Dragging.

That's the only thing my half-conscious mind could pick up. I was being dragged. And detecting from the cold, I'd assume I was being dragged through the snow. So I wasn't dead . . . yet.

I struggled to open my eyes but found that they seemed to be frozen shut. Can the cold really do that? I also found that my body wouldn't react to my wishes, my muscles seeming to be frozen as well. So I started using my other senses and happily found that they were working just fine.

I could smell blood, fresh blood, and it seemed to be coming from the person who was dragging me. I could feel the cold -- obviously -- but I could also feel the hands that were dragging me, cold just like the snow and bony. Since my sight wasn't working, I'd assume the monster was a skeleton. My hearing could pick up talking in the distance and even a few screams. I couldn't taste anything except for the blood in my mouth that had probably come from either biting my tongue or the inside of my cheek.

Wait, I could feel something else. Shuffling inside my jacket. Flowey! I almost forgot about my flower companion! Flowey seemed to be shivering against my side, his frail body trying to keep warm up against mine. Poor thing, I wish I could wrap him in a hug to keep him warm but currently I couldn't do that.

To pass the time of being dragged to some unknown location, I started trying to move my muscles. I started with my feet first since my hands were pretty much useless with the tight grip of my dragger grabbing them. After a few tries, I was finally successful in shifting my foot around. The other foot shifted too so I started working on my legs. I slowly managed to bend my knee then the other, my legs starting to get feeling in them just like my feet.

By the time I was able to move most of my body, the dragging stopped and I could hear the sound of frustrated muttering and the sound of a doorknob being turned. I was suddenly picked up and was thrown into some unknown location, landing on the hard dirt floor with an oof! I kept my body still to make it seem like I was still unconscious and silently smiled when I heard the door that had been opened closing and footsteps shuffling away.

A slowly got the rest of my body to move and finally opened my eyes, seeing that I was in some sort of shed with horrific looking weapons dangling on the walls with dry blood on them. I sat up and started brushing the snow off my body, a small grunt from inside my jacket reminding me that I had someone with me. 

"Flowey!" I whisper-yelled, opening my jacket and hugging the cyclops flower. He let out a yelp in surprise but hugged me back, is body shivering from fear and the cold. "Where are we?" I asked, looking around the shed for any loose boards on the wall that I could use to look through and escape. "I fear we're in the custody of monsters even worse than Toriel," Flowey whimpered, staring at the weapons in the wall with a wide eye. "The skeleton brothers."

So it had been a skeleton that was dragging me, but which one? "Did you see the skeleton that was dragging me?" I asked. Flowey nodded. "It was Sans, I'm actually surprised he didn't kill you on the spot." Flowey's eye suddenly widened and he whimpered. "He's probably locked you in here so that he can torture you later!" He shrieked, fright starting to take over.

I patted his petals soothingly and held him close, his shuddering starting to stop and his breathing going back to normal. "Nobody is getting tortured anytime soon," I said, spotting a loose board in the wall. "Not if I have anything to do with it."

I put Flowey back in the hood of my jacket and stood up, walking over to the loose board and wrapping my fingers around it. I started to pull, the board slowly detaching itself from the wall with its nails pulled out along with it. I tossed the board to the side then started tearing out the other boards around it to finally make a hole wide enough to crawl through.

I stuck my arms out first then my head, pushing my body through until I fell into the snow on the ground. I was about to ask if Flowey was okay when I heard a door nearby slam open and footsteps start heading over to the shed I had just escaped from. I quickly shot up and started running in a random direction where a bunch of trees were. There was an angered shout behind me then another set of footsteps in pursuit.

Geez, when can I stop running away from murderous monsters?

I made a sharp turn to the left and used a tree to help me make it, hearing a satisfying thump behind me from where the monster had ran into a tree. My breath was coming out in puffs of white clouds as the cold started eating away at my muscles. I refused to give up though, my will to live stronger than my need to stop.

I was about to make another sharp turn to lose the monster when I was suddenly surrounded in a red aura and thrown into a tree as if I weighed nothing. I groaned in pain and slid into the snow, my body sore from the hit and all the running. I was aware of the monster that had been chasing me standing a few feet away trying to catch their breath, but I was too busy trying to shake off the pain to care.

"who told you that you had the right to run from me?" The monster growled, stepping towards me. I opened my eyes to be met with the figure of a short skeleton with his left eye socket a bright red and the other a pitch black. There was a hole in his skull above his left eye socket and blood was trailing out of it. His once blue jacket was now stained with blood and the menacing axe he was holding was the same. He looked terrifying, but I did not quiver under his glare.

I puffed out my chest and looked him straight in the eye sockets, determination flowing through me. "Who told you it was okay to keep someone captive in a shed to torture later?" I shot back, venom in my voice. His face took on a baffled expression before he was cracking up -- did I just make a pun? -- and bending over laughing. "oh -- oh geez, you thought i was coming to torture you?" He wheezed, laughing like a maniac.

I was very confused. Didn't Flowey say that the skeleton brothers were worse then Toriel? And didn't he also say that this skeleton before me was named Sans? Why was he laughing as if I just made a joke then?

Sans wiped an imaginary tear away when he finally calmed down. "anyways," He said, twirling the bloody axe in his hand. "i'm not like other monsters who kill instantly, well, i used to, but that's besides the point," He trailed off, admiring his weapon for a bit before picking up again. "i wanted information, you could say." He said, looking me straight in the eyes.

Information? About what? "What information do you need?" I asked uneasily, feeling a bit suspicious. "only about why you're down here." Sans said simply, an insane grin on his face. "Um, I was running away from my mother." I said, confusion washing over me. Why would he want to know why I was down here? "so you haven't come to free us, is that correct?" He asked, raising a bone-brow. "Well, at first, no," I said, eyeing his axe that seemed to be begging to be swung in his hand. "But I promised Toriel I would."

Sans tensed up at the name and stared at me. "you promised toriel . . . that you'd free us?" His words held his confusion as his guard faltered. I nodded earnestly. He chuckled then swung his axe up in the air. I screamed and tried to get away but stopped when he threw the axe at the tree I was underneath. The blade sunk into the think trunk above my head, my wide eyes staring at the weapon.

Sans was laughing now, an insane outburst echoing through the forest. "kid! i'm not gonna kill you! why would i kill our future savior?" He laughed out, amused at my terror. I, on the other hand, didn't think it was so funny. But seeing how well Sans' aim could be, I didn't complain.

"Oh." Was the only thing my shaky voice could manage, relief starting to fill my body. "So, you'll help me?" Sans stopped laughing and gave me a look. "help you? i never said i would help you." Should I have asked that question? Did I set him off? "Well, uh, I can't really defend myself all that well, and if I have to save you all, shouldn't I be alive?"

Sans tapped his chin thoughtfully. "we could always kill you and take your soul," He said, causing me to tense up at his words. "but recently with another human, we found out that when you kill a human their soul simply shatters. they must've had really low amounts of determination if that happened. but if a human were to have really high amounts of determination . . ." Sans was staring at me now, an idea that was clearly seen forming in his mind.

I shook my head and tried putting on a convincing smile. "I have really low amounts of determination, the only way I can save you all is to be alive to do it." I said, knowing that it was a lie and that I actually had a really high amount of determination. How I knew this? I just did.

He sighed and seemed a bit frustrated. "fine. i'll help you. but i'm not killing any of my friends." He had friends down here? Not to be mean or anything, but the Underground didn't seem like such a friendly place. I smiled gratefully at him and stood up to shake his hand. "Deal."

I grabbed his hand and shook it, feeling a spike of pain travel up my arm when I did so. I shrieked and pulled my hand away, seeing a thumb tack had pierced me. Sans chuckled nervously and stuffed the thumb tack into his jacket pocket. "sorry, forgot to take that off." He walked over to the tree and pried out the axe, swinging it over his shoulder and starting to whistle as he walked back in the direction of the shed.

I followed him, making sure to keep a safe distance away since I didn't know if he would turn around and kill me. Even with an alliance formed, I wasn't too sure if I could entirely trust him.

"by the way," Sans said after a long time of silence. "for the time being, you'll be staying in me and my bro's house, kapeesh?" I nodded. "so don't try anything funny or i'll be serving head dogs the next day." I didn't know what a head dog was, but I had my terrifying suspicions.

Sans and I made it out of the forest and I saw the town for the first time.

Murderous looking monsters roamed the bloody streets with various weapons either in their hands or strapped to their bodies. Almost all of their clothes had blood on them and the shops that dotted the city sold various items ranging from intestines to fingernails. I found the whole thing absolutely disturbing.

Sans walked up to a large two-story house and opened the door, walking in without bothering to close the door behind him. I walked in after him and took in the place, seeing an old green couch that was ripped up and a broken TV across from it. There was a wooden table with bloodstains on the top and a broken leg with two broken chairs sitting next to it. A foul stench came from what I assumed was the kitchen and the stairs leading up to the second floor hallway were dark and scary.

"i'm here paps!" Sans called, chucking his axe across the room where it landed in the wall with a loud thunk! before he plopped down onto the couch. "BROTHER! I HAVE MADE MORE OF THE SPAGHETTI UNDYNE HAS JUST TAUGHT ME! SHE CALLS IT PENNE!" A loud voice shouted from in the kitchen, stomping footsteps following to reveal a taller skeleton holding a plate of pasta. Flowey quivered from within my hood as he recognized the skeleton.

The skeleton that I assumed was named Paps dropped the plate of pasta and stared at me, his bloody jaw with jagged teeth dropping and his eye sockets widening. "OH. MY. GOD. SANS. IS THAT A HUMAN?!" Paps yelled. Sans looked over at him with a grin. "nah papyrus, that's a door." Oh, so his name was Papyrus.

Papyrus saddened at Sans' words but then perked up when Sans asked "but what's that in front of the door?" Papyrus ran towards me and scooped me up, my yelp echoing through the house. "OH MY GOD I CAPTURED A HUMAN! I MUST BRING THEM TO UNDY--" Sans' head shot over to Papyrus and his eye was burning a bright red. "no, the human stays here." "BUT--" "no buts, think of the human as our guest."

Sans was . . . actually helping me? I thought he was just going to come and kill me in my sleep when I finally let my guard down. But seeing his expression now, I knew that he was going to keep his word. Thank god.

I smiled gratefully at Sans after Papyrus set me down then started talking about making me spaghetti and running off into the kitchen. Sans just shrugged and patted the couch next to him, inviting me to come over.

I plopped down onto the couch next to Sans and finally let my guard drop for the first time since I had been here. Even though I still had my suspicions, I couldn't help trusting Sans a little bit since he had argued with Papyrus like that. He wouldn't let me die. I was going to be his and every other monster's savior after all.

And for the first time in two days, I finally relaxed into the couch and fell asleep.