Chapter Text
"hey grillby, you look a little dim," Sans noted. The fire monster looked at the skeleton questioningly.
"Dim?"
"and i'm not saying that just for the jokes, but i think your light's less bright than usual. pretty worried for ya, pal."
The bartender gave a quiet sigh and continued to clean the glass he held. Sans hummed in discontent. He knew the monster was quiet and collected, but the mood of the bar just wasn't the same if the owner himself felt down.
"we can talk about it," Sans offered, taking a swig at the ketchup bottle Grillby had given him a moment before, "i'm all ears."
Grillby gave him another look.
"yeah, okay, i know i don't have ears but you get what i mean."
The monster placed the glass down and excused himself for a moment, walking to the fire exit. Sans waited patiently as he listened to the chatter of those who enjoyed their time in the diner. The Royal Guard were on one side, the weird fish-like creatures were on the other, some more monsters were relaxing – same old, same old, really.
"Hey, buddy!"
The skeleton snapped out of his daze as he looked around. He felt a presence in front of him so he looked down to see a little, aquamarine cat monster that had white markings and golden yellow eyes. The cat peered up at him with gleaming eyes. The creature wore a tattered, dark purple cloak lined with scriptures over with the hood their head. On his back was a white backpack.
"haven't seen you around before."
"I'm Kazeru! Kazeru the Wandering Feline, at your service!" he chimed, tail swishing around.
"what's up?"
"Nothing much, just doing my job delivering messages all over the Underground and Human World! I'm here to deliver a letter to Grillby! Do you know where the fella is?"
"he went there," Sans pointed to the door. The cat jumped on the counter and whistled, tapping his foot. He sighed, slung over his backpack and started rummaging through it.
"I see! Well, I'm in a hurry so could you just give this to him when he comes back? Thanks!" Kazeru handed the skeleton a red letter with black writing that he couldn't read properly. Before he could ask what it was about, the little monster scurries off and out of the diner. At that moment, Grillby came back.
Something in Sans's nonexistent gut told him that the letter was a bad time, so be slipped it into his jacket's pockets and lazily grinned at the fire monster.
"you ready?"
Grillby nodded and pulled a stool from under his of the bar. Sitting down and resting his chin on his palm, he stared at nothing in particular as he began.
"It's about someone,"
Sans gave him a side smirk and Grillby couldn't help but chuckle, shaking his head. His happy demeanor then turned into a serious one.
"They're a human."
...
"It was a few years since Frisk had broken the barrier and allowed monsters to roam free in the human world, and likewise humans came to the Underground to do the same. Business was going really well and humans enjoyed the diner's food but..."
"They got bored of magic food easily – I still don't get how their digestive system works," He shook his head in dismay.
"Anyway, I decided it was about time I hired someone who knew how to cook human food. It took a while and a lot of those who I tried to reach out for declined most of time, but all I needed was a flyer."
"A few days after I set out a poster, this one human came. They didn't look like much, with their (hair length) (hair color) hair, (color) eyes and simple winter clothing that wouldn't be the best for Snowdin... But there they were, determined to start working-"
Sans stopped him for a moment.
"instead of making me wonder who the heck is that human, you could've just told me it was (Your Name)," the skeleton sighed, and Grillby sheepishly laughed.
"Anyway, it took a couple of weeks for them to get settled in with the Underground's MTT-brand electronics, but once (Y/N) understood how most things worked they just... cooked. Their food was really good and more customers came in. With a new employee, I knew work wouldn't be the same."
"On days off or weekends, (Y/N) and I usually hung out around Snowdin and Waterfall, with the occasional trips to Hotland. It was nice. I didn't expect a human to be so casual around me – a being that represents fire."
"Soon, we treated each other as if we've known each other for years, even though the human had just been working for well over two months. They were different; they had an interesting talent for predictions. Time did fly by, and in a good way..."
"I can't really explain it."
Grillby stopped, and Sans knew the story was going to take a turn.
"Three weeks ago, when we were going back to the diner to return supplies, (Y/N) said something."
"'Hey Grillby, what would you do if something vanished in thin air? Like, poof! It's gone.'"
"I said that I most would try to find it, but I would not accept that its gone. Then (Y/N) asked if it wasn't important. I answered that all things were important, even if they seemed insignificant."
"what did (Y/N) say after?"
"I asked if it meant something, but they didn't reply afterwards. We kept a silence and continued until we reached the diner."
The temperature dropped and the room got quieter. Monsters still conversed with one another but they might have been listening to Grillby, and the tension was building up as the fire monster fixed his glasses.
"A week after, (Y/N) stopped coming to work. I assumed they were sick since they were looking pale for the past week; I didn't pay any heed to it."
"A day passed and they didn't come. I read on the Library that humans usually recover from a cold in a few days, so I still waited."
"how about the day after?"
"(Y/N) still hadn't come back. I tried to contact them, but all I received were pre-recorded messages. I left some for them, but still no reply. They've been gone for two weeks."
"why didn't you ask for help?" Sans spoke, voice low and disappointed. (Y/N) was a good friend of many monsters such as Papyrus due to their shared love for cooking, and Sans's brother would be worried for their wellbeing. Although, setting everyone else aside, Grillby was clearly stressed.
"I tried but... Do you know Kazeru?"
Sans kept silent, slipping his hand in his pocket to feel the letter.
"the cat messenger? yeah."
"I let him send a letter to (Y/N), since they don't live in the Underground. I was told that a letter would be sent back today."
Sans looked around, avoiding eye contact. Grillby clearly noticed this and stared the skeleton down.
"You got the letter, didn't you?"
Hesitantly, he handed the red envelope. Grillby took the stationary and opened it with care, clearly worried over how this letter was red – things that were red usually meant something bad.
Sans watched as Grillby read through the letter. If the fire monster had eyes, Sans would've watched him read back and forth but, instead of that, the flames on his head moved back and forth, sometimes dying down or suddenly flaring up. The skeleton was glad that his flames were magic, or the whole establishment would be in, well, flames.
Grillby suddenly slammed the letter on the counter, making every single monster in the diner jump. All eyes were on him as he hunched down, hands over head. Sans reached and placed a hand on his shoulder, hearing Grillby choke out a sob.
"i don't want to ask but..."
Grillby looked up at him with flames the lowest they've ever gotten.
"How they predicted this, I will never know. They really had a knack for it," he weakly laughed.
"But they're gone. (Y/N)'s gone."