UnderRevolution

2 ~ An Unexpected Entrance

After a few weeks, Sans had almost entirely forgotten about the coin. Sure, he still carried it around with him in his pocket, but that was mostly for the false hope that some merchant would mistake it for a real coin and let him buy something. He was never that lucky, but it was worth a shot at gaining some sort of food for the week.

Sans kicked at a small pebble in the road before him. He was currently on his way to Waterfall to gather some trading materials. Occasionally, shopkeepers would allow him to trade magic crystals or bridge seeds in exchange for some of their goods. Sans looked up at the ceiling where the lights were already dimming, signaling nighttime for the Underground. He let out a sigh of frustration. Curfew was going to start in just a couple hours. That wasn't nearly enough time to walk all the way to Waterfall and back without some sort of shortcut. There were rumors that Sans' father had discovered ways to teleport long ago in the first days of the underground's imprisonment, but as far as Sans knew, his discoveries had died long ago along with him. Sans looked around, wondering if he should continue or go back and try again tomorrow. At that moment, he heard a voice a little ways behind him.

"Tra-la-la. Lovely day for a ride, isn't it?"

Turning around, Sans saw the Riverperson had just returned from transporting their most recent passenger. He sprinted over to them and climbed on their boat.

"waterfall, please," he said. The Riverperson turned around and shook his hooded head slowly.

"Payment?"

Sans stared blankly at them in disbelief.

"you mean you need money now?"

"Even cloaks need to eat occasionally."

"but i don't have any money!"

The Riverperson said nothing in response to this. They merely stared off into the distance and did not move. It took Sans a couple minutes before he remembered.

"can you take this?" He asked, fishing the coin out of his pocket and handing it over. The Riverperson stared down at the coin, scrutinizing it carefully. Then, before Sans even had time to register, the coin was gone and the boat was speeding along the river at an alarming rate. He grabbed the edge of the boat in surprise and looked around.

"uh, that was the entrance to waterfall," Sans said pointing behind him. The Riverperson did not respond, and instead began to hum absentmindedly.

"care to tell me where we're going?"

Still no response. At this point, Sans figured it was better to just sit back and wait until the boat stopped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come again sometime. Tra-la-la."

Sans' eyes snapped open as the Riverperson's boat gently bounced off the shore and came to a stop in front of a small cliff face in Hotland. He looked up and had to squint in order to see Alphys' lab at the top of the cliff. As far as he could tell, there was no place to stand other than a small ledge of rock where the water from the river mingled with the lava from Hotland. He stepped out of the boat and onto the rock ledge, only to turn around and see the Riverperson slowly drifting away.

"hey!" He shouted, "wait! this isn't waterfall!" But the Riverperson either did not hear, or did not care as they continued on their way.

Sans' shoulders slumped and he glanced around trying to find any sort of trail leading back to New Home. Papyrus was probably worried sick. Judging by the lighting, it was definitely way past curfew and who knows how long he had been asleep on the boat. It could've been hours.

Sans put his hands to his face and slumped against the wall. "Pap's gonna kill me..." he said under his breath before leaning his head back. However, to his surprise something retracted in the wall at the touch of his skull. Immediately, sounds of machinery filled the air. Sans scrambled away from the wall in shock and saw to his surprise that part of the rocks had split in half and were now separating to form a tall doorway leading to a long dark hall.

Sans looked around, wondering if anybody was around to spot him. Seeing nobody, he turned back to the doorway and walked inside, the rocks closing behind him.