Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eye sockets opened. Darkness was all that he really comprehended until he started to properly wake up. He shifted to his side, Toriel was sound asleep and an arm was loosely wrapped around him. He shifted to his other side, the clock read roughly three am. 

Normally he'd simply drift off to sleep again, not even questioning why he woke to begin with. However, he didn't. Instead....he started thinking. A dangerous thing this late.

A part of him will always suspect that right when he isn't looking, he'll be back underground, no memories of this and repeating the motions again until his subconscious gets sick. A part of him is still surprised that hasn't happened yet, things were changing and those changes meant something. 

He said yes to hanging out with Toriel, that led to a date, that led to....he can hear her softly snoring beside him. Something he made note to tease her about later.

Papyrus appeared on Mettaton's show once, that lead to his own actual fan club, that lead to him getting his own show and now....stars above. His brother got engaged to his celebrity crush.

Changes kept happening. The kid hadn't reset....

But the kid could at any moment. If they truly wanted to, couldn't they?

Something sank in his non-existent gut. With a deep sigh he gently warmed his way out of Toriel's grasp, the woman was a surprisingly hard sleeper. Sans almost felt like he should be envious, nothing seemed to wake her when she was out. She was out.

The skeleton shuffled awkwardly, still groggy with sleep as he made his way out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Suddenly very thirsty. He half considered grabbing his slippers given how cold the kitchen floor would be but it's a thought that's tossed aside. 

Yet, he halts the moment he approaches the kitchen.

".....Frisk?"

The kid stood there, in an oversized t shirt that seemed to double as a nightgown. It had some anime cat girl on it (no doubt a gift from Alphys), shuffling near frantically through the fridge. Sans was kinda surprised he hadn't heard it sooner. 

"Y'know....your mom ain't gonna be too cheesed about ya sneaking a late night snack." Get it because he knew there was definitely cheese in the fridge, however Frisk didn't respond or even acknowledge Sans. Which was....strange. The kid was pretty friendly and at bare minimum would at least look at him but...

"Kid?"

The fridge door is suddenly slammed shut. Full force. The child's entire body going weirdly stiff as it seems to be staring down the refrigerator as if it offended them somehow. 

"No chocolates."

That voice....it didn't sound like Frisk. It sounded like....

"Bit late for sweets there kiddo," his tone stayed casual as it often did when shit got like this, however he tensed. "....something up?"

Slowly, they turned to him. Frisk's eyes were best described as...naturally squinty, narrowed and honestly you could mistake them for just being closed. Now? They were open, wide open. Alarmingly so. Their eyes were a hellish red and they almost seemed to glow, Sans suddenly felt a chill run through him and a memory of a battle in a different life surged in him all at once. Outwardly he was calm, very calm. However...

"Frisk." his tone was a bit more urgent, but the kid didn't say anything. They started to walk toward them, everything about the way they moved just seemed ever so slightly off. Things just continued to escalate from there, they leaned sideways...grabbing what he assumed Toriel had been using for baking earlier today. Technically yesterday now. "Let's put the knife down, kid."

They didn't. Fuck.

Frisk raised the blade then took a swing at him. He skid to the other side of the kitchen, Frisk turned it him. They were....smiling. It was a strange one. It didn't seem happy, it was inherently extreme in its nature. Forced and honestly a little painful looking. Mainly it was unnerving considering the current state they were in. Right now Sans was just waging a war of eternal panic, this was a worst case scenario he was always aware of. Something he knew for a fact good happen but it was not like this. Not in Toriel's home, not against the kid known as her child, not against the kid he was really starting to view not just as friend but family, not in a kitchen with barely any room to dodge, not against somehow he honestly didn't really want to hurt.

His eye lights up, he performs a quick QUICK on the child but everything is the same. Stats, HP, LV and EXP, nothing even remotely amiss about it at all. The same pacifistic kid, just now charging at him with a knife again.

"Put. The. Knife. Down."

Frisk charged again. He dodged. Alright. Time for something a bit more extreme, he raised his hand and the child's soul stayed blue and proceeded to slam them down onto the ground. He was fairly certain he didn't have a physical heart but it felt like it was hammering out of his chest right now, but before he could start speculating on his next move.....the knife was dropped. And a low tired sounding grunt came from the fallen human.

"Sans....?"

Their eyes closed or well, returned to normal was the better word for it. Slowly looking up, frowning with visible confusion. Sans...carefully released their soul. And just like that, that moment of fear and terror...was gone.

The kid naturally asked questions, not even seeming to recall that they had gotten out of bed at all. Sans, for all of his many faults was always good at reading people and Frisk often if not always was an open book regarding their emotions. He could tell when they were attempting to bullshit him and he could tell when they were in fact being genuine. He just played it off for now, he didn't lie, not really. Just admitted that he went to get a drink and the good spooked him, putting the entire incident very lightly. After helping them to their feet, he dismissed it all as the kid sleep walking.

That's when he noticed a change in Frisk's demeanor. They looked....worried for lack of a better word. Even when Sans tried to keep playing off the incident, he could imagine that suddenly being found pinned to the floor by an ally would startle anyone especially a young child but Frisk wasn't a normal kid. If they could keep chatting to someone like Undyne who impaled them with a literal magical spear, then arguably this should apply. They know something. They weren't aware of what they were doing in that state but....they knew something. What was the lingering question, however, for now he didn't seem content to poke them for questions. Even if he did, he new very well that he wouldn't get answers.

For now he simply got them both a glass of warm milk, told some puns, and the two enjoyed some nice conversation before they went their separate ways. He went down to lay next to Toriel again, though he didn't drift off to sleep for some time. Recalling the incident bit by bit, there was a lot he didn't know but he would instead focused on what he did know for now. Frisk had been asleep, they seemed to stay asleep until they were woken up. However, as far as he was aware that wasn't typical sleep walking. Attacking him while sleeping? A little far fetched but he guessed he could buy....

Those red eyes?

Something was up. And he didn't like it.