.."
You honestly didn't know what to say. Dust had this crazed look in his eyes as he remembers killing Frisk over and over, killing his friends, family, even his brother, over and over just to try and end the genocides. You couldn't help but feel bad, in a way.
"But, you fell down and Frisk and Chara were never seen again so.." he sits up and shrugs his shoulders a little.
You walk over and gently place your hand on his shoulder, noticing how tense he was. Dust, as expected, practically hisses at you and backs away.
"Sorry.." you whisper out softly, "I just thought you could use some comfort right now."
The comment made Dust chuckle a little bit at the mere thought of you caring for him.
"I don't need or want anyone to care for me, so don't bother.."
Dust stands up, stretching a little as he walks towards the bathroom door. He pauses for a second though, as if he wanted to say more.
"I used to think everybody could be a good person if they just try. But now I've realised that no one can change."

And with that, he locks himself in the bathroom, leaving you alone and feeling pity for the once jovial skeleton.