The date went by nicely. They ate nice food, joked about how many outfits Sans could clearly pull off, and ended on a high note. Sans paid, because he was the only one with a credit card, and then they were both off.

"As I said, I'm fine with paying," Sans said as they walked down the street, hand in hand.

"Simp," She muttered under her breath, dragging out a snort from Sans.

It was a nice night for a walk. And it felt nice to comfortably walk next to a forest again. Sans squeezed Jane's hand absentmindedly, and she returned the squeeze. Sans didn't realize how much he liked human body heat until he met Laughing Jack. Their hands were warm, almost comforting.

"Oh my lord, why did we park the car so far?" Sans whined, legs already exhausted from doing any physical labor.

"To enjoy the wonders of nature, Sans," Jane said, looking over with a grin.

"Fuck nature. My legs hurt."

"You're a skeleton, just rob a grave and get new legs."

"Good point. I should. But then again, that's too much work."

Jane craned her neck to look up, glancing at the dazzling bright sky above her as they fell into silence again. "Maybe we should do a date looking at stars." She said.

Sans couldn't hold down his grin. "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah, I've always liked them. And serial killers kinda associate night with freedom, so yeah, I like the moon and stars."

How the fuck was Sans this lucky? He could only lean against her with a soft smile. Laughing Jack and Jane. Two amazing, hot, talented people. And he was dating them both. With a daughter who he loved with all of his soul.

Then came the pain.

Ever so sudden. Certainly unexpected. A rush of wind, something blurring past him, and a sudden sharp - yet soft - pain blossomed across his cheek. Both he and Jane jumped back at the sudden attack, and when something whizzed past them and embedded the grass behind them, they both quickly pulled their bodies behind a large car to block them from the origin of the attack.

"It looks like knives." Sans pressed a hand against his cheekbone, feeling some liquid dribble lightly. Blood. "Surgical knives."

"And with aim like that, this isn't some one-off killer, it's a CreepyPasta." Jane peeked out from behind the car before she bunched up her dress, pulling out a knife that was strapped to her leg. "I can handle whoever they are." Sans stared at the knife. Jane only offered a shrug and awkward grin. "Just in case. Like right now. Because now I can fight."

"You sure we can't just 'port outta here? If it's a CreepyPasta they can just find other victims. No need for us to get our hands dirty."

One more knife whizzed by as if warning them to not exit their safe space. They certainly didn't.

"They're aiming for you despite you walking with a very well-known CreepyPasta. Out in the open. I think they know who you are and don't like it," Jane said, tilting her knife.

"Shit, right, I keep forgetting that you guys all seem to know each other," Sans said, wiping the blood onto his pants.

"And now everyone knows you. There aren't many monster skeletons, and you walked in full public with Sally. Rumors spread." Jane motioned for Sans to scoot closer, which he quickly did. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't been attacked sooner."

"Let's not jinx that for the future."

Then, there was silence.

No more knives. No footsteps, or tingling magic in the air. Just Jane's quiet breaths of air gently blowing between her slightly ajar lips, and the drop of blood that trailed down his cheekbone onto the concrete below.

If that was a year ago, he would have been able to dodge. Sans would have sensed it and dodged perfectly. Underground he handled so much worse.

Sans, though, hadn't trained in over a year. He barely used his magic to its fullest potential.

Hell of a wake-up call. And a hell of a time to find out he's not as sharp as he thought he was. The stained blood on his hand that was only half wiped off was a testament to that. Sans didn't even sense the knife coming. Jane was right. A few inches and...

He took a glance over the car. A plain blue sedan granted them the cover they needed, and on the other side of the street, a little further back was a pickup truck with chipped red paint and a crooked mirror. Nothing else on the bare and wide street, only the gate separating the road from the mediocre lake behind them and the long stretching forest edge filled with trees on the other side of the road.

Trees or underwater. Sans would be fine underwater, but he was slow as shit as a swimmer. And runner. And they already deemed that running wasn't an option because they would just try to find him again. This was a now problem.

Jane brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, knife firmly grasped as she looked around. Eyes darting about. Sans stared at her, waiting.

"From the angle of the knives, it looks like they were thrown from the trees, which also explains why the attacker isn't coming out to attack us now. They don't want to lose their advantage." Jane narrowed her eyes as she thought, face firm.

"Which means they're a good climber and fast mover. If they were a brunt attacker they'd just charge ahead. They need their advantage."

"Which means they have some weakness."

Sans rubbed his arms slightly, looking back across the trees again with slightly shaking eye lights. "I uh... I'm not exactly sure how well I can help. I dodged attacks like that a year ago, but now I didn't even see it coming, and uh... yeah. Heh. I just realized I'm not the big shot I used to be."

How stupid was he? Of course, going a full-on year without ever training would make him soft. The only reason he was so strong for Frisk was that he fought Flowey constantly.

This was utterly his fault.

"It's fine, whenever I go out I always prepare to fight solo."

Sans snapped his head to her. "I'm not - fuck, I might be a bit weaker and not on my best game but I'm not gonna leave ya to fight alone."

"I never expected you to. Just if you suck I'm able to handle this."

Good, good. Glad to know she didn't think of him as a dick who'd let someone else handle his problems. Sans would feel like an asshole to sit back and watch Jane risk her life in a fight he could've handled if he kept practicing his magic.

"I have a few types of attacks, I can't use one because it'd completely demolish the trees and I don't think drawing more attention is what we need right now," Sans said, "But I have my shortcuts which you've seen, and I have some bone attacks. And I can grab their soul."

Sans peeked out from behind the car. Still no attacks. They were waiting for a better opening. And it was rather clear the two of them couldn't stay behind the car all night. They'd have to leave eventually.

"I have an idea. Though it's risky." Jane dragged Sans slightly closer to her, pressing her face close against the side of his skull. "They're clearly waiting for us to leave so they can attack while we don't have any other cover. They aren't risking getting closer. So we should get very very close."

She didn't have to give the full context. Sans got it plenty enough. He glanced over with a grin on his face. "You want me to 'port us into the woods."

"The angle of the throw shows it was from a tree. See if you can take us a bit far back so we can try to catch them from behind."

"We might end up teleporting in front of them, though, and they'll kill us before we can even pinpoint their location."

She only offered a shrug. "It's a risk we can take. Or we can try to make a run for better cover."

Not a great option. They were waiting, so running into their view wouldn't exactly be a great idea. Nor would revealing he could teleport in front of them. If they found that out without Sans even getting a surprise attack in, it'd be a waste of a potential quick fight.

He could recall the first time Frisk found out. When they finally managed to survive his first attack, a sharp inhale escaped from them as they turned around to find Sans behind them. Those eyes sharpened into a glare, as they straightened. "Okay," They mumbled. "Okay."

He wouldn't use his Blasters unless the situation became dire. Those were very noisy. If the attacker was a monster that meant he probably wouldn't need to use it.

But considering the CreepyPasta he's seen already, probably a human. Since humans didn't need love to survive. Kind of sad to think about.

"I can 'port us, yeah," Sans said.

He tried to take them a bit further behind where he imagined the attacker was, making sure to land in a branch high enough to survey the spanning out branches below and around them. Jane quickly steadied herself the moment they appeared, black fingernails digging into the wood as Sans let go of her arm.

After a moment, she pointed, and Sans followed her gaze.

Not too far off. Good guess on his part, since they landed only a small distance away. Down some branches, across a few trees was a squatting person. Feet arched, staring firmly down across the street, their back turned towards the two.

Whew. Good landing on his part. She would have jumped them if they landed in front of her.

Quietly, next to him, Jane dragged her body into an arched, almost predator-like position. Knife twisted as she bent her arm, eyes narrowing.

And she lunged.

The person only had time to turn their head before she was full pouncing onto them like a ferocious tiger, arm whipping out and striking out towards the stranger. However, the attacker managed to twist their body as they pushed away off of the branch, instead taking the attack with her hunched shoulder. Both went tumbling to the ground from the force of the collision, in a flurry of hair and fluttering cloth.

Sans only saw the flash of metal before Jane was striking a tree on her way down, halting the incoming tumble by stopping her fall entirely. As the attacker caught themselves on their feet on the ground, Jane dangled from the handle of her knife, swinging her body before she landed on one of the lowest branches of the tree she was connected to.

The person on the ground quietly swore, glancing up at Jane. Before they could have any ideas of hiding or attack, Sans summoned a bone structure at full force out of the ground, hitting their side and sending them flying into the middle of the street.

Usually Sans wouldn't drag his fights into an area with the risk of being interrupted, but considering how this person was using cover to their advantage, best to drag them out into a more open and empty space.

And he did have the advantage here. Sans wasn't a CreepyPasta. If they did get spotted, the situation was bent heavily in his favor. Not only was he cut, but he also looked weak and pathetic. He didn't need to run from the police, nor did Jane. They both blended in well enough.

But this girl?

She huffed as she glanced behind her, peeling her body from the street as the sounds of gears churned from her body. White hair swept over her eyes as she stood, Jane landing on the edge of the sidewalk and Sans teleporting down by her side.

"I've never met anyone else but Slender who could pull a trick like that," The woman murmured, blood dribbling from the corner of their lip.

Slender? Did she mean... Sans swallowed thickly at that word, taking a nervous shuffle back. Jane didn't even flinch.

"I figured I recognized the back of that dress." Jane tilted her hips, a hand resting firmly on it as the other with the knife dangled at her side. "Not used to seeing it without tentacles, but considering your Daddy threw you to the dirt I wouldn't be surprised that you now actually have to be cautious."

The stranger, with a clinging red and black laced dress, scowled at Jane. An angry growl rumbled from her throat.

"Shut up. You and I both know Slenderman wouldn't have left me like that until that smiling brat came in and ruined it all!" She hissed.

"Oh my fucking god, how much grown-ass woman has Jeff managed to piss off?" Sans groaned, throwing up his arms in annoyance.

"He has a talent," Jane remarked. "Like Ally here, whose talent it is to cling to a man who clearly stated several times that you weren't his daughter. He brought you back to life, doesn't mean he had to play along with your little fantasy."

"Shut - just shut it, you two CreepyPasta were intertwined, you should have been the one to deal with him! It's your fault Slenderman threw me away! You failed to kill a child for three years!"

"Yes, because I got distracted. I like cute and hot things. Have you seen Zero's tits? Why hunt down some kid when I got those in front of me."

Sans choked on his breath, glancing wide-eyed at Jane. She only gave him a sharp smile and a light chuckle.

"Why do you always bring up such inappropriate things whenever you talk to me? Fucking stop!" Ally screeched, covering her ears as her gray face turned bright red.

"Because it pisses you off. And I'm not really in the mood to please you right now because you interrupted my date. If you wanted to get revenge on me you could have just let me know. I never turn down duels from other CreepyPasta." She crossed her arms. "Rather rude to interrupt a date and drag an innocent man into this."

"I didn't come here for you. I came here for him." The woman's arm outstretched, pointing a short and stubby surgical knife towards Sans. "I don't like what he's doing. The whole point of our kind is to be independent and reject society and its processes. Not play house with them. So I'm doing you all a favor and saving the little honor you have left by getting rid of him."

Oh. So this was just a pride thing, huh? Guess that made some sense. Sans was undercutting the threat the CreepyPasta posed. Before he had been terrified of them all, but now he just looks at them as his housemates. Jeff wasn't some psychotic killer, no, now he was just some kid who kept forgetting to close the damn bathroom door.

"I'll warn you now. You really should back off. You might have those fancy powers but you're just a walking corpse at the end of the day," Jane said. "But if you try to attack again I will kill you."

Ally only growled, straightening her back. Slowly, thick black tendrils started to sprout from her back as her blue eyes slowly started to dark.

"I've met several serial killers, and that's the edgiest shit I've seen yet," Sans muttered, pointing towards Ally as he looked over at Jane.

Then she was beside him.

Sans slipped on the grass as a large blade shot down towards him, gone in an instant as he managed to quickly teleport a few feet away. He stumbled back, staring wide-eyed at the woman who...

Teleported. She teleported. How many other people could do that? Sans thought it was just Slenderman because the guy was freakishly strong, along with LJ. But she could do it too.

Fuck.

The woman tumbled slightly due to his disappearance of him, but one of her tentacles shot out and grasped at his ankle, only succeeding in pulling off his pink slipper and sock as he managed to slip past her grasp. The only reason her tentacle couldn't grab him and likely throw him into oblivion was that Jane snapped out an arm and grabbed it herself.

The splatter of blood hit Sans before the tentacle could even hit the ground.

Holy shit, Jane tore out the fucking tendril from the girl's back.

Bare handed. No cutting of her knife. She just grasped it and yanked it out like a worthless wire plugged into a socket. Sans stared for a moment, before pulling his body up onto his half-bare feet and avoiding the knife that she swung at him again. The void and dark eyes completely focused on him, growling and making incoherent screeching sounds as she tried to murder him.

However, instead of trying to perform any rational attacks or anything of the sort when she teleported, Ally instead teleported right in front of Sans, giving a wide unstable grin as she wrapped her arms around his body.

And teleported into the air.

He would have praised her for a smart-ass move if he wasn't the one receiving the fate of the attack. Probably wasn't the best move for her to teleport someone who could teleport themselves.

The funny thing about teleporting was the process. If he teleported while standing on a surface, it wasn't too hard to shortcut himself to another surface. But midair? That took a lot more effort to not land a few inches or feet above the ground.

Sans tried to focus his magic to stand on the car. Normally he would have been there no problem, but with the rushing wind around him and sudden disorientation Sans instead landed in the car. Tumbling onto the backseat, empty beer and soda cans clinked against his bones as his body slammed against the worn cushion.

As he sat up, he locked eyes with Jane, who gave a confused expression.

"Sans, what the fuck?" Her muffled voice spoke.

"I missed, shut up!" Sans said, before perking up. "Behind you, babe!"

Ally had lunged at Jane from behind, but she bounced to the side and then back towards the car, heels scratching into the pavement as she dragged from the force of her dodge.

"Why the fuck are you in the car still Sans? Are you planning on hitting her with someone else's car?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder briefly.

She had to dodge again when Ally tried to grab her with a tentacle and threw a blade towards her, sliding onto the hood of the car to try and gain some ground on the attacker.

Jane froze when she heard the car rev up below her. She turned, eyes narrowed, to see Sans sitting in the driver's seat and wearing a giddy expression.

"Idiot left the keys in the car!" Sans said, voice high with enthusiasm. "Wanna ride the top and fucking pounce on her while I drive by?"

Jane stared for a moment.

"I think holy shit" She mumbled, before steeling her expression and climbing up the windshield onto the top.

"What was that?" Sans asked, trying to glance up.

"I said I'm going to fuck you later, now fucking drive!"

Oh. Oh. Sans stuttered with a blush before their problem came flying at them. Literally. Ally had practically pounced onto the windshield and stabbed two of her tentacles through it, trying to reach Sans through the glass. It fractured and cracked around the holes she created, reaching wildly for him as he ducked inside of his seat and slammed on the gas.

The car lurched forward, causing Ally to stumble and catch herself on the windshield as a thud and a "Fuck you Sans!" was heard from the top of the car.

"Sorry!" Sans yelled up, before pressing on the gas and yanking the wheel to the side. "Sorry again!"

Ally was the one who caught on first. Or maybe Jane did, though Sans couldn't see her so he wasn't sure. However, it was rather obvious when Ally realized Sans' plan. She jerked her head towards the pond they were now barreling towards, and immediately tried to yank out her appendages from the glass.

Sans was faster with his blue bone attacks. Summoning several right where they passed the glass, keeping her sealed against the car as both she and the front of the car dove into the water below. Sans kept his foot on the gas, sending both of them and the entire front half of the car crashing into the murky water.

That's when the hell began. In a fit of anger, she screeched, water seeping in around Sans as she impaled her third and final tentacle into the glass to try and tear him apart. Sans let out an admittedly embarrassing shriek as he had to scamper through the now pouring-in water to try and avoid the incoming attack.

"I'll fucking kill you! I'll fucking -" Ally screamed, trying to stab through the glass as her tentacles tried to grab Sans the best they could. Sans stumbled about within the car, only trying to keep his foot on the gas as he drove them in deeper.

Then suddenly, she froze. Completely froze. No movement from her chest to even indicate breathing. Just... nothing. Before her body slumped forward, to reveal that Jane had remained on the top of the car before she had jumped onto the woman's back and grabbed something from out of it.

And just like that, it was over. Just as fast as it had started. Sans stared, expression holding a clear confused tint to it, causing Jane to motion upwards before she moved to climb on top of the car again.

Sans teleported up, eyeing the body still stuck to the windshield. Frozen. Limp.

"It's part of her story. She was one of Slenderman's oldest workers since he brought her back to life. But she needs a key to be alive," Jane explained, holding up a small silver key inside of her hand. "You pull it out, she stops functioning."

"Could'a told me that earlier," Sans said, rubbing his shoulder.

"I can't exactly scream my plans right in front of the enemy, can I?" Jane gave a sly grin, settling on top of the car. She pressed her thumb against the top of the key and pushed, causing it to easily snap in half. "Sorry you had to get tangled up in that. Slenderman ended up abandoning her after she completely lost her mind and went all yandere on him. Fucking psycho."

"It's fine. I expected as much."

He did. Surprising that it took this long before one of them actually tried to kill Sans.

"So what did Jeff do to earn her hatred?" Sans asked.

"Nothing she didn't deserve. Slenderman was trying to find a new proxy and Ally was going around threatening all of the current CreepyPasta that she'd kill anyone who became one. Girl got jealous of Slenderman doing anything other than focus on her. Jeff caught one of her threats on tape and sent it to Slender. Got her ass handed to her before faceless kicked her out of his little group because she got too crazy for him. That was a few years ago, and it's what made Jeff have such a name in the CreepyPasta community. No one ever really tried to mess with Slenderman or his workers before he did."

Ah. So Jeff was just trying to get her off his back then.

"By the way, I thought you were trying to avoid causing any scenes with us, yet you drove a car into a lake?" Jane asked, turning towards Sans.

"The car had like five knives sticking out of it. Even if we pulled them out it'd leave a trace. It'd be better to make the car disappear. Anyone can steal a car."

Leaving behind any major evidence of CreepyPasta wasn't a good idea. Because then the police would heavily flood the area and would try to find any possible other hints of serial killers. But a simple case of a stolen car instead? That would only get a simple report to be filed away with the hundred others. That would be less noticeable than a car with several knife marks, clearly indicating a fight with someone who was able to impale metal with a weapon above normal human strength.

Though he intended to completely submerge the car. That would be a perfect way to hide it. Not like... half sticking out.

"But uh... remember that intense strength you mentioned before? Could you help get the car out of the lake so we could drive it somewhere to ditch?" Sans asked, giving an awkward smile.

"... Ugh."

Sans stood to the side awkwardly as Jane pushed the car out of the mud and water, waves sloshing between her legs as she slowly worked. After a moment he trudged into the water himself, despite being nowhere near her strength, and helped as much as he could. They got the car out in a minute, though he was certain all of the work came from just her strength alone. He was more of a support in that situation. And in the fight.

He definitely would start training again soon. That was very unsettling to realize, too late, that he wasn't at his best game.

Maybe with Laughing Jack or Jane. Both were really strong people.

"Wait, did you say fuck?" Sans asked, glancing over.