Chapter Text
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Courage: bravery, the act of doing some in spite of fear, not the lack of it. Those who are Courageous: Headstrong, brave, often make decisions without thinking.
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[Resume]
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Y/N woke up with gasp, chest burning and eyes watering in pain. Each breath constricting with pain like someone had cut her open and filled the wound with fire ants. Biting and scratching and burning .
Vision blurring, Y/N rolled to the side, trying in vain to pull air into her lungs. Tears ran scorching trails down her cheeks, the room aflame in a hundred degree heat. Why did it hurt so much? What happened?
She tossed again, falling from the bed and damn near slamming her head into the bedside table. Y/N choked, pulling herself to her feet but stumbling on knees. Dropping to a kneel, elbows hit against the nightside with a thud. Dragging herself to aching feet and wobbling knees.
Each breath was agony, each step like walking on nails. Where was the injury? Why was she hurt? Y/N couldn’t remember much admittedly. Just the amusement park then passing out in bed, nothing that would cause such an extreme reaction. Yet everything hurt so much.
Bathroom, the bathroom had some sort of medical kit in it, right? Y/N couldn’t remember. Her head throbbed in time with her heart, beating bullets against her chest. Her breaths sped up, not pulling in air even as she went faster and faster.
Calling for help was useless, empty gasps leaving in space of words. Falling more than walking, hitting against walls and furniture as she went. The world spun, floor moving under her feet. The room plotting against her to make her fall. But Y/N knew, she knew if she fell she might not be able to get back up.
The door slammed against the wall as Y/N threw her body into it, the impact not heard or felt beneath the burn of blood pulsing through her veins. She fell against the skin, looking into the mirror only to dimly remember this wasn’t her bathroom. The mirror didn’t double as a cabinet. There were other cabinets for that.
Looking through her hair at her tear stained face, flushed and scrunched in pain in a way that certainly wasn’t ‘cute’ by any measure. Y/N met her own eyes… except they weren’t hers… they weren’t the eyes she’d been born with.
Scorching bronze eyes like flame forge rivets were in place of the oh-so-familiar color. They glittered like metal in the light, false and metallic. The world seemed to shift, the floor falling still. Something snapped into place.
All at once, the pain seemed to disappear. It was so fast that Y/N barely even recognized it was there. In its place a chilling cold that ran goosebumps up her arms and over her exposed skin. Her vision cleared, her chest no longer burning.
Before she could even ask why, the pain had gone. Not a remnant or a trace of why or how, just the empty view of her own almost lifeless looking eyes staring into her. Y/N felt her too-tense muscles relaxed. Her legs gave out.
Y/N had enough energy to turn before she slid to the floor. Head just barely hitting the lip of the marble countertop, back pressed against the wooden cabinet that rested under it, the coolness of the floor sinking through the shorts she’d worn the day prior. All she could do was wonder, why?
By the time Y/N found enough energy to pull herself up, the sun still hadn’t risen. Her phone only read 2 o’clock. She got to sleep at 11-something, 10 hours wasn’t bad. Her hair was a mess, and all physical inspections showed that nothing changed. It all just left Y/N with more questions than answers. Really, that seemed to be a pattern now. One she didn’t really like.
Either way, no matter what caused the pain and what time it apparently was, it was obvious there was no way Y/N was going to be able to fall asleep. Might as well make breakfast or something. She went the day without it yesterday and damn if that hadn’t been hell.
Pulling herself together, physically that is, Y/N set about her morning. Emotionally, Y/N would never be together if felt, not anymore. But physically? Well, she could clean up pretty well.
Hair forced into some measure of neatness, falling into soft waves and curls in a way it hadn’t before. Her face washed and eyes dried, light makeup applied to make seem like she hadn’t just nearly died. Then the outfit.
Dressing up was something Y/N didn’t get to do very often. Whether it be from lack of resources, lack of reason, or lack of time. But today? Well, waking up at 2 am certainly gave someone time . Reason? Well… dressing up for work wasn’t unheard of, right? So long as it was appropriate that is.
There was a pretty little white number dotted in red roses and pretty green leaves that fit nicely. Sure it was a little tight, especially with the belt that wrapped under her breasts. Sure it accentuated certain parts she’d still rather ignore, going to the bathroom was slowly getting easier to not feel embarrassed about. But it looked and felt good. A nice pair of black flats were a perfect match and, hey, it fell below the knees. Take that dress code.
Pulling her hair up and away from her face, Y/N took a look at herself in her mirror. The stranger that stared back at her was unfamiliar… but damn if it wasn’t her . It was her, alive if not well. Wasn’t staying alive the only real goal Y/N had ever had? Two deaths wasn’t that great but it could be worse. Besides, she looked damn good regardless.
Nodding her head, and watching the unfamiliar reflection nod back, Y/N turned and made her way out. This time she remembered to grab a nice leather bag to make her inventory reasonable. Even if her life was nothing close to ‘reasonable’.
It was no surprise but there wasn’t anyone awake as she made her way downstairs. Sure, Y/N took the longest to get ready she probably ever had, about an hour at that, but it still meant it was only 3 am. Who in their right mind would be awake at 3am?
Y/N was awake at 3am… but seeing as how ‘right mind’ didn’t really apply, she didn’t count. Walking down the hall, Y/N feigned a confidence she didn’t feel. Each little noise made her feel like she might wake someone up. It was a lot but maybe if she pretended to be confident in herself, it might actually happen.
Was cooking something she was good at? No, definitely not according to her skills. Was she going to try anyway? Yep… Well, actually, she did have a lot of skill points… and it wasn’t like she’d used any of them. So maybe Y/N would be good at cooking for the first time ever.
Popping into the Pause screen, Y/N made her way to her skills… only to pause as she noticed something was oddly different about the screen. Rather than the beautiful greens pulsing through the metallic room, it was a deep burnt orange, like molten metal.
The image of her soul was displayed on the same screen as always, looking nothing like it had before. Instead of a delightful color the shades of forests and stems of roses, it was the bright orange of the glow of a fire. A dark, coal-like shade of green like dead plants lumped in the middle.
-SOUL-
LV 1 (EXP 2)
Traits: Kindness, Courage
Choking on a lump in her throat, Y/N stumbled away from the screen of ‘her’ soul. No, nope, not gonna question that. Questioning that would ruin her sanity beyond what already happened. Y/N was just going to make so she could cook better and leave.
Cooking (Level 10) - Active - INT + Level of Skill + 20% Cooking Speed
That didn’t look pretty even with the higher level… maybe buff her intelligence too? Yeah… she had points to spare and after the last time she tried to head to the library, Y/N wasn’t trying again.
STR: 24
END: 18
DEX: 16
AGI: 17 *
INT: 18 *
WIS: 16
CHA: 42
LUK: 6
Points: 18
With most of her stats above 15, except LUK but that was useless now considering god was conspiring against her, Y/N left the save screen. Time to figure out how to cook. And what to cook. Omelette? Crepes? Actually, crepes sound pretty good… how do you make crepes?
Y/N wondered as she made her way through the kitchen, trying to find where everything was. A ping caught her attention as she opened a door to… another smaller kitchen? And here she thought it was just a pantry.
[Cooking Tip!]
Strawberry Crepes -
Ingredient Checklist
3 eggs
½ cup milk
½ cup water
3 tablespoons butter, melted
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 ¼ cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
4 cups sliced strawberries
…
Huh… is that what the cooking skill did? Y/N hadn’t exactly tried cooking herself before but maybe. Wasn’t like she’d know. Either way, it was dead useful because before Y/N could barely cook an egg. But crepes? Well, this was certainly going to be a new experience.
Body moving on auto pilot, Y/N followed a recipe provided to her by the gods themselves. It had to be the gods because Y/N sure had hell didn’t know where it was coming from otherwise.
She zoned back in while the crepe was cooking away on a colorful non-stick frying pan, freshly cut strawberries and whipped cream waiting off to the side. Her overly-frayed skele-senses went off. Or maybe it was the tapping of his boned feet against the tile that caught her attention.
Warm oranges and yellows and magentas bathed over the kitchen as the sun peeked over the valley. A soft glow that illuminated everything like a dream. When had the sun even started to rise? The clock on the stoke read 3:30, so she’d only been out of it for thirty minutes.
Not wanting to turn around, but also not wanting to keep her back to something potentially dangerous, Y/N turned to her visitor. Err… housemate? Acquaintance? Nah, she barely knew anything about him. Visitor is then.
A soft, fluffy purple robe drowned most of the skeleton's frame, lavender bones and heart-shaped freckles were vaguely familiar. This was… Spice? Or was that his brother? Y/N couldn’t remember. Don’t blame her though, she wasn’t exactly all there when she met them.
“Oh, morning… Ssss,” Y/N spotted the powdered sugar in a bowl off to the side, “Sugar was it?” Please be right, please be right, please be right. Y/N gave the skeleton her best smile.
“Sure am~” Sugar gave her a sultry smile, it was kind of dragged down by the kind obvious looking bags under his eyes. Just a darker purple than the rest of his bones. Maybe he didn’t get much sleep last night either?
“Pleasure to meet you. Want a crepe? I’m… probably going to have extra here.” Y/N hummed, turning back to add her freshly made crepe to the plate and pouring the small bit of remaining batter into the skillet.
“Huh, uh, sure?” He sounded confused. Fair, if a stranger offered her food too, she’d be confused and still accept because hey, free food. Sugar moved to lean against the island of the smaller mess-kitchen. The tad too-loose robe pushed up and to the side by the pressure, revealing slivered of his ribcage. He went to tap on his phone, doing something. Deep lavender eyes still seem to drill into her back.
Y/N shrugged it off best she could. At least he wasn’t openly attacking her. Then again, wasn’t that the bare minimum? Doesn’t matter. If she really bothered to have standards in this world, she’d probably go insane or get killed rejecting these guys. Best to roll with the punches.
“So, I got some strawberries, some whipped cream, and some powdered sugar. How much do you want? Personally, I got a bit of a sweet tooth so I’m probably gonna want a lot of sugar on mine.” Y/N asked innocently because hey, she offered to make them so she wasn’t going to make him top his breakfast.
“I love sugar. Sweet things are my bread and butter, okay sweetie?” Sugar humed in response, a soft magenta-y colored flush on his cheekbones. He seemed vaguely uncomfortable despite his flirty voice and pet names. It certainly wasn’t obvious by any stretch of the imagination. It just felt like it was irrefutably there .
“Nice, seems we have something in common.” Y/N chose not to acknowledge the pet name or… well anything else about that statement. All she was going to say was that he was being nice and leave it at that. No more, no less.
Humming a random tune as she cooked, the conversation fell dead. Sugar tapping away at his phone again. Neither really acknowledged the other but at least it wasn’t awkward. Hell, Y/N could almost forget he was even there. Now that was an accomplishment.
Dusting plenty of sugar, strawberries, and whipped cream over the two plates, the two elapsed into silence. Y/N cut up and bit into her crepe, almost squeaking in surprise when it actually tasted kinda good. That was… not expected. Had she ever made anything so good? No… but that was a very low bar anyway.
“Hm? Oh this is good.” Sugar moaned around a mouthful, seeming just as surprised as Y/N. At least they were on the same page. He scarfed down his portion in practically a fraction of a second.
“Woah, slow down, you’re gonna choke.” Y/N snorted, almost choking on her portion instead. Then again, she had a throat and Sugar… well didn’t. So really, choking wasn’t really a possibility, was it?
“Yeah, whatever.” Sugar mumbled, shooting her an odd look. Then he just… turned back to his phone and ignored her. Kinda rude but alright. Y/N wasn’t about to complain. Maybe he wasn’t even ignoring her, maybe he was as hyper-aware of her presence as she was of his. Why that would be Y/N wouldn’t know. Wasn’t like she was passively threatening his existence.
An almost awkward silence arose, Y/N wasn’t really sure what to say… and also didn’t really feel like speaking. There was still an itchy feeling over her arms. It wasn’t exactly something she could itch, almost like it was coming from the bone. The ghost of the feeling of suffocating over her chest also didn’t help.
Still, it was only… maybe 5:00 by the time everything was eaten, cleaned, and put away. By her, Sugar had just sort of watched. ‘Sort of’ because while Y/N could feel his eyes on her, everytime she glanced at him he had his eyelights trained on his phone. They seemed hazy.
Work started at… 6 if she was remembering right. So that gave her about an hour? It took like twenty minutes to the main building if she followed along right… was Ruth up? It wouldn’t hurt to check. It wasn’t good to show up late to their second day of work.
“It was nice eating with you Sugar, have a nice rest of your day.” Y/N waved at the small warm-looking skeleton. Now, where was Ruth’s room? Did she ever mention it? Maybe? Something about the bottom floor. Y/N didn’t remember much.
‘Something something bottom floor’ was… well accurate. Mostly because Ruth’s room was the entire bottom floor. Actually, it was almost an entire apartment of its own. Much larger than Y/N’s apartment, both in her first life and her ‘room’ on the top floor. Was that an indoor pool?
It was a tad messy, clothes just sort of randomly placed around the room. Now all Y/N had to do was find the bedroom. As in the actual bed. Not all this other stuff that could be a master suite apartment in some large city all on it’s own.
Y/N couldn’t stop herself from scratching at her arm as she went, and if she scratched at one she had to scratch at the other. It had to feel even. Instead she came across a gaming room, a tv room, a walk in-closet bigger than her first apartment. The biggest bathroom she’d ever seen, and with far more gold than she’d ever seen again. At least two seating rooms, and then she stumbled across the bedroom.
Naturally, it was far bigger than would ever be necessary with a bed at least a dozen people could sleep on at the same time. A large dresser, a Tv -because of course it had one- and a makeup station with what looked like more product than Sephora could ever dream of.
On the bed, nestled neatly under the covers, was Ruth. Her messy hair splayed out, a bit in her mouth, only a portion of her eyes visible under the blanket cocoon she’d made. An alarm that almost sounded like a Simlish version of ‘Barbie Girl’ blaring on the dresser right next to her head. How was she even still asleep?
Sighing in relief, because damn that took longer than expected, Y/N padded her way to the bed. Sitting down, and having to crawl closer to Ruth because of how big the bed was, Y/N gently shook her shoulder.
No response. Y/N shook a little harder. No response. Harder still and still no response. Okay, that was fine, Y/N had experience with this in the form of cousins who could sleep through nuclear bombs.
First, Y/N crawled off the bed. She tugged the blankets out from where they were tucked tightly under the mattress. Gathering her strength, Y/N got into position and pulled . Perhaps she’d underestimated how much stronger she was with the game system because the blankets went flying.
Then, Y/N threw the still screaming phone at her. Safe to say, Ruth woke up with a start as the much colder room temperature air assaulted her… and of course the phone to the face helped.
Y/N squeaked, averting her eyes as soon as she realized Ruth apparently slept naked. She turned and walked over to the dresser and started rummaging for clothes for Ruth to wear. It helped hide the flush of embarrassment at what she’d just done.
“Y/N-ie! What was that for?” Ruth whined, rubbing at her face with one hand and turning off the phone with the other. She sat up, curls toppling startlingly neatly. Which was fully bullshit by the way. Main character powers perhaps.
“Well, first of all, We need to get ready for work. Or rather, you do.” Y/N pulled out something that looked almost modest and tossed it at Ruth, “Come on, you should have at least enough time for a shower if you hurry.”
“If I… Eep! I’m going to be late!” Ruth squealed, toppling off of her bed. She would’ve easily taken the sheets with her had they not already been on the floor. Y/N couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her as she watched Ruth scramble to the bathroom. Which was weird, that wasn’t funny.
Shaking her head, Y/N picked the sheets and blankets off the ground as half-heartedly re-made the bed. It was nowhere near as neat as it had been when Ruth was still sleeping in it -because that made sense- but it was made. Somehow the sheets even felt expensive.
Plopping down on the edge of the bed to wait, Y/N occupied herself smoothing out the wrinkles in her cherry-covered dress. Cherry… how was cherry doing? Hopefully things were going well for her… did that world even exist anymore? How did this world and life thing even work? Was that the end of Cherry’s story or was there something more? Why did it feel like Y/N was forgetting something?
What was Y/n forgetting? Probably quite a bit of things, logically speaking. Not that anything else had bothered her like this. It was like an itch in the back of her skull that she couldn’t quite scratch. A memory bubbling under the surface. A word, or name? On the edge of her tongue…
“Rosen, Get up. I’m Driving You To… Work… WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?” Razzberry entered the floor not yelling and then immediately got loud as soon as he saw Y/N. First of all, rude. Second of all, why was the automatic response to all of these skeletons seeing her getting hella loud?
“I was waking up Ruth? What are you doing here?” Y/N stood, looking and speaking at him with a confidence she didn’t quite feel. The red on her outfit stood out like a sore thumb in the white and golden room, brighter than even the soft pink sheets and only rivaled by the makeup station.
“ARE YOU DEAF? I SAID I WAS GOING TO DRIVE MY ROSEN TO WORK.” Razz growled in response, walking over in an attempt to tower over Y/N. It didn’t work, the skeleton was basically eye-level with her chest, but he tried. At least he tried.
“You were across the floor. Past several walls. Actually, how did you even get to the bedroom so fast?” It was a serious question. It had taken Y/N probably like 20 minutes to get to the bedroom. Sure, she’d opened practically every door on the way there but still.
“BECAUSE UNLIKE YOU, I AM CAPABLE OF GETTING PLACES IN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME.” Admittedly, he was quite intimidating with just how loud he was being. Y/N never did well with yelling. Not to mention, Razz’s canines were uncannily sharp. Not quite as bad as Red’s shark teeth but still. He could probably bite right through her femur. Or maybe she was just overreacting.
“That’s-” Fair? Completely unreasonable? Made no sense? Whatever Y/N was about to say was interrupted as Ruth, sprang from the bathroom. Hair damp and in a set of clothes that were definitely not what Y/N gave her.
Wet curls fell delicately over one shoulder, a green and gold striped jumpsuit cinched at the waist and with a V-neck that wouldn’t fly in any workplace Y/N knew of. A nice pair of flats, probably the first shoes Ruth had worn that weren’t heels. Golden bangles and emerald earring. She even had a completely unnecessary windbreaker. It was still 85-something degrees out, and would likely get hotter too. Not Y/N’s place to stop her regardless.
“Razz-y baby~” Ruth sang, pulling Razz away from Y/N and planting a cheek on his cheekbone. The back of his skull was pressed against her much larger bosom. She gave Y/N a bright smile.
“Why don’t you go wait downstairs while I freshen up? I promise I’ll take no longer than a moment.” Razz sighed, pulling away from her and making his way out of the room.
“Just don’t take too long.” Razz snipped in reply, practically stomping out. Ruth smiled merrily waving as her boyfriend left. No sooner did he leave did Ruth’s mood take a U-turn. Her smile tightened and turned sharp.
Y/N froze as Ruth turned on her, something in the air darkening and curling in her chest. Her hands moved to scratch as her forearms again, leaving white lines raked into her skin. She barely noticed, barely felt anything other than an odd itch under her skin.
“Now, Y/N, sweetie .” Ruth spoke, sweet as honey. She lifted her perfectly manicured hand to cup Y/N’s face. Something about it and the too tight grip kept Y/N stuck in place, legs like lead weights.
“I thought we agreed you would stay away from Razz, hmmm?” She hummed, nails digging into Y/N’s flesh uncomfortably. Words got stuck in her throat, dragging uncomfortably on their way out. It weighed on her chest, each word coming out tight and tad too high pitched.
“I didn't do anything? He-” Y/N winced, biting her tongue as Ruth’s nails broke her skin, a thin bead of blood trailing down her skin. Her own grip squeezed against her arms, an odd feeling like tv static invading its way under her skin.
“ Don’t you dare pin this on Razz, I know you. You do this every time .” Ruth’s face scrunched up in a glare. Every time? What did she mean? Did it have something to do with this body? That didn’t make any sense. Did she replace someone else again? Damnit, she thought she was free of this.
“I-I, d-didn’t…” “ Stay away from him, skank. ” Ruth spat, rearing her hand and slapping Y/N across the face. Nothing, then a soft prickling of pain, drowned out by the tv static overtaking her body.
She stared blankly to the side where her head had been forced. Nothing but her breathing reaching her ears. What? Y/N didn’t understand. Ruth was so… so nice? And now… not? What was that accusation? Logically, it made sense. The last body had a backstory and a past, it made sense this one did too. Emotionally, Y/N didn’t understand.
Ruth was the main character, the protagonist, the heroine that had all of these skeletons chasing after her. Maybe Y/N was making too many assumptions but, wasn’t someone like that supposed to be...she didn’t know… nicer? Cherry was… even with Y/N barely knowing her… God she missed Cherry, she missed her old life. Both of them.
Y/N wanted to go home, she wanted to go home so badly but she didn’t even know where home was. A different time, a different place, a different dimension entirely probably. God, she thought she was safe. Well, maybe not safe but safer. Especially after everything that’s happened. Did she at least deserve that?
Or did Y/N just not deserve anything. She had to have done something to deserve this. Maybe in a past life she didn’t remember. Something had to have gone wrong. Why? Why were things like this?
The world around her came back into focus slowly, not that Y/N had realized it had disappeared at all. She was still in the same position, breath stuttering. Her eyes felt far too dry, blood having dried against her face… She should probably clean that. Yeah, probably.
Her legs felt wobbly and stiff as she stepped forward, almost but not quite tripping over her own two feet. Barely even aware she made her way into the bathroom to stare at herself over the mirror.
Blood droplets had hit her dress, mostly camouflaged by the red already there. It raked from small but surprisingly deep scratches on her cheek like tears. They were obviously aggravated by the bright pink hand-shaped mark on her cheek.
Grabbing a small towel, she wet it and gently rubbed away as much of the dried blood as she could. The pressure brought more small droplets to the surface, lightly smeared by the towel. With enough effort, even that was washed away.
While the small cuts were easy enough to ignore, the bright pink on her cheek was probably less so. Y/N couldn’t quite bring herself to care. It was fading by the second anyway. So she just brushed her fair over the offending cheek, tossed the towel into a golden hamper, and left.
It was much easier to find her way downstairs than it had been to find Ruth’s room. Or, well, bedroom more specifically. Razz and Ruth had already left by the time she made it to the front door. Which left Y/N wondering how she was supposed to get to work. It wasn’t like she had a car…
Y/N stared blankly at the door, sighing. Her hands scratched lightly at her arms again. At least the continuous movement was almost calming. It didn’t provide any answer on how she was going to get to work but still.
“Hmm? You didn’t tell me there was another human woman in this house?” An unfamiliar, almost startlingly deep voice spoke from behind. Unlike literally anyone else in the household, Y/N could barely hear him.
“That’s Ruth's cousin. Ya know, that one.” Was that… which one was that… Sans? Yeah, it sounded kinda like Sans. Y/N gathered up her courage and turned around to see yet another tall skeleton, two in fact.
The taller of the two was only so by a few inches, a stark contrast to the large height difference between any of the other brothers. His eyes were narrowed in a squint, seemingly unhelped by the glasses placed delicately against the bridge of his nose. How those stayed on without him having ears was a good question that Y/N didn’t know the answer to. The two scars, one running from his right eye up and the other splintering off to the side of his left eye, were the obvious reasons he needed them.
A simple grey turtleneck sweater was layered under a black trenchcoat. The coat had a nice fur lining far cleaner than anyone else she’d seen it on and the coat stopped at his knees. Sharp black slacks and a nice pair of gray boots finished off his ensemble. He wasn’t looking at her, simply staring off to the side at a wall. Something about the air around him is cold and intimidating.
While the shorter of the two stood only at 6 feet, because Y/N knew enough tall people to say ‘only’, his stature and just… something about him made him feel larger than he really was. He had scars that almost mirrored his brother’s but his seemed harsher, branching off in several places. Somehow, these didn’t seem to bother him. Eyes catlike and narrow but much clearer than his brother, golden eyelights staring directly at her.
Very much unlike his brother, he wasn’t wearing anything under his jacket. Just a bare rib cage that Y/N guessed was supposed to be sexy or something, she never understood the appeal but for some reason it was still affecting her? Or maybe just this body she inherited, who knows. His jacket was made of leather, cropped just below where his rib cage ended. Deep red symbols painted along the rolled up sleeves of it. He also had a fluffy hood that was also rather neat.
Meanwhile, he also had chosen leather pants that, while strung up by a belt, much resembled how the Edge of Cherry’s story wore them. The tops of his hips poking out. Sturdy steel-toed boots with fluff at the stop decorated his feet. Somehow, he was smoking. The cigarette just seeming to hang by his lazy smile where his mouth should be.
“My name is Y/N Wyles,” Y/N introduced herself to them in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. On the scale of how much each set of skeletons intimidated her, these two were above Blueberry and Carrot but below Jakobar and Buz. It was mostly a presence thing. “Who are you?”
“Y/N, what an interesting name, shouldn’t you be at work Y/N ?” The shorter of the two mused, so he was the voice who’d sounded almost like Sans. There was definitely a different intonation to it, a second darker layer she didn’t quite understand. Almost as if he had two voices in one. It was barely noticeable but, hey, he might try and kill her so she might as well try and pay attention to the little things.
“Yeah, Ruth left without me though. Who are you?” The skeleton just chuckled, how was his voice so much deeper when he laughed? He crossed the living room in only a few easy strides. His brother turned his head to look back at the two, staring for just long enough to make Y/N uncomfortable, and turning away again. Her mood soured.
“Oh, really now? That can’t do. We’re going that way, if nothing else I’m sure we can entertain you with a ride.” Scarface, if he wasn’t going to tell her his name then that’s what she’d call him, towered over Y/N. Maybe by only a couple inches physically but just something about his posture, shoulders back and looking down his nose at her, made Y/N feel tiny.
“I’m good.” Y/N managed to get out, turning and going towards where she was mostly sure the garage was. Maybe Ruth --whywhatdidido-- had a spare car she could use. Judging by the rest of, well, everything, it wouldn’t be a surprise. Wasn’t like money was an issue.
A pair of keys belonging to a bright, cherry red car were labelled with her name. Which was.. Strange. Y/N didn’t remember owning a car but then again she didn’t know anything about this body. That much was obvious.
Nothing interesting could be said about her day at work. They’d shoved her back into the security department as soon as she’d clocked in. Not soon after she was forced into the security room. This time alone, thank god. Y/N didn’t know if she could handle another few hours with Red.
Several hours in a dark room covered in screens was pretty boring. Nothing really interesting appeared on any of the cameras. If there was anything else Y/N was supposed to do in there, no one told her. Fine by Y/N. Getting money for doing nothing? Practically a dream. A rather boring dream but still. Maybe she’d bring something to entertain herself next time, just in case.
By the time Y/N returned home, she was quite a bit richer and quite a bit bored. At least she hadn’t seen Ruth --smallmercies-- The car drove like a dream too. Real leather seats and polished wood accents. The golden accessories few and far between. Had to be the nicest car Y/N had so much as even touched.
Absentmindedly checking her stats, Y/N tried to figure out what to do now. Sure, INT was probably her lowest stat but after her last attempt to raise it… yeah, she could do that later… maybe with a buddy this time.
On the other hand, she hadn’t worked out since… maybe a couple days before she died… again --againandagainandagain-- She knew this place had a home gym somewhere… definitely somewhere. It was too big to not have practically everything under the sun. It had a fucking infinity pool, there had to be a gym somewhere, right?
Right. Y/N wasn’t about to admit how long it took her to just find the gym. Let’s just say this place is too big for its own good and move on. It’s for the best. Either way, she found it just fine. Don’t question it.
Much like the rest of the mansion Y/N found herself in, the gym was also eerily large and far too fancy for its own good. If she thought the skeleton house in Cherry’s run had a lot of space in its gym, it was dwarfed by this one. It had floor to ceiling windows along the back wall but it had other rooms on all four sides? How? Sizing who? Magic, don’t question it.
The floor was a nice linoleum that looked like a snow white marble floor at a glance. There was a section in the gym for weight lifting, one for cardio, and even a section dedicated to yoga and dance. Along the right wall, there was even a door that looked like it led to a sauna.
Along the opposing wall was racks of dumbbells and weights, all looking pristine and practically untouched. Whether it was from lack of use or obsessive cleaning, who knew. Just beyond the weights were several freestanding pull up bars… wait, no, those were the bars gymnasts used… right? Don’t look at Y/N, she’s an idiot.
There was only one other person in the room. Dressed in a dark cyan with neon pink striped bodysuit was Sugar. The suit ending just above his knees and hugging invisible muscles in a way that made Y/N stare… no not that way. Skeletons didn’t have muscles so what the hell?
Sugar was hanging by his knees on one of the bars, tapping away at his phone like falling didn’t even cross his mind. It almost made sense, skeletons didn’t have to worry about blood rushing to their head since, you know, they don’t have blood.
“Workin’ out in that sweetpea?” He called out, seeming to judge her fashion sense yet still didn’t even look from his phone. A fellow addict perhaps. Then again, Y/N was like a recovering addict. She hadn’t really had time to think about that since… --dying?-- yeah… ignore that train of thought.
“No, I was… uhm… just finding the gym before I got changed?” Y/N was not about to admit she forgot. Because she did, but it was the point of the matter. Either way, she edged out of the gym and found her room as quickly as possible.
Despite knowing exactly where her room was, the sheer size of the mansion meant it still took at least 10 minutes to reach it. Still, Y/N managed. Finding a nice set of workout clothes that fit was much more difficult. Never before had she realized how tight all the clothes Ruth had bought for her were. Just enough to be awkward without getting too in the way. Perhaps a petty revenge for what this body had done to her? Maybe.
The only good thing that came from that was the sports bra stopped all jiggling in its place. Did it push up her boobs awkwardly and make it a tad hard to breath? Yes. Was it her best option? Also yes, She pulled a nice blue tank top over it because she still had some modesty, okay? A pair of black shorts with a white band and a Kelvin Calvin brand that matched her bra finished the look.
Y/N pulled back her hair, slid on the nicest pair of gray and cyan sneakers she’s ever worn, and made her way back down to the gym, a random water bottle she’d found filled in her closet in hand. If nothing else, it smelled and had the same consistency as water. Still, Y/N gave it a good rinse and refill before she went back.
Sugar was still in the gym when she’d got back, stretched into a position that made Y/N jealous of his flexibility. He was on one of the yoga mats now. He’d manipulated his body so that his spin seemed to be bent into an ‘O’ shape where his pelvis was sat on his skull. His arms were in front of him, still tapping away at something on his phone. Really, Y/N kind of just wanted to know what was so interesting.
Well, ignoring that, Y/N surveyed the room again and picked one of the squat bars. In her past life, in highschool, the bar itself had been basically her limit. Even just setting up the bar revealed that was no longer the case. How much was the bar again? Y/N didn’t know. What she did know was she put about 40 lbs on the bar. So compounded that was… a number.
“Now now, going without a spotter?” Sugar seemed to appear out of thin air, leaning on the wall behind her, “You could get seriously hurt~” He purred. Was he flirting with Y/N? Or was that just his usual tone of voice? Did Y/N even know what being flirted with was like? Fuck no. So ignoring that.
“Well, I’m pretty sure no one in this mansion likes me, so unless you want to-” Y/N sighed out before she was cut off by Sugar. What was with these people and cutting her off?
“Don’t like you? Sweetie, you feed something delightfully sweet . Let me make it up to you . Mkay~” It wasn’t a question, Y/N knew enough from… well from mostly her parents to tell when something was posed as a question but definitely wasn’t. Really, it was the most annoying type of command in the world. Just say what you mean.
“Okay, fine.” The rest of Y/N’s gym adventure went similarly. Sugar spotting her, them making semi-awkward conversation, and Sugar being surprisingly knowledgeable on the limits of the body. It was actually quite educational, which Y/N wasn’t expecting. Dare she say it was… fun?
Horror to the thought. Working out? Fun? In what world? This one, apparently. It was almost a pity when Lust had to excuse himself to leave. Y/N was not about to push her luck though, choosing to finish off her workout in silence,
Then she went and took a shower. Something was making her feel icky but it didn’t seem like the sweat? Even after she was clean she still felt… off… how strange.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
It didn’t make sense. Even looking back on it, Sugar couldn’t figure out what had changed. Maybe it was better to start from the beginning? Would that make it easier? Think through it logically? That’s how his brother always told him to go about these things.
Okay, so, Sugar had gotten home at about 2:30 am. Average time for him, he did work the night shift. Hell, if anything, he got off early. So he took a shower and went to get something to eat before he slept as much of the day away as he could physically handle. Fun, right?
So what if he’d met Ruth’s cousin, Y/N? Y/N, Y/N, Y/N. She’d made him food, a crepe even. It had tasted great, they’d not talked a lot but that was mostly Sugar’s preference. It was nice even. God knows Ruth could never shut up. Somehow, Y/N had even made it appropriately sweet. No one could do that. Only his brother but then again he and his brother were… well, moving on.
Nothing had really struck Y/N as odd or overly special. Yes, she could cook but so could Sugar when he had the energy. That wasn’t anything special. No, what he hadn’t expected is what he would get the second time they’d met that day.
After waking up like he always did, groggily and with his body having far more energy than he felt, he’d made his way to the gym to burn some of it off. He’d been there for maybe a couple hours when Y/N had entered. Sweet, sweet Y/N. No, stop it thoughts!
Immediately, Sugar picked up something being different. It was sweet and acidic, burning his nostrils even from all the way across the room. It smelled like strawberries and sunshine mixed with coarse oil and too many cigarettes. Light and air yet dark and demeaning all at once. From afar it was enough to make him light headed and all he knew was that it was coming from her .
It had disappeared with her, lingering loftily in the air and disappearing by the second. A dark feeling of loss came as it left. It left a buzzing in his bones that was so strange yet so oddly familiar. He wanted… he wanted more of it. So much more. He’d only known it for a moment but… well, Sugar had always been prone to addiction, hadn’t he?
Then… then Y/N came back and stayed . It was easy to tell she had no idea what she was doing. The way she fidgeted with the weights and seemed surprised by her own strength. The smell was stronger now. Maybe it was because she was showing more skin?
But, just by the nature of his work, Sugar was practically immune to all of that. Or at least, that’s what he thought. The dark but oh so light scent pulled him closer. He hadn’t even noticed he’d gotten closer till he realized she was about to do the squat without knowing her strength or having a spotter.
Naturally, he offered. Sugar did consider himself to be at least a shadow of a gentleman. If nothing else, he had more manners than some people. He could control himself, he always did.
Thus began the most torturous workout of his life. The longer he stayed, the stronger the scent seemed to become. Time flew by yet dragged oh so slowly along. He was dizzy, bones buzzing when he so much as brushed against her. Fuck, he felt high. Maybe drunk at the same time but this was something he’d never experienced before.
Sugar was surprised to find she was injured. Well not just surprised… The cuts on her cheek… she’d probably not meant to show him, the way her hair was it looked like she was hiding it. It… it made him angry… who had hurt her? Who’d hurt Y/N? His Y/N?
It was then… at that thought he had to leave. He was being ridiculous. He barely knew Y/N yet he was acting so rashly over some strange… wonderful.. Dark… addictive… fuck no! Get it together! She isn’t his, she’s a person. People don’t get treated like toys or dolls! Get. It. Together .
So now Sugar was pacing in his room, back and forth, back and forth. Trying desperately to keep his skull on right, his thoughts away from her but he couldn’t. It wasn’t like this this morning? Was it? Had he just not noticed? Was he too tired? Why was Y/N…
Y/N… Y/N… Y/N, Y/N, Y/N… why…
What changed?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Name: Sugar Aster
Universe: Underlust
HP: 1
REP: 8
Trust: -100
Possessiveness: 5
Jealousy: -100
Lust: 15
Danger Levels: 15
Sanity: 60
Height: 5’3
Occupation: Stripper at Loveby’s Lovely Nightclub
What the fuck was that
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Working out left Y/N hungry, surprise surprise. Now, she could try and cook something… However, she didn’t really feel like braving the kitchen. Sure, she hadn’t bumped into Ruth… yet . It was dinner time, Ruth was probably in the kitchen.
Maybe, maybe she’d head to Grillby’s? It was a bar and grill, surely she could just walk in if it wasn’t too busy… right? Right. She could do that. Get a place at the bar, maybe make an old friend a new one?
Turns out, no she couldn’t. It had to be Friday night happy hour because the place was packed. Y/N could tell just by looking at it. She’d had to park several blocks away even. But… that was fine… she didn’t really want Grillby’s anyway… No she wasn’t lying to herself either.
At least Y/N knew of a couple smaller restaurants that probably had space maybe she could - thud - … not run into someone. Damnit. At least they only bumped shoulders.
“Sorry,” Y/N turned to look at the man she’d just bumped into. A familiar walking galaxy met her gaze. Oh fuck it was Andy… of course she had to run into him,
“ It’s alright, ” Andy trailed off, “ Do I know you? ” He looked her up and down, right… Y/N hadn’t gotten changed out of her workout gear, had she? Well, at least she had a reasonable excuse?
“Yeah! I’m Y/N Wyles. I think I ran into you a couple days ago? Swirlby, right?” Y/N offered a kind, if tight smile. It was nice to talk to someone familiar, even if he didn’t know it.
“ Ah! Going for a jog? ” His voice was quite pleasant, somehow even more so than in Cherry’s run. Which was a surprise but, then again, it wasn’t like the original game had much in the way of voice acting. It was unfair how pretty he was.
“Yep! Getting in some evening cardio! Knew there were a few restaurants down here so I thought I’d get dinner while I was out.” The lie came surprisingly easy. Then again, it wasn’t technically a lie. She had been getting some evening cardio in. It’s just that that’s not why she was here.
“ I just got off. I know a place .” Swirlby smiled, face warm and eyes burning like the sun. Something warm curled in her chest. Yet, at the same time, that odd static started at her fingertips. Y/N smiled back.
Maybe, just maybe, they could become friends again. A friendly face would be nice.