SAFE Version: Just a Nightmare

“SANS!! PAPYRUS! ANYONE, SAY SOMETHING, PLEASE!!”
Geno teleported throughout the castle, checking every corridor, every room, every hall that he could manage. Tears were pricking his eye socket, and he could already feel blood pooling in his right.
 He had one job.
 The figure- that THING. It deleted the mountain. The ceiling was collapsing. There was a time stopping spell in effect that could disappear without notice. Boulders scattered the air, cracks crawled up the walls of the king’s castle, and the floor was shifted unevenly beneath the feet of the panicking skeleton. Geno had been tasked with the job of finding those in his family and escorting their frozen bodies to a shelter on the surface to escape their impending doom. As much as he wished he could save everyone, he had his priories. He knew who he had to go after first.
And all he had left were his two older siblings.
Yet they were absolutely nowhere to be found.
Tension and panic built up in the skeleton’s chest, fearing the worst would come. That white haired bastard had randomly started counting down too, which was only making everything worse. He knew he probably knew. And yet it was so, damn, CONDESCENDING.
 He hated it. He hated all of this. Why did the figure have to be like this? Why did he have to come after them?! WHAT DID THEY EVEN DO TO DESERVE THIS?! THEY DID NOTHING!! HE DID NOTHING!!! WHY?!
 “DAMMIT, PLEASE!!!! PLEA-“
 There was a deep rumbling noise, causing the skeleton to stop dead in his track and gaze up at the debris. Was this how it ended? Was this-
 Wait.
 That blue light. It was so familiar. It was comforting. And it seemed to be lifting the rocks up..? What? Geno gasped for a moment. “..Sa-“
 That was all he could get out.
 With no warning, the deep blue aura covering the rocks suddenly turned into a sickening ebony, shadows coating the boulders and chunks.
And then they shot down.
 Right onto Geno, who couldn’t even react.

 “ghHH- aaaaAAAGGGGHH!!!!”
 The only things visible from the pile of boulders were the head and his left arm. Everything else was buried beneath the weight of the boulders.
 It hurt. God it hurt.
 Pain wracked throughout his entire body.. or at least what he could feel of it. Whatever was there, it hurt. It was unbearable. The small skeleton couldn’t stop himself from screaming due to the agony he was being tormented by. The screams echoed through the hall, piercing the silence and dread in the air.
 But nobody came.
 A full minute went by before the screams has weakened to small whimpers and sobs. Somehow, he even managed to cough up a small bit of blood, staining the floor beneath his face. Look at him. Sans has said to avoid getting himself hurt, and now look what happened. What was going to happen to him now? ...what was going to happen to them now? His family.. they were in danger. They weren’t protected. They were out in the open where they could be snatched away by his slimy fingers.
No. He had to get up. He had to get to them. There was no way he could stop. He had to get up for them. He had to protect them.
 “g-get UP- HHH... GET- UP!!”
His hand clawed at the floor as he tried to force himself up from his position, but the rocks were pinning him down too much for him to make any progress. He glared up at them, and his eye proceeded to light up in cyan with a red twinge at the bottom. The rock, at first, started to move upwards, and was indeed glowing. Geno choked and gasped in a breath as he was relieved from the pressure.
 However, the freedom didn’t last.
 The rock that was floating was suddenly coated in black. Again. And it shot down onto Geno. Again. And he could do nothing about it. Again.
 “GAAGGH! hahhh.. hhhgk-“ The pain overtook him, and he coughed up some more blood, a shaky sob coming to interrupt after.
 Why? Why was this happening? Why was he getting pinned like this by magic that wasn’t his own? It was obvious that the figure was at work here, but why? WHY?? Was he tormenting him just because he could take it? ....come to think of it, he wasn’t even passed out yet. Nor was he even beginning to feel the effects of blood loss. ..why-
 “Wondering why you aren’t dead yet?”  A voice that was all-too-familiar spoke.  Geno stiffened up like a statue before slowly raising his head to gaze at the interrogater.
 God.
 No.
 It was him. That thing. The shadowy mass with its cheeky smile and its gruesome claws.
 “It is fascinating. Truly fascinating. To witness levels of torture like this and still be able to see in the victim come out of it alive...” The beast chuckled lightly, as if nothing was wrong. “...It makes me wonder what else you could handle.”
 Near instantly, Geno flinched at this remark. Dear god what was he going to do? What kind of torment would he face? ..Did he really want to know?
 Meanwhile, the figure had tilted what looked to be its head, and it’s grin widened up. It was very clearly enjoying this. “After all, Geno, you ARE plentiful strong.  Even if you do not think so, it truly shows within everything you do. Your fighting capabilities, your fortitude, your determination... it screams strength.  Why put yourself down so much? It’s perfect.“
 “sh-shut UP.” Geno scowled out at the figure. “j-just shUT UP. stop SWEET TALKING ME!”
 The figure laughed softly. Ever so slowly, it approached Geno and crouched on to one knee.  Stifling a shout of pain, Geno craned his neck away from the approaching abuser in fear.  Using its sharp claws, the figure reached underneath Geno’s chin and tugged it forcefully up to face him.  Geno couldn’t help but let out that previously of stifled shout, as his neck seared with fire. And the grin on the figure only widened.
 “Still being difficult about it, hm? Of course.  All of you Genos are the same in that regard; you were all stubborn about the truth. It’s adorable.  Especially considering how many times attempts were made to talk you out of it.” It seemed to.. glance off to the side for a brief moment, the smile weakening to one of a more somber tone. “... not even he could be talked out of it.”
 Geno squinted his socket at the figure. Who... Was he? Another Geno?  All of the others? Other hims?  Who were they to him?? ... why was this conversation giving him déjà vu? He didn’t have much time to ponder these questions as the figure continued on.
 “So that is why I am going to teach you a small lesson. I am going to teach you about accepting the inevitable and embracing the truth. And I will start with this.”
 Dropping the smaller’s chin, he rose up his hand and snapped his fingers. He disappeared into nothingness, replacing himself with...
 Oh god.
 It was his entire family.
 Everyone that he had saved. Everyone he cared for. All of his siblings, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, step-parents, step-siblings... everyone was here. They all floated several feet above the ground, frozen in time.
 Upon getting one glimpse, Geno’s socket widened. It widened so much it hurt.
 God no.
 “GUYS!!” He screamed out, tears bursting from his socket and blood streaming from his glitch. He reached out his only visible hand to them, clawing at the air desperately. What was he doing? What was this thing going to do? Why was he doing this? ... Was he going to...?
 “please no. p-please don’t do this PLEASE DON’T DO THIS PLEASE DON’T- I’LL DO ANYTHING!! ANYTHING!! just PLEASE don’t hURT THEM!!” He begged for the entity to stop. He screamed for it. He even started trying to crawl out, using his hand to claw at the floor and make an attempt to pull himself forward. He didn’t get anywhere with that, thought. “pLEAAAASSEeee... dooooohohohon’t......”
 There was a gasp.
 Geno went completely silent, looking at them all with a mix of hope and dread. One by one, members of his family started to have their limbs freed from the mold they were set in, and each of them fell back into the world of consciousness.
 And once each of them were conscious enough to process what was going on, they’d all bear witness to the helpless being that lay before them.
 They were all silent. Staring. Shocked. That was the only emotion on their faces as they gazed down at him. And Geno was looking up at them with hopeful relief on his face. They’d be able to help him. They were okay. They were OKAY. THEY WERE OKAY-
 “You failed.”
 Geno’s face dropped. Relief and hope turned into dread and confusion. He slowly turned his head to the one who spoke, which was.. Sans? “...Sa-“
 A deep blue soul flickered and shot out of Sans’ body, levitating inches above his head. It shook once...
 and then shattered.
 The body of the soldier dusted on spot, leaving nothing.
 Geno just stared. Did he just see that? Did he just.. watch his brother DIE? Was that really his eye?? ...was he gone.... forever...???
 “You weren’t strong enough.”
 Geno’s head shot to the next person that spoke, which was his mom. She looked dead, even in her final moments. Her soul, which was a vibrant purple, shot up and shattered, leaving her to fall to the floor.
 Then went his sister.
 Then went his nephew.
 Then went his niece.
 Then went his friend.
 It wouldn’t stop until it happened to everyone. All of his family and friends shattered and died one by own, all of them expressing grievances before they whisked away.
 The last of them was his very own father.
 “You’re helpless.”
 And so he fell.
 Geno had barely even processed the first death by the time he came to realize that all of them were gone. Everyone. Everyone he loved and cherished and never wanted to let go. Everyone that he went through so much to be able to have... gone. Just like that. It was all gone. Everyone that he wanted to live for.. All gone.
 All gone....
 The Figure popped back into Geno’s field of vision. Of course, it was smiling.
 “Now you know. They were going to die, regardless of what you did. Your actions will not matter in the grand scheme of things. Try as you might, it will not matter in the end. In your end-“
 “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
 Geno suddenly shrieked out. It finally hit him. Everyone was gone. His entire reason for being happy was gone. His entire reason for being alive was gone. It was gone. He couldn’t do anything to save them now. It was too late to take action... it was too late for any of them. He lost them all...
 He couldn’t take it.
 He summoned his own soul. The shard that it was cracked slightly from his strain.
 Good.
 He lifted up his left hand, and a sharp bone appeared in it.
 Tears and blood were pouring down his cheeks now.
 It would be okay.
 He swatted at it, but his weakness made him miss. He went for it again, still missing. He tried it again, with more force and anger. God, just please let him hit it.
 “...j-just hit.. H-HIT IT...” He got more and more manic with his swings, increasingly getting more frustrated with this. Why couldn’t it hit? Why wouldn’t it hit? He just wanted this to end.
 The figure was laughing at him now.
 The struggle was hilarious.
 Geno heard this... It was mocking him for trying to die. He needed to try harder. He used what little strength he had left to keep his own soul still with telekinesis. It hurt his skull like hell, but he needed it to stay steady.
 It wouldn’t matter soon anyway.
 He struck the bone down...
 And then he woke up at home.
 With a jolt, he burst out from under his covers and gasped for air. He breathed for a second as he collected himself and realized it was just a dream.
 And then he began to sob.
 He hugged his arms around himself and cried. Screamed, even. For once, he didn’t care about sounding like a child. He didn’t care about how it made him look. He was just too happy to be awake from that.. hell.
 Thank god.