---Sans' Pov---

"Heh... should I knock?" I asked myself while twirling my axe skillfully. My free hand moved up to scratch the head wound that I had, showing my contemplation over the question. "Yeah. I'm a nice guy. ."

And with that, I raised the axe above my head and smashed it down into the ruin doors. A loud sound reverberated through the area, getting louder with each hit.

"" I shouted menacingly. Saying that I was pissed off would be an understatement... slowly the door opened a crack to reveal the crazed yet confused face of Toriel.

"Sans? Why are you here?" She asked calmly. Her eyes were forced open beyond comprehension, easily showing the lack of sleep from her hunger. I smirked nonchalantly as my arm reached through the crack of the entrance to grab her by her throat.

"You were supposed to say... " When I said this in the most terrifying way possible, my grin was wide and insane with my eye sockets void of any life. I didn't want to eat humans, I didn't want to in the slightest... but as time would have it, I eventually had no choice. I was barely holding on to myself. "So. You think... THAT YOU CAN JUST HOLD ON TO YOUR RESERVES? LET EVERYONE FUCKING STARVE?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. There is barely anything here!" She snapped. Despite the anger that she was attempting to portray, she obviously had a look of pure horror. "What is this about?!"

"The Human that passed through the ruins. ." Once I said this, Toriel looked at me oddly... and being a good judge of character... I knew that look. She didn't have the slightest clue about any of this.

Releasing her with a huff of annoyance, I let her fall back to the ground below her. "You never saw the Human pass through?"

Looking at the tips of my sharpened skeletal fingers with a half lidded eye, Toriel seemed to search for a response. My axe was pinned through the slight opening in the door to prevent it from closing.

"No... but I came home a few days ago to my door being unlocked. I always lock my doors."

My eye immediately widened as I swore under my breath. "Shit..."

And just like that, I vanished through the use of my teleportation. Reappearing in the house, I looked around frantically before noticing Papyrus in the kitchen with his hands in something sticky. "Paps. Is the Human still doing that puzzle?"

"NHEH? YES. I TOOK THEIR MEASUREMENTS ABOUT AN HOUR AGO." He proclaimed. I sighed in relief before heading towards the back room. Everything seemed in order, the door was closed and what not.

Walking down the basement stairs with a sly smirk, I tapped my axe against my shoulder repeatedly with a small chuckle. My bones started to make an eerie sound from the contact of the weapon. "Alright, Human. I think that we've kept you long enough-"

Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I noticed that the cage was empty. That human was missing...

Approaching the prison slowly, my phalanges dug into the surface of the lock, noticing that she probably picked it. The only thing left in the enclosed space was the tattered remains of a paper... the junior jumble to be exact. Did she rip it up out of frustration? I really wanted to call her an idiot, but she DID get out of here and even managed tp slip past Papyrus who happened to be rather sensitive to any sound.

Picking up the tattered papers, I noticed one little detail that made my eye go wide in surprise. On a piece of the ripped page was a single syllable. One that was clearly written in Wingdings. I picked up the pieces that I could find and teleported up to my room, ready to put everything together. Normally, I wouldn't care to do this... but I was curious.

I'm sure that I could tell Paps about her escape later... right?

"SANS. THE HUMAN IS MISSING!"

Wrong.

---(Y/n)'s Pov---

"Alright. We need to go to Waterfall next. I have another part resting in a secret room..." I mumbled quietly before getting up. Flowey was still firmly clutched on me, clearly tired with his head lowered. "Are you fit for travel?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, let's go." And with that said, we were off. Stepping outside of the small shelter, I was met with the same snowy scenery. No doubt the skeleton brothers have already learned about my escape. After all, how could they not? Sans was practically stalking me every other hour. "You know where you're going?"

"You are my guide... however, I do have a general idea of the location." I admitted blankly while pressing forward. On my way towards Waterfall, a few starving dogs attempted to attack us. With impressive evasion, I managed to dodge their strikes with unmatched grace. Their pelt were stained crimson from their last meal. Likely a Monster one at that... Cannibalism?

Since I was getting tired I decided to take a different approach, I acted against them. Not using my voice, I instead did something that only an individual of mass LV could do. I exposed my violent presence to them, along with the glare of a stone cold killer. Some of them froze from the sight of my aura, others backed up.

Once I decided to take a step forward, many of them began to flee. I could only assume that they didn't have the health for a fight. I spent all of this time dodging, not even getting hit... in their minds, I wasn't worth the meal. Not only that, but I think that I may of scared my poor companion.

A gust of wind passed by as most of the Monsters fled from the battle. This area was coated in a snow storm, but not only that. Dust. I could tell that the wind was carrying an excessive amount of Monster dust.

The last remaining enemy was very persistent, so I had to take to a different method. Just because I decided to stop killing, that did not mean that I couldn't attack an enemy into submission. Trying to warn the dog about my next actions, it didn't listen and instead stared at me with a blood thirsty look. A foamy saliva built up in it's mouth, dripping to the snow beneath us.

Once the creature charged, I moved out of the way and gave it a firm kick to the side. It yelped instantly from the impact before falling to the ground. It's HP was already low from starvation, so it ran. "Huh... Sans wont even attempt to deal with them. If you hear growling from the woods, you run. It's bad news."

I nodded hesitantly. The pack of dogs were definitely vicious, but not strong in numbers. The amount of dust that flowed through the area was probably a display of their dying pack... why? Because humans didn't usually make it this far out- past the skeleton brothers.

As a result, they starved. Shaking my head, I decided to continue on towards Waterfall. It wasn't like I was feeling sympathetic or anything, but I had to stop thinking about this encounter. So I changed the subject.

"Also, not only do I need to retrieve something from the lab, but I must access the true lab as well."

"Yeah, well... I just hope that we can evade Sans. He has this nasty habit of killing any Human before they reach the core. Sometimes, I think of it as a personal grudge against Queen Undyne." He explained. Though... if he had a bone to pick with the former royal guard, I couldn't help but wonder why.

Gaster told me about her just nature and bravery. She was one of the greatest hopes for the future of the Underground.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I started to notice how the wind picked up... followed by the intense snow fall.

Thinking about things more carefully, I came to realize that I was fortunate enough to have the skills to evade these threats. Although, some other poor Human? They wouldn't survive this place. I came prepared in my own way... and even if I didn't know about the Human eating monsters, I still had enough experience to react accordingly. "By the way, (Y/n)... your LV...?"

I was expecting for him to say something like that sooner. While on the surface, Gaster taught me how to hide my stats from others. It took a lot of practice and energy, but eventually I was capable. Usually, everything between my LV to my attack and damage would appear as: ''.

However, while fighting those dogs... I revealed it to them in an effort of intimidation. Killing others, experimenting on my victims. Everything eventually added up. And my power, even without a weapon in hand was terrifying.

"I had to do several things on the surface. Do not be so quick to judge me, because not even you can claim to be void of all sin, Asriel."

After I said this, Flowey's head snapped back... he looked towards me with disbelief as I once again hid my stats. "You... know my name?!"

"Yes. I know many names." I claimed while moving my arm in front of my vision to block the battering snow. "The one that I made a promise to... he taught me everything that I'd need to know to survive down here. He even showed me how to make Monster food."

"This person... before you wouldn't mention them with an added gender. But now you say 'he'?" Wow, Flowey was suddenly becoming perceptive. Probably because he thought I was maybe referring to Frisk who was gender neutral? "Who is he?"

"His name... probably wouldn't matter to you. After all, he lost his ability to exist after falling into his creation." I explained. Finally, we managed to reach Waterfall... it has been almost three hours of fighting and passing through that storm. I was thankful for having this coat... no way I would of survived through that if I didn't have one. "He was the former Royal Scientist, you know?"

Once I whispered this, Flowey stared at me with minor confusion. "Since he lost his existence... no one remembers him. He built the core... anyway. Any advice for Waterfall?"

When I asked him about the upcoming dangers, he seemed to snap out of his thoughts in order to inform me about the path ahead. I knew that he had many questions, but now was not the time. Even after I would manage to get the parts, I still needed to put everything together.

Admittedly, I was hoping that Alphys would of been able to help me. However, I somehow doubted it. It was obviously going to be very unlikely considering the state of the Underground. For all I know, she could very well be dead. Earlier when I asked Flowey about her, he simply shrugged and told me that he really didn't know...

Apparently, after an incident that occurred several weeks after the Core's failure, the scientist just up and vanished.

"Well... since Undyne isn't here anymore, we need to watch out for some of the Royal Guards. Monster Kid too... he kind of went feral." I nodded while he warned me of those things. But his next words made me freeze slightly in place.

"And Sans. He has a station not too far from here. No doubt we'll be seeing him there."

Damn it... the only one to ever put me on edge. It had to be him.