Chapter Text
“It really is a shame, Carol,” Lucifer said. Carol dragged behind him, leaving a trail of blood through the muck as Lucifer began ascending the mountain. “You seemed nice. You just, well… you should learn to stay out of other people’s business. Too late now, though. Snowdin’s gotta eat, after all, and I for one am getting impatient to get back to my…”
The leg Lucifer was dragging Carol by fell to the ground with a dull thud. He blinked in disbelief, not believing his eyes. “...Sans?”
The skeleton smiled at him from a ledge a few feet further up, standing under the stars. Outside. Sans was outside.
“hey, baby,” Sans said. There was someone standing next to him - a little girl in a purple dress.
“Baby?” The girl said. “Wait, wait - you… and him…?”
“i didn’t mention my boyfriend?” Sans chuckled. “what, you know him or something?”
“Sans, that’s Aliza,” Lucifer said, still dumbfounded.
“aliza…” Sans blinked. “oh. oh. you mean that aliza? ...goddamn it, i knew i knew that name from somewhere.”
“Wh… How are you… why is she…?”
“it’s... a long story,” Sans said, sharing a knowing glance with Aliza. “i’ll tell you later. right now, i kinda just…” He looked up at the night sky and Lucifer found himself on the verge of tears.
Lucifer turned his attention to Aliza. “Your mother’s been worried sick,” he said.
“I… you saw her? Is she okay?”
“Better than okay,” Lucifer said. “Until she realized you were gone, that is. You need to go to her, right now.” Aliza nodded and started hopping down the trail of rocks barefoot. Lucifer sighed. “Wait, wait. I’ve seen the part of town you live in - you don’t want to be wandering around at night. I’ll take you.” He glanced at Sans. “I… I’ll be right back, I swear. I just--”
“let me come with you,” Sans said. “show me around.”
“...If you want, I guess,” Lucifer said. “Let’s keep a low profile, though.”
Lucifer led Sans and Aliza back to Elena’s house. He slipped them in the back door quietly. Elena was pacing around the living room, chewing off all her fingernails. She froze when she saw the three of them, but then immediately ran over to Aliza and picked her up in her arms.
“Thank god you’re safe,” Elena said, practically crushing her daughter with the embrace. “Where were you?!”
“...I was trying to find Xavier so he could help you,” Aliza said, starting to cry a little.
“Oh, Aliza,” Elena said. “That wasn’t… sigh. That doesn’t matter now. I found a way to pay for my chemo.”
“What? How?”
Elena smiled at Lucifer. “I’m not quite sure myself. But we’re going to move out of here, Aliza, to a better part of town with a better school, and… and it’s all going to be okay now.” She set Aliza down and turned her attention to Sans. “You… you’re him, aren’t you? Did… did you help find my daughter, as well?”
Sans glanced away. “...you could say that.”
Sans yelped as Elena walked over to him and picked him up in a hug as well. “Thank you for taking care of my children,” she said.
“...anytime?” Sans said, completely flustered. Lucifer chuckled silently from the side, and Elena pulled him into the hug as well.
“Do you have a place to stay up here?” Elena asked.
“we all just got free of the barrier, so not really--”
“You can stay here until you find a proper place to stay,” Elena said, setting them down and wiping a few tears out of her eyes. “Or in our new house. I’ll look for one big enough for all four of us.”
“...my brother goes everywhere i go,” Sans said.
“Five of us, then!” Elena said, getting a little excited. “I’m going to start looking right away. Wait, have any of you had dinner?”
“YES, please,” Aliza said.
“i, uh, need to get going, unfortunately. got some stuff to sort out. but, uh… we’ll be back tomorrow, i guess?” Elena nodded, bid them good night, and dashed off to the kitchen.
They returned to the mountain to find the monsters slowly trickling out, one by one. Toriel stood overlooking them all, a broken crown sitting on her head. She smiled warmly as they approached.
“It seems it is I that came back to you this time, my child,” Toriel chuckled. She gave both Sans and Lucifer a hug. “Where is Aliza? Is she safe?”
“She’s back home, yes,” Lucifer said. “...What’s with the crown?”
Toriel smiled. “It is about time I resumed my position as Queen,” she said.
“What about Undyne?” Lucifer asked. Toriel glanced somewhere down the mountain. Lucifer followed where her eyes were pointing. “Can I just…?”
“We will wait for you, my child,” Toriel said. Lucifer rushed down the mountain.
Undyne was there, crown no longer upon her head; carrying an emaciated yellow lizard in her arms. She gave Lucifer a tired smile as he approached.
“It’s been a while, huh?” she asked.
“...I guess it has. What are you…”
“Alphy and I are leaving,” she said. “The real queen has things under control now.”
Lucifer blinked in disbelief. “So you’ve just… given up on the whole ‘revenge against humanity’ thing?”
“...Someone talked me out of it,” she said.
“You… y-you won’t ever have to see us again,” Alphys said. Her voice was thin and weak. It was clear she’d seen better days. “W-We’re going to go… g-go build a little house together out in the woods somewhere. S-Somewhere we can just be alone and t-together and… a-and away from all our mistakes.”
“I think the Underground’s had enough of both of us,” Undyne said. “...It’s time we left them be. So I guess this is goodbye.”
Lucifer nodded slowly. “...Then I wish you both the best of luck.”
Undyne returned the nod and began walking away, carrying Alphys into the shadows of the trees.
It took a while for Toriel to get everyone together in a halfway organized fashion to camp outside for the night. The first order of business had been to start growing magical crops on the magically fertile soil up here - meals would soon be had. They’d done it. They were going to live.
After they were sure they were no longer needed, Lucifer took Sans and Papyrus out to a clearing away from the city so they could see the stars. They laid on the ground in a circle with their heads by each other.
“i never thought i’d get to see ‘em,” Sans said. His voice was quiet, almost reverent.
“Well they’re all yours now,” Lucifer smiled.
“they’re so beautiful,” Sans said. He scooted closer to Lucifer to cuddle close to him, and Lucifer wrapped the skeleton up in his arms. “...still nothing next to you, though.”
Lucifer smiled. “This just… feels right, doesn’t it?” he asked. “Is this it? Our fairytale ending?”
“...i don’t think you know what a fairytale is,” Sans said.
“I need to buy you a copy of the Brothers Grimm stories,” Lucifer said.
“we got time for that now, don’t we?” Sans said. “we can… we can do anything we want now. we’re free.”
“YOU’RE RIGHT, SANS,” Papyrus said. “THIS IS A MOMENTOUS OCCASION! THERE SHOULD BE SOMETHING SPECIAL TO CELEBRATE - MAYBE EVEN SOMETHING, I DON’T KNOW… ROMANTIC???”
Sans rolled his eyes. “i know you’ve been trying to get me to marry him for years now, paps, but i just don’t care,” he said. “i love him, he loves me, and we both know it. i don’t see why we have to prove it to everyone else with monkey suits and flowers and a giant party for no reason.”
“BUT SANS--”
“you know what? fine. i’m in a good mood tonight.” He turned to Lucifer. “hey, luce, will you marry me?”
“Sure,” Lucifer said, grinning.
Papyrus glared at both of them. “THAT WAS THE WORST PROPOSAL I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE,” he said.
“he said yes, didn’t he?” Sans grinned. “so we’re engaged now. how about we have the wedding right now, fiancé?”
“Sounds good to me, fiancé,” Lucifer chuckled.
“WHAT?! NO! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES TO PLAN A WEDDING? WE NEED CLOTHES AND FOOD AND GUESTS AND A VENUE AND--”
“either right now or never, papyrus,” Sans said. “not budging this time. take it or leave it.”
“HOW ARE YOU SO INFURIATING?!” Papyrus screeched. “UGH. FINE.” He pulled out the final volume of the Hangout/Dating advice series from somewhere. “YOU AT LEAST NEED TO HAVE RINGS.”
Lucifer plucked two daisies from off the hillside they were laying on and handed one to Sans. They twisted the stems into flower rings.
Papyrus squinted at them. “I SUPPOSE THAT WILL WORK,” he said. “DO YOU WANT THE SHORT CEREMONY OR THE FORMAL ONE?”
“short,” Sans said.
“WHY DID I EVEN ASK? UGH. ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, HERE WE GO. DO YOU, SANS, TAKE THIS MONSTER TO BE YOUR HUSBAND AND SOULMATE; TO CHERISH AND LOVE HIM BEYOND HARDSHIP AND TIME?”
“i do.”
“AND DO YOU, LUCIFER, TAKE THIS MONSTER TO BE YOUR HUSBAND AND SOULMATE; TO CHERISH AND LOVE HIM BEYOND HARDSHIP AND TIME?”
“I do.”
“THEN I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU HUSBANDS AND PARTNERS IN THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT. YOU MAY KISS THE GROOM.”
Lucifer pulled Sans into a kiss. Papyrus sniffed back a few tears.
“and here i thought you were mad at us for doing this so suddenly,” Sans chuckled.
“IT WAS STILL BEAUTIFUL!” Papyrus protested. “ANYWAY, I’M GOING TO LEAVE YOU TWO ALONE FOR YOU HONEYMOON, SO… I’LL SEE YOU LATER!” Papyrus jumped to his feet and sprinted away.
Sans nuzzled into Lucifer’s neck. “there. now he’ll stop breathing down our necks.”
“You aren’t even the least bit happy to be married to me?” Lucifer asked.
“you already knew you were my one and only,” Sans said. “...but i guess so.”
“We’ve got the whole world to explore together now, you know,” Lucifer said. “What do you want to do first?”
“fall asleep on this hill with my husband,” Sans said, looking back at the stars. Lucifer smiled and rubbed his back slowly until the skeleton did just that.
Lucifer looked over at Sans’ sleeping face. There was a peace there he’d never seen before. Maybe that was the detail that had been missing. Peace.
“...And they lived happily ever after,” Lucifer whispered to himself, closing his eyes.