"Wakey wakey, fresh m—human."

Opening your eyes, you bolted upright in the bed that wasn't yours. Darkness and one red orb met you, the crimson eye darting all over you with an unreadable emotion. You slammed your own eyes shut.

Where were you? Where was mom? Dad? Chara? What was this? Where was this?

Gathering your thoughts with a deep breath, you opened your eyes yet again, staring into Horror's face.

"Oh," he frowned, "I thought you were dead. Huh." He slid off of the bed, landing on the floor. "Boss told me to watch you until— if you woke up, so..."

Horror walked over to the large doors, hands in his bloody pockets. "My job here is done." And with that, he was gone. You could have sworn he was covering his nose and mouth and hurrying out, like he was scared...

Rubbing your eyes, they finally adjusted to the dim light. The room was mostly black, with occasional blue highlights. A desk stood in the corner, covered in books. Torches dimly lit the vast area. Overall, the bedroom was surprisingly nice, despite its morbid aura. You were currently in your T-shirt and jeans, sitting clueless on the velvet bed. Rubbing your arms, you realized how cold it was.

Your gaze darted around for something else to wear over the shirt and your bare arms. Thankfully, your (F/C) hoodie was folded neatly on a side table.

Sliding it on, you made your way to the doors. They were large black stone doors, engraved with lapis lazuli. For such a strange monster, he has a pretty good design sense.

The hallway wasn't any better than the bedroom. It was still dim, and very long. A few shapes that looked quite suspiciously like Papyrus rushed about at differing speeds, some running like their lives depended on it.

You wouldn't have been surprised if their lives were on the line.

Receding back into the bedroom, you pulled out your phone and attempted to call Ms. Toriel. While the phone was buzzing, you lifted it to your ear, anxious.

The phone exploded with miscellaneous sounds, not all of them pleasant. Yanking the phone away from your now half-deaf ear, you tried again with Sans. Then Papyrus. Then Chara.

Every time you got nothing but loud static.

Taking a deep breath, you put the phone away. You couldn't contact anyone. No one could contact you. You didn't even know where the hell you were.

Suddenly overwhelmed with helplessness, you curled up on the bed. No tears fell from your eyes, surprising you mildly. But not really. You had seen quite a lot.

Of course, everything you've ever seen was nothing compared to this.

After about 10 minutes, there was a gentle knocking on your door. "(N/N)?" Looking up from the pillow, you stared at the door, unmoving. Maybe if I pretend to be asleep, he'll go away.

A sigh. "(N/N), I know you're awake," Nightmare commented, "We just have a few things to explain. I know you want an explanation. Let me give it to you."

A few moments passed before you decided that you were probably going to die either way. You stumbled over to the door and opened it. The inky skeleton looked slightly annoyed, but mostly concerned.

He motioned for you to come with him. Following him down the halls, you saw the Papyrus-things were gone. Suspicious. After taking a few turns and going down many a hallway, the two of you came across a huge room. Your jaw almost dropped.

The roof seemed to go on forever. The floor was covered in onyx, with the occasional lapis or sapphire. The other Sanses were chatting with each other with the exception of Cross and Dust. They were standing off to the side, talking to themselves. Another Sans was there too, glitchy and broken up, twitching mildly.

In the front middle was a throne. It was grand and glorious, made of vantablack stones darker than the darkness itself. Everything about it screamed 'royalty,' and everything around it seemed small
and insignificant.

Nightmare watched you gape with a cocky smile. "I don't suppose you like it?" You nodded slowly, recovering from the initial shock. He teleported in a puddle of blackness, now sitting atop the magnificent throne.

The Sanses took that as their cue, walked up to the sides of the throne. With all of them facing you at once, it was intimidating and mildly terrifying. Cross tilted his head at you, and suddenly you were pulled forward.

"...So you're probably wondering what the hell is happening," Killer, tittered, looking down at you. You nodded.

Sneering, Dust folded his legs. "In that case, you might wanna sit down."

On cue, a chair suddenly materialized behind you. Nightmare gestures for you to sit, and you obeyed, (E/C) eyes open wide.

"All of us came together to bring the multiverse—the giant collection of multiple universes and timelines—justice," Nightmare started, dead serious. "We don't want any universes to suffer like ours did."

"I came from a timeline where my human or something inside the human kept killing everyone over and over again," Dust grieved, voice suddenly heavy. "I was pushed to the point where everyone in the Underground gave themselves up as LV to me to defeat the human once and for all." He shuddered at the memory. "...The death of my brother still haunts me. Sometimes I think that I can still hear him..."

Killer, standing right beside him, sighed. "My universe was similar. The human killed everyone over and over and over..." He suddenly grinned. "At least Ch— the thing haunting the human was on our side. They told me that the only way to ensure that there would be no more death was to do it yourself. I took down the human with the sacrifices of my fallen friends, and they never came back."

Horror glanced your way, the same unidentifiable emotion burning in his eyes. "I was actually the problem. Well, not actually me. My 'affliction.' In my universe, monsters had... a hunger for humans." You squirmed slightly in the chair, and he quickly recovered, saying, "That's the reason why I left. Whenever it was bad, I just... lost it. I didn't want that anymore. So I decided to come with Nightmare to find a cure."

"...My universe..." Cross murmured, fidgeting with his scarf. He was obviously nervous. "My universe... Is complicated. There was a mad scientist that wanted to make everything better but..." He trailed off, looking very lost and distraught.

"H-Hey you-ou don't-n't ha— to fin-fin-inish." The glitchy skeleton finally chimed in, voice broken. You raised your eyebrows at Nightmare.

"Error," he hinted. "Why don't you take over from here?"

Error nodded. "M-My uni-v-v-verse was thr-o-own in-to-o c-ch-cha-cha-os f-fr-ommmmm-m t-th-e-e hu-hu-huma-n d-d-oin-ing o-o-one too m-aan-ny re-re-rese-setssss. I w-w-as-s s-pa-pare-d, but t-t-he-heeeeee-n I-I was t-t-rap-ppe-ppe-d in t-t-th-e a-ant-ivo-oi-d-dd."

You bit your cheek. While his story was slightly hard to understand, you were shocked that humans did such terrible things. A full genocide of all monsters? Why?

Raspberry shrugged. "My human loved to kill. They killed everyone so many times that I began to long for vengeance. We all wanted justice. That's when Nightmare found us."

The king nodded. "Everyone here, everyone that you see before you want justice. They never want anyone to suffer like they did. They want to end all suffering."

You nodded slowly. It all made sense, except for one thing. Taking a breath, you asked, "W-Why did you destroy my world..?"

Nightmare's eye widened. "Destroyed?" He asked. You narrowed your eyes, nodding again. "(N/N), we didn't destroy your AU. Just... made it look we destroyed it. We had to keep it safe from... them."

You raised your eyebrows yet again when the room's temperature suddenly dropped a few degrees. Pulling your hoodie's sleeves down again, Nightmare apologized, "I'm sorry for the drop. The palace is connected to my soul and mind. If anything happens to me, the palace will adjust to reflect my thoughts or mental state. Anyways," he said, clasping his hands, "You're probably wondering who they are."

Before you could even say anything, every Sans except for Nightmare exchanged a glance. Then, eerily in sync, they spat, "The Star Sanses."

Now you were interested. "Aren't stars generally good?" you asked, skeptical. Killer snorted.

"Exactly," Raspberry snickered, twirling a bone. It reminded you of your Sans. "That's what they want you to think. They want people to trust them, then they stab you in the back when you aren't looking."

Cross decided to put in his two cents. "They go around trying to conquer universes, drinking up the power from each one. Your world was next."

"Honestly," Horror remarked sadly, "There's one on the team that could have been better. But alas, he was deceived. Their leader is the worst. He's the one that caused all of this trouble."

"They paint us as the bad guys," Nightmare snarled coldly, making the heat dissipate further. "If we ever catch their leader, Dream, I will ensure that his death will be slow and painful. It still wouldn't be enough to cover up all of his sins."

At this point you were in shock. The team that everyone had thought was fighting for good was really just going to destroy them all. You felt relieved that you had such knowledge that could protect you.

Reaching up, you ran a finger over the heart pendant. Cross noticed the motion, eye sockets widening ever so slightly. He whispered something to the air beside him.

"...How do I help?"

Nightmare and the others stared down at you from the throne. You shrank back slightly under their gazes, restating your question. "I want to help take down the Star Sanses. I want to bring justice. I want to help."

There was dead silence for a few moments.

Then Raspberry nodded, turning to Nightmare. "It's always good to have a new recruit," he remarked. Other Sanses murmured a little, before Nightmare held up a hand.

"We respect your decision to join us," he smiled, tone soft. "However. You must realize that this is a permanent position. You cannot ever leave this team. If you do—"

You were already nodding. "I acknowledge that," you responded coolly, "And this is my choice. I will stay with you, as long as you are fighting for good."

Horror tensed, but then relaxed so quickly you were sure it was a trick of the dark. Nightmare smiled brightly at you. "Fantastic," he soothed, his eye looking you over again. "Those Star Sanses don't stand a chance."

Raspberry walked down the stairs, taking your arm. "M'lady," he joked. You laughed softly, and could have sworn you felt the temperature rise slightly.

Exiting the room, you suddenly realized that Nightmare never told his story. You yawned. Maybe later.

"...Oh, and (N/N)?" Raspberry asked when you emerged your new bedroom. You hummed in response, looking it over. It was fairly nice, and looked slightly like your old room.

Raspberry figured before blurting, "Don't go in Nightmare's room." Then he slammed the door shut. Weird, you thought as you climbed into bed.

The shock and weariness was returning, so you did the thing you could do best: sleep.

As you curled up and drifted off, you could have sworn you saw violet buttercups growing on the inky windowsill.