Prologue

It was a small shimmer of light that woke him. He couldn't really see it as his eyes were still shut, but the warmth coming from the rays seemed to be enough to rouse him from his slumber. In appearance, this was a young boy, barely thirteen, with pale skin and bone-white hair. As he woke, he revealed his eyes, the pupil being pitch black while the iris was an illuminated white that would shine in the dark. He wore a simple white tee shirt and a sky blue jacket with fur lining the inside. He wore simple black basketball shorts with a white stripe going down the thigh. Instead of shoes, he wore fluffy house slippers with a pair of white socks.

"that was a great nap…" He muttered to himself, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes. He doesn't immediately take notice of the rather different resistance of skin from the bone he's used to, almost as if it were natural. At one point in his life, it was, but it was most likely so long ago that he couldn't be bothered to remember when. He may not have noticed when rubbing his eyes, but certainly did when he opened one. His hand wasn't composed of bone. It was covered in human flesh and nails, any bones now hidden beneath the skin. He blinked for a moment before reaching up and feeling his face to see if this was just a trick of his eyes, but soon realized his face was covered in flesh. He pushed himself up from the ground, glancing around furiously to figure out where he was.

"what happened? where am i..?" The former skeleton then took notice of his own voice. Before it was gravelly and almost void of his emotion. While in some form his voice resembled what it once was, it was higher pitched and less mechanical. "this doesn't make sense... " he muttered to himself. He reached back within his memory, gathering what information he still had. What had happened before he fell asleep? Exactly when did he fall asleep for that matter? If memory serves right, he wasn't taking a nap.

"huh? you haven't beat this guy, yet? come on, this weirdo's got nothin' on you."

A sudden flash of memory. It was all returning to him. The child who had fallen into the Underground. Everyone had gathered to see him. They wanted to keep him from fighting with Asgore, or possibly Asgore harming him. In truth, Sans knew what would happen. His appearance in the situation was to show his support for his new friend.

That was when the weirdo Flowey showed up.

It captured him, along with his brother Papyrus, Undyne, Alpyhis, Asgore, and Toriel. All of which the strange creature used to try and hang over the kid's head before attempting to kill him. With what powers were available to them, Sans and the others had protected the child from all his attacks. Sans, in all honesty, could have stepped in at any time to take over the fight for the kid, but knew it was a battle that the child was needed for more than himself. But after some grand declaration by the flower, everything turned white. After that?

"all a blank, huh?" Sans hummed to himself, unsure how he ended up here. "i guess my skull is a bit empty at the moment, huh?" he punned to himself, knocking his knuckles against his temples and giving his own bad joke a chuckle, a large grin returning to his face. It was basically his default expression, now. Whether he felt it was forced at times, or not. Despite the grin, he held his chin in thought and looked up, his eyes scrunching a bit in thought. "wait... if i'm not a skeleton anymore… can i still make skull puns like that?" He gave the thought a moment to sit before finally shrugging nonchalantly. "meh, i'm sure it doesn't matter. can't give those up anytime soon."

Despite his rather distracted words, Sans was very much aware of the incredibly strange situation. Old habits die hard, it seems, as he knew that currently he should be panicked or at the very least seeking out answers. But the armor of care-free laziness was still in place. It was rather hard to make him stumble nowadays. At least, for anyone to see. So, instead of approaching the situation in some sort of panic, he shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and hummed. "guess i should at least see where i'm at…"

Sans took one more analytic look at his surroundings. He was definitely in a lush forest, tall trees towering above him. He stood in a flower patch surrounded by dirt and rocks. A fairly normal setting from what he could tell. But there was one detail that stood out among all of this. A light was shining above him, the great bushels of leaves shielding the patch where he stood. Only cracks of it rippled through, but the warmth was natural, almost relaxing against Sans' new body of skin. "hm. i wonder if that's what i think it is."

The former skeleton gazed around once again, finding the closest opening he could. A little ways away from where he stood, Sans could make out a small area to his left where the line of trees ended. Shrugging, Sans sluggishly stepped forth. Now even as a skeleton, Sans still had all of his senses as a human did. But things still felt a bit different now with flesh. To him, it was a bit awkward, to say the least. He didn't honestly feel much different in regards to touch. But this constant warmth of skin was a bit… foreign for his taste.

The thoughts subsided once he reached the opening, taking a few steps out to find himself on a small hill overlooking the rest of the forest. Sans wasn't much for grand spectacles in regards to scenery, but this was one of the exceptions he could make. It was beautiful. Trees as far as the eye could see, a small mountain to his left. He immediately recognized the blue and white spots above him as the sky, something he saw long ago. Whether it was from a distant memory or just some old book, he didn't know, but regardless neither could match the majesty of the view he saw now. This great view was illuminated by a shining orb in the middle of the sky, the final piece of the cake.

"so that's the sun, huh?" Sans muttered to himself, his grin somehow widening at the sight. "then i guess that means… i'm above ground…"

As good as this news was to him, his smile shrunk. He glanced around in confusion, unsure of one thing in particular. Why was he alone? If he was above ground, where was everyone else? It was obvious to him that if the kid had broken the barrier somehow, everyone would have gone up to gaze at the land they had so long desired. While Sans hadn't got his hopes up, he did hold onto the hope that he could share this first look above with his brother. Listen to his proud exclamations of emotion. Not to mention with their other, newer friends. But here Sans was, all alone and suddenly in some human form. What had gone wrong?

GRRRAAAAAAAAGH~!

Sans blinked after a moment as a shriek broke through the air. He glanced around once more, looking further to his right. In the distance, he could see smoke rising from a small opening among the trees. Except, instead of being empty, the plot of land was covered with moderately sized houses. He couldn't make out their total detail from the distance he was now at, but that wasn't what caught his eye. What caught his attention was a large spot of black soaring through the air. It had large jet black wings that matched it's body. The only spot on it's body that wasn't black was it's head, which was adorned with a white mask with chilling red eyes.

This monstrosity was currently spearing down on the small town. In the faint distance, he could hear a bell tolling, most likely to alert against the beast. "well that doesn't look very good. should probably check out what's goin' on…" Sans hummed to himself. While he wasn't sure if he was much in the mood for fighting, he didn't see another choice. He could at least learn something by venturing into this new danger.

He turned around slowly and headed for the treeline. A quick shortcut would do the trick. Or at least, that's what Sans originally thought. The moment he stepped forward though, the world turned gray around him. His eyes widened as the scene before him stuttered like a video tape that's having trouble rewinding. He suddenly felt a strain against his entire body, Sans now grinding his teeth as he struggled to step forward.

i see… can't do my shortcuts so easily, now… but i can still do it… despite the strain he felt, Sans pushed through, finally stepping past the first tree in sight. With that final foot in the ground, the scenery suddenly changed before him. He went from staring into a forest of green to a scenery of destruction. Men and women were screaming with fear through the town. Sans did notice, however, several scattered men who didn't seem hindered by this. Instead, they were running inside houses and coming out with a sack full of loot. Very few paid them much attention, as it was the creatures that everyone was concerned about.

humans, huh? Sans hummed to himself, a neutral smile on his face as he gazed around. It seemed that the large bird from before wasn't the only beast of such appearance. Several smaller, wolf like ones were giving chase to bystanders. There were those attempting to fight, some with primitive weapons like bows and arrows and even swords. It took a bit of time to take down one of them, but the humans before Sans were not entirely hopeless in their fight.

"i'm here, but what to do now..?" Sans hummed to himself, gazing around at the town. Part of him wanted to help, but another part left him with serious caution. If his shortcuts were weakened, how much were his normal powers? He was obviously younger than when he was a skeleton, but how that might affect his overall power left him unsure. Sans wasn't being heartless, but he was definitely going to make sure he didn't end up getting killed because he overestimated his current amount of power.

"Pl-please, help!" A young woman cried, Sans glancing to his left to see her fleeing from one of the wolves. It was hot on her tail, very close to catching the poor woman. Despite the rather perilous scene, Sans could only hum to himself and glance up in thought.

"i guess testing out my powers a bit would help…" He decided, the former skeleton holding up his hand. In the air, several bodies sized bones appeared, a mixture of light blue and white bones. He could feel his body drop in energy a bit with each one he summoned, but not enough to exhaust him. Without hesitation, he motioned his arm forward, sending the bones through the air like spears and impaling the beast with ease. It's body twitched for a moment, a dying gurgle croaking from it's jaws before it finally limped over, immediately dead.

"not bad, but not great. barely feel like i'm at ten percent…" Sans hummed in thought, glancing at the woman as she continued to run without taking a moment to look back. Sans considered that to probably be the best idea. "Well, it doesn't look like i'm gonna learn much else here, but…"

Sans gazed around at his surroundings. Killing that one animal was obviously not enough to halt the chaos raging forth. People were still fighting and dying, thieves were still looting and the monstrosities were still hunting. Part of him considered staying to help, but he still wasn't aware enough of what was going on. Too many variables to think about. He still had little understanding of where he was, why he was human, and why he was weakened. Sans might have put on the facade of a care free person, but when it came down to it, he would be as analytic as he needed to b-

"Come on, Roi! You have to get up!"

Sans paused when he heard a child's voice close by. Glancing around, he could hear a light whining on the opposite side of the building he stood between. He didn't think after that, either curiosity or some other feeling dragging his feet forward and drawing him to the voices. Sans' glowing eyes widened once he saw two children. One, the older brother he guessed numbly, was cradling a smaller child in his arms. Tears were streaming down the older boy's face, and for good reason. The younger one had a claw mark stretched out over his chest, most likely mauled by one of the terrible beasts.

"C-come on, Roi…" The older boy shuttered, snot and tears dripping down his face. "You have to get up…"

"Azu… I'm s-scared…" Roi choked out, blood spilling from the edges of his mouth. His eyes were losing color and his body was visibly trembling. Sans could feel his new physical heart sink, his grin failing as he watched the boys.

… Papyrus. The immediate image of his skeletal brother appeared in his head. All of the thoughts of a tactical retreat dissipated from his mind. How could he turn his back on this, when he possibly had the power to stop this horror? For all he knew, the ability to reset time from a save point was gone. The kid wasn't around. If these people died, there would be no bringing them back. If something similar happened back in the Underground, wouldn't he want someone to put a stop to it?

oh, right… someone did…

"C-come on, Roi! Keep your eyes open, it'll be okay… it'll be okay…" Azu wept, desperately wiping the blood from his brother's mouth.

"hey, kid. he looks like he could use a hot dog." Sans spoke up, forcing a kind grin on as the child snapped his head toward him. He reached into his pockets and hoped beyond hope that he still had some of his magical items left. Much to his relief, Sans pulled out an ice cream bar. "oh... guess it wasn't a hot dog…"

"M-my brother needs help, not food! Pl-please, can you get one of the adults?!" Azu cried out, bringing his brother forward. "I-I don't know where our parents went… I don't know what to do… I don't know what to do!"

Sans placed a gentle hand on the child's shoulder and gave a confident grin. "sometimes a little food can help anything. especially ice cream, kid. just give it a shot."

Azu swallowed some spit as Sans held the ice cream bar up for him to take. Despite what logic told him, he was far too desperate to argue. He quickly took the ice cream bar and shakily held it up to his brother's mouth.

"Wh-what is that, Azu..?" Roi mumbled, life quickly escaping with each word.

"I-it's ice cream, Roi. Y-your favorite flavor… eat it up…" Azu trembled with each word. Sans waited for the boy to eat, turning around to keep an eye out. It had been good that he did so, as another one of the wolf-like creatures was stalking toward them. Sans spared a glance back at the two, making sure that they were blissfully unaware of the monster approaching. He heard the beast pounce and quickly raised his hand upward. He heard the satisfying death cry of the beast as a collection of bones shot up from the ground and impaled it. He turned his head to regard the beast. It was suspended in the air by the bones that ripped through it like a knife through butter. Something that he took note of, having missed it the first time, was that its body was beginning to evaporate, trails rising from its limp body. He gazed back at where he had killed the first beast, only to find his bones were all that was left. interesting... guess it's like what happens to everyone from back home… though the process seems much slower.

"Azu? Am I..?" Sans dismissed the thoughts, quickly turning back to the two. His forced grin became wide and genuine, now seeing that the slash across the boy's chest had diminished. It seems that even weakened, there was still magic left in the food he provided.

"I-it worked! O-oh my-Roi!" Azu cried out, tears of joy instead of despair now spilling down his cheeks, now taking his younger brother into a tight hug. Sans felt a bit proud, glad that he had changed his mind.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAGH~!

The moment didn't last long, though, as a deathly loud screech echoed through the air. Sans glanced up to see the large bird from before once again, circling as it prepared to pick out its next meal. Sans spared one look back at the boys, fear now returning to them as they shook terribly.

"hey, i don't have much ice cream left to give out. you two should hide while you can." Sans advised them, keeping his chipper tone to keep them from feeling any further fear. The older brother, Azu, glanced down at Sans and nervously nodded and picked up Roi before deciding to go into the building closest to them.

"A-aren't you coming?" Azu asked, glancing back as he saw that Sans hadn't moved from his spot.

"hey, someone hasta hand out ice cream, ya know? get goin', now." Sans instructed him again. Azu hesitated, but only for a moment before rushing inside the building. The former skeleton sighed in relief before closing his eyes and stuffing his hands in his pockets. "well... guess if i'm gonna die, this wouldn't be the worst way to go out. maybe it's what i get for bein' such a lazy bone for so long…" he chuckled to himself before trotting forward slowly, heading to the main square of the town. It had been where he'd seen most of the monsters gathering, most likely because most of the survivors swarmed there in hope of protection. A poor choice, in hindsight, but people can do dumb things when they're afraid.

"Keep formation around the citizens!" One of the hunters ordered. At the moment, Sans could only see around six or seven of those capable of fighting, a little over thirty people huddled up at the center. The man giving orders was a tall, stout man who wore basic metal armor and wielded a crossbow. A large gash went down the left side of his face, blood still draining from it. Despite the wound and his blinded left eye, the man continued to fight and lead his people.

Sans watched as a monster charged him, only for the man to flip something on his crossbow. Suddenly, it morphed its form into that of a battle ax, the man thrusting it and planting the blade into the wolf's skull.

"transforming weapons? that's pretty cool. undyne would have a hay day if she saw that…" Sans chuckled to himself, now deciding to approach the remaining humans. The man from earlier tossed the monster's body aside, huffing for air until he saw Sans walking toward them at a rather lazy pace.

"Hey, kid! What are you doing?! Hurry up and get over here!" The man ordered nervously, his head whipping around and looking for more of the beasts.

"The Nevermore is diving, sir!" One of the remaining fighters called out, those with bows turning their weapons skyward. The leader cursed, shifting his ax back to a crossbow.

"Archers, focus your fire above! The rest, watch out for-"

GRAAAAGH~!

Without another moment to spare, the Nevermore speared straight for the mob of citizens who cried in despair. The leader paled as it approached, their best weapons unable to stop its approach. He quickly lashed around, hoping he could make it in time to save at least some-

A flurry of bones shot past him through the air, planting deep into the giant bird's body and causing it to screech in pain. It had been knocked off course, just barely missing the huddled humans and hitting one of the homes and causing it to collapse. It writhed in pain for a moment, correcting its body and spreading its wings, weakly hovering up from the crashed home.

"guess it was a bit tougher than the other ones, huh?" The man turned back to the voice, Sans grinning a bit wider as bones started to form in the air above him. Unknown to the former skeleton, the white of his eyes started to turn pitch black and the color of his pupils shifted from white to yellow. "it'll take a bit more energy, but i got this."

The man could only stare, dumbfounded. Sans was a bit amused by this, as it seemed he wasn't the only one to have such a look on his face. But Sans couldn't relax just yet, the Nevermore flew high into the air and was circling once more. There were also still plenty of the wolf looking monsters around. Sans took the time they had to form pillar sized bones and placing them around the civilians and forming a protective cage.

"Who are you, kid..?" The lead hunter grunted after a moment, glancing back at the protective wall of bones around the people of the town.

"it's probably best to save that kinda talk for later. these weird monsters seem to have a bone to pick with us, after all." Sans chuckled with a wink before turning back to the approaching monsters. The former skeleton raised his arm once again, summoning forth a large number of ivory bones above his head. Despite his constant grin, Sans could feel sweat starting to trail down his brow. He had made several attacks already and with great use of his powers. He was beginning to get exhausted.

"Kid. If you think you can take down the Nevermore, we can handle the Beowolves." The leader suddenly spoke, pulling Sans attention to him. "I hate to have to rely on a kid to save us, but at this point… I'll take what I can get." Sans could see it in his face. The human knew he was getting tired. Sans might have been masking it for the most part, but his breath was becoming a bit disheveled.

"i don't know what either of those are but if you're referrin' to the bird and the dogs, then i can work with that. just give me some cover…" Sans declared, looking skyward toward what he now figured was the Nevermore. The man seemed to hesitate to reply but gave a shout back to his men, ordering them to form up closer around the now human Sans.

this will be interesting… how many can i summon, i wonder? Reaching deep within himself, Sans summoned forth a large monstrous looking skull that was bigger than his body, its eye's a shining blue ring that matched his own eyes. "What the hell..?" One of the humans behind him muttered, but the former skeleton paid him no mind. Summoning the Gaster Blaster took much more energy than he expected. He didn't bother trying to summon another, just aiming it skyward and charging up a beam. at this distance, it'll likely be able to evade… but only if it sees it coming.

The skull opened its mouth, a ball of energy charging in its maw for a moment. After a few seconds of charging, it finally released a beam of pure white energy. The Nevermore seemed aware of this, tilting it's flight pattern and only being nicked by the blast. Despite avoiding a direct hit, it released a screech of pain once again, now turning it's shining red eyes onto Sans.

"looks like he wasn't happy about that." Sans chuckled a bit.

GRAAAAAAAGH~!

The Nevermore flew higher up into the air and batted his wings, large feather-like blades shooting down upon them. Sans widened his black eyes before dispersing the Gaster Blaster and summoning a larger wall of smaller bones and blocking them from hitting him or any of the remaining fighters. The sweat that was once dripping down was now starting to pour from his head, his breath laboring further. He was running out of options and time with how much he was being drained from little moves like this. He had to get one last, direct hit on the blackbird.

"The beast is too cautious, now. It won't come any closer if it can help it." The leader announced to Sans to help him. The former skeleton hummed in answer, flexing his grip for a moment.

I wonder if I can still do this. Sans held up his hand and pointed at the Nevermore. To his surprise, a blue flame ignited in his palm. His grin started to spread, almost immediately understanding what this meant. Here goes nothin', I guess. The fire shot into the sky, rocketing toward the Nevermore. The flame was small and seemed almost pitiful to the bird, paying no mind as it bounced against its feathers harmlessly. It didn't notice as a blue aura sprouted out from the flame and outlined its entire body.

"Hey, don't you think you should come down here if you wanna join the party?" With a strong wave of his arm toward the ground, The Nevermore suddenly felt itself being weighed down, almost like it was being thrown by some invisible force. It could barely resist the weight, confusing squeaks escaping its beak. Sans didn't waste any time, knowing that the weighted effect could be fought against over time. Going for the kill, he summoned the Gaster Blaster and began to charge it up.

"why don't you… take a load off?" The skull fired a powerful laser off, the Nevermore in no position to avoid it. The blast pierced through its chest directly, causing the bird to release one last squawk of pain before it hit the ground, dead. Sans smiled a bit wider at that, knowing he had come out victorious. Without warning, though, his legs gave out and he fell flat on his ass. He glanced around tiredly to see that the last of the fighting humans were finishing off whatever wolves might have been left. The looters seemed to have taken off, either out of convenience or fear after watching his display. Either way, he felt a great sense of relief to know that it was over, now.

"this probably isn't the best time, but… i think i'll take a nap…" he muttered to himself, his eyes becoming heavy as the exhaustion started to overtake him.

Sans didn't remember feeling so comfortable when he fell asleep. His eyes were heavy and he barely wanted to open them, turning only a bit in his half-awake form and tugging at a blanket that now covered him. Despite the dreamland of a comforter he now found himself in, Sans knew he had to open his eyes eventually, and so he did. With a heaviness, Sans' cracked open his lids to peer around. He was in a small room from what he gathered, most likely a guest room in someone's home. There were no pictures or decorations around, just a brown wood room with a small mirror hung up on the wall above a short four drawer desk. In the corner of Sans left eye, he could see that someone was sitting at the side of his bed.

"Nice to see you awake, kid." The man spoke, Sans only turning his head slightly to regard him as he sat up in the bed. He was the man who leads the fighters. The wound on his face was now covered by a large bandage, his left eye hidden behind an eyepatch.

"is it? i kinda would have preferred to keep sleepin'." Sans admitted with a chuckle, rubbing his eyes in his left sleeve before leaning into the backboard with his arms crossed. "considering we're both sitting here, i'm guessin' it's safe to say we won?"

"Thanks in no small part to you, kid. We would have been dead if you hadn't taken out the Nevermore…" The man paused, the thought of making him stumble a bit before sighing. "It would have been over. Thank you."

Sans could see that the man's gratitude was genuine, giving him a small grin and chuckle. "lighten up, bucko. things turned out okay, didn't they?"

"About as good as can be hoped for, I suppose…" The man muttered, his gaze falling to the floor. "We still lost quite a few people…" a silence fell between him with that. Sans knew when to keep his mouth shut, especially with moments like this. After another moment, the man cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "Sorry for not mentioning my name earlier. I'm Plume Gaerson. I'm the head Huntsman of this humble colony."

"call me sans. sans the skelo-" Sans actually caught himself before giving a small but awkward chuckle. "just sans works. nice to meet ya." the former skeleton extended his left hand. Plume seemed a bit confused by his little moment but seemed to let it go and shook his hand, regardless.

"Alright, Sans. Now before we get too comfy, I need to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind." Plume declared, settling in his seat.

"i figured as much. what's on your mind, plum?" Sans sighed but let his grin grow a bit wider as he spoke.

"Try… not to call me that, please." Plume chuckled awkwardly before clearing his throat. "First things first, where did you come from? You're obviously not one of the kids that were brought with us to the settlement. I've kept count of all the citizens and know you weren't amongst us when we first migrated."

"would ya believe that i just happened to wake up in the forest nearby?" Sans asked with a shrug, actually being truthful in his statement. Plume raised a brow at this before releasing a heavy sigh.

"Okay… how'd you do what you did yesterday? I've never seen a semblance like that." Plume questioned further, apparently giving up on his previous inquiry.

"you could say that i decided to put all of my backbones into it." Sans winked with a shrug once more, now eliciting a groan from Plume.

"Please, Sans, I just want to know what's going on and who you are." Plume explained patiently. Sans was the hero of their town, after all.

"don't really know what to tell ya', buddy. i just can do all that stuff." Sans shrugged, though mentally he noted how what he did was barely the tip of the iceberg of his abilities. He just had to figure out how to get back to that level. "Though, if it makes you feel better, i got no clue what a semblance is." Sans spoke honestly this time. He needed to fish for his own information after all. Plume raised a brow at this before humming.

"I'm guessing you don't know what an aura is either, then?" Plume inquired, a shrug escaping Sans. "Well, that's odd. You also didn't seem to recognize the Grimm, either."

"the creatures we fought?" Sans deduced, earning a nod from the veteran Huntsman in answer. "guess i've lived a bit of a sheltered life then, huh?"

"Sounds like it. What, have you been living in a cave?" Plume joked, earning an amused chuckle from Sans.

"close to it. i lived underground." Sans offered, this time getting a laugh from the huntsman who seemed to take it as a joke.

"Well, at least I was able to get something close to right about you." Plume sighed, running a hand through his hair. "So I'm guessing you don't know what part of Remnant you're in, then?"

Remnant? doesn't sound like any place that the humans colonized in our reports. "i think it's safe to assume i don't know anything about where i'm at, right now. why don't you fill me in?"

"Alright, then. For starters, you're in a settlement on the outskirts of Anima, largest continent on Remnant. Also one of the most dangerous places to make a home in, as I'm sure you've seen." Plume explained, leaning back in his chair as he released a heavy sigh.

"if it's so dangerous, why move out here, then?" Sans inquired curiously. With everything that he saw, there shouldn't be much reason to venture out into the wild like this. It took Plume a moment to answer, rubbing his chin in contemplation.

"You seem to be pretty smart for some wanderer, kid. The best I can say is that we're from Mistral. Mistral is a divided kingdom among it's citizens. Up top, you have the high and mighty upper class who live it up on the spoils of those below them. The rest of us either have to resort to accepting this, or becoming criminals. We didn't want to do either, so we decided to take our chances out here." Plume declared, shaking his head in disappointment. "But that was… naive of us, to say the least. At least if we had stayed within the kingdom, we wouldn't have…" Plumes words trailed off, his eyes misting a bit as he covered his mouth with his hand. Sans didn't need him to finish to know his pain, glancing up at the huntsman and putting on a comforting smile.

"you took a chance to have something better. can't say you didn't give it a shot. not a lot of people can say that." Sans offered him with a shrug. Plume forced a dry chuckle and nodded weakly.

"Yeah… yeah, perhaps you're right…" Plume wiped his eyes before sitting up in his chair, his expression becoming rather grim and serious. "And as much as I hate the idea, we can't just leave."

Now this took Sans by surprise, the former skeleton raising a brow. "after all that, you're still willin' to risk it out here?"

"Trust me, if the people of this little town had a choice, we'd try." Plume admitted before shaking his head. "But we've got nothing to go back to. We put all of our hopes into this town. We built something good, at least for a while. Things had been going fine until those damned bandits showed up."

"the bandits controlled those grimm monsters?" Sans inquired further, wondering how humans might manipulate such beasts. This thought was dismissed, though, as Plume shook his head.

"No one controls the Grimm. They're attracted to negative emotion. When the bandits attacked, the townsfolk panicked and brought the Grimm here. Bandits like to use this kind of tactic so that they don't have to worry about the guards of the town." Plume spat in disgust, gripping his hand to the point that his knuckles were white.

pretty smart, even if incredibly scummy. "and you guys still have to stay?"

"Yes… if I'm speaking honestly, we won't survive another attack like that." Plume admitted grimly, running a hand through his graying hair. "That's why I have the… unpleasant job of asking you a terribly big favor."

Sans could easily guess what he was about to ask, his neutral grin falling a bit. "you want me to stay and help protect the place?"

"Just until we get this place rebuilt and fortified." Plume exclaimed, now basically pleading at this point. "I hate that I have to ask a kid, one I just met no less, to stay and protect this town. But we've got so few options, Sans. I saw what you did back there, and it was incredible. I've never seen anything like it. I got no idea where you came from or even who you are, even after all this talk. But right now, that's nothin' compared to what I have to ask." Plume got out of his seat and even on his knees, the gesture causing Sans to actually feel a bit uncomfortable. "I got no right to ask you this, but please… will you help this town?"

Sans met the Plume's misty begging eyes for a moment before turning away in thought. After what had happened the day before, it was obvious that was much weaker than he once was. Could he even continue to protect these people? Was he strong enough to keep fighting? Could he get his former strength back overtime? So many variables to consider with so little information. But there was one thing Sans knew above all else, one thing that completely overshadowed his doubts: if he left these people to fend for themselves now, they'd be dead within the week. yep. this is all definitely because i was acting so lazy.

"... i have a few conditions to make." Sans finally spoke, keeping his face hidden from Plume.

"You name it. If I can make it happen, I will." Plume immediately answered, hope returning to his voice.

"first would be books. i need a lot of them. history and science books would probably be the best." Sans declared, holding up one finger to indicate the first item on his list. He then hummed for a moment and grinned a bit to himself. "some books with jokes would be cool, too."

"We've got a small library. It might not be much, but it's got the necessities for learning." Plume accepted, standing up from his spot on the ground.

"second thing is a bed. i like sleepin'. a lot. this one is pretty nice, actually." Sans hummed, pushing down on the comforter. "is it taken already?"

"This is actually my guest room. Consider it yours." Plume declared with a small chuckle. "Don't know why I put a guest room in my own house in the first place…"

"sounds good. and now, for the last thing… probably the most important…" Sans declared, holding up his third finger before turning to Plume with a large grin. "i'm pretty famished. food would be nice. especially if you've got ketchup."

Plume seemed a bit taken off guard by this before nodding quickly. "R-right, I had almost forgotten. I made some stuff for you to eat. I got ketchup you can toss on it, too. Just give me a sec' and I'll get 'em for you."

"no rush, buddy. do what you gotta." Sans waved with a curt smile, no less appreciating the man's effort to satisfy him. Plume gave a small nod before quickly shuffling out of the rom. The former skeleton didn't exactly feel great about asking for all this stuff in exchange for helping protect these people, but he knew that he needed a few things if he was going to get by. First, was to eat. Second was to learn. He had to figure out where he was and if he was anywhere close to the Underground. If there even was an Underground here. He knew there were quite a few possibilities, especially considering that his powers, the child who fell, and that shitty flower revolved around the manipulation of time, though, Sans himself not to the extent that either of the former had. Regardless, he knew such manipulation of space and time came with many consequences. Considering everything he'd seen of this place in the short time he was here, trans-dimensional travel couldn't be ruled out. There was also the possibility that Alphys and the others had less information of the world above than he thought, but he had his doubts about that.

*creek*

Sans lazily glanced at the door, wondering if Plume was now returning with his food. Instead, he found two pairs of eyes peeking in on him that quickly hid the moment he glanced their way. The former skeleton raised a single brow before giving a wide grin, starting to wiggle deeper into his bed.

"come on, kiddos. no need to get all shy on me, now." He called out, Sans letting his eyelids droop but keeping his left open to watch the two curiously. After a moment, the door squeaked open a bit slowly, revealing two young boys. Sans immediately recognized them as the brothers from the day before, though their names he couldn't rightly remember.

"H-hi…" The older brother called out, shoving his brother along inside and approaching the bed. Sans sat up once again, examining the younger of the two carefully.

"looks like ice cream really is magic, huh, kid?" Sans chuckled a bit, relief filling him as he could see that there was no residual damage from his previous wound. "you feelin' okay?"

"Y-yeah, thanks to you…" The younger boy shyly smiled, walking forward a bit.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" Plume spoke from the door, walking in with a tray of food. "Sans here is resting. You guys can come back when he's up and moving."

"hey, don't sweat it, plum. i was hopin' to make sure these lil' tikes made it out alright." Sans reassured, placing a hand on the younger one's head.

"Hey, we're not that much younger than you." The elder brother complained, looking slightly offended.

"Yeah, well, I doubt either of you two are capable of what he did yesterday, so right now he can call you whatever he wants." Plume sighed, leaning over and handing Sans the tray. It had a simple ham and cheese sandwich with a side of potato chips. Thankfully, Plume had place a ketchup bottle on the tray for him to use. "These kids parents are here, too. They wanted to thank you for saving them, too. And you guys can all do that after Sans here gets some food in-"

*pfffffffft*

Plume paused as he and the children looked at Sans, the former skeleton gripping the ketchup deathly hard, grinning as he attempted to empty the container of its contents all over his sandwich. The three blinked as he continued to pour ketchup all over it, basically hiding the sandwich and after some time moving it to the chips and continuing to smother those now. Plume puckered his lips, a little bit disgusted at the amount of ketchup that Sans was apparently planning to eat, all while the brothers started to stifle some chuckles. Finally, the bottle ran out, much to Sans dismay as he started to shake the bottle before shrugging.

"i guess i'll settle for this amount." Sans hummed, picking up the sandwich and giving no thought to the fact that the ketchup was spilling all over his fingers, taking a hefty bite of the mess in his hands. Plume cringed a bit as he watched this, grabbing both boy's shoulders and pulling them out.

"Uh… yeah, we'll just… give you a sec to eat. Then you can meet the rest of those waiting…"

"got it. i might be a bit, so you know. i like to enjoy my meals." Sans muffled out through his food, giving Plume a thumbs up and a messy grin. The kids continued to laugh and waved as Plume shooed them out before following them, not up for watching this mess of a meal. Sans grinned to himself as they left, picking up a ketchup smothered chip and tossing it in his mouth. sounds like i got a lotta work ahead of me. 'guess it was about time, anyway.

Ozpin strode down the dirt path leading to Hone Niwa, a small transportation shuttle parked not far away. To say that he was excited would have been an understatement, even if no one would be able to tell due to his rather neutral smile. Why was he so excited, would you ask? Perhaps it was the fact that he was about to recruit a new student into his school, one with great promise as a fighter. At least, that's what he would tell you. In truth, there was an entirely different reason for his elation…

As he approached the town, he took note of the rather high defensive walls, entirely constructed from wood from what he could tell. It was covered in both spikes and metal plating, most likely to hold strong against a wave of Grimm. At each corner of the wall, there were two towers that held rather sizable machine guns. Without bidding, the gates opened as Ozpin approached, the clanking of gears filling the air. To greet the headmaster was an grizzled looking man, an eyepatch over his left eye that was accompanied by a long scar that began at the top of his scalp.

"Professor Ozpin I presume?" The man called out, striding forward and extending a hand out to the headmaster of Beacon.

"That's correct. Is it safe to assume that you're Plume Gaerson?" Ozpin inquired, taking the veteran hunter's hand into a firm but kind shake.

"You got it. Glad you could make it all the way out here. Though I didn't think you'd be coming all the way out here yourself. Figured it'd be some recruiter or regular teacher, you know?" Plume declared with a chuckle, releasing his hand and motioning for Ozpin to follow him.

"I'm sure you might expect such. But I do quite enjoy meeting those with potential for greatness when possible." Technically this wasn't a lie, as Ozpin often cared for the students who attended his school and would try to look out for those who needed the aid. Though this was a different situation altogether.

"Well, if you're willing to come all the way out here, can't say you're not serious when you say that." Plume hummed as the strolled through town. Ozpin took the time to gaze around, seeing the many small but comfortable looking homes that scattered the village. He had to admit, it looked rather well built and protected, the high walls at the gate surrounding the outer perimeter of homes. The people looked quite content, the children were out and playing and those working looked satisfied. From what information he was given, Ozpin was lead to believe that this settlement was only established several years before. It would normally take a lot longer for such to be possible, progress usually impeded by both bandits, Grimm and natural disasters.

"When I got a hold of my buddies in Mistral, I didn't think that they would able to get the attention of the Headmaster of Beacon." Plume spoke again, bringing Ozpin's attention back to him. "Your school is pretty famous from the things I've heard about it. And Vale is probably a better place for him to go instead of Mistral, anyway. Though I'm sure he'd be fine anywhere."

"From what I understand, you have yet to inform him of my coming, correct?" Ozpin inquired to which Plume sighed and nodded.

"I have a feeling that if I suggested it, he'd just shrug the idea off. It's probably better if you speak to him about it, yourself." Plume suddenly stopped and turned to Ozpin fully, taking a deep breath. "You see this town? Everything here, all of it. All because of that kid."

"Is that right?" Ozpin hummed, a small smile sneaking its way onto his features.

"That's right. He came out of nowhere a little under four years ago. He didn't know where he was, but he saved this village from being turned into food for Grimm. He's not just talented. He's… something else." Plume tried to explain, glancing around the town. "After that, he agreed to stay until we fortified the village. In the end, he decided to prolong his stay. He's a hero to this village. He's capable of things I didn't think possible in a kid his age."

"I see. But if all that is true, why do you want to have him put into a hunter's academy?" Ozpin asked curiously, raising a brow at Plume. The scarred huntsman took a moment to think about this before answering.

"This town is fully fortified. We can more than fend for ourselves at this point. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I want Sans gone. But with all of his potential… I don't want him wasting it here, in this little village." Plume explained further, scratching the hair on his chin. "He can do a lot more good for those who need someone like him around. I think that would be the best idea for him."

"I see." Ozpin hummed in understand, leaning on his cane for a moment. "Is that the only reason?"

Plume raised a brow at this question before chuckling dryly, nodding. "You're pretty intuitive. I'll give you that. There is one more reason, I suppose. Sans has been in this town for close to four years, as I said before. Everyone in this town loves him." He asserted, motioning his hands in front of him. "He's just got a personality that pretty much anyone can be around. Sure, all the puns he drops can be cringe worthy, but he knows how to make people laugh."

"So what's the problem?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"While Sans gets along with everyone, he doesn't…" Plume took a moment, most likely trying to find the right words. "He just doesn't seem to want to connect with anyone on a personal level. I'd say I'm about as close as anyone has gotten, but I still can't say I really know what goes through his head. It just seems like… he'd prefer to make others happy and leave it at that. He doesn't make a real effort to get to know anyone past that, if you get what I mean."

"I think I do. You want to see if a change of scenery might help him become more open." Ozpin easily guessed, to which Plume shrugged.

"Honestly, with a guy like him, that may be asking for more than I think. But either way, I think it's what he needs." Plume suddenly stopped and pointed further ahead where a line of fruit trees stood before the wall. "Sans likes to take a nap in the branches. He should be over there right now."

"Thank you for all the information you've given me. I'll do my best to try and convince him." Ozpin said in appreciation, turning and shaking Plume's hand once more.

"No problem. Good luck getting that lazy sack of bones to get moving." Plume said before groaning. "Damn him and those bone jokes…" he muttered before turning to leave. Ozpin held back a small chuckle before glancing at the trees, approaching with a casual stride. The first thing he could hear was a light snoring. The headmaster walked up to the one tree he could hear the young man snoring from. He glanced up at the branches and saw the teenager sawing logs, a content grin on his face as a small bubble formed on his nose that rose and fell with each breath.

Ozpin released a small chuckle, raising his hand to tap on the tree trunk.

"how's it goin'?" He heard Sans speak, stopping in his action and smirking a bit. "ya new to town?"

"Why, yes I am." Ozpin confirmed, putting both hands on his cane as he spoke. "I came here to see you, in fact."

"that right?" Sans yawned, wiping his eyes on his sleeve before relaxing back into the branch and putting his hands behind his head. "i guess that means you're the guy plum wanted to have recruit me."

Why am I not surprised? "So you knew what he was trying to do?" Ozpin smiled a bit.

"plum ain't as stealthy as he thinks. not that he needs to be for his job or anythin'." Sans chuckled, his eyes closed as he seemed to be letting himself fall back asleep. "sorry, but i can't say i'm very interested in becoming a huntsman. didn't mean to waste your time in comin' all the way here, but plum had to try, i guess."

"I see." Ozpin nodded, sounding relatively unsurprised by this rejection. "And you're sure there's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise?"

"not really. well, unless of course you can tell some really good bad jokes." Sans shrugged without much of a care.

"I see…" Ozpin hummed, straightening out a bit and holding his fist to the tree before tapping on it. "Knock knock."

Sans raised a brow at this but grinned a bit wider. "who's there?"

"Wood."

"wood who?"

"Woodness gracious, great balls of fire." Sans snorted in response, a soft chuckle following after before he settled down.

"okay, not bad. but you'll need more than that to get my attention." Sans declared, holding up one finger lazily before tucking it back behind his head.

Ozpin chuckled for a moment before tapping on the tree once more. "Knock knock."

"who's there?"

"Dishes." Ozpin smiled a bit when he saw the corner of Sans eye open up.

"... dishes who?"

"Dishesn't a very funny joke."

Things fell silent between the two, Sans pulling his hands out from behind his head and sitting up. "i haven't heard that joke in years…" he turned his head back to watch Ozpin carefully. "mind telling me who you are?"

Ozpin smiled to himself a bit, looking down at the trunk before turning around and leaning his back into it. "It's funny. Despite all of the knock knock jokes and the puns about skeletons, neither of those were the first jokes you gave me when we met. Instead, it was a whoopie cushion in the hand joke."

Ozpin glanced down at the ground as Sans suddenly appeared in front of him, no sound indicating he had jumped from the tree. He could only stare up at Ozpin with wide black and white shining eyes. With a shaky voice, he suddenly spoke.

"... kid?"

First off, thanks to Mugiwara N0 Luffy for letting me adopt this story.

I'm excited to continue it.

I will be changing things around. Like, instead of Sans being a leader of a team - he'll be a student advisor. The same thing with Klaus.

Hopefully, I'll be able to keep going all the way to Season 5.

Also, thanks to mellra for that amazing plot idea.