So. I realize it's been a long time since I touched this story...or any story at all...but I'm going to do something I've been planning to do since I began this story. Since normally, I post chapters the second I finish them without really proofreading them, resulting in both spelling errors and continuity errors, I am going to be rewriting after every year that I finish. Once the rewrite of the year is over, I will continue on to the next one. Sound good? Good. Welcome...to the first chapter of the Misttale rewrite!

Okay, so to clarify ahead of time, Chara fell in Spring of 2010 and died in the Fall of that year. Frisk falls in the Summer of 2015. If I'm asked, I'll clarify it further later.

Note: each skeleton has their own way of speaking!

"sans speaks in lower case bold."

"PAPYRUS SPEAKS IN ALL CAPS. BEWARE, THOSE WHO HATE THE CAPS LOCK."

"the third skeleton in this, mistral, speaks in italics."

Just assume they're speaking in their correct font.

And, of course, I don't own Undertale or Harry Potter. I am not good at making video games, nor am I British, nor do I claim to be good at writing.

Sans and Papyrus, of Snowdin Town, were proud to say that they were the only skeletal Monsters that lived in the area. They were the first Monsters you'd expect to be involved in anything strange, because, to the Monsters of Snowdin, they could sometimes be the epitome of strange.

Papyrus aspired to be a member of the Underground's Royal Guard, which hunted the humans that fell underground and protected the king. He was a tall, thin-framed skeleton that almost always had his long, red scarf wrapped around his neck. Sans was short and big-boned and was always wearing his blue hoodie.

One fateful day, Sans was walking through the forest just outside of Snowdin. He had just gotten to the Doorway, the only way into and out of the Ruins, when he heard the sound of bones rattling. Cautiously, Sans looked through the Doorway to see a little skeleton sitting under one of the few places that natural sunlight actually came through.

Apparently, the skeleton saw him, because they curled in on themself, their right eye glowing green and their left glowing blue.

Making sure o make his voice as soothing as possible, Sans took a step forward. "hey, easy…are you ok? cause tibiahonest, you look a little rattled."

A small giggle escaped from the little skeleton, but they was still on edge. They lifted their skull slightly as the bright colors in their eye sockets died down to just twin white pinpricks. A small crack was visible in the center of their forehead, as though they had fallen head-first.

"i'm not gonna hurt you. i promise."

"p-pinky promise?" the skeleton, whose childish voice was still unmistakably male, asked, cautiously holding out his pinky.

Sans's eye sockets widened for a split second before going back to their usual state. He slowly made his way closer to the young skeleton, his left hand's pinky extended. "…pinky promise."

Six years later . . .

Mistral was sprawled across the couch, staring vacantly at the ceiling. With a sigh, he held his hand over his head. Two dots of light that served as the skeleton's pupils darted from bone to bone as he attempted to mentally review them. He lost interest within seconds. The short skeleton sighed again as he got up and walked out the front door.

Immediately, the wind hit him, forcing him to backpedal. Mistral forced the door to close before sighing once more. "guess i'm taking a shortcut," he grumbled. The skeleton focused on mentally summoning his magic. His eye sockets closed for a moment –

– and when they opened again, Mistral was standing at a sentry station filled with bottles of mustard, relish, and ketchup. Mistral's skull contorted into a frown. Why did his brother even try to sellhotdogs so far away from town? The only ones that went out so far were those that were on pa-

"yeah, go right on through. my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone."

Mistral's pupils shrank. He dived behind the sentry station, hoping that he hadn't been spotted by his brother.

"hey, misty! what're ya doing out here?"

Hesitantly, Mistral stuck his head up enough to see his brother and a… "w-what's that, sans?" he asked nervously.

The older skeleton pulled a hand out of his blue hoodie's pocket to wave. He winked. "guess there's snowway of getting out of this. y'might wanna hide. pap's coming."

Mistral ducked, not wanting to be lectured again by Papyrus for being so far away from Snowdin.

"quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp." Silence. "uh, ok, i guess you don't have to."

The sound of snow crunching under the feet of someone with a quick stride caused Mistral to crouch down more, not wanting to be spotted. "SANS!" Papyrus yelled. "HAVE YOU FOUND A HUMAN YET?!"

"yeah."

"REALLY?! WOWIE! GUESS THAT'S SETTLED!"

Mistral blinked at the sudden silence. Did Papyrus seriously just…

"that worked out, huh?" Sans asked.

The young skeleton stood up and leaned on the sentry station's side. "yeah."

The human merely stood in place, staring straight at Sans. Unknown to those that couldn't read Sans's expressions (i.e. everyone but Mistral and Papyrus), the grinning skeleton's look became forced. "…are you just gonna stare at me, or…?"

With a shrug, the human began to walk in the direction of Snowdin. Before they got too far, Sans spoke again. "well, i'll be straight-forward with you. my brother'd really like to see a human…and no, i'm not talking about you, misty!"

Mistral's pupil lights pointed heavenwards. "i h-hope you aren't, you n-numbskull."

His smile a little less forced than before, Sans continued, "so, y'know, it'd really help me out…if you kept pretending to be one." With that, Sans gestured for Mistral to follow and began walking in the direction of the Door.

The younger skeleton sent one last glance the human's way before bolting after Sans. Once they were out of the immediate area, Sans grabbed Mistral's arm and pulled him off the path. Mistral glared at his brother, unconsciously rubbing the sleeve of his dark green turtleneck. "do you really trust that…that...human?!" Mistral spat the last word.

"nope."

"i mean, i have a hard time reading LOVE and even i can see that human has already slaughtered countless innocents!"

"yep."

"i don't know about you, but there's no way in hell –"

"language."

"–that i'm letting that creature anywhere near papyrus!"

"no matter what we do, they'll get to pap. we can't stop it from happening."

Mistral's eye sockets narrowed. The bluish-purple, hooded cloak that the younger skeleton almost always wore was pulled more tightly around the skeleton's thin body. "and how do you know that?" For a brief moment, the lime green strip that ran around the middle of his turtleneck was visible under his cloak, reminding Sans of how his world-wearied brother was still only ten years old.

Sans sighed. "trust me, misty. if i could, i would change it in a heartbeat."

"at risk of sounding like papyrus, now isn't the time, sans," Mistral groaned as his right hand met his face.

"there's always time for puns. no need to get all misty-eyed on me."

Mistral grimaced. "i'd like it better if the universe was sansthat pun."

The two brothers shot puns back and forth, cheering each other up as they vanished into the snow.

"MISTRAL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS FAR AWAY FROM THE HOUSE?!" Papyrus asked worriedly the second he spotted the youngest brother. As the years had gone by, not much had changed about Papyrus, personality-wise. However, Papyrus had made an imitation of the Royal Guardsman's uniform and wore it every day.

"i was with sans earlier. you didn't see me?"

Papyrus's face contorted into a frown. "IT IS POSSIBLE THAT I HAD JUST BEEN TOO EXCITED ABOUT SANS ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING TO NOTICE YOU. SPEAKING OF SANS DOING SOMETHING…SANS! WHEN'S THE HUMAN SHOWING UP? I WANT TO LOOK MY SUNDAY BEST…OR AT LEAST MY TUESDAY PRETTY-GOOD."

"don't you only have one outfit?" Sans pointed out.

"YEAH, BUT I COULD STYLE MY HAIR!"

"what hai-omph!" Mistral was cut off by Sans's hand covering his mouth.

"oh. right. good idea." Sans glanced over to the right for a moment. "say, why don't you look over there?" Mistral glanced over and narrowed his eye sockets. Human.

Mistral pried Sans's hand away from his mouth just as his two older brothers began spinning. "…what." When the two stopped spinning, the brothers pulled Mistral in to join them in a small huddle.

"SANS! OH MY GOD!" Papyrus yelled excitedly. After a moment, his voice returned to normal. "I'M DIZZY. WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?"

San's grin only grew as he gestured in the direction of the human. "behold."

Papyrus grew excited once more. "OH MY GOD!" He looked unimpressed once more. "WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME TO LOOK AT A ROCK."

Mistral did a double take, then snorted. Sure enough, there was a rock a few feet behind the human.

"hey, what's that in front of the rock?"

Excitement. "OH MY GOD! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS."

"well, it's not a rock."

"and it's n-not a skeleton," Mistral added, his slight discomfort causing his voice to waver.

"NOT A ROCK OR A SKELETON…?" Papyrus said, looking curious for a moment. "OH NO! BY PROCESS OF ELIMINATION! THAT MEANS IT'S A HUMAN!" The skeleton cleared his non-existent throat. "HUMAN! PREPARE YOURSELF! FOR HIGH JINKS! FOR LOW JINKS! DANGERS! PUZZLES! CAPERS! JAPERS! BEING CAPTURED! AND OTHER SORTS OF FUN ACTIVITES."

"because a g-game of 'capture the human' is a-always fun," Mistral said sagely.

"REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED…IF YOU DARE!" With that, Papyrus ran away laughing.

Sans's shoulders slumped slightly. "…and you don't even bat an eye, huh?" He grabbed Mistral's hand and dragged the smaller skeleton off in the direction Papyrus went in.

"hey, papyrus!" Mistral called as he and Sans finally caught up to the middle brother.

"hey, bro."

"WHY DID IT TAKE YOU TWO SO LONG TO GET HERE?! YOU'RE BOTH LAZY! SANS, YOU'RE A BAD INFLUENCE!"

Sans shrugged. "c'mon, kids love me."

Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets. "BOTH OF YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!"

"i think that's called…sleeping," Sans said.

Mistral nodded. "usually, it involves lying in bed doing nothing, waiting for the urge to sleep to finally overwhelm you."

"SEE? MISTRAL UNDERSTANDS!"

"actually, i love sleep. it usually just takes forever for it to come."

"EXCUSES, EXCUSES!" At the sound of snow crunching, all three skeletons turned to fact the human that had just walked into the general area. "OH-HO!" Papyrus yelled happily. "THE HUMAN ARRIVES! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU…MY BROTHERS AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE…QUITE SHOCKING!"

Mistral's eye sockets narrowed as he watched the human walk into the center of Papyrus's puzzle. Unconsciously, he moved in front of the childish skeleton.

Papyrus began sweating. "FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS…THE, INVISIBLE…" The skeleton looked confused. "UHHHHHHH…? HMMM…YOU MUST BE HAVING CULTURE SHOCK."

The youngest skeleton glanced at the oldest skeleton. They then shrugged in unison.

"YOU SEE, WHERE I COME FROM, IT'S A LOVING TRADITION TO SUFFER THROUGH HORRIBLE PUZZLES FOR NO REASON.

The human walked right up to Mistral, who began twitching nervously.

"SO, UH, JUST WALK BACK THERE, AND…" Papyrus fell silent, waiting for the human to follow his instructions. When nothing happened, he sighed. "WHY COULDN'T WE GET A HUMAN THAT LIKES PUZZLES?" With that, he walked away, dejected.

The second he was gone, Mistral backed away from the human, wanting as much room between them and himself as possible. Unfortunately, they walked towards him, then stared as if they expected him to say something. Finally, he spoke. "just for the r-record, i don't t-t-trust you."

Shrugging, the human moved to Sans. The skeleton, although not visibly, was glaring. "it would make my brother happy if you played along."

The human tilted their head, shrugged again, and walked off.

…

"who would've guessed that you don't trust them?"

"…no comment."

"I JUST DON'T GET WHY THIS HUMAN DOESN'T SEEM TO LIKE MY PUZZLES…" Papyrus sighed as he stared in the direction he knew the human would be coming from.

Mistral cleared his non-existant throat. "weeellll…"

Sans shot his youngest brother a look that screamed 'tell him and you're dead'. Turning back to Papyrus, he said, "c'mon, maybe they'll like mine."

Papyrus perked up. "YOU'RE RIGHT! MAYBE IT'S JUST A MATTER OF PREFERENCE!"

The youngest skeleton, who had been staring down the path as his brother spoke, felt his pupil lights go out. "human's here."

"HUMAN!" Papyrus said without hesitation. "I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR…" Papyrus looked at the area before him and frowned. "SANS! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE!"

"it's right there," the lazy skeleton replied. "on the ground. trust me. there's no way they'll skip this one."

The human walked right passed the puzzle. Mistral discreetly moved in front of Papyrus once more.

"SANS! THAT DID NOTHING!"

"whoops," Sans replied, not sounding sorry at all. "knew i should have put down junior jumble instead."

"WHAT? JUNIOR JUMBLE?!" Papyrus shrieked. Mistral blinked. How was he getting mad about that? "FINALLY, SOMETHING WE BOTH AGREE ON."

"a-and i'm n-not important anymore?" Mistral asked.

"WE AGREE ON MANY THINGS, MISTRAL. IT ISN'T AS MUCH OF A CHALLENGE TO FIND THEM."

"ah."

Papyrus, satisfied with Mistral's answer, walked away. The human walked up to Sans and waited for the skeleton to speak. "guess you don't like word searches, huh? me neither. i'm more of a funny pages kind of guy."

Surprisingly, the human nodded before turning to Mistral. The skeleton stuttered as he spoke. "y-you were c-c-covered in it before, b-but now I kn-kn-know it's real…i watched you k-kill snowdrake."

Seemingly satisfied, the human stalked after Papyrus.

"i seriously hate that human! we need to do something before they get to snowdin!"

"i'm sorry, but i can't do anything until –"

"until they get to the judgment hall," Mistral finished dejectedly. "c'mon, let's go find papyrus before that human does something he'll regret."

"papyrus!" Mistral yelled, twin streams of blue and green tears flowing from his eyes. "by the stars, i didn't think we'd get to you in time!" He raced forwards and, in an unusual display of affection, threw his arms around Papyrus's legs.

Papyrus blinked, confused by his brother's fear. "YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU'D GET TO ME IN TIME FOR WHAT? IS THE HUMAN ACTUALLY GOING TO PARTICIPATE IN A PUZZLE?"

"not quite," Sans said as he walked up to his brothers. "they've…they're killing everyone, pap." His eye sockets looked hollow, despite the fact that his pupils were still visible. "i saw them kill snowdrake! you know, the kid that picks fights so he can have captive audience?"

Fear flashed across Papyrus's face for a moment. "SANS…MISTRAL…YOU BOTH ARE SERIOUS ABOUT THIS. NEITHER OF YOU HAVE TOLD A SINGLE PUN."

"papyrus…we need to get home, hide upstairs…" Mistral sobbed. "i'm not losing you two just because that…soulless husk!"

"seriously, papyrus. We need to get home."

Slowly, the tall skeleton shook his head. "NO, GIVE ME ONE LAST TRY. IF THAT FAILS, THEN WE WILL GO HOME."

Papyrus's grin was one of pure relief as he saw the human approach the grayscale tile board he had set up. "HEY! IT'S THE HUMAN! YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS PUZZLE!"

The human walked to the center of the board.

"IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT…ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

Mistral nodded. "there's j-just no reasoning with them!"

"I AGREE!" The skeleton turned to his older brother. "SANS! HELP! THEY KEEP WALKING THROUGH MY PUZZLES! THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO LET ME EXPLAIN THEM! THEN THREATEN AND BAFFLE THEM WITH DANGEROUS JAPES."

"well, maybe they don't like japes," Sans suggested.

"EVERYONE LIKES JAPES!"

"n-not if they're d-directed at me," Mistral muttered.

"what about undyne?" Sans asked. "doesn't she hate puzzles?"

"SHE HATES PUZZLES, BUT SHE LOVES JAPES," Papyrus said, making sure to press the difference between the two.

Sans shrugged as Mistral snorted. "that makes sense."

"HUMAN! WHAT DO YOU THINK? PUZZLES OR JAPES?"

Mistral sighed. "they're not g-gonna answer, p-papyrus."

Papyrus stood silently for a moment, waiting for the human's answer. When none came, he sighed. "THIS IS NORMALLY THE PART WHERE YOU EITHER AGREE OR DISAGREE, AND DEPENDING ON YOUR ANSWER, WE SAY SOMETHING GREAT IN RESPONSE."

The human remained silent.

Papyrus faked a smile. "HERE, WHY DON'T YOU DO THIS PUZZLE YOURSELF." He set down the puzzle's instructions in front of the puzzle's control box before beginning to walk away. He stopped by Mistral and said, "MISTRAL, CAN YOU STAY WITH ME FOR A WHILE? I FEAR SANS MAY BE CORRUPTING YOU WITH HIS PUNS."

Mistral was about to disagree, but then he caught the look of sorrow and fear in his brother's eyes. "sure, pap. sans c-can be by himself for a b-bit." The tall skeleton held out his hand for Mistral to take. He took it quietly and allowed himself to be led away.

The human saw a large patch of ice that was set up like a puzzle. They glanced to their right to see a pathway. They took it and found a ledge with three snow sculptures.

The first one was a muscular figure with Papyrus's head.

The second was a lump of snow with 'Sans' written on it with red marker.

The third one was what looked to originally be a cartoony, upside-down heart that was colored almost completely with red marker. It looked as though it had been cracked right down the center and split in two.

It was pathetic.

The human crossed a very long rope bridge without any problems. When he got to the other side, he found a piece of paper tacked onto one of the posts holding the bridge up.

It was a note from Papyrus…

HUMAN!

I REGRET NOT BEING THERE TO SHOW YOU MY MOST DANGEROUS PUZZLE: THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR, BUT MY BROTHERS INSIST ON ME NOT BEING THERE TO SHOW IT TO YOU! SANS CLAIMS THAT HE WILL BE SHOWING IT TO YOU, BUT I DON'T BELIEVE HE WILL!

NYEH-FULLY YOURS,

PAPYRUS

"say, i've been thinking…"

The human showed no emotion as they turned to face Sans, despite the fact that they hadn't noticed him before.

"seems like you're gonna fight papyrus pretty soon. yeah, i know he's gonna keep trying, even though me and misty are trying to stop him."

The human shrugged, the biggest answer Sans had seen them give all day.

"here's some friendly advice," he said with a wink. He closed his eye sockets. "if you keep going the way you are now…" He opened his sockets, revealing them to be pitch black abysses. "you're gonna have a bad time."

The human's vision flickered momentarily. When their eyes cleared again, Sans had vanished.

Mistral sprinted down the road, tears flowing freely from both eye sockets. "nonononononononononono-" His chant continued endlessly as he ran, hoping against hope that Papyrus wasn't –

Shortly after Mistral and Papyrus had made it safely home, Papyrus had insisted on going into Mistral's (organized) chaos of a room. That was Mistral's first mistake.

After making sure that the front door was locked, Papyrus's eyes had begun glowing a steady orange. Since skeletons sometimes had a harder time emoting than other Monsters, they all had evolved the ability to force their eyes to glow. In doing so, they were able to calm others down. Naturally, with how stressed Mistral was, he welcomed the soothing, orange glow. That was his second mistake.

Making sure that Mistral was calming down, Papyrus picked up the younger skeleton, who had begun to fall asleep, and carefully tucked him into bed. Mistral hazily watched as his older brother, the Great Papyrus, sent him a look of apology as he silently left the room. Because of his foggy mindset at that moment in time, Mistral began to doze even more. That was his third and final mistake.

When the skeleton woke up, Papyrus had not only left the house, but had already left Snowdin. That is what led to Mistral running as though his life depended on it.

"W-WELL, THAT'S NOT WHAT I EXPECTED…"

Mistral's eye sockets widened in horror as he caught sight of the human and his brother. NO! He watched as Papyrus's body disintegrated into dust. The skeleton's head fell into the snow.

"BUT…ST…STILL! I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER! EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK SO!"

The human, no, Brother Killer took a step forward, their expression hidden by their hair.

"I…I PROMISE!"

The Brother Killer's foot came down on top of Papyrus's skull with a sickening crunch, easily destroying it.

The still-living skeleton clamped his hand over his mouth to muffle any noise he might have made. He watched as the Brother Killer stared down at Papyrus's dust pile for a moment before continuing onward. Once he was sure they were out of sight, Mistral ran up to his brother's corpse and kneeled down. Hesitantly, he pulled his cell phone out of one of the many pockets sewn into the inside of his cloak and dialed a number.

"misty, where the heck are you? i get to the house and both of you are gone!"

Mistral froze up for a moment before letting a choked sob escape.

"…mistral, where are you? did…did it happen?"

"j-just outside w-waterfall entrance…" Mistral managed to get out before wailing. His phone slid from his hands as he buried his face in his palms.

He didn't know how long he sat there, but when he fully began processing his surroundings again, he realized that Sans had his arms wrapped around him, and was just letting Mistral let it all out. His left eye was glowing blue in an attempt to help that wasn't reaching him. Finally, the younger of the two remaining brothers calmed down enough to speak.

"i-it's all my fault."

"no, it's not."

Mistral glared at his brother. "if I hadn't fallen asleep, he'd still be here!"

Sans narrowed his eye sockets. "if you hadn't fallen asleep, he would have found some other way to get out! it's not your fault!"

Mistral bowed his head and pulled himself out of Sans's arms. He scooped his cell phone off the ground and placed it back in its pocket. "i'm gonna go warn undyne," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "hopefully she can stop that brother killer, right?" He pulled up his cloak's hood for the second time since he had gotten it.

Sans smiled sadly. "dirty brother killer," Sans agreed. He handed Mistral Papyrus's scarf, which had still been lying in the dust pile. "take it," he said firmly. Without complaint, the skeleton wrapped it around his neck.

A few stray tears still falling from his sockets, Mistral pulled up on the edge of his cloak, turning to have it billow out. It blocked Sans's view of his brother for a moment before vanishing in the cold, winter air.

Undyne looked up the second her vision went black, summoning a spear in case of ambush. When her sight cleared to reveal a short, cloaked figure with glowing tears barely visible under his hood, she immediately dismissed her weapon. "Hey, punk! What's with the waterworks?" She gasped as twin pinpricks of light, both filled with sorrow and rage, met her eye.

"There's a human in the underground. Sans and Papyrus decided that they wanted to go through a couple puzzles to trick them before capturing them."

The Captain of the Royal Guard blinked, surprised at the young skeleton's emotionless tone, before narrowing her eye. "They didn't report it immediately?!"

Papyrus's brother flinched, his pupil lights trained on the floor. His bones were rattling loudly. "We noticed something off about that…human. I tried to point it out early on. It was wearing stripes and it already had an LV of 5."

Undyne gasped. "You mean they –"

The skeleton nodded solemnly. "I watched them slaughter Snowdrake and Chilldrake. They…they killed him. I tried to stop him, but th..." The small Monster fell to his knees, tears streaming down their face. As his emotions overcame him, the young skeleton's voice broke, turning back into his usual quiet and slurred manner of speaking.

"Hey, who'd they kill?" Undyne might not have understood the last part, but she was fairly certain Mistral was talking about 'him' dying.

As if terrified to say, the skeleton tried to curl in on himself. He kept repeating the same soft phrase over and over again.

"PUNK!" Undyne snapped, breaking the little skeleton out of his stupor. "It's not your fault. It's that human's fault!"

The skeleton jerked back, as if flinching. He cleared his throat, forcing his voice to be emotionless once more. "Papyrus…and now that dirty brother killer's on their way through waterfall."

The fish monster stiffened as she heard the sound of grass shifting. She made her way to the edge of the cliff, summoning a spear. She watched for a few moments, waiting for movement, before backing off.

When she turned to continue questioning her best friend's little brother, he was gone. Her eye narrowed as she stormed off. "I've gotta tell Alphys to evacuate everyone!" She felt her Determination course through her for a moment before she pushed it down. "No, that's gotta wait until the fight."

"sans, i'm in b-between waterfall and h-h-hotland. undyne is d-dead. i'll t-try to hold that dirty brother killer off as l-long as i can, but they'll just k-keep resetting, right? look, just c-come f-f-find me. don't stop the fight, just…if i d-die, i'd rather you g-grab my soul than that monster."

The human was grinning as they walked into the mountain with the mountain. They had only died twice while fighting Undyne the Undying and were finally going to enter Hotland! After the dustbath there, they'd be able to fight Asgore and get his soul!

"hey, brother killer."

The human looked up, surprised to see a short, hooded figure before them. No light penetrated the hood of the cloak, making him seem all the more dangerous. A long, red scarf was wrapped loosely around his neck, trailing behind the short figure. The human cocked their head at the figure.

"so…LV 12 now, huh? think you're all t-tough because you've slaughtered every innocent in sight?"

They blinked. It was the youngest skeleton, they knew that. What they didn'tknow was the fact that he could drop his ever-present slurring. Wow, when it did drop, he sounded terrifying.

"now, i'm usually p-p-pretty laid back, kinda like sans in that way, i guess. more like p-papyrus when i'm excited about something. b-but when you hurt those close to me…"

The human's red soul flew out of their chest as the world became shades of black and white. Two white pinpricks became visible under the cloak's hood, as well as a large, white grin. "well, you're d-definitely gonna r-regret it. i won't let m-my fear make me b-back down!"

The human frowned as they heard a new song play, not like the fight's they'd been in before. As they had discovered, each fight had a song that would begin playing…unless the Monster they were fighting was more powerful than usual. Those ones were unique in some way. This one sounded like Papyrus's theme mixed with Sans's.

Deciding to play it safe for their first turn, the human checked the skeleton's stats.

"Mistral," a voice recited, making the skeleton cock his head in confusion. "3ATK, 1DEF. A pushover, just like his brother."

The pinpricks vanished. "oh, i'll show you what this p-pushover can do."

Without warning, Mistral's right arm shot out from under the cloak as his left eye glowed blue. His pupil was a black slit as his arm gestured downward, forcing the human's soul to the ground. The left eye flickered out as the right eye lit up a bright green, freezing the human in place. Before they could react to the sudden changes in color, several waves of bones rushed them. The human smirked, knowing that the bones were spaced too closely together to do anything…and then the waves hit.

Mistral grinned at the look on the human's face, a little more confident. "what, you've never been in a fight before? i find that very hard to b-believe. or maybe it's because i'm supposed to just be a pushover, huh? i'll be the first to admit that usually, i am, but let's just say…"

Both souls popped out as colors faded. The song began playing once more. "I've got a bone to pick with you."

Immediately, the human kicked out at Mistral, but missed as the skeleton leaned to the side. "you've torn families apart with your little s-s-slaughterfest," Mistral said harshly as his eyes did a delayed flicker once more. A solid wall of bones appeared on all sides of the human, boxing them in for a moment before rushing them.

"do you regret it?" Mistral asked as he dodged yet another kick. He lazily sent another wave of bones, forcing the human to back off.

The human didn't respond other than to glare.

"i mean, you tore friends, f-families apart…all because you wanted to go on a killing spree? You could've j-just asked if you wanted a little LOVE."

The human was dragged up to the ceiling as Mistral's left eye turned blue. Before they could react, several bones rushed out to meet them.

"i'm h-happy to o-o-oblige!"

"so…this is number 152, right? you're seriously not all there in the head if you still wanna k-kill them all."

The human felt themselves be pulled to the wall. Reorienting themself, they forced gravity to let them fall faster. Once their feet touched, they pushed off, narrowly missing a wall of bones that tore through the solid rock.

Mistral frowned as he felt something dribble down his skull. He couldn't force his magic into giving him a nervous sweat like Papyrus can…could, so that would mean…no. That couldn't be happening. He had to end the fight, before anything else could happen!

A lucky bone stabbed the human through the chest, giving the skeleton a brief respite before they reset.

He pulled out his phone, dialing in a familiar number. "sans."

"misty, i've been trying to get to you! the timeline keeps jumping back and –"

"i've b-been holding off the human, trying to get them weak. just k-killed them for the…hundred fifty-third time, now. heh…did you know that too much d-determination is a bad thing for me and undyne?"

Sans sounded panicked. "don't even joke about that, mistral! i don't know what i'd do if i found you as a…"

"u-undyne's soul overloaded with determination," Mistral said shakily. "she m-melted. heck, i'm starting to melt. i'm c-calling you to make sure you get here next reset. i…i don't think i'm gonna make it, and there's no way i w-want that dirty brother killer to accidently absorb my soul!" The skeleton stopped as he noticed a faint glow from the human's corpse. "they're about to reset, sans! you've g-gotta get over here as soon as you can! alphys knows what t-to do!"

Mistral chuckled as he saw his hands slowly melting like candle wax. "and that is why i never t-try too hard," he joked half-heartedly. He threw the human into the far wall, hoping to get some distance in between them for a moment. "my kind…everyone thought we were a m-myth, you know. freaks, dual-bloods, whatever you want to call us…me and undyne were the only ones d-down here, not that anyone really knew outside of a select few." The skeleton launched another wave of bones, forcing the human back again. "my aunt and u-uncle, you wouldn't know them, they hated me. they h-hated me even more when i started looking a bit too…skeletal's a g-good word."

The human glared at the skeleton, gesturing for him to get to the point.

"they threw me d-down here, hoping the fall would kill the 'deformed freak', as they called me. sans and papyrus…they took me in, actually showed me that there was k-kindness, love, in the world. because of you, my b-brother, one of the only family members i ever truly had, is dead!" The skeleton's eyes both flashed at the same time.

The human felt the pull of gravity getting stronger and stronger, pulling them to their knees, then to their stomach. Then, it stopped. They looked up to see Mistral hunched over in pain, a pool of white forming from under his cloak.

"no!"

Two pinpricks, still visible underneath the cloak, flicked to the doorway behind the human. In it stood Sans, a horrified expression on his face. "i know i'm not going to last much longer," Mistral said softly, knowing his words were still reaching his brother. The fearful stutter in his voice had vanished completely, as if he realized that there wasn't anything worse that the human could do. "i also know that sans isn't an idiot that'll fight you right now out of grief." He glared at Sans, hoping he got the point across. "most of all, i know that if you keep this up…" The pupil lights died completely, leaving only a pure white, melting grin visible underneath the cloak's hood. His last words dropped all hints of his slur, leaving his voice monotone and emotionless. "You're gonna have a bad time."

Sans's eye sockets widened as he watched the cloak flatten out over the ground. The human stared down at it for a moment before continuing on. Once he was certain that that…that Soulless Husk was gone, Sans rushed forward and gingerly picked the gray cloak and red scarf up. Underneath was a small, inverted heart colored a bright green, covered in a spider web of cracks, but still barely holding together. It slowly lifted up from the puddle of white (which was definitely not there), twirling slightly as it moved towards the last of the skeletons. He slowly reached forward, hugging the soul to his rib cage.

s-sans? is that you?

Sans laughed.

The human walked into a room lit by the light of the setting sun. They poked a small star that glowed near a dimensional box, saving their game. A smirk on their dusty face, they began the long trek down the hallway.

"heya." A figure stepped out from behind one of the pillars, a gray cloak stained white hanging around his shoulders. A long, red, dusty scarf was wrapped loosely around the figure's neck. The figure's blue hoodie had its hood pulled up, partially obscuring his face. A large grin was stretched to its limits, as though the figure was trying his hardest to force it. "you've been busy, huh?"

The human stared at him. Sans.

"so, i've got a question for ya. do you think even the worst person could change…? That everyone can be a good person if they just try?"

sans, they don't care. humans never care about anything that they don't think is normal. why should this one be any different?

Sans ignored the voice niggling in the back of his mind. When the human didn't respond, he sighed. "question two. do you regret what you did…? tearing apart families and friends for the sake of power?"

The human took a step forward.

The skeleton laughed. "all right. final question. do you wanna have a bad time? 'cause if you take another step forward…you are REALLY not gonna like what happens next."

Unsurprisingly, the human took another step forward.

Sans closed his eyes, accepting the finality of what was to come. "welp, sorry, old lady. i guess misty was right."

With that, the human's soul popped out of their chest and the world turned grayscale.

They frowned as they fought the skeleton. Over the past 413 tries, Sans had been saying the exact same things over and over again. They had been spared by him once, during which they actually gave into the temptation to surrender…only for them to be speared from all angles.

Now, however, he had started differently. "you know, if you reset, this could all stop."

That alone was enough to make the human hesitate. Seeing the pause, Sans had his bones set to destroy them, but took the human's lack of reaction as a cue to go ahead.

"almost no one would remember, kid. you could make a few friends, maybe even get tori to adopt ya." At the human's look of shock, Sans chuckled. "misty might not remember past timelines since this is the first time he's been here, but i do. if you keep doin' this…there's no going back. it's over. but…" The skeleton held out his hand. "if ya let me kill you, then you reset, we might even become…friends? your call."

Tears welled up in the human's eyes. They dropped the knife in their hands, letting it fall to the floor with a clatter. They fell to their knees, burying their face in their hands.

"is that a yes?"

Firmly, despite every fiber of their being screaming 'no', the human nodded.

"can…can ya try to get a timeline where misty's around? he's a nice kid, just didn't have the greatest time with humans. he deserves the chance to know they're not all terrible, and i don't know if his family killed him before or –"

The human nodded again, cutting the skeleton off.

The skeleton pulled his hood down, a lone tear trailing down from his left eye socket. He smiled softly. "see ya on the other side, then."

As they were impaled, a serene smile sat across the human's face.

(Do you wish to continue or reset?)

(Reset.)

"i'm not gonna hurt you. i promise."

"p-pinky promise?"

"…pinky promise."

Finally proofread by CybertronDefense on July 4th, 2018.