Rising Storm [ Ink!Sans x Reader ]

11. What Lies Underneath

"Now this is just too easy."

There was little time to react as the axe swung in an arc above your head, blade burying in the patch of snow you had been lying in only seconds ago. Recent events were still fresh in your mind, Nightmare's sadistic grin the last thing to greet you as the rift closed, forever damning you to this hell of a world. How were you supposed to get out of this one? You weren't sensitive to the presence of rifts as Ink was in the way he was able to pinpoint the location of one miles and miles away.

A skeleton similar in height and stature to Ink was lumbering towards you, looking oddly displeased that your head had not made a warm welcome with his axe. "I really don't like to play with my food," the monster rumbled, his sinister sneer vanishing as you got to your feet, preparing to take off. But where were you supposed to go? The entire Underground was practically tripping over each other to rip out your internal organs. To top things off, your stomach let out a rumble of protest and something told you that this world of monsters didn't have a McDonalds right around the corner.

But there was something oddly familiar about this skeleton and not just the way he seemed to resemble Ink and the dozens of other skeletons you had encountered on your journey. "I know you," you found yourself saying aloud, digging through your memories. Hadn't you met this skeleton before? The gleaming crimson eye struck a familiar chime.

You had met this skeleton before, back in the dusted and ruined halls of Nightmare's castles where you and the painter had run through the shadows, evading his servants and other creatures of the night. He had been one of the skeletons whom had perished underneath your flame, screamed in agony as the fire slowly ate away at their life, the sickening stench of cooked meat wafting in the air...

"Never met you before in my life," the skeleton grunted and picked up his axe from the snow. "And plus, it doesn't matter anyway. You're going to be dead in a few seconds. Make peace with your gods now or whatever."

You remembered what Ink had mentioned earlier, the infinite number of timelines and universes that existed within the multiverse. Perhaps the universe you were in now was some parallel of the similar skeleton you had killed in Nightmare's castle. It would explain the similar resemblance and how the comedian knew nothing of who you were. Whatever it was, you didn't intend to stick around and find out as the axe once more swung above your head, ready to remove your head from your neck.

"You know," you dodged the blow, feeling your heart leap to your throat. "Why do you always aim for the neck? If you wanted to kill me, wouldn't it be easier to do an attack that would require less effort, less time?" You continued to talk, eyes darting around for a pathway where you could make a run for it.

The skeleton seemed annoyed that you were making an attempt to communicate with him. "Is this really the final act of your life? Talking your head off?" You cringed at the pun. "Head meat is a lot better for head dogs," the skeleton explained, his ego suddenly seeming to inflate. "It's a special recipe of mine, used to be a bestseller back on the Surface before we got the boot and were sent down here. Now and then a human wanders down here and I get a few customers. Human brains are especially the best, they're a lot more palpable and easier to compress into sausage casing - "

"That's disgusting," you shuddered, feeling slightly put off that you were having a conversation with a monster that was probably going to kill you in about ten seconds.

"Disgusting?" The skeleton grinned, revealing rows of bloodstained teeth. "Humans on the Surface ate all sorts of things: cows, pigs, chickens, you name it. What you're feeling right now, all that fear and despair, that's what an animal feels every second of its life from the moment its born, knowing that any day it could be led to the slaughterhouse and killed so that you can have your McDonalds Big Mac. It's just the circle of life. Us monsters can't help the fact that we're carnivores and have a taste for human meat, the same way a lion can't help the fact it gets a craving for the nearest gazelle."