"It was Beautiful Outside...

Chapter 3; Of Dreams and Skeletons

Eri sat on the floor next to her bed in the room everyone said was hers. She was crying but held her hands over her mouth to muffle any sounds. Her eyes started drooping and she fell into a weirdly restful, deep sleep.

<~>

Eri opened her eyes, but she wasn't in her room. She was in a...place, if you could even call it that. There was nothing. It was mostly black with shades of swirling grays and off-whites. There were also slim wisps of dark blues and fiery tones.

"Who are you?"

Eri fell to her butt as she stared at the source of the new voice, absolutely terrified.

"You're the skeleton..."

In front of her was a skeleton. It wasn't like the ones in the books or posters she saw. This one looked like it went through a fire. Its bones were charred and its skull, the back of it going to its eye ridge was still covered in reddish-orange flames. In its eye sockets, there were two tiny lights; they were like tiny, flickering, pale flames.

It wasn't smiling like all the skeletons she'd seen either. It was frowning, well, not like it was upset, more like it was confused. It wore a plain white shirt, an unzipped blue winter coat with white fur on the inside, black swishy shorts with a white stripe going up the outside of his legs, and fuzzy pink slippers.

It smiled and laughed at her surprised words.

"I suppose I am. I'm Sans, Sans the Skeleton. Who might you be?"

"...My name is Eri."

"Well it's pretty cool to meet you Eri. I know a kid around your age who's also closed off. His name is Kota and we're best buds. I think you'd be great friends, but what does this ol' bag'o'bones know, eh?"

There was an awkward pause where Sans cleared his throat.

"Heh, tough crowd. How'd you get here, Eri? It's not easy to connect souls like this."

"Souls? Is that where I am?"

"You didn't...Yes indeedy! My soul to be precise, it's a, heh, not the best best to be right now. Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're arms and neck. You're covered in bandages. Are you hurt?"

Eri's eyes widened and her breathing sped up. Sans panicked and started waving his hands in front of him.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to! Duh uh um, how-how about I talk about me instead!"

Sans sat down in front of her, cross legged and hands on his feet.

"I have a really big family. Younger brothers Eijirou and Papyrus, a devoted older sisters Nova, two moms, Ichika and Natsumi, the coolest dad ever, Grillby, two cool uncles Shota and Hizashi, two cool cousins, Hitoshi and Asriel, at least two niblings I can't wait to meet, I think an underground brother-in-law, didn't exactly have the time to get his name but his villain/hero name is Dabi. I, uh, also have a boyfriend. I miss him, so much."

Small, translucent tears started rolling down his cheekbones. They evaporated before getting to his jaw. His smile was somber and his eyelights seemed to be full of so much pain.

"...What's his name?"

Sans jumped and smiled brightly.

"Katsuki. He's unbelievably kind and one of the sweetest humans I know. He's really strong and gonna be an amazing hero."