The cellar door banged against the stone wall of the building. Grillby went down first, after which the wolf-man turned his gaze on Sans.
"Down." The wolf-man commanded.
"Do I get a treat?" Sans asked, giving the wolf-man his best grin.
The wolf-man looked as though he dearly wanted to knock Sans through the cellar doors and down the stairs, but Grillby stopped him with a look.
"It would be in your best interest to not antagonize Wolfred." Grillby said. "Years of throwing the ice needed to cool the core has given him formidable strength and a mean temper."
"I'll bet." Sans said. "After all, they put you movin' ice when you were bone to be wild. Am I right, Wolfred."
Wolfred snorted. "Are you gonna walk down there or not?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm goin'."
The stairs led to a basement used for storage by the looks of it. Boxes of wood, metal, and cardboard lay behind fenced off pens on either side of a main aisle. Grillby led Sans down the aisle until they came to a pen gate bearing a tag that read, 'Potent Potables'.
"What's a potable?" Sans asked curiously. Grillby didn't reply, other than to motion for Sans to continue following him. Once in the pen, they approached a large green steamer trunk bearing an insignia too old and faded to make out.
Grillby opened the lid to reveal another staircase within.
"Nice." Sans said. To his surprise, Grillby nodded, seemingly accepting the compliment. Feeling that he was in no real danger, Sans followed Grillby down the hidden stairs into a large chamber filled with gold. It wasn't in coins, however; it was all embedded in armor and weapons, no doubt to increase their power. There were monsters looking through the equipment, inspecting the armor for cracks and checking blades and chambers for damage. From the sheer amount of activity, Sans realized this wasn't just routine checking; these monsters were about to go to war.
"Wow." Sans said. "Nice collection you have here."
Again, Grillby accepted this with a nod. They walked to the back of the chamber, where another door awaited them.
A hooded figure turned as Grillby opened the door. "Ah, excellent. Good work, Grillby. Where did you find him?"
"He just appeared in front of us." Grillby said. "With my daughter, no less."
"Really? You should've brought her as well, Grillby. This concerns her as much as anyone else."
"I don't want my daughter involved with this." Grillby said.
"She's already involved."
"I don't want her in danger!" Grillby said, flames rising.
"At this point, I'd say that's a given." said the hooded figure, but held up a hand to forestall the argument. "I understand your concerns, and respect your wishes, old friend. Let us speak no more of it."750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwF0JeQ3XZ
Grillby nodded and turned to leave.
"You do not wish to remain?" The hooded figure asked.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2R59Ckwy8Q
"I have preparations to make." Grillby glanced at Sans. "Are you certain you wish to be alone with him?"
"Ah, our mysterious visitor. Do not worry; I am certain he means us no harm. In fact, I hope he is willing to lend us his assistance. After all, he's shown little love for Papyrus ... or the Sans of our universe."
Sans's sockets widened. "So you know who I am?"
"Indeed. The physical resemblance to our Sans is uncanny, but your behavior is anything but." Sighing, the hooded figure said, "At least these days. Our Sans was once a cheery prankster himself. Papyrus, while never exactly pleasant, was simply a guard who fiercely protected us. Everything was different; we were trapped, but there was a sense of hope."
"What happened?" Sans asked. "What turned everything to hell?"
The hooded figure shook his head. "The king took in a human child, the first to fall to the Underground in hundreds of years. The king's son found her, brought her home, and that's when we discovered that the humans thought we were just legends and myths. All those years we thought they were just waiting outside to destroy us, and it turns out they didn't even think we were real."
"I was just a simple river ferry monster at the time." The hooded figure said, "But I remember how the news hit us. Most were relieved there wasn't an army waiting to eradicate us. Some were insulted that they'd forgotten us after they were the ones to start the war."
"Did they?" Sans asked.
River Person shrugged. "No one is sure. Why not blame the humans? In any case, when the Queen made it public that she and the King were adopting the human as their own, the Underground took it pretty well. It was like a test run, seeing if a human could live among us without any repercussions."
Sans waited patiently as River Person took a seat and motioned for Sans to do the same. Once the skeleton was seated, River Person said, "Then, one day, the human got sick. We tried to cure her, but no matter what we did, she'd just get worse the next day. In the end, she died."
"And that's what pushed the king over the edge?" Sans asked.
"No. I think things would've been fine, actually; the King and Queen mourned the death, of course, but that would've been the end of it, until ..."
"Yeah?" Sans said, leaning forward.
"The prince disappeared the next day along with the human's body. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened; he must've absorbed her soul and passed the barrier. Word made it around pretty quick about it; I remember there was actually a pool as to whether he was going to get help, going to forcibly take the rest of the souls, or if he just took the opportunity to escape."
River Person sighed again. "He came back that very evening. He spoke briefly of the surface, of great dead forests and an empty village where little remained but shadows of ash on crumbling walls, of rain that burned and strange misshapen beasts whose flesh looked to be melting, and humans wearing rags and masks who assaulted him. He dispatched them, but their weapons left deep injuries that even magic would not cure."
Sans wasn't sure what to say. The surface of his universe was fine, and Glen's was even better the way she spoke of it. The hellscape Asriel described sounded downright horrifying.
After a long pause, River Person said, "He died there, in the throne room in front of the King and the Queen. The Queen ... she went mad with grief. Some claim she left the King, others say that the King banished her; either way, her departure marked the beginning of our problems. The King took Asriel's words to indicate that what little humanity was left on the surface is in complete anarchy."
"So might as well take over and rule it all himself, right?" Sans said.
River Person nodded. "Indeed. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for him to go full-on paranoid dictator. He became convinced people were hiding humans. It was just inspections at first; no one complained much. He'd just lost his children and wife; of course he'd be a little highly strung. Of course, all it would take was for him to find one human."
Shaking his head, River Person said, "There was a friend of mine; we all called him Mister Kidd. His kid brought another human home; probably would've been fine, but he came at the same time as Asgore's inspection. Asgore went insane with anger; killed the entire Kidd family and tore out the human's soul in front of everyone. After that, he instituted a new rule; when Alphys's sensors detected a human presence in the Underground, he'd have someone executed every day until they were found."
A long moment of silence passed through the room. Sans could only shake his head; that things could've gone so wrong made what happened in his own universe seem a kind mercy in comparison.
"So this place, all you people here ... you're what, some kind of rebellion?" Sans asked.
River Person chuckled. "I could move goods and people with ease, along paths the King and his agents never took. It took us a few years to dig out this place, but once we had it set up, it was easy to start amassing weapons and equipment from the war effort. We've been moving our pieces carefully for a long time, and now we are finally ready to make our move."
"Your move?" Sans said. "You mean, what? Overthrow the King?"
"The King, the Royal Guard including Papyrus and our Sans ... and Alphys. She has her own machinations, and I fear when we tip our hand, she'll tip hers as well."
"I see." Sans said, rubbing his eye-sockets. Things were getting so complicated. "Okay, so why were you looking for me?"
"Asriel's description of the surface does not sound inviting." River Person said. "We were prepared to deal with that until Sans came strolling into Grillby's for the first time in years, cracking jokes like he did in the old days and paying in gold. You see, gold coins have become symbols of the resistance."
"Which is why Pap got all hot in the skull." Sans said. "He thought she was part of the resistance."
"That's when we found your little toy."
"My little ..." Sans reached for his pants pocket, only to find Glen's dimensional analyzer long gone.
The River Person removed the analyzer from the depths of his robe and held it out to Sans. "You have to watch your pockets, especially when you're within a crowd."
"At the execution." Sans murmured. He'd brushed past the crowd to stop Papyrus; someone must've lifted it from him then.
"Our technicians were baffled by it for ages ... and then you pulled your little stunt in the Core. Fluctuations in the fabric of reality." River Person moved closer to Sans. "You seek to go back to your reality, yes? We would like to accompany you."
Sans started to object, but again he thought of his own Underground, the barrier and the monsters gone. Assuming he could control the shift, why couldn't he just take all these people there? What harm would there be? Glen seemed positive about the Systems Alliance, after all.
"I'm game." Sans said, "But I gotta be honest; I don't even know if I can-"
The chamber door banged open. Grillby stepped through, an alarmed look on his flaming face. "Sir! You need to see this!"
River Person rose from his chair and followed Grillby out of the room, Sans following after. Grillby led them to a monitoring station, several of the screens displaying security feeds from around the Underground. The largest screen, however, currently displayed an emblem Sans recognized as belonging to the MTT Network.
"It's on a bunch of the security feeds too." Said the smoking bunny man working the monitors. "It just popped up there about five minutes ago, and now it's on over half of the feeds. Someone's projecting this across the Underground.
"Showing what?" River Person said curiously.
"I dunno." The bunny man said before taking a drag of his cigarette. "It looks like they're waiting until the rest of the cameras are hacked."
"Doesn't look like they'll be waiting long." Sans said, ignoring the fact that monsters were edging away from him. He was right, though; the last few cameras were being taken over, one by one until every screen showed the MTT Network logo.
"All right." River Person said. "Now what?"
The screen flashed before anyone could answer, revealing a nervous-looking Mettaton.
"Hello, Underground!" He said, his voice trembling slightly. "It is I, your great entertainer, Mettaton!"
The word 'applause' flashed on the bottom of the screen. No one applauded, not even from the speakers of the monitor.
"Thank you, thank you. Today, I've got a fantastic new show, premiering ... well, right now! I am proud to welcome you to Pitfalls and Prizes!"
After a few more moments of the 'applause' sign flashing, Mettaton backed away from the camera. "Pitfalls and Prizes is the fantastic gameshow where monsters run through a trap-laden obstacle course for wonderful prizes!"
The monitor switched to a camera feed currently flying past the snow fields west of Snowdin.
"Ah, yes! Snowdin field, a wondrous winter wonderland ... or a trap-filled hellscape made expressly for catching fallen humans. Today, our contestants will be making their way through Snowdin field for a chance at our fantastic prize."
"And that prize, hidden somewhere within the Snowdin Fields, is this!"
Mettaton appeared on screen, approaching a blanket-covered box ... or a cage.
"Oh no." Sans murmured, realization creeping over him. "Tell me you didn't."
Mettaton pulled away the blanket to reveal a cold and frightened-looking Frisk.
Sans kicked the leg of the chair and spun about, hands on his head. "Of course that metal-brained toaster found the kid. Great."
"And who are our lucky contestants, you may ask?" Mettaton said, his smile dazzling. "That's the biggest surprise of all! Today's contestants are all of you wonderful viewers watching right now! Think of the honor! Think of the prestige! Think of the ratings!"
"Think of the carnage." Sans muttered, rubbing his eye-sockets.
"But don't feel like locals have an advantage." Mettaton said, all nervousness gone as he pranced around the cage, "Although the esteemed Commander Papyrus may have built these traps, I've taken the time to change them so even he doesn't know the solutions. Yes, everyone is on even footing, so if you want to win big, you'd better run to Snowdin and get to searching! If not, then just sit back, grab some of your MTT Brand Absinthe-flavored popcorn, and enjoy the show! Oh, look at that!"
The camera feeds switched to the eastern side of Snowdin, where a familiar figure was currently visible running. Just the sight of NegaSans made many glance at Sans in confusion, their earlier fear fading fast.
"It looks like we've got our first contestant! Sans, loyal brother of Commander Papyrus! Looks like he'll have a head start!"
"Ah, hell." Sans said, turning from the screens. "I gotta go."
"Wait!" River Person said. "But don't you see? This is perfect?"
"All I see is a terrified kid put up as a prize because I couldn't shut my big mouth." Sans said, but River Person just shook his head.
"No, I mean think about it." River Person looked to the assembled crowd. "Everyone's going to be heading to Snowdin to get the human now. Papyrus, Alphys, Undyne ... anyone looking to curry a little favor. This is the perfect chance to attack Castle Dreemurr!"
Murmurs of assent were soon followed by stronger, firmer words of agreement, though not everyone was in favor.
"Are you sure we have enough people?" Grillby asked, the lone voice of uncertainty. "The king's guards are nothing to brush off."
"I agree, but we may never get a chance like this again. With Undyne, Alphys, and the skeleton brothers too far away to interfere, this may be our only chance."
Grillby still didn't seem confidant, but he was the only one. The rest of the rebels were chanting, "DOWN WITH DREEMURR!"
"Everyone get your gear and get ready; with any luck, we can have Asgore off the throne before the human is discovered!"
More cries of agreement rang through the chamber. As the other monsters hurried around to prepare, River Person approached Sans.
"Your assistance could be vital." River Person said.
"Sorry," Sans said, glancing nervously at the screen, "But I gotta help that kid. I'm probably the only person goin' after her that isn't just gonna tear her apart for the creamy soul inside."
River Person stared at Sans for a long moment. "It has been a long time since I've seen kindness and true selfless concern on that face."
After a few more moments, River Person shook his head and said, "Okay. We'll secure the castle; rescue the child if you can and return so we can proceed to abandoning this reality."
"Hang on;" Sans said, "Maybe you can help with that; I think I can break through reality, but I need more power. I'm thinking the human Souls Asgore's been hoarding might do the trick."
"That's right.' River Person said, scratching his chin. "The human souls ... we could work that into our strategy. All right, Sans; we'll take care of it. We'll start gathering the rest of the monsters into the palace once we've ousted Asgore; meet us there as soon as you can and we'll try to have some of the souls ready."
"The souls are the most heavily guarded things in the castle." Grillby said to Sans as River Person walked away to prepare for the battle ahead. "Even the throne room might be easier to take. How do you expect us to get through all the security he's got set up around the souls?"
"Well, Grillby it's all about electricity."
"Electricity?"
"Yeah. Remember, a good charge always goes through the point of least resistance." Sans said.
Grillby cracked a smile ... a little one, but there was definitely a grin there.
"Just be careful, okay?" Sans said. "Fuku needs you, so make sure you get out of there alive, okay?"
"I will." Grillby said, shaking Sans's hand. "You be careful too ... Sans."
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