A/N

Welp. I finished Threads.

… I'm not done with Sans yet. So, you get this! Yaaaaayyyyy!

The sun was slowly setting beneath the horizon, stretching out the shadows and dying everything bright orange. It was quiet, aside from the crunching footsteps of the young man walking underneath the eaves of the trees.

To his side, a sword was clutched shakily. Its gleaming blade reflected the sun's light onto the ground with renewed vigor. Glancing about the treetops, eyes shielded from the light with his hand, he spotted the subject of his search. Nestled in the nook of a particularly thick tree branch and its trunk he slept.

"Sans!" the young man called up. Sans's eyes snapped open, shining blue in the low light. Upon finding the source of the voice, he jumped down from the perch to stand in front of him.

Despite his terrifying reputation, Sans was not impressive to look at. He was shorter than most men with white fluffy hair that hung over his large blue eyes. His face was round, but not quite young. Bags were set under his eyes, engraved in his beige skin. Wrapped about him like a security blanket was something of an over-sized cloak.

"hey Phyllis." He greeted the solider. Phyllis gave a stiff salute, back straight and shoulders shaking. Sans laughed. "calm down buddy, I ain't gonna eat ya'."

"Yessir." Phyllis said. "Sir, you're requested to return to the base camp and to stop sleeping in trees."

"I can do one of those." Sans said with a shrug "okay, I'll get back to camp or whatever. What'd they need me for?"

"A mission, sir." The young soldier reported "You're to go ambush a moving squadrant of monsters."

Sans yawned his acknowledgement, stretching his arms out in front of him as he nodded "got it. so. tree." He rubbed at his eyes a moment, before leaping off of the ground straight into the overhanging branches.

"Wait! Sir!" Phyllis called "You're supposed to report to camp first-!"

"tell 'em I'll meet 'em there!" Sans yelled back, already on his way across the canopy of branches. Phyllis was left snorting out his displeasure at the man's obscurities.

Although he was true to his word. Before the sun was down, he had his team in sight. He jumped down to appear the one that seemed to be in charge.

"hey." He greeted casually. The man jumped, almost impaling his in the process. Upon recognition, he huffed angrily.

"So you must be Sans."

"bingo." Sans grinned. He peered through their cover, separating the leaves with two fingers "so what can ya tell me about the group we're dusting?"

The commander huffed but explained anyways "From what we're told, there's about five of them-"

"'five'?" Sans quoted. He snorted indignantly "y'need me to help take care of five stinkin' monsters? seriously?"

"Yes." The man growled "You see, these five monsters are supposedly in the monsters' 'Royal Guard', supposedly the highest rank they have."

"eh." Sans didn't seem impressed but didn't complain anymore "what kind of monsters are they?"

His commander huffed but described them for him "From our intel, we know one of them appears to be some sort of tortoise. Another one is made of fire, there's two dog-like creatures, and they're led by a warrior named Sydna-"

"woah, like, fish-lady Sydna?" Sans said. An unsettling grin stretched across his features "OH, this just got a lot more interesting." He coughed into his fist to clear his throat. A quick flick of his wrist and a large, jagged knife was in his hand, at the ready. He winked to the man "I'll take care of fish-lady. Don'tcha worry about her." The man opened his mouth to protest, but by the time he took a breath, Sans was already gone.

"Sir." Said another soldier, saluting the Commander "No disrespect intended, but you just allowed that man to completely disregard your authority-"

"He's not under my authority." The man huffed "One of the higher-ups hired him."

"Oh!" Exclaimed the soldier "He's a mercenary?"

"Yeah. And a damn good one, from what I've heard. Dusted an entire troop of monsters by himself, apparently." He snorted "He'd be the best soldier we have if he followed orders."

The soldier nodded sympathetically, and the pair was completely oblivious to Sans eavesdropping on their conversation. He snickered, covering his mouth with his hand.

"they think I can do that?" he whispered to himself, grinning in his pleasure "yeesh, I appreciate the praise but rumors are just rumors." He spent another minute or two chuckling to himself. Then he stretched out his legs and went on his way. His smile faded away into a frown. Sweat slicked the side of his face as he leapt through the branches.

"although I guess I kind of asked for it." he mused to himself "being so mysterious and such. of course rumors would start to circulate." He sighed "not to mention I grin like a psychopath whenever I'm told I'm going into a dangerous mission." The grin mentioned once again set on his face, though the sweat still prevailed "deception, thy name is coping mechanism."

The sun had well past set when he was ready and spotted the ambush-ees. The fire man mentioned led the way, illuminating the path for the rest of the group. Sydna, the most feared of the monsters next to King Asgore, followed suit, eyes glaring about, magical spear in her claws, at the ready. After her was bipedal tortoise-monster, armed with a giant Warhammer that he carried over his shoulder like a baseball bat. He trotted along after Sydna, looking around seemingly without a care. At the rear were a pair of dogs. Both with executioner hoods, armed with axes. Their noses and ears were perked. Searching.

Sans took a breath, steeled his nerves, and locked his eyes on his target. He found by taking down the commander first, it was easier to dispose of the rest of them. Although, this was a more advanced troop. So it may be difficult.

He followed stealthily, quietly. Eyes locked on the neck of the fish-like warrior. Waiting for the best opportunity to strike. It took until near dawn. In near-silence and blinding darkness. Only the fire-man granting any light. But as the sky begun to gray, Sydna took the lead.

At the small about of entropy, Sans launched for the woman's neck. He struck hard, knife lodging deep into her flesh, her howling out her pain and rage. As it was, apparently one strike wasn't enough.

She responded frighteningly quickly, turned and lunging her spear deep into his torso. He spat out blood, quivering and shaking at the pain that overwhelmed his senses. Stumbling, he managed to evade the next swipe of her spear, as well at the impact of the tortoise's hammer. He wasn't so lucky in avoiding the flame from the fire-man.

It seared his skin, causing his blood to boil, but his mind made him turn his wound to it. It seared shut lazily and painfully, but it kept him from bleeding out on the spot.

Vision blurring and blood pulsing in his ears and filling his nostrils, he heard the following strikes of the rest of his group. In the chaos, he sprung back into the canopy. Clawing like a mad cat when he didn't quite make it, he dragged himself onto a branch. Breathing heavily but not taking in enough air.

Sans was able to catch the sight of Sydna pulling his knife out of her flesh just in time to jab it into that of one of the humans'. Screams filled the air as the people's SOULs were pulled out, turned green, and they found themselves unable to flee.

Adrenaline fueling his scramble, he fled through the trees as the sounds of the dying and abandoned cemented themselves into his heart. Long after they were out of sight, he still heard them. Throbbing in his SOUL like a thorn in his chest. Or maybe that was the pain of deep wound seared shut. Whatever it was, it caused him to miss the next branch and he plummeted to the ground.

Sans yelped out in pain, tears brimming in his eyes and cascading down his face. At the base of the trunk he curled up in on himself, covering his head in his hands and bringing his knees up as far as he was able. Bloodied shreds of his cloak clung onto his wound, pulling uncomfortably at it with every breath he took. Pain coursed through his body. But he found himself without the will or the strength to do anything about it.

Instead he stayed quiet, sniffling and sobbing to himself and drowning in his guilt and pain.

It grew dark again.

His stomach roared with hunger and his eyes stung with tears and his body was still burning.

A wind picked up, rustling the branches overhead. In the distance, more battles raged on like echoes. Swords clanging, people screaming. Dying.

But he couldn't move.

At some point, he must've fallen asleep. As his eyes opened, dull with crust. Sunlight filled the clearing, bathing the bare ground with its glow. Where he slept, leaves kept the light from touching him. Sans curled in on himself, shivering.

Though he felt numb.

The screams and blood of the now deceased seemed little more than a nightmare now. And now that he was awake, and now that it was bright, it means nothing now.

So he laid on the ground. Staring at the patches of light make their way across the clearing. His body felt broken and his mind was somewhere else. His vague stare seemed to focus on a blade of grass, swaying gentle in a small breeze.

The sun began to set again.

That was when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Faint at first. But as they grew louder, his heart began to beat harder. Despite his brokenness, a single thought brought him to his feet.

Stay Alive Stay Alive

Clutching onto his side, his lungs heaving, he leaned heavily against the tree he had spent so long against. He had no weapon. No way of defense.

Sans gulped, crouching painfully as he prepared to jump. But as he knelt, something snapped with a sickening crrreeck.

He yelled in pain despite all logic, hitting the ground which rocketed renewed pain through his body. The footsteps hurried in his direction.

Sans closed his eyes shut, tears slipping through the lids. He bit his lip and prayed that'd they'd kill him quickly.

They were loud enough for him to know they were in the clearing. A light gasp was heard and they approached. Would he had opened his eyes, he could assume that their owner was standing right in front of them. Instead, he stiffened. Waiting for death.

Large, warm hand cradled around his form and he let out another squeak of pain.

"I do apologize." Said a soft voice. Sans didn't respond as he was lifted into the air and off the ground. The voice continued to speak "So you are alive, correct? That is a relief…" still he offered no response. But the pain was…relieved somehow. Not entirely gone, but dulled. Something warm was drawn up against his cramped body. Arms wrapped about him, as if to shield and support him. Hair tickled at his nose.

As curiosity finally won, Sans forced himself to open his eyes.

The voice's owner was a monster. A long, white snout that was barbed with fangs. On her head, horns arched up into the orange-lit sky. Her fur was long, white, and quite soft. And she looked down on him with the most pure smile of relief.

"Are you well?" she asked.

Sans stared at her a moment, then opened his mouth to respond. Hoarse coughs came out instead of words. He hacked for several moments, and he did, the female monster wrapped her arms tighter around him. He coughed up blood, speckling her white fur with red.

"oh- shi-" Sans swallowed, his mouth dry aside from the blood. "s-sorry-"

"Do not worry about it." she smiled "I am glad you are alive."

"oh." Sans blinked. He forced a smile but found he hadn't the strength to say anymore. Instead he gave a light nod, went limp, and resigned himself to his fate.