Fall of the Empire [ Sans x Reader ]

/13\

The rift closed behind you, sealing you to whatever damned universe lay in front of you. A wave of nostalgia flooded through you. How much you longed to be with Sans, to be hiding and just on the brink of starvation.

Those were simpler times, you reflected sadly and turned to face the world in front of you. Ink had sent you to some twisted alternate reality of the universe you had resided in. Though the Underground was no inviting place, this world seemed to have its own crude atmosphere.

"Gaster was last sighted here," Ink had told you. It was your mission to locate him as quickly as possible and put an end to whatever 'darkness' he had in store for the multiverse.

I could see why Gaster would choose this place, you thought. Unlike the other universes, this one had taken on the appearance of a deleted timeline, a world just barely hanging on to existence. You assumed you were walking through the desecrated town of Snowden, the only indicator being the glitched out shops and homes.

"H-Hello?"

You froze suddenly at the high-pitched voice, being eerily reminded of Papyrus' desperate pleas before Gaster had rained down blow after blow on his skull, reducing him to a mere pile of dust...

You managed to pull yourself out of such thoughts and turned to face a human who was much shorter than you. The two of you were identical except for the obvious height difference. They were even clad in a [F/C] sweater, one that was much brighter than your faded one. "M-My name is F-Frisk..." the human introduced herself, sticking out her hand in greeting.

"My name is [Y/N]," you smiled warmly, shaking her hand firmly. Her skin was icy, the temperature of a corpse that had stayed within a freezer for far too long. You immediately retracted your hand, eyeing her with a look of horror. "You're dead, aren't you?"

"Everyone is dead here," Frisk forced a small smile. "It's been dead for a long time, after he came here."

"Gaster..." you murmured, noting how Frisk flinched from his name.

"It started as a small glitch, missed dialogue here and there. And then monsters shatter dying, left and right. They would begin to freeze and pixellate and some of them would vanish entirely. Others just exist..." Frisk shuddered and waved her hand, gesturing to several motionless forms that you assumed were the glitched monsters she was referring to.

"And then right before things really went bad, Gaster came to me. He said that this was his paradise, and that this was only the beginning. Things would get darker and darker until there was nothing left..."

Frisk froze, a look of horror plastered on her face. Black lines slowly snaked up from the corners of her mouth, forcing her lips into a hideous sneer. Her pupils expanded and contracted until the whites of her eyes vanished entirely. "Of course, you already know that, don't you?" Gaster's demented voice screeched from her mouth. "They're dead, everyone's dead! They all float down here, and soon you'll float too!"

Her small hand clamped around your wrist, pulling you with surprising force closer to her. "Oh [Y/N]... You should have just stayed put..."

With all the strength you could muster, you tore yourself away from Frisk's grasp, stumbling blindly through the decaying world. I can't kill him! you screeched, hoping that somehow your message would reach Ink. He's everywhere, he's in everything! I-I can't do it...

Despair flooded through you as a rift materialized in front of you, imitating the sound of ripping flesh as it tore a hole through the vacant universe. Ink's strained face came into view and he pulled you close to him, dealing away the doomed world forever.

He held you close to him as your body trembled involuntarily, sobs racking down your spine. Images continued to replay in your mind of Frisk's twisted fate, forever to spend eternity with Gaster in the hell he had created.

"What was that?" you asked after a brief moment of silence, looking up at Ink.

"That was the Underfell universe..." His voice trailed off, hardness lacing his words. "If Gaster managed to corrupt and destroy a universe as big and complex like that in a matter of hours, I can't imagine what he'll do to the others."

In a fluid motion, Ink swiped his hand upwards, revealing a display of the various universes. Each was represented by an individual pinprick of light, making it look like a map of stars. Many were beginning to blink out, indicating that they had been destroyed. They seemed to be closing in on the center pinprick of light, the one that seemed to glow the brightest compared to the others.

He's heading towards the original universe, you realized, fear crawling through you.

"There," Ink placed a shaking finger towards a point of light that had begun to wager, not quite put out. "That's where he'll be. It's not as corrupted as the other timelines, so there may still be a chance to save it. Are you ready [Y/N]?"

If he said anything more, you didn't hear. You had fixated yourself on the image of Sans, your promise to him that you would keep him safe. Right now he's sleeping, unaware of the danger that he's in, you thought, your right hand balling into a fist.

You took a step forwards, one step closer to Gaster, another step closer to the final day.

Another step closer to what might be.

And what could have been.