THUD

From the frantic escape of the murderous canine, Sans found himself flying out of his short-cut and body-slamming into the unforgiving floor of Grillby's bar.

The monster slowly picked himself up, his breath heavy from the panic of the attack and the pain from his collarbone. He held himself on his knees and one hand, as the other hand tightly squeezed the fractured bone in an attempt to suffocate the pain.

Sans' eyes quickly snapped around the restaurant, finding it to be empty. Not even Grillby in sight. Confused by the absence of the familiar gang, the skeleton looked behind him, finding that the restaurant was mysteriously closed, despite it usually being opened.

Sans took in a few more shaky breaths, before pushing himself off the ground and into a sitting position. If he indeed was alone, then he could see if he could tend to whatever he could heal of his collarbone. Then let his magic recharge so he could use another shortcut to get himself home.

He looked around, seeing no one. Deciding that he was safe to do whatever, he clumsily stood up, and walked over to one of the booths with a mirror built into the wall. He crawled across the seat so that he was as close to the mirror as he could get.

He winced at his own reflection, forgetting how bad he was starting look from all the resets. Granted, he was never the most attractive monster, but the increasing bags under his eyes and the overall worn look his face had now wasn't helping his case.

He let his masked smile drop knowing no one was around to see him anyway. So why should he keep up the act? No point in acting with no audience to appease.

He looked into his own reflection, as if he was trying to find someone in it. Someone he lost long, long ago. The naive high school graduate who thought he had a whole life ahead of him filled with whatever he wanted to do. Someone who had hopes and dreams. Someone who wanted to make a change. Someone who thought there was still a point in trying.

Where did he go?

He felt his collarbone heat up from the pain again, causing him to tighten his hold on it before letting his head lean against the mirror, the same question repeating itself.

Where did he go?

He shook the thought from his head, pushing himself up from the mirror, hearing the leather cover on the bench squeak from his bones rubbing against it.

Now, he had to see if he could try to fix up his collarbone to the best of his abilities, which weren't a lot to begin with.

He easily slid his baggy hoodie off of him, which made himself look twice as big as he actually was due to it's puffy material. He then tossed the old, worn jacket next to him on the table, hearing a satisfying 'pomf'.

He then began to wriggle himself free of his t-shirt that he wore under his hoodie. It was usually easy to get on, but getting off was another story. He managed to get the material off of his actual body, leaving the wrinkled clothing hanging around his neck.

He frowned at himself in the mirror, muttering, "stupid big head," under his breath.

He tried to lift the shirt above his head, only to find his arms snapping back to his sides from the pain the exploded in his collarbone. He held his breath to avoid making noise until the pain started to die down again.

"o-okay," he said to himself, "that clearly ain't gonna work..." He then looked to the side, before it dawned on him that he had his magic. He rolled his eye-lights at his own forgetfulness before grabbing his shirt with his own magic and stretching in up until it came off his head with a 'pop' causing him to nearly lose his balance.

He then threw the shirt on top of his jacket, frowning at the horrible design that desperately needed wider neck.

He then looked back of the mirror, his features contorting as he saw the multiple deep, narrow, punctures and gaps in the bone. On the other hand, it looked worse than it felt, but he wasn't sure if that was just from how numb he had become to pain after the hell good old doctor W.D Ass-ter put him through.

He scoffed at the thought of the sociopath, muttering a few curses directed toward his great and loving pal, before he went back to what he was trying to do in the first place.

He ignored looking down any further than his collarbone, knowing full well that all that was there was his weak, pulsing soul. The same soul that for some reason clung so desperately to life, despite all odds being against it. He should have died shortly after birth, but no, here he is, still alive.

He took in a deep breath, now focusing on his hand and getting green magic to it. He looked at it sternly, as if it were a child and he the parent, as if that would help it summon any magic. After a minute of letting himself relax enough, his fingertips suddenly sparked, revealing a faint green glow above them.

He watched for a moment as the wispy magic played on his phalanges. The green magic coming from his core before swirling around his arm, and eventually reaching his hand. It left a numbing sensation where it lingered on the tips of his fingers, waiting to be used.

He slowly brought his hand to his collar, afraid that if he moved to fast the magic would extinguish itself. The magic slowly began to creep to his missing bone, and began rebuilding the pieces.

As the magic was slowly healing him, his mind began to wander back to what Doggo had said. "Golden teeth", "Black hood", and "Red eyes". All of those rang through his skull, bringing him into a confused state. Never had he ever worn a black hood, and he most certainly didn't have red eyes or golden teeth. Maybe the partially blind dog just never saw him clearly before?

But that wouldn't explain the other part. The part about the collar and his brother "disowning him". None of that made any sense to Sans. why would his brother make him wear a collar of all things, and who in their right mind would think that sweet, innocent, Papyrus would disown anyone?

Just thinking about it made Sans' head hurt from trying to piece together what the dog had meant. and why had he tried to kill him?

Sans couldn't find any logical reasoning behind it. Unless there was some sick prank going on, something was very, VERY, wrong.

He shook his head, deciding to ignore it for now until he could figure it out for himself.

Another minute passed before he felt the magic suddenly short from his finger. "dammit." He mumbled, his bone creasing where his brows knitted together. He sighed, seeing how much it had healed.

Most of the bone was healed, just leaving smaller dents and scratches. And the once needle like pain was now only a cool ache.

He sighed, slightly disappointed that he couldn't do more, but he was at least somewhat happy that he was able to do anything at all. He shrugged, "welp, at least the pain sto-"

He bit his tongue, his eye catching another figure in the background of the mirror. He blinked, not sure if he was seeing right, only to find that the purple monster was still there. In alarm he quickly snapped around, grabbing his t-shirt and holding it in front of him in a horrible attempt to cover his bare rib-cage.

He immediately connected eyes-lights with a fire elemental he had never seen before in his life. The other monster had a bright red tie. A black and grey dress shirt hiding underneath a black dress jacket, which had an extreme amount of fur around the hood. The man had deep purple flames, a slender form, and huge pointed white eyes, with equally as pointed black framed glasses.

Sans hadn't realized how long he must have been staring, until a venomous smirk started melting on the other monsters face, causing Sans to hide his body behind the booth he was in.

The skeleton quickly popped his t-shirt on, so he could at least face the other monster with confidence and not looking too much like a five-year-old.

The skeleton's head then emerged once again from behind the booth, seeing the fire elemental was no longer there.

Sans rose a brow, wondering if he actually had been imagining him. He wouldn't be surprised if he was considering how self conscious he was about his soul being visible. His mind could have been making him see things from his paranoia of actually being seen.

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He then turned around to grab his hoodie, only to find his breath catch once again in his throat upon seeing the fire elemental leaning on the booth next to him, the snake like smirk still spread on his face.

Instead of jumping, or screaming like his mind wanted to do, he instead froze like a deer in headlights, his plastic grin immediately being stretched once again across his features. how had he even get there without me hearing? He asked himself, not used to being the one getting sneaked up on.

Sans cleared his throat, before speaking, a slight nervous tone slipping through his normally calm facade, "heyyya...?"

The fire elemental looked at him in curiosity, the rogue smile still cracking his face, "Hm? What is up with the," he looked the skeleton up and down, "change in appearance, Sans?"

Sans furrowed his brows at the mystery monster. how did he know my name? Sans' thoughts echoed through his skull, knowing he had never seen this monster before. and this is what i always wear... literally.

Sans held eye-contact with the monster, " i have no idea what you're talking 'bout, pal. This is what i've always worn." He then narrowed his eye-sockets at the monster, "and how do ya know my name? i've never seen ya before."

The fire monster looked Sans up and down, before chuckling, his laugh seeming to be laced with poison. "Hm? Oh really? Did your brother hit you too hard again? You appear to be quite forgetful today." He seemed to find himself funny, laughing even louder at his own comment.

Sans looked at the monster in wide-eyed confusion, knowing his brother had never hit him a day in his life. Hell, he was pretty sure his brother couldn't bring himself to hit someone if they had him at knife-point. "what are you talkin' about? he wouldn't hit someone if his life depended on it. are we talkin' about the same person?"

The fire elemental cocked his head, his grin dropping slightly in honest puzzlement, "Papyrus, leader of the Royal Guard. Your brother."

Sans blinked back in confusion, "leader of the what?"

The purple monster repeated, "The Royal Guard."

"isn't that undyne not my brother?" Sans said in unwary bewilderment.

The fire elemental's face contorted like someone had just poked him in the side, before laughing. Not in any malicious way, but in pure amusement, "Your jokes just get better and better! Undyne? The leader? Ha! She lost that spot years ago when she became too soft."

Sans felt lost. Looking at the monster, fully sincere, "i'm not jokin'..."

The elemental abruptly stopped laughing, blinking twice, before responding with a simple, "Oh?"

Sans nodded slowly, hoping to convince the other monster that he was being serious.

It must have worked, as Sans watched what remained of the devilish smirk melt away. "You truly believe that you've always looked like that, Papyrus is soft, and Undyne is the leader?"

Sans nodded again, "yup. sounds 'bout right to me."

The monster then gestured to himself, "You also claim to not know me?"

Sans nodded for the third time, "never seen ya in my life."

The monster raised an eyebrow, a sideways smile breaking his fiery face. The flames gave a crackle and a pop as the monster put his hands on the table, leaning across it to get closer to the small skeleton, "Did you forget the person who's been letting you get away with free food for years, holding myself back from killing you for my own benefit?"

Sans looked him over. Minus the killing part, the only person that he could think of with that description was-

"I'm Grillby."