"One more step."

The harsh tundra of Snowden vanished entirely as the world around you seemed to transform. There was a slight humidity to the air, accompanied by the lazy hum of crickets as they began to play their evening lullaby. As if by magic, your breathing seemed to echo from all around you, joining in with the crickets, creating a wonderful melody.

"It's beautiful." You sunk to your knees and allowed your hand to brush a smooth blade of grass. You continued to trail it across the plants and stopped it at what felt like a flower. Curiously, you allowed your hands to make out the general shape of the plant.

"This is called an echo flower," Sans murmured into your ear, sliding down next to you. Again, you felt chills run through your spine as he brushed against you to pluck the flower from the ground. "It repeats everything you say."

A light murmur followed, barely detectable. This is called an echo flower, an imitation of Sans' voice seemed to come from the flower. It repeats everything you say.

A giggle escaped your lips and almost instantaneously, it was replayed by the dozens of echo flowers that surrounded the two of you. Nearby flowers picked up the trace of noise and began to replay it until it seemed that the entire Underground would be able to hear your laughter.

With Sans' guidance, he led you to the bank of a nearby stream. You allowed your feet to dangle over the edge, flinching at first when you felt the coolness of the water and then relaxed slightly, intaking the peacefulness of your surroundings. You felt a haze settle over your mind and you found your head slowly moving to the right, settling on Sans' shoulder.

With a flash of pity, you noticed that he slightly recoiled from the contact, as if he had imagined you as Papyrus for a brief moment, preparing to beat him. Slowly, he allowed his head to lean against yours. There was a light thudding noise as the two of your heads made contact, which the echo flowers were keen on picking up.

"Why wouldn't anyone want to live here?" you whispered, trailing your finger in the dirt. Your hand flexed anxiously, resisting the urge to scratch at the flowers that now adorned your face.

You felt your head lifted slightly as Sans shrugged. "I have no clue." If you had been able to see, you would have noticed the mischievous smirk that was growing on his face. "Maybe it's because they dump all the waste into the river. You know the pebbles you're feeling right now? Those aren't pebbles."

"That's disgusting!" You let out a muffled cry of disgust and flung yourself away from the river. There was the light airy sound of his laughter that filled the calm landscape around you, once magnified by the echo flowers, seemed to put you in a trance, almost making you forget of the dangerous world you now resided in.

Almost.

Flowey, whom had awaken from a rather comfortable nap on your shoulder, couldn't resist to not join in the fun. "Where do you think we get all the fertilizer from?" he laughed.

"You're all so immature!" you shouted in mock disgust. Sans doubled over in a fit of laughter, clutching his stomach.

"Poop jokes aren't always the best..." Flowey began.

"But they're a solid number two!" Sans finished in a howl of laughter. You couldn't stifle the laugh that had been threatening to spill over for quite some time now. You pretended to throw your hands up in a gesture of mock disgust and walked away.

You could hear footsteps echoing from behind you as Sans struggled to ketchup. You began to trail your hand against the rock wall, noting the different curves in the stone, acting as a trail to...

"HOI!"

You stiffened at the high-pitched shriek that seemed to emerge from all around you. A chorus of HOI's followed afterwards. For a moment, you thought it was the echo flowers repeating the sound, until you slowly pieced together that an army of whatever hyperactive monster you had run into had assembled around you and Sans.

You heard Sans mumble a string of profanities under his breath. You felt a wave of confusion. What could possibly be wrong about these monsters? If anything, they seemed to be one of the friendliest monsters you had encountered in the Underground.

"Well, what a surprise! Edgy MC Romance is back, and he's brought a friend!" One of the monsters proclaimed - whom you assumed to be the leader of these hyperactive monsters. You felt the cold impressment of steel as the monster passed you, trailing a knife along your angle.

"T-Temmie, it's not what it looks like," Sans began, a note of desperation in his voice. It was only then did you realize how desperate the situation had become. These monsters could kill and if you died, that would earn another flower on your head. It seemed that only a few more flowers would be all that it took before...

Before what?

You felt yourself go cold at the thought. Sure, a few days ago you would have embraced the thought of death. You had nothing to live for, all of your friends and family had been brutally murdered and their corpses displayed for all to see. But that seemed to be a lifetime ago. Now, you felt that you actually had something to live for.

You felt something warm and wet pass over your cheek. Did something just lick me? you thought with disgust and smacked at the space where you assumed the monster to be. A soft cry of HOI was emitted as your hand made contact with one of the Temmie creatures.

"[Y/N]..." Sans whispered into your ear as he pressed something into your hand. "On the count of three, squeeze the bottle like your life depends on it."

1...

2...

3...

On cue, you squeezed the bottle and released the contents onto the growing crowd of Temmies. The monsters let out strangled cries and began to scamper back into whatever tunnels they had materialized from. A foul odor wafted towards you. "Is this mustard?" you asked aloud as the last of the Temmies vanished. "Was that their weakness?"

"Mhm," he confirmed, grabbing the bottle from your hands and beginning to chug it.

You opened your mouth to protest at the disgusting habit he had become partaken to, but then decided better. After all, you did have a small obsession when it came to ketchup.

(A/N: Or at least I do. It tastes sO goOd).

"Come on," Sans grabbed your hand and began to lead you onwards. "I want to show you something."

The two of you winded through a series of pathways until you stopped in front of a large object. You began to run your hands over it, feeling the multiple keys and strings that - if put in the correct combination - could produce a wonderful variety of sounds. "A piano?" you whispered as Sans took a seat on the bench.

Cautiously, you slid in next to him. Quietly at first, then with increasing vigor, Sans began to play Fur Elise. In the dim quiet, with only the echo flowers to recreate the noise in a faint harmony, you leaned your head against Sans' shoulder.

The two of you pondered a great many things. The future to come.

And what might have been.

__________________

I'm super sorry if this chapter was a little slower than the others. It was kind of a filler chapter, but I wanted to include a scene with [Y/N] and Sans in Waterfall.

The next chapter will be better (hopefully) and longer!

~ Muffins