Archive of Our Own

Sans stood there, unblinking, watching from behind the trees. He couldn’t tear his eyelight away from the tiny struggling form in front of him.

little girl…

A tiny human woman was caught in one of his (and Papyrus’) traps. Her ankle was stuck in a pretty nasty bear trap, not strong enough to cut clean or cut into some important nerves but enough to make a flesh wound. She was pulling at it, but it instead only got the teeth to set deeper into her, and Sans could see her trying to muffle the noises she was making, covering her mouth, strained, pained sounds.

…

Sans didn’t feel much when he looked at the scene. At least, he didn’t feel much of what he was supposed to feel- happy that he caught some food, or the sadistic part of himself finding joy at the weak struggles of a meaningless human, with those delicious noises of pain coming out of them.

But… this one… made him feel… weird…

This had just been another day for him. He woke up pretty late despite Papyrus’ constant yelling.

“SANS, WAKE UP YOU LAZY BONES,”

“jus’ a few more minutes, bro…”

“NO SANS, JUST BECAUSE WE ATE YESTERDAY DOESN’T MEAN WE CAN LAZE AROUND THE NEXT DAY! WE MUST GO BACK TO THE FOREST TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY HUMANS!”

“uhuh…i’m not sayin’ i’m not gonna look for food, bro… jus’… give me a few more minutes…”

“NO! WE MUSTN'T LOSE TIME NOW, COME BROTHER!”

Papyrus was yelling at him from outside his room, Sans lying face down on his bed, his ‘eye bags’ heavy under his sockets when he finally picked his skull up from the sheets. He pushed off and yawned, opening the door to Papyrus’ always-squinted sockets, his crooked teeth set in a straight line.

“I’M GOING TO GO MARCH INTO THE FOREST TO SEE IF ANY HUMANS CAN PARTAKE IN MY PUZZLES!” Papyrus pronounced, stomping down the stairs.

“kay. if you need me just yell my name.”

“SANS.” Papyrus’ skull snapped back at his brother, “YOU MUST DO SOMETHING AS WELL, YOU CAN’T JUST STAY IN THE HOUSE.”

Sans wouldn’t dream of not going out to look for food- He was just tired, that’s all. The both of them found a meaty human yesterday, filling them up nicely. Sans hadn’t felt so satisfied in a while, though the hunger would come back soon enough.

“i didn’t say ‘i’m gonna stay in the house’.”

“BUT THAT’S WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.”

“i promise i’m not trying to be lazy,” Sans sighed, “i’m gonna go check on the traps then, bro.”

“…” Papyrus seemed to be mulling over Sans’ words… then he perked up. “THAT’S GOOD BROTHER! I WILL BE ACTIVELY HUNTING WHILE YOU ARE… PASSIVELY HUNTING? KIND OF?” He tapped his chin, “NYEHEHE, YES! THIS CAN WORK. WE COVER TWO DIFFERENT THINGS AT THE SAME TIME!”

Papyrus confidently marched down to the door, past the bony remains of their meal from yesterday. better get rid of that soon, or else someone’s gonna get attracted to the smell… Sans thought as Papyrus swung the door comically wide.

“SEE YOU LATER, BROTHER!” Papyrus waved to him, “AND YOU BETTER BE OUT SOON AFTER ME!” He slammed the door shut.

“yup.” Sans answered quietly, knowing he won’t be able to hear him anyways. He lumbered down the stairs heavily, every one of his steps making the stairs creak and groan from his full unrestrained weight. Sans had subconsciously traced those ugly cracks in his skull as he mulled over the leftover bones. They’ve already sucked the marrow dry…

Sans picked up a sack that was used for carrying vegetables they managed to find a few days ago at a shop. He wonders where they were able to find it… or maybe they grew it? nah, if they did they’d be run dry as soon as they were ready for harvest… Sans tapped his chin before shoving the remains into the sack. He’ll just use it to throw these out… He’ll keep the sack. Might be useful for carrying struggling humans.

After quickly dumping out the bones without much thought into the snow outside (after walking a good distance away from his house), Sans trudged his way into the forest, taking note of the large boot prints made by Papyrus. No one else was out at the time… Who would be? Unless a human somehow made its way here, this place is practically a ghost town.

Sans didn’t even bother teleporting, he just trudged through the snow with his boot covered feet- he found them some time ago at the dumps where human stuff would fall down. Miraculously they were big enough for him to fit. He wondered how fulfilling that human would be had they fell down…. Already, Sans was drooling at the thought of human flesh.

Sans and Paps had many traps throughout the forest. It was kind of “their territory”. Other monsters can come in and out and hunt as they pleased, but the puzzles and traps were all theirs. They were the ones on top of the food chain here. Though sometimes,desperate monsters would sometimes try to take a human from the traps they had. Sometimes Sans found a trap to be activated only to see that only a leg was left in it, the rest already chomped off. If Sans was there when a monster was trying to steal his and his brother’s meal… they’d be dust in a matter of seconds.

Sans went to the ‘trap tree’, the ones where he had put wires to the traps all running underground (heh) to this thing that could tell him if he had caught something in one. He couldn’t be wasting what little precious energy he had left, that even then was still constantly spilling out of the hole in his head. So while setting this up was tedious, it was very helpful in the long run. Made things easy.

He opened the latch on the tree, inspecting the tiny buttons and levers that were inside. Though they had many traps in Snowdin forest, that didn’t mean they always had something for him and his brother all the time. There were strings of days when Sans sighed when he saw nothing had been triggered.

Sans’ socket, which had been lidded over his blown red eyelight- widened, and he seemed to have ‘woken up’ for real when he saw one switch in the opposite direction, triggered. Oh, this was a good week for him and Papyrus. He saw one or two more also triggered, thankfully in close proximity to each other. He could walk through them in tandem.

Though he’s careful to have his hopes up too high… The world seems to have this way of making fun of him when he thinks things were going to get better. Like when he only found a monster getting stuck in the traps, or an especially heavy piece of wood had fallen off a dead tree… Like when Frisk left them all to starve-

Sans grin twitched upwards in an awkward angle, his smile eerie. This trap had nothing in it. A growl escaped him as he looked at it. This was one of the traps that he’d made sure wouldn’t cause bleeding from any humans that got caught in it- careful of the smell, so that it wouldn’t attract anyone else in the Underground. how the hell did they manage to get out of that one? It was one of the more traditional net traps, a big one at that. If they stepped on the edge they would’ve gotten thrown in easily with how quick it was to snatch anyone unlucky enough to step in it.

He looked at the snow around it, and sure enough, he saw tracks in it. From how deep the snow was he couldn’t make out the footprint exactly… But at the very least, the tracks were thinner than any monster around here would make. Definitely walking on two legs.

nimble little fucker… He thought angrily as he went to the next trap over.

… Nothing either. This one had an axe that would slice the victim to a tree if they went over the trigger. Nothing either. Life, or whatever the hell this was, was fucking with him again.

But… Sans paused. He stood still, and gave the air a small sniff- before his enlarged red orb for an eye darted to the snow near the tree he just passed. Saliva was already building up in his mouth, tongue starting to form from the endless hunger. Blood .

“heh… heh… heh…” He chuckled slowly, taking in the sight. How funny. Whoever was quick enough to avoid the slicing mechanism somehow got injured on the thorns that were all around the forest naturally, poking out of the tree. The thorns had red stained on it, and drips of blood fell on the snow. Sans eyelight dilated as he saw the trail left behind... 

It smelled good .

The little meal better be caught on the next trap over… Or he’ll be pissed. Getting him worked up like this only to give him nothing.

The more he walked towards the last trap he saw triggered today, the stronger the scent became. He licked back the drool that escaped his mouth as the hunger clouded his mind and his ‘stomach’ grumbled. He kept trudging forward. His single eyelight darted around the pillars of bark, looking for movement, a noise, anything.

Sans paused when he heard sounds of struggle.

“Umf… Ugh… Ngh…”

The voice was tiny. He could hear the panic rising slowly in it.

Sans felt a hungry grin stretching out on his face. got you, little mouse.

He stifled a laugh as he stalked forward towards the noise… The voice now going silent and all the noise he could hear was the shifting of clothes against whatever trap had caught whoever it was. That voice didn’t belong to any monster he knew, and considering the red stains he saw earlier, he knew that voice belonged to a human.

The scent of fresh blood hit his nasal cavity, stronger than before. A small whine threatened to escape him- it just smelled so good. Grin stretched wide, he got closer to the clearing that held the trap that had found its target, looking out from the trees-

And froze.

Sans’ single eyelight shrunk to the size of a penny for a second- before blowing wide as it focused with scrutiny onto the human trapped in metal teeth.

There was a tiny human female on the last trap. One of her legs was caught in a bear trap. It was purposefully made so it wouldn’t be strong enough to cut the leg off clean, or to hit any important nerves. It had sunk into her just a bit, only enough to cut into flesh a little. He couldn’t tell how long she’s been there. But blood was already dripping down the trap quite a bit, the scent of iron strong in the air, fresh and raw.

But that wasn’t the reason Sans couldn’t tear his eyelight away from her.

She was a small little thing. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, and didn’t have any sign of stopping soon. She sniffled quietly as she tugged her leg from the trap, causing more blood to flow out of her, eliciting a small “Nh-!” from her. She bit her lips, looking at the trap that had caught her leg with watery eyes, panic and despair building up in her. She started making small pants, interrupted with small little hiccups as she clawed at the metal jaws,  trying to pry them open- only to lose her grip, her hands slipping away from the blood that had stained the teeth, getting her hands red with it as well. She quickly wiped them away at the snow beneath her, staining it. She tried to use her other leg on the trap, pulling on the other part of the trap with her hands, trying to pry them open again. She made strained sounds, her tears and blood continuing to flow as she just couldn’t do it. She slipped again, falling onto the snow on her back, her leg still stuck in the trap. She took a few breaths, looking at the trap… Her crying started up again, and she shakily got her hands on the trap, trying once again.

… Sans felt… sorry(?)

She was wearing a jacket that was definitely not good enough for the temperatures here in Snowdin. It was thin. Made from soft, comfortable fabric sure, but not enough. It was too thin. She was wearing long pants too but it was getting soaked from both blood and melted snow. And he knew with an exposed injury like that, she could get frostbitten alarmingly fast.

… Why isn’t Sans moving to get his food. Why is he frozen? He’s not the one in the trap. There’s a perfectly healthy, bleeding human in front of him. He has food, doesn’t he? Why isn’t he moving?

His eyelight continued to contract and dilate at the small form in front of him, continuing to make small sounds of strained effort, seeing her resolve getting stripped away slowly by the teeth sunk in her leg. He looked at the blood stained limb... then looked at her face.

… His eyelight didn’t move away after that.

pretty.

That was the first thought that came into his mind as he remained focused on your face.

… what the hell was that? Why is that the first word that came to mind when he was looking at food? He’s supposed to e a t humans-

His train of thought was immediately cut off by a barrage of words that came out of nowhere.

hurt.

afraid.

small.

weak.

fragile.

she’s bleeding

she’s cold

she’s going to die if i leave her there

don’t die

don’t let her die

… What was wrong with him?

His eyelight darted back and forth to the trees around him. Everything felt intense all of a sudden. Something was building up in his chest. Was it… Panic? Fear? Was he sensing the monster in the forest approaching?

… No. He was scared but… He wasn’t scared for himself . He looked back at the human in the trap.

Her broken breaths were getting louder, she kept sniffling with hiccups in between that sounded soul melting weak. Her face was getting wetter and wetter and she quickly wiped it away with the sleeve of her jacket. She moved her elbow to her mouth to muffle her sounds of struggling pain as she just kept trying to open the trap. Sans could see her determination leaking away with every failed attempt, with every tear that was leaking out of her, with the stream of blood that started to stain the snow below the trap. She looked so scared.

… Isn’t that what he’s used to?

He’s seen humans in more pain, when he brought them to the shed to give them maybe just a little more pain than necessary. Just for fun. Sans deserved a little fun in this miserable world, didn’t he? He’s seen broken humans with broken bodies that were choking on their own blood, scrambling away from him when he brought his axe down on them. This shouldn’t be anything to him.

But…

Thump.

Sans shot his hand to his ribcage, gripping it with intensity. His soul was acting up all of a sudden, as his eyelight continued to stay focused on the human in front of him. He started to sweat, eyelight narrowed, looking down on himself. 

what… what is this?

It was beating wildly in him, and that made him panic a bit. What’s happening to his soul? Was something going to happen? Sans took a quick look around and, and- he sensed nothing else other than the human that he’d been watching. His breathing was shallow and quick, his other hand had shot up to his empty eyesocket, hooking two fingers into it and tugging harshly , as he gripped onto the ribcage above his soul.

What is this… emotion that was coming out of him? He didn’t recognize it. It felt intense and it made his soul run wild but it wasn’t fear. But it did make him feel panicked. He’s never felt like this before. What was different? He only felt this the moment he saw…

You …

He gulped a few more breaths before bringing up his eyelight to you again when he heard sobs.

You’ve left a hand on the trap, looking at it as you pressed your blood stained palm to your mouth, face seeming to slowly change into that of resignation as you continued to stare at the trap. Your chest was rising and falling erratically, and Sans could see you shivering violently.

He felt his soul pulsed again, overwhelming his mind as he clawed his own ribs and gripped at his socket.

small.

hurt.

scared.

He had to protect her.

Had to keep her warm.

Feed her.

Put her somewhere safe.

can’t leave her alone

She needed him-  

He needed her-

Sans took a shaky breath, eyelight dilating and shaking, feeling overwhelmed. He felt so much just looking at you.

you...

You were his soulmate.

His soul was pounding for her, tugging him towards her. He could feel her soul from this distance, and he felt like it was calling out to his. You were weak and cold and suffering- He needed to change that. He needed to bring you home, he needed to take care of you, keep you away from this awful world. There was this overwhelming need to protect you.

He’s only just met you- but you were his. And he was already in love with the little thing in front of him.

He needed to keep you.

You kept your hand on your mouth, the image of your bloody ankle in the trap blurry from the tears that had been coming out non-stop from your eyes.

Your tears were cold on your cheeks. The snow on your thighs and back were cold. Everything was just cold.

Your pants were wet from all the running you’ve done in this cruel forest. You have tried your best to keep warm- but now you can’t even move much without sending jolts of pure pain through your body. The smell of your own blood mixing with the metal trap that had caught you was making you sick. You wanted to throw up. It didn’t help that you were watching it drip down your ankle onto the snow below, and the fact that you had smeared it on your face, on your mouth, to keep yourself silent.

This was it. You were going to die here. Getting eaten by some monster who wouldn’t think twice about your life- going straight for your throat to crush it, then eating you without a second thought. The smell of fresh blood is probably attracting at least one of them over to you- probably the one that had set this trap.

You hated your thoughts- it was doing nothing to make you less miserable. What have you done to deserve this?

You climbed mount Ebott with no particular goal in your mind. You lived next to it for quite a chunk of your life, and you never heard much about it. You were curious- Just innocent curiosity, wasn’t it? There was this tugging towards it that you felt in your chest every time you looked at it- Like it was telling you were supposed to go there. Was it wrong of you to listen to it?

The climb itself had been an enjoyable one. You had planned to climb it in the span of a day. You had gotten the bare necessities for it- you didn’t need anything expensive. You were wearing comfortable clothes for moving about, you weren’t going to do any extreme hiking or any of the sort. Just a casual hike up Mt. Ebott, you had thought. You brought a small pack, bringing a bottle, a flashlight, extra clothes, and your phone. The air was fresher and cooler than the town below you, the sun kept you from getting too chilly, and the view was amazing. The chirping of birds and the skittering of small forest critters went by you occasionally. It had been a beautiful day outside.

It was when the sun was coming down, and you were heading home that you remembered you’d left your bag somewhere. You had put it beside you when you were just sitting under a tree to take a break, so you went back to find it.

Instead, you were walking across a bunch of fallen tree branches and dead leaves, crunching through them without a thought in your mind- when they snapped.

You fell.

A scream tore from you as you got scratched by the broken wood from the hole you fell through, and you were surrounded by black. You were falling and you were falling fast- the wind was practically slicing you and your eyes pricked from the cold air that was piercing you. You’re not sure how long you fell- but it took a while before you fell into a thick pile of snow.

You don’t know how long you were there, or how your body wasn’t fractured into tiny bloody pieces, or why exactly you woke up. You were, however, quick to notice the seeping chill from the snow that had covered you and was starting to melt- making that freeze-dry feeling in your skin as you sat up straight with alarm. You felt around your body to check if you were fine, that you were still intact, then blinked. Where… where exactly had you fallen into? You took a look around.

The sky was black. There was nothing on it. And yet there was something that had lit up the place, but it was starting to dim. It felt like dusk. You whipped your head back and forth in a little frenzy to look at your surroundings- snow, and pine trees as far as the eye can see. Anxiety poisoned your bloodstream. What had you gotten yourself into? Your breathing got shallow as cold sweat dotted your face.

You swallowed your increasing panic and shook your head loose of your thoughts. Don’t panic . You told yourself in your head. Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic…

Take a deep breath. That’s it. Stay calm. Panicking never helped anyone, had it? You rubbed your sternum, trying to calm yourself down. You needed a clear head if you wanted to get out of… wherever this is. You gulped down the stress in your throat and stood up, brushing the snow off of you.

First things first, stay warm. You zipped up your jacket and rolled down your pants, stepping out of the snow pile. Your breath went out in little puffs of mist before disappearing into nothing, as you looked around and above. You figured you fell through the mountain and now you were… underground? You looked at the trees around you, baffled. Were these here all along? Were you in some giant cave? It surely must be giant- you couldn’t see the walls of the place. Everything just seemed… endless. Where are you supposed to go? Which direction is which? You stared up again to catch a glimpse of the hole you went through- but found nothing.

Ok… (Y/n)… You tried to breathe evenly, Just… Pick a direction, and keep walking through it until you find something. Keep your head up, it’s ok… you’re ok… You kept reassuring yourself as you rubbed the side of your arms, hunched, walking through the forest.

For the most part of your walk after your fall, things were alright. Not really, since you were lost and you had no way of knowing if you’d ever get out from wherever you were, but nothing much happened.

The forest was set in this eerie silence that spiked your anxiety- it just gave you this feeling that something was going to jump out at you, that something was going to happen. It was like the air was still, that time had stopped, that the forest you were in was just frozen. Nothing moved, nothing rustled. The only things you heard was the sound of your feet crunching the snow under you and your shaky breaths. And all you kept seeing were trees, trees, and more trees. You couldn’t help but feel like something in here was just going to snap and-

You felt air rush to you and this force making sudden impact with you.

“AAAH!”

You screeched as you were shoved to the ground, the chill feeling like needles in your cheek as your face was pushed to the snow and a hand was on your head, something pinning your back, holding your arm. The shock alone had sent your heart into a beating frenzy- you could almost hear it in your ears as someone had held up an especially sharp stick to your neck. Whoever it was was breathing haggardly, panting roughly as they just stayed there, seeing the hand that had the stick pointed to you shaky and tense. You could only breathe shallowly in return, eyes wide.

“… Fucking hell,” The person sighed as they pulled the weapon away from you, letting you give out a relieved sigh. You took a few gasps of air as the male voice let go if his harsh grip on your hair and scalp, leaving you with only a small headache from the impact. Your eyes drooped close from the shock that had left your body exhausted in an instant.

“Thought you were one of them ,”

Your eyes popped back open as you spun yourself around from your position of lying face down on the ground to look at the guy who had tackled you to the ground.

Thank goodness, you thought, I’m not alone here…

You must’ve done something wrong, because the man, seemingly around his mid-twenties, with a torn shirt, a black jacket and black pants, had his face twisted in disgust when you looked at him. It made you self conscious and put a hand up to your cheek. He tsked and turned to leave you, as if he had never tackled you in the first place.

“W-wait!” You called as you hurriedly picked yourself up to follow him- stopping in place when he shot you a glare.

“Fuck off ,” He snapped, making you recoil from his coldness, “I don’t need anyone that’s gonna slow me down in this hell of a place.”

Your cluelessness and need to know made you ignore his cold demeanor. “No, wait- what’s wrong with this place? And who’s… them ..?” You asked cautiously, wary of the way he said “them” earlier.

The guy snorted. “Man, ya new here then? Heh, better reason to not have you around me then.” He gave you a glare and turned on his heel.

The way his clothes were ripped, combined with his attitude told you that you were right about this place. Something was wrong with it. You’re not just going to let this guy who held the information you needed just leave like that-!

You moved to him, and he seemed to ignore you for awhile until it was clear that you intended to follow him- and he spun around with lighting speed and you found yourself pinned against the bark of a tree.

“Listen you bitch ,” He spat, “This place ain’t a good place for humans , you hear me?”

… The way he said that sent a chill up your spine. And it wasn’t from the temperature.

“They fuckin’ eat us. Fucking monsters - can you believe it? And you’d be better used as a diversion than as dead weight .” His grip on you tightened, before he threw you on the ground, into a bush. “Actually yeah… That is a good idea, wouldn’t it?” He picked up the sharp stick he had threatened with earlier, “Maybe I’ll just make you bleed and run, huh?” He held you by the collar again and stepped on your leg as you tried to back away from him- “That would be the best way to…”

He froze, and a look of pure terror came onto his face, his eyes wide and wild as he looked in the direction of the trees beside him. Like a deer in headlights.

He dropped your shirt and-

“ SHIT-!” He screeched as he quickly spun on his heel and dashed away, and you were about to stand up and run away- there was something here-! When you saw this shadow race across your vision in the direction the guy was running towards, and-

“AAGH-“

… You heard the most disgusting sound as his scream was cut off and you heard a wet, warm spit escape him.

Your heart froze. You couldn’t move for a second, it was like you were paralyzed. Then… You slowly rise from the bush, looking at the source of the sound- And you wanted to gag.

It had gotten dark without you noticing by the time the guy found you earlier- harsh shadows were everywhere, pillars of it on the ground from the pine trees around you. And there, just ahead of you…

You saw this huge, dark figure. You couldn’t see anything past his outline, it was completely black. Oddly, they were roundly-shaped, with clothes draped on them, but when you looked at their ‘hands’… They were skeletal. The figure was hunched over the human you met before, this huge thigh bone had… Oh god… Smashed the chest area of the person. The man wasn’t moving anymore. By this point you were thankful that it had gotten so dark- you couldn’t see much of the aftermath, other than some jagged outlines on his chest and a few stray blood splats that had fallen under the dim light from some mysterious source that was coming down on you. You couldn’t move. You stood next to a tree, completely still- you didn’t know if you were supposed to run now. The figure inspected the body, putting aside his weapon, moving his head around and checked his limbs-

Then their head snapped to you, and you saw this huge red light with a pinprick of black in the middle, staring at you.

You didn’t think.

You just dashed.

You don’t think you’ve run that fast in your life before that.

You didn’t even think that what you did was stupid - you just ran and ran as far as your legs could take you through the trees- you don’t even know where you were going. All you thought was get out get out GET OUT-

Your throat burned and your nose felt like it was going to break from the cold, slicing your cheeks and seeping into your shoes. Gratefully, whoever had caught your little ‘acquaintance’ didn’t seem all too interested in you. But you didn’t have a chance to realize that. You just kept running and running until you just couldn’t take it anymore- when you snapped a large twig on your way, throwing you off balance and face first into the snow. Your clothes were wet. You weren’t cold- not yet anyways, from all the running you did. Your inner heat was fighting the cold from the outside, making your hands and legs feel a burning sensation from the melted ice on your skin. Shakily, you pushed yourself off the ground- only to stumble backwards onto a tree, heavily, and slid down to its base. You took a few breaths and… Just laid your head back against the bark.

The person you met (who was now dead) had mentioned ‘them’. And from the way he snuck up on you, you could guess there were more monsters around here. All of them trying to eat humans. You had to stay especially still that night, more still than you’ve ever been in your entire life- at one point you heard a few rustles in the distance, and this horrifying noise of messy breathing. You thanked the stars above that you had no cuts - from the way the guy said it, they were sensitive to smell. Thankfully, whatever was out there moved on from your general area.

You spent the rest of the night crying. You’ve never felt so alone and afraid.

There has to be a way… Am I really going to die here? You thought to yourself in disbelief. You’ve never seen yourself as a physically strong person… And now, emotionally, you were breaking down. It was cold, lonely, silent. All you heard were your quiet sniffles, and the occasional rustling of the leaves- a noise that’d make you jump whenever you heard it. You couldn’t sleep- you didn’t even think about it. At one point, you’d stopped crying and laid your head in your hands on top of folded knees. You emptied your mind for a few moments of quiet, slowing your breaths. 

You can’t just give in just because of what you saw.... You’re not going to let yourself die in the snow like this and give them easy food. You don’t think you’ll be able to fight whatever was stalking through this forest, but… At least you’ll make it just a little bit more difficult if you moved around. You can’t lose hope.

After all, when the light returned at what you supposed was morning, something in your chest seemed to stir. When you looked around the forest then, the light was different. Warmer. And for a moment- something felt right. Something in you told you, you were going to be ok. You don’t know where it came from, but you took it wholeheartedly. You needed the reassurance.

It was time to move.

You reveled in the warmth that came in the ‘morning’, still unsure how the light works around here, and the fact that it had somehow got warmer Underground. You breathed into your hands. You have been rubbing them all night to stop yourself from freezing. You started trekking through the snow, in no discernible direction.

You walked and walked a bit more calmly than you did the day before- it was still silent but the lighting made it feel brighter and instead of frozen or off, the forest just felt calm and quiet. You enjoyed what little noise your feet made against the snow. Crunch, crunch. It kept your ears perked, kept yourself away from the deafening silence that seemed to surround you the moment you woke up in that pile of snow.

Nothing happened for a while. All you did was try to keep yourself warm, watch your own misty breath escape your lips, and walk, and walk, and walk…

Is walking better than sitting still? It should be, right? If you stayed still all you were going to get is a freeze, and you won’t gain any progress. So this is a good thing you’re doing right? You’ll have to eventually find SOMETHING out here. And better moving and keep your blood flowing than just sitting there. It kept you warm. There were no more of those monsters from last night anyways. Best be moving before they appear, right? This is… This is safe, righ-

SNAP!

You leg felt a burning slice as you stumbled to your side onto the snow. W-what hit you? Your heart racing again, pumping harder with the added factor of the cold, making your breath feel lose, and you looked to your side-

There was a rope net, in a closed position hovering above you, hanging limp from a tree.

… These monsters were hunting for humans. You should’ve… You should’ve realized that active hunting wasn’t the only option around-!

You were lucky, weren’t you? There must be loads of traps like this all around the forest, if the monsters here are desperate enough to eat humans . You’re pretty sure no humans lived permanently here. If the monsters’ diets were made out of them, then they must be getting them from humans who fell through the mountain- like you.

… How often did humans fall down here?

You shook your head. It couldn’t be often enough. You haven’t even seen any of them clearly, but judging from the information you’d just ordered in your head… They must be pretty desperate. You’re literally walking dead meat in a world of hungry monsters.

You felt stupid. You had to be careful!

You took a few more breaths, steadying yourself. Your eyes narrowed on the trap for a few seconds, before turning to walk again. You’ve never seen traps set for humans before. What should you be looking for? A rope? String? Weird mounds in the sno-

You catch yourself tripping over a thin wire near the base of a tree.

You threw yourself forward, falling into a group of thorns sticking out of the snow in the tree, making a weak cry as they pierced through several places- but only from the surprise. They didn’t stab into you or anything- just leaving tiny marks on your side through the clothes. 

A loud, sickening CHUNK was heard from behind you. You turned around- and saw that a huge AXE had swung down on the tree, crushing the bark into splinters, setting into it deeply.

… You have a feeling you won’t last long out here.

You feel yourself bleeding under your clothes, and you start to panic silently. It wasn’t much, but… could they smell it? Could they smell you? You stumbled backwards, eyeing the axe that would have definitely cut you in half if you hadn’t thrown yourself so quickly-

Crack!

You stepped on a twig- but you didn’t know that. The sound had sent your rising anxiety into a period of panic, as your instincts took control of you and made you run in the other direction- without paying attention. You bumped into trees, tripped on some roots, causing more scratches on your already thin clothing-

SNAP.

You shrieked.

You fell to the ground for the nth time since you fell down here- and a shot of pain went up from your ankle up into your core- making you whine weakly. One of your ankles had something sharp dug into them, and you couldn’t will yourself to move for a few moments, the pulsing on your ankle and the small twinges of pain that kept throbbing through you kept you from moving.

You took a few steadying breaths, then looked at your feet.

A sort of bear trap that had shut its jaws on your ankle. It was pretty amazing how it hadn’t cut your feet clean off- or that it had only firmly gripped your ankle, puncturing it not too deep, considering the size of the thing. You could still feel your leg so it didn’t cut anything important. Other than the threat of the cold, your foot was going to be fine.

…

If you could get it out from the trap first.

And you were bleeding.

And you’re trapped now.

You couldn’t move.

Even you, with the sense of smell of a human, could smell your blood tainting the air with metal. And you hadn’t  been very quiet when you got caught, didn’t you? Your eyes started to sting- but you quickly took a gulp of air before trying on the trap.

“Mmgh… Mmf…”

You gripped both sides of the trap, trying to pull it apart.

…

Fuck… You couldn’t even get a grip on it. Your hands kept slipping away- and you were starting to shake from the cold and adrenaline that was pumping through your veins, and it wasn’t helping your grip on it.

You have no idea how long you went at the trap. You kept tugging and pulling, eventually trying to use your other feet to add more force onto opening it- failing every time. You got it to open just a sliver- before it shut back tightly around your ankle, causing you to whimper. The tears came out on their own, coming out first out of pain, then soon after, out of fear. You just couldn’t do it. You were so weak .

That’s it then. You’re already dead.

You’re so stupid.

You’re going to die here.

Die, die die…

No. You bit your hand. No, no, (Y/n). Stop that, (Y/n). Stop. Don’t think about it.

You’re not gonna give them an easy meal.

“Umf…Ugh… Nh…”

You were getting desperate. Your icy tears rolling down your cheeks, you continued pulling at the trap in vain. All you managed to accomplish was to smear more blood onto the trap, making it slipperier.

Your ankle was throbbing.

If you couldn’t get a grip on it before, now you were practically just massaging it. All you felt was your slippery blood, and the smell was sickening. The sight was awful. You looked at the slightly rusted metal of the trap, and the fact that its teeth was in your ankle right now... Disgusting.

A loud sob broke out of you.

You quickly shot a hand up to your mouth as you sat there, watching the blood continue to stain the snow below you, the smell causing bile to build in your stomach. Your hands were bloody, and the one muffling your pathetic, weak cries was sending the scent of it slithering up your nose, and you wanted to gag. You felt pathetic. You only spent a day here, trying to grip onto hope, and now you were already feeling hopeless. You heaved and shook, every one of your sob loud and uncontrollable. That, and the slicing air that kept cutting into your throat every time you heaved made you want to cry more. You’re going to die. You grabbed your hair, tugging onto it. Looking at your blood drip down like that… Remembering the death of the survivor yesterday, and just how cruel that finishing blow looked…

You gasped, putting your hand on the trap. You were tired. You were sweating, mixing with the tears that was slowly tapering off. Staring at your bloodied ankle. Eyelids drooping.

So tired.

You breathed. Your mind went blank.

You’re just going to lose more blood if you kept pushing and pulling the trap around. You’re not sure if dying of blood loss or being eaten by literal monsters that you didn’t even know existed was worse.

Guess… I’m just going to die here… Huh? You furrowed your brows, tears building up in your eyes at the thought alone.

So alone.

So cold.

You don’t feel like you don’t have much time left on your hands.

You let yourself sob and sniffle, hiccups escaping you every now and then. You wanted to let it all out. You had been trying to hold it back while you were attempting to free yourself but… You just wanted to stop feeling so horrible. So you just let yourself cry.

…

You were quickly interrupted by a rustle near you.

Your ears became very aware of your surroundings. You went quiet in an instant, dread filling you. Shit… You hadn’t picked up your head to look at whatever it was near you. You evened your breaths as best you could, then your head snapped to look at-

Oh my god.

Are you ok?

He looks hurt.

You have to help him.

Who did this to him?!

You blinked a couple of times, slightly overwhelmed by the rush of emotions and thoughts that flooded your mind for a second there, the moment you saw the monster standing in the trees. You focused on them and… Your heart fell into your stomach.

Red light.

A huge, bloated, iris-like red light, with a dot of black the size of a pinprick was staring at you, locked. The monster (who- you don’t know why- knew was a he) took a step closer to the brighter light that was coming down on you… The skeleton from yesterday.

He was terrifying. His clothes- a worn down t-shirt, blue hoodie, and white-striped black pants- were all tattered and ripped in a couple of places. Like they’ve been through a lot of skirmishes. And that off-white shirt… No doubt had blood stained on it. His blue hoodie had lost most of its vibrance, muted. He had a huge, unbelievably sharp-toothed grin on him, his sockets deep and rough, one of them empty and lax, the other completely filled with… the red iris, staring down incessantly on you. But… All that wasn’t what you paid attention to.

The moment you saw it, something painful shot through your chest, and you don’t even know why.

A huge, gaping hole was on his skull, the most jarring thing about him. It was jagged and messy, and inside was completely black. Looking at it… Felt so wrong. Like it’s not supposed to be there- never supposed to be there. You should never be able to look into his skull. It looked like it hurt. You were… you were… sad terrified looking at it.

Your breath became a short gasp as you took in his image, and you froze. Your muscles tensed and your eyes widened while your pupils tightened. He was huge. He wasn’t even near you yet but you knew he would loom over you. He wasn’t just tall either- he was wide, and had a lot of girth. Even without his terrifying features, his size alone would have been enough to scare you away.

He didn’t look stable. He looked like he could kill you- and just from the way he looked at you, you felt like he could snap you like a twig without putting in much effort.

You felt concerned for him… But you had to run away. You had to get away- no matter how conflicting your feelings were- worried and terrified out of your mind- Monsters here were out to eat you. He must’ve wanted to eat you too… Your breath came back, short and panting from the panic that was building back up in you, like tension in a rubber band that was stretched way too wide, your instincts and adrenaline telling you to run-

… But you can’t. You have been trying to get this trap off of you for… god knows how long. And even if you did manage to get it off you with this fresh load of adrenaline pumping through your veins… You’re pretty sure this was the same monster that killed the survivor yesterday. And you saw just how fast he was. Not only in chasing your crude acquaintance, but in killing him too. You remembered the quick yet brutal death. If you got yourself off of this, it would have been pointless anyways. You didn’t stand a chance.

Your breaths, deep and fast, slowed down a bit.

You didn’t stand a chance.

The monster, like you, was stood frozen in place from his position of looking at you, gazes locked onto each others. Your eyes drooped after awhile, hot breath freezing in front of your face. You couldn’t do anything. You’re not even sure why this guy hadn’t tackled you to the ground and snapped your neck already- But you were definitely pretty much dead now. Right? Your shoulders fell from their previous tense position and your body slumped. You were completely at his mercy, now.

The skeleton blinked. You don’t know how he did that but… After a few more seconds of staring, he started to move forwards to you, step by slow step. The snow crushing beneath his weight and the boots he was wearing.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Your brows slanted, your face looking defeated. You wish he’d end it already.

He came closer.

Why is he moving so slowly…? Did he purposefully want your insides so tense?

Step. Step.

He was moving so slow that your body had tensed up again, your previous resignation leaving you for a second.

He was getting close.

You had started to look up with every step he took, from how tall he was. You grit your teeth before letting go, your breath getting unbelievably shaky, and your body had started to shiver violently, from both the cold and just how scared you were.

… He was in front of you.

His shadow fell over you, completely covering you. He loomed above you, your neck craning to meet that huge red light of his. His smile wasn’t as wide as before, but it was still unnerving from how toothy they were. They were slightly in a straight line, as he just… Just stood there, head above you, looking down at you without blinking. His (eye?)light shifted slightly in the socket- below the huge crack in his skull- darting around in the slightest, as  if he was studying you. Your mouth was opened in the slightest to breathe. You don’t know what’s going to happen- you just stayed still, staring back at him.

Then… He moved.

A skeletal hand, a huge skeletal hand started to move towards you, slowly, carefully, almost cautiously. You flinched away a little from his approaching hand, sinking into the snow a little. You couldn’t help your reaction. Your body tensed up, hands bended in front of your chest in a fist, Instinctively trying to defend yourself.

His hand made contact with your shoulder, making your fingers twitch as it did. He put a firm yet gentle grip on it, as his eyelight fell onto the trap on you.

He stomped one of his boots on it, making you jump from the suddenness and the absolute force it came down with when it did, the grip on your shoulder getting firmer. His other hand shot down to the jaw of the bear trap, gripping onto it. Then… He pried it open, fully, setting it back into the snow as your ankle was finally freed.

Your eyes widened. It was… It was so easy to him- he didn’t even put in any effort! You had half a mind to try to get out of his confusingly soft grip- but even if you didn’t see the display of his strength just in front of you before, the hand on your shoulder… you could feel how much power it held back, holding onto you. With that one hand, he could crush your bones if he wanted to. So you stayed tense and frozen, continuing to stare at the open trap under you in disbelief. You blinked, heart racing- then looked back up at the skeleton.

He had been still for a moment after opening the trap for you, and you saw that now his eyelight was trained onto your injured ankle, then narrowing in his socket, and a deep frown forming on his face. Oh no… is he… is he hungry looking at it? The thought caused your breaths to quicken, as your eyes darted back and forth from his face to your bloodied ankle. You bit your lip as he very very gently felt it with his free hand… Expecting him to grab onto it and bite it.

… Instead, he pulled his hand away.

Then he reached over you, hands moving to the sides of your shoulders- and picked you up, quickly cradling you into one of his arms, close to his chest. One arm securely fastened around your upper back around your arms, and the other below your knees.

… Weirdly enough, despite the smell of blood, despite the danger he posed, all you could think of was that… he was warm. And he held you comfortably, despite probably being made entirely of bone. Instinctively and unconsciously, you had nuzzled the tiniest bit into his chest as you seeked out his warmth.

The monster stayed still- he hadn’t moved an inch since he fixed his hold on you.

You shivered.

… You squeaked when he pressed you closer to his chest, feeling his ribcage in the slightest under the softness of his clothes- your body appreciating the extra warmth it gave. The hand under your knees went up fully to your back as the other one left it- Suddenly realizing he was carrying you up in one arm with ease. He tucked his old tattered hoodie over you before his other arm wrapped around your upper body again, over the jacket, his other arm returning to its position under your lower body.

Then, his eyelight- which had stayed trained on you, watching himself hold you properly and securely- went up into the distance.

Then he started walking, your body tensing as you try to wrap your head around what was happening to you at this moment.

The moment Sans let himself step out of the shadows and a little into the light towards you… You stopped that crying- the one that had broke his soul in two to look at- your breath frozen. He didn’t see the little tiny wisps that came out of your mouth anymore. It was obvious you heard him… He wasn’t trying to hide himself from you. He wanted you to know he was there… He wanted you to know him . He won’t hide from you. After a second, your had snapped to look at him, and…

For a split second, your eyes flashed concerned and worry, for him- before turning to that of fear. But he saw it- the way your eyes widened and this… Overwhelming wave of concern and care he felt coming out of your soul the instant he caught you catching a glimpse of his injury. You felt it too, whether you knew it or not. Your soul must’ve known, must’ve sensed his- your soulmate. But… Humans didn’t know about monsters, let alone their own souls. You didn’t consciously recognize him… But Sans was fine with that. He didn’t care… That flash of worry for him was enough to make him melt- when had someone last looked at his injury and not feel disgusted by it, let alone by a human that didn’t know anything about him yet?

His soul was tugging him towards you.

As he stepped forward, he saw your eyes wandering up and down him, taking in all you could of his image. It made him feel proud- but incredibly, incredibly self conscious. Was that what that was? When has he ever felt self conscious? He’s never felt self-consious, even back when he was still…

… Did he look enough for you?

i am. He told himself as he took another step towards you. He’s your soulmate. You’ll have to love him no matter what- like how he loved you without ever even holding a conversation with you.

He was stepping slowly, cautiously towards you. He didn’t want to make any sudden movements that might scare you off. But… Every step he took towards you, he saw your previously dimming eyes start to spark fear. His grin strained wider at the sight, not because he was happy to see you scared no- He was upset. He knew he looked monstrous but… You had no reason to be afraid of him. Other humans, yes, he didn’t give a fuck about their lives and whether they’d get hurt or not. But you were his soulmate. He wished he could just… Show you that. It was so hard for him not to dart forward and take you away- so seeing you looked so scared broke his soul.

When he got to you, a sudden, imminent realization hit him. He knew you were small before, but… From your sitting position, in the snow, craning your neck to look at him… You were tiny. So small. His hand could easily cover your face. You were so cute and small to him. Made him want to protect you more than he already felt. He wanted to hide you away from the world, from the Underground… Keep you to himself and give you his love. He hated seeing you look so scared and weak and hurt- He had to get you out of the trap.

Gently, he crouched down so he can reach you, a steady hand grabbing your shoulder gently. You flinched, and you started to shake violently, squeezing your eyes shut at the contact. Sans wanted to cry. no, baby. His mind called, you’re safe, you’re safe… you’re mine, i’ll never let you get hurt again.

But he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He was overwhelmed by the affection that was building up in him at the sight of his soulmate. He’s never felt such intense positive feelings since… since he raised Papyrus probably. But this time, it was different. So different. He’s never felt something like this before. He kept his hand on your shoulder so he could steady you, and so you wouldn’t run away- from the way your body tensed at his touch, he knew you wanted to bolt. And that wouldn’t be good for either of you… Seeing someone run away from him might trigger his predatory instincts to hunt you down, and that would just scare you more and agitate him. He had to be careful with the delicate thing…

He stomped the trap, maybe a bit harder than he’s supposed to. He’s the one who set the trap in the first place, but he felt angry at it, at himself , that it got his soulmate hurt, even if it did lead him to find you in the end. Shit, you were so tiny… Your tiny hands couldn’t pry these awful jaws off you. i’m so sorry. He silently apologized to you as he gripped onto the bear trap, opening it with ease. From the way you stared at it, he knew you were in a bit of a shock from how easily he opened it. so precious. He awed in his mind as he looked at your surprised face, it’s not your fault, sweetpea. this was made so that humans can’t open them… He didn’t want to call you weak, but… You couldn’t survive here on your own, humans were so fragile. He had always sneered at how easy it was to kill them but now it seemed to be biting him in his non-existant ass. That applied to you too. You could die from the cold alone, a hit to the head, a snap in your spine, blood loss… So many things. He’s not going to let you die on him, not when he just found you.

He gripped onto you harder since you were off the trap, as he inspected your ankle… Cursing at himself from how bloody it looked. Any other time he’d be salivating, the sight and scent of blood calling to his hunger, signaling him he was going to eat soon. But this just made him angry. i’m so sorry baby… he regretted as he felt the little punctures in your soft skin it made. He’s going to need to heal you. But first…

He held you by your sides, again, amazed at just how small you were compared to him. You squeaked in the slightest from the grip, making him melt. So cute… But he knew you made that sound from the fear. i’m yours, i’m yours… you’re mine, you’re ok… He cooed in his mind as he cradled you close to his chest, putting your head close to his SOUL, one hand around your upper body, the other supporting your legs. He made sure you were comfortable in his hold, that he wasn’t holding you awkwardly. You seemed comfortable by it…

His sockets widened when he saw you nuzzle into his shirt subtly. His shirt that was stained by blood and dirt- and you nuzzled into it. He’d miss it if he wasn’t looking your face for any signs of discomfort… It made his soul swell with pride.

He noticed that you were shivering slightly, your nose and cheeks dusted with red, that, honestly, looked adorable but- you were cold. You felt cold. He needed to fix that.

He kept you close to his chest as he took his hoodie over your tiny body, tucking you into it. You seemed surprised by this- although you seemed startled by everything he did. It was precious… You’ll get used to it with some time. He protectively wrapped his arms around you again, before his eyelight finally picked up from you- sure that you were snug and comfortable with him- and started to walk in the direction of the river.

He was lucky you were caught in the trap near the river- sure it was ice cold but he could still clean your wound up. He could do it at home but- he needed magic to heal you and with the hole that bitch put in his skull, he needed to pay attention to how much of it he used at a time.

You were shivering slightly in his hoodie, and Sans couldn't help but snuggle your tiny body closer to him, putting your knees on his arm, putting you in a sitting position against his ribs- his other hand coming to your clothed back to rub slow circles around it, making a little friction that'd hopefully warm you up.

He saw your face shift a little, from fear and confusion into just tired, accepting his physical contact as you melted in his arm.

"........" Sans' eyelight refused to move away from you, huddling into his hoodie on instinct like that. You looked so scared and unsure of him, yet here you were letting him cradle you with little to no fight- it gave him the illusion that you trusted him.

Made him want to keep you close to his chest and hold you forever.

He finally willed to pull- no, tear his eyelight away from the infinitely better view of you in favor of watching where he was going, hearing the quiet stream of icy cold water flowing ahead of him. While snow no longer heals like it used to ever since things went to shit… At least the water was still clean. They might be hungry, but they weren’t thirsty. His eyelight flitted to your tiny form in his hold again, seeing your head perk up a bit at the noise as well, trying to peak out of his hoodie, nervously. Like a scared little bunny peaking out of their safe little place… him.

Made him want to nuzzle you… but you look confused enough as you are. He’ll show you who you are to him when he gets into a safer place with you. Not that he’s ever in any danger now, nor would he let for the life of him let anything hurt you, now that he had his SOULmate.

He stopped short of the river, watching the clear, pristine water make relaxing sounds as it whirled about near the snow. You could practically ‘hear’ and ‘smell’ how cold it was. He hoped it wouldn’t be too chilly…

Gently, he set you down on the snow, and he saw you trying to stand on that hurt ankle of yours.

He can’t allow that.

“sit.”

Your head whipped to him, surprised at his deep, cold, strong voice. You looked like you didn’t expect him to speak to you at all, which he couldn’t blame you for. He wasn’t a monster with words ever since his skull got blown. He preferred not to speak at all if he could help it but… he needed you to listen to him.

“… sit.” He commanded again, gently yet firmly, still supporting you by your shoulders, not letting you in your weakened state put any weight on your ankle.

You looked away, unsure before you answered him. “Um… ok.”

Sans could feel a light tint of blue come across his cheekbones for a moment… your voice… it’s… so small and cute. gotta… gotta protect you.

He crouched beside you before pulling your injured leg straight, careful not to press into your wound as you were wincing when he was setting your leg down next to the riverbank. “‘m gonna… gonna take your shoe off.” He told you.

You gave him a look before he just pulled your shoe off. He didn’t want you freezing out here, and if your shoe got soaked that’d hurt you in the long run. we can’t stay out here too long. i don’t want you staying out here too long. The scent of your blood was wafting through the trees… He knows he’ll sense them when someone’s there, but you never know what to expect nowadays. dangerous for you.

He put your shoe to the side before picking your bare foot in his hands gently- oh hell, my hands’r still bigger than her feet… so small… pushing your back to encourage you closer to the river, dipping your foot into the water.

You made a little peep at the sudden coldness, quickly grabbing onto your leg and seeing your foot flinch away a little. He shushed you and kept your foot still in his hand, keeping it in the water. just for awhile baby. He gave your injury small gentle strokes to clean the blood off of it, enough to jostle it around and let the water lift it away from you, taking your foot back out when he deemed it clean enough, when blood had stopped pouring out of it as much. When he looked back at you, you were back to shivering violently again, breath broken and loose, teeth chattering while you rubbed your hands over yourself, looking like you were about to shatter any moment now. poor baby… His soul practically broke at the sight, and he mentally apologized to you for keeping you here so long. we’ll be home soon, sweets. Your nose and cheeks were flushed red from the cold. He can’t help but think it was cute, but he knew it’d be bad if he left you like that.

Speaking of your face… there was blood on there too, smeared when you were trying to cover your mouth.

“stay still.”

You look like you were about to say something until you sucked in a sharp breath when his phalanges brushed against your chin. Sans’ sockets widened, his soul pounding harder as he takes a moment to feel your face. Your skin felt so soft… he wanted to touch your face, run his phalanges down your cheeks, hold your neck… but he’s distracting yourself.

His other hand dips into the water, gathering it, before he lifts it and touches you tentatively by the cheek. You hiss at the coldness and he wishes he could give you warm water right now… but you needed to be clean first. He makes swift strokes with his thumb over your cheeks, getting the blood off of you, slowing down as he feels the plumpness of you, how smooth your skin was that his thumb glided over it… he wanted to cup your cheeks. Thumb on one side and the other 4 fingers on the other, and squish you, it just felt so nice. His eyelight fixates on your face as you slowly open your eyes again when you’ve gotten used to the cold water, letting him stroke your face. Sans didn’t even realize he was just stroking your face now until he saw that there was no longer blood on your face. He dipped his fingers in the water to let it run off, and he took it out again to wet the tips of your hair.

A soft gasp went through Sans’ teeth as he touched your face. That was soft too… He could feel them starting to stick to his wet phalanges, and he took his other hand from your chin to your hair, to feel it dry on his fingers. It was… like silk… his eyelight dilates as he runs his phalanges down, the strands snagging in the slightest when he reaches the tips but untangling easily when he comes off of it. He wanted to grab it and hold your head there… but he’s getting distracted. He can enjoy you later. He runs his wet phalanges on the tips of your hair where he can see the drying blood clumping your hair together, leaving little red stains on his phalanges. He keeps rubbing them until it seems clean enough, and he washes his hand.

He quickly wiped away the residue water from your feet before quickly slipping your sock and shoe back on, picking you up like a baby and keeping you to his chest again, in the same position as before, hidden behind his hoodie and making you sit on his forearm while the other hand tucked you into him. He made sure you weren’t hurt or anything, watching that your ankle didn’t rub against the fabric of his clothes… and he saw your face, again, looking away from his chest and a confused dip in your eyebrows told him you didn’t know what to expect from him. He wished humans were more knowledgeable about souls… Because he saw you feel it too when you looked deep into his sockets, a small spark of the connection flying between the two of you. You didn’t understand what it meant…

You’ll know soon. He’ll make sure you do.

You hold onto the tattered shirt of the skeleton as he trudges to the forest, completely silent, apart from his own footsteps and the sound of running water slowly fading away. Your heart is no longer pounding in your chest hard enough that you could go back to focusing on what’s happening. You tilt your head up to look at the skeleton carrying you, then down to your ankle.

You could feel the cold nipping your face and ankle, still slightly wet from when he washed the blood off of you. He’d done it so tenderly and carefully… you never expected someone as big as him to be able to clean you with such gentleness. He has softly shushed you as he rubbed his phalanges against your bloodied ankle, careful not to poke into the puncture wounds and only working around it. The water was freezing and it stung your wounds when he first put it in, but after a while you started to get used to it, paying attention at how he almost massaged you.

Then he touched your face too. What felt bad at your ankle felt worse on your face, but his phalanges had started to warm the water a bit and it was like he was cleaning a baby, gently rubbing your cheeks before working on your hair. He held your chin, but it wasn’t restraining or harsh- just enough to let you know where to keep your head. Then he picked you up again and tucked you behind your hoodie…

You know he’s dangerous. But something about how carefully he handled you… it left you feeling warm and soft despite the cold nipping on you.

You don’t understand. You’re pretty sure you saw him yesterday, when he took out that man. He had struck a violent killing blow on him, doing things to his body you wouldn’t dare think about, the sounds alone enough to make your skin crawl. And now… he was carrying you like some precious cargo, cleaning you and shushing you.

His arms start to shift, and you feel your weight moving to the one arm on the side of the hoodie that’s covering you, sliding down from your back to under your thighs. You knew he only did so for convenience, but you still jolted a bit when you feel it slide under. His other arm trailed slowly from your knees to your lower legs, and his phalanges curl around your ankle. A nervous sound bubbles up and into your mouth, not knowing what he’s going to do. You don’t know what you were expecting, but it was certainly not the sensation of tingling sinking into your leg. It felt weird and foreign and it made you feel sparks in your puncture wounds, and you squeaked as you tried to move your leg away from his hand.

His phalanges curl tighter, keeping it from budging.

“shh, shh… it’s ok little thing. ‘m not hurting.” the skeleton hushed, bringing his skull closer to the top of your head as he lightly massages your ankle.

You don’t realize you’d shrunk on yourself, eyes shut with hands gripping onto your upper arms as if you were expecting him to rip your leg off, or something. After everything he’s done…

You slowly open your eyes, peeking out of your eyelids to see what he was doing to you. A soft green glow could be seen ‘leaking’ out of his phalanges, surrounding your ankle, leaving that tingling feeling wherever the glow touched you. It slowly started to fade soothing over time, and your eyes widen when you see some of the wounds seeming to patch up on its own, way faster than you’d ever seen wounds heal. It’s like watching a timelapse, except this is happening in real time.

You look up at him, and seeing how he talked with you earlier… maybe you can talk with him too?

“... What are you doing to me?” you asked nervously, one hand clinging onto his shirt instinctively.

“‘m healing.” He answered simply. “healing you.”

“... why are you healing me?” you wondered aloud, unable to help yourself but sigh when you feel that warm glow bobbing around your ankle and driving all your pain away.

“you were bleeding.” he said, as it looked like he was trying to focus more on your ankle, his socket narrowing in concentration. “not good.”

He doesn’t want me to hurt? … no that can’t be it, he probably wants to stop me from bleeding so no one else can smell me. But if he wanted to eat me, then… he would’ve killed me as soon as he saw me, right?

What’s going on?

“B-but why are you carrying me like this?”

“your leg. hurt. bleeding.” He says shortly, voice calm and cool like the snow around you. “... can’t let you just stand on it.”

But he’s holding me so gently…

“also. because i want to.” his voice interrupts your thoughts, and you feel him pull you closer to his chest, and you can feel… something almost pulsating underneath the ribcage you could feel through his clothes, like he had a heart. Except it was different… not like a human heart, at least. It pulsed, yes, but there was this sort of… hum to it. Steady with energy, and it made your chest feel warm, for some reason.

Your heart thumped a bit faster.

After a bit of more walking, in one direction with a couple of sure turns here and there, you get the feeling that he knows this forest in and out. After a while, the chilly atmosphere overtaking the both of you, the sounds of his footsteps consistent and stable, providing you with a sense of calm. You’ve started to warm up, his body heat keeping you warm, especially now that you were behind his hoodie. You’d never even expect for a skeleton to even have body heat, but… you kept finding yourself leaning into him.

“Where is this?” You spoke, after another stretch of silence.

“underground.” he answered, brief like the rest.

… Well that’s helpful… you thought. Maybe it doesn’t have a name? Or is it actually called the Underground?

Since he seems happy enough to be answering your questions (though you feel like they’re all either going to be short or vague), you decide to ask him another one.

“... where are you taking me?” He has to be going somewhere , with that look in his eyelight you’re pretty sure he isn’t just walking around the forest like some kind of nomadic predator.

The skeleton doesn’t answer you for a moment. His eyelight was now looking straight ahead, fixed, like he could see his destination, his phalanges still gently curled around your ankle, still healing you. It was almost completely healed now, you could already feel that “itchy scab” sensation, the pain mostly non-existent. You think that maybe he didn’t hear you or maybe he’s just ignoring your question, but then you see his eyelight shrink and dilate, like a camera lens.

“... home .”

...

A silent chill runs up your spine when he says that, and it had nothing to do with the cold. Something deep in your chest was reacting to him, and you weren’t sure why you felt this sense of right when you hear that word. No, this isn’t home… you belong on the surface.

Your heart races from your internal struggle, and you look back up at him. You wanted to hide from him, but the only place you can hide is… well, him. You gulp. Ok, if he’s this receptive to conversation… maybe you might as well get to know him a bit better. Maybe he could be reasoned with. Maybe he wasn’t so bad.

“... can I ask you something else?”

The skeleton makes a grunt of approval.

“What’s your name?” you tilt your head at him, against the hoodie. The monster’s movements stutter for a second, like your question startled him. Oh, maybe you should’ve told him your name first… “W-well. I can go first. My name’s (Y/n).”

The skeleton actually stops when you say your name, feet planted into the ground with an almost harsh thud. His skull slowly turns and bends down to look at you, and for a moment you’re unnerved from how unnatural he looks doing that, especially with the fact that he’s a skeleton. His eyelight focuses on you before it goes wide in his socket, expression neutral, before a small smile graces the monster’s large, misshapen teeth.

“... sans.”

And just like that, he’s walking again, as if that… odd exchange didn’t just happen.

Something about his name… that new yet oddly familiar feeling appeared in your chest again, trying to tell you something. Like this is something you should know. You feel… oddly comfortable with him. And you know shouldn’t considering what you saw yesterday.

… hm...

You’re about to ask him another question when the hand on your ankle releases for a second to come close to your face, two phalange close to your lips.

shhh…

“stay quiet.” Sans says in a voice so low you almost wouldn’t think he spoke if you didn’t feel the rumbling that came from within his ribcage.

You promptly shut your mouth at that- you don’t know much about Sans or his motivations, but you at least trust he knows what he’s doing.

You take a peek out of his hoodie, and in front of you, you see the trees clearing out to what seems to be some kind of town.

Sans stopped right at the outskirts of Snowdin, staring in, watching for anyone that might be around. Snowdin was a shadow of its past, with monsters having dusted and many having to abandon some of their homes for one reason or another... Sans and Papyrus are by no means the last of Snowdin’s residents, but sometimes it felt like it was.

Even so.

Sans couldn’t risk running into anyone else while he was carrying such precious cargo. Of course, human wasn’t that uncommon underground, it wasn’t an odd thing to see a monster carrying around human… but still. Someone might get hungry enough to challenge him for a meal.

And meal or not, he’s not willing to share you with anyone .

After Sans gently tucked your leg back into his arm, making sure it won’t be seen, wrapping his other arm around you like a baby, he starts to trudge forward. Though he hadn’t sensed anyone nearby, Sans was already on edge, magic pouring out of him, tense and alert. Even you seemed to notice the change in the air. When he glanced down he saw you shivering a bit, your body posture becoming stiff, curling into yourself as you stared a little bit away from his ribcage.

… looking at you, not struggling or screaming, not trying to get away from him. You had no idea how much his chest swelled at that, so happy that you’re willing for him to hold you like this. You asked him earlier why he was picking you up, and though he did tell you it’s because your ankle was hurt and he can’t really expect anyone to catch up with him with something like that…

Honestly. Injury or not, he picked you up because he wanted to.

You felt and looked so petite when you’re tucked into the crook of his arm like that, hidden under his jacket. It was like carrying a small little bunny… warm, heart beating close to his ribcage, short breaths puffing out into little clouds in front of your face, the only movements coming from you was your respiration. Your neutral face looked adorable, and it was easier on him on the soul than that hopeless, terrified face you had earlier.

Sans suspects it must be the fact that he was your soulmate that you hadn’t react adversely to him. You let him gently wash you, and you even spoke to him while he walked home! Granted, he could still hear the nervousness in your voice, afraid that just talking to him would offend him, but it was better than nothing. He’s thankful that you didn’t push him for more… he’d tell you later that he’s not the best with talking, and would usually prefer not to. But… with you, he feels comfortable speaking. You had only been asking about some clarifications, of course, you’d probably only just fell very recently… you don’t know where you are, surrounded by traps and starving monsters, cold and so alone… poor thing. You won’t have to be lost anymore, now that he’s here.

He smiles when he thinks his home is going to be your home too, soon.

He was surprised when you asked him for his name (though in hindsight maybe he should’ve expected that), and then told him yours. Your name rung in his skull for a moment- not the unpleasant kind. It was… like the chime of a bell, your name.

(y/n).

(y/n).

(y/n)....

Such a beautiful name. He almost forgot what your question was, before he told you his.

It made him happy that you wanted to know him more.

Such an odd thing, soulmates were… he’s only known you for less than an hour, and already his soul was calling for you. He wanted to keep you safe, take care of you… you were already so precious to him.

He loved having you tucked into him like this. He wanted to run his hands down your skin, sink his phalanges into your hair, let his tongue run over you so he could taste you-

Something moved.

“Hf-!”

You made a small gasp when Sans stopped abruptly, feet heavy in the ground. The snow went up to the top of the forefoot of his boots. Sans hoped the crunching of snow under him would be loud enough to cover your voice. As he tightens his grip on you, slowly, Sans turned his skull in the direction of the movement he saw earlier.

A scraggy-looking bear in a worn down red jacket slowly came out of the shadows, his fur disheveled, his eyes having a slight red tinge to it. His lips were peeled back, teeth bared, a bit of thick, viscous drool welling near his teeth. Sans watched as his nose twitched, smelling the air, as a the drool drips past his teeth, the bear monster licking it back loudly.

“Oh… hey Sans….” He greeted, casually, as if they still knew each other. Sans hasn’t seen him ever since he got his… injury. Seeing him now… Sans felt like it should’ve stayed that way. It’s obvious that he’s changed, the nice, polite monster long dead.

His fingers tensed around you as the monster didn’t stop approaching… hungry look in his eyes.

“What’s that you’ve got there…? Smells like one… savoury little human…” He breathed, eyeing the little bump on Sans’ hoodie eagerly. He sees Sans’ neutral grin turn into a scowl, eyelight tightening in his socket. The monster only chortled, not moving any closer but not backing away either despite the visible tension on Sans. “C’mon Sans, old buddy… haven’t seen you in a while… I’ve been living near the forest monster for a while now… didn’t mean to lose track of what’s happening. Not that anything’s happening really but… how about you share? Come on, be a good friend and share…”

this guy’s nuts. And that’s coming from Sans . He spoke better than Sans does, clearly, but it’s obvious how detached he is from reality that he’s actually asking for Sans to share a human with him. To even share food with someone he didn’t even know was still alive…

Sans’ arms squeezed you possessively, a snarl on his teeth as he let out a warning growl, eyelight constricting as he stared the other monster down.

“Oh Sans, don’t be greedy.” A dangerous look went over the monster’s eyes, and Sans watched as claws extended from his paws- one of the many things that got exaggerated from the mutating magic that’s happened to everyone ever since the starvation started. They were far longer then they should be, with little razor-like dents underneath them, near the tip. Sans could sense an encounter coming a mile away. “What’s wrong, not willing to share…?”

The monster took another step closer, Sans’ sockets widening-

Shnk.

…

The monster reeled back, the claws disappearing back into his fur, his red eyes wide with his pupils small. Sans could smell his fear, the magic “adrenaline” wafting into the air. Bones were sticking out fo the snow, all arrayed into some kind of odd ivory clump.

Sans was close to breaking. His shoulders tensed, his phalanges digging into the flesh of your thigh that it was close to piercing- he’s impressed you didn’t make a sound, though with how you held onto his shirt, he could tell you were in a bit of pain. But the threat of the monster knowing you scared you into silence.

His scowl had turned into a wide, cheshire grin now, his eyelight almost gone from his socket as his magic saturated the air, making it smell like blood.

“she’s MINE. ”

Sans’ voice boomed over the empty, silent town, fully prepared to kill this monster right now.

no one’s taking you. you’re mine, mine, mine, mine, mine…

His soulmate.

The monster didn’t even speak after that, letting Sans’ magic seep into them for a moment.

if you still try to come and take my mate… you’re dead.

…

The monster turned around to run away, apparent that he’s learned his lesson.

Sans smiled. He finally took the hint.

…

Sans killed him anyways.

A choking sound ringed out, a couple of bones now sticking out of the monster’s chest. The bear tried clawing at it, like if he could somehow take it out, he’d live. He slumped onto his knees, head hitting the snow- and just like that he was dust, soul breaking.

Someone might call him being too drastic in his measures but.

This was for you. He was a threat. He couldn’t have threats around his soulmate. He couldn’t trust them.

Sans almost completely forgot he had a painful, bruising grip on you until he heard a hiccup come from you. You were shivering violently now, even the grip on his shirt was shaking. Your eyes were wide and you were staring at the trees from what little space you could look out of from his hoodie.

You were scared.

it’s fine now. it’s ok. he’s gone. you’re safe.

Sans uncurled his fingers, leaving small little red marks over your skin where he almost punctured you… it’s ok, they’ll heal later. He didn’t mean to hurt you. A hand raised and tenderly brushed your hair- as soon as his phalanges slipped between the strands, you stiffened, breaths coming to a halt.

it’s just you and me.

Sans cooed, as he let his fingers run through the silky locks, a purr starting up deep in his ribcage that vibrated you just a bit. You didn’t have to be so scared. It’s ok now.

Your breaths came into you like little sobs, wracking your chest, your eyes wide. You looked absolutely petrified… you didn’t stop him from petting your head. You really were like a bunny right now. It felt like he was comforting one, as he heard your breaths quicken, a sort of panic filling your eyes.

aw... Sans wish he could show you just how safe he was. But he couldn’t speak- not when the magic has still yet to quell. He knew that face. So completely and utterly afraid, that you just can’t find it in yourself to do anything. Hyperventilating. He’s had that too. But you really didn’t have to do anything. All you needed to do was let him take care of you. He just hoped he could tell you that, as he ran his phalanges down your hair. Sans looked back up, and not so far away, he could see his house.

Soon, you’ll be home. Where you always belonged. Whether he knew it or not… he’s been waiting for you.

Wh…what just happened?!

When Sans entered the ‘town’, there was palpable change in air. It got heavier, almost choking. You’re not even sure why you’ve gotten so afraid…maybe it was the fact that there weren’t any trees around, and they weren’t making any sounds. Or maybe it was because the shadows those trees casted seem too dark, now that you were out of the forest. Maybe it was seeing this empty, abandoned-looking town, worn down. It felt wrong to see the place so empty. There were signs here and there that had lost their colors. One in particular looked like it would’ve been colorful and welcoming to anyone who entered.

“SNOWDIN”...

Now it felt depressing to look at…and gave you this sense of dread, though for what you have no idea.

The sound of Sans’ boots trudging through the snow almost seemed to magnify the choking silence around you. The wind’s gone. Your eyes kept darting into the empty buildings, looking through the dirt-stained windows. Your thoughts are filled with the fear of seeing someone hiding inside, an eye watching you. You don’t know where the thoughts came from, but you were suddenly very thankful that Sans was carrying you right now. He walked carefully, slowly. For someone so large and seemingly so heavy, he made quiet footsteps. The only reason you could hear it so clearly was because there was nothing else to listen to.

Eventually, you decided to just focus on your breathing. Maybe you were close now.

…

You made a startled gasp when Sans’ movements suddenly come to a stop.

A voice.

“Oh…. hey Sans…”

It was somehow both weak and threatening at the same time. There was a gruffness to the voice, like they haven’t drank in days. Their breaths were heavy, and even without seeing who it is, you could hear from how the snow shuffled his balance wasn’t stable.

It was awful, hearing how the monster referred to you as a food item, their drool audible as you heard what you assumed to be their noisy tongue.

And then you heard Sans growl.

It was nothing like you’ve heard from him up until this point. His voice had been deep, yet soft. Almost like a whisper. There was this sort of gentleness to it that you couldn’t quite place, but it made him seem… less intimidating.

This, however. This was intimidating. You didn’t have to ask him to know that growl was a threat. It shook you through your core, loud and frightening. It took everything in you not to let out a cry as you felt his almost claw-like phalanges sink into your thigh. You could feel it dipping into your skin, sure to leave some marks.

The air grew heavier as the monster kept talking...

And then it snapped .

There was a sound of something sinking deep into the snow, in the direction where the monster’s voice was coming from. Your ears were ringing as if a bullet had been shot nearby, and you’ve stopped breathing altogether. And when you looked up, you sucked in a breath.

Sans… he looked… crazy. Shaped like a crescent moon, stretching from cheekbone to cheekbone so wide that you’re should it would’ve hurt. It didn’t reach his eyes. His teeth were bared, and you suddenly had the image of him using those teeth to bite into the neck of some unfortunate creature. Maybe it could even be you . And his eyelight… It was no bigger than a penny, his black “pupil” almost entirely gone. The air smelled of blood now, tangy and metallic. It went straight into your nose and settled on your tongue. The air was choking now, like you were pressed by an invisible source from all sides, focusing on the center of your chest. 

D…did he kill-?

Your thoughts were silenced as you heard his voice boom.

“she’s MINE. ”

You jumped a bit in his hold. You gripped onto his shirt with your other hand. It was getting harder to breathe.

The…possessiveness in his voice…who’s holding you right now??

You heard footsteps, getting further....

And then Sans raised his hand, throwing it down towards the ground as you hear something strike.

You don’t even realize the cry you’ve made- too entirely focused on the sounds of choking and gargling that came from beyond his hoodie. A manic chuckle bubbled in Sans, his ribcage almost shaking with mirth.

There was this sort of energy that was coming off of him in waves. That grip of his still absolute on you, just that one arm is enough to keep you from falling- or getting away from him. The overwhelming power he has, the things he could do… you let it sink into you, and your eyes go wide.

Almost automatically, against your better judgement, you turned your head around, trying to get a look of what happened . You suck in a breath when a giant hand landed on your head, and you feel bone gently scraping against your scalp, sending tingles throughout.

Sans was looking at you, now. That tight, wild eye of his staring right at you, still with that same wide grin.

You didn’t miss how his phalanges would catch in your hair, before he untangled them to let his fingers run through them again, purposefully scratching your skin, making you shiver. Sans cooed at you, before you heard another rumble come out of his ribs. Gentler this time, and the vibrations coming from him almost feels like a massager. His grip on you slowly relaxed, and now that he wasn’t pressing into you, you could feel your blood flowing, little pulses in the places he’d almost punctured.

There was this underlying possessiveness in the way he held you, stroked your hair, tucking you into his chest. Your heart was racing, and there was white at the corners of your eyes, stinging, while you grit your teeth.

You were in the arms of a monster.

You make a gasp when Sans starts moving again, this time his movements much less careful and deliberate, though his footsteps were still cushioned by the snow. He’s still smiling as he cups your head, and after a few paces he makes a turn. He starts to walk slowly, and you hear him go up some steps… a porch?

The floorboards creak and groan as he steps, and you see him reach for a handle. He enters what seems to be a house (his home..?). After closing and locking the door, Sans took the flap of hoodie he used to cover you and threw it aside, giving you a chance to take a look around.

Despite the town you were in, this house actually seemed lived in. None of the windows were shattered (although some of them were in fact, shuttered), and it was… relatively kept, compared to everything else you saw. For the most part, it looked like a normal house. It seems to have two floors, with stairs going up to the second floor at the back, railing lining its side. There was a carpet that covered the whole floor, a zig-zagging purple and blue pattern (it’s quite dull), a worn down green sofa (looked like it had broken springs), a TV (it looks like it hasn’t been used in a while), with a kitchen in the corner with orange and brown tiles. Everything looks like it was where it was supposed to… except for the little bit of red stains you could see somewhere from inside the kitchen, with that scent of....

No… it might be coming from him…

Thankfully Sans didn’t stay in the living room for too long. He almost had you lying down in his arms, cradling you like a baby as he walked towards the stairs, his steps now loud and quick. There were two doors on the 2nd floor, one with a bunch of police tape that looked old and faded, and… another, door, this time plain. Sans walks into that one, and…

It looked like a hurricane had come in through his room. You would’ve laughed at the state of his room- a pile of socks in one place, crumpled paper in the other, a bed with sheets so wrinkled you wondered how wide the sheet he’s using is- if you weren’t being held by what seems to be someone insane. The only thing that seemed “tidy” was the desk and the lamp in the corner, but something tells you that lamp doesn’t even work.

Sans stood near the door for a while, taking off his boots. You take a glance down, somehow having the chance to wonder what his feet look like, only to see that he had socks on. He turns around and closer the door, and you hear an audible click as he locks it slowly. Your heart jumps for a moment, and Sans walks to his bed.

He lays you down gently- so, so gently… It was definitely worn down as it wasn’t as springy as a bed usually is. Your observations are interrupted as Sans slides in right behind you, his weight making the bed springs squeak, and you roll right up to his chest. Your back’s against the wall, your chest to him. He has his arms around you, one hand with its phalanges deep in your hair, the other on your lower back. He stares at you, that incessant eyelight fixed on your face, casting a dim red on you.

He says nothing.

… what does he want? Why isn’t he hurting me? Why isn’t he- killing and eating me?! Where am I? What do I do?!

You had to go.

Taking the risk (he had the door locked and he had those arms that could crush you around you), you push against him- and of course, he held steadfast, pulling you back in. You saw his eyelight shrink just a little.

“where are you going?” he asks.

“stay.”

He almost sounds final, his grin still ever-present on his face.

You swallow your thick spit. “I-I… I don’t b-belong here.” you stammer, looking at him pleadingly. “I have to go home.”

His arms gently shook around you as a whispery-chuckle, deep and gritty, came out of him.

“you are home.”

“N-no,” you shook your head. “I fell down here. I’m n-not supposed to be here.”

“you are supposed to be here.” Sans’ phalanges gently run down your hair, as if to soothe you.

“even if you could… there’s no way out. ever seen a monster on the surface....? we wouldn’t be killing and eating each other. we’re trapped. and everyone out there… they want to kill you.”

Sans smiles as he talks, and your blood runs cold as he tells you this, sinking into you.

No way out...

“stay.” he says again, a firmness to his voice as his arms tightens around you possessively.

You stare at his blood-stained shirt.

No way out.

Everyone’s out to kill you.

You can’t go back.

Your knuckles turn white as you grip his shirt, and you don’t realize the tear that had trickled out of you until you feel Sans’ hand rubbing up and down your back, warm and safe(?).

“... stay.” he says again, softly this time.

A sob wracks your chest.

You cling onto him, and you hide your face in his chest. You had nothing else to cling onto. He was warm, and he didn’t hurt you. And though you don’t know why he’s brought you here, and you know you should be more afraid of him… you can’t. You don’t have it in you to be afraid. His hands were so gentle and almost caring while he petted and carressed you. His sockets lidded, breathing down your hair.

You were cold. He was warm. You were afraid of everything out here, and he was giving you safety.

You shouldn’t trust him… but you were so alone.

You cried and sobbed, your insides feeling like a mess. You squeezed your eye shut and stayed there, letting him hug and caress you. You don’t see it, but his grin widens as you squeeze closer to him, coming to him for comfort.

you’re mine.

you’ll never leave me.

stay.