Integritale

Chapter 01: The Girl and the Skeleton

When they first met that morning, she was just another human lost in the Underground. She was cheerful and optimistic, nothing like the previous fallen humans. Despite his role to capture her and send her to the capital, Sans didn't. That decision had been bugging him for the whole day. Sans was never one to simply let a human pass. He wasn't strong, but he always tried his best to do his duty. And, this time, instead of doing so, he only treated her to a meal at Grillby's.

Her name was Serifa. Her hair was hazel brown and her eyes were deep,dark blue. She was really tiny, tiny enough to be shorter than Sans.A very sweet girl that got along well with everyone at the pub. She was also passionate about dancing -she even pulled Sans away from his chair and danced with him once, having prompted a few other monsters to follow her before that.

And now there she was. Lying at the entrance of the Waterfall, pale and full of wounds. The tutu she wore that same morning was torn and dirty with mud and blood. Sans froze for a second. He was supposed to take her to Undyne or, even better, finish her off. But he couldn't. He wasn't sure why, but he just couldn't bring himself to hurt her.He drew a bit closer and shook her shoulder.

-Hey...Are you alright?

She didn't respond at all. Sans shook her more intensely.

-Serifa...? Can you hear me? It's me, Sans... We met this morning, remember?

Serifa wasn't answering. Sans panicked at the realisation that she was unconscious.

-Hey...Wake up...They'll...kill you if they find you here...

Sans's voice was cracking more and more with each sentence. He kept shaking her, but soon realised his whole body had been shaking too. He didn't know why he was feeling this way, but, at that point, he didn't really care. After all, he wasn't feeling himself since he met her anyway.

He had to do something, and be quick about it. Soon, Serifa would be found, either by Undyne or by other Royal Guards. He needed to hurry.Without having the time to think about it, he took Serifa in his arms and ran to his house. As he ran, he felt her head falling gently on his chest. It gave him a really warm feeling that he couldn't explain.

He soon reached his house in Snowdin. Thankfully, Papyrus was out at the time, training with Undyne. He ran to the bathroom and carefully placed Serifa in the bathtub. He needed to treat her wounds as much as he could.

He poured some warm water over her to clean her up. Taking a better look at her, he realised that she wasn't as injured as he had thought at first. There were a few scratches here and there, but the biggest wound he could find was one at the left side of her belly. Inspecting it, he realised it must have been a magical attack. There wasn't much he could do for it alone besides clean it up and wrap it up in gauzes. He also noticed a lot of fresh, bleeding scars on her hands and fingers. He washed the blood off and quickly bandaged them in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

But there was more blood coming out from somewhere. Carefully turning her around, he found that most of her back was bleeding. It looked like another, much stronger magical attack had gotten her. That would was harder to treat, especially with the tutu she had on. Sans took a pair of scissors and cut off the pieces of fabric that were in his way. He then poured iodine over the wound and bandaged it as best as he could.

While looking for more wounds, noticed Serifa's temperature was too high,so he took her to his bed and covered her with a few blankets. He then sat on the bed, looking at her. Somehow, he couldn't take his eyes away. Her innocent expression, her closed eyes as she slept.Despite her scars, she still looked like an angel.

Why was he feeling like this? Why wasn't he doing his duty? Why was he helping his enemy? Why was he so worried about someone he had met only a few hours ago? Why was his body completely paralysed from fear of what might happen to her? Why was he desperately praying for her to wake up? These feelings were something completely new for Sans. He could neither understand nor explain them. He knew that his actions would sooner or later bear consequences, but that didn't matter either.

His guilt started kicking in. It was him who had let her go. Surely, he had warned her about monsters trying to kill her, but he could have followed her and protected her. He could have, but he didn't. He felt awful about that.

-Please...Let her wake up... Please... he mumbled sadly.

He noticed Serifa's eyes open a little, as if someone had answered his prayers. It was obvious that she was struggling to keep her eyelids up.

-Sans..?Is that you...? her voice was so weak, it could barely come out. Sans was at a loss for words.

-Y...Yes it's me. H-How are you feeling?

-It hurts...I'm...dizzy...Serifa cried, with what little strength she had.

-Please Serifa...t-try to sleep...I...I looked at your wounds...You aren't in danger...Y-You just need to regain your strength.

Sans had never been so speechless before. His voice was trembling and he couldn't find the right words to say. He could barely recognise himself , but didn't care anymore. All he cared about at that moment was her safety.

-They'll...comeback for me... Serifa sounded terrified.

-D-Don't worry. I'll...I'll protect you this time...I promise!

Sans looked away, as he realised he had been blushing this whole time.Never in his life had he felt more embarrassed while simply talking to someone.

Serifa tried to sit up on the bed. She managed to lift herself for a few inches, but she was too weak to make it. She almost fell back, when Sans grabbed her.

-H-Hey now...Don't push yourself...I...I can lift you up...if...if you want...

By grabbing her, Sans had drawn really close to her. He could barely speak at this point. His heart was racing.

Their eyes locked together. With all the strength she had left, Serifa drew even closer and kissed his mouth. Her kiss was very weak, but that was normal, considering the state she was in. Sans didn't know how to react. This was a real shock to him. Holding her head in place, he closed his eyes and kissed her back carefully, blushing even more than before.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for Serifa to pass out again in Sans's arms.