Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

    Frosty wind danced from the windowsill, intricate patterns remaining stagnant for a second or two before disappearing as the frost left its ghostly current. It was chilly as always in the small town of Snowdin, thick sheens of ice littering the ground all day, every day, as it would stay for the next months, and years, to come. 

For a while now, the town had been long abandoned by its residents, as were the many other regions past it. After all,  there was no need to stay and do business underground when all the brilliant commodities and chances for fame beyond comprehension were set upon the surface. With the barrier broken, monsters were given opportunity, a way to flourish beyond their stony cage down below, and with humans nonetheless! 

Yet, despite it all, one house in particular still had its lights on, a small sort of illumination emanating from it and it alone. 

Upon the top floor, a gloved finger lazily drew small circles into the glass, round eyelights slowly following the movements as they repeated once, twice, thrice, and so on. 

Sans blinked, attempting to wipe the fatigue off his eyesockets. He lay in his barren mattress, pajamas still worn, even though he’d been awake for about an hour now, and while he fancied the idea of going back to sleep, there were unfortunately… much more important things that needed to be prioritized. 

‘CRASH!’

“YOU LITtle…!” 

“WHY DON’T YOU TRY And…!” 

He sighed. Yes, those “things”: The alternates. 

In short, they were duplicates of both him and his brother, yet varied in personality, worldview, and status. Some were strikingly similar, whereas others couldn’t act any more different, and currently, the “different” ones一 or the ones he and Papyrus deemed the “fell” variants, were currently having their morning feud. 

He listened as muffled insults were shouted from downstairs, closing his eyesockets for a small moment to gain one final ounce of proper rest before he’d have to go and take care of it. 

Amidst his daydreaming, frantic motion could be heard from beyond his room, the noise making its way quickly up the stairs, before a silhouette appeared, blocking the light in the hallway that once bled out from the crack under his door. Sans groggily sat up, knowing that nobody but his brother would be trying to ask for him at this moment, if at all. 

A series of knocks were heard against his door, quick and desperate, before Papyrus’s voice sounded through the door. 

“SANS? I DON’T THINK YOU’VE REALIZED BUT THERE IS CURRENTLY A FIGHT GOING ON DOWSTAIRS BETWEEN EDGE AND BLACK… AGAIN.”

He realized. He just didn’t want to deal with it. 

“ALL THE EFFORTS I’VE MADE TO CALM THEM DOWN ARE FUTILE, AND I’D APPRECIATE IF YOU TRIED TO DO SO INSTEAD. QUITE FRANKLY, I’M GETTING TIRED OF THEIR BICKERING, ALL OF US ARE.” 

Another shatter resounded from downstairs, the smoke alarm setting off. 

“OH, AND IT SEEMS THEY’VE STARTED A FIRE.” His brother heaved a long sigh, “PLEASE TAKE CARE OF THIS, SANS.” 

“yup, i’ll be there in a sec bro, just lemme’ get ready, can’t go in looking like Sleeping Beauty, it wouldn’t be proper.” 

Another sigh, “ALRIGHT, JUST PLEASE MAKE IT QUICK, I WOULDN’T WANT ONCE OF THEIR BROTHERS WAKING UP AND ADDING FUEL TO THE FIRE一, FIGURATIVELY AND LITERALLY.” 

          “YOU INSUFFERABLE PIECE OF-” 

Sans slowly made his way down the stairs, watching as a cloud of smoke grew from the kitchen. Blue, the “Swap” variant, was frantically waving at it in an attempt to dispel it through the windows he’d opened. 

He leaned forward, peeking into the space. Flames covered the entire area, bones protruding from all around the counters, and right smack-dab in the middle were the perpetrators themselves, Edge and Black. The two were hurling insults at each other, their voices carrying past the fire that crackled and popped in sync with their magic.

“hey guys,” Sans started holding out his palm, “...why don’t we calm down and-”

“CALM DOWN!?” Edge snapped, whipping his head towards Sans. “WHY SHOULD I CALM DOWN WHEN THIS…THIS MANIAC VERSION OF MY STUPID BROTHER THINKS IT’S OKAY TO INSULT ME AND MY COOKING SKILLS?!”

“MANIAC?! I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT A "MANIAC" LOOKS LIKE YOU POMPOUS NUMBSKULL!!” Black snarled, getting into a fighting stance. Sans sighed as they both continued on, flinching suddenly as a large gloved hand softly pushed him out of the way. 

“...Sorry.” Crooks, the “Horror” variant, softly muttered, making long strides inside the kitchen, a fire extinguisher in his hand. He sauntered past the other skeletons, who were much too into their cooking argument to acknowledge him.

“okay. The jokes' getting old guys, lets wrap this up before the entire house burns down, alright?一”

‘BAM!’

A noise rang out across the kitchen, startling all the skeletons into silence. Sans saw a flash of red fly past him, white foam spraying his face, making him tumble over. He watched as what he now recognize to be the fire extinguisher, flew wildy around the living room, smacking itself in ever possible corner as it sprayed copious amounts of its contents absolutely everywhere. 

Everyone who’d previously been lounging around the area either blipped or ran upstairs to escape the extinguishers range, though most unfortunately left covered in foam. Sans struggled back up to his feet, almost tripping over himself as he tried to make his way back to the kitchen.

The extinguisher’s attack had been… surprisingly effective. Black and Edge both lay coughing and flailing around what could only be described as a large, very wrong-looking bubble bath. 

“WHAT一” Edge gagged, absolutely covered in the substance, “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?” He pointed a finger accusingly at Black, “WAS THIS YOUR DOING? SOME SORT OF一 OF SNEAK ATTACK TO WEAKEN ME?” 

“YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS RIGHT NOW.” Black squawked, attemped to find his gatherings amongst the very slippery floor, failing multiple times and eventually just choosing to succumb to the ocean of bubbles, “I一 I AM MUCH TOO OCCUPIED TO INDULGE IN YOUR DUMB, BLOCKISH QUARREL ANYMORE…” He muttered, voice muffled. 

The others who’d escaped to the second floor wiped the coating of foam off of themselves, all turning back towards the kitchen.. Axe blipped in suddenly, his single eyelight slowly examining the wreck before he strode inside, most likely in search of his brother.

There was a beat of silence, before he re-emerged from the bubbles, turning back towards the others.

“He’s… not here.”

“...”

Axe huffed in exasperation and summoned his weapon immediately, lifting it towards the bubbly mound before swiping down, dispelling a good chunk of the mess and readying himself to try again, eyelight darting wildly around the room.

Papyrus came in from upstairs, quite literally diving into the mess to act as aid in the search for his larger, much scarier-looking counterpart. 

  “CROOKS! WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU OKAY?” Papyrus asked, his skull momentarily appearing above the fluff before ducking back in again.

Axe violently swung his...well, axe, into the foam until there was barely any left of it inside the kitchen (It was a relief he'd somehow missed the others still trapped in it, who knows what would've happened if he didn’t), and then looked around, pupil dilating. “He’s not here一he’s not一...where's...Paps.” He rasped, turning once more to everyone examinnig from the living room, who all stiffened.

 But it was odd, Sans knew that he’d just seen the large skeleton moments before the noise sounded, he was too tall to just… miss, even with all the bubbles in the way.

“I’LL GO LOOK FOR HIM UPSTAIRS!” Blue said, jumping out of the kitchen and running towards the stairs, before abruptly slipping on the wet floor and landing with a ‘Thump’ onto his back. 

"..."

He chuckled nervously as the others stared with blank expressions.

Axe walked forward and picked the smaller up from his bandana, steadying him. Blue muttered a small "THANK YOU..." before continuing his search, Axe slowly following behind.

“Y’know, come to think of it,” Stretch murmured, “I never saw him come out of the kitchen when we ran out…do you think maybe he…y’know…” Stretch didn't continue his sentence, but Sans knew what he implied, feeling dread creeping up on his spine from the thought of it.

‘But Crooks has the most LV and health among all of us, dusting from something as small as this wouldn't even be possible...right?’ He thought, mostly in an attempt at reassurance. 

The others who’d stood idly had started to help, all now perturbed by Stretch’s suggestion. Everyone was now looking for any dust particles among the wreck, or just any sign of Crooks at all. By then, Axe and Blue had come back downstairs, the larger gripping his empty eyesocket with his phalanges.

“WE DID NOT FIND HIM UPSTAIRS IN HIS ROOM, OR ANYWHERE ELSE,” Blue stated, a worried expression on his face. 

Wine put a hand on his chin in confusion, “HOW COULD HE HAVE JUST VANISHED LIKE THAT? JUST EARLIER WE'D ALL SEEN HIM WITH THE EXTINGUISHER. NOT TO MENTION HE'S MUCH TOO STRONG TO DUST.” Wine said, his brother, Coffee, nodding his head in silent agreement.

“Or… maybe the machine did something,” Mutt spoke up.

 The clearing fell silent at the idea.

Axe’s eyelight widened before he suddenly vanished, most likely blipping himself to the basement.

Sans and his other variants followed after him, teleporting as well. They saw Axe standing there, as well as heard a very audible “Vvrrrr” coming from the machine, making him look to see a blue glow emanating from it.

“What’s happenin'? Why the fuck ‘s it doin’ that?” Red asked. Nobody could answer him.

Stretch walked towards the machine, feeling the metal. “It seems fine... other than the- er, glow, nothing looks out of place or messed up.” He said, taking his hand away, “ It probably could have activated or something while they were arguing, though.” He gestured to Black and Edge, both switching their gazes to the walls.

“well,” Sans said, “...one thing I know is that, fortunately for Axe, and unfortunately for us, there’s no way he went back to his universe since that’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past six months. If the machine has something to do with this, then my best guess is that it took him to a different Universe, probably from none of ours.”

Axe glared at Sans, gripping the hole in his skull harder, and wincing at the pain that it caused. “if Paps ain't… safe… I’ll r i p you... and your machine... apart.” He threatened.

Sans sweatdropped, “...look, bud, I’m pretty sure Crooks is fine, but if we find him hurt, you can beat us up all you want, alright?” he said, lightly patting his shoulder, only getting silence from his horror counterpart.

It got a bit awkward before Axe quit the staring contest and shortcutted out of the room, Red, Coffee, and Mutt doing the same while the others who couldn't just went back up the stairs and out the door.

“Stretch, you’re gonna have to help me with this, bud.” He called out from the basement, and the orange-clad monster blipped back into the room with a tired expression on his face. 

“Why don't we just... y’know, wait till tomorrow since it’s pretty dark and uh... I'm tired.” He said, faking a yawn and stretching his limbs to emphasize it.

Sans rolled his eyelights, “heh, alright sure... let's not take too long though, don't want Axe-man gettin' all murdery on us."

"Whatever you say, Vanilla." Stretch grinned, blipping out of the room.

Sans sighed, taking one last look at the machine in its ugly beauty. To think this had been his best work yet, and now he couldn’t get a wink of sleep because of it...

   Dark and shrouded. That was always the way Axe would describe their room. Little light bled through the window, save for the small lamp set up for him in the corner. It was dark and quiet, and it was peaceful, the insulation allowing Axe to simply sit and stare without hearing a cacophony of shouting or screaming in the background. 

Axe shifted, looking past his mattress at his brother’s bed. It was empty, as was everything else in the room. 

It usually wasn’t, and that made Axe bring a hand to his empty socket, wrapping a sharp phalange around it. It hurt, tugging, but it made him forget, if only for a moment, that his brother was gone. It was so quick too, one second he’d been trying to play hero, putting out the fire, and the next he’d dropped the extinguisher on the ground, vanished, taken. 

Another tug. 

Vanilla had promised that he and Stretch would fix it, that they’d find out if it had anything to do with the machine and bring him back, but Axe didn’t believe him for a single second. He knew that everyone hated him and his brother, that they unsettled them, and back at home, that would’ve been fine, something that was necessary to keep status… to stay alive. 

That was not the case here, not anymore. Vanilla’s universe got the good treatment: the human never dusted a single monster, and everyone was freed. It was sappy, and very uncharacteristic of anything Axe had experienced. 

Dust, failed conversations, over and over, and over again.

Until suddenly, nothing.

Another tug. 

It wasn’t fair, none of it was. He knew that Vanilla knew that, yet even in a situation like this, he’d just slack off like he always seemed to do when things got too loud in the house. 

Despite it all, Axe hoped that his threat hadn’t fallen on deaf ears, after all… he meant every word he’s said. He wasn’t going to let them pretend like nothing had happened, and if it took a little decrease in HP to show them that, then Axe would gladly do it.

Although for now, he could only wait and hope that for as useless as he was, Vanilla would stick to his word and figure out what was happening.

…Lest Axe decided to take matters into his own hands and find his brother, with ot without the help of the others.

Chapter Text

 It was 10:00 pm

You stared at the computer screen, fingers moving along the keyboard. The blocky character you played was seen gathering up wood from a tree near your base, a vast expanse of land spread out for both you and your friend to absolutely ravage for a plethora of new building materials.

You had just recently started up a server on Blockbust for your little group online. It was an idea presented after everyone had parted ways when you all finished college. Of course, you’d still find those rare moments to see each other in person and talk about all the things that were going on, but for now, you’d simply sit and indulge in a bit of Blockbust.

“Ah shit, my stuff!” Vinnie, the person you were currently online with, groaned through her mic as you saw a death message pop up on the corner of your screen, reading: “Vinnabeinthepit_ was shot by a skeleton", taking a quick glance over to see her inventory scattered all over the grassy floor.

You chuckled, “Geez, Vinn, shot by a Level 1 Skeleton? That’s a pretty low blow for you.” Vinn gasped, "Hey! It's not my fault they've all got a built-in aimbot!" Her character quickly darted across the screen, punching the air as it collected all the dropped items.

"Stupid, ugly, aimbot skeletons: The bane of my existence, I tell you."

Eventually, the sun started to rise in-game, allowing a more peaceful world for the time being. Deciding it was the perfect time to scavenge, you both set off again, maneuvering yourselves through the lush oak woods. It didn’t take too long to find a new structure, guarded by a few mobs. Readying your swords, you both swung in and looted the place clean of all its materials.  

After a bit of searching, you’d both decided it was time to make your way back. As you passed back the familiar trail you’d made, you took it upon yourself to gather a little more food for the two of you. You readied your bow and axe, ploughing into the grass for stray seeds, as well as shooting a few chickens that strayed within your peripheral vision.

The rest of the way was spent chatting about life at home, complaining about work, screaming after getting shot by another skeleton一 oh, nope. That was just Vinnie, who took it upon herself to cuss the poor inanimate thing out as she raced back to where all her items had fallen, again. 

Only for her to die, again. 

“Oh, my god. Dude, you gotta' help me, please, I beg of you.” Vinnie pleaded, and you stifled a snort, “Dude, it’s just a skeleton一, ok, yeah, whatever, I’m coming. Just don’t keep dying, you’ve already lost all of your exp.” 

“I’m not trying to! Like I said, these dirty little cheaters just have aimbot. I’d take all of them down if it weren’t for that… trust.” 

“Sure…” You said, taking down the monster in a few hits; your character only losing a small amount of health in the altercation. 

Once she finally obtained her stuff, you both resumed your journey back to base, Vinn making a point to sprint all the way back in case something sniped her again. 

Afterwards, she decided she didn’t want to risk dying again, opting to instead log off for the night. It was already very late anyway, so it was probably for the better considering you both had work soon. 

You said goodbye to your friend as she left the game, but even despite your obvious fatigue, you decided to stay on for just a bit longer. After all, work only started at five in the morning; what did you have to lose other than already lost hours of plentiful sleep? 

You didn’t realize it now, but you were absolutely going to wish you’d gotten it after tomorrow.

     Crooks was confused.

He was falling through a void, a dark, mangled void with what seemed to be no end in sight, no direction, no way to tell which way was which. The area emanated an aura of constriction and entrapment, as if this was the place Crooks would be stuck in forever. It was disturbing, and much more of an unwelcome feeling than how he’d felt while being transported into Vanilla’s world.

Every now and then, he’d see a glimpse of something slithering through the endless walls, small particles of white light following after. The idea that he wasn’t necessarily alone would’ve been nice if it meant he could actually see whatever the hell was passing through along with him.  

It’d only been a second, one singular second that was needed for him to just disappear without a moment's notice. The day had been pretty normal otherwise; he’d woken up, gone downstairs to get some breakfast for him and his brother, and instead was met with everyone else watching the kitchen burst into flames. He’d hurriedly gone over and gotten the fire extinguisher in an attempt to at the very least save the food before it burnt down with the rest of the kitchen. He hoped that despite his futile efforts, it had somehow managed to have been dealt with. He would’ve felt terrible if the house had burned down because he wasn’t able to put it out, even if the blame was mostly to be put on Edge and Black’s altercation. 

Of course, it was Edge and Black. Ever since they’d met, a fire sparked between them, and no, not the romantic-lovey dovey kind… which might have honestly been worse, but instead much more like an一 “I am going to make it my life’s work making sure the rest of your stay here is hell.”一kind. The two didn’t like each other very much, or at all, really. You'd think that because they were so similar, they would get along. Well, turns out that was the reason they fought so frequently. They wanted to see who’s better at being…"them", if that made any sense. 

There was another “Fell” group, the Golds, that managed to avoid the other two’s feud. They were the same in stature, looks, and prowess, although they managed to uphold this sort of formal code when interacting with the others. They followed the rules and never fought with their look-alikes, or really anyone for that matter. Crooks liked their Sans: Wine, as he was one of the only skeletons who treated him with basic respect, unlike the others who hated him due to the…things that he’d done in his universe. As for Coffee, their Papyrus… he was much harder to talk to, he never made up for much conversation一, at least none that Crooks could hold up, but at the very least he tried, and if that was the best he could give, Crooks was fine with it.

It was a luxury, talking to any one of the alternates. None of them… enjoyed him and his brother very much, walking on eggshells around them, as if they’d snap and go crazy一, as if they would after being given the luxury of staying in the house under Vanilla and his brother’s care. 

Of course, there were a few close calls when it came to Axe… many of the more suspicious alternates would try and get under his ‘skin’, either in some attempt to get him to retaliate and get kicked out, or simply because they hated him for what happened back in their old world.

Crooks, personally, didn’t like thinking about it; it made him queasy.

‘Axe is probably really… worried.’ He'd thought, knowing how his brother could get whenever he went missing or left the house for too long. He'd always made sure Crooks was in his line of sight, so if anything happened, he’d be there to help and protect him, but as of now, they were separated, and Axe would probably never be able to find Crooks.

 The thought made him shiver. Would the other variants even make an attempt to find him, like his brother would? Sure, most of them weren’t cynical, but their morals differed greatly from his, and it wasn’t like he made any notable friendships with anyone ever since he and Axe had found themselves in Vanilla’s universe. 

The wind whipped through his bones, an uncomfortable shrill following suit. He'd started to feel cold, too cold, like back at home. His torn and broken battle body did nothing to warm him back up; he didn't really know why he even insisted on wearing it after the royal guard disbanded anyway.

He curled into himself, silently praying that something- anything good would happen, and he'd get out of this, back with his brother once again.

    “BEEP BEEP Motha' fuck-!'' Sung a voice from your phone, making you wake up abruptly from your slumber and fumble your hand around the nightstand to shut it off. You sighed internally from the sudden rising, especially since you’d been right in the middle of a wonderful dream.

'Damn Vinn, setting up random...whatever on my phone when I'm not looking.' Looks like the outing you had with her on the weekend, a few days ago, let her tamper with your device. 

 After going to the bathroom for a bit, you changed your clothes and styled your hair, heading downstairs to make a nice, quick, basic breakfast, as work was just around the corner.

You'd decided that waffles were the best option for intake, along with bacon you found left in the fridge. So, you sat at the dining table and silently ate your food, only hearing the birds’ chirping and the slow 'vrrrr...' of the running AC. Once finished, you put your plate in the sink and washed it, then took some leftover pizza you'd ordered the day prior, placing it in a small dog bowl.

Walking outside, the dog bowl was placed outside on the sidewalk as you got in and started your car, resting your forehead on the handle for a moment and readying yourself for the next gruelling hours of your day.

and thus, you backed up and drove off to your place of work, all while a small silhouette poked its head out through the bushes, tiny eyes darting around the neighbourhood in search of a visible competition.

Small paws padded along the concrete; a quick sniff of the air signalled no foreign scent other than the salivating one of pizza, and Caesar, the nimble Jack Russell Terrier, dashed forward, stopping at his target, the food bowl. 

Heartily chowing down at his breakfast, lunch, and maybe dinner, he yelped as the ground around him shook. The fur along his back prickled, and in the fear of attack, he simply decided to flee the scene as fast as possible.

...Not without finishing his leftovers, of course. 

       Crooks was still falling, small, yet terrible pangs of hunger occasionally hit his body. Would this go on forever? Was he just so unfortunate as to have to be the one placed in a never-ending void? 

Would he ever see his brother again?

As if in sudden answer to his thoughts, he saw light illuminate his ruined battle body, and immediately looked down. He squinted to see a tiny swirling outline of light, or what was hopefully an escape from this place. 

The light got closer...

And closer...

Until….

'CRASH!'

Crooks burst through something and landed on the floor face-first, which did not sit well with his teeth; his jaw snapped shut, mouth singing in pain and making him wheeze out.

He slowly got up from his spot, eyelights adjusting from the sudden shift in brightness. Once noticed that he was in a bedroom, the blinds closed, he surveyed the area: there was a queen-sized bed in the middle, a small nightstand positioned next to it. A small light blinked from the desk, as to which a laptop was stationed on top of. 

The place looked normal, but nothing like Vanilla's house. Just where was he exactly? 

He raised his head up, only to hit a ceiling much too short for his height, and groaned in pain. He couldn't catch a break, could he? Fortunately, it gave notice to a small wave of light shining through the cracks of the blinds, to which he stopped and analyzed, before slowly walking towards the window. 

A gloved hand pushed through the rows of blinds, and Crooks peeked an eyelight through. He was met with lush trees, an orange sky, and a thinly veiled sun across the horizon. 

It was the Surface.

"..."

The Surface?

"..."

'...The...Surface!?'

Crooks physically recoiled from the blinds, tripping on the bed and falling on it, a small 'snap!' resounding from the impact.

Out of all the places he thought he’d go, he ended up at the Surface? How was that even possible? Was there an alternate universe that’d already been brought to the surface? Or was he put on his surface? In his own universe, but not the underground, not with all of the blood and gore, instead with the humans, healthy and thriving up above.

He felt tears gathering up in his sockets; he couldn’t believe that he was in a place he’d never thought he’d get to be in, a place away from everything underground. Oh, how he wished that Sans had come along with him; he’d be so happy.

But, he shook his skull, he couldn’t think about that now, he had to figure out where exactly he was, and how he could get back to his brother.

      It took crooks ten minutes to try and squeeze through the door frame, which felt embarrassing since the other Papyrus's (Papyri?) just had to slightly lean down and go through, while he had to go in one part at a time.

He got out and observed the area, noticing that he was on the second floor of the building, and stairs laid out to the right of him.

He slowly scaled down, not wanting to risk the chance of breaking anything else, and safely landed on the first floor. The living room was there, its roof being much higher, letting him stretch out his limbs and stand at full size. A kitchen was stationed close by, although he preferred not having to crouch down again, so he opted to stay in the living room. 

After a bit more close inspection, he sat down on the couch that creaked underneath his weight, and put a gloved hand on his skull. He wanted to know if it was a good idea to go outside; no human had probably seen a monster in years, and by everyone's reaction to meeting him the first time he and his brother arrived at his house, they would be twice as terrified.

He sighed and got up from his spot. He was starting to feel hungry, and the only way to get food was to go to the kitchen...which meant he’d have to try and fit through the frame. He reluctantly lumbered over and slowly slid himself under the frame, head going through first. 

    “Do you know who I am?! I swear, inconsiderate children like you are exactly why I…”

You slid your hand down your face, your coworkers watching the pitiful exchange, nobody bothering to step in, lest your enraged customer decide enough was enough and throw something at them. This lady had been an absolute pain all day, first ordering the wrong food from the drive-through, and now taking it upon herself to literally get out of her car and demand a refund for the meal her child was currently inhaling at the table across from you.

“Ma'am,” You started, once again. “I’ve already told you that you can’t get a refund for food that’s… being eaten.”

You both glanced back at the kid, the mother huffing, “Well, my Timothy was starving! Are you telling me I was supposed to just deny him food and let him sit there hungry? What kind of… heartless person could you possibly be?” 

You closed your eyes, trying with all your might not to cackle at her cartoonish grandeur. 

“I’m sorry but,” A smile itched to make its way on your lips, “...maybe if you’d let him wait a little longer, you would’ve gotten the refund and he’d probably be eating the food he wanted…” 

She gasped, slapping a palm to her chest. “Are you telling me how I should parent my child?! Who do you think you are一 you know what, I’ve had enough of this, I want to see the manager一 wh一 are you laughing at me?!” She squawked while you sputtered incoherently at the signature phrase, completely and utterly baffled by the literal embodiment of a Karen standing right in front of you. 

Oh… the pain and laughter that came with working as a minimum-wage-earning cashier. 

Within due time, your manager appeared and very not-so kindly told the lady she was holding up the rest of the line and needed to leave before the authorities were called, and thus, she sauntered out with little Timothy dangling from her arms, desperately reaching out for the food his mother had in her hand before bursting into tears as she threw the precious contents inside the trash, looks like she’d have to deal with that on the way home. 

The rest of work passed by normally, no customers offering half as much theatrics as the Karen had, which slightly disappointed you, because, for as mean and rude as they were, they at the very least added some sort of spark to the day you could talk about to your friends when you got home. 

Finally, your shift ended, and you said a brief goodbye to your coworkers as you clocked out for the day, walking outside the restaurant and making your way towards the car. 

You fumbled around in your purse for your keys, as you always did, and unlocked your car, as you always did. 

The same thing every day, how boring and utterly ins!gniF!(4%$****#@@!一

A small tingle shot up your spine, and you whipped your head around, surveying the area. 

‘Huh..’ You could've sworn for a second someone called for you…

It’d felt weird, but regardless of what it was, you’d rather not do anything stupid searching. You got in your car, started the engine and pulled out of the driveway, plugging in your phone and playing some nice tunes to occupy your mind instead.

Fortunately, there was little traffic on the way, letting you arrive with more time on your hands than you'd thought you were going to get. You walked up to the front porch, grabbed the house keys, and inserted them into the lock, letting yourself inside.

It was pretty quiet in your house, and much to your dismay, the AC seemed to have turned off midway through the evening, leaving your house stuffy and hot. You sighed, taking your phone out and manually turning it back on, letting the cold air blow in all around the building.

Your bag was put down, and you walked towards the stairs, only managing to go up one step before hearing a sudden noise.

'Ding Ding! Ding Ding!'

'You've got to be kidding me.' 

That was the noise the fridge made when it was opened for too long. You immediately backtracked and ran towards the kitchen. How the hell did you forget to close the fridge! You made sure that you did, so why-

You halted at the opening frame, staring with wide eyes at what you saw next to the fridge.

A huge, 10ft tall, lanky ass skeleton.

Chapter Text

      “What the FUCK-”

Crooks shot up from his spot, banging his head on the ceiling and halting his attempts to eat the cheese stick he had in his hand. Whipping his head to the sound of the noise, there he saw it, a female human standing a few feet away from him. Her face was taut, eyes bulging in shock.

‘Uh oh..’

      "Human-..."

You ran.

The thing sprints towards you and crashes through the kitchen frame, and you could feel panic slowly creep along your body as you simultaneously fumble for your keys and make a break for the front door. Adrenaline fills you as the realisation that there’s a monster in your house makes you pump your legs faster than you swore you’d ever have in your life.

In its pursuit, the thing reaches out a thin, spindly arm, seemingly to try and pull you back, but as soon as you notice the action, you gasp and whip around, lurching to the side. Your feet hit the floor at an odd angle, and instead of making a break for it, you find yourself stumbling onto the floor.

You try not to register the brush against your back as you frantically find your bearings and decide that it'd be better to go literally anywhere else. You run back into the kitchen, swiftly making your way around the counter, harsh footsteps being heard behind you. Making your way into the living room, you skid next to the stairs and run up out of impulse, calves lighting aflame as you heave yourself straight into your room and slam the door shut with a lot more force than necessary, locking it as if that'd do anything. 

You heard the harsh 'creeak...'  of your floorboards while you gasped for air, and looked around for an escape. Something large knocked at your door while your eyes locked onto the window stationed above your nightstand. 

“Human...” It heaved, and you froze. 'Christ...how is it so close already?!', time was running out, you ran to your only escape, fumbling with the frame, your panic was making it much harder to focus, especially when you knew that at any moment the monster could break the door down and come sauntering in.

“I-...” It started again, "I'm sorry..." You didn't listen, pulling out the small lever at the end to unlock the window from its place. 

"Please...I beg of you, I- I don't know what's happening...or where to go..."

You hurriedly turned the knob, the dumb thing finally starting to open, albeit excruciatingly slowly. 'Why are these things so damn complicated to open?! It's a window!' Any more time spent and you'd be...

"Please...I'm...I'm scared."

You'd be...

The monster's words, whether true or not, lit a bout of fury within you, and you snapped your head back towards the door. “You can't seriously be telling me this...” You started.

“I come back from work...all happy that I’m home and finally able to get some rest!" Literally, what are you doing??? "...and instead I see a huge- fuckin'...skeleton burglar in my fridge!-”, the volume of your voice rises, "..and you have the absolute gall to tell me you're scared?! What's your problem, dude!"

"..."

Silence follows...whatever that was, and in your stupidity, you'd forgotten about escape.

Instead, for some reason, you sit there, waiting for any response to your reprimand.  

"I'm... sorry,  I hadn't thought of it...like that..." It (He?) muttered.

"Yeah, I'd expected as much when you opened a hole in my kitchen wall and chased me around my house..." 

"..." 

"U-uh...could I- could I come in now?" 

"What? Hell no!" 

"..." Your mind was very slowly starting to remember what you were supposed to be doing. 

"...Please?" The thoughts dissipated before you could even think of them. Was it his voice that did that? You don't even know.

You sighed. Yes, curiosity killed the cat, but it'd be cool as hell to get some information from a...whatever he (He???) was and be all mysterious with it, or just...die after he told you it, which was hopefully not the outcome of what you wanted to do. 

Ok then, "Not- not after I ask you some questions first...alright?"

"...ok."

''Yes!' You smiled, 'Once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to aliens, yay!'

    You pondered in your room for things to ask...' Alright, so may as well get some valuable info, right? I mean, this guy's gotta be from somewhere on- like, earth or something.' 

A sudden thought came to your mind, and you perked up, 'Oh. My. God. This has to be it!'

“You're from Area 51, aren't you?" You stated, smirking. The sheer length of your intellect and brain power to figure it out surprised you, although it was quite obvious from the start-

“Area…51?” He repeated.

“Uhhh...Yeah! The place in the middle of nowhere, with the dark rooms- I think, and the secret underground base!... I think...” 

“Uhm…no, my house was...smaller but... nice. It was a normal house...a-at least for me and my...my brother.” 

"..."

"Oh." You poor wretched soul, you. 

You immediately deflated, 'Yeah, okay, not a Wizkid. Got it.'

“That's...boring. But if you have a house, then go to it, why're you tryna' rob me of my...of my $2.99 string cheese?" You deadpanned, "Are you like...poor or something?” 

“My house. It's, not here…it’s in……” He drifted off. You raised a brow in question at his sudden quiet, not like he'd see the action.

“ ...Another...universe…” He finished.

You paused, another universe? 'Is he serious right now?'. Considering your current predicament, it wasn't far-fetched to say something fishy was going on...but another universe? What was this to him, some sort of dumb anime-esque isekai? 

“Huh. Well, I kinda wanna believe you, it’s moved from a twenty percent to... like, a forty percent chance that I do, but-”

“ There’s nothing like me…on the surface, isn't there?" You were silent. "Have you…heard of the monsters trapped underground in... Mount Ebott, after the war?”

Now that just sounded like a bunch of gibberish, monsters trapped underground in "Mount Ebott"? You'd think people would've written an event of that calibre down in literally any history book after it happened.

“Nope, never heard of monsters being trapped underground or “Mount Ebott” either, if anything, it sounds like a bunch of nonsense that would be put in someone's poorly made kids' cartoon or whatever.” You say. In truth, the only way you could actually attempt to confirm anything he said was through the oh-so great and dependable internet! As to which, you very fortunately had a laptop to look up, instead of risking everything to find your phone for it downstairs.

Thus, you went over and opened up the laptop on your desk, looking at Google and proceeding to type in “Mount Ebott”, and got no results, then looked up 'Monsters trapped underground,' and the same thing popped up on the screen. Of course, the results were as expected.

“Nothing. No news, no history, nothing.” You told him.

“S-see?... I was telling the truth!” He said happily from the other side. You let out a sigh. Maybe he was right, and even if you tried, there’d be no way you’d be able to make him leave. From the small glance you got of him back at the kitchen, he could probably crush you into fleshy bits if you did anything inherently violent.

You got up, nerves rising. Steadying yourself with a deep breath, you slowly walked back to the door, standing there for a second, before hesitatingly reaching out your hand and turning the nob. 

'Dear god, please don't kill me- please don't kill me- please, I've too many aspiring yet fruitless dreams to go now! I haven't even bagged anyone yet!'

You unlocked the door.

The monster stared at you, eye...sockets, what?- crinkling once he met your gaze. He looked...worse for wear, adorning a broken smile filled with crooked, bony teeth. His eyesockets were small, and past them, small slits of light could be seen, reminiscent of pupils.

He stared down at you and shyly waved a huge gloved hand, “H-hello, Human! I am the Great…Pa-...Crooks!” He said in what you thought was the loudest voice he could muster, "It's a p-pleasure to...meet you, or see you er-...face to face." 

You gave him a shaky smile, trying to calm the alarm bells ringing in your head. “Hello, Crooks..." You introduced yourself,  "It’s uh- nice to meet you.” You said, hoping you didn’t sound too scared, not like you very clearly portrayed that to him just a moment ago.

'Also, did his parents give him that name because of his teeth? That's...kinda cruel.'

You reach out your hand, holding your palm out for him. The skeleton very quickly reciprocated the action. “It's nice to... meet you too, Human.” He said, seemingly pleased you'd finally calmed down from that whole...fiasco. It was probably for the better either way, if you had kept going...you'd probably have already died from tripping on the roof or having a heart attack after trying to jump down from it. 

You retracted your hand and stood there, not knowing what to do next. I mean, what were you supposed to do? How do you interact with this guy? 'Are there like things we say that are offensive to skeletons or something?' You pondered for a moment before freezing, 'Wait, why am I actually thinking about this? I've wanted to ask how he got here, but I guess it's more like, how he got to my…World? Dimension? Universe- jeez, just shut up and ask him if you're so curious!'

You looked back up at him. “Alright, so...how’d you get to my, uh...universe? Did you like- fall from space or teleport here or something?”

He tilted his head at you and put a hand under his chin, or at least, what you were pretty sure was where his chin would be if he had skin.

“I don’t…know, I was at my house, then I...fell through the floor and…u-uhm...into a void? Then I…came out of your closet.” He said.

“A...void?”

“Yes. It was...dark, heavy. I only saw light at the end...and then after a little while...I came through your closet.” He said.

To say you were confused at what in the world he was talking about was an understatement. A black void? Falling through the floor? Coming out of your closet? All of this was way too much information in one sitting. 'Yeah, as cool as it was, I think I'm calling it for today with the info-dumping.'  You dropped your head, gazing down at the floor. 'I can't handle this.'

"Uhm, human...a-are you alright?"

“You know what, it’s like, 7 pm, and I’m hungry...and tired, and maybe a bit overwhelmed right now.” 

You trudged over to the staircase, leaning against the rail and glancing back at your newfound companion.

“You want anything?”

Chapter Text

The kitchen felt…awkward, to say the least. Your… guest, waited patiently at the table while you attempted a meal for two, soft music playing in the background from a speaker. It helped you feel better and ignore the monster behind you. 

Yes, it sounded rude, but he didn’t know that was your intention, so it totally didn’t count.

Also, you’d literally rather die than do this in absolute silence, plus he seemed to enjoy the sound anyway. 

Once finished, you brought the plates over and set his portion down in front of him, taking the seat across from him. You both ate your food quietly, albeit the skeleton一er…Crooks一 chewed relentlessly, as though savoring every inch of the sandwich you’d made for him (Damn, were you really that good of a cook?). 

You glanced at him from time to time, once again taking in his rather otherworldly features: thick, non-human bones for limbs, small slits of “light” for pupils, & most noticeably, his namesake: the crooked teeth. 

‘Do they not have monster dentists where he’s from or something…?’  You pondered.

“So, uh…you like the food?” 

Crooks perked up from his seat, lending you a soft smile, “It’s great… t一 thank you.” He nodded, finally finishing his plate and gulping down the rest of the water you’d given him, clearing his throat.

 “I’m surprised how quickly you… calmed down after… meeting me.” A bony hand rested on the side of his face. “Most don’t, er一, take in my appearance… very well.” 

‘Heh, as if I didn’t run away screaming after I saw you…’

You frowned, “Well, to be honest with you, if that encounter had gone any different way… I’d probably have called the cops on you by now. I’m not gonna lie, I’m still a bit unnerved, but at the very least, I have trust that you won’t do anything to me…” for now… you left out. 

The skeleton put a hand to his chest, “I’d never hurt a… generous human! You’ve, for the… most part, shown me kindness… I can only repay the favor with… kindness of my own.” 

For someone who had such ominous posture, he was sickeningly sweet. 

You grinned, “Well, good thing we’re on the same track then!” You stood up from your spot, “I’ll go ahead and wash the dishes. If you're tired and willing to sleep somewhere comfier than the couch, regardless of your一uh… height, there’s an empty guest room upstairs, down the hallway on the right.” 

The skeleton nodded, slowly getting up and muttering a slow “Good night…” before disappearing from the kitchen.

“...”

After a beat, you sighed, dropping your head in your hands. You had no idea what to do, nor how to cope with the sheer amount of new revelations introduced to you. A portal, a skeleton from another world… none of it made sense. Wouldn’t there have been any breakthroughs on something like this? Why are you the first person to have to deal with it? 

Maybe learning crazy new things like this, not even in the span of an hour, put way more toil on your curious little mind than you’d thought it would. ‘So much for cool new discoveries to carry to the grave. With whatever’s going on, they honestly may end up being the reason I pass away early in the first place.’

You got up and went to the sink, hoping that doing something else would clear your mind as you started scrubbing the dishes. The sound of harsh running water did, in fact, seem to clear your thoughts, if not only for a small moment. Not that you’d complain, there wasn’t going to be another rainy day anytime soon.

 Damn you, cursed dry season weather. 

The silence felt… weird, knowing who was still in the house. In truth, you didn’t know what to think about him either; his personality differed drastically from his appearance: quiet and soft spoken, yet tall, lanky, and intimidating. While you were still perturbed by how he acted when you first met,  you refused to let his first impression on you be the last; whether for better or worse, this guy’d be chilling in your home, so the best you could do was be as nice as you could. 

‘Less he…change his mind about the whole ‘kindness’ thing and eat me or whatever.’

‘...Can he even do that? Am I just being monster-racist right now?’ You shook yourself out of it, re-focusing on the dishes. It was getting late, and you still had an early shift tomorrow;  you needed to finish up and get to bed. Whatever else needs to be talked about, you’d gladly discuss tomorrow after work, not while you’re having some weird mental crisis. 

Placing your last plate on the dish rack to dry, you stretched your arms and headed upstairs. You hadn’t seen Crooks on the couch, so you assumed he’d already gone upstairs to rest. Seems he’d been pretty tired as well from the sudden trip he took to your bedroom closet, which made you ponder how long he was actually drifting in the so-called “Void” he was in before arriving here. 

‘Must’ve been more than a few hours, I’d probably get woozy as hell if that happened to me. Do skeletons get nauseous? Oh, whatever…’

Opening your door, you quickly flopped onto the bed, not bothering to change into anything comfier than your work attire. 

You groaned, turning your body to face the ceiling. ‘I’ll just take an early shower tomorrow…’ 

Halfway through falling asleep, your phone rang with a notification. You groggily took it out of your pocket and opened the screen, being met with a plethora of texts from Vinnie on the group chat you and your friends created to stay in contact. 

YEOWCH OUCH OUCHIE! 

Vinnablowup: @Yeowch! Wya you said we could get on the serv today 

Vinnablowup: @Yeowch! Helloooooooo

Vinnablowup: ho

Vinnablowup: IK ur online I can see your status dude 😔

O k yea u caught me. I’ve been busy cuz smth came up :Yeowch

From work. Manager is on my ass again sighhhhh  :Yeowch

Vinnablowup:  Aw fiddlesticks, well hope u get moer time during the weekend, I’ll be waitin for u <3

You smiled, glad to still have this one thing constant in your life. You clumsily placed your phone on the nightstand, turning on your side and finally drifting off into a long, dreary sleep. 

  It was much too quiet. 

Crooks attempted to make himself more comfortable within the sheets; the bed, not suited for his height, made him have to curl his legs in an attempt to fit the frame. He wished he’d asked for more sheets, but with the faint sound of water running long gone, he’d assumed the human had already gone to bed. 

Now it was just quiet…and cold.

In all honesty, he’d missed the noise of his alternates whenever he’d try to go to sleep, whether it was fighting, watching TV, or simply having nothing better to do but stay up late and chat. It was noisy for those trying to go to bed, and some would get up and complain, but Crooks enjoyed it. It gave life to the house; it made him feel safe. It was nothing like back at home, and he relished in that fact. 

In this house? He couldn't hear anything except the running of air through the AC, the chorus of ‘Chirps’ from creatures from outside, and the occasional creak of wood, either from his own weight or from the Human’s movements upstairs.

After failure to find a comfortable position. He lifted himself up, now sitting on the bed. It would be better if he just stayed awake for the time being. He knew he’d get used to it, depending on how long he’d be here, but for now it felt good to wander.

He promptly got out of bed, being careful not to hit his head on the ceiling. He turned on the small lamp in the room, a muted yellow spreading out around him. He smiled, feeling better about the illumination, before heading towards the door, turning the knob, and exiting into the hallway.

Walking across the carpeted floor, the wooden boards underneath heaved despite his attempts at being quiet. He slowly made his way down the stairs, finding himself facing the living room again. Compared to Vanilla’s, this house was small despite the multiple bedrooms located on both the first and second floors; he’d wondered if the Human bought this house with the full intent to live in it alone.

‘...It feels…empty,’ Crooks frowned, peeking inside what seemed to be the master bedroom.

‘Without more people to… fill the table, or couch. It must be… somewhat lonely, if not a little time-consuming… for one human to take care of this place.’ 

He headed towards the kitchen, grimacing at the sight of the broken archway, wooden debris still spread out wildly across the floor into the living room. 

It’d been his first time seeing a human since watching Vanilla’s interactions with his Frisk variant, and in his surprise, he’d gone a bit… overboard, but he didn’t blame the Human for running; he’d probably looked terrifying in the moment. 

Ducking inside, he decided it was best not to cause too much of a ruckus like he’d done snooping in the fridge before their first encounter. He sifted through the drawers, trying to remember where the human kept her glasses. 

After finding one, he held it gently towards the sink, turning on the tap water. The sound slowly filled the room. Crooks smiled; it was an oddly calming sound, maybe since it was simply better than no sound at all. 

Once full, he turned off the tap, lifting the cup to take a quick sip of water. It felt odd sometimes, being a skeleton yet still needing to quench basic thirst, the lack of such would’ve worked wonders back in he and his brother’s wor一

‘BAM!’

As if like lightning, an animal smashed headfirst into the windowpane, causing Crooks to gasp and leap back, the glass slipping from his hands. The fragile object hit the floor and shattered into pieces, some barely grazing Crook’s legs. A strike of panic filled his mind; he couldn’t see the shards very well, and the noise had to have woken the Human一

He drew a sharp breath, and then heaved out another; he felt himself stagger. 

In the midst of his sudden panic, the lights abruptly turned on, making him flinch back. A figure appeared in the corner of his vision, the Human looking around the kitchen in confusion. 

“Hey! Is something….?”

‘Oh dear…’ 

   Crooks stood in front of you, tremors running through his body. His breaths were quiet, yet short and laboured; it unnerved you, seeing him like this so suddenly. He was completely fine a moment ago. Why had he come back downstairs in the first place? 

Whatever happened must’ve startled him out of his wits, although he hadn’t necessarily seemed that timid upon your first encounter. 

‘Maybe it’d just been a heat-of-the-moment thing? Something he hadn’t expected…?’

“I一 I’m sorry… I don’t know… w一what happened, I一” He wheezed.

“Hey…” You held out your palms, “ There’s no need for explanation, alright? It was an accident, I can see as much.” Despite your attempt, the reassurance seemed to fall short, and Crooks only shook his head, holding the counter. 

“No…I一 I, I need to…” He stammered; pupils now tiny pinpricks of light, wildly darting from you to the mess of glass on the floor. 

“You need to sit down. Alright? You’re panicking.” You took slow steps forward, hands still raised, unsure if he’d attempt anything in this state. You knew too little to not be cautious, but wanted to help in some way regardless. 

You caught his eye, and there was a small period of silence before he took a long breath and nodded. You internally sighed in relief, smiling softly at the skeleton, “C’mon then, big guy, let’s get you away from this mess.” You said, slowly guiding him to the couch. 

The two of you sat; you examined him as he slowly but surely calmed himself down. His breathing went back to normal, and he relaxed his body from the tight position he’d been holding himself in earlier. 

You quietly thanked the lord for his quick recovery. In all honesty, you’d never really dealt with someone going through a panic attack一, at least that’s what you’re pretty sure he’d been having. You only knew the basics of calming someone down from one, and even then, you probably wouldn’t be able to deal with anything extra that came with him being a Monster.

Silence enveloped the room, the two of you simply enjoying each other’s presence in the dark. Crooks glanced at you for a moment, clasping his hands together nervously. You looked up at him and raised a brow. 

“I一...thank you, for… helping me calm down…” He muttered, staring timidly at the floor. “I’m sorry… for waking you up. That was…embarrassing, what happened. I don’t一 I don’t normally get so…spooked like…that.” 

You narrowed your eyes at him, “Of course, but don’t be embarrassed, sometimes stuff just happens and people get a bit more panicked over it than usual, it’s nothing to feel sorry about yourself for. In all honesty, I’m glad you made a ruckus, or else I would’ve found you feeling way worse, heh…” You glanced back at the kitchen, “Uh, not to sound too nosy, but… what made you come back downstairs? Did you just want to indulge in一 like... a midnight snack or something?”

He let out a small chuckle, “Uhm, no. I…” His eyelights dimmed, “I just…couldn’t fall asleep, I thought getting some water would…help.” He frowned, glancing at you, “I was…startled by something hitting the window…and I just panicked & dropped the glass. I’ve just been…tense, is all, and that happening didn’t…help.” 

You sighed, “Yeah, I can imagine how it feels being sent to another world all of a sudden, uh…not good…probably.” You lifted your hand to softly pat the shoulder of his suit as a small try at comfort. “Look, I can’t really say at all that I know how to help you get back… or how you even got here in the first place, I’m just some human in what’s probably the most boring world ever,” You really hoped there were一 like, monsters under Mount Fuji or something,  “... but I do want your stay here to be nice, alright? If there’s anything basic you need, I’ll be here to provide it.” 

A beat passed, and his shoulders suddenly shook. You immediately took your hand back and looked at him in panic. Was something happening again? Did you say something wrong一

Small, orange tears flowed down his face, emitting a soft glow in the space between the two of you. He sniffled, lifting a gloved hand to wipe them away. 

“Oh my god. I一 I’m sorry I didn’t mean to一.” You blabbered incoherently, moving your hands wildly, unsure what to do anymore. “Did I say something wrong or一?” 

“No.” He cut you off, “I’m just… glad I have you to… help me…” He smiled down at you. 

‘Right, yeah…happy tears exist.’ You deflated, clutching your chest in solace; you would’ve been close to flipping out with him if he suddenly got worse.  

“No problem, uhhh… just一 maybe, don’t go snooping around at night anymore, alright? I’d really rather not find you like you were back there again. Let’s just… get used to things around here and then once we feel a bit better, you can totally do whatever you want, unless it’s一 like, illegal or something. Duh.” You sweatdropped, hoping that didn’t sound targeted or anything. 

“Yes, I…understand. I can…assure you I…abide by the law.” He giggled, causing you to look at the ground in shame, ‘Yeah, that totally sounded targeted, damn it.’

Despite your mess up, the air of awkwardness, for the most part, seemed to lift slightly.

You smiled, ‘Maybe…’ You selfishly thought, ‘Maybe it was good this whole thing happened一 obviously not the panic attack, but… I think we’ve made some progress since our first encounter.’ It was small progress, but good progress nonetheless, and it’d honestly helped you feel better about the guy, monster, and all. 

“Alright, well.” You got up, stretching your arms. “I think it’s about time I go back to bed, I’ve got work tomorrow.” 

Crooks frowned, “Does that mean… you’ll be gone for most of… the day?” 

You grimaced, “Er一, yeah… at least until five in the afternoon. But I’m sure you can handle being by yourself for a bit, right? I mean, it’s not like you haven’t worked with basic household appliances anyway.” You could tell as much from what he’d told you, plus you’d literally seen him try to steal from your fridge a few hours ago. “Don’t worry, though. We’ll have a good amount of time to talk about anything once I come back, I promise.”

“... Alright then, good night.” 

“Night’ Crooks.” 

    Crooks watched you slowly ascend the stairs, opting to go to sleep himself. The day had been… complicated, to say the least, but he’d felt a small connection form between them, and he hoped she felt it too. 

He was wary, at first. She was a stranger, a human, and humans could be the cruelest of species when need be. But she wasn’t cruel; at most, she was awkward, but she was trying to understand him despite her caution, and he thanked her for that. 

He wondered how it would’ve played out if he’d stumbled into anyone else’s house. Did he just get lucky? Or would someone else have been as understanding as she was? He’d never know, but if the former was true, he was glad that luck was on his side. 

Getting up from the couch, he went over and slowly ascended the stairs, watching the Human’s form disappear behind her bedroom door while he made his way back to the guest room, keeping his head low so as not to hit the roof. 

Flopping onto the bed, he sighed, pulling the sheets up once more against his body. He didn’t feel cold anymore, and the quiet didn’t bother him as much as it did before. It only took a few seconds for him to fall into a comfortable sleep.

*Small Piece of art I made for this chapter: 

Chapter Text

    “You sure you’ll be fine?” 

“I’m sure…” 

“You remember how to call me on the pc? How to turn off the stove, and the oven, and the microwave一, and not to leave the fridge open like last time or the food’ll go bad一.” 

Crooks deadpanned, “Are you… worried about me being fine or… the house being fine.”

You paused, “Uhm…both?”

Crook’s stare told you he knew you thought otherwise, and you looked down at the ground, shuffling your feet, “I trust you, I promise… but you can’t blame me for being like this! I don’t usually have any guests at the house other than on, like, New Year's, and even then, those events are an entire year apart!”

Crooks sighed, “I guess I understand… but I’ve already…told you I know how to…take care of a big house like this.”

“Ok… yeah, my bad.” You sheepishly wrung your hands together before checking the time on your phone, perking up. 

“Alright, I gotta go now, so… uh… take care, ok? I bet time’ll pass by so fast it’ll be like I was never gone一, though I think that just depends on how much you miss me一. Wait, no, that sounds weird. I’m talking too much, ok, bye!” You hurriedly scurried off towards your car, while Crooks watched your receding form from the crack in the door frame he was peeking through. He raised a brow as you placed the bowl of food you’d prepared earlier onto the sidewalk, finally getting inside your vehicle. 

You sent him a small thumbs-up, and as the engine roared to life, pulled out of the driveway and disappeared from the corner of the road. 

   He stood there for a moment, gaze drifting across your large neighbourhood. The sky was lit a bleeding orange, the blazing sun still not out high enough to turn it into its beautiful blue. Everything looked alive, not at all like back home, or covered in snow like Vanilla’s always was. If there was one thing he hated, it was how Vanilla completely prohibited every alternate from coming to the surface, with the sole exception of the swapped variants. 

It was obvious they only allowed it because those two didn’t have any ‘negative’ changes in their world personality-wise.. Every other variant was deemed “too aggressive”, especially Crooks and his brother; hell, Vanilla had even threatened them if they’d regret if they ever got within the vicinity of his Frisk. Crooks, personally, held no ill will towards the child; they were… different, much more understanding and caring than his world’s Frisk, but his brother… had a harder time differentiating the two.

It wasn’t his fault; it was just hard for him to remember. 

He only seemed to envy that fact more, gazing at the beautiful scenery that was just out of his reach in the other worlds; he'd hoped one day he could go out and be a part of it. Maybe if he childishly wished hard enough, it would come true.

In the midst of his thoughts, a faint crinkling was heard rather close to the front yard. Crook’s gaze snapped in the direction it was heard in, watching as a tiny dog padded out towards the bowl that’d been placed a moment ago. It dipped its snout into the food, chewing away at whatever the Human had put in it. 

‘Was… that why she’d prepared one?... To feed it?’ Crooks wondered, a smile appearing on his face at the act of kindness.

Within a few seconds, the animal finished its business, taking the time to lick the bowl clean before scurrying back off to wherever it’d come from.

Crooks stared at the now-empty bowl, mentally holding himself back from picking it up as an excuse to step outside.  

He sighed, reluctantly closing the door. He turned to look inside the vacant house, all quiet once more. Fortunately enough, the Human had shown him how to use the streaming services on her TV, and similarly to Vanilla’s, there was a plethora of different channels and apps to choose from, although this time all were made by humans. 

 It seemed his curiosity would allow him to be preoccupied for a while; maybe time would pass by quickly if he spent it looking at this. 

Sitting down on the living room couch, he picked up the remote and turned on the TV. 

Time passed, switching through channels, getting up to eat the occasional snack, and preparing lunch. With every click of the remote, a new piece of media would appear for him to look into. As of now, he was currently engrossed in a cartoon similar to that of what his Alphys used to rant about: “Mew Mew Kissy Cutie”, she called it. It was… cute, not necessarily something he’d find himself watching avidly back in his world, but cute nonetheless. 

He jumped as a grating sound filled the room, the garage, he’d assumed. Checking the watch the Human had handed him, he realised that time had, indeed, passed, and she’d already made it back. 

There was a small struggle at the door before the knob twisted. You appeared, in all your glory, tiredly stumbling into the living room. You looked around, meeting Crook’s gaze.

    “Hey, uh… nothing happened? Everything’s alright?” You gave him a small smile. 

“Yes… I’ve just been… watching TV.” 

“Great! That’s great.” 

“...” 

God, you’d thought the awkwardness would’ve been expelled by now. ( It did, but yours sure didn’t, old habits die hard.)

“... Are you hungry?” 

“ Huh.” You said, very intelligently. 

“ Would you… like something to eat? I can cook… if you’d like.” 

“Oh! I mean, yeah. Sure. But, you don’t have to cook, though, you’re the guest.” 

“It’s fine, I… enjoy cooking. I just haven’t done so… since we got here.” He frowned, and you immediately felt bad.

“Then go right ahead if you want! I don’t mind.” You gestured towards the kitchen. 

Crooks nodded, getting up rather quickly from his spot, and making his way past you. You glanced back at the remote left on the couch, walking over and pausing the anime he’d been watching.  

‘Huh… season 2, episode 16, this guy’s seriously just been sitting here binging this?’ You frowned, ‘If only I had that kind of time…’ 

Crooks opted to make spaghetti, which you helped set up for him, placing all the ingredients you could find on the counter. He immediately got to work, starting the pot and placing the spaghetti noodles inside. Hands on his hips, he smiled and went to sit at the table; you then choosing to sit across from him. 

After a beat, you cleared your throat, gaining the skeleton’s attention. 

“I saw that you were watching, uhhh… Sailor Moon? I think?”

“Yes, I was. It reminded me… of something a friend would… watch back in my world.”

“Oh?” You perked up, now interested, “You’ve got that kind of stuff in your world?” 

Crooks nodded, “Mhm, only a… few shows are available underground though…” he smiled, seeming to reminisce on the memory, “ It was mostly what she’d talk about.. During the few times… we’d meet. She was nice…” 

You attempted to ignore his melancholy expression, and the fact that he seemed to deliberately use past tense for this ‘friend’. But, as much as you tried, your curiosity prevailed, and you simply leaned forward, resting your chin in your hand. If this guy was gonna stay in your house, may as well find out what this guy’s deal was, right? 

“That’s cool, I’ve been wondering though… about your world!” Crooks tensed, making your confidence wane slightly, “You mentioned monsters being trapped underground, right? In some mountain?” You leaned forward even more, “...and you also mentioned a war when we first met. Seriously, what’s the history of your world?” 

Crooks stared at the table, seeming to contemplate something for a quick second before looking up, “Well… I can tell you how it… started.” You quickly nodded, which he took as a signal to keep going, “In short, there had been… tensions between monsters and humans… when both lived on the surface.” He started. 

“A war was caused… as a result of those tensions, and humans won… banishing monster kind underground. We were… trapped, unable to get out because of a… barrier placed by human mages一”

“Human mages!? Like, magic, spell-casting mages? How do一 when did一” Crooks stared at you, “... Never mind, sorry, continue.”

Despite your sudden interruption, Crooks smiled, “...As I was saying… monsters were trapped by the barrier… and after a while we… situated ourselves in different sections… underground. I stayed with… my brother in “Snowdin”. As for what the place… looked like, you can probably… guess by the name, hehe.” 

“...” 

‘Wow.’

 “A一anything else happen?” 

“Well… after a while… a human child fell down one day and一” He paused. 

You were too invested to have this guy just stop talking. “...aaaand?”

“...and befriended the monsters, breaking the barrier and letting them back on the surface.” He was just staring at the table now. “We…w一we were integrated... back into society, establishing peace with the humans, the child acting as… an ambassador for monsterkind.”

 For such a happy ‘Sunshine and rainbows!’-esque ending, he looked incredibly downcast.

You, on the other hand, were amazed. 

“That is so… insanely badass.” 

‘Why can’t I have this in my world, huh? This place is so boring compared to his!”

"You’re seriously telling me some kid just came in and freed an entire species?! Just like that… damn, they must’ve been a unit…” You muttered to yourself. It had gotten a bit quiet on Crook’s end, and you looked up, flinching back at the blank look the skeleton was giving you… Was he even looking at you? His eyelights were completely… gone. 

“Uhm… you一 uh, alright?”

"..."

“... Crooks…?” 

“Ding!” The alarm rang, snapping Crooks out of… whatever stupor he'd been in. He got up, placing his attention on adding a bit more sauce and spices. It smelled amazing from where you were. 

Amidst his stirring, he looked back to you, “What about… you? You haven't told me too much… about yourself at all, really.”

You hummed, “Well, sure, although it’s not really half as cool as yours is.”

He shrugged, “...I don’t mind. I’d just be happy… knowing a bit more about you.” 

You straightened yourself, “Alright then!” 

Crooks listened as you ranted on and on about your childhood, the good and bad you’d experienced, the in-betweens. Of course, it was a bit hard to remember some key moments, and you’d find yourself stuttering to a stop when you couldn’t fit the pieces together far back enough, but Crooks was a good listener and didn’t seem to care, very invested in your supposedly boring life story.

You enjoyed it, having someone place their attention on you and listen, for once. 

You pick up your fork, contemplating for a second, before looking back at your guest, “You wanna take these to the living room? Just chill and continue watching that show you’d been binging before I got here?” 

“I don’t see… why not?” He said, now moving back to the living room couch, his plate of spaghetti still carefully held in his hand. You followed suit, pushing in your chair, walking over, and happily flopping onto the couch. 

You placed your bowl down on the small table you’d set up, leaning forward to grab the remote and一 

“Uhm… this isn’t what I was watching…” 

You looked up, staring at the screen, paused mid-way through what looked to be some sort of battle sequence. 

“Really? I thought you’d told me how your friend liked to watch… oh, yeah. Dunno’ how that happened一 what were you watching again? Before I got here?” 

“Sailor Moon… is what it was called, I think…” 

“Got it.” You switched the show on the screen back to his own, resuming the series from where it had left off. 

Lounging back on the couch, the both of you happily indulged in exquisite spaghetti and Sailor Moon, time slowly ticking away with each second that passed.

You glanced at your newfound companion, currently engrossed in the show. He was… good company, the only company you’d really ever had, but still good nonetheless. It’d felt nice for once, not being the only person at the table, or on the couch, and the fact slightly surprised you. You wouldn’t consider yourself a hermit or an outcast;  just a bit socially awkward is all. Yet you always thought you’d preferred being alone, living your life by yourself. 

‘Guess not…’ You inwardly chuckled, taking your focus back to the screen. ‘Maybe a bit of quiet company is nice every once in a while. Until we get him back home, I may as well indulge in… whatever this is, while I can.’

    Today was another shit day, as was yesterday and the day before. Red, who stared up at the ceiling of his一 no, not his一 Vanilla’s house, didn’t want to get up... at all. If he did, he’d either have to face his brother’s nagging, Blue’s never-ending chatter, and everyone else’s ugly, dumb, shitty faces. 

Of course, he knew luck would never be on his side, and simply lay, awaiting the harsh fate that was about to befall him一

“SANS, IT IS VERY MUCH PAST THE TIME I TOLD YOU TO GET UP TODAY!”

There it is. 

Red groaned, “C’mon, boss, just a few more minutes. I’ll be down before y’know it, I promise.” He attempted, though, of course, his words fell on deaf ears, the knocking on his door getting more aggressive.

“STOP ACTING LIKE A SLUG AND GET YOUR ASS DOWNSTAIRS! WE WOULDN’T WANT OUR GENEROSITY AND GREAT MANNERS TO BE USURPED BY THOSE DISGUSTING RED COUNTERPARTS NOW, WOULD WE?” 

“Could ya’ quit it with the insults! I’ve told ya’ over and over: I ain’t a part of whatever quarrel ya’ got with the other fells!”  He snapped. Absolutely done with his brother’s antics.  

Edge had started this “feud” with the other “fell” alternates in the house, trying to one-up them in literally anything to gain the favour of the originals, even though he was almost one-hundred-percent sure that he and his brother were disliked the most out of everyone, if you didn’t account for the circus freaks. 

Of course, it’s not like he didn’t agree with his brother. The other fells sucked: Both had Sans’ that were petty pricks who acted like they were above everyone else because of their age or status… especially Wine, and both had Papyruses’ that would bend over backwards for their brothers, while also being so incredibly boring. The Mutt was quiet and reclusive, never saying anything to the other alternates save for the occasional snark or jeer, and Coffee? Don’t even get him started! The guy was a whiny, pushover, crybaby who couldn’t take shit without running over to his brother for help. 

Everyone was horrible. 

Papyrus, his Papyrus, interrupted his brooding, “FINE. YOU CAN STAY IN A BIT LONGER, BUT IF I DON’T SEE YOU IN THE KITCHEN BY THE TIME EVERYONE’S READY FOR BREAKFAST, I SWEAR I WILL DRAG YOUR LIMP BODY DOWN THE STAIRS AND SIT YOU ON THE TABLE MYSELF, AM I CLEAR?” 

“Crystal.” 

Hearing this confirmation, Red listened to his brother’s harsh footsteps fade out of earshot. He smiled, happy with the peace and quiet, closing his eyes to gain a few more precious minutes of rest…  but his brief, blissful respite was immediately, violently, and very rudely interrupted by a loud, seismic ‘BANG!’

The sound was not a muffled, household noise. It was a sharp, percussive shockwave that rattled the entire house. Red’s eyes snapped open, his skull throbbing from the sudden, aggressive noise pollution. He groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face.

‘Great, did Paps not wake up early enough to beat Black to the kitchen or somethin’?’ 

After reluctantly getting up to see what the ruckus was, he found out it was… much worse than what he anticipated. 

The air was humming with magic, both stable and unstable magic alike: Crackling and spiking uncontrollably at a moment's notice. This wasn’t his brother’s magic; he wasn’t stupid enough to handle it like this, he was a trained guard for Star’s sake! 

No, this was that freak show's magic. 

Red peered beyond the railing of the second floor, Mutt and Stretch; now awake from their much longer nap, coming over to do the same, and lo and behold: Axe was there, squaring up with none other than the man of the household himself, who looked a tad bit worse for wear, eye sockets blank.

‘Oh, right.’ Red remembered. Axe-man had just recently lost his brother a few days ago, well, not lost-lost一, like dead, just… disappeared. Of course, Vanilla was the one who had to go and fix that mess, while Axe slowly lost his patience. Red could see why; the only two people who knew anything about the machine were probably found lazing around again, he knew that for sure since Stretch had probably been dead asleep before he’d heard the commotion. 

Sans held up his palms, “look, Axe. i’ve already told ya’ that this’ll take longer than just a few days. you can’t expect me to be working twenty-four-seven when there’s other things I need to take care of一.”

“You’d be… workin’ twenty-four-seven if ya’... cared at all!” Axe snarled, pointing his weapon towards the smaller skeleton. “Nothin’ should be more… important than this,” He hooked a phalange around his empty socket, and Red winced as he watched him pull. “… But you wanna slack off… cause I know you’d rather have him gone than back here..!” His fierce gaze raked across the room, making everyone he met eyes with involuntarily flinch from the sheer intensity it protruded. 

“All of you would!” 

As if in anticipation, Red and the others next to him lurched back, narrowly dodging a row of razor-sharp bones that flew across the railing.

 One cemented itself right next to his head, and he could only really stare in shock as Axe charged forward from below, right towards Vanilla.

He swung down as the smaller readied himself to blip away, but not before a shield manifested itself around his body, its golden sheen and hard exterior just barely nullifying the force of Axe’s swing. 

“What Is The Meaning Of This?” Red boots appear from the kitchen, but they're not his brother’s, nor of Blacks. 

Wine stood, levels of arrogance radiating off of him in waves as they always were. Red scowled, stars he hated that pompous poodle; using those ugly boots to make himself look bigger than he actually was, and no一, he couldn't care less about whatever his status was back in his war-ridden world, it meant nothing here.

Axe huffed, looking up at the skeleton, “It’s… none of yer’... business, Wine…” He clutched his weapon close to him. 

“Considering I Am A Part Of This Household, I Think It’s Plenty Of My Business As Much As It Is Everyone Else’s, Hmm?” He raised a brow, only receiving a growl on his opponent's end, “Especially Considering Two Very Loud Skeletons Seem To Be… Absent From Their Daily Dinner Playdate.” 

“...” 

“What?” “‘scuse me?” 

Red and Mutt looked at each other, both donning faces of confusion. It was quite obvious who the guy was talking about. 

“Edge And Black Did Not Show Up To The Dining Table Today, Though I Could’ve Sworn I’d Heard Both Of Them Yelling About Attending It From Their Rooms.” He glanced up at Red and Mutt, “...Do You Two Have Anything to Say About This?”

“I say yer’ lyin’! The Boss’d just told me he was goin’ down to dinner a few minutes ago!” Red accused; Mutt nodding along with him.

“Milord told me th’ same thing earlier, too. No way he’s jus’... gone.” 

Everyone was on alert now, and Red felt a wave of anxiety wash over him. Where had they gone? It was only a moment ago that Edge was on the other side of his door, demanding him to get up as always. 

“Well Then,” Wine examined his wrist, “If Nobody Knows, I Hypothesize They Befell The Same Fate As Crooks Did.”

“...”

“If You Think Otherwise, We Can Send A Small Search Party Out To Go Look. But For Now…” He turned towards Vanilla, who sweat dropped under his scrutinizing gaze, “...You Ought To Get Back To Working On That Machine Of Yours, In Case It’s The Solution To Our Current Predicament.”

Vanilla nodded, blipping away. The rest of the skeletons started gathering within the lobby, Wine and Papyrus organizing a group to send out into the woods for Edge and Black.

To Red’s frustration, he wasn’t assigned to the party, being waved off by Wine, who insisted on letting the “more collected” skeletons go. For all his anger, he couldn’t find it in himself to cuss the guy out, simply glaring at him with sharp red eyelights as he headed back upstairs.

Inside his room, he flopped onto the bed, once again staring at the ceiling like he had in the morning. 

‘Nothin’s wrong.’ He reassured himself, ‘I’ll wake up an’ boss’ll be knockin’ at my door just like he was this mornin’

Though the more he repeated the thought, the less he believed it. 

    “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU TINY TYRANT!” Edge snapped at his sans-like counterpart as he flailed in the air, shaking his fist, “I’D ALREADY BE EATING NICE, WARM, BREAKFAST LASAGNA HAD YOU NOT SENT ME TO… WHATEVER THIS PLACE IS!”

Black huffed in exasperation, rolling his eyelights, “THE ABSOLUTE AUDACITY OF一 HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I STATED THAT THIS WASN’T MY DOING?” 

Edge opened his maw to retort, and wind whipped passed them as another small argument started. It was always a never-ending back and forth with the two, much too busy fighting to gather a good look at their surroundings.

Just a few minutes ago, they’d both been heading downstairs for dinner, and shortly after, found themselves falling into a dark, endless void.

“YOUR INSOLENCE IS ABSOLUTELY THE REASON WE’RE HERE RIGHT NOW! I CAN TELL… YOU WERE SCARED I’D BEAT YOU TO DINNER, AND BLIPPED THE BOTH OF US INTO… UH.”

“A VOID.”

“YES! EXACTLY.”

Black ran a hand down his face, choosing to ignore Edge’s cacophony of insults, ‘I’LL JUST PRAY THAT WHATEVER’S HAPPENING ENDS SOON, LEST I BE STUCK HERE WITH THIS IDIOT ANY LONGER THAN I HAVE TO…’ 

Chapter Text

    Your eyes groggily opened, surveying the space around you. The room was yours; your living room, to be exact. Your house was shrouded in a black fog, dark green lines of ones and zeros infiltrating your vision, messing with your thoughts, and clouding your brain. 

You couldn’t hear anything, nor did you see your skeleton friend stationed where he was on the couch before, the entire object instead only being seen through a string of white that outlined the edges and shapes; in fact, the same seemed to be said for the entire house, everything looking more like a silhouette than an actual piece of furniture or wall.

In your attempt to dispel whatever this dream一, which you now acknowledged was totally a dream一, was, you slowly sat up from your couch, strange tingles running up and down your body, everything feeling tense and uncomfortable as you slowly manoeuvred yourself around the room. 

God… why did you feel so heavy? It felt as though you were trudging through mud, all while something else was pushing your chest back with every movement you made. Unfortunately, no matter how much you brushed yourself off or looked around, the feeling stayed. You almost contemplated going back and waiting it out, but something deep inside you told you that you should do otherwise, so you snapped yourself out of it and continued on. 

As you made your way to the stairs, you felt a tug. It was small, almost unnoticeable, but it was there, and it made you stagger slightly towards the front door. 

You paused, a small feeling of unease overcoming you as another tug was felt, this time much harsher, almost making you trip on your feet. 

‘Christ, fine! I’ll go if that means whatever this is ends afterwards.’ You continued forward, putting more effort into going faster, not wanting to feel that uncomfortable tug again.  

Your hand reached out, quickly grabbing and twisting the knob.

“...”

You couldn’t open it. 

You huffed, jiggling the thing around a bit and pulling back to see if anything would happen, but all seemed to prove a futile effort. Your frustration only heightened when another tug hit your chest, making you face-plant right into the doorframe. Despite the quick action and the now-present pain, you somehow didn’t wake up. Just how long was it going to take for this dream to end?  

“C’mon!” You called to nobody in particular, “Work with me, why don’t you?! I’d really rather not be flung again一 Ugh, why does this actually hurt? You massaged your forehead, somehow feeling a very big bump now present, which also emanated a very real sense of pain. Were you just so accustomed to hitting your head that you could feel it in your dreams? Is that even how that worked?

Now at your wits' end, and also really wishing you’d dreamt of something a lot better than this, you felt your vision cloud with code again while more fatigue entered your body. The more you looked at it, the more hopeless it felt. It was just a dream. Why were you getting so worked up over this? It would end soon, like all others did, and you would fall back into a nice sleep anyway. 

The ground felt softer, and unbeknownst to you,  your feet started to slowly but surely vanish underneath the surface. 

Another tug. 

“...”

Another. 

You clutched your chest, glaring down at whatever the invisible force was. Though as angry as it made you, you felt another wave of curiosity envelop you over what was going on. Because, as much as you didn’t necessarily want to believe it, something told you that this was more than just a dream.

With that realization, you were also made very aware of the fact that your ankles were completely submerged in your floor. 

You frowned, a small vat of panic washing over you. You directed your gaze back to the immovable object, now dead-set on opening it if it was the last thing you’d do.  

You steeled yourself, still sinking. Lifting up a fist, you curled it, slamming it down onto the door frame.

…And suddenly, everything shattered: the door, the walls, the house… everything split itself into small shards, the sound echoing harshly throughout the area, making you cover your ears, and then your entire head as every piece rained down upon you. You dared to open your eyes, noticing that past the vast array of glass, only a white void seemed to remain visible. 

There’s a person sitting at the end of it, dressed in all black. You raise a brow, attempting to reach a hand out uncaring of the space between you two.

“Hey! A little bit of help here一” 

Like lighting, the figure whipped its head back. For a small, minuscule moment, your eyes caught yellow and blue, and you attempted to clear your vision to get a better look at who the hell was in front of you… before a stray shard decided it would be the best time to embed itself into the back of your hand. 

    “一Shit!” 

You wrenched yourself awake with a gasp, a very present pain now felt pulsing straight through your hand. You stared down at it in shock, watching as a long pool of blood slowly pooled from the palm, a line of red dripping from the back of your hand.

You startled as a soft voice called your name from beside you, glancing over to see Crooks awake from his spot on the couch, rubbing at his eyesockets, trying to gather his bearings. ‘Huh, guess we both fell asleep after the movie was over.’  

“...Are you alright?” He focused his eyelights on your face before dragging his gaze to your hand. He immediately froze, face contorting in fear. 

“Your一 your hand!... It’s…what happened…?”  He raised his gloved hands up, only moving an inch towards you before you heard his breath hitch, and he abruptly flinches back despite not coming into contact with anything, instead choosing to get up. He seems to deliberately avoid your gaze, or was he not trying to look at your hand? You guessed he just didn’t like blood, not like you could blame him. 

“... Do you have… any medical supplies?... Bandages?” He fiddled with his gloves.

“Uhm,” You pondered, “...I think I’ve got a few in the bottom corner of the pantry.” You looked back down at your hand, “ I’ll go and get this washed before you put anything on.”

He nodded, hurrying over to where you told him to go, while you made your way to the kitchen sink. The pain was slowly but surely becoming a lot more uncomfortable, your hand starting to shake from the odd angle you held it in. 

You pulled the handle and let the water run down your palm, grimacing at the odd feeling it gave, pooling in with your wound. While, thankfully enough, it seemed like it didn’t break through too many layers of skin, it still stung and bled like the opposite was true, but that was the last thing occupying your mind.

You were currently wondering how the hell an injury from your sleep managed to transfer over to the real world. 

It had been some sort of lucid dream, you knew that as much, and yet even when you awoke in the same position you’d fallen asleep in; everything seeming to just have been a figment of your imagination; all of it still remained after, at least, all of the physical things did. 

The idea that something like that could just… happen? It scared the shit out of you.

 You let out a long breath, trying to shake the feeling of dread that manifested itself deep in your gut. Despite panic being what the situation called for, you refused to let yourself get all shaky over this new predicament, at least not until your wound was all healed up. 

Eventually, Crooks came back over with a bandage and a box of medical supplies. He hovered over you as you turned off the sink, holding up a bandage for you to place your hand in. He still avoided looking at the wound, but softly wrapped the object around your hand, seeming much more confident in his movements the more time that passed. 

His other hand held up an ice pack for you, which almost confused you on why he brought it until, of course, you remembered the whole ‘crashing into the door’ thing that happened.  You brushed your fingers over your forehead, and lo and behold, an inflated, irritable bump lay on it.

You took the bag and placed it on your forehead with a long sigh, opting to just watch Crook in his aid with your hand.

Once he finished, you examined your palm, the wound now completely covered and out of sight. The remnant of pain still lingered, but you knew you’d get used to it eventually.

You looked up at Crooks, lending him a small smile, “Thanks for that, I一 I’m sorry I woke you up, though, you seemed like you were getting some pretty good rest… better than last night, at least.” To be completely honest, it was, quite frankly, embarrassing to have had him see you all shaken up like that, regardless of how serious the situation had been. 

Crooks shook his head, “...Don’t apologize! I’d rather… have woken up and… helped you than find you… in pain later.” He frowned, “...How did you get… hurt, anyway? You’d been asleep next… to me the entire time…” His eyelights shortened to pinpricks, “...Did一  did I do… something?” 

You shut down the idea as soon as it came up, “No! No… I, uh…” You had no idea how you could explain the situation without making it seem like you were crazy, but then again, the guy came out of your closet, so at the very least, he might give you the benefit of the doubt.

“I’m pretty sure that I may or may not have, perhaps… gotten this in my, uhm… sleep.”

“…Your…sleep?”

“Yup, I was in a dream;  got injured by something, and then woke up with the same injuries. I, uh… I don’t really think I can explain any more than that…”

“...” Crooks seemed to be at a loss for words, not that you could blame him for it. It did make you a bit disappointed, knowing the guy probably didn’t know what was going on, but considering he was a monster that went through a magic portal, it was worth a shot to hope otherwise. 

Sighing, you walked back towards the living room, ice pack still present on your forehead. You picked up your phone and checked the time, frowning at how close it was to your shift. As much as you wanted to call in sick, it was way too late for that to not get you a penalty of some sort; nobody would try filling in for you that fast, especially not for a lousy, low-paying job. 

The couch cushions felt more comfortable knowing you’d have somewhere to go pretty soon, which also sucked, considering you’d never want to leave them once the time came. You’d thought of sleeping… but after what just happened, it was probably best you just held that off until you actually needed it. 

Half dozing off despite your best efforts not to, you felt the space beside you shift. A gloved hand softly pat your shoulder in comfort, Crooks looking over you anxiously. 

“... I’m assuming you… need to leave again today?”

You nodded, “ Yeah, I’ll probably be fine though… It’s not like I need both hands to work the register,” You looked up at the ice bag currently pressed onto your forehead, “... Nor do I need a nice-looking forehead, even though I really would like to have one today.” You chuckled. 

Crooks smiled, “I think… your forehead will look fine after… the ice is done. People shouldn’t care what it… looks like regardless if… they’re there to order food… I’d think…” 

“I hope so, though in all honesty, you’d be surprised at the number of entitled people you have to deal with on a daily basis.” You lamented. 

The two of you continued to chat for a few minutes, the conversation slowly but surely taking your mind away from the incident. You were glad you had someone like Crooks to talk to… yeah, you deeply appreciated your long-distance friends, but in truth, it felt better connecting with someone face to face than from the other side of the screen.

‘…Plus, he’s a kickass 7-foot-tall skeleton, so bonus points for uh…’ You gazed at him, quietly describing his favourite episode of the show the two of you had binged previously, ‘...being… nice, to look at, and stuff.’  

    Eventually, you had to leave the house to go to work, saying bye to your roommate and getting inside your car once again. You pulled out of the driveway and left, carefully making sure not to irritate your injury on the way… maybe it wasn’t a good idea to drive with an injury like that…. Oh well, you were already on the road. 

After parking in your designated spot, you got out and begrudgingly walked to the back, opening the door and officially clocking in for another long day of complaining and horrible back-and-forths between customers. Though as you walked over to the register, uniform put on and yourself ready for action, the area felt… empty, more so than usual before you were opened. In fact, fewer workers seemed to be present today as well, making the kitchen quiet and void of the usual chatter. 

Even when the place allowed customers in for the day, almost nobody seemed to turn up. Hell, you could’ve sworn that through the four hours you’d been here you’d only served a total of ten people一, which was crazy considering you knew damn well the cravings people had for cheap, greasy fast food. 

Maybe it was for the better, you didn’t have many people here to make food anyway一 was there some sort of boycott on this place or something you didn’t know about? It wasn’t like anyone came in recording, nor did they say anything when you entered. 

Jeez… you were thinking way too much about this.

Your manager came over at some point, currently rubbing his head in an attempt to calm some ongoing headache he’d been complaining about since the shift started. He leaned on the counter next to you, examining the empty sets of tables splayed out around the establishment. 

He sighed, “Y’know, it’d be nice if there was at least one group sitting around. Makes it seem like we’re here for nothing.” 

You hummed, propping your chin in your palm, “...At least we’re basically getting paid to do nothing… I guess. It’s not every day we get a bit of peace and quiet around here.” 

“I’ll say.” Your coworker butted in, gazing at her phone. “That lady yesterday was sooo一 like, insufferable, I swear I would’ve punched her if you didn’t get her to stop. I like it better like this: nobody else here to bitch to us about doing our job or whatever… other than our totally awesome manager, of course.” 

Said man glared at her, and you simply stared off into space while the two engaged in a bit of friendly bickering. 

After making sure nobody was thinking of coming in and ordering, you took your phone out of your pocket, opening up the messages app to look over your texts with Vinnie in the group chat. She hadn’t yet responded to any of your more recent messages, despite being the most chatty and online person in the group. 

Guess everyone just for some reason decided to collectively go quiet and eat healthy today…

 ‘...Hopefully.’

You sweatdropped, putting your phone away as the bell chimed and another customer sauntered in. Your shift would end soon, so you’d just focus on that till it was time to go home. Too many things were trying to worm their way into your mind, and you feared that you wouldn’t exactly feel… well, if you kept trying to think of them. 

And so, your shift continued, serving a few more customers and halfway falling asleep out of boredom. Eventually, it was time to leave, and you smiled, walking out back to your car. Within a few moments, you started the engine, pulled out of the driveway once again, and headed back home.

Like all other things, the drive was quiet. 

    “...I’ve been thinking of… uhm, something…” 

“Yeah?” You placed your car keys in the small compartment of your garage, looking over to Crooks, who was fiddling with the hem of his gloves “, and what exactly do you mean by ‘something’?”

A bead of sweat ran down his skull, “...I mean, about maybe一 maybe going…” 

You raised a brow, still fiddling with your bag. You placed it on your washer, making sure to scooch back towards the hallway so it wasn’t so cramped. 

“...Going…?”

He avoided looking at you as you switched your gaze back onto him, and you frowned, ‘What’s got him all constipated? Is he gonna run away or something?... Is he gonna jump me?一 Wait, but where would he be “going” then一” 

“...Outside.” 

You paused, all your previous thoughts poofing out of existence.

“... Outside? Like, “fully walking around, enjoying the open scenery” kind of outside?” He nodded, affirming your words, and you shot him a blank look in response. “I’m not really all that against it, but… uh… I thought we kinda already established that if someone sees you, it’s game over for both of us.” 

“... Yes, I understand that… but maybe we could do it… during the night? Most humans will… be asleep by then, won’t they?”

“They would be, yeah…” Now it was your turn to sweat at the very expectant and pleading look Crooks was giving you. Sure, it felt borderline cruel at times, not letting him so much as step a foot out onto the front porch一, but you were totally justified in that considering monsters didn’t exist here! If someone so much as got a glance of Crooks, you were pretty sure they’d call the cops and一, like, dissect his body for science, or something. 

‘But… he’s right, everyone would be asleep by midnight, and the risk of us getting caught would probably shrink…” You let out a long sigh, ‘...Oh, the things I’m about to allow to make this guy happy.”

“...Ok, fine一 but!” You quickly raised a finger as Crooks brightened, “ If we see anyone outside, whether wandering around or in their house with the window open, we’re immediately heading back, I’d rather you not get actually put in Area 51一, if that’s where they actually put uh… people like you there… at all.”

You grunted as Crooks clasped your hand with both of his gloves and pulled you forward, eyelights almost seeming to resemble stars as he looked down at you. 

“...I promise, I know how to be stealthy… I’ll be as quiet… as a Whimsun… It’ll be like I’m… not even there.” He declared, placing a hand to his chest. 

“Awesome!” ‘What the hell is a Whimsin?’ You tapped on your phone’s homescreen to check the time. It seemed as though, for now, the two of you would have to wait a bit until the sun set low enough for a decent bit of darkness to shroud the neighborhood, at least enough to cover Crook’s huge form as you walked around. 

 “Honestly, uh一, I think we’ll both have to just chill for a bit until midnight. Nobody here is really crazy enough to wander around in the dark at that time anyway, unless they got like… an errand or something一 I don’t know, we’ll find out once we leave.” You walked past him to the living room, picking up the TV remote,

 “You wanna watch something while we wait?” 

He took a small glance out the backyard window before nodding and sitting back where he’d been the previous day.

“Same as yesterday?”

“Yes… Thank you.”

“...” You smiled,

“Of Course.”

Chapter Text

So sorry, I can imagine that seeing an update on a fanfiction & reading "Author's Note" instead of "Chapter 7: Blah blah blah" may or may not be low-key annoying...

BUT!

I am simply here to keep you guys informed that while, yes, it has been a bit since I've uploaded a chapter (or even touched the doc for it), that is simply because I've been prioritizing studying for the upcoming mid-terms I've got + getting in all those extra credit assignments that are available so my grade won't be too greatly unaffected in the event that I don't do well. 

Of course, I will probably start up my normal schedule of 1-2 chapters per week once Christmas break hits; for now, I'll attempt to write at least 200 words per day so that I can start the break off with Chapter 7 written and uploaded by... I'll say Sunday. No promises though!

I've got a ton planned for this story, and have made it my goal to get 20 chapters of this work uploaded before I even consider abandoning it, so you all will see me, and more of this work, soon!

On that note. 

I'VE HIT 250 KUDOS OH MY GOD. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING AND HAVING FAITH IN MY WORK. I really enjoy those who leave comments showcasing their support or theories as well. It makes me happy knowing that my work is making people this invested & curious! If you ever wanna say something, you can always leave a comment; I've been doing pretty well responding to everyone, and I'll make sure you aren't an exception. 

Thanks for reading, adios!