It was always a problem, being in a wheelchair.

Honestly, Hewey didn't think about it much. It wasn't on his mind constantly, it was just a part of his schedule, overlooked due to the recurrence. Wake up, pull himself into the wheelchair, go about his day. All of his life, the boy had been within the wheelchair, it was just life. He did sometimes ponder how it would be to feel his legs, but those were fleeting thoughts and wonders about life that never stuck around.

But nothing stung more than his grandfather looking down at him, confined to the wheelchair, and stating just how useless Hewey was in this situation.

No, it didn't just sting. It made him p*ssed. This random demon just waltzed into their life, declared Sans his son, locked him into a room, then had the audacity to mock Hewey?

Maybe it was a good thing Zalgo underestimated him. It was something Sans had taught his children, but he always took it up on Hewey the most.

"They'd never suspect a child in a wheelchair to be able to fight back," Sans had told him when he was younger, helping Hewey aim the gun at the target. "Take advantage of that. It's been my greatest strength, people never suspect the lazy skeleton to be able to kill."

Hewey was always one of the more mental children. He wasn't the most manipulative, no, that would be Tondra. Tondra had the ability to twist attention away from her with puns, just as their Dad did, able to stir away doubt on her mask and goggles and instead causing those looking at her to laugh. Hewey couldn't do that, he couldn't twist around a conversation onto itself as some of his siblings and parents. But what he was good at lay more with his tongue and brain, allowing for him to be witty and quick with both his words and decisions. They all had their strengths and weaknesses, sure, but the children all knew how to twist their weaknesses around into strengths.

If he had to admit it, Hewey wouldn't choose to leave the wheelchair. Although it did hold him back, he knew how to work around him. It made people like Zalgo underestimate him, allowing for Hewey to slip beneath the radar without any suspicion thrown his way.

He was utterly alone. It was obvious. Demons, as Hewey had learned, couldn't disobey exact orders from Zalgo. Lazari and Sans got to bypass this, as they were related to Zalgo, but Lazari had four demons watching her to make sure she wouldn't go release Sans. Chara was forbidden from even going near the room, and Flowey had been thrown back into the caged room Splendor and SeedEater were trapped inside of. Hewey was alone.

But that didn't matter.

Just because he was disabled didn't mean that he couldn't defend himself. Hewey would get Sans out of there, and he would find Tondra and they would leave. Somehow.

It felt so odd, being alone. He had no siblings, no allies, no friends, nothing. Just Hewey in his little wheelchair, pushing himself down the hallways. Demons barely even looked at him, and when they did, it was looks of pity.

Bad mistake on their part.

Hewey didn't have any weapons anymore, it was too dangerous to go back to Zalgo's office. The demon even mocked him, saying Hewey was always welcome to his office. Zalgo even said he could retrieve his gun and take a shot at him for free to make himself "feel better".

But hey, at least Zalgo was dumb enough not to watch Hewey.

Not only that, but his allowance of free roaming permitted from when they first arrived still applied. Hewey could do anywhere and do anything, and the demons couldn't attack him. He had immunity.

And boy was he going to use that.

Hewey had to search for a bit before he finally found those two demon guards from floor ten, though he couldn't really remember their names. They had seemed a little on edge and nervous before, so that's why he decided they would be the best course of action to continue with.

That's how they ended up on the floor.

"You know, you could just tell me what it is," Hewey had said, jerking his wheelchair back over the demon male.

"I can't tell you anything about the project! Zalgo ordered us not to!" The male screeched out.

He was on the floor below Hewey's wheelchair, both of the wheels firmly planted on his back as they dug into his flesh. Hewey rolled his eyes and tilted his weight back, ignoring the increased cry of pain.

"I'm his grandson and in line to the throne, I should have some authority!" Hewey said, rolling forward with another cry of pain. "This is an order, tell me what the plan is!"

"I can't, not unless you become the King! We have to obey his orders!"

Hewey rolled off of the demon with a sigh, hearing yet another cry of pain as the wheels tore at his skin. It probably didn't help that Hewey had activated the spikes on his wheels to stab into the demon below him. Well, that didn't work.

"What has he ordered you guys to do?" Hewey asked him.

"W-Well, he ordered us to not tell you anything about the project," The demon stuttered, "And he ordered us to not hurt you or your family, and we can't release your Dad. I can't tell you about the plan, I really can't!"

"Only me?"

"Yes, Lord Zalgo said we couldn't tell you."

Hewey leaned forward, spotting the loophole. "So he ordered you not to tell me alone about the plan?"

"Y-Yes."

"And he ordered you to not release my Dad?"

"That's right."

"Then did he order you not to tell my Father about the plan?"

"No, he just specified you."

"Bingo."

~~~~~~

Hewey had backed into the corner of the hall, close enough away from both the door and the demon to be able to hear, but not in eyesight of the demon so he wouldn't be disobeying his orders. Sans was pushed up into the opening, eye sockets peering through as he listened to the demon speak.

"It's a plan to break down the barrier surrounding the afterlife," The demon explained, "Zalgo wants to release us all so we can walk on earth, like how monsters broke their barrier, Zalgo wants to break ours."

"How does he intend to do it?" Sans asked.

"A machine, I don't know where it is, only high level demons can access it because they're building it, and some low level demon servants," He explained, "It uses runes and soul magic combined, he's been working on it for years now. There's a lot of power and runes we need to be able to break through the barrier, so it's taken them awhile to carve all of the runes in correctly."

"This... this isn't good," Sans muttered, "If he did manage to break through the barrier.... It'd be like the underground. When the barrier was up, it used the void to separate the underground from the rest of the world. And when we had broken it, we reconnected that piece of earth back to it. That's why us breaking the barrier had no impact on earth, it was already a part of it and the void barrier was removed from the earth. But the afterlife is different, it's separated by a large gap of void, and it never was a piece of the-"

"Moxxie, this is an order."

The demon tensed, glancing over to where the voice had come from. Hewey and Sans followed, all three sharing worried expressions. There stood Zalgo, all of his mouths pulled back into grins as he watched them.

"Go back to your post."

The demon nodded, giving the two an apologetic look before he left. Hewey barely paid attention, shifting his wheelchair backwards towards the elevator.

"Hewey, I'm so proud you went and got help!" Zalgo giggled, clapping his hands. "But now I'm going to have to lock you away, too."

"Zalgo, we already know your plan," Hewey said.

"You can't do it!" Sans said, pounding on the door. "You don't understand! If you merge the underworld and earth so demons can walk on it, the entirety of the void will collapse in on itself! Time, space, everything will be merged together! People's souls will be shattered, almost everyone on earth will die! You can't- it'll destroy reality as we know it!"

"What?" Hewey asked, looking over at his father with wide eyes.

"The void between the underworld and the first layer is fragile! It'll be like forcing the legs from under a table, everything will collapse in on itself!" Sans said, voice shaking. "You can't- you don't- it's not worth it! Time and space will be on earth, nothing will be the same! Everyone from the afterlife will be released out into the world, there wouldn't be enough space or time to handle them! Everything would be chaos!"

"So?" Zalgo asked, "I want to walk on earth, I want to let my people realize what it feels like to be alive. Just because it kills a bunch of people who would die anyway doesn't mean anything. And the universe is like you said, fragile. One slip up and the void creeps in and it ruins that balance. It's practically on hinges now, I might as well be the one to tip it over. And don't worry, I'll be grabbing the rest of your family before we destroy everything so they won't die!"

"That doesn't matter!" Sans objected, "This is a terrible idea! The void will close in on the collapsed world, it would destroy most of it trying to fix it! Souls will be taken to try and restore the power! It'll take all of the souls in the broken world, including my kids!"

"Not unless someone who has the power of void, such as demons do, twisted it away!" Zalgo said, "I'll be able to slip by, grab your children's souls, and we can be a big family on earth! It doesn't matter if the void destroys those other souls, demons will be free! And we could rule as Father, son, and grandson! See, I already have this cute little-"

"You'll end up killing everyone but us! That doesn't sound like a life to live, not to mention how it'd destroy most of space and time! We'd end up in an eternal loop, repeating the same time frame again and again! Our determination and magic could hold some land and ourselves, sure, but it wouldn't be enough to save the other people or bring them back to life!"

"Why do you care about those other people?" Zalgo said, "You're a demon and a CreepyPasta, you know how worthless they are compared to us."

Sans gave Zalgo a sad look. "If you kill those people, then it'd just be another barrier. No freedom to roam or to meet new people, no freedom to do fun things. It's just be all of us, trapped in a small space, in a loop where we can never meet anyone new or do anything new. Nothing to explore, no one to talk to but ourselves at the end. It wouldn't happen immediately, sure, but it will lead to there eventually. There'd be no way to change it or go back, everything will be gone and we wouldn't be able to turn back the clock. Is it really worth being on earth with us to destroy everything?"

Zalgo walked up to his son, leaning down to look through the slot in the door. "Yes."

He flicked the slot closed with his finger, closing Sans out from the rest of the world.

Hewey, at this point, was slowly wheeling backwards, lips pressed into a line as he neared the elevator. This was bad, worse than he had suspected. Zalgo wasn't just going to kill everyone, he was going to rip apart the world just to walk on earth.

But then again... Zalgo had been ruling over hell for centuries. All of those years, only ever being able to see the earth from the void, that might have driven anyone insane. That didn't excuse him, though.

"Aw, come on grandson!" Zalgo said, turning back to Hewey. "I can take you to your friends room, with your Dad and flower friend! I know you and Chara both disagreed over chocolate, but you guys got along otherwise!"

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Hewey said, backing more so he was halfway into the elevator.

"If you run from me, I'm not holding back my demons," Zalgo said, eyes narrowing as he grinned at him. "My proxies have already killed one of Sans' children, so hurting you a little wouldn't matter anymore."

"Fine."

With that, Hewey backed fully into the elevator, maintaining eye contact as he pressed a button on the wall. The doors slid closed, Zalgo tilting his head back with laughter.

He didn't believe Hewey posed an actual threat.

Well, he was about to be proven wrong.