Book 2: The First Fallen Human

Small Issue

The crunching was horrifying. So was the tearing. Sans was shaking as he stared across the bridge in Hotlands. He'd found the monster child, but so had the monsters. He flinched as the red creature hunched over the smaller creature's body, tearing at it.

The other monster confronted him. They each stood at one end of the bridge. It was a ghastly, grinning skeleton. It was tinted gold, as Papyrus had claimed. One golden eye gleaned at him from the black muck as four tentacles waved behind it. Tentacles waved from the human-creature too. Sans couldn't see its face.

"Isn't that rude of you to interrupt someone's meal?" Sans froze as the skeleton spoke. That voice. He slowly raised a hand to his own throat. That sounded like his voice. The skeleton chuckled. "I'm Shattered Dream. Nice to MEAT you!" It giggled at its own pun. Sans was completely frozen.

"You killed the kid." He said after a moment. The crunching stopped and the red figure straightened up, slowly turning. He still couldn't see much besides its glowing hair. He could, however, see the part of the monster child's ear that was hanging from its mouth. Shattered Dream's haunting smile didn't fade.

"It would appear so, wouldn't it?" He said, tipping his head. The red creature stood up and Shattered Dream turned back. "You satisfied?" The human-shape turned and Sans froze. That face. That face was familiar to him. A couple dozen RESETS ago, he'd met someone with that face. He couldn't remember their name. He gulped.

The human-creature shuffled forward to face Sans, blood staining its mouth and dripping from the thin red-tentacles that waved around from its back. "Friend, you go on ahead. I'll take care of this." Shattered Dream said, grinning. The human-creature continued eye contact with Sans until slowly turning away and nodding. He watched as it drew a hole in the air and revealed a white area. The Omega Timeline.

Sans watched as the creature disappeared through it, flinching at the snap it made. "Why did you do this?" He asked, his hands curled in fists.

"I was bored. It was hungry." Shattered Dream answered simply before giving a soft giggle. Sans stared at him. He twitched and his gaze darkened as his eye lit up.

"You. You are going to have a bad time." He hissed. Around him, gaster blasters began to materialize. Shattered Dream watched with a silent grin. Sans growled. All of his gaster blasters went off at once, consuming everything in the immediate area with blue light. The other end of the bridge slowly collapsed down into the lava below. The other side of the chasm was in smoke. When it cleared, Shattered Dream grinned at him, seeming untouched.

"Impressive. But not enough." He jeered. Sans felt a burning hatred in his chest, but forced himself to remain calm. He sent out bone attacks, pairing them with the gaster blasters. Each time, Shattered Dream would materialize out of the way. He giggled softly. "You should really calm down..." He purred.

Sans wanted to bash his skull in. Then, the creature's next words froze him. "The kid's about to RESET. It'll be like we were never here at all!" He giggled. The air began to fizzle around them. Shattered Dream lifted a hand and waved his skeletal fingers.

"SANS!!" Sans jolted up out of his bed, shaking. "SANS, HELP ME FIGURE OUT WHAT TO WEAR FOR THE DATE!!" Papyrus yelled to him from the closet of his bedroom next door.

Sans was panting. Jeez, this was how far back the kid had SAVEd? Well... he wasn't complaining. He sat on the edge of the bed, his face buried in his hands. That had to have been the worst RESET by far. He didn't think it would get any worse than simple genocide, but OH, was he wrong. He got up, still in a grubby T-Shirt and sweatpants. He staggered out of the room. He blinked as he noticed the door open and the kid come in.

"BAA-AAck already??" He called down, grinning. The little monster child let out another flurry of giggles. Sans sighed and figured the sweat and bags under his eyes couldn't be seen from down there. "Sit down on the couch, he'll be down in a couple minutes!" He grinned before turning and disappearing into Papyrus' room.

The room was immaculate, as always. Sans made his way to the closet. Papyrus burst out, dressed in a variety of clothes, all of which did not match at all. "Sans! I-" He stopped as he saw his brother. Papyrus was taller, but younger. He had brown eyes, but the same white hair and pale skin.

Sans blinked. "What?" He asked. Papyrus dropped his clothes and came over, immediately hugging his brother. Sans blinked. "Bro, I haven't even showered yet."

"Was it another nightmare?" Papyrus' voice was hushed. Sans froze. He was quiet for a few moments. Papyrus sighed. "Alright, help me with this and you can try to go back and get sleep." He paused. "Wowee, never thought I'd be telling YOU to sleep MORE!" He exclaimed.

Sans laughed quietly. "Miracles, bro, I tell you." He joked. He helped Papyrus dress in the same outfit he always did for the dates before sending him on his way. He watched from the balcony as the little monster saw Papyrus and covered its mouth, grinning.

It looked up at Sans, who gave it a thumbs-up before breaking into a flurry of giggles again. He disappeared back into his room. Sans shut the door and his smile faded. He began to shake. What the hell had that been? Who even were those two monsters?

He slid down against the door, holding his head in his hands. It was something new. Something different from the normal Genocide, Pacifist, and Neutral Routes, but Jesus Christ. "I'd prefer the original three routes to whatever that goddamn butchering had been!" He muttered, lowering his head.

After a few moments, Sans leaned his head back against the door. "I swear, the RESETS will be the DEATH of me..." He laughed weakly at his own pun. Then, he sat, for several minutes, in the dark, thinking about nothing.