The void abruptly gives way, and Sans lurches up with one hand twisted into his shirt right above his rapidly beating soul. He pants, looking around and trying to ground himself in the new environment. Sans tries to cling to the intense memory of the two gods. He doesn't remember ever seeing anything like them before. No matter how hard he tries, the memory slips into the background like water through Sans's fingers. It'll be hard to remember them unless something reminds him.

Sans tugs at the collar of his red turtleneck to loosen it up. He yawns as he relaxes, exposing his two gold canine teeth. Light purple bruises seem to shadow his eyes. Sans rubs at the bags in a vain attempt to get rid of the sleepiness. His lumpy mattress doesn't help any, nor the fact that the mattress sits on the floor. The bedframe got wrecked years ago. Sans has never gotten around to replacing it.

Now that he's awake, Sans doesn't dare go back to sleep. Boss would have a cow. Sans pauses for a moment as the frown deepens on his face. Boss? Why did he call Papyrus Boss? It takes him a moment to remember that this is UnderFell, and that he is not the owner of this body. That still doesn't explain the nickname. The relationship between the brothers vary between different UnderFell copies. Could that have something to do with it? There's a strange feeling lingering in the back of Sans's head, but he has no time to dwell on it as a crash comes from downstairs. He jerks up and yanks on his jacket from its spot on the floor.

Sans doesn't bother opening his bedroom door and instead uses a shortcut to appear in the middle of the living room. He freezes in surprise when a frying pan appears, hurtling towards his face. Sans throws up his arms to try and block it. He braces for impact, but it never comes. Filled with nervous cation, Sans slowly lowers his arms. The frying pan is impaled on a spiked bone that had burst through the floorboards.

"Red! You imbecile! How many times have I told you to use the stairs?" A tight grip on Sans's arm pulls him around to face the other monster. Boss looks pissed. Sans hunches his shoulders and looks away from his brother's gaze, starting to sweat.

"S-Sorry Boss," Sans mutters. That damn stutter is back. Boss notices it, and something seems to soften in his eyes. He lets go of Sans and pulls back for a moment to get a hold of himself. Sans is proud of his brother for it. Despite the influence of their AU, Boss has been trying harder to manage his anger after meeting the others. Sans shakes his head a little. What others? For some reason, his new memories aren't forming as clearly as they should be. Sans can't even figure out what coppy he's in yet. He's distracted when Boss starts to talk.

"I'm sorry for grabbing you, Red," Boss says begrudgingly, "That damn dog was in my kitchen again, and I almost had him before you got in the way." Sans only notices now that Boss is calling him by a different name.

"Yeah, my bad," Sans mutters. The two of them fall into silence. Just because their relationship has gotten better doesn't mean that they know how to talk to one another. Just as Sans opens his mouth to say something, Boss interrupts him.

"Don't you have one of those useless meetings to attend? You'll be late if you keep standing here and wasting time."

Sans opens his mouth to ask what he means, but then closes it. He does have somewhere to be. Sans instinctually reaches out to his magic and grasps an ability that is close to his shortcuts in nature. The empty air beside him splits open as a red haze creates a portal. This is a special ability that only a fraction of Sanses in the Multiverse will ever develop. Sans finally realizes why he's felt so odd today: he's in the original UnderFell.

His quick goodbye is an automated response as Sans's thoughts and emotions get all jumbled up in his head. The small bit of 'Red's' memory that he had been missing is now finally getting straightened out. It takes all of his stoicness as a Fells Sans to avoid causing a scene when Sans sees where the portal had taken him. The massive hall is filled with Sanses. They come from every type of AU Sans can think of, amounting to around 50 alternate versions of himself.

Sans has always believed that he was the only one who knew about the Multiverse. That isn't true. There are others. There are others who have seen the endless AUs and who can talk about the resets with one another. Only a fraction of the AUs are here, but it's all very incredible to Sans.

"Red, hey!" A voice calls out. Sans turns his head to find another skeleton approaching him. They wear a white lab coat and goggles, appearing younger than most of the others. His name comes easily to Sans's mind thanks to Red's memories. An unidentifiable emotion starts to bubble up in his chest.

"Morn'in, Sci," Sans greets him, "Did you finally crawl out of your lab to actually come to one of these?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Don't you usually skip these meetings?" Sci replies in a teasing manner, smiling at Sans. That giddy feeling in his chest gets stronger. Sans might have giggled if he wasn't currently a Fell monster. Red has a crush on Sci, so Sans is currently feeling the full effect of it.

"Boss has been nagging me to come gather 'intel' and....... and I missed you," Sans admits that second part more quietly. He's afraid of being ridiculed for showing such emotion. Sans and Sci both look away from one another, blushing in embarrassment. They've been going through this awkward phase for a while now, dancing around their feelings.

Sci is the first to speak. "I think the meeting is about to start. Come on, we should go find seats." He grabs onto Sans's arm and pulls the other forwards. Letting himself be led, Sans walks through the hall and can't help glancing at the other mingling monsters. Like him and Sci, most are beginning to gravitate towards a massive doorway leading into the adjoining room.

The room resembles some sort of theater without the dim lighting. It's actually quite bright. Comfy looking chairs rise gradually in rows, but they also have a thin table set in front of them. It makes the environment seem more professional. The chairs are quickly beginning to fill up, but it's clear that there's extra seating available. Sci leads Sans down to one of the rows closest to the bottom. Sans doesn't mind letting Sci pick their seats if it makes the other happy. Sans himself would prefer to sit in the top corner where no one can stare at his back.

"What's the topic for this meeting, anyway?" Sans asks, finding that Red doesn't know.

"Two weeks ago, we were working out a few problems in the different AUs, but we're talking about the Destroyer today," Sci answers.

That title brings flashing images to Sans's mind. He sees a battle, and a black-boned skeleton who looked at him with such remorse. Sans can feel the confusion show on his face. Sci gives him a strange look and opens his mouth to ask what's wrong, but stops as someone steps out into the space before the audience. All the idle conversations stop. Sans turns to look, and he can feel himself starting to sweat again. More flashes from that battle between gods bombards his mind. Sans remembers now. Ink stands in front of the audience, hands on his hips as he waits for everyone to quiet down. Sans has to stop himself from trying to block an attack that isn't coming. From Red's memory, Sans now realizes how much more powerful Ink is than him. Sans shot the God of Creation with a Gaster Blaster. It's probably a good thing that Undertale copy doesn't exist anymore. Ink would have surely gone back to question them.

"Everyone here?" Ink asks and then pauses for a moment before continuing, "Good, because I'm not gonna wait for anyone if someone's late." Again, something about Ink's demeanor gives Sans chills. He has no clue what it is. A massive marker board is just behind Ink, and he gestures to it as he speaks again. "Does anyone have any more ideas to try? I used the poison trap and the monster ideas this week, but Error managed to escape both of them. He's destroyed seven AUs in the last couple days alone. We have to stop him before he destroys your AUs next!"

"But what about the balance?" It takes Sans a moment to realize that he's the one who's spoken. He's now standing in his spot and meeting Ink's gaze. Sans realizes a moment too late that Red doesn't know about the balance. Sans doesn't even fully grasp the idea, but he knows that it's important, and that Error is a vital piece in it.

The entire audience is staring at him. Sans feels himself shrink down under the scrutiny. They don't know about it, either, Sans realizes with a growing sense of horror. Even Ink looks at him strangely. Sans knows that it's a terrible thing that Ink doesn't know about the balance, but Sans can't explain it to them with his hazy memory.

"Red? Are you alright?" Sci asks quietly, tugging on Sans's coat sleeve. Sans is sweating heavily as his eyes flick around to the other confused monster.

"Never mind, forget it!" Sans barks out sharply. He sits down heavily in his seat and slumps down, crossing his arms. He tries to bring back his flawless UnderFell act. Sans won't meet Sci's concerned face, and turns away. He accidentally meets another's gaze in doing so. Red's memories supply the name.

Dream stares at Sans with a hard, scrutinizing gaze. Sans tries to recall everything Red knows about the other in return. Dream is a Guardian of Positivity. It makes him one of the best healers in the Multiverse. Dream is a little weaker than Ink, but has an unsettling ability to sense emotions. Sans can't help a wave of nervousness after he realizes that Dream can probably sense the inconsistencies and bipolar nature of his feelings. That uneasiness quickly turns to irritation in the Fell monster's body. Sans doesn't like getting picked over. Dream looks rather embarrassed when he senses that, and looks away sheepishly.

The meeting eventually progresses as Sans's outburst is forgotten. He sits in silence for the rest of the meeting and listens to the others spout ideas of how to capture, maim, or kill Error. Sans just doesn't get why they discuss these things. He tries his best to remember any details about the balance, but nothing comes no matter how hard he tries. The end of the meeting is nothing short of a miracle for Sans. The room has become suffocating.

"What was that back there?" Sci stops Sans from immediately walking out.

"I forgot," Sans shrugs nonchalantly, "I zoned out and was thinking about something else." Sans can tell that Sci doesn't entirely believe him, but quickly switches the topic to avoid continuing the conversation. "Are you busy tomorrow?" Sans blurts out.

"No. Just the usual, I guess," Sci answers, his attention quickly shifting as his smile comes back.

"Well, um-, do you wanna hang out? Go see a different AU or something? I heard the Omega Timeline is pretty neat." Sans looks away and fiddles with his sleeves as a blush warms his face. Sans has no idea what the Omega Timeline is, but Red has been wanting to ask Sci to go with him for quite some time.

"Yeah! I'll go with you," Sci says, getting excited that they're finally doing something together.

"Cool," Sans mutters, trying to cover his growing blush and silly smile with his coat collar. "Text me in the morning, and I'll come over." Sans will be gone by tomorrow, so Red can enjoy his 'not date' with Sci.

The two of them part ways, heading back to their own AUs. Sans has a lot to think about. He still can't get over the fact that so many others are aware of the Multiverse. Sans just hopes that he won't forget it all when he wakes up tomorrow.