A loud, shrieking alarm flooded the halls. Sans looked up from the skull-like determination extractor, horrified. Another human. He would have to kill another human. He turned away and pushed through the doors of the room. As he ran to his father's office, he was dimly aware of the flashing red lights and the TV screens all showing the security camera's feed from Snowdin. He couldn't look. But... Maybe he could make Gaster see reason. If it was a young, defenseless human, maybe he could just... "Sans! There you are! The human is in Waterfall. If we hurry, it'll be distracted." Sans' father stood in the hallway, looking at one of the many camera feeds. His son opened his mouth to complain, but was suddenly engulfed in blue magic. When it faded, he saw not the white walls of the lab, but dark cave walls, sparkling with colourful gems and a soft, blue light. Gone was the mechanical whirring, replaced instead with the raging sound of rushing water. He knew, of course, that they'd been teleported to Waterfall. The atmosphere was tense with anticipation. At least, that's what it felt like to him. If he had a heart, he knew, it'd be beating nearly out of his chest. "Follow me." Said his father from beside him. He had no choice but to follow. They walked several feet when a laugh rang out. "That's wonderful!" Said a bright voice, followed by clapping. They turned the corner. There was, indeed, a human who was clapping for a very happy Shyren. And it was distracted. "Sans. The human is over there. Prove to me you're strong. Kill it." Sans stared in the direction Gaster was pointing, at the tall human figure. "Wha...? No! It's just a human! I can't just keep killing them mercilessly, Gaster!" His father scowled. "Just at a human? It's the key to the surface!" The young one stood tall and glared. "No. I refuse." His father looked down at him bitterly. "If you won't do it, so be it." Gaster stretched one arm towards the human, producing several of the large, dragon like skulls. A split second later, Sans realized what he was doing and his stomach dropped. "Gaster, NO!" The cry didn't have any effect whatsoever. A bright light flashed before his eyes and he stared on with pure horror and terror. "Dammit. Please... Just... No." Desperately, he covered his eye sockets. "No no no no no..." The sight was terrible. To see such a helpless human hurt. "GOD DAMMIT WHY?" He yelled at his father, suddenly furious. His father didn't respond. There wasn't even a glimmer of emotion in his cold features. "You will take the body to the tombs in King Asgore's castle." Tears of anger and despair poured from his eyes and he growled. "Do. It. Yourself." Gaster looked sharply down at Sans, his eyes cold and glowing. "Bring it to the castle or your brother will be nothing more than a pile of dust next time you see him." He gaped. "You... You wouldn't!" Gaster looked annoyed. "Don't tell me if I would or wouldn't do something." Feeling hollow, Sans snapped his fingers and reappeared in the castle, with the human beside him. He readied one of the coffins that were lined up against the wall, but still couldn't feel anything even as he lowered the limp body onto the soft velvet lining. As he closed the lid, he feared he would never feel anything again.
"Ah. Sans. You're just in time. Here." Gaster was holding out his hand. In it, there was a small pill. His determination pill. "No! I refuse. I'm not being your killer anymore! Growling, Gaster pulled a string. The blue curtain on the far wall opened, revealing a chair with his brother tied to it. "I don't want to kill anyone! I refuse!" Shouted Sans. A white, glowing Gaster Blaster appeared in midair, pointed directly at Papyrus. "No! I won't, I won't, I... I..." Sans fell to his knees, defeated. "I..." Gaster smirked. "Take. The. Pill." Sans hesitated, hearing Papyrus's cries of forewarning. Then, swiftly, he snatched the pill and swallowed it. The pain was instant. He fell to the ground, holding his knees and rocking back and forth, certain tears of agony were pouring from his sockets. He heard yelling. Papyrus's screams of terror and his own cries of agony. Nothing was real anymore. The world was ending.
Then, as quickly as it began, it stopped.
He was filled with the familiar feeling of determination.
Sans stood up and glared at his father, who was smiling ruthlessly. "Let. Him. Go." He said to Gaster, his words precise and deadly. Nothing happened. "I SAID LET! HIM! GO!" He shouted, his arm outstretched, two Gaster Blasters aiming at his father. Gaster smiled wider, satisfied. "Good. The pills are working. Yes, I'll let him go." The scientist waved his hand and Papyrus was released. Sans stumbled weakly forward. "Papyrus! Oh God, are you okay??" He pulled his brother into an embrace and wept tears of joy. "Now go home. Come back tomorrow." His father's voice spoke from behind him. He looked over his shoulder, confused. "Go home? But..." Gaster glowered. "You will do what you're told." They'd never been told to go home before dusk. They'd never even seen Snowdin in daylight before. Nevertheless, they nodded and trudged home. "Hey Paps, do you think Gaster's up to something strange?" His little brother didn't answer. He didn't need to. Sans already knew the answer.
One Year Later
Sans donned his slippers, having abandoned lace-up shoes less than a week ago. He'd turned out to be too accident prone for those. He'd been aching for a walk for hours, and now seemed to be the best time. Peaceful walks always helped calm him. Well, they used to. Now, he had a continuous nagging feeling. A question. Why are we bring sent home early? This question saturated his thoughts. Would he ever know why they'd been going home early every day for a year? He turned a corner and stopped abruptly. The door he was facing was completely new to him. "What the...?" Intrigued, he pushed it open. Unlike the other doors in the lab, this one creaked as if it's hinges hadn't been oiled in a long time. He was already getting an eerie vibe. It was dark, so he fumbled along the wall for a switch. His fingers to he'd it and he flicked it, lighting a dim, bare light bulb that was dangling from the ceiling. Nothing about this room gave him a lab-ish feeling. All he saw was a table covered in blue and white papers and something large covered with a tarp. Tiptoeing. He approached the table. There were blueprints and notes strewn across the surface with the occasional book or pencil. It looked like Gaster had been spending a lot of time here. He couldn't read the papers though. The words were written in strange symbols he'd never seen before. "So this is why!" He said, shocked and a little underwhelmed. And yet... He hadn't even seen what was under the tarp. "Welp. I guess whatever this is must be amazing." Filled with determination, he pulled down the tarp, fully expecting a fight of some kind. "...A machine?" It looked to be a normal metal pod. "He's sent us home early for a year, because he's working on this?" Angrily, he threw down a paper and ran.
The next day, Gaster didn't show up.
The two brothers went home.
This continued for several days' time. Finally, Sans decided to look in the room with the pod. He knew something was wrong. Very wrong. The halls blurred together as he sprinted to the eerie chamber. The door didn't open when he turned the knob, nor did it open when he shouldered it. Instead, he used a Blaster to get it out of the way and ran inside. When the light turned on, he saw two things. The absence of the machine and a note on the ground which he immediately picked up.
You're reading this because my experiment was a failure. I'm most likely lost somewhere in the fabric of time. The machine you see before you is indeed a time machine. You didn't know this, but the DT pills you've been taking are helping me build this and also giving you a firm hold on time. Through you, I fabricated this machine. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Soon, you'll be able to comprehend this and maybe be able to get me out.
I'm sorry.
Despite everything he'd done, Sans felt miserable. He ran to the table and was shocked to discover that he could understand the symbols on the papers. He read a few and stopped. There was one that stood out from all the others. Reading it, he felt suddenly desperate and alone.
According to my studies, humans in the Underground have the ability to "Reset".
We'll all be set back to where we were when they fell.
With no memories of it. Only some will remember.
Sans will. I haven't been giving him the pills for nothing.
Folding it up, he placed it in his pocket and sat, silently reading the other documents and blueprints. Ten minutes passed and he was about to go home when an alarm blared, splitting the silence. There was a human somewhere, and he was surprised at the fact that he was compelled to kill it. A TV screen showed that it was somewhere in Hotland. He teleported. The stifling heat didn't bother him. With his determination, he could only feel the need to kill it. At first glance, he could see no one. But then, far off in the distance, he saw a humanoid figure. He ran straight at it, his hand outstretched and paused. It looked familiar... But no. He had to. It couldn't reset anything. That wasn't right. One blast from a Gaster Blaster and it would die. It turned and it's eyes widened. He snapped his fingers and it was engulfed in white light. When it faded, it was nothing more than a lifeless body. Then he remembered. The flash of white light as his father killed the human. Him, trying to help the human. And he dropped to his knees. "What have I done??" He wondered aloud, staring, aghast, at the skeletal hands that had done this. The hands that had taken a life. And, miserably, he teleported himself and the body to the tomb in the castle. There was nothing he could do now. As he opened the fourth coffin, however, the third one lit up. The one that'd been occupied for a year. It actually lit up. Something inside was trying to get out. Only... It was supposed to be human. He watched, scared, as the coffin seemed to dissolve and whatever had been put in was lowered to the ground. This wasn't supposed to happen! And... It had opened it's eyes. What he saw in them was terror. "I'm human! I am human!" It said, mortified. Then it stopped and looked down at the body beside Sans. It's eyes were suddenly filled with confusion and rage. "What have you done to her?? What have you done to my sister?!?"
