Secret (A Soriel Underfell Fic)

Secret

The thick purple wood hung off its hinges and leaned against the rock wall behind it, deep stains of melted snow giving an appearance like teeth around the gaping dark hole that led deeper inside the mountain. The smell of something burning wafted out of the hole itself, the darkness inside not betraying what—or who—it came from. The deep claw marks above the entrance had caught some snow. Some stories said that, once, the insignia of the king hung there. Whether or not that was true was irrelevant now, however, because nothing was left now but the scar in the rock.

Sans stood a few feet away from the entrance to the Ruins, the wind in the forest tugging at the fluff on his jacket hood and the chain that hung off his belt. He sighed.

"damn kids," he muttered. "how many effin times have I told them—"

His grumbling was cut off by a yelp echoing out of the darkness. He sighed again, his breath creating a small smoke cloud around his skull in the cold. Shoving his hands deeper into his jacket pockets, he trudged forward, letting the darkness swallow him up as he passed under the damaged arch.

His magic eye flickered to life, casting a slight red glow on his surroundings. Sans knew the way, but he preferred avoiding the debris from the crumbling stonework.

He navigated his way around a piece of a collapsed wall that was bigger than he was, another light flashing up ahead. It faded away quickly, but Sans recognized it as a spark of fire. Yet another yell chased after it into the darkness, mixed in with the sound of a woman laughing.

Sans readjusted his collar. He knew that laugh very, very well.

The woman's laugh preceded the flash of fire the second time, but Sans didn't hear any sounds of fighting aside from the short-lived blaze. She was toying with them, trying to scare them.

That would make this conversation a little bit easier.

Sans turned the corner, stepping into the flickering light that illuminated the rest of hallway. He could see the flame dancing on her palm, illuminating her sharp claws. The light caught on her fangs and horns as well, making her smile even more sinister looking in the half-light. Out of the corner of his eye socket, Sans could see the stupid teenagers he was looking for shivering against the opposite wall. He held back the urge to laugh, but let his mouth curl itself into a smirk.

Well, he had warned them.

But even though he'd been looking for those kids, he didn't take his gaze off of her. Sans deliberately kicked a chipped piece of stone in his path, sending it bouncing off the back wall with a loud cracking noise.

She turned her head towards him, the fire expanding in her hand until it lit the corridor up like day. It detached from her palm, floating towards the low ceiling like a tiny sun.

"Sans!" she said, his soul skipping a beat or two at the way she said his name. "I did not know you were coming to visit."

He looked her over before answering. The shine in her white fur had gone dull. Her black robes had more rips and tears in the hem than he remembered from last time. And her eyes were shining a bit too brightly for Sans to feel confident anymore that she only intended to scare those kids away.

"i didn't either, tori," he said, talking to her like he always did. "but, uh, you're kinda putting me in a rough spot right now."

Her eyes widened even more—the length of her eyelashes always caught him by surprise—placing a hand to her chin. "How so?" she asked. "I have heard you warning these monsters away from my domain for a weeks now."

At the word "monsters," she pointed towards them with her foot. The teenagers shrank away against the wall in fear. Sans noticed the movement but still didn't look away from the boss monster in front of him.