Natsu was devouring a bunch of food at the bar in the Fairy Tail guild hall. His special menu looks like this:

●Fire Pasta

●Fire Chicken

●Fire Drink

This all adds up to 1,200j.

So Natsu was devouring his special meal while Sans sat nearby, looking at the bar longingly...

Oh wait, never-mind. Not the bar. The ketchup.

(In a distant universe, you can hear a troublesome panda on this website yell 'CATSUP')

"Are you sure you want it there?" Mira asked. "Absolutely!" Lucy replied.

As soon as Sans heard Mira speak, he looked in their direction, some slight sadness in his eyes. I always feel left out for some reason. I guess I'm pretty bone-ly. Sans mentally punned, before realizing that he couldn't use his skele-puns anymore because he wasn't physically a skeleton at the moment. Dang it. No skeleton-puns for now, I guess. Hehe, I've lost a humerus section of my pun stack. Sans mentally punned again.

Sans heard the stamp press down onto Lucy's hand. At least someone else was happy. Besides, Sans was always pretty stamped into the ground, even before the resets happened. Before it came. 

"There!" Said Mira. "Now you're an official member of Fairy Tail!" Lucy marveled at her stamp. "Wow! ♡" Lucy said. Sans was confused as to how she managed to insert that heart into that sentence. Lucy then went off to show it to the rest of the guild, since she was extremely happy about being an official member. When she showed it to Natsu, the Dragon Slayer wasn't very happy for her. "Oh, wow. Good for you." He said so uncharacteristically. Lucy was both confused and mad at Natsu for saying that. He then got up for the Request Board, to get a job while his male guild mates were fawning over Lucy. Well, at least some of them.

Sans watched this happen. "people are crazy these days." He simply said. Humans are crazy these days. Sans mentally corrected himself.

Natsu was at the Request Board. "Let's do one with a big reward, huh?" Happy said to Natsu, excitement in his tone. "Yeah. How about this one?" Natsu said as he pulled out out request.

It read:

[Theif Subdue.

160 Grand Jewels]

Well, at least that's how Natsu read it. Just with an exclamation point at the end of the sentence because Natsu is almost always overly excited about everything.

But just when  Natsu grabbed the mission, he heard somebody at the bar.

"Isn't my daddy back yet?" Romeo, Macao's son asked Makarov. Sans silently watched the scene unfold in front of him. "No." Makarov said simply. "Don't complain so much, Romeo." Makarov said. "The son of a wizard should stay at home patiently waiting for his father's safe return." Romeo started to cry. "But... He said he'd be back in three days... and now it's been a whole week."

The two started to get into a dispute. Romeo was arguing that they look for him while Makarov said that Macao was fine. Finally, Makarov lost his patience and angrily yelled at Romeo for saying that they should look for Macao, Romeo yelled, "YOU MEANIE!!!!!!!!!!" And punched Makarov in the face before running away. Sans, having watched the entire thing, tried to confront the master. "makarov, don't you understand? he just wanted to find his dad. if somebody you held important in your"- Sans was cut off by Makarov. "Silence. You are not an official guild member. You possess no power in this situation."

Sans opened his mouth for a moment before closing it. Best that I don't get in a fight with him. Who knows if I will ever come back if that happens... The warning at the back of Sans' mind was there, telling him that he might never come back if he... fell down.

Meanwhile, at a different part of the bar, Lucy said, "He was pretty tough with the kid." Mira dried another cup with a towel before answering. "He may talk tough, but I'm sure that the master is worried himself."

At the Request Board, Natsu's face was shadowed over. He was expressionless and was holding the job request. Next thing the guild knew, the very same request was smashed into the board, the board itself being crushed in that particular area. Lucy, Makarov, and Sans took notice of this action. Nab looked at Natsu in dismay. "Hey, Natsu!" Nab yelled. "You broke the board!" Natsu was walking away slowly, his expression hard to read due to the shadow covering his eyes. Lucy stared after Natsu in shock. "Master!" Nab addressed Makarov. "I think something's wrong with Natsu! I think he's... going"- Nab was interrupted by a clicking sound, and the next thing they knew, Sans was gone from the bar, and for some reason, so was one bottle of ketchup. A note sat where Sans' seat was. Lucy was dumbfounded. Where did he go, and how did he do that so fast? Did he use magic? She tried to logically solve the situation. No, because there was no magic circle. What did Sans do? Lucy pondered on the subject for a little bit more before letting it go. Sans' note still sat on the bar counter, at the spot he was sitting at.

dear mirajane,

         can i borrow a ketchup for a while? i may need to ketchup to natsu. ok? bye.

                                                                            sincerely, sans

The note said. So that's what happened to the ketchup...

"That brat never seems to give up." Makarov said, paying absolutely no attention to the fact that Sans was gone. "But if he does... won't that just pulverize Macao's self-confidence? Eh, others can't decide your path for you. Just let what happens happen."

Lucy went back to her drink. She was still shocked at Natsu's actions, despite Sans' sudden disappearance, and decided to ask Mira. "Wh-What's gotten into him? Why'd he go off so suddenly?" Lucy accidentally stuttered out due to the shock of so many different things happening at once. She heard Mira quietly say, "I wonder if history is repeating itself?" Lucy was confused by Mira. "Eh?" Mira stood in her part of the bar. "Because Natsu was just like Romeo." Mira muttered. "Natsu's father went away suddenly, and still hasn't come back." Lucy was shocked, but still let Mira continue. "When I say father... not his real father, but the one who raised him." Mira turned to Lucy with a smile gracing her face. "You know, the dragon."

Lucy fell off her stool in shock, her leg raised in air, twitching. A plume of dust engulfed the impact area, which would probably make you wonder how long it has been since this place was last cleaned. When the last of the dust was disappearing, Lucy got up again sweating bullets. "A DRAGON??????" She yelled in shock. "NATSU WAS RAISED BY A DRAGON??????? HOW'S ANYBODY SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THAT????????" Mira cleared her throat. "Listen...

"When Natsu was little, the dragon took him in.

Taught him speech...

Culture...

Magic...

The dragon taught him everything.

But one day...

the dragon just disappeared."

Lucy was touched by this short speech. "So that's it... that's Igneel." She muttered in realization and memory of what Natsu had told her in Hargeon. "Natsu is looking forward to the day when he meets Igneel again. I think that part of him is really cute!" Mira said as she gave Lucy the drink she ordered. "We..." Mira said again, but seriously, which was a huge contrast to her mood earlier. "We Fairy Tail wizards... I don't believe it... are all living under a cloud. Pain... suffering... like me..." Lucy was confused. Mira was always happy and cheerful, so why would she be suffering? Lucy managed out a 'huh?' before Mira turned to her. "Forget it. It's nothing." Mira said cheerfully, again, a stark contrast to her serious attitude from before.

Lucy was silent. After that speech, Lucy couldn't find any words.

During the speech...

Natsu approached Romeo silently. Romeo was crying, and Natsu put his hand on Romeo's head. Silently, Natsu had told Romeo that he was going to find Macao for him. Romeo looked up in surprise at Natsu.

.............................

Natsu was waiting to be picked up to go to the mountain that Macao had went to for the job when he heard someone walk up to him. He turned to see Sans right next to him. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Natsu asked. Sans shrugged. "i want to help you. it isn't fair how the master treated romeo, and i'd like to find his dad for him. i saw you leave, and i knew immediately that was your goal too." Natsu just huffed. "THEN FIGHT ME!!!!!! SHOW ME HOW STRONG YOU ARE!!!!!!!!" Sans shrugged. "nah. i'd like to save my energy for finding romeo's dad on the mountain. maybe when we get back?" Natsu thought for a moment before answering. "Okay."

...................................................................................................................

Lucy was in the wagon with a motion-sick Natsu and a now not-so-missing Sans. "And so..." Lucy said. Clearly, she is in the middle of a conversation. "Next time we both have free time, I'm going to hang out with Mirajane at her place!" Lucy practically sang. Lucy took notice of Sans right after that statement, not having noticed the s- no, boy there. "What are you doing here, Sans?" Lucy asked, completely catching Sans off guard. Sans fell off his seat before getting back up and staring at her, but not like the stare he gave to Elfman. "i happen to share a cause with natsu here." Sans jestured to Natsu.

Nearby, Happy and Natsu, even though the latter was very motion sick, both looked at her. "What we're wondering is, why are you here, Lucy?" They said in unison. Lucy gave them both the death glare. "What?! You've got a problem with that?!" She exclaimed. Happy and Natsu stared at her very seriously.

Well, for Natsu, about as serious as a motion-sick guy can look.

"Actually, quite a few." Natsu said. "Aye." Happy added somberly. Lucy didn't have time for their complaints, as she had still recently joined the guild and was very happy about it. "Well, I finally made it to Fairy Tail, and I was hoping I could be of some use!" She explained to them.

"You see?" She added quieter, although she felt as if someone still heard her. "And I figured that this would raise my stock with the place! I'm sure of it!" She noticed Natsu on the ground and added, "Still, I never figured you to be so bad at traveling." Sans chuckled a little.

"yeah. nobody would ever figure him to be the kind to be so sick of traveling, especially when he appears to love adventures." Sans said. Natsu groaned a bit at the mention of 'transportation'.

Lucy, ignoring Sans' comment, continued with her conversation with Natsu. She looked at Natsu before fake-crying and saying, "You poor, poor guy!"

And then she proceeded to tell them about her status house-wise. "Once we finish our search for Macao-san, I'm going to have to find a place to live." She said. This brought Sans' attention. "oh. i need a house too." He said. Lucy's mouth dropped. Sans forgot to get a HOUSE??????? How forgetful is this guy??????? She thought.

She was drawn from her thoughts by a cheerful voice. "You can live with us, at Natsu's place!" Happy said, raising his paw as usual. Lucy gave him the death glare again, an evil aura surrounding her. "If I thought you were serious, I'd pull your whiskers out, cat." Lucy said menacingly.

She suddenly remembered Sans' great escape from the guild and decided to ask Sans about it. "Hey, Sans." The boy looked up. "yeah?" "How did you disappear?" Lucy asked. Sans shrugged. "i guess i can just do it." He said. Lucy was going to push further when she realized that Sans' eyes were gone again and the now empty eye sockets were facing towards her. She suddenly realized that he had a wide, cartoonish grin on his face. But instead of making her feel better, it gave an unsettling feel to the already scary look. "don't think i'd try anymore if i were you, kiddo."

It felt strange, using the old nickname that Sans had used for it, before he found out it just wanted to kill all of monster kind. At least it never found them...

If it ever did, then poor Alphys' self-confidence would be in shreds, more so than it already is.

The wagon suddenly stopped. Natsu sat up, as if back from the dead, and pointed out the obvious. "IT'S STOPPED!!!!!!!!!" Natsu yelled. Lucy turned to the driver area. "Are we there?" She asked.

"F-forgive me..." The driver said, shivering.

"But a horse-drawn carriage can't go any further in this!"

Lucy, Natsu, and Sans stepped out of the carriage. "What is this?!!" Lucy yelled, seeing snow everywhere. "I don't care how high in the mountains we are, this is summer!" She yelled to the world. "A blizzard now is just weird!" Natsu stood in the snow, unfazed. Sans stood next to him, also unfazed, despite his strange attire of a jacket with shorts and pink slippers. "S-So cold!" Lucy yelled. Natsu looked at her. "It's cold because you're wearing the wrong clothing." Natsu said to her, totally chill about it. Lucy just gawked. "YOU'RE NOT WEARING ANYTHING ANY MORE APPROPRIATE THAN ME!!!!!!!" She yelled.

Sans just looked at her weirdly, although at the same time, hoping Lucy would spare him. But Lucy caught sight of the boy looking at her and she suddenly noticed Sans hadn't changed his look at all. "SANS!!!!!! YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN ME!!!!!" Lucy yelled to the comedian.

Sans chuckled, and couldn't help himself anymore, so he spoke. "well, at this rate, you're yelling so loud that you're asking for an avalanche of trouble." Sans punned. "KYYYAAAA!!!!! ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!!!" Lucy yelled before kicking Sans square in the face. Or, well, attempting to. Because Sans moved out of the way in an unnatural speed. "SPEED MAGIC?????" Lucy yelled. Sans opened one of his eyes and looked at her like she grew another head. "no. remember what i said. my magic is a bit different."

Lucy decided to drop the subject before hearing the driver yell, "Well, I'll be heading back to town now." Lucy started frantically chasing the cart, while both boys and the cat sweat-dropped at her antics. "WAIT, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET HOME????? EYAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

"She really is loud, you know." Natsu said. "Aye." You-know-who replied worriedly. "welp, she's bound to run into something in this weather." Sans said, amusement clear in his voice.

The four stood in the blizzard in silence.

The silence was broken when Lucy started crying. "Loan me your scarf..." Lucy begged, taking out a blanket from Natsu's bag. "No." Natsu gave the solid reply. So she turned to Sans. "Please let me borrow your jacket..." Lucy begged as she held onto his arm. Sans turned to her. "nope." He said. "this will be revenge for trying to kick me." Lucy started crying, anime tears streaming down her face.

She grabbed one of her keys and started to stutter out the chant. "I-I-I c-command the G-G-Gate of the Time Keeper to o-open!"

A keyhole appeared in the air, and she stuck the Gate Key into it.

"Horologium!"

A 'ding ding' resonated throughout the entire area as a grand clock with a face and arms appeared. Natsu and Happy were astounded, while Sans looked in curiosity. "WOAH!!!!" Natsu marveled at Horologium. "It's a clock!" Happy said, awed at the Celestial Spirit. "cool. i've heard of celestial magic, but i've never seen it in action before." Sans said as he looked at the clock from top to bottom.

Lucy entered Horologium. "My mistress says, 'I'll be here if you want me.'" Horologium says. "What'd she even come for?!" Natsu exclaimed. "You said, 'What's she even come for?' and 'What kind of work brought Macao to a place like this?' is her reply." Natsu looked slightly astounded. "You came here without even knowing that?!! He came to defeat the huge monsters they call Vulcans!"

That word brought Sans to a series of memories from the resets back in his universe. He remembered a Hotland monster called a Vulcan. They were like tiny, peaceful volcanos in there and were actually kinda cute. Sans winced slightly at how the word 'monster' was being used.

Lucy was shocked at this statement and began to sweat. "My mistress says, 'I wanna go home!'" Horologium narrated for Lucy. "To which my reply is, 'Be my guest.'" Natsu fired back at the Celestial Spirit as he walked away with Happy and Sans. "Aye." Happy replies to support Natsu. Natsu started to call for Macao. "MACAO!!! ARE YOU HERE?!!!! OR DID YOU GET YOURSELF KILLED BY A VULCAN?!!!!" Natsu yelled into the blizzard. Something stirred at the top of the cliff above them, and Sans said, "hehe. you just caused an avalanche." Natsu glared at Sans. "NO I DIDN'T!!!!" Natsu retorted.

At that moment, a Vulcan came and struck at the three of them. Right before a single attack ever landed on anything, they heard a clicking sound. The next thing they knew, they were standing three meters from the impact area, Sans next to them, gritting his teeth together. His eye sockets were empty, but his left eye socket sported a glowing circle that was quickly flashing between blue and yellow. The center was black, and it looked disturbingly like a flashing iris with a pupil. But the eye socket had no eye.

In an instant, Sans' eyes were back. Natsu turned and faced the Vulcan. "It's a Vulcan!" Happy exclaimed worriedly. Natsu and the Vulcan were staring at the other, seeing who was going to attack first.

"Sans, I might need your help here!" Natsu called to Sans, only to get a snore in response. "Eh?" Natsu said as he looked behind him, only to be met with Sans asleep right on the spot. "SANS!!!!!!!!" Natsu yelled, grabbing Sans by the shoulders and shaking him. "huh, what? oh wait, crap there's a vulcan behind you!" Sans instantly jumped up. 

For a dude who's so mysterious, he slacks off a lot. Natsu thought. But now wasn't the time for thinking as the Vulcan launched past Natsu and towards...

Lucy.

"It's a human girl!" The Vulcan said, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. "So he can talk?" Natsu said, pounding his flaming fists together. "'WHO CARES!!!!!! COME RESCUE MEEE!!!!!!!!'" Tears were streaming down Lucy's face. "My mistress says." Horologium says. Sadly, Lucy never said anything that would be heard, so Horologium still had to narrate for her.

The Vulcan grabbed Horologium and ran off with the Celestial Spirit and Lucy. Sans' eyes were closed due to concentration. "come... on..." Sans said as he tried to muster up enough magic to do something about this, maybe gravitational magic to pull them back, or a shortcut to the Vulcan's lair. But nothing happened. "jeez, my laziness isn't slacking off on its job, am i"- Sans was cut off as he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him. He sighed and decided that now would be a good time to get some sleep.

..................

Lucy was sitting inside Horologium in the Vulcan's cave, said Vulcan was partying and chanting something about 'a human girl'. "'What have I gotten into here?' Is what my mistress says." Horologium spoke as he covered his eyes. "And this monkey is way too excited!"

.....................................................................................................................................

"SANS!!!!! SANS!!!!!! SANS, WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!" Natsu yelled into Sans' ear to no avail. "Natsu, I think we should find Lucy first." Happy said. "Besides, he can always find us. I'm sure of it." Together, they both took off after the Vulcan, which was long gone by now.

...........................................................................................................................

Sans opened his eyes, wait, no, eye sockets. He quickly looked down. The time limit for the potion was coming close. He was turning back into a skeleton. Sans had just taking a test drive for it, seeing if anything bad was to happen. So far, nothing bad was happening. But he did know that his eyes would disappear when he was serious, and if he used his magic in a serious way. But his eye would still activate. So nothing bad has happened. He was feeling recharged and decided that he would have to take a shortcut back to Porlyusica's place, to get some more.

A clicking sound can be heard and...

The screen goes black.