Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first time Sans remembers something different is as he's sitting on the floor, stacks of books scattered near haphazardly around him as he focuses on the words printed onto the papers before him.

M onsters have been trapped for a century and a half by now. In order to break the barrier which keeps us locked underground, we will need the power of seven human souls that match with those who cast the spell.

King Asgore, is kind to a fault. Despite the actions of the humans against our own, he would prefer not to take a life of an innocent. In the case that any human who falls below is a criminal to monsterkind, they will be captured and harvested for their soul.

However, our king has decided that there may be other non-violent methods to break the barrier. Which is why our team has been established to research the effects of certain matter on every subject we are permitted to use.

"King...Asgore." Sans mouths, bringing a hand (are his fingers supposed to look that way?) up to his teeth. With a faint clack of bone against bone, he mouths the name again.

It sounds familiar. He thinks to himself, hunching up in his oversized sweater. Did he hear that name somewhere?

"I prefer Asgore to Toriel."

"What?! But GOAT MOM!"

"Yeah, but Goat DAD."

Who prefers Asgore to Toriel? Who's Toriel? He reaches out to trace the words on paper, bone furrowing above his eyesss—sockets. He doesn't have eyes like humans do, only eyelights and eyesockets.

"Goat Dad."

"Goat Dad," Sans mumbles.

Who prefers Asgore to Toriel?

"Ugh. Really, you..."

He does.

Sans prefers Asgore to Toriel.

---

The second time Sans remembers something different is when he stands beside his father—mother— creator, Doctor W.D. Gaster.

They're running(?) an experiment and Sans clutches a clipboard in his small, bony hands, watching the giant glass tube that towers over even Gaster. Gaster told him that he and the glass tube are separate from his team's main one. That him and the tube are independent projects.

Gaster's fingers, phalanges, touch a black screen set in front of the glass tube filled with water. Sans can see different tubes that go into the glass container, but he can't see what or who's inside. The water's not clear enough for it.

The black screen comes to life at the press of bone, like a tablet or phone.

Sans nearly frowns, confused. What's a tablet, what's a phone? They're clearly important if they remind him of the device that Gaster is handling right now.

The screen flickers to show numbers and symbols that Sans is too young to comprehend, before turning to a view that looks like what's inside the water-filled container.

It's a child, or what seems to be one.

It's curled up in a fetal position with one of the metal tubes plugged into the back of its skull.

A skeleton child.

From what he can see, its skull is a little longer and narrower than his, more like Gaster's. Its bones are small, like they'd break in half with just a squeeze. Twigs.

It doesn't look nearly as developed as its supposed to be if it wants to walk around.

Sans glances up at Gaster, startled to see the older skeleton eyeing him. His fath— creator's eyelights flick to the screen, then back at him, like he's considering something?

What are you thinking about, Gaster? He wonders.

A faint static fills his head, and he recognizes that his creator is about to speak.

"This is going to be your little sibling."

Little...sibling. He's going to be a big brother?

"Here's your little nephew!"

"Oh god I feel old."

That's wrong, he's going to have a sibling, not a nephew. And he's still in stripes, not old.

Sans stares at the recording on the screen for a brief moment, before tearing his gaze away to ask curiously. "Boy?" Gaster lets out a small huff that makes him wonder why; they're both skeletons, why do they simulate breathing? They don't have lungs, they don't need oxygen—

What's oxygen? Don't lungs belong to humans? What do they have to do with skeletons?

"This one will be whatever they want to be." He blinks back to reality at the quiet voice and static.

So it'll either be a girl or a boy. Why is Gaster letting him see all this?

Sans voices his question.

Gaster lays a hand on the tube, like he's trying to feel for something. Shockingly, his usually intense gaze softens when he makes eye contact with him. The static is a constant, pleasant buzz.

"You will be who cares for this one, otherwise you'll be lonely," His creator tells him. "I may not always be there, so I'm giving you this one to keep you company."

"Alright. I'm leaving you my spawn to keep you company."

"I'm going to break him in half though."

"You'll be fine!"

"He's going to break like a twig if you leave him with me!"

Sans nods slowly, he's trying to make sense of the situation but it's somehow difficult to comprehend. He's going to be a big brother to a little skeleton child whose bones might snap the moment he lays his indelicate hands on it.

But he's always careful with everything, so it confuses him why he would think that.

"Will it snap in half if I touch it?" He asks.

Gaster lets out another small huff, and he notes how it sounds shakier than before. Is Gaster okay? Is he...laughing?

What's so funny?

"As long as you are careful with them, they'll be fine." Gaster says.

Sans blinks and nods again, eyelights going back to observe the child from the footage. He can be careful, he always is.

Unlike that person who forever doubted his ability to take care of a baby, Sans won't be so nervous. Anxiety only makes room for error.

---

The third time Sans remembers something different is when Gaster takes him to a trip around the underground for educational purposes.

The royal scientist was working on a major project called the CORE, that if successful, would soon replace the simple magic-run appliances that monsters have had for several centuries; and Gaster was visiting each section of the underground  to see which would be best to build the CORE in.

Often, human objects would fall from above ground. One of those things was a book detailing a power plant or engine or source of energy— Sans hadn't paid much attention to it, too occupied with looking at footage of the skeleton child, but Gaster had been struck with inspiration.

His sudden burst of determination (isn't that dangerous for monsters?) was apparently contagious, since his entire team had jumped onto the bandwagon.

It would change life for monsters as they knew it.

So Gaster brought Sans along. It was a rather quick trip, but to expected. The underground only had so many places to go to after all.

The names of the biomes were a little on the nose. Sans could finally understand why someone said that Asgore sucked at names.

Enjoying the sights and somewhat familiar temperatures of the underground, he realizes he's never gotten out this much, and he's never seen so many different monsters before. The only ones he really interacted with were from Gaster's team and even then he barely saw them, usually in his room, studying.

In the end, the CORE was set to be built in a place called Hotland. The heat could be used as another source of energy, but overheating could also be a problem.

Sans remembers one sector called Snowdin, and how a river going through the whole underground apparently connects all of the locations.

There's a niggling thought that's just waiting to be said. Maybe someone could send ice from Snowdin to the CORE through the river? That idea sounds...familiar, he can't put a finger on where he heard it before, but it sounds like a nice one.

He tugs on one of Gaster's pinky fingers, intent and curious about how it could work.

Now, if he had a brain, his head would probably be hurting from the amount of muttering and grumbling that Gaster's been doing. The older skeleton seemed like he thought it through and approved, from the way he'd been positively beaming. Gaster smiles a lot, but they're rarely genuine.

Sans is glad that one of his strange thoughts managed to be of help to his creator, but after he got pat on the head, it looked like Gaster suddenly thought of something else. He's been murmuring about things that Sans doesn't understand much of yet, but maybe soon.

If he studies a lot and becomes Gaster's official assistant, he won't feel stupid.

He's really smart though. Sans and Gaster and all of the monsters they've met know that, so where did that come from?

"Looking back on Sans' fight makes me feel like an idiot."

What fight? He's never fought someone before.

"He's such a nerd, just look at his dialogue and how Papyrus tells us that Sans is a giant sci-fi fanboy. What a goddamn nerd. I love him."

"He's clearly a fucking scientist."

"No! He's a nerd!"

"He can be a nerd AND a scientist then, geez!"

What's a nerd? They're calling him a nerd?

Unknown to him, Sans' eyelights go hazy, moving minutely as he stares off into space like he's seeing something else.

Gaster's already narrowed gaze narrows even further once he looks up from his mumbling tangent and notices his protegé's current state.

A nerd must be someone smart and knowledgeable, if they could be interchangeable or related with a scientist. One who likes science? Sans is sure that sci-fi means 'science-fiction' even if the word isn't something he's come across in a book or page before.

Sans likes science, he must be a nerd.

Jolting at the touch of a hard hand, Sans' eyelights shoot up towards his creator, one of his many hands laying on his small skull. He blinks curiously. Is there something wrong?

A familiar faint static enters his head.

"Sans, you've been rather absent-minded lately. Care to share?"

It's a request, but Sans takes it as an order like always.

"I'm a nerd." He says like he's sharing a giant revelation. One that makes Gaster rattle from the effort it takes not to bust a non-existent gut. The scientist heaves a quiet sigh, the breath coming out shaky from remaining laughter.

"I see. Let's go, we have things to do and plans to make," Before he turns away, Gaster glances at Sans in mild concern. "Perhaps it's time for another test as well, be sure to stay still this time, you might hurt yourself again."

Sans can barely hold in the instinctive terror that rises.

Swallowing down the confusing fear, the small skeleton nods firmly. Even if he's scared, he has to go through with it; better him than another poor monster.

Why did I think of that?

He ignores any and all thoughts that swirl in his mind, content in following behind his creator back to the laboratories, silent and accepting.

Chapter Text

"Even if it hurts, you have to keep going."

"If no one else will do it, do it."

Those words come to Sans as he lays on an examination table, the cold of steel biting into his spine despite him being a skeleton lacking the nerves to feel temperature.

Gaster stands to the side, fiddling with a control panel.

He'll never understand why skeletons like him are able to have eyelids made of bone, but he won't complain. Sans nearly shudders as he closes his eyes—sockets, hoping that the pain won't come to him this time.

But ev en if it hurts, you have to keep going.

Who else is going to?

---

Sans is tired and sore, and not the good kind either.

"There's a good kind?" He mutters to himself. He's not concerned about anyone overhearing him, Gaster just left to attend to a meeting between scientists and the royal pair.

Gaster is as kind as the king, but he's a scientist on a mission first and foremost. Sans admires his creator that way.

King Asgore. Sans remembers him, or rather someone remembering him. He's the goat dad that that person prefers to Toriel, the Queen. He wonders why he likes Asgore more than Toriel, when the Queen is said to be the brains of the throne.

Sans likes smart people. Why did that person prefer Asgore?

Maybe because he's a goat dad. He might have liked dads more.

Sans doesn't have to worry about liking a father or mother though. He only has his creator, Gaster. Gaster is both for him, and now his little sibling.

He hopes his little sibling is a girl. Gaster already has a boy, and that's him. Why have only one when you can have both?

Sans curls up into the heavy blanket that his creator tucked him into, a warmth in his ribcage prompting him to curl even further, trying to take that comforting warmth.

Why is it warm in his chest?

Chest? Isn't that something only females have?

"Why do you wear a bra when you don't even have a chest?"

"I don't know, why do you have a brain when you don't even use it?"

Oh, nevermind. Not all females have chests.

So, males can have them too?

There's a warmth in his chest.

Sans frowns, tugging the blanket over his head to peek at his chest— or ribcage. Blinking surprisedly, he remembers that he's a skeleton. Skeletons don't have chests, only a ribcage that's supposedly underneath a human's chest.

Why would humans have a ribcage? They don't need it.

The gown he's dressed in is slightly open, revealing some of his ribs. It was completely closed awhile ago, maybe it opened when he kept moving around just now.

He pokes at the bones curiously. Why does it feel warm in there? He asks them.

There's a faint glow coming from beneath his gown, a white that's tinged blue. When he slides the cloth away, he's shocked to find a heart under it, floating inside his ribcage.

It's a white heart, but it doesn't quite look right.

His eyebrow— bone, brows, furrow.

Sans tilts his head, feeling the strain it takes to make the movement and ignoring it.

It's upside down.

It comes to him suddenly, and he feels his jaw part in realization. How could he be so stupid? It's upside down, that's why it doesn't look right. Of course, from the angle he's looking at it, it looks perfectly normal; but if someone else were to see it would be upside down for them.

He flicks himself in reprimand. Sans isn't stupid, he's not. Why does he keep thinking that?

The more Sans stares at the heart, the more he starts to remember something else. It's just at the tip of his tongue, but he can't remember. He thinks he's read of this before.

Monster souls are all 'inverted' hearts, upside down shapes. They're identical in appearance except for their glow, which varies from monster to monster depending on what trait they're most attuned to.

Human souls, however, are the opposite. They're 'downside up' hearts with a color that corresponds to a human's main trait. The seven known traits that humans and monsters can have are—

"Integrity." Sans says, but then he pauses, narrowing his eyesockets at the color that surrounds his soul. It's a lighter shade of blue. "Patience!" He exclaims, happy that he got it right.

He immediately slaps a small hand to his teeth, eyelights darting around the room.

There's only him, his bed, his books and papers, and pictures pinned on the wall from the recordings of his little sibling.

Sans lets out a small breath. He wonders why he panicked for a split second, there's no one here, and even if there was, no one would hurt him.

He looks back down at his soul. Just before he tore his gaze away from it to look around his room, he noticed the glow getting brighter. Around the moment he correctly labeled his trait.

Does his soul get brighter when...he's happy?

That's cute.

Cute? If he calls his soul cute, would he be calling himself cute?

He's cute then, since his soul is very cute.

The blue around his soul swells and grows more radiant, and Sans notices that there's another color hidden within the glow. It looks yellow and warm, giving off the impression that if he touched it, it would be similar to holding his hands above a campfire.

He's never held his hands above a campfire before, but he knows the sensation.

Yellow.

"Bravery..? No, no," He shakes his head. "Bravery is orange, yellow is—" Sans faults for a moment, he can't remember what yellow is, so he holds up his fingers to count them off.

Red is Determination.

One.

Blue is Integrity.

Two.

Light Blue— Cyan? Is Patience.

Three.

Green is Kindness.

Four.

Purple is Perseverance.

Five.

Orange is Bravery.

Six.

Yellow is—

"Justice?" Sans asks.

No one answers, but he knows he's right. A little grin pulls at his face and he gazes down at the upside down shape of his soul. It's brighter than ever and the yellow is more visible, proof of his good mood.

His traits are patience and justice.

Acknowledging that brings back that comforting warmth, settling in his bones and it's like he's home.

Do all monsters feel this way when they find their traits? They probably do, he thinks. This situation is just strange enough for him that it likely happens to everyone from his species.

Sans wants to keep staring at his soul, but the clock in his room tells him that it's time to study.

Reluctantly, he pushes the gown back into place and hops off the bed, dragging his blanket with him to the books and papers.

---

The fifth time Sans remembers something different is when Gaster writes down three names on a sheet and tells him to choose one.

He spends a few seconds in silence, trying not to scrunch up his face from the amount of confusion he feels. Is his creator saying that he has to pick out a new name for himself?

His fuzzy eyelights land on a certain name.

Papyrus.

"Aw, I feel kinda bad for Sans' little brother. He'll never get into the royal guard because he's too nice, damn."

"His name is Papyrus, you dolt."

His face lights up at the information, and he tugs on Gaster's coat briefly, excited. The scientist tears himself away from his paperwork and blinks at the sheet in his face. Sans points to the name, and asks, "For my little brother?"

Gaster smiles a lot, but it's rarely genuine. As the small skeleton looks up at him with shining stars in his eyesockets, Gaster can't help but chuckle and lay a large hand on Sans' skull. It's genuine.

Static fills his head.

"Yes, Sans." His creator says gently. "That's for your younger sibling." There's the quick question of why his first creation would say with such certainty that he has a little brother, but Gaster dispells it, focusing on Sans.

It's fascinating how the young one is closed off and cold, yet childishly curious at the same time. He's sure that other monster children aren't like his chil— creation.

Papyrus.

"Name him Papyrus," Sans demands. His tiny hands grip the sheet as one of his equally as tiny phalanges point at the name, tapping it and making the paper ripple with a noise. Gaster hums and considers the name for a moment.

"Ah, you're making a pun?" He muses softly.

Sans falters.

Maybe not.

Still, it wouldn't do to pass up such an opportunity.

"Let's name them Papyrus."

---

The sixth time Sans remembers something different is when Gaster takes him to Waterfall.

Waterfall is beautiful. It's dark and damp, but there's a breathtaking ambience to it, as echo flowers are in full bloom no matter how much time passes, and the crystals above twinkle like stars.

Everything glows despite the darkness around them, and it's poetic and something that Sans wants to imitate.

When he looks at his reflection in a lake, he lights up, literally. His face is flushed with blue and his eyelights are literal stars, radiant and alive. If he weren't seeing himself in the lake, he might've had a crush on his own reflection.

Why anyone would try and crush Sans is beyond him. He's cute!

Sans gazes at his eyelights in wonder, curious if he can get them to change into other shapes.

Gaster isn't far, he's doing something with the blue echo flowers that he's jotting down on a black, worn notebook. Sans heard the whispers from the flowers, they're all wishes and conversations from other monsters. Why would Gaster be writing them down?

Everything in Waterfall is so pretty.

The little skeleton turns his gaze to the ceiling, where many crystals shine so bright, in awe. His blue blush spreads further as he loses the breath he doesn't really need.

They really are like stars. He wonders wistfully if he'll get to see the surface stars in his time, he thinks he loves the stars. He hopes he gets to see them.

Sans rocks back and forth on his feet, and starts to teeter from a lack of balance that hasn't been trained out of his small child body.

In his failure to notice, he tips forward, and plunges into the lake he'd been standing in front of.

---

Gaster keeps scolding him.

And Sans won't stop shivering and rattling, his clothes completely drenched from his quick and unexpected dive.

The older skeleton's smile is no long there and his brows are frowning, same as his mouth. Sans can't stop the shudder this time, bunching up in his sweater, and cringing when that just serves to make him colder. Why is it so cold? He doesn't have nerves, he's a skeleton.

The inside of his mouth has never been drier.

He didn't mean to make Gaster mad, he just wanted to look at the stars even if they're fake. He really didn't mean to. He didn't want to see what was underwater, really!

The things he saw in the lake—

Water rushing above his head as he tries to swim back, back to the surface, back to the shore, before his breath runs out.

Were dark and scary.

He can't— he can't, he can't he can't he can't breath— he can't take off the chains— he's going to die—

Sans didn't lose air no matter how long it took, he's a skeleton, he has no lungs; yet the memory made him panic and almost fracture his ankle from how hard he kicked, trying to swim back up.

It was just unfortunate that he's a skeleton. He can't float or swim either. Only sink.

The shivering doesn't go away until he feels something soft and warm wrapped around his neck. It's a dull, red color that nearly covers his entire skull, but Sans tugs it down to peer at it and Gaster.

It's a scarf, and it's getting dark and wet from contact with him. He almost frowns before glancing up at Gaster hesitantly.

The other skeleton looks regretful and worried. That's the only thing he can make out from his expression.

"you're...you're not mad?" Sans whispers, scared of reprimand or retaliation from his creator.

His creator looks sad. He hopes that he wouldn't look that way, it's Sans' fault he fell in the first place. The static that comes gives him a level of comfort and apprehension.

"I'm not," Gaster says firmly, soft and mournful. "I'll see to it that this doesn't happen at all next time."

Sans fidgets, feeling like he wants something but not knowing what it is.

His creator visibly softens, and he opens his arms to wrap them around his creation.

Freezing, the little skeleton doesn't know what to do with the surprising action. Is this a hug? This is what hugs feel like? It's a bit suffocating, is that okay? Gaster only squeezes him tenderly.

It's suffocating, but it's warm and...

Sans chokes on a breath. What?

Something wet rolls down his face. It's unidentified and strange and he can't help but shake and clutch at his creator's clothes as more of those droplets fall from his eyesockets.

What are these?

"It's okay to cry, buddy."

Crying? He's crying?

"Let those tears out, come on."

Oh. Tears.

They spend an hour like that, Gaster holding his distraught child as sobs wrack his tiny frame, both a bit terrified and confused, but feeling a little better once they go back to the labs.

Chapter Text

The scarf is a dull red, large enough to function as a pillow for his aching skull if he folds it. It's soft, and he can't tell what kind of stitch was used to knit it.

But it's familiar. That's the thing that keeps Sans invested in his inspection of the scarf. He spreads it out on his bed, pleasantly surprised to see that it goes past the length of his mattress, and folds it again. He skims his phalanges across the red.

It's really soft. It feels like he could sleep just from touching it.

Sans shakes his head of the thought. Bad Sans, you're doing an investigation, not a nap.

He raises it above and lets the cloth spill from his hands like liquid, the simultaneously dull yet vibrant red unfolding again. Like a waterfall, he muses.

He goes stock still.

Before smacking himself in the face. He can't be scared of Waterfall, he's going to be a scientist in the future! He'll have to go there eventually, and he can't let some stupid fear of drowning stop him.

Besides, he can't drown anyway. He doesn't have lungs.

The little skeleton lowers the scarf, his eyelights' color dulling to a soft, mild grey. Why did that happen? Why did that person show him that? Did he...dust from drowning?

Well, Sans won't be the same as him. He'll be more careful than that person.

For some unexplainable reason, he feels like crying again. Crying is weird and embarrassing— just remembering the giant wet spot he left on Gaster's clothes makes him want to hide, but he understands that it's okay to cry. That it's okay because it means that you'll feel a little better after crying.

Sans lets out a groan at the memory of crying himself to sleep against his creator. That's too embarrassing! He doesn't know why it would be embarrassing when he already knows it's okay, but he's still embarrassed.

He wraps the scarf around himself, hiding his strangely warm skull in the red. He doesn't remember closing his eyesockets shut, but when he opens them, he immediately notices the blue glow inside his cocoon of soft, comfy scarf.

He's flustered and blushing. That's new.

And cute. That's very cute. Sans vaguely recalls how in that person's life, people who blushed when flustered were considered adorable, so that must mean he's adorable.

Isn't that a step up from being cute?

Sans flicks his hazy gaze downwards when a separate glow starts to show. It's his soul, bright and pretty as always. Which means that he's bright and pretty as well!

Oddly enough, he squirms and flops on his side at the thought, both of his little glows getting even brighter. The bed makes him bounce as he curls into a ball, trying to calm himself down before he combusts.

Why would he combust? Complimenting monsters is a good past time isn't it? He's a monster and complimenting himself, so it should be doubly good, right?

The little skeleton kicks his legs, rolling onto his front and peeking down his shirt to see his soul. He probably should calm down, he actually can't think straight like this.

"Calm down," Sans tells his soul sternly, immediately glad when it listens, the light fading slightly.

Justice and patience. Patience and justice.

He smiles at the colors, burrowing further into the scarf to leech off the warmth from it and his soul.

Suddenly, he hears a steady knock on his door before it swings open, and he pops his skull out of the cloth, curious yet already knowing who it is. Only one person visits him.

Gaster's ever-present smile seems to liven up when their eyelights meet. Sans' notices the paper bag in one of his hands, the other one clutching a book he's never seen before. There's a logo on the bag that Sans can see from the hole in his creator's hand, though he can't make out what it is.

The scientist approaches the bed and his mini-scientist sits up on the mattress, clearly questioning what the items are.

Gaster smiles gently at the endearing picture his protegé makes, the scarf draped across his neck and the bottom half of his face as large, white eyelights look up at him.

"Hello Sans," He greets quietly, settling himself on the chair beside the bed. "Enjoying the old scarf I see."

The blue blush that spreads nearly causes Gaster to clutch at the spot where his soul is. Sans averts his eyes, nodding curtly.

"'s comfy."

"That's good, take care of it for me alright? It's rather precious to me."

The younger skeleton nods rapidly, his face set in one that spoke of heavy promise. The scientist huffs, and puts the brown paper bag and book in front of his creation.

"I thought you'd like these," He gestures to the objects, seeing how Sans eyes them with intense interest and curiosity, tugging down the scarf from his skull a little.

"Go ahead."

The moment Gaster says those words, Sans immediately reached for the book, searching for the title. Seeing nothing on the back or front of the dark blue book, he opens it. He blinks when there's nothing in the pages either, looking back at Gaster in confusion.

His creator only smiles, curving his sockets upward. "Write your own book," He tells Sans. "Put in whatever you want there, entries, stories, whatever you want in your book, you can write it."

"You should write a book."

Sans' sockets widen, his eyelights becoming bigger as they seem to sparkle. He's still confused as to why his creator would give him this, but he's happy.

"I already write enough, you wanna see me pull all-nighters trying to meet deadlines?"

He's never written much before, only helping with reports and checking off on lists.

There's a big sense of familiarity with the thought of writing something, in his very own book. It's more familiar than the scarf, and Sans clutches the book closer to his chest— ribcage.

"thank you." His response is muffled by the scarf.

Gaster continues to smile, yet for some reason he looks a little sad. Sans wants to ask, but his gaze lands on the paper bag. Curiosity overtakes him, and he looks between the bag and Gaster. His creator huffs again (is that his way of laughing?) and nods.

Sans lays the book down beside him with care and picks up the paper bag. The logo is more visible this close, but Sans doesn't recognize it. It's a simple circle with some kind of bottle and something else he can't identify inside it.

"???" He makes a soft, confused noise. When he opens the bag, he's hit by a delicious aroma, and he spends a few moments stuck between heaven and reality.

This...food? This is food? What kind of food is this and why does it smell so good?

Taking out a wrapped...thing and a tall paper cup with a cover, he realizes with a start that it's fast food.

He tilts his head. Fast food? Does that mean that the food is fast? Or is it made quickly?

The inside of his mouth fills with drool that he didn't know he could make. It smells delicious and he wants to eat but Gaster is right there and he's sure that it's rude to eat if the other person doesn't have food yet and—

"You can eat."

Bless Gaster. He thinks vehemently, peeling off the wrapper and taking out some fries he notices still in the bag. When Sans takes a bite of the burger, he almost cries.

It's so Good??? This shouldn't be possible??

This is called a burger.

Sans blinks away tears from his eyesockets and looks at Gaster like he hung up the stars, thankful and feeling blessed.

Burger. Burg. I love burgers.

The little skeleton jolts when his creator chuckles. Despite the quiet nature of it, it definitely happened.

His eyelights turn into stars. He's never heard Gaster laugh before! Or if he has, then he doesn't remember it. Gaster has a very cool laugh, it's deep and soothing.

Sans takes another bite and fidgets, blissful and glad that he's alive to experience a burger.

"where did you get this?"

"Oh, from an old friend. I think you'll meet him soon enough."

---

The eighth time Sans remembers something different is when he's back in the room where Papyrus sleeps in.

The baby skeleton is a little bigger than before, but it'll take some time before he's able to walk or even get out of the container.

Sans wonders how his little brother can sleep with all that water inside and around him. It's obvious that some of that liquid gets in uncomfortable places.

Gaster's doing paperwork he almost forgot about, busy with checking over Papyrus' vitals and spending time with the both of them, so he left Sans with his brother for a bit to finish up the papers.

The smaller skeleton stares at the screen showing his little brother's image unblinkingly.

Papyrus looks too familiar. So many things are familiar to Sans lately even though he's sure he's never seen them before. Though it's likely that that person is sending his own memories to Sans, for whatever reason. A last wish? Revenge? Is that person hoping to be remembered by someone?

That's probably it. Sans doesn't think that anyone else remembers someone drowning in Waterfall.

But why him?

The door slides open with a loud noise, startling the little skeleton into letting go of the screen. The screen retracts and settles to its usual post by the giant glass tube.

Sans whips around to see the rude person.

It's...another monster. Not one that Sans immediately recognizes, but he thinks he's seen this them before. A fish-looking monster with gills and blue skin. It's strange to see a monster with honest-to-god hair though.

It's almost as red as the scarf, but darker. He buries a hand in the soft red, eyeing the monster with trepidation.

"Ngggahhh!! Where is Mr. Gaster?!"

He flinches at the angry voice, furrowing his brows in suspicion. Why are they looking for Gaster? And why here, of all locations? No one comes here other than him and his creator.

Sans jerks back at the sudden movement from the fish monster, them pointing a finger right in his face. He blinks when he notices how they're only slightly taller than him, and realizes that they're probably around the same age as him.

"You!!! Where is Mr. Gaster, tell me where he is now!" The fish roars, making him grimace and bring his scarf up higher as he gives them a dirty look. That's way too loud. They're going to wake Papyrus up and every other monster within miles!

"he's not here," He answers bluntly.

"What?! What do you mean, he's not here?! The other nerds told me he was right here!" They give him a glare. He gives one back, narrowing his eyesockets harshly. "Are you hiding him??!"

Why are they so loud?! Sans wants to snap at her, but Gaster probably won't like it if he's not friendly with other kids.

"i said it already, he's not here. he just left."

"WHAT! That can't be it! You might really be hiding him and you're just lying!!"

"tsk. he left to do work, obviously. and i'm not hiding him!"

"What was that 'tsk'?! That's something only people with something to hide would say!!"

Sans wants to scream. They're too hotheaded for him to beat back with words and it's annoying.

"how did you even get in here?" He cuts in, glaring. "only scientists are allowed in here."

"You're a scientist?" They give him a quick once over and scrunch their face up. "Huh, you DO look like a giant nerd."

She's just a kid, she's just a kid, she's just a kid.

Wait, 'she'?

"Undyne's speech just gives me the chills."

"just answer the question. you're clearly not a scientist, so you're not allowed in here." Responding with ire is oddly freeing, but Sans doesn't let that distract him, letting that ire fuel his glare.

He hopes she gets cold feet and leaves.

The monster twitches and looks away for a split second before forcing herself to glare back at him, but that split second was all he needed to know.

"you broke in." He whispers in shock and horror.

"uGH— NO I DIDN'T! THE SCIENTISTS LET ME LOOK FOR GASTER, DUH! They didn't say anything about prohibitions!!" She yells, squaring her shoulders. But Sans isn't listening to any excuses, because—

"there's literally a sign on the door that no one except for Doctor Gaster and his associates are allowed in this room!"

The anger ebbs away a bit and Sans is slightly confused. She just broke in and completely ignored her manners, why is he getting less angry? Now it feels more like...exasperation.

"WELL, I didn't see it!! You should make your signs bigger!"

The skeleton stares blankly at the fish monster until she starts fidgeting from the sudden silence. Then, she throws her hands up and stomps a foot, shouting again.

"FINE! I BROKE IN! I'm sorry, okay?! I got an important reason though!"

He's not that angry anymore, more irritated with her volume and rudeness than anything. Out of curiosity, he starts to question her.

"what's so important that you broke into a staff-only room?"

"Well," Sans' narrowed eyesockets go back to their wide, natural state. Mildly grateful that the strain of keeping a glare isn't there anymore and interested in the hothead's uncharacteristic hesitating.

"A human fell underground."

"The first human that fell was called Chara right?"

He feels his eyes widen further.

"wow, seriously?"

"YEAH! And they're pretty hurt so someone's gotta get the— DOCTOR!!" The fish grabs him by his sweater and shakes him. "TELL ME WHERE DOCTOR GASTER IS, NOW!"

"ugh." Sans brushes her hands off him, a bit annoyed, and stills his swirling head. He's happy that his skull didn't pop off from the force. He was pretty sure it would for a second there. "fine, just don't do that again."

---

Gaster was surprised to say the least, when him and the fish monster ("Call me Undyne, nerd!" "i'm sans.") went to fetch him. His creator probably wouldn't have been so surprised if Undyne hadn't been carrying him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, but he was, since the fish was carrying him like a sack of potatoes.

Apparently he was 'too slow'.

'Slow'. Psh.

Sans isn't slow, he just likes to save energy. He's on battery-saving mode 24/7.

He tries to keep the pout off his face until Undyne and his creator leave. Unfortunately, Gaster thought it necessary to bring him along, so there won't be a chance to let the pout loose anytime soon.

"It would be beneficial to have someone keep the prince occupied while I and our majesties talk." The scientist says to him as they ride the Riverperson's boat.

Basically, Sans is going to be the distraction.

"fair enough." He mumbles.

In all honesty, Sans didn't want to go. He was content to keep watching Papyrus all day, not to mention he doesn't even like talking to other monsters if they're not saying anything interesting.

But then again, Sans thinks a lot of things are interesting. Maybe it won't be that bad. Maybe.

They get off the boat and head to the royals' place of residence, New Home.

Chapter Text

New Home is strangely monochromatic.

When Sans had been off with Gaster on a trip for the CORE plans, New Home was one of the locations that Gaster immediately wrote off. Something about how it would surely become a tourist spot for the local monsters in the area, which was something Gaster wanted to avoid at all costs.

Sans completely understood. He doesn't think that a power plant should ever be something that anyone can enter whenever they want.

Why would they even want to explore it? It's dangerous.

Oh, right. Novelties are scarce in the underground.

The little skeleton frowns as he gazes at his surroundings, clutching at a part of Gaster's coat and making sure that he doesn't tug on it by keeping pace with his creator. The barrier hadn't really been a thing that he thought about until recently.

If he were honest, Sans thought that it was getting annoying, the barrier that is. It's an obstacle that they haven't gotten over even after several centuries, who wouldn't be annoyed?

It's good that Gaster and his team are looking for ways to get rid of it though. That way, Sans and everyone else can get to see the skies and stars again.

Mood now happier, he almost skips but remembers himself at the last second; if he skips he won't be matching footsteps with Gaster— uh.

Come to think of it, why are they walking instead of using a shortcut?

"gaster?" He doesn't like shortcuts that much, they feel strange, but if Gaster's going to check on the human then they should hurry up, right? "why aren't we using a shortcut?"

Gaster's smile is a little flat.

Sans wonders why.

The scientist then blinks and looks at Sans, seeming a bit confused. "Shortcut— oh, you mean ports?" He sweeps his gaze around the vicinity and sighs. "Perhaps it would be best for us to use a port, we can't keep our majesties waiting after all."

The younger monster tilts his head in question, but grasps his creator's hand when the other extends it, taking care not to brush against the hole.

"Hold tight, Sans."

---

Sans expected the royals' place of residence to be a castle. It's surprising to see a cute yet non-descript house instead of a majestic, golden palace. It's a bit underwhelming, but way better than having to feel antsy every few seconds because of large open space.

"Surprised? The palace is connected to this house." He hears Gaster say, and he watches as his creator knocks on the door, then brushes off his sleeves and shoulders.

The door opens after several seconds and the distant, muffled sound of something soft landing on the floor. Repeatedly?

When he takes a good look at the monster in the doorway, he realizes why.

She's the fluffiest and prettiest monster he's ever seen to date.

"Oh god."

For once, the memory corresponds with his thought process. Sans can feel how his skull heats up the more he stares at the monster lady, and he fumbles to hold a part of Gaster's coat, hiding in his scarf.

"My Queen," Gaster says, bowing, not minding the way Sans bends with the motion.

"Doctor Gaster," the lady greets. Her voice is soft and soothing and caramel-like. It feels like if he opened his mouth he could taste the sweetness in the air. Sans wants to bury himself somewhere and never be found, he can't handle the sheer vibe this lady is giving off.

"I'm glad you're finally here. Would you kindly take a look at the child— oh my!"

Sans just knows that she took notice of him.

"Who is this? Is this your protegé, doctor?" The young skeleton peeks out of his scarf, skull flushed a bright blue that makes the goat monster lady coo and bend down slightly.

Gaster lays a hand on his skull gently. "Yes, my queen." The goat monster gives the scientist a look that has him huffing. "Sans, this is Toriel, our queen and an old friend."

"I prefer Asgore to Toriel."

Sans twists a hand in his soft, comforting red, nodding jerkily. He waves at Toriel who smiles at him in an accurate personification of his scarf, and he mumbles out a quick 'hi'.

"Hello, child." Toriel laughs in delight. "The two of you should come in! Sans, I'm sure you'll get along with my son Asriel." She beckons the both of them inside the house and they wipe their feet on the rug before entering.

She's familiar. Another person that's familiar to him when he hasn't met them before.

But that person clearly knows her, preferring Asgore to Toriel.

Toriel, huh.

Oh! She's the brains of the throne!

He can't believe he forgot all about it, she's the goat mom and the smarter of the royal pair! Sans wants to ask her about her duties and what she does, but he doesn't think that's polite when they're only here to assist their majesties.

Sans listens to his creator and the queen talk about what happened prior to their arrival, keeping a hand firmly grasped in Gaster's coat but taking care not to tug so much.

A human child fell from the surface. Their prince, Asriel, found them and took them home for healing.

If it were anyone but Asriel or if the human wasn't a child, they probably would've been attacked on sight, ending up dead and their soul taken to the king.

The thought comes with a clarity and darkness that makes him furrow his brows.

He follows the two adults easily enough but it'll probably tire him out, he's small with short legs after all.

That's the last thing in his head before he feels a pair of hands lift him up.

It nearly makes him panic and try his luck at shortcutting away— he hasn't perfected it yet but he can and will— then he realizes it's only Gaster. Toriel peers at him with a warm, amused smile as he's held above ground; it looks like his creator is having her inspect him?

"He's perfectly healthy and happy!" She chirps, clasping her furry paws together. Sans flushes in confusion. What is happening? Why is he being carried? Please let him down.

Thankfully, Gaster puts him back on the floor once Toriel gets a good look at him and nods; his creator gives him a vaguely apologetic expression when Sans stares at him dubiously.

What was that?

A fluffy paw sweeps across his head and the little skeleton lets out a small sound that, in the future, he would never admit as being a squeak. One of his hands come up to touch the spot where Toriel patted him, a blue blush on his face again.

He tries not to pout, he really does.

He tries to ignore the quiet laughter that chimes like bells in the wind— no, no that's wrong. Stop it, Sans. He scolds himself.

They're in what looks like a living room, a dining table in the corner and a reading chair by the fireplace. There's also a little goat monster sitting in it, a book open on his lap.

That's...the prince? For a reason not even he knows, Sans feels his sockets sting in the same way they do when he wants to cry when his eyelights land on the little prince.

There's a mix of complicated feelings stirring in his ribcage, and he furrows his brows. He hasn't felt this strongly about another monster, is it that person again? Is he sending him emotions again? They seem so...sad and happy at the same time.

"Aw, my little Azzy!"

"Hey, that's MY son, not yours."

"Yeah but he's my nephew, so you can suck it."

Azriel.

That's not right, last he checked their prince's name was Asriel. With an 's', not a 'z'.

Sans shakes his head free of any thoughts, deciding that that's enough remembering for now, and he glances up at Gaster. The scientist is still conversing with Toriel, but their discussion seems a bit heated.

He makes eye contact with Toriel when there's a short pause. He tries not to tense or blush as she grins at him and calls her son over. The small goat in the green sweater perks up when he hears her voice and swivels to look at them.

Asriel blinks rapidly at the two newcomers. He's seen Doctor Gaster in passing and during royal matters, but he's never seen the other skeleton before.

"Asriel, you know the doctor," his mother lays a hand on his shoulder and Asriel nods, his eyes glancing shyly at the smaller skeleton. "This is Sans, his protegé."

"Hi." The fluffiest little goat monster with the cutest face Sans has ever seen waves hesitantly at him, and Sans has half the mind to smoosh his cheeks together.

Sans knows he's cute, but to see someone possibly cuter than him? It could deal damage to him if he were a lesser monster with a larger ego.

The skeleton waves back, smiling. "heya, i'm sans."

"I'm Asriel."

"you like ja—m?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah... yeah! I like strawberry jam the most," Asriel takes a second to register the question, confused, but with all the enthusiasm of a true child bounces back quickly.

Sans wipes imaginary sweat from his skull; he nearly said something else that would make no context whatsoever, though at least with the topic of jam it wouldn't be too out of place with children, kind of.

Why did he almost say that? He doesn't even know what jazz is!

That person is getting ruder by the minute, butting into his conversations like that. Sans does not appreciate it.

"We'll leave you two to get to know each better, alright? Doctor Gaster still has to see the human," Toriel tells the both of them. Asriel looks up at his mother with pleading eyes. "Mom, tell me when they're finally okay, please?"

The goat lady smiles helplessly, nodding.

Then the adults leave the children on their own, and their footsteps fade into quiet.

There's a silence that stretches out for a moment or two before Sans asks what book Asriel was reading. He notes down how the other monster brightens at the mention and fiddles with the hem of his sweater as he answers.

"you wanna read together?" the skeleton offers. Asriel beams at him, nearly making Sans startle at how bright it is despite the shy attitude.

They both choose to settle on the rug by the fireplace. Sans could nap right now just from how soft and warm it is, like his scarf. He snuggles into the red, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Asriel. The goat child seems a little tense, probably by the fact that they're virtually strangers to each other.

"hey, can i ask you something?"

"Hm? Uh, sure! Go ahead." One of Asriel's small, fluffy paws curl around the edges of the book about myths and legends on the surface. Humans are so interesting, thinking that producing simple fire from hands is impossible; it's disappointing that they've forgotten all about monsters though.

That just means they'll have to remind humans, then.

So far there's one mention of their species though.

"what's the human's name?"

One of the legends in the book, a page they were currently on, was about a mountain called Ebott.

It's said that any human who travels through the thick forests of Mt. Ebott disappear. Eaten by the mountain itself, or by the monsters residing within it.

Very funny.

"Their name? Before they fell unconscious they told me it was Chara..."

"chara? that's a pretty cool name."

Asriel cracks a smile at that. "Yeah! I think so too!" He turns his eyes away and his voice becomes sombre and concerned. "I hope they get well soon, they took a pretty bad fall."

Sans has no doubt that this 'Chara' human did. He read about how humans, even with their resilient and powerful souls, have some difficulties keeping their bodies protected. Didn't specify what kind of things they have to protect their bodies from though, but Sans assumes that it means that they have strong souls but fragile bodies.

He doesn't say anything about that. He has a feeling that Asriel could burst into the human's room in tears. That might cause their condition to worsen, so...

"humans are strong, don't worry about it."

The young prince's hopeful smile almost melts Sans' soul.

"He's too cute, bro."

The memory drifts in and out. Asriel is cute, Sans isn't sure if the other monster is as cute as he is though. Probably is.

"It's different from when he was fresh out of the womb. He was ugly,"

"That's your nephew you're talking about."

"Yeah, but he's also your son, so—"

Woah, that's uncalled for.

Yet he still has to tug his scarf higher so that any traces of a smothered grin can't be seen by anyone. Even if that person gets annoying at times, he's still funny. Sans likes that kind of humor.

"Anyway, he was really ugly."

Like an old tape, it continues to play in the back of his mind as him and Asriel go back to flipping through the pages, content with the companionship and silence.

"I loved him at first sight though."

"..Bro."

"Don't look at me like that. He's my nephew, of course I'd love him even if he's ugly or straight."

"You ruined it."

And like that time in Waterfall, Sans' mouth is dry and his ribcage feels heavy. Is there something wrong with his soul? Should he take a look at it? But he read that it's inappropriate to take out your soul if you're with a stranger or in public.

Unknowingly, he starts to stare at Asriel in the corner of his eyesocket.

"Little Azriel! If anyone tries to hurt you, I'll bully them."

---

Chara's okay.

The news makes Asriel deflate from relief and tension, and the relieved tears springing to life in his eyes makes Sans flinch in panic. He doesn't know how to calm a crying kid down!

Toriel's laugh is something blessed in that moment as she hugs her child, cuddling him close to her chest.

The two skeletons watch the scene, quiet. Coincidentally, it reminds the both of them of that time in Waterfall. Gaster squeezes Sans' shoulder gently; even if that time happened, the truth is that the scientist isn't a physical person. He doesn't do hugs or cuddles like the royal family, but the simple comforting touches like now are enough for Sans.

Faintly, the younger skeleton wonders where Asgore is. The goat dad that person prefers instead of the goat mom. Right now, Toriel is winning Sans over with how wonderful and pretty— gentle she is.

If that person likes the king more then he must be a good person. Better than Toriel, maybe?

King Asgore is kind to a fault.

He hopes so. He thinks he likes the royals a lot more now.

"Thank you for keeping my little Azzy company, Sans." Successfully keeping his blush down as proven by how his scarf doesn't have a glow, Sans nods, raising a brow at the nickname. Asriel whines a little.

"Mom, you promised not to call me that in public!"

"Oh my, does my little Azzy consider our own home as 'public'?" His mother teases.

Some part of Sans softens even further at the (for some reason) familiar scene. Has he seen something like this before?

Probably. Gaster did take him on a trip around the underground, there were lots of families around.

"Toriel, my queen." Gaster interjects smoothly, and it's only because Sans is close to his creator that he recognizes the vague exasperation in his expression. "My protegé and I will be on our way."

Toriel straightens up, laughter still in her eyes as she inclines her head regally.

"Of course, doctor. You may go," She pauses, eyes gazing at the smaller skeleton. There's a suspicion that immediately rises in him as he squints, realizing that her eyes aren't black, but a color he doesn't recognize yet.

"Oh, and do bring Sans along in the future, alright? It'd be nice for our children to be friends, wouldn't it?"

Said skeleton freezes, looking at Toriel with the blush he'd been trying to lock away.

Gaster sighs. His smile isn't flat anymore.

"Alright, Toriel. We'll be off."

Sans manages a wave goodbye to Asriel when the other child does, his fanged grin bright and excited and able to melt away at even the coldest of hearts and souls.

They shortcut home instead of taking the riverperson's ferry and his creator leaves him be in his room, curled up in his sheets and scarf and skull burning bright.

He stares at his soul with stars in his eyes, embarrassed by how happy he is.

He'll get to see little Azzy again.

Chapter Text

In the underground, where novelties are a rarity, news travels quickly. There are lots of gossip-mongers and people who talk too much, to the point where if someone were to give birth, by next week or after several days the entirety of monsterkind would know about it.

Undyne had a strong sense of duty, but at the end of the day she was a blabbermouth. So it came to no surprise when Sans found out that half if not most of the underground already knew about the human.

He'd given her a long, long look. He'd almost gotten a book thrown at him in return.

The fish monster apparently visits sometimes because her dad worked with the scientists, it's just that she never crossed paths with Sans before. Too bad he couldn't prolong that, since she decided that he 'needed to get out more' and 'get some bones cracking'.

Why would he want to do that? He's a skeleton, he needs his bones to function. Is she secretly really stupid?

Sans got a good scream directed at him for that comment. Or, well— It wasn't a good scream, he was sure that Undyne would've charged at him if he didn't have 1HP. As it were, she just yelled at him until he got up to shove a piece of his precious burger in her mouth.

("AAAAA— urghk— what the hel—?  Hm? Hey this is pretty good!"

"heh."

"...NEVERMIND. IT'S NOT!!")

She liked the taste of it but changed her mind after seeing how smug he was. No respect at all.

Undyne didn't go with them to the Dreemurs since her mom scolded her for just barging into a room that was off-limits and grounded her with more chores. Undyne's mom is pretty cool, he recognizes her from the time when she did the same thing; barging into the same room that was off-limits.

Sans didn't say anything about it though. Undyne could've used that as an argument to lessen her chores and he wasn't about to help her out after all that. It would've been funnier if Undyne actually hated doing chores, but turns out she doesn't.

Like he said, she might be a blabbermouth but she has a strong sense of duty. She's alright when she's being responsible, he thinks glumly.

He's disappointed that he doesn't dislike her more. If anything, it's like any malicious amusement he could have at her actions just doesn't happen? It's with the kind of fondness you'd expect from a friend...

Are him and Undyne friends?

...

Why is he questioning that now after twelve outings, five packs of shared food and two inside jokes?

He's pretty sure that's what friends have.

Sans curls a bony hand over the edge of the dark blue book that Gaster gave him, remembering how Asriel's fluffy paw did the same thing that time in the royals' home. His book already has a few pages filled, he hasn't reached even a quarter of it though.

He wonders when he'll get to see Asriel again.

Gaster hasn't been called for anything lately, so Sans doesn't have the opportunity to meet with Asriel yet. The little goat monster is probably getting to know the human better.

Sans will never admit to the pout that appears on his face when that thought crosses his mind. He's not jealous, he's just attached to Asriel. Especially since he has the potential to be cuter than him, which makes him a formidable...opponent?

Wait, that's not right. Sans wants to be friends with Asriel, not be his enemy.

He rubs his face with both hands, dropping his book on the ground. How is he going to be friends with the goat bro when he doesn't even know what to do? He doesn't even know what to think about Asriel other than he's cute and Sans really wants to smoosh their cheeks together.

They'd be a lethal combination! Cute meet cute!

He lets out a soft whine as he flops on his side, tugging his scarf over his skull in frustration. He ends up bringing down a stack with him.

A book digs into one of his ribs, reminding him that he's supposed to be studying right now instead of agonizing over friendships.

But how is he going to focus? This is going to be stuck in his head all day.

"I just want to hug the poor goat bro."

Sans doesn't know why that person would call Asriel 'poor goat bro' but maybe it's to match with goat mom and goat dad; and they did make a good point just now about wanting to hug Asriel. He wants to do the same thing.

He sighs explosively, pulling himself from the pile of books he knocked over. This won't do— maybe he can ask Gaster about seeing the Dreemurrs. Toriel won't turn away a playdate for her son, right?

He hopes so.

---

Undyne slams her hands on the table, disturbing the pencil formation Sans had going. He gives her a glare, sweeping the pencils closer to him so he can put them all back in the case.

"Bone buddy!"

"yeah, fishcracker?"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!! Whaddya say we sneak into the castle?!"

"...why."

"Monsters say that Asgore is the strongest, right?!"

"yes?"

"I bet that I could knock him down in SECONDS!!"

"i don't think so, 'dyne. that's a sucker's bet."

Undyne puffs her chest out at the nickname, proud and pleased for a brief few seconds before she scowls at him.

"Well I'm going! And I'll show everyone that I'M the strongest monster!!" The fish monster declares. Sans nearly rolls his eyelights but stops himself, if he does that when she's looking then he'll get into a shouting match with her again.

If it wasn't obvious enough, he'll say it. He doesn't like shouting. Or anything that makes him waste time and energy, really.

Though, Sans is curious about Asgore. For all the bias that person shows for the king, he's never actually gotten a real reason why he'd prefer Asgore. Instead of Toriel, who's really nice and caring.

He forces down the instinctive blush and warmth. Undyne could be a pain in the butt if she sees it.

"ok then."

"—AND THEN I'LL— huh? Woah, what?" The skeleton blinks, apparently she'd been doing a speech before he interrupted. Oh well.

"let's go to the castle. if you can land a hit on asgore then i'll do your exercises with you." He offers, knowing that Undyne would do pretty much anything if it meant getting him to actually move. Sure enough, the fire in her eyes is fierce enough that he almost sweats from the heat of it.

He really, really hopes that they won't regret it. Sans has only been to the castle once, and that was yesterday when he and Gaster passed through it. He didn't know that his creator used to have a room in the intimidatingly beautiful building, but Gaster went to fetch some stray papers he left on accident.

Anyway, Sans is going to try and shortcut to the castle. He doesn't know about his little fish friend here but he won't mind bringing her along.

Undyne looms over him. He averts his eyes, surprised and getting increasingly nervous.

"We," She says lowly, in a tone that does make him sweat this time. "Are going to be running around the entire underground together, you'll see."

Once she leans away, he breathes a sigh of relief, adjusting the red around his neck and pouting (he's not!). He doesn't think that Undyne has a chance at actually hitting the king of monsters, but that was nerve-wracking.

Undyne can be intimidating sometimes! Surprisingly.

"I'm going on ahead, you better be there or I'll start visiting you everyday!!"

Sans' skull shoots up in horror. He can't handle any more hours with her! Often, he's exhausted from experiments and test runs, if he adds in the fish monster's energy-sapping personality then he'll get really mean.

Even if Sans knows he isn't the friendliest kid around, he doesn't actually want to be mean. In fact, he's always holding back some of his meaner comments whenever he sees someone do something completely stupid.

And Gaster is never happy when Sans tired and snapping at everything and everyone. He always looks sad and guilty, he doesn't want to see that on his creator's face.

He almost shortcuts right then and there but thankfully pauses to pick up his book and the case of pencils that Undyne should've brought with her, its hers after all.

Muttering under his breath, he clutches the items close to his ribcage and reminds himself of the castle's appearance.

Then all he can see is the void.

In between one blink and the next, he gets to his destination. He shakes off the empty feeling in his soul that always comes with entering that abyss.

The void is weird and scary, but if you don't panic and know what you're doing then you're fine. Nothing lives in the void, but nothing dies either. That's how Gaster explained it to him. Nothing exists in the void, but everything exists at the same time?

He's not sure. Explaining how to shortcut is hard, explaining how the void works even moreso.

Sans is happy that he didn't even feel dizzy this time though. Last time he tried it by himself, he had to sit down for a minute to get the empty feeling off. It's weird, he doesn't know how else to describe it.

He looks around the interior, nodding when he sees that he's in a garden. It's a pretty garden, though he has no idea what the names of the flowers are. They're blue, like his magic, his favorite color!

Is that right? He can have a favorite color, right?

Fiddling with the end of his scarf, he approaches the small blue flowers. They're small, some of them haven't even bloomed yet but they're cute. Like him.

The bushes go as far as he can see from where he's standing. He spends minutes in the garden, taking in the view and feeling himself relax. Tension he didn't know existed disappearing as he waits for Undyne to arrive, knowing that she won't be there anytime soon.

"Howdy—"

Immediately, the tension comes back and Sans jumps, accidentally launching himself into the bushes in front of him and taking in a faceful of leaf and flower.

"Oh, oh dear. Are you alright, child?!" Soft, yet strong hands lift him from the leaves as he wheezes and coughs. Ugh, he thinks that some of them got inside his skull— yep, there it is; he knocks a hand against his head, hearing a faint rustling and rattling from inside.

The little skeleton cringes at the way it reverbrates through his skull, moving slowly to look up at who startled and saved him.

" King Fluffybuns."

He has to wheeze again at the name. If he didn't he might've laughed, but since he's in front of the king, he can't do that.

oh.

Oh.

Oh no.

This is King Asgore that's holding him.

His eyesockets widen in panic, and he freezes, eyelights locking onto the concerned face of the king.

"Child, are you—?"

"i'm so sorry i trespassed!" He slaps a hand against his teeth, white eyelights wobbling at his error. He just cut off the king!

Sans hears a deep, relieved chuckle that he can feel from how close he is to the goat monster. "It's alright, I wasn't expecting a visitor, that's all."

He eyes Asgore with confusion. Wouldn't kings normally be "off with their heads" the moment they hear an ounce of disrespect? Or was that a thing for queens... oh no, is Toriel going to—

"Really, it's alright," Asgore soothes, patting Sans on the head; he pauses when the skeleton flinches, the motion having jostled the few foreign objects still in his skull. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Okay, he says. Sans thinks in supressed shock and panic. I've never heard a royal be informal— He thinks of Asriel, and amends his thought.

I've never heard of a king speaking in informal speech.

Sans remembers that Asgore asked him a question, and nods sharply, making a soft noise when it moves the objects even further.

The king's fluffy eyebrows furrow together, obviously he's concerned.

The resemblance between Asriel and Asgore is so stark that he feels himself soften and relax, which might be the last thing he wants since he's in the presence of his majesty, but he can't help it.

They're all so soft and fluffy, he really can't.

"i..." Sans swallows, shifting in discomfort. "i think something went in my skull."

Asgore blinks in shock and goes to cradle his head, hovering his fluffy paws over his skull like he wants to do something but doesn't know what. "Do you need help getting it out?" He asks, and Sans looks at him in horror.

"no! no, it's fine. i can do it myself, sir."

The goat monster gives a small chuckle at his reaction but returns to concern, dropping his paws.

"I'll be here if you need me. Should I look away?"

This is by far the weirdest situation he's found himself in.

He says a quick "yes please" and watches as Asgore turns around, shoulders visibly stiff and tense.

Sans works on getting the leaves, petals— is that a stick?? out of his head. He's not that relaxed now that the situation is sinking in, but he doesn't think it's that bad. Asgore is...

kind to a fault.

And he's 75% sure he won't get in trouble for trespassing on royal grounds without permission. He's also a kid, surely he'll be lenient on a kid?

The last disgusting item falls out of his eyesocket, making him cringe and shudder at the feeling. This is the first time he's had something actually get into his skull, and so many on the first time too. What luck.

If this is punishment for breaking and entering though, it's not so bad. It's better than getting beheaded or something else far worse.

Sweat beads on the back of his head, the stress finally getting to him.

Asgore's back is still turned, so Sans goes up to him and tugs on his royal purple cape. He makes eye contact with him as the king tuns to face him, bending down on one knee.

...How thoughtful.

"Is everything okay now?" Asgore prods gently, as soft as his paws. Sans nods shyly, twisting his hands in his scarf for comfort.

"is it really fine that i broke in...?" The little skeleton's shoulders hunch up, fearing the worst despite all the reassurance he gave himself. The goat dad smiles softly, laying a paw on Sans' head and patting it.

"Of course. The castle isn't something that only the royal family uses, there are many who visit everyday to see the halls, it isn't strange at all."

What? That's...new. He's never heard of monsters doing that before. That's weird.

"oh." His response is a mumble that's muffled by his scarf.

"Though, may I ask what your reason is for visiting..?"

Undyne wants to fight you and knock you flat on your butt.

...Undyne!

It's been awhile, where is she??

He flushes blue, thinking of a way to word his answer without offending the monster. Sans grins sheepishly at the goat dad, tugging his red scarf up and rocking back and forth on his heels.

"i'm uh, really sorry. my fish friend wants to fight you and..."

"KING ASGORE!!"

Well, there she is.

The king raises a fluffy brow, confused. He glances back at the little skeleton before him, who only smiles apologetically, then directs his gaze to the garden entrance.

A slimy fish comes barelling in, wild grin on her face.

"FIGHT ME!"

---

It's safe to say that Undyne couldn't land a single hit on King Fluffybuns.

Sans stares in amusement at her exhausted form, lying on the ground facedown as Asgore hovers over her in worry.

He can tell that she's probably feeling really humiliated right now, especially since he's right there watching her defeat when she practically promised that she'd win and have him doing laps around the underground by the end of it.

"NNNNGAAAAHH!! Damn it!"

Woah there, buddy. Watch your language, that's the king in front of you.

Then again, he's 100% sure now that Asgore wouldn't lift a single finger against a child. Throughout the whole spar he was on the defense, not fighting back when Undyne was going all out, almost like he refused to fight.

"I'm sorry if you got hurt, you must be tired..."

The goat dad looks guilty. There's a bad taste in Sans' mouth at the sight of his expression. Please don't look so sad, it's too similar to Gaster's.

Then the goat monster's face clears up a little, like he thought of something nice.

"Excuse me," He says hesitantly, like he's trying to find the correct words to say.

"Do you want to know how to beat me?"

"..Wha?"

Huh.

Now he can really see why that person likes Asgore more than Toriel.

---

Him and Undyne took a ferry to the edge of Snowdin, where the Nice Cream guy sold his nice cream.

They're both exhausted fron the day's events; Sans from the internalized screaming and panic he had to endure, and Undyne from fighting Asgore and the blow she took to her pride.

Just to be nice, he thought it'd be nice to get his fish friend some nice nice cream.

"mweh-heh—" He giggles into his scarf.

Immediately, he stops.

He can feel Undyne's incredulous stare boring into the side of his head, but he ignores it.

He must really be out of it if that slipped out. He didn't even know he could still make that! He thought it stopped after his 6th year of existence!

Sans wants to bury himself in the snow. It would be a good plan, to keep his skull from overheating and to block anyone from seeing the blue creeping up it.

Today, the bunny manning the nice cream cart is brown. He seems nice, bright grin and cheerful eyes that are identical to the previous bunny. He's half-convinced that they're all just clones of each other.

Once he gets back to Undyne with their nice cream (sea tea flavored), they lounge on a bench under a tree.

The snow is pretty.

Snowdin's pretty cheery too, it's like an eternal Christmas— no, that's wrong, it's Gyftmas. It's like an eternal Gyftmas wonderland in Snowdin.

When he grows up, he thinks he'd like to settle down here. With Gaster and his little brother Papyrus.

He takes another taste of the nice cream, humming.

Undyne's unusually silent beside him, but that's fine. She has some things to think about; she may be a hothead but she's smart, it's why he still hangs out with her after all.

"So," Darn. Spoke too soon.

He tenses.

"'Mweh—' MRRMPH!!"

Sans feels no remorse as Undyne struggles in the snow, content to keep eating his well-deserved treat.

Chapter Text

Sans is happy. He's really excited.

The little skeleton's practically rattling from the anticipation as he writes down a quick entry for the day in the book his creator gave him, bouncing in place.

"I'm going to see Azzy today!"

His eyelights are blown wide in the form of stars as he completes the simple sentence and closes his book; he can't wait to see Asriel again! Is Asgore going to be there? Toriel's definitely going to be there.

Sans doesn't bother to fight off the ecstatic blush on his face, grinning unabashedly in an uncommon sight.

Gaster always smiles, but it's rarely genuine. Sans, though? He rarely smiles, but it's always genuine when he does.

Said scientist watches fron the door, his own genuine smile amused. He can't recall a time he's seen his child this pleased other than the time he first ate a burger.

This day he received a request from their majesties. A request to eat dinner with them and check on the human child in case there was a complication, and lastly, to bring Sans with. He thought that his protegé would be delighted, but not this much.

A smile is a good look on the child, he decides.

Sans adjusts his scarf so that it won't be loose around his neck, going over to Gaster and holding onto the offered hand. He beams at the brief bemused look at how quickly he took the hand, fully aware that he's usually not that bold with Gaster.

But he's going to see Asriel again, he has to put an effort in taking the initiative with how shy the goat monster is.

The little skeleton nods at the soft question of "ready?" from his creator, stilling and tucking himself closer to the other.

When he blinks, they stand in front of the Dreemurr home. He lets go of his creator's hand and clutches at long coat instead, careful as always with how strongly he pulls at it. Gaster knocks.

Sans can't quite help himself from jumping from one foot to another as they wait for someone to answer the door. The minute it creaks open, it's obvious how flustered Sans is, worry and anxiety starting to melt away at his excited demeanor.

He's never felt this way before. Similarly, he's never been in this situation before; he's never had to make a friend until now! What if he says the wrong thing and next time he won't even be allowed to come over?

The thought makes his eyesockets sting as he fidgets and buries his skull in his scarf.

But then when he looks to see who opened the door, all of his anxieties wash away, replaced with a familiar warmth. It's Toriel, the same soft and gentle smile on her features as she greets Gaster.

Now, he's flustered for a different reason.

These moodswings are going to kill him from lack of air— and he doesn't even need air! They're really not giving him any time to breathe.

"Hello, Sans." The same chiming voice acknowledges him as Toriel bends down slightly, paws on her knees. Sans spares a smile for her, glowing blue. The goat lady giggles and pets him on the skull.

He has to look down, he can't meet her eyes.

"Come on in you two, Chara and Asriel are in their room but they'll be down soon enough." she says.

Sans and Gaster wipe their clad feet in an ingrained habit before they enter, and Toriel smothers another laugh. They look so alike, it wouldn't be strange to call them family at all.

The mention of Chara makes the younger skeleton perk up. The casual fondness that the goat monster talks about the two children clues him in on how well the human is settling in. What are they like? If Asriel's getting left alone with them then they must be nice enough, or they've gotten close in the short time that Sans has been away.

Maybe he's a little jealous. He wants to spend more time with the little goat monster too.

They're back in the living room. Everything looks the same but there's a vase of flowers in the hallway with the stairs that he hadn't recognized, so it should be a new addition.

He wonders if Chara picked them.

Toriel inclines her head at them. "Make yourselves at home, the pie's still not finished but there's tea on the table if you want," She continues smiling, but thankfully it seems like Sans is getting desensitized since his head doesn't flood with heat and color. "You already know what to do, doctor."

Sans tilts his head, blinking. Do what?

"Alright, Toriel."

The goat monster's smile brightens, and the little skeleton is hit with the worry that maybe smiling too much could hurt someone. Doesn't her face hurt with how much smiling she does? She leaves shortly after to call the children over.

"You heard the queen, Sans," Gaster huffs, a fond crease to his sockets that has Sans eyeing him intently. That's a new expression! "We must make ourselves at home or she may just force us to eat one too many slices of pie."

That's...mildly concerning. Can skeletons get upset stomachs when they don't even have organs? Still, Gaster and Toriel must be close friends. He wonders where Asgore fits into the equation.

He goes motionless when his creator suddenly picks him up and settles him against his shoulder, an arm supporting him by the legs.

What? What?? This is the second time he's been lifted like this by Gaster??? It's really fishy how both occasions happen in the Dreemurr house.

Sans near gawks at the scientist, one of his tiny hands grasping at a shoulder as they approach the book case by the fireplace. He immediately notices how if he were to crane his head he could probably see the top of the shelf, and he blinks.

The fireplace isn't lit, so why does he feel so warm?

A small, shy blush spreads across his cheekbones as he realizes why.

He's happy. Not just from getting to see Asriel, Toriel and Asgore again, but from his creator picking him up. Like Sans really is his child instead of a project and his protegé, like Gaster really is his father or a family member.

It's a little sad, but Sans is content with this.

He discreetly knocks his skull against Gaster's for a beat, hoping that the scientist doesn't notice, before he extends an arm to take a book that caught his interest.

History of Monsterkind and their Neighbors.

He doesn't think he's seen this book before. It was on the top-most corner, no one would see it unless they were actively looking for it. So...it was hidden on purpose? He wonders why.

Monsterkind and their neighbors, huh?

The book looks old and worn, some of its pages dog-eared and the cover a bit dusty. It's plain to see that it hasn't been opened in awhile. Doesn't seem to be monster dust on it though, just regular dust that collects over time.

That's what he thinks until he spots a smatter of a color that comes off as more like sawdust than grey.

...

It talks about monsterkind's neighbors and it's old enough to have the appearance of something that would fit in an archaic time; it's probably talking about humans from before the war, and adding what is obviously monster dust on the cover—

Oh god, he's holding an actual war artifact in his indelicate hands.

Pale with his realization, he just barely gets the book back in its spot.

Sans doesn't want to touch a relic. No. He's going to ruin it.

But he's always careful anyways, maybe a small peek wouldn't hurt?

No, no. Bad Sans. He scolds himself, shaking his head and turning away from Gaster's curious look. His creator had a book of his own open in one of his many hands, another one flipping the pages for him.

Distantly, he hears a series of footsteps coming from the other hall and voices.

Giggles and laughter fill the room as two distinct shapes in green rush in. Sans questions why they took so long even as he perks up, eager to see the other children.

When they stop running, heaving and panting on their knees, the fluffy white head of Asriel's looks up and immediately makes eye contact with Sans. The bright smile on his face makes the skeleton melt and grin back.

"Sans!" The young prince jolts at his own volume, a fluffy paw coming up to cover his grin as he continues shyly. "Howdy."

Sans waves as Gaster sets him down on the floor, grinning exuberantly. "hi," He greets back, trying to contain his happiness to a more manageable level.

The other child, the human that Sans has been wanting to meet for awhile, finally raises from their hunched over position; when eyelights meet brown eyes that look red in the light, they both stare for a minute.

Strange. They, they look familiar.

"If you put on red contacts and cut off your knees to match a kid's height then you could cosplay as Chara."

"Try telling me that again and I'll punch your teeth in, I swear to god."

"Azzy," The human whispers, breaking the skeleton from the memory. Asriel looks between the both of them in concern. "Yeah, Chara?"

"You didn't tell me that Sans was fucking adorable."

"Language!" The muffled shout from one of the rooms startles all four of them, including Gaster who stares down the human child, incredulous. Sans blushes wildly at the compliment— even if he praises himself all the time he's never actually been called cute by anyone other than himself—

"Chara, your language." A deep voice echoes through the living room, sounding exasperated.

Yet fond. Sans notes down, his blush dying down but definitely still there.

Asgore enters, still in his royal robes and cape and the same kind and comforting smile from the last time he saw the king, which was a week ago; Undyne has been seeing him for the whole 7 days though, she's training under him after all.

..If he trains under Asgore will he get to see the Dreemurrs more often?

Food for thought.

"Dad!" Asriel cries out cheerfully, running over to the larger goat monster. Asgore hugs him tightly, before he glances at Chara and beckons them over. The human's rosy cheeks turn even rosier as they approach, ending up in Asgore's warm fluffy embrace too.

Two skeletons observe the scene before them. The younger one feeling the familial love and tenderness in the atmosphere and calming down, while the elder one feels himself soften; his hardened resolve crumbling at the sight of his king being so affectionate with the human.

(Gaster can't do that to his ever kind friend and king.)

"Now, Chara. Your crass language needs some workin' on," Asgore chastises mildly. The human, Chara, scuffs a feet against the wood floor as they nod reluctantly. Asriel laughs quietly, nodding along.

The goat dad rises from his crouched position, the creases of his kind eyes crinkling from his wide smile when he sees the skeletons. "Gaster," He cheers, then nods at the smaller, no less cheerful, "Sans."

"You're staying for dinner?" Asgore asks, patting the top of his children's heads. They both bear with it with dignity that Sans wishes he could imitate; he folds like marshmallow when he gets pat on the head.

What even is marshmallow?

"Yes, my king." Gaster responds. The scientist blinks at the subtle look he gets at the title and corrects himself. "Asgore."

Goat dad seems really happy.

The little skeleton watches the two interact, trying to figure out what kind of relationship they have outside of being a royal scientist and king. Suddenly, there's a soft touch on his sleeve that has him startling and looking at two pairs of wide eyes.

He starts blushing again.

Cute meet cute indeed.

"Howdy, Sans!"

"..Greetings."

"hi asriel," He greets again, peals of laughter escaping his grin. "chara, right? nice to meet you!"

Chara smiles in a way that tells him they're slightly nervous but open to being friends. He beams and offers a hand to shake. He misses the mischievous glint in their eye as Chara takes his small, bony hand.

The human's hand is squishy and smooth, he notes.

The moment they move their hands together though, a loud, embarrassing sound erupts from them.

It...it sounds like a fart?!

Sans didn't fart though? He can't fart? Did the human fart?? What even is a fart and why is it embarrassing—

Asriel slaps a paw to his snout, whining as Chara starts letting out high pitched giggles and waves their hand. A pink object stands out to him, attached to Chara's hand.

"Haaah— that was great. The whoopie cushion in the hand trick, it's always funny!" The human grins widely at him, eyes creased.

But something tells him that they're even more nervous than before.

It starts to sink in that they used a whoopie cushion attached to their hand and used their handshake to make it look like someone farted.

Sans rattles and shakes, covering his expression with two hands as tears spring to life.

"...Oh no, Azzy. Azzy, Azzy, does Sans not like pranks— oh no—"

"I-I don't know either Chara! I told you we only met once, gosh. Golly, Sans—"

"mweh—"

With that, Sans lets out more and more giggles, trembling from the effort it takes to stay upright as he keels over at what just transpired. His little 'mweh-heh-heh's don't bother him for once!

He can tell that someone, or sometwo rather, are staring. But he can't bring himself to care because: jeez, he just got pranked! That's a first!

That's the first time he's ever been pranked and it was awesome!

Sans wipes away leaking tears from his cheeks and eyesockets, small giggles escaping him periodically. Rubbing his face with both hands, he peeks at Asriel and Chara from between the spaces, gleeful and elated.

Behind them, he sees the three adults looking at him with shining eyes.

He immediately flushes a bright, bright blue and pulls his scarf over his skull, squeaking (he didn't!) out a "sorry!".

"Mom! We're takin' Sans to our room!"

Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute.

A force pushes him from the back as he hears Toriel sigh. "You just came from there, children."

"We'll come back before dinner then, miss Toriel!"

"Call me mother!"

Sans is tugged through the house, still blindfolded by his own scarf as two separate arms push and pull at him uncoordinatedly.

They get to the room in one piece at least. But he's going to feel the soreness for a day or so.

His scarf is carefully tugged from his eyesockets and he's met with brown, laughing eyes.

Sans feels like he should fear for his life. As of now, he swallows despite his dry mouth and the blue comes back, rushing up his neck and all the way to the top of his cranium as the human seats him on a bed.

"Chara, you're scaring him!"

"What, no I'm not!"

"Well, you should at least keep some distance," Asriel grumbles, and he can almost hear the pout in his voice. Sans tries to crane his head to look at the goat monster but Chara's covering him.

The human smiles at Sans, upbeat. Looks like everyone's getting merry today.

"Sans, right?"

The question opens a flood of his own. "uh, yeah. sorry about earlier, did i offend you? are you okay?"

Chara blinks, taken aback.

(Monsters are the only ones who's asked them that question with so much care.)

"Okay?!" They yell, leaning forward with eyes that practically sparkle. "That was amazing! I've never seen someone look so happy to get pranked!"

There's a brief shuffling and rifling where Asriel supposedly is. Sans ignores it for now as his mouth quirks upward, shyly.

"who wouldn't be? that's the first time I've gotten pranked." He huffs. Chara's mouth opens in an 'o'.

"Really? Wow, that's...guess you're pretty lucky huh?"

"i don't know, human. if anything i'd prefer to get pranked if it's that fun."

They both grin. "Don't mind if I do then!"

"Charaaaaa—" Asriel drags out, a drawer closes.

The faint thought of how surprising it is that the previously shy monster is suddenly so outspoken crosses his mind.

"Okay, you big crybaby," They pout, finally getting up to shuffle to the side and revealing what the young prince had been looking for.

It's a book.

Sans blinks at it.

"are we going to be reading together again?" He asks slowly, the previous eagerness of spending time with Asriel and Chara sparking.

The little goat monster smiles bashfully and holds out the book while the little skeleton notices how it doesn't have a title.

"Um, this is for you. I asked Doctor Gaster about what you like and he said that you liked to write and draw! So, uh..."

Oh.

It's a gift?

His eyelights flicker to stars. Chara makes a sound, they look— heh, starstruck.

"that... that's really cool," Sans replies, the now ever-present blue blush of his somehow glowing brighter. If someone turns the lights off at that moment, he's positive that he'd make a great nightlight. "can i ask why, though?"

Asriel fidgets.

"I wanted to give you a gift! Since we're gonna be friends from now on and I wanted to make sure that you'd like me— I mean—" Sans snickers at the slip-up.

His soul has been really warm these past several minutes. It's probably been glowing since the start.

"i've liked you from the moment i met you, princey."

The nickname slips easily with the knowledge that there likely won't be any repercussions for it, yet Sans still jerks and flusters, apologizing. What is he thinking? Even if they're going to be friends this is still the prince he's talking to!

"It's fine! Nicknames are the next step in becoming friends, Dad told me that!" The young prince insists, placing the book in the skeleton's hands. "Keep this!"

Chara looks nonplussed, but then they groan. "Azzy, just get to the point! This isn't a proposal!"

Asriel pouts at them before turning back to Sans.

"Are we friends? Is it okay for me to think that? 'Cause it's like we've been friends for weeks even though we've only met once. Is that okay? Please be my friend, we can be a trio!"

The onslaught of questions alongside the request at the end has Sans blinking rapidly. He giggles a short 'mweh-heh' into his scarf.

"Little Azzy!"

"you're telling me we haven't been friends all this time?"

There's a silence reminiscent of the first time they spent time together, then—

"Friends!!!"

Him and Chara are pulled into a hug by the fluffy goat boy. Chara hugs back with ease as Sans struggles to wrap his head around what's been happening during his stay in the royals' house.

This is strange. This is weird. Their house must be magical.

The skeleton nearly rolls his eyelights at the thought. Of course it's magical, they're monsters! Don't be stupid, Sans.

Asriel's exuberance fades away when he lets go of his two new friends, still smiling but less desperate and more satisfied.

---

"I'm really sorry that you had to deal with all of that." He tells Sans, rubbing his ears shyly. He explains how him and Chara had been gorging on monster candy before they ran out of the room, so the young prince had a lot of excess magic and energy that manifested in clinginess and the need to fulfill a hope.

Of course, only Sans concluded that. The most that Asriel knew for now was that he had a lot of magic so he needed an outlet, he just wasn't sure what outlet he needed.

Asriel's HP rose by two.

That's good.

From the start, Sans had thought it was strange how quickly he'd warmed up to the both of them, and how Asriel had been so pushy. He thinks that the excess magic that Asriel had was being transferred to him, which brought with it the emotions that the prince had been feeling.

At least now he has an explanation for all of that.

...He won't deny that it was nice though. It was really nice and warm, he liked it.

Chara? Chara was usually like that. They loved pranks and jokes and imitated Toriel's mannerisms when they didn't know what to do.

Chara's not a bad human. He likes them.

If Chara's not that bad, then maybe humans on the surface aren't so bad either?

It still doesn't excuse near eternal imprisonment, but maybe they've changed a little, become a little more merciful.

Soon enough, they had to eat dinner after Toriel called for them. The book in his hands gained some attention, which then led to excessive headpats from the goat mom and goat dad.

This family is way too fond of making him blush.

Gaster was soft the whole dinner. His usually intense gaze and empty grin nowhere to be found as he chatted with both the king and queen while Sans kept his attention on Asriel and Chara.

Sans has never seen his creator look so relaxed. He's happy for him!

The goat mom and goat dad are good for Gaster.

The pie was also delicious. He hasn't heard of cinnamon butterscotch pie but it's absolutely amazing and he wants to eat it everyday, right next to burgers and milkshakes.

The time to leave came and the three children forlornly said goodbye, hoping to see each other again soon. Despite that, they were happy and content with how the day went and ended.

Asriel's happy that he gained two friends in one swoop.

Chara's happy to meet someone new who'll laugh at their jokes with them.

Sans is just happy that he got to meet two new friends.

Chapter Text

Gaster smooths a skeletal hand over Sans' skull as his protegé dry-heaves and sobs through the pain.

One of the experiments failed and caused backlash to his creation, it's likely that he won't be able to run any tests with Sans' condition. The younger skeleton claws at his eyesockets, but Gaster pulls his small hands away to prevent any further damage.

Sans won't be seeing anything for as long as it takes for the scientist to undo it. It'll take a few days at most, it should be easy enough.

He wishes he could take his pain away. Several times he's wanted to do just that by setting Sans free and letting him be, but everything that he does is necessary. He can't hesitate if it's in the name of his own kind.

The elder skeleton continues to cradle his creation, guilt in his soul.

Gaster is as kind as the king, but he's a scientist on a mission first and foremost.

Sans holds that close to his heart and wishes that his creator won't look so sad.

---

For the weeks that followed after dinner at the Dreemurrs, Sans continued to see Asriel and Chara. They fit nicely together as a trio and they often snuck out to other parts of the underground!

The small skeleton always looks forward to spending time with the both of them. None of them really have close friends aside from each other; the thought of Undyne passes his mind, but he dismisses it.

Undyne has other friends that she hangs out with, she's more of a friend to kill time with even if the things they get up to are amusing. Besides, he can't always keep up with her pace. Similarly, she won't always slow down for him.

The three of them are in Waterfall this time. The other day they went to Snowdin but both Chara and Asriel said it was a little too cold so he agreed to take them to the less freezing, more cool temperatures of Waterfall.

He's gotten over the dread that comes with nearing large forms of water. He still avoids getting too close to the lakes, though the other two don't go near them either.

The trio walk through the dirt and stone hallways, talking about anything under the crystals.

Sans had forgotten how beautiful this place was. Fear clouded his memory and he regrets that he let it do that to him, he could've spend more time here and given Asriel and Chara a better tour.

Puddles seem to sparkle with reflections of the twinkling crystals encrusted in the ceiling; the nostalgic sight has him feeling as tranquil and serene as their current location.

Undyne lives in a calm place like this, Sans thinks dubiously.

Eventually they reach the start— or end, depending on where you are— of the bridge and Sans starts to ask Asriel questions.

"princey?"

"Hmm— Sans?"

Chara ambles closer to the edges of the wooden planks, making both monsters eye them cautiously as they keep their conversation up.

"where did you get the book? i thought you didn't go outside much."

There's a beat of silence that lasts too long to not be suspicious. Chara turns their head to meet eyes with Sans and grins. The skeleton narrows his eyesockets skeptically as Asriel laughs and smacks Chara in the shoulder lightly.

The hit makes a soft padded noise that Sans is mildly envious of. He'd be happy to get hit by Asriel all day if it was the only means of getting to touch his paws.

(They're just so fluffy and small!

His hands are small too but they're bony, he doesn't think he'd make a good hand-holding buddy.)

The young prince fiddles with the hem of his green sweater. Him and Chara wear matching clothes most of the time unless it was bedtime. Sans lets his stare bore into the side of Asriel's head as he waits patiently for him to answer.

A light pink starts to show on the white of Asriel's ears the longer they wait and the skeleton's jaws part in surprise. Is...is Azzy blushing??

He's never seen Asriel blush before! And it shows up on his ears, oh stars that's amazing! Sans goes to tug on an ear slightly, beaming at the obvious color.

Asriel hides his face in two paws as Chara coos and tugs on the other ear. Together, they gradually get closer, teasing the monster until they're all in one of their special huddle hugs. Huddle Hugs.

Huggles?

Sans laughs quietly at the silly word as the pink creeps onto Asriel's snout. The little goat monster pouts and looks away even as he hugs them back.

When they separate, Sans doesn't waste any time to jump back to his previous question, not letting Asriel wiggle his way out of it.

"so?"

"...'So' what??"

"mweh, azzy. you should know better," the skeleton links his arms with the two siblings. The embarrassment of letting slip a 'mweh' is cut short, buried under his burning curiosity and pleasant mood. "where'd you get the book?"

Chara snickers, leaning into his side and fluttering their eyelashes. "C'mon, Azzy! Tell him all about your adventures, especially the one where you almost ran in— pfft—" Asriel slaps a paw over the human's mouth and most of their face, a pink blush on his snout.

"Charaaaaa! We promised not to talk about it!" Sans blinks.

Well, now he's curious about that.

But that can wait. They'll have plenty of time and opportunities to talk about embarrassing stories; while Sans, even with his impeccable memory, might forget about his question if left alone long enough!

"Heheh, okay, okay. Seriously though, we gotta move on from this conversation. I want to see the lake!" Chara looks behind them longingly, to the bridge and lake. Asriel huffs before grinning sheepishly.

"Um, you know ol' Gerson, right?" He asks, detangling his arm from Sans' and instead holding his hand. The little skeleton tilts his head and nods in recognition.

He recognizes that name from some books. Back in the war, Gerson was hailed as the Hammer of Justice because of how upright he was even as a soldier, he never showed unnecessary cruelty either; compared to the humans' actions he was a saint.

The thought of the war brings a bitter taste to his mouth, but he holds faith that humans have changed since then.

Chara might as well be living proof of that.

"Humans aren't going to change, not really. "

The murmur from that memory gives him a chill.

He buries that as Asriel laughs shyly and rubs at an ear.

"Well, some weeks ago I snuck out and ended up in his shop, I didn't really look where I was goin' but somehow I got there?" His tone ends in a question, like he's still confused on how it happened. That's...actually something Sans can believe.

He didn't know that the prince snuck out without someone else though. The other rmonster must've been something in his expresson because he smiles and elaborates.

"I had Chara with me," Ah. Well that clears things up. Azzy, kind-hearted soul that he is, must have thought to show Chara the underground.

Though...

"you haven't gone out much before then, right?"

"...Uh, yeah. We got a bit lost."

A bit lost, he says. Sans thinks incredulously. 'A bit lost' his non-existent butt! That's probably how they got to Gerson's place in the first place if they didn't even know where they were going.

He makes an unimpressed face that Azzy giggles nervously at.

"Anyway! Ol' Gerson was really cool!" He gushes, pushing past that point in the conversation as Chara laughs in the background, still listening. "He let me look around his shop and I found this one book," A fluffy paw gestures to Sans.

"The one you got now. Um, the day before we snuck out I saw the doctor in the castle! I was kinda hoping we could see each other again so I asked him about what you did for fun, and you know the rest."

Asriel grins at the end of his story, fangs and all, and it melts at the skeleton's heart and soul. He doesn't have a heart, but for Azzy and Chara he might as well be carrying one.

"that's real nice, you know? i don't even have a gift for you yet."

It pricks at his conscience that he doesn't.

"We got plenty of time and opportunities to give each other gifts, Sans! That's alright!" Chara pipes in from behind them, plopping their chin on his bony shoulder and smiling.

For a human, Chara really is cute. Sans grins back at them, a blue blush making its way onto his cheekbones. The human lets out a soft gasp and pokes at the color, still invested as ever even with how many times they've seen it.

Asriel clasps his paws around Sans' hand and swings it around slightly, delighted that he's not the only one who blushed today.

Chara's notoriously hard to fluster if you're not an adult, so he's happy that his skeleton friend is someone as easy as him.

"Let's keep goin'?" Azzy suggests.

They pull away from each other but stick close as they continue their little sight-seeing trip.

The lake is dark and deep, but Sans can see the beauty in it.

Glowing crystals are reflected on the water's surface; they look more like stars than anything and he lets himself sink into the wistfulness. He hopes that he gets to see the stars in his time.

And he hopes that his precious people are with him when he does.

His blush glows in the dark, and he tugs his scarf higher as he walks beside his two friends. Sans raises his head to peer at the crystals the same way he did months ago, and just the same, he's awestruck at the multitude of stars on the ceiling.

It almost feels like he really is looking at the night sky.

"There's a meteor shower tomorrow! Get Azzy, I'll get the car and we'll go to the best place for it!"

The memory has his breath hitching in a way that confuses him. It's a harmless memory, why...

"There's only two hours before the shower, so keep your eyes peeled. If you miss any of it I'm going to glue your eyes shut, alright?"

"Kol, don't be meanie!"

"Yeah, kol, listen to your nephew."

"Sorry, Azzy. Shut up, bro."

Sans furrows his eyebrows. This memory is different from the others. Who's 'kol'?

"I'm gonna take a look at the lake for a bit, I'll be right back."

"Kol, you're going to miss the shower!"

"I'll be back in time, okay? Don't worry!"

Sans...

"It's even prettier up close."

His throat tightens in tandem with the sudden rush of phantom sensation.

Water rushing above his head as he tries to swim back, back to the surface, back to the shore, before his breath runs out.

He can't— he can't, he can't he can't he can't breath— he can't take off the chains— he's going to die—

But Sans is a skeleton, he doesn't need air to live.

Something simultaneously familiar and foreign slides down his cheeks.

When he lets his gaze travel down the length of the ceiling, to the waters, he realizes he's stopped walking.

Dark, damp spots appear on the red of his scarf, and he raises a hand to graze his face.

Blue tears spill from eyesockets as he stares in shock. He didn't mean to cry, why is he crying? Why is he crying? It's just a memory.

That's the thing though, isn't it? It's a memory.

It's something he's experienced before.

It's not something that person has been sending him to be remembered, they're not things completely alien to him.

Because he is that person.

For some unexplainable and strange reason, that causes the tears to flow more freely, and they spill and drip and drop; blue standing out against the darkness of Waterfall.

Something soft and warm wipes the blue magic away, and Sans looks away from the water to see Chara's concerned face. Asriel stands beside them, eyes teary and worried.

His human friend wipes his tears away with the sleeve of their sweater, mouth pressed into a line and their eyebrows furrowed. His goat friend grips his hand tightly, but it's unresponsive. Sans fixes that by turning his hand to hold onto Asriel's paw.

The little skeleton hiccups, blue dripping even more from his sockets. Darn it, now he's ruined their outing. He shouldn't have cried, he could've cried back in the labs.

"Hey, whatever you're thinking right now, stop it." Chara tells him, frowning.

Sans hiccups even louder, scrunching his face up as he shakes his head. "n-no! i...ruined everything, i'm, i'm sorry—"

"Don't be!" Asriel bursts out, pulling Sans closer to the both of them and nearly blubbering. "I don't know why you're cryin' but you better stop right now! We're here for you, so you can tell us!"

The little skeleton can't help but sob. It's a mix between being touched by Azzy's preciousness and feeling like a terrible monster for ruining what was supposed to be a wonderful time with his friends.

Chara slaps both of their hands on either side of his face and narrows their eyes. In the dark, their eyes should've looked black, yet for some reason they're not. Instead they seem to flash red when they angle their head just right.

"I said, stop that. Do you want to talk about it?"

Sans rattles from the effort it takes not to keen. He wants to, he so, so badly wants to tell them. He wants to talk to someone, anyone, about what he just saw— he can't keep this to himself—

But...

But he can't do that either.

He can't do that to them.

What will they think?

...that he was fake this whole time?

He's been re-learning how to deal with everything, but he never learned how to deal with the distinct emotion of feeling like an intruder in your own life.

He can't.

So, Sans laughs wetly and hunches over Chara, not letting the two siblings see his expression as his face twists in regret. He trembles, knowing that he's just giving that distinct emotion more leverage over him as he hugs them.

"i...it kinda hit me that's all. the crystals in waterfall, they say they look a lot like stars."

Asriel and Chara make surprised noises, huddling closer to him.

"it's just, i really want to see real stars. and it just...spilled over, heh."

It's not really lying if he actually wants to see stars, right? Even if he died during...a meteor shower, was it? He doesn't remember much about those. Even if he died that time, he still wants to see them again.

He's not lying, he consoles himself.

"...Yeah, the crystals here are pretty close to stars." Chara's voice drifts through the darkness.

"Really? Can you tell us about them?" Asriel's asks, warm and soft.

"Um, let's see... They look prettier in the night than the day. There's a giant star in the sky during the day but it's pretty annoying, so I don't like it."

"What? But it's a star! How can it be annoying?"

"It's too close to us so it can cause some pretty nasty illnesses."

"Like?"

"Dunno, never read about it much. Cancer?"

"What's cancer??"

"...Honestly, I don't know either." Chara snickers at Asriel's disgruntled huff, still in a huggle. "But it's fatal if people don't treat it, I think."

Asriel lets out a small gasp. "Oh...that sounds terrible. But that only applies to humans, doesn't it?"

"Yep!"

"Then monsters are gonna be fine, you can stay in your little hut of the abyss, Chara."

His human friend laughs at the statement, shaking all three of them. Sans chuckles weakly at the two's antics, concluding that they may be doing this for his benefit.

The heaviness from before isn't fully gone, but it's easier to manage.

The little skeleton pats their backs, signalling that it's time to let go, and they go. Chara and Asriel stare at him uneasily when he makes eye contact with them.

Sans is going to be okay.

"'m gonna be ok." He tells them that, watching as they trade glances and nod back at him. They might not be convinced, but he's going to be okay, he promises.

"can we...keep going?"

"Mm, you sure, Sans?" Azzy asks him, fluffy eyebrows furrowing. He can't help but grin at the concern and how cute the goat bro is.

"We can head home if you want that instead?" The suggestion from Chara surprises him a bit, since the human was the type to keep going even if it wouldn't do any good. They're always determined and stuff.

"you trying to convince me to give up on spending time with you two?" He asks, tilting his head— oh, no. He shouldn't have done that. Even if he's feeling better emotionally, the crying session took a toll on him, as evident by how he nearly sways completely to the side with how heavy his skull is.

"Okayyyy then, what to talk about?"

Chara turns and pushes both monsters from behind, steering them back on their route before Sans ruined—

No, no. That's wrong. Chara said not to think that, so he won't.

The skeleton continues to hold Azzy's hand as they start chatting, picking the mood back up to the usual light-heartedness. He hopes nothing changes drastically.

---

Waterfall has a series of tablets that tell the story of how and why the Monster-Human War started.

They weren't electronic tablets, but they were instead run with magic, words inscribed onto the stone. The words glow when a soul passes by to read, always reminding anyone who goes through this part of Waterfall why they're underground.

Fear. It's because of fear.

Fear is a fearsome thing; maybe it keeps them alive, but it doesn't change the fact that it's because of fear and the refusal to understand that monsters are trapped.

The trio pass the tablets. Him and Asriel turn solemn and speak quietly about their opinions on monsterkind's situation as Chara lags behind, reading the story intently.

When they pass the final tablet, the air lightens. It's like every monster's sombreness has leaked into the very walls of that place, affecting even newcomers and those desensitized to the mood.

Their human friend is completely silent even after they leave Waterfall, pondering over something. Sans thinks that maybe it's finally sinking in that monsters aren't really happy to be underground, no matter how compassionate and cheery they are.

They all miss the skies.

Soon enough, they have to part ways. It's getting late and though Sans said that they snuck out, the truth is that Toriel gave him permission to take them out on a trip discreetly, pretending that they were sneaking out when in truth they had a curfew. Toriel told him to get them home at so and so time.

He can't really say no to Toriel.

He again buries his blush in his scarf, still embarrassed even after so many weeks of seeing her.

She's so pretty though! He can't help it!

They take the river person's ferry and they hug each other tightly when they get to the two siblings' front door, hoping they get to spend more time together soon.

("Sans, are you sure you don't want to stay the night?? I'm sure that doctor Gaster won't mind if Mom tells him that—"

"Azzy, I know you want to spend more time with Sansy here but he can't—"

"But what if he trips or falls into water?!"

"We left that in Waterfall!"

"Charaaaaaaa—"

"Mother, Asriel's—"

"Shhh! You're going to get us caught!"

He doesn't mention how Toriel's been watching from her room's window all this time.)

Sans waves goodbye as Chara struggles to pull Asriel along, ignoring the glare from the human at his visible amusement.

Once they close the door, Sans shortcuts away.

Not to the laboratories, no. He...doesn't think he can handle being in there right now, not after what happened today and, well. The other day.

He finds himself in Snowdin, sitting on a bench identical to the one he ate nice cream with Undyne on as he contemplates on how he's going to get in a bar.

Pyre's.

It's a famous pub? Or something. He doesn't remember what it's called but it's where Gaster gets his burgers and milkshakes, and it's also where a lot of Snowdin residents go to drink alcohol.

There was a former owner but he's dust, apparently Pyre's dad. The place has been passed down through generations, from what he can recall. In a couple of years there's going to be a new owner, though he doesn't know who it is.

Oh yeah, elementals run the place.

He wants a burg.

Is he allowed to go inside?

He really, really wants to.

"..Hello." The sudden voice startles him badly enough that he slips down the bench, nearly hitting his skull on the darn thing. He looks up, and stills.

It's a fire elemental, blue flames drifting through the cold air. He has a coat on above his suit, and Sans wonders distantly how they're not burning.

Also, how many times has he been snuck on? He needs to work on his awareness, he's going get into an accident this way!

He gets up to sit properly and stuffs his hands in his jacket, adjusting his scarf. "hi," the little skeleton responds.

"...Are you Sans?" Sans' skull shoots up in shock, and his eyesockets narrow. How does he know his name? The fire elemental raises both hands in a placating motion, and Sans notices a familiar paper bag hanging by the wrist.

He blinks.

"Gaster's...an old friend," The elemental explains, holding the bag out. "He said his student loves my burgers...and to expect them soon."

He spends a few moments blinking as he tries to register that, taking the bag gingerly and looking like he's confused beyond belief.

Wait, 'loves my burgers'.

Oh stars.

"you're the one who makes these things?!" Sans exclaims, delighted.

There's a mild color on the blue elemental's face, a bit darker than the rest of him. He nods, his flames shifting with him.

Blue. He's a blue elemental! That's so cool! He makes his favorite food and he's Sans' favorite color, he's—

"i think you're my most favorite person."

The declaration causes a lighter color of flames to twitch upward on the elemental's face, and it resembles a smile. Sans' eyelights shift to stars at the sight. He just made his favorite person smile!

"Come back when you need your...fix," The fire elemental says. "Gaster said to put it on his tab, so don't worry about it.."

Stars aboveground, he wants to shout in joy.

Bless Gaster.

"alright, thank you for the meal, mr. pyre!" With that, the little skeleton jumps from the bench and shortcuts back to the labs, leaving a fire elemental confused but pleased he snagged a new customer.

Meanwhile, Gaster deals with a surprising hug from his protegé, who beams at him with the brightest smile yet.

The scientist sets his papers down to lightly hug back, even if he's wondering what he did to deserve such a wonderful smile.

Chapter Text

Today, it's just Sans and Chara.

Asriel has princely duties to attend to, sadly. So the skeleton and human are spending time together instead of moping around waiting for the goat monster to come back.

They're in Waterfall again. Chara prefers it to the rest of the biomes and Sans does too even if he's had two episodes in there. It's the closest he can get to the stars right now, so he'll take it.

The little skeleton clasps hands with the little human, swinging them back and forth as they near the end of the bridge they'd visited last week; Sans found this small space that monsters call the 'wishing room'. It's a really sweet name, and the wishes that monsters whisper to the lone echo flower even sweeter, but somewhat bitter. Bittersweet.

Chara's really fascinated by echo flowers too; when they entered a field of them they spent the whole time listening to the voices and talking into the petals, eyes sparkling.

If it means getting to see his friend so happy, he'll weather the dark and chill of Waterfall any day.

"okay, human. get ready to use your brain, because you gotta solve the puzzle so that we can get to the surprise."

Sans stands to the side, watching as Chara looks around with a blank face. They shoot him a confused look. "If this is a prank, you've got me. I don't see a puzzle and I didn't see any when we went through last time."

The mention of last time has Sans holding down a wince. He doesn't ever want to think about that time again, it's too embarrassing! And, and... he doesn't want to think about that yet. Not yet. He can't.

He nods at the bridge seeds that lay on the ground, grinning at his friend when they put on their thinking face. Sans never has to think too much to get to a solution, a product of having Gaster as a creator, so he enjoys it when people are thinking hard enough that it shows on their face.

It's fascinating to practically see how their mind works, to see the cogs turning in their mind.

He vaguely remembers that person— him back then, having watched people more times than he could count. What that person may be doing, the other could be doing the opposite. While the other may look happy, another might look depressed.

He never liked to interact with people outside of friends and family unless he actually wanted to, so he compensated by observing instead.

Chara throws all four seeds in the wrong direction, towards the sign post by its lonesome. Sans smothers his laughter, turning away at the squint from the human as the flowers bloom elegantly.

Brown eyes widen at the finished result, amazed at the obvious magic in the plants.

They approach the sign and stare in silence once they reach it.

In the end, Sans has to pull Chara away from ripping it from the ground and tossing it into the lake, laughing at their angry hissing.

That was hilarious! He's never seen someone so mad at a sign post before!

He lets out the residue snickers into his scarf, the puzzle resetting itself.

"i thought you liked pranks and japes?" He asks through his giggles. The pout that Chara wears nearly has him bowling over again, this time from how cute they are. They really are too cute to be human! He sometimes doubts how real they are since they're so cute.

He's glad that cute met cute and cute, heh.

"Of course I do! But that was just... mean. Ugh." They complain, but Sans has the feeling that that's not really what they think. It's probably because it was at their expense that they didn't like the prank.

"of course it is," He says, eyesockets turning at the corners. Chara offers him a flat expression, telling him that they know that he's unconvinced by their excuse. It only makes his smile widen as the sudden urge to continue teasing the human rises in him.

Before he can act on it, they stomp back to the seeds.

Very mature, he thinks to himself, not bothered at all. Eagerly, he continues to watch to see if they'll get something wrong again.

It's always funny when people are mad about something mildly inconveniencing.

"Sans, where even is the surprise?"

Ah. Chara really is smart. Of course, Sans knew that from the start. Just because they're a good friend and a human doesn't mean that he'll like them so much immediately! His sense for smart people is a cool skill to have, especially since he doesn't like entertaining stupidity.

Chara's smart and Sans knew because he's also smart.

"you finally figured it out! it's by that wall over...there." Sans points to a far-off wall that no one would be able to reach if they couldn't swim. Neither him nor his friend can swim.

The human looks at him dubiously, before eyeing the stone intently. The moment when they notice something different is evident to Sans as they amble closer to where he is, which is by the edge of the ground. He smiles at their expression as they rush back to the bridge seeds and start tossing them to the wall from where he stands.

Eventually, the flowers all connect and bloom beautifully once again, and Chara gives out a loud 'whoop' as they stroll right over the floating surfaces.

Sans follows behind them, grinning and basking in their triumph.

His friend peers into an opening, eyes widening at the room found inside.

"this is called the wishing room!" Sans announce, puffing up happily as he skips to the sole echo flower, leaning over it to hear its wishes.

"I hope my son gets to see the sky..."

He blinks at the familiar voice before shrugging it off when Chara sits on the bench, smiling at him.

"This is pretty cool! How'd you find this place?"

"hehe, i investigate a lot of things."

"You mean snooping around?" He doesn't pout. He doesn't. He glares, not...pout.

They laugh at the face he makes, shuffling closer and bending down to listen to the echo flower too.

Their smile fades away once they hear the previous visitor's echo, brown eyes drooping to a neutral look that tells him that they're in deep thought. Chara's usually expressive, so it's strange to see them with a blank expression.

Sans has the sudden regret of bringing them here. If that smile went away, then it's not good, right? What if they're thinking bad things? Just as he's about to ask them if the both of them should go, their eyes meet his eyelights.

Again, he's struck by how familiar they look. Obviously they'd look familiar to him by now, they're friends! But...there's just something about his friend's appearance that makes him feel like he should know them more, because it's to be expected.

"—then you could cosplay as Chara."

The sensation of a realization slowly dawning on him is something he's well-acquainted with by now, but he doesn't want anything to ruin his time with a friend. He shoves those thoughts away and focuses on Chara, resolved to not let anything get in the way of both their fun.

The human's irises shift minutely, like they're trying to figure out what to say. Sans waits patiently by their side.

Chara glances to the side with a bitter expression that surprises the little skeleton.

What...did they think of to make that kind of face?

They sigh quietly, shifting their seated position to something more comfortable as they slump slightly in a rare moment of disregard for posture.

"Sans, can I tell you something?"

He swallows with a dry mouth.

"'course you can, human."

For some reason, the name makes Chara grimace briefly, but it's enough to have Sans flinching. He did something wrong, he upset them— apologize—

His friend immediately notices. "Sorry, hah. I didn't...ugh, Sans. It's okay." They rub at an eye, frowning, and Sans furrows his brows in concern. Their eyes seem a bit red, and not in the way it does sometimes when it's dark; it's more like they're distressed.

"Look, I... I didn't have the best life on the surface," they confess. "I hated it up there. I hated other humans. Maybe...maybe it's selfish to think that way when I was treated well enough but..."

"People didn't care for me, not really. In fact, they kinda hated me."

How could they possibly hate someone as good as you?

"The only reason they even gave a shit about me was because of my parents, but they're dead because they chose to be, heh. Heroes." Resentment colors the word. Sans doesn't know how to feel about it. "Or angels, as some of the folks put it."

The mention of angels brings to mind the Delta Rune, the royal family's insignia, and the prophecy behind it. 'The angel, the one who has seen the surface, will return...and the underground will go empty.'

Sans has no opinion on the prophecy, but the most logical interpretation of it would be...well, someone falls from the surface and they'll probably massacre the entirety of the underground after finding out what kind of monsters live here; the way it's worded doesn't exactly sway it in favor of the barrier breaking instead.

He doesn't think the 'angel' would actually be able to do it. Monsters like being optimistic, he does too, so he just thinks of it as someone setting the monster free.

And it hits Sans right then and there.

Gerson's shop has a large Delta Rune engraved in the wall, and the old turtle likes to talk about it to young children who visit. Considering that Asriel and Chara did in fact go to his shop, he probably told them about it. Asriel would've heard it before as  monsterkind's prince, but Chara...

Chara's a human from the surface. 'The angel, the one who has seen the surface'. From what they just said, their parents died being heroes, angels, for...

Oh, Chara.

"buddy..." He breathes out, tears filling his eyesockets. His friend takes one look at him and laughs, covering their weak grin with a hand. "Wow, I didn't even have to say much for you to get it! I—"

The human's eyes shine wetly, and they wipe away at them with a sweater-clad arm. The green comes away damp.

"Sans, you're smart. Really, really smart." They whisper. "So, could you help me out?"

"When I walk around with Azzy, I see all these monsters, ya know? They look at me with these eyes, that...that look so hopeful. I don't know how to deal with it, Sansy."

"I want to set them free, I want to be the good all of you need, but..."

A sob wrenches out of their mouth and Sans immediately throws his arms around them.

"How can I do that? I don't think a lot of you know that I'd need a monster soul to pass through the barrier and get six more souls— I— why else would they look at me that way?"

Sans has never seen Chara look so distraught before. The sight nearly has him crying, but he pushes past that urge. This is about his friend, he can't cry!

"And— and—  I don't want to kill anyone, you know? But I want to set monsters free with you and Azzy and Mom and Dad but I can't." Their voice wavers as they continue talking. "Or rather, I don't want to, for some selfish, stupid reason."

There's a short pause where Sans holds his breath and Chara takes in deep ones, trying to steady themselves.

"Because, Sans... I hated it up there. How can I say for sure that you won't hate it either? I mean,"

"Humans are the reason why you're trapped in the first place... and I don't want them to hurt you ever again. If I set you all free, who's to say that they won't? I want to set you free, but I don't— and I hate that I keep thinking that when you deserve the skies and more!"

It's the moment it all comes crashing down and the little human starts to sob in earnest, face twisted and shaking in the little skeleton's arms. Tears drip down their face as Sans holds them tighter, eyelights a dull grey in upset.

He can't..he can't do anything else. In the end, it's Chara's decision. If they set monsters free...or don't. He wants to see the stars again, but taking into account his friend's experiences with the surface... Does he really want to?

Hell, after everything that humans have done to them, does he want his kind to be subject to it again?

The answer is no, he doesn't.

"You've all...been so kind to, to me when I haven't even done anything to deserve it..." They blubber, and he runs a hand over their hair, shushing them. He regrets how he can't run them through their hair, but if he does that then his phalanges would get caught in the strands and they'd be extra miserable.

"Sans...Sansy," Chara says, voice cracking. "What am I supposed to do?"

Sans spends a few moments with his precious friend in silence. He already knows what to say.

He tightens his hold on them gently, knocking his skull against their head, hoping that they get the comfort they need.

"i can't tell you what to do, chara." He tells them, and shushes them immediately when their sobs start up again. "but you have time, buddy. you have time. you have plenty of time to decide what to do..."

"there's only one thing you can pick, and whatever you choose, we'll be there for you. me, azzy, toriel and asgore? we'll be right there."

It's a bit difficult for him to say these things because he's always been someone who chose both or none; but this is for his friend, who can't pick both options or neither.

"you can take all the time you need and want, chara."

"and we'll be with you, okay? we're here and we'll be there. we'll do this together. it'll be we and us, alright?"

"...Okay."

---

Sans folds and unfolds the corner on a piece of paper, idling about in Papyrus' room. He hasn't spent a lot of time with his little brother lately, too occupied with hanging out with Asriel and Chara, but Sans doesn't want to be that kind of brother. So he decided that starting this week he'll start going to his brother's room to talk about how his day went.

It's going as well as one might expect, when you're chatting with a skeleton fetus.

That's okay though! When Papyrus is born, they'll be talking for years after. Months of no responses are nothing compared to the prospect.

He's scheduled for another experiement today though, so he has to leave in maybe an hour.

He doesn't see Asriel and Chara as often as he would like, only once a week, twice if he's lucky. It's easy enough to understand why; Asriel is a prince and Chara goes with him around the underground a lot, while Sans always has a full schedule. Fortunately, Gaster saw fit to reduce the amount of experiments after the last one failed again.

It opened up a lot of free time, surprisingly. Guess that just proves how busy he actually is.

Sans reaches out for the black screen, pulling it closer to him to swipe for the video footage of his little brother. Thinking of the failed experiments bring a bad taste to his mouth. He's glad that Gaster put some of the darn things back on the shelf to revise, since from what he read they would've been painful.

Well, more painful than they are now.

He shakes his head, ridding it of bad thoughts like that as he finds Papyrus.

Papyrus has gotten a little bigger, but not a lot. He's wondering if it'll take a whole year for his little brother to fully develop; and even then it might take a long time for him to grow into an adult since he's taking so long as a baby.

...What if he never gets out of the tube?

Oh stars—

No! Hold your non-existent horses, Sans. That's impossible, and to doubt your brother's ability to grow is to doubt your creator's ability to create. Are you doubting Gaster? He scolds himself, even as he feels that seed of worry take root in his soul.

He really can't help but be concerned when it comes to monsters and people he considers important. It wasn't like this before, it's like he suddenly developed anxiety after—

After...

...

Ever since that episode in Waterfall, things have been clearer for him to comprehend. He has an easier time understanding why some people do this while some people do that. He feels things more freely and sometimes does things on a whim too. It wasn't always like this.

He... he still feels like an intruder in his own life sometimes, but it's getting easier. If nothing changed with how he acts and how he thinks about his precious people then there's nothing to worry about. Asriel and Chara don't act any differently either.

The thought of Chara makes him remember their most recent outing.

Sans has never seen Chara cry before, but it was obvious that they'd been carrying that baggage for awhile now. They still are, even now. They had to leave the wishing room shortly after because they noticed another monster coming closer to use it.

That was rude of them; to try and enter while someone else was obviously in the room. The flowers were still there too, so it should've been obvious.

He can't do anything about it now though.

It was the first time Sans had shortcut with one of his friends, and also the first time he's seen the human look so sick.

Thankfully, Chara didn't need to vomit or faint. They were just dizzy enough that they almost hit the floor, but he caught them, no worries.

His human friend was curious but didn't ask a lot of questions, still feeling like, well. Shit, as they put it.

Sans eyes the room nervously. He doesn't really cuss, and he has no plans on doing so anytime soon, but he wanted to try it just once.

He heaves a sigh of relief when no one magically shows up to reprimand him for swearing.

Anyway.

The little skeleton took his human friend to Pyre's!

Because it was evident that they'd just finished crying with their red face and swollen eyes and he was sure that if Toriel saw them at that moment she would've gone on a rampage and he's also sure that Chara wouldn't have liked that, even if it would be funny to see.

Sans ordered his usual burger and milkshake, while Chara did the same, not wanting to think too much on what to have. The whole time he let them lean on him, recognizing the need for a shoulder.

Pyre didn't ask questions either, something he was grateful for and showed it by ordering two more milkshakes.

Chara was feeling better by the time they finished their second shake, more open to jokes and pranks as they usually are.

Which is why they kept daring Sans to drink the whole ketchup bottle that Pyre had on one of the tables, something that some of the other monsters took notice of. He wasn't really expecting anything by agreeing to the dare other than utter disgust and satisfaction that he managed to better Chara's mood, but, for some reason—

He actually liked it.

He actually liked drinking the ketchup.

The realization made him look his friend straight in the eyes and chug the whole thing without blinking or breaking his calm composure. Monsters around them both gagged and hooted at his act as the human lost it, cringing and laughing at the same time.

Hey, at least Chara was happy. And he found a new favorite drink.

"mweh-heh," He laughs quietly under his breath. 'Drink', huh? Gaster would be apalled.

He stares longingly at the footage of his brother. Maybe Papyrus would be too? Maybe he wouldn't mind and laugh, or maybe he'll mimic Sans to make others smile.

He can't wait to have his little brother experience the greatness of making people happy.

A blush colors his cheeks at the cheesy line, and he shakes his head, huffing. Whatever, it's true anyway! He's sure that his brother would be happy to make others happy like he is.

Sans becomes silent as a sobering thought crosses his mind.

But w hat's the point of happiness if they're also not safe?

It brings him back to Chara's words in the wishing room, speaking about their time aboveground briefly.

Chara hated it on the surface. The only thing holding them back from wanting to set monsters free are humans themselves; because humans were scared of monsters and massacred countless of them, before trapping monsters below.

Who's to say it won't happen again?

It's only been several centuries since that time, and veterans like Gerson who they listen to still remember the terror of war.

It wouldn't be out of the question for humans to start another one if they so choose. Just because Chara's good doesn't mean the rest of humanity is as well, he realizes that now.

If a good human like Chara hated other humans... what would those other humans be like?

It brings a numbing heat to his spine to think that.

Gripping the screen tightly, he narrows his eyesockets, magic sparking to life. He doesn't want that happening. Who would?

Other humans would. With enough fear and hate they absolutely would, because they can't be bothered to look for a peaceful solution.

War is something he couldn't possibly begin to understand, he couldn't possibly begin to understand the horrors of a war that lasted for several years and ended in near extinction for his kind.

And Chara's terrified that another one might happen if they set monsters free even if they want to give them everything they ever hoped for.

Anger and understanding courses through Sans' magic as his thoughts continue to spiral, letting go of the screen and glaring at the floor.

He, he thinks he used to be human.

But he's a monster now, one being raised with an important role in the future; he can't be sentimental for a race that did so much wrong to his own when he doesn't recall half of the things that made him one of them.

So if any human thinks that they can get away with a repeat...

They'll have a bad time.

Chapter Text

It's receiving day for the monsters. The day where numerous citizens go to meet the king and speak about their concerns, whether that be personal or not, Asgore will listen to you and offer advice if you would like.

Sans thinks it's a weird thing to have, and a tedious task to do. Imagine having to listen to all these people you may not even know and hearing all about their life or what's going on while you sit still, pouring a cup of tea every now and then.

If he were king, he would've died from how uncomfortable that would make him; interacting with strangers the whole day without pause? No thank you.

This being an actual canon thing would boost his admiration for Asgore even more.

..Canon? What does he mean by canon? Is this another one of those things that he only vaguely remembers?

'Canon' or 'cannon'?

Sans knocked a fist against his skull lightly, grimacing as he stood in the shadows of the royal palace's halls. Bad Sans, he shouldn't try to distract himself from a pressing issue! This is important!

Recently, he hasn't been as responsive as he usually is. Always spacing out at inopportune times, daydreaming, and getting stuck in his head to the point that it started affecting his time with Asriel and Chara; which brings him to his issue of the week— month, whatever.

He wants to protect his friends.

It's getting so ingrained in his mind that he can't spend a single moment not even thinking once about it. He wants to, badly.

But he's still weak. He's still in stripes, with no formal training whatsoever, unlike Undyne who's getting that under the king. A child whose only way of keeping his friends safe is to shortcut them away, and even that can go so far.

Then he thought of asking Asgore about it after he heard that receiving day was coming up. If the goat dad won't train him then at least he'll have some useful advice, right?

He's not stupid; he knows the chances of the king agreeing to train him when he's already got a pupil are low, lower than low. But he has hope that it'll work out in a way that would still benefit him, and his friends, if it goes right.

Guards take their posts in front of the massive door that leads to the throne room. Sans doesn't want to be seen by anyone, he's sure that any monster who visits is taken note of and that by the end of the day the list of said guests would be shared with a select few.

One of which he's positive is Gaster. He doesn't want Gaster to know; the scientist has enough on his plate already, he can't possibly put his own burden on there! It'll just weigh the both of them down...especially after the last experiment went badly, again.

There wasn't anything wrong with the procedure, it's just that someone didn't bother to not check the machines after using them. Gaster was really angry. Sans could've actually died since one of the machines failed and nearly caused a chain reaction.

If his creator hadn't insisted on operating manually instead of watching from another room and letting the contraptions do all the work, Sans would have been dust by now.

The chill that runs down his spine at the thought makes him clutch at the spot where his soul is, feeling it throb painfully in the same terror as when he realized that something was wrong with the darn things.

He takes a deep breath, feeling his ribcage expand, and neatly puts all of the nasty thoughts back on the shelf to be burned and forgotten later. There's something more important to deal with.

Glancing at the door where the guards no longer stand, now patrolling through the palace halls as per schedule, has him wavering as he shortcuts closer.

This is stupid. What is he doing? He already knows that Asgore won't agree, and as a father himself he probably won't agree to a child training either.

Undyne's different. She's too stubborn to say no to, and after that humiliating defeat he probably felt bad enough for her—

Stop right there. Don't badmouth 'dyne. Just admit it, you're not good enough or determined enough to...

Sans tenses and turns away from the door, defeated by his insecurities.

"Hello?" The familiar deep voice comes through the other side, and the little skeleton stops, eyelights shrinking in surprise. When he looks behind him, the familiar warmth in Asgore's eyes greets him.

He...didn't even notice it open.

Asgore smiles kindly, turning the creases of his eyes upward as he pushes the door wider. "Howdy, Sans." The king says, in a clear gesture for him to enter.

Sans, embarrassingly enough, struggles to form a response as blue creeps up on his neck and cheeks. He barely noticed anything! Aren't large, majestic doors supposed to at least make a noise when they open? How come he didn't hear any?

And what the hell was that little self-deprecating hole just now? Sans is always good and determined, and with the people he cares about on the line he's going to be doubly so! No question about it!

"hi, king asgore!" He says back, voice faltering only slightly on the exclamation. Even if he's more confident than before, he's stil nervous; this is a big thing, so it's understandable why. He just wishes that it wouldn't affect his ability to execute his plans, it's concerning.

Asgore shuffles backwards to let Sans in, and once he does, the king shuts the door and sweeps past the child in a regal manner, beckoning Sans to the table in the middle of the room where a tea set awaits.

They sit down. The goat dad is as lax as ever while the young skeleton fidgets discreetly.

"Tea?" Sans nods jerkily at the question, reaching to hold the teacup in both hands as Asgore pours him a cup, smile turning soft and understanding.

He spends a few beats staring at the off-white liquid before realizing that he's not holding the teacup properly. He adjusts his grip promptly, flushing. Taking a sip immediately brings a sense of calm that surprises and confounds him.

"uhm," Sans murmurs shyly, gaining Asgore's full attention. "sorry to bother you, asgore."

The king leans into his chair, as if taken aback, before chuckling deeply. "Nonsense, child. It's my pleasure to get to chat with you!"

Come to think of it, Sans hasn't actually talked to the goat dad much despite being best friends with his children and admiring said dad a whole lot. That's, that's kind of sad. How could he neglect the goat dad so badly?

"thank you!" He says brightly, feeling apologetic. "we...haven't talked a lot, have we? i'm sorry i never talked to you..." The skeleton glances off to the side with a sheepish smile. A soft paw pats him on the head.

Blue spreads across his face even more.

"It's okay." Asgore's fatherly smile widens. "I enjoy seeing my children be so carefree with you, thank you for being such a good friend to them."

The heartfelt thanks has Sans melting in his seat, eyelights briefly flashing to stars at how much of a goat dad Asgore really is as he grins back at him.

Man, cuteness does run in the family.

"you're like a bone-a fide father," Sans confesses, waiting to see if the elder monster gets the joke.

It takes only a second as the king opens his mouth to respond, an embarrassed look on his face, and it registers. When it does, the little skeleton is a bit underwhelmed by the huff of amusement from Asgore.

"I'm far too used to those from my wife, Sans. I'm afraid you'll have to try a little harder, that was a good try though."

Shame, he wanted it to at least pull out a bigger reaction. Oh well. He has more monsters to test it out on anyway, the whole puns thing is new to him.

He should probably get with his business too, the king doesn't have all day to keep having idle chatter with a kid.

"so,"

"Yes, Sans?"

"can i just jump right into it?"

"If you wish."

Sans decides to hold the teacup in both hands in a more comforting way, squirming slightly in his chair to get a position that's a little more relaxing. He ends up concluding that he won't be getting any comfier than this and stops.

The skeleton begrudgingly acknowledges that it's not even the chair making him uncomfortable, just his nerves.

"i.. i wanna get stronger," Asgore tilts his head. "i wanna get stronger." Sans tells him, desperation leaking into his voice, and he hopes that it's not noticeable.

"chara didn't have the best life on the surface, asgore." Sans winces at the admission, "and after thinking things through, i realized that even if we break the barrier, what if monsters don't have the best life up there either? azzy, toriel, gaster...you, and chara don't deserve that. i don't think so."

Looking down again into the tea helps him from making eye contact with the king he's practically venting to at this point. He was already uncomfortable before, now he's even more uncomfortable, he hates it.

"monsters are pretty fragile, right? after the war...there were only several of us left, right?" Asgore sighs, grief coloring the simple breath. That's all he needs to continue. "it's pessimistic, but what if another war starts? i..i don't think i'll be handle it if a war happens and i can't do anything to help protect..."

The possible future is spread out in front of him, and Sans doesn't like the look of it. He despises it. A future where he can't protect his friends is a future he hates with every fibre of his being and soul.

Darn it. Azzy, Chara. I'm embarrassing myself for the both of you, you better be thankful. Sans thinks to himself, tears watering in his sockets at the prospect of a future without his best friends. They're not even dead but just the thought of their deaths bowls him over with grief, and he hunches in his chair.

"i—" Deep breaths, calm down. "i wanna get stronger for them. if i can't protect them then i might as well die, honestly," He laughs weakly, glancing up at Asgore.

His eyesockets widen at the remorseful expression on the king's face. Tears drip down Sans' cheeks absently in a way he didn't mean to do as the goat monster sighs again, shaky and aggrieved.

Asgore gets up from his chair to approach Sans, and the little skeleton blinks rapidly at the warmth that envelops him.

The king's hugging him?

The king's hugging him.

Blue erupts on his face as a soft paw pets him. This...this might actually be the third or fourth time he's gotten hugged by an adult; Gaster isn't a touchy-feely person.

That's sad. He thinks that his creator gives out good hugs.

But Asgore's hug might just beat him.

"I must apologize, child. For you to think of such things at such a young age...I'm truly sorry." The rumbling of the goat dad's voice reverbrates nicely against his skull, and he burrows further into the hold, more tears slipping down. "Those are not things I haven't heard before. In fact, other monsters come to me in hopes for reassurance."

"I regret that I can't fully ease their worries as their king, which is why receiving day was made official."

Sans peers up at Asgore, recognizing that in his own way, the king is venting as well. He sees how he stares at the ground, sorrowful.

Asgore... He really is kind, huh? He's never seen someone look so hurt by other people's suffering.

(Other than his creator, that is.)

"The monsters who come to me with concerns similar to your own, well. They end up enlisting for the royal guard." The statement has Sans perking up, eyelights brightening from the grey they'd turned into. Of course!

The Royal Guard! How did he forget about it! Every monster who applies for the guard has to pass certain requirements—

He's sure that he doesn't meet any of those requirements though. The thought makes him deflate in Asgore's hold, but at least the goat dad laughs.

"It's okay, Sans. Honestly, I don't think the doctor would be willing to let his protegé go if you were to enter the royal guard," The sigh the comes from Asgore summarizes his feelings exactly. Sans can't believe he forgot about Gaster too, ugh. What is wrong with him today?

Sans is going to be Gaster's assistant, a scientist. He can't be a royal guard; maybe in the future he'll be able to enlist but right now he's studying under his creator. Besides, he owes it to Gaster for all the things he's done for him. And other than the experiments on him, Sans does enjoy spending time in the labs.

He doesn't pout, but it's a near thing.

Asgore smiles kindly. "You may not be able to get into the royal guard, but there are other ways to get stronger." The king raises from his bent position, straightening to his full height and smoothing a paw over his skull. Sans has to crane his neck all the way to look up at him.

"like what? training under someone?" The skeleton deadpans. The only monster he knows that could actually train him is Asgore but he already knows that's not possible.

He twitches when all Asgore does is beam and nod. "who would train me though??" The face he pulls at the utter confusion he feels is something that makes the king chuckle warmly.

"I'm sad to say that it won't be me, unfortunately, but you do know someone else willing to do that for you."

Like who?? Gaster???

Oh.

"but— but gaster's too busy for that!" He cries out. "and we already spend enough time as it is, he probably doesn't want to see me any more than he does now—" Sans is cut off a soft tap on his nose ridge, and he scrunches it up.

"Now, now. You misunderstand Gaster. That monster adores you with all his soul," Asgore says with an intensity that surprises Sans. "During meetings he always ends up slipping in a praise or two for you despite his best efforts to focus on the subject."

"...really?" The skeleton breathes out, sockets wide and eyelights bright. He didn't know that.

Gaster likes him? Really, really likes him? He praises Sans when he's not around??

Oh stars.

The king affirms with a nod, and tears well up in Sans' eyesockets again. Asgore looks alarmed for a moment before he starts to rub the child's back comfortingly.

Oh stars— he thought that Gaster only saw him as a thing!

But no, apparently. If he ends up praising Sans when Sans isn't there to hear it, then maybe...maybe his creator does care for him? Genuinely? And not just because he's a precious experiment?

Is that a guarantee that the scientist will train him though? Like Sans, he won't do anything unnecessary...what if he deems the young skeleton's desire as unnecessary?

"If it really bothers you so, why not try talking to him about it first, Sans?"

"mmf, can i really do that?"

"Of course. I'll even mention it to him to smoothen the opportunity for you."

That.. would help a lot, actually. If there's one thing he knows about his creator, it's that he's definitely more likely hear someone out if Asgore says something about it first.

"will you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Stars, he feels so bad for having the goat dad help him out like this; and he keeps asking questions too! He feels like an idiot.

He's not an idiot, but being around kind adults makes him feel like it. Sans shakes his head, inhaling and exhaling, feeling how his ribcage moves.

"okay then, okay. i'll— go talk to gaster when he comes hom— back to the labs," The little skeleton says, resolve fueling him. He can't help but furrow his brows briefly though; was he about to say 'home'?

What a strange word.

"And I'll talk to him beforehand," Asgore soothes him, giving a quick hug before Sans drains his tea and hops out of his chair. Sticking his tongue out slightly at how lukewarm it's gotten, he beams up at the goat dad.

"thanks, goat dad!"

With that he runs in a direction opposite from the exit and shortcuts away.

Leaving said goat dad staring in confusion, wondering about the title and if he's adopted another child.

---

Asriel and Chara managed to pry Sans away from his little brother's room, anxiously tapping and swiping away at the tablet and waiting for his creator to come back.

It's not odd for Gaster to go away for several days with how occupied he is; the young skeleton doesn't see the scientist everyday, only around three or four times a week where sometimes Gaster isn't able to come back to the laboratories, so Sans is left to his own devices.

It's nerve-wracking to know that he'll be having another uncomfortable conversation and having to wait for it to happen. The more time he has to spend waiting he can feel his resolve strengthen and weaken at certain times.

It strengthens at times such as this, where he's in Snowdin with his best friends, who are the reason why he even wants to have that uncomfortable conversation.

Any sort of distress is worth it if it means getting to see them safe and happy.

The thought fills him with warmth and decisiveness.

Alright, Sans. No more chicken, be firm. This is for Azzy and Chara.

What the hell is a chicken?

Shaking his head and trudging through the snow as Asriel and Chara race ahead, shoving and pushing at each other to get the lead, he laughd when one of them trips and inevitably pulls the other along with them.

He stops beside their fallen forms, giggling loudly at the way they struggle. "pfft— mweh-heh-heh— n-need a hand there pals?" Sans gets a handful of snow thrown at his face when Chara finally pops their arm out of the white, glaring indignantly.

Asriel shakes himself off like a dog once he manages to roll over, having gotten the shorter end of the stick and getting buried in more snow.

Silence reigns for several beats and then they all start laughing hysterically.

Their clothes are a little too cold. The coat that Asriel wrangled onto him even though he said he can't feel temperature as well as they do is a bit damp at the hood and neck, snow melting off his face and dripping onto the fabric.

Sans wipes away stray blue tears, wheezing as he reaches out both hands to pull the two siblings up. He immediately misses the warmth of their hands once they're standing on their own two feet and let—

Huh.

Asriel and Chara stick close to him as they continue to hold each of his hands, faces flushed pink from the cold and laughter.

Together, they march through the winter wonderland, hands linked together.

Eventually, Chara decides that their pace is too slow and starts to run. With their hands still together. Clutching tightly on both Asriel and Sans' hands so that they won't get away.

The two monsters shriek as the human leads them towards a snow poff, unable to stop since Chara's freakishly strong and fast for a human child and they have no plans on stopping.

"Chara, Chara, CHARA STOP RIGHT NOW OH GOS—"

"cHARA NO—"

Inevitably, they all end up in the poff. Wet and cold and mildly miserable, Sans and Asriel pelt the human with handfuls of snow, not bothering to shape them into balls. Chara cackles at their attacks, which just eggs them on.

"SANSY DON'T— EEEEEEEE—" Said skeleton had shoved a freezing hand full of the pure white snow into Chara's coat in a vindictive move.

He watches as his human friend squirms and shrieks, flapping their clothes to get the chill to go away. Making eye contact with Asriel who also watches, grinning.

Sans sees how the young prince freezes at the sight of another hand full of snow.

The little skeleton beams.

Asriel tries to run.

But alas, it was not meant to be, for the evil skeleton had wrenched his hand in the hem of the goat prince's sweater and pushed his glacial skeletal hand in, making Asriel screech.

Chara, recovered from their own experience with Sans' little jape, howls at their sibling.

"Really, Sans??" Azzy whines, twisting the now soaked hem of his green sweater, pouting at his friend. The skeleton smothers his giggles and proud grin behind a gloved hand.

He only had one glove on because he lost it in the snow poff just now.

The sole human huffs at Sans. "Talk about cheating! You're not even bothered by the cold!" Despite their words, they're smiling brightly, same as Azzy.

Sans sticks out a tongue at the siblings, eyelights turning into stars and a blue happy flush creeping up on his face. Chara coos at the adorable view as Asriel plops himself against their side.

"was it that..."

Chara's eyes narrow. "Sans, whatever you're thinking, don't—"

"..bone-chilling?"

Asriel giggles loudly, having inherited Toriel's sense of humor while Chara groans, leaning harshly into their brother.

"mweh-heh—" He coughs to hide the giggle, but the two royals let out twin 'aww's, telling him that he absolutely, utterly failed at it. It's his turn to pout— not! Sans doesn't pout, he glares. Not a pout.

Chara pushes themself onto their feet, grabbing both of their best friends and pulling them up, pinching Sans' nose ridge when the skeleton tries to flop in their hold.

"C'mon, we still have to get to Pyre's," They say, and Asriel perks up. "Oh! So that's where you're taking me?"

Sans squints at the sheepish way that the human avoids his gaze. "how could you." Chara chuckles nervously, tugging their coat closer and looking away as Asriel laughs quietly.

"charaaaaaa," Sans drags out, knowing that his friend hates it when someone does that. Sure enough, they whine and cringe, hiding their face in Asriel's shoulder. "i said it was a secreeeeeet—"

"I'm sooooorry." They mock, grimacing.

"hehe," The little skeleton knocks his skull gently against his human friend's, blue-faced and apologetic. "it's fine, let's go. it's warmer inside than outside."

Asriel's fanged grin is precious even as the siblings shiver at the sudden chill that settles against their skin, finally registering that they're all drenched and out in the cold.

"Let's go, let's go." The goat bro tugs at their hands, trembling.

Sans tugs his best friends close. "close your eyes and count to three, we'll be there soon."

They arrive in Pyre's flushed and soaking, laughing and apologizing for the mess as the owner shakes his flaming head at them and tosses them towels to dry off.

He has hope for the future.

---

The little skeleton stands still as Gaster stares him down, his own white eyelights visible for once in an eerie contrast to the dim room.

He can't help but feel that his creator chose this setting on purpose to mess with him.

And it's working.

Sans can feel judgement beating against his back as he meets Gaster's blank gaze with his own resolute one, soul swelling with anxiety, trying to dredge up every last drop of determination inside him.

It's a tense few minutes that feel like eternity to Sans, but soon enough the scientist looks away and sighs in defeat.

His soul jumps in his ribcage as his eyelights waver in emotion.

Static fills his head, a comforting and familiar weight.

"Alright, Sans." His creator says. "I've heard your call for help, I'll help you."

As if on cue, the lights turn back on and Sans lets his grin spread across his face, eyelights flashing into stars for a moment.

The little skeleton shortcuts in front of Gaster in a move that almost startles him, wrapping his tiny arms around his creator's waist and back.

"thank you." He mumbles. Gaster nearly misses it.

He lays a hand on top of his creation's skull, breathing shakily as his eyesockets close.

Sans will be the death of him. What has he ever done to deserve such gratitude?

Chapter Text

"This is enough, Sans."

At Gaster's words, Sans drops his hand, panting from exertion and swaying in place. The dummy he'd been holding still with his magic while trying to fight off his creator's own hold on it collapsed to the ground, worn and almost decimated from stress.

The little skeleton heaves a large breath, crouching and plopping down on his non-existent butt as Gaster wrote down today's results.

A year. Or rather, half of one since he's started combat training under Gaster. He's had large leaps of improvement and numerous injuries after every day where he spent at least a few hours with his creator. It's really backed up both of their schedules a bit but it was worth it.

Come to think of it, Chara's been down here for nearly a year, haven't they?

Static fills his head.

"I'll be increasing your output next session."

He can feel gravity increasing on him at the thought, already imaginging the soreness of his bones and soul.

Or maybe that's just magic exhaustion.

"Practice in your free time but not too harshly. You may rest—" He flops onto the smooth floor, thankfully not hitting his head on the tile as he hears his creator huff.

Is Gaster laughing again? He should laugh more, it makes Sans happy.

Hands gently pick him up and cradle him against a body that should be too solid for a skeleton. The little creation burrows into his creator's coat, a small hand coming up to grasp at his shoulder.

Gaster softens at Sans' actions, eyelights flickering in the dark of his sockets in a show of emotion. Such trust and belief in the very monster that causes him immeasurable pain. He doesn't quite know what to make of it.

The scientist eyes the abandoned papers strewn about in the corner of the room, deciding that he'll come back for his notes once he puts Sans to sleep in his own room.

'Porting to the younger skeleton's quarters, the thing that immediately catches Gaster's attention is how barren it is.

...Perhaps Sans would like a little more decoration to liven up his living space? The only objects that serve as decoration are the stolen images from Papyrus' files hanging on the wall, and the towering stacks of books and papers by the side. Not even a desk, only a chair by his bed and a nightstand.

Gaster ignores the stab of guilt, setting the little skeleton down on the bed and gingerly prying his small hands off his coat. Rather than wallowing in misery, it would be more beneficial to act immediately.

Alright, he'll go out and get Sans a desk and some other trinkets. Perhaps a crystal from Waterfall that could serve as a nightlight and...

He covers his creation with the comforter, tucking him in while his mind whirls with what he could give the younger skeleton.

After a moment's pause, Gaster smooths a hand over Sans' skull carefully, exhaling softly.

You've done well, child. Sweet dreams.

---

Today is the day.

Today is the day where Undyne will win against Asgore once and for all.

Of course, Sans knows that's big talk, but he humors his friend by only raising his brow instead of openly saying how much of a stupid notion he thinks that is.

Undyne's smart so she immediately catches on to his train of thought, starting one of her yelling matches with him again. He's in a good mood so he humors her with that too, responding to her instead of just glaring.

"Just. You. Wait!! I'll defeat Asgore and THEN I'll beat you too!"

"wow. really?"

"Really really!!!"

"really really really?

"Really really really really!!!!"

"really really really really really?"

"REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY!!!"

"really really really really really really really?"

"rEALLY REALLY— NGGAAAAAAHH!! Stop that right now! I'm being serious here!!"

"really? i thought your name was undyne."

"NNGGG—"

"Golly, Sans. Stop bullying Undyne and start helping!" Asriel chastises, unravelling a long strip of fabric as other monster children bustle about in the background. Undyne crosses her arms, squinting at Sans angrily as the skeleton laughs, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"good luck, 'dyne. i'll be going now, don't slack off alright?" The little skeleton smothers a giggle when the fish monster puffs up in offense.

"As if!"

He waves her goodbye as he goes over to the prince.

Other than today apparently being the day where Undyne finally knocks Asgore flat on his butt, today's also the Underground Festival.

It's a festival that's underground.

No one ever said that their king was good at naming things.

This festival, rather than celebrating a specific event because there's really nothing to celebrate other than Gyftmas and who would celebrate being trapped in a giant cave system by the victors of a war wherein your kind was defeated, was more of a thing to raise morale and the spirits of monsters!

Though, it's a bit of a joint celebration since Gyftmas is coming right after the festival.

And it's a recent thing. If monsters feel like it they'll probably hold it again after a decade or so, but now it's only for this year though.

Sans thought it was pretty neat, but it would've been nice if he never had to find out that Azzy was such a slave-driver.

Ever since he started shortcutting Asriel and Chara around the underground, the goat prince has been taking advantage of knowledge of his ability by having him shortcut ornaments and other stuff to where they're supposed to be.

Being the organizer in charge of coralling the children apparently made Asriel stricter.

He doesn't actually mind being used a pack mule, for lack of better terms. In fact, he's happy to help! For the most part.

It's just...

The attention.

Apparently, skeletons are an endangered race of monsters and Gaster never thought to tell him that. Adding his obvious relation to the royal scientist and the royal family, that's reason enough for monsters to stare at him whenever he arrives to drop stuff off.

It's way too weird, don't they have anything better to do?

He can't help but sweat and leave straightaway. Afterwards he'd probably mutter about it to Asriel or Chara, though he'd leave the human anyway, since they were much, much busier than he was.

He didn't know that Chara could paint! They were currently painting a wall that they had no plans on showing until the start of the festival, which would last for 3 days. Right now they were only in the prepping stage, so his best friend would have plenty of time to finish their painting.

Sans tugs his scarf up when it slips down from his neck and shoulders slightly. He huffs as he tries to wrap it around himself securely while juggling a box full of, things he doesn't know about.

The skeleton swivels around, hearing quiet laughter from a familiar voice.

"oh. chara!" He exclaims, blinking in suprise. "i thought— uhh."

Sans trails off as he notices the absolute mess of colors that the human is. Purples, whites, blacks and golds with other hues mixed in splatter nearly every surface of them; hands, clothes, feet, you name it. Their face was flushed, streaks of paint on their cheeks.

Chara looks really amused, but exasperated.

"I know what I look like, don't bother commenting," They say with the air of someone who's heard something a miliion times. "You need help with that?" They gesture to Sans' scarf, and the skeleton pauses.

He moves away a bit, making Chara laugh loudly.

"Relax! All the paint's dried anyway, come here." Sans does as the human says, rolling his eyelights and smiling sheepishly. He feels how his friend adjusts the scarf and ties it into...a knot? behind him.

"Turn around," Once he does, he sees how Chara slaps a paint-ful (heh) hand against their mouth, brown eyes practically sparkling.

Okay. What did they do?

"what did you do?" He accuses, eyesockets narrowing. The human shakes their head, eyes crinkling from the wide smile they have. "Nothing! You look adorable!" They tell him, voice shaky and starting to tear up.

Sans raises a brow in confusion and concern as he watches Chara dab at the corner of their eyes with a sleeve not dashed with paint. He tilts his head, noting how the ends of his scarf feel like they're lighter as they move with the motion.

It did feel like they tied it with a knot. His scarf obviously isn't dangling anymore.

Well, if Chara says he's adorable then he must be! Sans grins, nudging the human with a shoulder. "if you say so. how about we grab a bite at pyre's after i drop this off?"

Chara grins back. "Sure thing, Sansy. Lemme wash up first and you can pick me up." They start to walk backwards before the skeleton cradles the box in one arm, the other reaching out to pull at their sweater.

"i can shortcut you home, hold on."

Once his friend shuts the door, he shortcuts to Hotland, where the construction of the Core is getting finalized. Seeing Gaster in the immediate vicinity, talking to another monster wearing a silly yellow hat, Sans goes over and waits for the conversation to end.

Luckily, Gaster notices him instantly, so Sans holds up the box.

He receives a pat on the head for his job well done, and the little skeleton relishes in the affection that his creator has been showing him more and more often.

Soon enough, he leaves and shortcuts to New Home again, where Asriel is instructing a bunch of monsters, barely stuttering. Sans basks in the easy leadership that the prince showcases, beaming proudly at his little Azzy as the monsters start to leave.

Asriel turns around to see one of his best friends smiling softly at him. Pink starts to spread from his ears to his snout at the obvious fondness, and the little goat monster covers his face with both paws.

"Saaaaaans," He whines, peering shyly at the little skeleton who snickers and skips over to him. "yeah, princeeeey?" He replies, dragging out the nickname, deciding that huggles are in order for the cute goat bro.

"We're out in the open!" Asriel's voice is muffled by Sans' sweater, and though he's complaining he's still hugging back. Sans knocks his skull gently against Azzy's, feeling like he's about to burst from how happy he is.

All this happiness is too much, it feels like he has to share it.

So he spends a minute just nuzzling his head against the goat monster, smothering giggles at the pink that now covers Asriel's entire face. His eyelights are blown stars that seem to twinkle, and the prince can't help but let go of his embarrassment when he sees it, Sans' happiness contagious.

"me and chara are gonna go to pyre's, wanna come with?" The skeleton asks, holding Asriel's paws. Asriel blinks at the question, and thinking back on what he has to do, nods.

He could take a break. They all could. They're going to burn themselves out if they keep going as they are, so breaks are important.

"Sure!" He flaps the notebook he'd tucked under his arm, eager for Pyre's food as much as Sans is. "I got everythin' I need right here."

"okay, hold on."

In a blink, they're in front of the Dreemurr home. Just in time too, since Chara opens the door the moment they arrive, blinking rapidly. Sans has to lean on Asriel for a few seconds; how many times has he shortcutted today? He's getting a little tired, but he still has a few more shortcuts in him. Probably. Who knows.

"What happened to you??" He hears Asriel say, sounding incredulous. Chara groans. "You can't believe the amount of times people have asked me that!"

Sans takes the time to look at the human closely, shaking his head in amusement as he does. His friend still has noticeable paint on their face and hands, and from what he can tell it probably won't come off for a day or so.

The two siblings bicker for a bit before growing silent as the little skeleton closes his eyes and leans more heavily on the goat monster.

"Sansy, you okay?"

"mrmmph."

Azzy barks out a laugh that he stifles right away at the unintelligible sound that Sans makes, and Chara snorts, clapping a hand over their mouth.

"mrm?"

"M-maybe.." The prince starts, giggling. "Maybe we should take the ferry, Sans is gonna exhaust himself at this rate."

Said skeleton makes another sound that the siblings identify as offended. Chara snickers, approaching the two monsters and tugging on their hands. "C'mon, Sansy. You can still walk, right? Or should we carry you?" They tease.

Sans opens a socket to squint at them. "mmf, no thanks." He grumbles, pushing himself further into Asriel's side and tipping the both of them to side.

"Wait, wait—" Asriel gasps, trying to pull Sans off before they both fall to the ground— oops, too late.

The little goat monster complains as he lands on his butt with the little skeleton burrowing into his clothes, hiding his skull in his large scarf. The little human giggles loudly, leaning on their knees; that is, before Asriel pulls Chara onto the both of them, making all three friends groan in pain.

"That was a bad idea." He mutters. Chara only grunts.

"no kidding." Sans responds, pushing himself up slightly and locking his arms around his best friends, an inexplicable blush on his face that has the royals confused.

"hold on."

They get to Pyre's in one piece, but Sans is a more than a little tired and in need of his magic burger and ketchup fix. He makes grabby hands at the elemental behind the counter, eyesockets all sad and teary.

Pyre seems to sigh before entering the kitchen to get to cooking as the three children scramble onto seats.

"We should've taken the boat." Chara says, staring intently at Sans as he lays his head against the table, sighing. Asriel voices his agreement, moving closer to the skeleton.

"Please don't push yourself, Sans." Azzy whispers to him firmly, eyes shining wetly from worry. Sans' eyesockets snap open at the faint quiver in his voice and he looks at the goat monster apologetically.

"sorry azzy. sorry chara."

Chara frowns at the weak apology, eyebrows furrowing. "Azzy, is Sans going to be okay? He sounds a little..."

"..He will be alright." They all jump at the sudden voice. Pyre sets down plates of burgers and glasses of milkshakes in front of them, and Sans goes for the burg straight away. "He...just needs some monster food."

Wow. That was fast. Sans thinks to himself. In all his months of going to Pyre's for burgers and ketchup and milkshakes, he's never been this quick. Probably because Sans was so low on magic that it caused some worry?

Admittedly, using so much magic in such short time was something that he shouldn't have done. Gaster even told him not to overdo it! Bad Sans, if Gaster finds out about this he'll be very disappointed.

The thought nearly makes him tremble as he finishes off his burger and reaches for the milkshake. He doesn't mind the way that Asriel and Chara stare at him, instead deciding to make puppy eyes at an elemental despite his lack of said eyes.

"..?"

"ketchup?"

Pyre sighs at the plead, but Sans already knows he's won.

The first few times Sans drank ketchup as a joke, Pyre didn't mind much. It was when the skeleton started to let show that he enjoyed drinking the condiment that the owner decided to keep all of the ketchup on the bar counter, where Sans or his friends weren't allowed to sit at yet because of their stripes.

Pyre really didn't have to go that far, but maybe it was a good call since Sans started craving for ketchup a lot. If he were left to his own devices he'd probably start to steal them to fuel his growing addiction.

Is it an addiction? Who knows.

"Sans' strange addiction is ketchup."

The memory has a voice that sounds like its struggling to breath, from laughter?

And, well. It's not like Sans can refute it since he's proving the voice right.

He hasn't gotten a lot of those memories in awhile.

Shaking his head as the fire elemental returns with not one, but two ketchup bottles, Sans beams brightly at Pyre. "thanks, mr. pyre!"

The other monster nods exasperatedly and goes back to his spot behind the counter.

While the little skeleton drinks his ketchup, he's acutely aware of how quiet and still his best friends are being, boring holes into the sides of his skull.

"...something wrong, pals?" He asks, nervous blush rising. Asriel shakes his head, finally reaching for his own burger as Chara follows his lead.

Oh jeez. Did he...somehow disappoint them? Is it because he didn't tell them about his problem?

A nudge brings him back to reality before he can spiral deeper into that kind of thinking, and he looks to the side to see Chara frowning. "Stop that. Eat, not think." They tell him, digging their elbow into one of his ribs and making him cringe at the feeling.

"alright, alright."

It's still too tense.

He doesn't like this. He thinks he hates it.

Sans fidgets in his seat, hunching into his scarf as Asriel silently munches on his food.

It's when the goat monster is about to drink from his milkshake that Chara speaks up again, a mischievous glint in their eye that has Sans leaning away.

"Azzy, Azzy."

"Hm?"

"Guess what milk was used to make that milkshake." Azzy gives the human a confused look, opening his mouth to respond but Chara doesn't give him time to say anything, launching straight into the punchline.

"Goat milk."

The little goat monster's teeth clamp down on the straw and he accidentally slurps down, ending up choking himself slightly at the— the joke?? Sans squeals, burying his blue head in his gloved hands as Asriel's pink blush makes a comeback.

"Charaaaaaa!!"

"Azzy!" Chara guffaws, they've always wanted to say that!

Oh stars, oh stars, oh stars. Sans can't get it out of his head! Chara, how could you, now he'll have to live with the knowledge that apparently goats make milk and oh stars what if Asriel—

He muffles a shriek in his scarf, and he hears Chara laugh louder as he pulls every bit of red around his head.

"Chara now I can't get it out of my head—"

Same here, Azzy. Same here.

"How do you think I feel knowing that my mom—"

Sans makes a dying sound, feeling his already overheated skull heating up even more as Asriel hisses vehemently at his sibling. Chara's laughter stops at Asriel's recent statement and they gag briefly.

"Eww, Azzy! Not mother! She's off-limits!"

"The very moment you brought goats into the discussion you brought our mom into it." For some reason, Azzy's serious whisper makes Sans want to laugh.

The skeleton peeks out of his scarf burrow, his entire skull still blue and too warm to be wrapped in something warmer. He sees Chara grimacing with rosier cheeks as Asriel folds his paws over his face, still pink.

"everything okay out there?" He jokes. Smiles melt away at the lingering awkward tension, and Sans tugs his scarf back into its proper place, grinning.

"i have no idea what that was all about but we're good, right?"

The human gives a thumbs up and a cheerful smile, eyeing the back of his scarf in a way that Sans almost squints suspiciously at, but refrains. It's probably nothing. Probably.

Or maybe they're looking at their previous work. Oh, maybe it got loose?

Maybe he could let them fix it again. Chara did say he looked cute.

Asriel shakes his head and slaps his face lightly, pouting at Chara before giggling. "That was really, really silly." He says, reaching again for his shake. There's a small moment of hesitation before Azzy huffs and just drinks it.

It's obvious he won't be letting a small thing like that keep him from enjoying a perfectly normal, not-goat-milkshake. Sans is pretty sure that'd be a capital offense, using goat milk of all things when the royals are goat monsters.

"alright," Sans sighs, waving for another burger as Chara starts to finish their own. "you want anything?"

The royal siblings shake their heads in a negative and the skeleton flops in his chair, holding a hand to his head and tilting his ketchup bottle into his mouth.

"'m tiiiired." He murmurs, feeling a distant absent-mindedness settle over him after the busy day he's had. And it's not even over yet, Asriel and Chara still have to go back to what they were doing and Sans still has to play at errand boy while dodging curious monsters.

...

This festival better be worth it.

What is he saying, of course it is!

Azzy and Chara planned it after all.

Chapter Text

Chara used to have the best life possible on the surface.

Their parents were good. They were good people. They worked hard to make sure Chara had the best life they could ever live, saving up, feeding them, loving them with all of their heart. Their parents didn't care if Chara wasn't a boy or a girl, they loved them. But now they're gone because they were good enough to care for the village too.

The same village that spat on Chara's name and their parents' name despite everything their family did for the village.

It's disgusting how two-faced humanity can be. Praising someone when they're alive and talking shit when they're dead.

It would've been fine. Chara wouldn't have minded. That's the way people are sometimes, they know that.

Except Chara wasn't a boy or a girl.

Apparently that was grounds enough to talk shit about them too.

Now Chara didn't have the best life on the surface.

Spending time with Chara just to get more details about their life to make fun of, only spending the bare minimum on Chara because other families deserve the money more than Chara, whose parents worked hard to build up that inheritance. Yelling at Chara when they never did anything wrong, isolating them, making it so Chara never had friends because they were 'abnormal' for choosing to be themselves.

It got to the point where it grinded so much on their nerves that they decided; if no one was going to care for them on earth, then maybe someone will care for them in heaven, where their parents were.

So they climbed Mt. Ebott.

It wasn't for a hike or a quick walk. It wasn't for a very happy reason at all. They just wanted to get away, anywhere, far away from humans. Away from the people that made them feel like the most worthless, piece of shit, excuse for a human— far from the people that made them cry at midnight 'til sunrise because they just couldn't take it.

When they found a hole at the top, they thought they hit the jackpot. Finally! They're finally going to be okay for once in their life; no people, no humans, no one to tell them what they can or can't be.

Yet Chara cried. Their parents' biggest wish was for them to be happy, but look at them now. Miserable and depressed and not even able to fulfill their loved ones' dying wish.

Their parents always forgave them though. They'd forgive them this time, right? They still love them, right? When Chara finally joins them, they won't leave again, right?

Before Chara could lose it, they jumped into the hole, hoping that it wouldn't hurt too much.

It hurt. It hurt a lot.

Their arm wouldn't work properly and they couldn't walk from the pain.

They kept screaming and crying and cursing their bad luck. Why did they jump? Why did it have to hurt so much? Wasn't their life enough torture? Is this how they're meant to be?

They're probably going to die like this. In pain and alone and without someone to care for them.

"Oh my stars— are you okay?!"

Does it fucking look like they're okay!?

Why are they hearing voices now..?

It hadn't been just a voice, though.

A monster. The fluffiest, adorablest, purest looking goat monster-thing standing on two poofy feet with soft-looking paws hovering over Chara in concern. Chara thought the goat was an angel for a second there; if the goat told them that it was an angel they would've believed it with no hesitation.

The green glow from its paws kept flickering in a way that was a bit worrying, but Chara was feeling better than before...for some reason. Was that magic? Did this goat heal them?

Why? They're not even as good as their parents.

At first, Chara wanted to run and hide. Even if this goat is kind and soft that doesn't mean the rest of its kind is, no matter what it— he says; but then it helped them, brought them to his house saying that his parents would definitely help, that they'll be okay, that they'll get better soon.

That they don't have to be scared.

And Chara... Chara couldn't say no. It was probably the shittiest decision they could make, but... That was everything they've ever wanted. Someone to help them, for them to be okay, for them to get better.

For someone to actually care. This little goat monster, Asriel, offered them all of that in the most genuine voice Chara's heard in years and they couldn't say no to it.

It ended up being the best decision they've ever made to date, right next to jumping through that hole.

If Chara was given the choice, they would do it over and over again.

Monsters have been trapped under Mt. Ebott for centuries. They've been here for so long that Chara can't even remember finding any mention of them in books other than the ones coverinf myths and legends.

All these monsters caged by humans, not able to see the very things Chara took for granted on the surface; wishing so badly for their children to be able to see the skies and the stars and having to make do with what they have underground.

Another tally for the shitty things humans have done.

It made Chara angry, so angry, to know that the kindest beings that they've ever had the privilege of meeting lost in a war that humanity, the most disgusting species to exist, started in the first place. If humans weren't such cowards then monsters wouldn't have to deal with this. If humans werent so despicable then everyone would be genuinely happy aboveground.

Is this how life is really like? The bad defeats the good? Cruelty triumphs over kindness?

All those so-called heroes... were their acts all a lie? If humans held those heroes on such a high pedestal why won't they follow their example?

...But Chara's parents were heroes yet they were treated like shit, weren't they? Their own child was abandoned by the village that their parents became heroes for.

At the end of the day, heroes are always dead, dead for caring about other people.

That's fucked up, isn't it? It's not the heroes' fault that humans are so hateful.

Chara hates humans. They just keep ruining lives over and over again and it doesn't even look like they're going to stop. Their mistreatment of others extend to species not even their own and— and—

Chara just hates them so much.

Their grip tightens on the paintbrush in their hand. A symbol on the large canvas stares up at them mockingly, telling the story of an angel saving the underground. The delta rune is something Chara has to hold the weight of, a reminder that they're going to become someone they don't want to become.

A hero? That's laughable. Chara is the farthest thing from a hero. They don't want to end up like their parents.

"Chara?"

A soft, warm voice calls out to them, and they tear their gaze away from the painting to look at the monster who saved them.

"Hey Azzy!" Chara waves, watching as paint flies from their brush and nearly hits Asriel in the fur. Predictably, he flinches away before it lands and whines at them. They snicker.

"Charaaaaaa!" The goat huffs and pouts, but he walks closer, so Chara knows he's not that upset. They smile at each other as Chara sets their paintbrush down.

"Alright, Azzy. Did something happen? You set something on fire again?"

Asriel's blush is as funny as it was the first time. "No! That was, um." He looks away from Chara's smug grin, crossing his arms. "Okay, it wasn't only one time, but they were all accidents!"

Right. Silver lining, but the fact that they happened at all is...

Chara fails to smother their snort and Asriel bleats in distress, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. They wheeze and bend to hold their stomach, feeling their gut tremble from the force.

"Oh god. Oh god. Azzyyyy—" Chara covers their face as it heats up and aches from laughter. They sneak a peek at their monster sibling, glad to see that he's not mad or hurt at all, only smiling helplessly and shaking his head.

Once they've gotten all the laughs out, they rub their eyes for any stray tears, beaming at Asriel. "As thanks for making me die of laughter, I'll grant you a favor," They allow imperiously, and this time Asriel snorts.

"Thank you, your highness," He giggles, smile turning his eyes upwards. "I was wondering if you would join your humble subjects for a short break?" The goat even does a little formal bow with a hand extended that makes Chara blush from how cute it is.

They can't really say no to that.

"Since you asked so nicely, I shall," Chara continues in a somewhat snotty and authoritative voice that they're aware they're fucking up badly. In fact, so badly that Sans could probably sense it with his 'stupidity radar' and have an allergic reaction to it. If he could have an allergy that is. Chara hasn't asked.

They take Asriel's floofy paw and he hauls their ass from the stone they'd been sitting on for an hour or so finishing the wall. Chara sends a last glance at the delta rune before turning away, holding tightly onto Asriel.

They meet with, surprise surpise, Sans at the exit to Waterfall. Their skeleton friend writing away at a dark blue book that has Chara remembering the book that Azzy gave him. What happened to that one?

Sans' eyelights flick up at them, go back to the book, then he jolts and closes the book, looking surprised and embarrassed.

Aw, Sansy's adorable as always.

"Sansyyy!" Chara locks arms with Asriel and pulls him along as they sprint towards Sans, ending up in a huggle where all of them are giggling because Chara almost bowled the skeleton over and sent them into a puddle.

"hi chara, hi azzy," Sans greets them, blue already showing on his face as the book vanishes into, probably his inventory. "where should we go today? pyre's?"

"The only place you want to go is Pyre's," Asriel says exasperatedly, but he's smiling.

Azzy's not wrong though, Pyre's place is quickly becoming a hot spot fot the three of them. Especially since it's Sans' go-to for free good food and who doesn't like free food?

Chara snickers when Sans tugs on one of the goat's ears, flushing. "i know you like it there too, princey. don't complain." He responds and pouts.

"How about we go somewhere else for a change?" They suggest. "I'm sure we can think of something, or maybe we could walk around and see what the the other monsters are doing..?"

Asriel brightens at that. "Oh! We could get food at Pyre's and walk around?" He gives Sans a look. "That way we could get some exercise after eating so much." Sans' face goes flat, like he's asking 'really?'.

Chara tries not to laugh at the unsaid conversation they just had, letting go of the hug and linking arms with the two monsters with them in the middle. This is a good spot for them to be, in the middle, with Sans and Asriel flanking them like wings.

The image of the delta rune comes to mind and Chara stills for a second. They recover quickly enough and pretend they didn't just turn to stone, ignoring the looks of curiousity from their best friends.

It's nothing. Really.

Stubbornly, they keep their spot in the middle, not willing to let some stupid thing mess up their day and time with Sansy and Azzy.

Sans teleports them ("i call them shortcuts." "Why not teleporting?" "gaster already has a monopoly on that name.") to Pyre's for a quick take-out order, half-harassing the owner and half-praising him for his godly magic food. Chara loves Pyre's burgers the most, though his chocolate shakes are their favorite.

Once they get the goods they choose to actually walk out of the bar instead of teleporting ("they're called shortcuts though??"), wanting to see what the citizens have been doing for the festival.

The monsters greet them cheerily as always as they bite and slurp at their burgers and shakes and ketchup.

Chara still can't believe that Sans actually likes ketchup; if they tried to drink it they'd probably vomit from the taste and texture. It's that bad, yet somehow Sans can stand it. They don't get it at all but it's hilarious to see others' reactions to it. It's the same as pranks and japes.

"Your highnesses!"

The loud exclamation startles Asriel badly enough that he stomps on Sans' foot, and twin apologies ring out from the both of them as Chara snorts and almost shoots melting chocolate shake up their nose.

Chara turns to look at the dog monster who waves exuberantly at them, tail wagging so hard that they fear it might fall off. The moment Chara waves and kicks snow at Azzy and Sansy for them to wave back, the dog's tail seems to lengthen and wag harder.

Sans makes a soft noise that Chara identifies as horrified while they keep waving back.

The tail starts to look like a fan set on the highest level and Asriel has to clap a paw against his grin as he shakes, clucthing onto Sans.

Soon, the tail twists and wiggles in the snow, flopping around and attracting some attention from other monsters who look like they've seen this before and are so done with it.

The three of them stop waving, and the dog monster pants and finally notices their detached tail twitching like a snake.

It yelps, gathers its rope-snake-weird ass tail and, well, high-tails it out of there.

Dammit, Sans. "Stop infecting me with your puns," Chara tells him, and they're met with a confused expression before it turns a little mischievous.

"oh, were you thinking about how that dog monster ran with its—"

"No—"

"—tail between its legs?" Chara buries their face in their mitten-clad hands and screams as Azzy laughs loudly and Sans lets out a couple of 'mweh-heh's.

At least Sans' laugh is still cute as fuck.

When Chara tells him that too, they watch as the skeleton's skull explodes into blue, glowing and averting his eyes as he tugs his scarf up. Ah, revenge is sweet.

Asriel shakes his head and pulls the both of them along to continue sight-seeing.

The sights here underground get repetitive, monsters can't actually do a thing about it, but they can liven it up and make themselves happy and content during theit stay here.

It's what they've been doing for centuries; Asriel and Chara just took it to a larger scale by asking Mom and Dad to hold a festival that would make things even brighter. It's nothing big though, honestly. Compared to the festivals that Chara and the two monarchs have seen, it's not as big, but it's enough.

That's all that matters.

Chara watches as monster children and adults alike interact with them, thankful smiles and cheerful greetings; hopeful eyes and dreams.

They can't take it, seeing those eyes directed at them. They haven't really done anything for monsterkind except fall down from the surface. Should they really be getting their hopes up? Chara's not that good of a person, they're not as good as their parents.

"Your highness, Chara?" Chara grins at the nervous bunny monster in front of them. Are they a boy or a girl, both or neither like Chara? They can't tell, but the dark mittens that the bunny has in their hands immediately endears them to Chara.

"Greetings," The bunny monster perks up, ears pricking, and the human almost coos at the cuteness. "What's your name?"

"O-oh! Yes, my name is Glad, your highness!" Glad smiles brightly. "I'm very, um, glad to finally meet you." It's a near thing, but Chara manages not to groan at the pun; they can tell that the bunny probably rehearsed that greeting, it's way too smoothly said not to be.

"It's nice to meet you too, Glad." Chara tells them, watching their ears twitch as one of their pawed feet thumps the ground. Oh god, that's so cute. Why wasn't Chara born a monster? They want to be that cute.

"Um, your highness. I read that humans...got cold easily!" Glad says. "So I wanted to make it a bit warmer for you here in Snowdin, but I see that you..." Their ears droop as their beady eyes drop to Chara's hands, and the human blinks. Oh, they wanted to give Chara the mittens?

"It's alright!" Chara bursts out, cheeks warming at the volume. "The mittens, right? I'll wear them, it's still a bit cold for me anyway." Glad squeaks, something that sounds way too similar to how Sans does sometimes, and holds out the mittens, fidgeting.

It's actually pretty toasty in Chara's sweater, coat and thick mittens, but if it means making someone happy, they'll do it. The poor bunny looks just about ready to lose it, trembling like that. It'd do them some good to have some confidence.

Chara slips on the second pair of mittens easily, and they tilt their head at the softness they can feel even through their own pair. It's so warm and fluffy and it makes them want to sleep wearing them.

The human beams at the bunny, eyes sparkling as Glad holds their breath and brings their hands to their mouth. "It feels great! Thank you!" Glad squeaks again and hides behind their paws.

"You should become a tailor or something, someone who makes clothes? If I love these then surely other people will!" Chara smiles at the little peek-a-boo that the bunny does. God, that's way too cute.

"You really think so, your highness?"

"I do! And, call me Chara. I'm not used to being called by title, hehe," Chara tucks some hair behind their ear, feeling warm.

"Thank you so much!" Glad beams back at them. "I was really nervous, I'm sorry if I creeped you out—"

"No, no, no. It's alright, I like talking to everyone." Well, that's a lie. Chara doesn't like talking too much with strangers but if they're as nice as Glad and the other monsters they've met then they definitely do.

"You're too kind, your high— erm. Chara." Glad tugs on the sleeve of their striped sweater, looking up at the human.

Chara goes silent for a beat or two, before Asriel calls for them, and their head shoots up to look at the goat monster.

"I'm still learning about kindness." Chara tells the bunny, smiling warmly as they flex their fingers in the two pairs of mittens they have on. "Thank you though. I'll be going now."

Glad nods and steps aside. "Thank you again, your highness! I hope we meet again!" They cup their hands around their mouth, shouting as Chara jogs back to Asriel.

Chara looks back to wave, smile bright and full of hope for the monsters.

Onlookers stare at the royal siblings as they trek through the snow with their escort the royal scientist's protegé, seeing a future in the trio, where monsters thrive on the surface with no one to hold them down.

The three of them choke around the unseen pressure, but bear with it as best as they can.

---

The Underground Festival is (heh) undergoing.

Many monsters join hands and dance and sing despite there being few music, they play games and chase each other around, feeling like they're on top of the world even if it could be furthest from the truth. Lots of them even pop out of their personal man caves to join in.

Sans didn't know that the population was so thick.

It's so thick that Sans has to shut himself inside the labs for two hours because of how unaccustomed he is to the crowds, talking to Papyrus about the past few days. Asriel tracks him down once the two hours are up and brings him to the various booths that are open.

Sans likes the food stalls the most.

Chara's hiding in New Home after finishing and revealing their work in Waterfall; they crashed after a solid two weeks of working non-stop. Adding the amount of times Sans had to shortcut them back and forth and to numerous other locations for breaks, it took a toll on them. Shortcuts aren't good for humans in the long run, noted.

There's something envious about the way that Asriel flourishes under monsterkind's attention regardless of his love for solitude and quiet. He looks like a real prince this way, all sparkles and fanged grins as he talks to monsters with ease— isn't he usually like this anyway?

For a moment there Sans forgot that Asriel was actual royalty, oops.

The little skeleton watches as his goat friend goes through the motion of pleasantries and thanks, holding a cup of hot chocolate that he should probably put in his inventory for Chara to have later.

Speaking of inventories.

Sans takes a quick peek at his inventory, smiling at the books sitting together. Asriel finally pulls away from the happy crowd of monsters and leans against the skeleton, sighing.

"Sorry that I had to leave," Asriel wraps his arms around one of Sans' own as they move forward, passing monsters that wave at them. Sans knocks his skull against Azzy's in comfort. "it's okay, your highness."

He grins at the goat monster's bleat of protest. "No! Don't call me that, Sans! I already get enough of it from everyone else!" Sans blinks and glances at Asriel from the corner of his eyesocket.

Shockingly, there are frustrated tears in the other's eyes, and the little skeleton turns to face him fully, but Asriel pushes him forward.

"Not now."

The weary whisper from his best friend has him nearly shortcutting the both of them out of the crowd's sight. Sans can't do that though, even if he's been playing errand boy for the better part of the week he never actually appeared or disappeared in front of other monsters that weren't ones he trusted; he only shortcut to unseen places like alleys and walked out with the things he had to deliver.

So Sans stays silent and holds Asriel's fluffy paw. If little Azzy doesn't want to talk about it then they won't.

They go from booth to booth and somehow end up in one of the borders where there's campfires and elderly telling stories. For once, ol' Gerson's out of his cave, listening and nooding along.

Sans and Asriel wave at the old turtle, getting a wrinkly smile in return as he swings his cane in their general direction in lieu of a wave.

It's kinda weird, in Sans' humble opinion. The cane is heavier than your own hand, why swing it instead of that?

"we should get some more hot chocolate." He says as they pass another food stall that he's tempted to buy off of, but he does have a diet he has to make sure not to ruin; Gaster's still training him and his creator said that after next week's training they would go spend some time together.

Sans won't ruin that by not sticking to their plans, he loves spending time with Gaster!

"For Chara or for yourself?" Asriel teases. The little skeleton doesn't pout, he doesn't.

"for chara, of course, what do you take me for? a cormorant?"

The little goat monster smothers some laughter. "What even is a cormorant??"

"a word you won't be learning anytime soon," Sans shoots back, smug. Asriel pouts at him before grinning. "I'll just ask Mom!"

Sans flushes at the mention of Toriel, looking away and narrowing his eyesockets. "not fair." He grumbles as Asriel giggles beside him, fully aware of his little...thing for the goat lady.

She's just— so pretty. Sans likes pretty things. People. Monsters. Whatever. Asgore must've worked hard to deserve her because it's the least that she deserves.

He still can't decide if he prefers Asgore or Toriel more. The goat dad is someone he admires and praises with all of his soul while the goat mom is someone he both fears and adores.

"Let's go get that chocolate, okay? Chara's gonna be pretty happy when they get it!"

The little skeleton exhales and lets Asriel tow him along back to Snowdin, where the best hot chocolate awaits. The cold snow and hot drinks do mix well.

He briefly questions why they're not shortcutting but dismisses it. It's not sensible to rely too much on one ability, and he'll just end up draining himself when he already has a walking vehicle doing all the walking for him.

...Vehicle?

---

Chara wraps themselves in a thick blanket, staring at the dark mittens on their nightstand that Glad gave them.

They're exhausted. It's been a really busy two weeks and they feel like they could sleep the whole day away and still wake up feeling tired.

They attended the festival for a bit before going home to rest. Mom and Dad gave them a bit of spoiling, then sent them off to bed. Dad's outside in the New Home section of the festival while Mom's bustling about in the kitchen, preparing her famous cinnamon butterscotch pie. Hopefully.

They can't really stomach the snail pie. Sorry, Mom.

Azzy and Sansy are out too, enjoying the festivities. They told Chara to just rest and they'll take care of the moderating. They doubt they'll need to do much, monsters are peaceful by nature so there shouldn't be any trouble.

Despite their exhaustion though, they can't sleep. It feels like they have to do something else, but they don't know what.

Chara's already done everything they could've possibly done; planned a whole ass underground party for monsters to enjoy, painted a mural, hung out lots with Sansy and Azzy, got a new family, became a royal, almost died, made friends and talked to more people in a year than they have their entire life, and experienced magic. Not necessarily in that order.

They blink blearily at the faint shadows in the room they share with Asriel. The both of them can't handle being away from each other for too long, but they've been working on it. With Sans there it's easier, though they still sleep in the same room.

What else do they have to do?

Break the barrier? As if. They can't do that.

Chara's full of hate and spite, but they'll never, ever kill someone to do that. That's the same as stooping to the same level as the humans from their village.

They scowl at the thought of the humans, dragging the blanket higher to cover their head.

Chara will never stoop to their level.

But— monsters still have to be free. What can they even do to help them? Chara's a human child with no powers, they can't do anything.

Breaking the barrier by killing a monster and killing other people is out of the question.

They sigh explosively and feel tears well up.

What can they do for them?

The human turns over to stare at the ceiling, half of their face covered as they agonize over something they're not supposed to even be concerned about as a child.

...

Chara goes completely still, expression blank as an epiphany hits them.

Huh. They swallow, tears sliding down their cheeks. That should work.

Chapter Text

Asriel was the golden boy of monsterkind.

He was their young prince, the son of their ever merciful king and queen. He loved each and every monster, from the elderly to the children, from New Home to Home. In return, his subjects adored him; always greeting him with welcoming warmth and smiles.

Multiple times has he walked through the streets of the underground and gotten approached by monsters wanting to talk to him, whether that be pleasantries or something else. It happened so often that he barely remembers a time where he wasn't.

They were friendly, yet for some reason Asriel didn't have friends.

It's strange, to think that the cherished prince of monsters had no one to spend time with other than his parents. He wonders frequently why exactly he doesn't have even one friend when so many other children do.

Any attempts to join games were met with a "it's probably too boring for your highness!" or "it might be too intense for your highness!", like he couldn't handle anything they dished out when he was his parents' son.

Asriel was the prince of monsterkind; that generally meant that he had to be the best the royal family could offer once he was out of stripes. He was a boss monster, and the direct heir to the throne. If anything happened to his predecessors he had to be the best for his citizens. It's only what they deserve, yet...

Yet he was coddled and kept in the dark. All alone, no one to keep him company, no one to be his friend. No one seemed to want to be his friend.

Was there something wrong with what he doing? Practicing and studying and always being friendly, that's all he did at this point. What else could he do? Anything else he wanted to do were usually things done with a friend, and Asriel had no friends.

The young prince loved being their prince, but it started becoming lonely, suffocating. He wasn't as happy anymore.

There must be something wrong with him, if no one wanted to be his friend.

He was trying his best though, couldn't they see? Asriel was diligent in his studies and duties; he kept up with every issue a monster would tell him and directed them to the right monsters, he listened, he talked to them. He sometimes even joined his dad for receiving days and he did his own patrols if he had the time, shouldn't that be enough proof that he could be the best?

Don't people always want the best?

Then why won't anyone want him?

Those thoughts had Asriel turning a little more despondent day by day. He grew a little more reclusive, choosing to spend more and more time with his books than his citizens or parents as each day passed.

No one's willing to spend time with him anyway. His parents are busy and they must be tired of having to take care of him all the time. The other monsters...

Is there even a point in trying? Trying to be friends with them? Trying to look for ways to escape? They're stuck underground with no end in sight, and it's not like a human would willingly fall into a mountain said to be haunted by monsters.

He grew a little less adventurous. Asriel's seen enough of the underground by now, he doesn't need to do patrols or sneak out anymore.

He grew less confident, more shy. Asriel doesn't really see the need to be friendly if no one is going to be his friend anyway, why does he always have to be the one to take the initiative?

The week after, he noticed how his HP dropped by 2.

It terrified him.

Yet he...couldn't bring himself to change. It felt like there was a festering wound in his soul, empty and gaping, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

All he could do was apologize to his parents, his subjects.

And to himself.

But then, like an angel sent from aboveground, a human actually fell.

Admittedly, it was a very gruesome angel. Arm twisted unnaturally and a large wound on their leg, evident by the limp they had as Asriel walked them back to his family's home, worrying himself to the grave.

Asriel wasn't expecting to see a human in the Ruins when his concerned mom made him take a walk through the underground. He wasn't expecting for himself to agree, going as far as Home during his trip just to appease Mom instead of hiding out in a hole and waiting for the allotted time to end.

It was good that he did go to Home though. If he hadn't, the human could've fallen ill or worse, dusted.

It, it was a good, unexpected surprise.

He spent days loitering outside the guest room, asking about the human's well-being every hour or so and probably annoying a few monsters while he was at it. Mom made him take more walks outside several times, and it didn't escape anyone's attention that he was stressed and practicaly biting his claws in anxiety.

Monsters were able to catch wind of a human in the underground some way or another, and his dad had to appease the masses with a monthly address.

It wasn't explicitly stated what the human's fate would be, but many were expecting them to be harvested of a soul. That would've been one soul down, six more to go before the barrier finally, finally breaks.

Asriel didn't like that idea.

They were in so much pain and suffering; it sounded like they'd been screaming for hours before Asriel managed to find them using their voice as a guide. That gave him enough determination to follow through with his plan to take care of them even though they were supposed to be enemies.

Someone going through such pain isn't someone he'd abandon, willingly or not. That became his resolve.

("Oh my stars— are you okay?!"

The moment he noticed the red liquid pooling around their leg, he knew that it wasn't good. Asriel rushed over to the human, feeling compassion for their blurry gaze and empty, pained grin, their face twisted.

He hasn't trained on his green magic lately, but he's not his mother's son for nothing! The young prince held his paws above the human's wound, brows furrowing and focused. He made a noise of distress when the human sobbed as their head lolled to land on one of his knees.

It took a while since his magic kept flickering due to upset, but their injury finally closed up enough that they could stand. They still limped, but Asriel couldn't do much else; they had to get to his mom for further healing— and, and get the doctor. Gaster. They would know what to do—

Asriel pushed those thoughts away as the human leaned against him. They were a little heavy, but nothing he couldn't handle.

"Hey, you've fallen down, haven't you?" The starter nearly makes him grimace. Of course they fell down! It's why they got injured in first place.

The human buckled, and he has to catch them, tears springing to life in his eyes. He doesn't like this. He doesn't like seeing them hurt.

"H-here," He said softly, holding them firmly to his side. "Get up. You'll be okay, human. We're going to my home, okay? Mom can heal you more than I can, and you'll be good as new! Okay? So please,"

Asriel took a step forward, making sure the human followed without agitating their arm or leg.

"Stay awake for me, okay?"

It continued on like that. He continued to talk to the human to prevent their unconsciousness. What if they had a concussion? They could've damaged something else and besides, Asriel couldn't completely carry them, as much as he wanted to.

"What's your name?"

It was the fifth question, and he hoped that they weren't falling asleep. They haven't answered any of them so far.

"Cha— Chara..."

Asriel perked up at the answer. He shouldn't be so happy, the groan that came after was a clear indicator of how much effort it took, but they answered! That's good, that's good. They were nearing the ferry, they could rest on the way there, and maybe the human would be able to respond to him better.

"Chara, huh? That's a nice name," He tells them. "My name is Asriel."

When no other reply comes, he pushes onward. "My mom's name is Toriel, she's the one that can get you patched up. My dad is Asgore, he's a big goofball and he's really nice! We can drink tea and eat pie together, and you won't ever have to get hurt while you're with us!"

"If there's anything you need, just tell me, I won't bite, hehe."

" You don't have to be scared. Mom, Dad, and I are going to take care of you!"

"It's going to be okay, you'll be okay.")

Chara. That's the human's name.

It's a nice name, he's never heard of a name like Chara before. Chara was really wary the first few days, but Asriel managed to tear their walls down by hanging around them all the time. He hoped that he wasn't too big of an annoyance, or even one at all.

Once they get comfortable, Chara warms up quickly. It's like they've never seen a single act of kindness before, going by how they latched onto him and his parents. It doesn't look like they're used to a lot of affection too... The first time Dad gave them a hug, they cried.

Chara cries really strangely. They grin and laugh while tears run down their face. Do they use it as a coping mechanism? Asriel hoped that the human won't have to use their laughter as a cover-up for their emotions as long as they're here.

While Asriel waited impatiently for news on their well-being, he got to meet someone else new. A small skeleton by the name of Sans, the royal scientist's protegé.

Sans is cool! He doesn't react the way other children do when Asriel approaches. He doesn't try to bend over backwards trying to charm or compliment him, Sans treats Asriel like any other monster.

He never realized how much he wanted to be normal. To be treated like normal, like status really didn't matter. Status doesn't mean much in the underground, it shouldn't mean much at all, because at the end of the day they're all stuck underground with no way up. It makes every monster equal.

That didn't stop them, but still.

Um, maybe he's a little bitter.

Sans was a bit awkward, like he had no idea how to interact with him. Though Asriel got the feeling that it wasn't because of his being a prince, and more because Sans was just like that. He had no idea how to talk to other monsters.

That's okay, Asriel's fine with taking the initiative this time. He's gotta, since Chara doesn't have anyone to guide them and Sans doesn't like talking to others anyway.

Chara woke up, and the young prince got to work.

He started chatting with citizens again, about anything under the cave ceiling and soothing any worries they had about the human the royal family recently took in. He went to doctor Gaster, who used to work with humans before they were sealed underground.

He noticed that Chara didn't seem to like the surface very much, so he'll just have to make sure they like it here below.

Asriel wasn't going to let Chara be ostracized or hurt ever again.

Somehow, he ended up asking the scientist about Sans as well. What did the little skeleton like to do in his free time? How old is he? Can they meet again soon?

Luckily, Gaster agreed, and Asriel snuck out when his parents were asleep to get a gift on his own because surely they would try and tag along; but he was caught by Chara, who he ended up bringing.

("Where are you going?"

Asriel jolted, rattling the doorknob he was holding. He swivelled around to see the human his family adopted as one of their own, rubbing an eye and squinting.

In the dark, their eyes flashed red when they tilt their head in question. The young prince freezed in place. "Um."

"'Um'?" Chara mocked, flinching immediately after.

Asriel doesn't mind if they're a little mean. They don't have to look so scared.

"I'm...going to find a gift. For the skeleton I talked to you about?" He responded quietly, watching as Chara relaxed and perked up at the mention. "Is he coming over soon?" They asked.

"I think so?" The goat monster smiled sheepishly at the frustrated expression that the human made.

"I'm going with you."

"I— we're going to get in troubl—"

"Says the one who was sneaking out in the first place. Don't leave without me or I'll tell Toriel."

"I thought she said to call her Mom?"

"Shush!")

For some reason or another, the two of them ended up in Gerson's shop. Asriel wanted to show Chara around, but lost track of time so he had to hurry before someone found out they went out without permission.

Asriel snuck out a lot. Mom and Dad always know by the end of the day that he did though. This time they're not supposed to know.

He wants to give something he bought by himself! He can't have his parents ruining that for him, how is Sans going to tell how genuine he is then?

Asriel wants to be friends with Sans. If he succeeds, he'll have two friends! And they'll best friends too! It's going to be Asriel, Sans, and Chara.

He hopes that it becomes that way.

With a blank book resting in a drawer, the young prince spent the rest of the week waiting for the doctor to arrive with the other skeleton. Chara plays a few japes and pranks during that time. He won't say that he helped them, but he won't say that he didn't either.

The time that Sans came over to play arrived and Asriel made the mistake of eating too many monster candy in a moment of weakness. He was really happy about getting to see Sans again and Chara was munching on some candy; the human kept dropping a piece in one of his paws while he talked, said piece ending up in his mouth whenever he thought he was talking too much.

He whined to Chara about it when the guests were gone.

("Why did you have to keep feeding me candy?? Now he probably thinks I'm an absolute glutton ughhhh—"

"Mo— Toriel said something about the monster version of a sugar rush and I was curious? It wasn't that bad anyway, I did the same thing too so you wouldn't feel embarrassed when you snapped out of it."

"Charaaaaaaaa—"

"You sound like a little kid, shut up!"

"No, you do!")

And now, these past few months have been really fun for him ever since he met Sans and Chara.

There's nothing that gives him greater joy than to spend time with his best friends and walk through the underground, talking and laughing about anything under the ceiling.

It feels like he never has to feel so alone ever again, not with the two of them by his side.

---

Asriel lets his stare bore into the side of Chara's head.

The human shoves in another mouthful of pie and slurps obnoxiously loud on their chocolate shake, staring elsewhere, anywhere. Who knows where. Asriel's snout crinkles at the sound, and he kicks lightly at them.

The end result is that Chara got so startled by his foot the food and drink almost went down the wrong pipe, and the little goat monster has to give up on his staring to help them.

"Azzy, what—" A cross between a cough and a groan interrupts their sentence as they curl over the side of the table, eyes tearing up. Asriel feels his own eyes welling, torn between guilt and laughter as he pats their back soothingly.

"I'm so sorry." He says instead. Chara glares at him, unconvinced, and they take another sip of their shake to clear their throat. Slowly. "Are you okay now?"

He gets another dirty look thrown his way and he averts his eyes nervously. Maybe he should get another chocolate shake to make up for it, Chara's ridiculously fragile for a human, even if they're also ridiculously strong for a kid—

"Children? Is everything alright?"

Mom peeks out of the kitchen curiously, holding a dish rag and a glass in her paws, and the two siblings shake their head in unison. "Azzy just surprised me, mother," Chara replies dutifully, innocently taking another bite of pie.

Asriel twitches at a sudden nudge at his foot. Taking the hint, he forks a piece of his own butterscotch-cinnamon pie and grins at his mom. "Sorry mom! Thanks for the pie, we should save some for dad!"

Toriel breathes out a sigh, wiping the glass and smiling gently.

"That goes without saying. Your father is rather busy with the end of the festival coming up— speaking of," She narrows her eyes at them. Asriel and Chara swallow nervously. "Why are you not outside? Sans must be very anxious to see you both."

The little goat monster glances at the human in panic. It was Chara's idea to stay inside for the day! They seemed to want to talk to him about something but they were just silent and brooding the whole time they've been in the house, it's not Asriel's fault this time!

Toriel raises a furry brow in question, and he knows he screwed up when Chara squints at him in their 'dude, what the hell?' look. He shouldn't have looked at them at all.

"Um," Chara starts, facing their mom again and smiling widely. "We'll be heading out now, mother."

Without hesitation, they shovel in the last piece of pie they had on their plate, grab the paper cup with their choco shake, and pull Asriel towards the door.

Toriel stares after them, listening to the door open then shut. Her gaze lands on the remaining dessert that her Azzy hadn't been able to finish.

She shakes her head and smiles warmly. Well, she'll just hide it for later when he wants to finish it.

Asriel whines after Chara as they trudge to the ferry, keeping pace with their hasty strides. "Charaaaaa, the pie!" The human slurps loudly on their shake in response.

He huffs and tugs on their sweater, stopping them both. "Chara, what's up with you!" The young prince bursts out, frustrated.

They've been like this all day! They haven't been telling him anything at. all. Asriel doesn't like doubting Chara, but sometimes he has to put a paw down and demand things, or else they won't tell him what's wrong!

If they just talked without beating around the bush so many problems could be solved, and he's confident that if they do it together they can definitely solve it!

"Chara, please. There's something up, or wrong. Did something happen?" Asriel asks pleadingly, seeing how Chara still won't turn around to face him. He notices how their mitten-clad grip on their shake tightens, crinkling the paper cup from the pressure.

Chara snickers, and the tension between their shoulders lessen, while Asriel furrows his eyebrows.

"Nope, nothing happened."

Okay. Yeah. Something definitely happened.

Just as he's about to call them out on their blatant lie, his sibling turns to him, grinning with that familiar spark of mischief in their eyes. "I've just been thinking, that's all."

The prince frowns before smiling reluctantly, willing to push it aside if that's what they want.

He pretends to CHECK them, their mischievous mood affecting him easily. "But you're not taking any damage?" Asriel replies, fangs peeking out of his own grin as Chara laughs, tugging their sweater out of his grip.

"Why anyone thinks that you're so nice is beyond me, that was brutal!"

The goat monster snorts and giggles, covering his snout with a paw as the human rolls their eyes and indulges him. "Whatever, Azzy. I'll let it slide this time."

Asriel's laughter quiets as they grin at each other, and the carefree atmosphere is suddenly stained by his worry.

"Are you sure nothing happened?"

"Yes," They nod firmly and hold onto one of his paws. "Nothing happened. I'm just thinking about some stuff, surface and monster stuff. Nothing you have to worry much about," The pause just makes Asriel's concern grow. "I'll tell you about it...after Christm— Gyftmas."

That's a strange day to pick, but he'll leave it be for now.

"Okay, Chara..." He replies mutely. "I believe in you. Are we telling Sans after?"

Chara flinches like it didn't occur to them, a wide expression on their face, and he blinks in surprise. "Uh, not sure yet." The response comes out of their mouth clumsily as the human smiles widely.

Asriel doesn't say anything about the smile they have on, knowing that doing so could make them clam up.

The festival's still going on and they've been inside for most of the day; the skeleton must be wondering where they are.

He takes the lead for once, locking arms with his sibling and marching towards the river's direction where the river person is sure to be found. "Let's go see him! He gets lonely easily, so let's hurry."

(Chara's smile widens as the corners of their eyes grow taut.)

---

Sans' eyelights flicker briefly, an uncharacteristic chill blowing through him despite his lacking of nerves and his extra layers of clothing. He puts his gloved hands in his jacket pockets, puffing out a hot breath of air that he watches rise in a white cloud.

Azzy and Chara aren't here in Snowdin today.

The two royals must be really tired if they're not outside. That's okay, they deserve a break after all the work they put into this festival; no one'll judge them for it. Asgore visited earlier, dressed somewhat inconspicuously in a red suit that— heh, suited him.

Sans muffles a giggle at the pun.

Then his expression goes flat again, the knowledge that no one's here to laugh about it with him resurfacing. He wants to see Azzy and Chara, but they're exhausted. He's not sure that Toriel will let him play with them either when they're so tired.

He checked awhile ago, Toriel was in the kitchen reading a book while the oven was lit, baking something. Asriel and Chara were nowhere to be seen, most likely in their room resting.

The little skeleton sighs quietly, leaning against the library wall as he watches numerous children and adults bustle about, all cheerful and smiles. There are a few notable dour faces, but that's nothing new.

Gaster's in Hotland. The Core's finally going to be finished and magical electricity will be more available than ever for monsterkind; most of the electricity went to New Home residents who were too sensitive when it came to the cold or the heat. Like high-maintenance pets, they needed extra care.

It wasn't fair, but now that Gaster's worked out a solution they won't have to be so bitter because of their own, now the only thing they'll have to be angry about is the barrier.

Ah, speaking of Gaster. Recently, Papyrus has been getting kinda big, big enough that Sans feels that he could hold his brother without fearing he might snap his neck, yet for some reason Gaster decided to put Papyrus in his...belly.

His belly. It was really odd, and weird. A skeleton with a belly? The moment Sans saw the roundness of his creator's frame he had the strangest feeling that it wasn't quite supposed to be possible, at all. Especially since according to the scientist, his belly is purple.

He doesn't think that pregnancies work that way.

Sans doesn't know how Gaster managed to fit Papyrus in his belly, but he doesn't want to know. If it's something like vore or something similar he might just puke even with his lack of a stomach.

...What the heck is vore?

He pauses to tug his scarf higher.

On second thought, he doesn't want to know either.

Shrieks of joy ring out from a crowd of children, several chasing the other monster kids in a game of Monsters and Humans. It's a game where, you guessed it, the humans chase the monsters. The whole objective of the game is to tag as many monsters as you can if you're a human, and to stay away from the humans long enough for the time limit to end if you're a monster.

And to also piss off the local adults holding a grudge against humanity.

Sans would ignore them; he doesn't think it's fair to hold yourself back from enjoying life just because several people don't. If they can't bring themselves to enjoy what's given to them, then that's a problem of their own unless they ask for help.

These adults, they don't seem to want to ask for help anytime soon, so Sans has no qualms about ignoring them.

Silently, he focuses on one particular monster playing as a monster. They seem to be playing the longest out of all of the other children, hopping about and swerving away from any hands close to catching them.

The bunny monster looks familiar to him, and it takes Sans a second to realize it's the bunny from yesterday. The one talking to Chara. Said human came back to him and Asriel with a new pair of mittens over their own.

Chara didn't talk about them, so he'd thought that they weren't too important.

Sans blinks when the bunny starts making towards him. He immediately turns to enter the library and shuts the door behind him firmly, hearing the faint noise of a yell.

He's not in the mood to talk to anyone. He won't be entertaining any conversation until Asriel and Chara or Gaster come back.

The little skeleton nods towards the librarian behind the counter, a stern bird monster that no one seems to remember the name of. The bird returns his nod with a gesture to be quiet or else. Sans nods again easily, strolling towards the rather scarce collection of books by the wall.

Many monster families chose to keep most of their remaining items brought fron the surface, a lot of them being books and journals by ancestors and famous authors. The books in the library focus more on the history happening in the present, that being monsterkind being trapped underground and what happens during their stay here.

Such as,

"Gyftmas, its origin and why it came to be."

The book, if it can really be called that, is only around twelve or fifteen pages long. An essay you could find at school or if you looked it up. Sans flips through the papers, finishing with a squint at the ceiling as he tries to remember what he just read.

All he can take away from Gyftmas' origin story is that kids can be cruel even to adults.

The little skeleton puts the book back in its proper place, already bored out of his mind. Things really are duller without anyone to keep him company, at least even if they're kinda stupid they can be amusing. Are Asriel and Chara okay? They've never gone so long without each other, Sans misses them...

He makes a soft little grunt, annoyed with himself.

Get it together, Sans. He chides as he walks out of the library, taking care not to attract any unwanted attention. It's only one day, and the two of them are exhausted. You can do this. Do it for them.

"Sans!"

---

Once Chara and Asriel get off the ferry and bid the river person goodbye, they start racing each other to Snowdin's entrance.

They hadn't expected to find Sans looking like he was the saddest monster alive, blank-faced and his scarf wrapped around nearly his entire head like he's trying to hide from the world.

Asriel calls out to him, and the siblings stifle their laughter when the skeleton whips around and bounds over to them like a puppy, eyes spinning into stars as his previous impassive state seems to wash away.

"is everything okay?" He asks, a hand fiddling with the end of his scarf. Chara pulls some of the red away so his face is more visible, grinning.

"Yeah, I just wanted to rest for a bit." The human draws the two monsters closer for hug and stays there for half a minute, squeezing them tightly. The monsters giggle and hug back, recognizing that they needed some form of comfort.

Asriel recalls the first time Chara got hugged and huffs, turning his face to hide his grin. And they call him the crybaby? They're just as bad as he is. At least now they're getting better about it, but the shine of their eyes don't lie.

Once they break apart, the goat monster reaches for Chara's hand and nudges them to middle, him and Sans flanking the human. The skeleton snags their other hand and smiles, flushing a light blue as he tugs his scarf up.

Even if centuries pass, Asriel will never forget the momentary look that crossed his sibling's face as they started walking to wherever their feet would take them.

Chapter Text

"Alright, Sans. Fess up!"

Chara's yell has said skeleton flinching and fumbling to catch the book that somehow managed to escape his grasp. Like soap, it keeps slipping from his gloved hands until a paw easily snatches it from the air.

Sans gives Asriel a look.

The prince grins apologetically, but the sparkle in his eyes tell a different story.

"confess what, chara?" The skeleton asks, feeling a sense of foreboding. Asriel clutches the dark blue book to his chest protectively when Sans goes to reach for it.

Sans gives him another look, this time fiercer.

The prince ignores it.

"What kind of things you write in your book!" The human puts their hands on their hips, mischief in their brown eyes. Chara gestures to Asriel and the goat silently pries the book open to a random page.

Sans hasn't reached that part of the book yet so he's not suprised to see blank expressions of confusion from the siblings.

He leans back, amused and curious. "i didn't think it was that interesting."

Asriel flips to an earlier page, and lights up when he finds scribbles all over the paper.

"Of course it's interesting," He huffs the same time that Chara scoffs out a similar response. "It's something you're so invested in after all, what kind of friends would we be if we didn't know such a simple thing about you?"

The strange vehemence makes Sans' ribcage bloom warmly, and he tugs his scarf up to cover half of his face, hoping that his blush wasn't so obvious.

By the way that Chara goes 'aw', he'd say he wasn't very successful in hiding it.

Sans waves it off, tucking his knees against his ribs and wrapping his arms around them, observing the two royals.

"eh. sure. go wild, i guess." His lacklustre reply hopefully hides it better, but that hope is again dashed by the soft, glad smile that Asriel sends his way, and he buries his face in his knees as his skull glows.

It's not fair! They're so cute and he's still not immune to that. And they're friends, so of course Sans is going to give them leeway.

It's not fair.

He doesn't pout. He doesn't.

"I'm not an expert, but..."

"Then why are you saying anything in the first place?"

Chara ignores Asriel's comment and continues on.

"This is pretty good, isn't it?"

Sans peeks out his burrow, eyelights shrunken in surprise.

Asriel looks at whatever's on the page and nods firmly in agreement. "It is! It's like I'm actually reading a published book!"

The little skeleton makes a noise that he would never admit was a squeak. Chara grins at him as the goat prince turns the page.

"Golly, Sans." He murmurs, eyes wide and delighted. "You could make a play with this!"

A— a play?

"a play." That kinda came out of nowhere.

"The one with actors and props but onstage?" Sans stifles his laughter at the utter disgust Chara shows. Asriel huffs and closes the book.

"Yes, a play." He stresses. "I want to see a play but no one's done it yet so we're just going to have to make one."

Chara splutters, peals of confused laughter escaping them while the skeleton eyes his book and Asriel dispassionately.

"you sure, azzy?" The young prince stares Sans straight in the eyesockets, daring him to stop him.

"...okay then."

"Wa, wait. I haven't even said anything yet!"

---

"Entry XXX_001"

Asriel and Chara found out about the things I write. They're not anything that could be seen as strange or abnormal, or at least I think so. I usually write about what I can remember, about what that person can remember about their life. One of those things was a scene from a book that stuck with them— me, in particular. Asriel found that excerpt and decided he wanted to make a play out of it.

I don't want to recount everything because it would just take up more space than necessary, but we somehow managed to set fire to part of Area L2 of Hotland and almost dehydrated Undyne completely when we called her over for help. In hindsight, that was stupid, I should've stopped Chara sooner. We also nearly tripped into a pit of lava.

If I could, I would just forget all about it, but that would mean room for mistake in the future. Gaster gave me an earful about it though I don't have any ears, and Toriel made me promise to keep a closer eye on Asriel and Chara. I'm not sure what she told them too, but they looked really embarrassed and guilty after.

All these promises that Toriel and I keep making are a bit troublesome. I don't mind, I just want to know why she keeps asking me these things. Maybe because I seem reliable to her?

*The block of text takes up most of the page. It's written in a language you don't recognize.

---
---

Asriel brought a toy today. A box that doubles as a safe, where you have to solve a puzzle first before getting to open and close the box.

Sans has never seen anything like it before, though he feels like he should've.

They sit in a field of echo flowers, floating lights straying here and there as crystals illuminate their surroundings.

"what do you do with toys?" He asks. Asriel stares at him in silence while Chara looks up from the box to give him a similar expression.

"what do you..."

"..do with toys..."

"..what..."

"..toys..."

The echo flowers repeat his words over and over again, and Sans feels himself twitch. Did he say something wrong? Even with a bunch of replays he can't tell if he said anything out of place.

The goat monster and human share a glance.

"You play with them," Asriel answers slowly. "They're something fun to do."

Chara hums in agreement, a weird look on their face. "Yes, that's...they are used to pass the time and occupy yourself." Sans tilts his head at the familiar speech. They're imitating Toriel again.

A click comes from the box and they finally manage to open the second part of the puzzle; they do a small fist pump.

Then, Asriel nods at Chara and the human passes the toy to him.

They two of them have been getting pretty good at that. Communicating non-verbally. If someone else other than Sans were to spend time with them then they most likely wouldn't be able to understand anything they do.

Sans blinks at the box being held towards him. He takes it gingerly, slightly confused but knowing that Asriel wanted him to finish the third puzzle.

The goat monster beams at him when he tries turning a knob and the skeleton has to cover his warm skull with his scarf. The glow shows on the red color as Chara coos.

"time to quiet," He tells them firmly. Chara lets out a snicker and scoots closer to the two monsters.

Sans doesn't pout. He turns the puzzle this way and that, looking for any other objects he has to turn, and spots another knob underneath. It's barely visible, painted the exact same color as the box.

He fiddles with the toy for several minutes until there's a resounding click from inside.

Asriel and Chara cheer, and an unexpected warmth rushes through him as he attempts to breathe through the sense of...something that wanted to knock him out.

The blue on his scarf returns, brighter than before.

"That was quick!" The prince comments, looking like he was one step away from popping out flowers and sparkles. "Was it fun?"

His sibling grins proudly at Sans, like they were the one who finished the puzzle.

He can't help but giggle and nod. "mm, it was." He tells Asriel, handing the puzzle box back to Chara.

Sans blinks when his friend, without hesitation, passes it back to him. It feels like they spend an hour staring at each other when in reality it's only been several minutes.

"Why did you give it back to them?" Asriel jokes. "It's yours."

Oh. That's strange.

It seems that his skull is overheating. His scarf doesn't seem red anymore either.

Hands curl over the sides of the box protectively as Sans glances off to the side, blue-faced and eyelights wobbling.

He— some part of him recognizes the sentiment behind their actions just now, in some way or another.

"um," Sans stutters. It's uncommon for him to be speechless. He doesn't remember a time he was this flustered and blue and oh stars— how is he supposed to—

"Holy shit that's adorable, oh god, Azzy are you seeing this—"

"Shhh, Chara! Give him a moment!"

The skeleton glances up fron the ground, seeing how his two friends hold their hands to their mouths in silence, twin grins threatening to break out on their faces.

"thanks, i'll, um. keep this safe."

The words spill clumsily out of his trembling smile, still flushed a gentle blue and his soul beating with a warmth that he recognizes.

Sans accepts the hug they offer him, hiding his skull in his scarf.

---

"Entry XXX_002"

Asriel brought a puzzle box toy and we all had fun solving it. He gave it to me during our play date. I'll treasure it forever.

---
---

Sans knocks softly against the wooden frame, carrying a stack of dirty dishes.

Toriel turns to look and her eyes widen in surprise. "Oh my, Sans!" Her exclamation causes the skeleton to shift in place for a reason unknown to even him. "Bring those over, no need to burden yourself any further, child."

Sans does as she asks and sets the plates down beside the sink with care. He lets out a breath when they hit the counter with nary a sound.

"Those two, I swear," Toriel huffs. "Leaving a guest to clean up after their messes..."

"they don't know i took their plates," Sans smiles bashfully up at the queen, tugging at the end of his scarf. "they're busy with a puzzle."

The goat monster visibly softens and smiles back at the little skeleton, sweeping a motherly paw over his head. "Such a good child, are you not? Well, thank you for bringing the dishes to me. You may go back now."

...

...He's torn between staying and going back to his friends.

Compared to Asgore, he hasn't gotten many opportunities to actually interact with Toriel, which is strange; considering how she's close with both Gaster and Asgore, and he sees her a lot more than the king.

"Was there something you needed, Sans?"

Oh, oops. He must have lingered for too long. Sans looks up at Toriel.

About to say something, but the words die in his mouth at the patient smile on the mother's face, and he blushes instead.

Darn it, Sans. He scolds. Just because she looks a lot like Asriel doesn't mean you can let yourself be swayed!

The little skeleton hears a quiet, soothing laugh and knows that it's Toriel. Sans adjusts the red around his neck, huffing.

"it's nothing," He tells her, a bit miffed with himself, bowing his head. "thank you."

By the sparkle in her eyes, she knows that it's not "nothing", but the queen waves it off, picking up one of the dirty plates that he brought over.

"If you insist. Though if you do have any concerns, you may approach me, alright?"

Sans can understand why Chara admires her a lot; she manages to sound so warm yet firm at the same time. That's probably what they want to emulate the most.

He nods in response and exits the kitchen, not noticing the thoughtful expression Toriel has.

---

"Sans."

"...queen..ma'am tori?"

"Pfft— ehehehe— oh, silly child. No need to call me by the title! Just call me Tori if you wish."

"oh, uh. thank you, ma'am tori."

"I suppose that's better than before. Now, Sans. I heard that you enjoy puzzles?"

"mm, maybe?"

"Hehe, of course. Here, a gift from myself and Gorey— Asgore."

"oh stars. ma'am tori, is it really—"

"Yes, my child. It's yours now, do with it as you will, I hope you enjoy it! Goodness, do I smell something burning?"

"we're— there's no fire in snowdin,"

"Well, I will be excusing myself now. Please continue to be good friends with my children, have a great day!"

Sans is left staring listlessly into the snowy canvas, confused beyond belief with a bright, bright skull showing how flustered he is.

He looks down at the simple wooden box in his hold. It looks similar to the one that Azzy gave him, but it's heavier; and when he moves he can feel something shift and slide inside the box.

Toriel gave him a gift.

A sudden, unexpected poof of light blue smoke explodes from his head and he slaps a hand against his mouth, shocked.

What.

Did...did he actually explode? His head exploded. From what? Toriel giving him a gift? What? Why did that happen, what— what does this mean. Is he a bomb??

Sans silenty shortcuts to his room and lands on his bed, blushing brightly enough that he illuminates most of the dark space.

He vaguely realizes that he's rattling slightly with newfound energy as he flicks the switch for the lights.

The box catches his eye as he moves back to his bed.

...

He can't resist. He's too curious. Sans needs to know what's inside.

Without any ado, he gets to work on the puzzle.

But in the end Sans never gets to finish it; the puzzle proves to be difficult for even him to solve, and he's soon swept up in an increase of experiments and less free time to himself as he spends more of it with his best friends.

---

"Entry XXX_003"

Toriel gave me a puzzle box similar to Asriel's. She said it was a gift from both her and Asgore. It's a bit difficult, but I'm sure with time that I'll be able to open the box.

Strangely, when she gave me it, I...exploded? My skull exploded with smoke like an overheated engine(?), and it felt like it too. I'm not sure if it's a good feeling or not, but I do know that I was flustered by the gift.

She's weird. She's the only one who's ever made me explode(?) like that. I've thanked her already though, the box is really challenging.

*Two puzzle boxes lay on a bed alongside the dark blue book you're looking through. All objects are dusty from lack of use.

*The language written in the book is still something you don't recognize, but YOU do, don't you?

*Why else would you read this far?

*get out.

Chapter Text

A skeleton sat on a bed. It seems as if it's grown a little bigger since the last time it stood before it. It still fit snugly on the mattress, but it doesn't feel the same warmth it used to experience whenever it laid down on the bed.

The skeleton dusted off the dark, blue book. It's been waiting for awhile. He silently tucked the book away in his inventory, re-adjusting the red scarf around his shoulders.

Judge took the puzzle boxes as well, idly feeling around for any dents or scratches on the toys. He found none and put it away with the book.

There was nothing but the faint sound of a whirring machine and the smell of ash and dust in the air.

*You wait to see if he'll do anything else.

...

A hand traced a line in the old sheets, before stilling.

*Hey.

Judge turns his head to face you, and an eyelight blazes in his socket.

*it's rude to snoop through other people's belongings.

Chapter Text

The room feels cold, save for the warmth of his creator's magic on the bed he sits in. The little skeleton discreetly snuggles closer, a blanket wrapped around himself as Gaster writes down an entry.

Gaster then smooths a skeletal hand over his belly and Sans watches in morbid fascination, head cocked slightly as they sit together.

"gaster?"

The scientist's eyelights flick over to him, a familiar static filling his head. "Yes, Sans?"

"did you eat papyrus?"

There's a stunned silence from the other skeleton that Sans, unfortunately, takes as confirmation. "you, you did?" The bone above his sockets furrow in distress as his nose ridge scrunches up.

Gaster shifts to face his creation, exasperated. The static grows a little stronger.

"No, Sans. I did not eat Papyrus," He tells him, one of his hands laid flat against his belly.

"so why is he in your belly?"

"It—" Gaster sighs briefly. "It's to provide protection and nutrition for the babybones. While their body fully stabilizes they will need more magic than the simple doses I've been feeding them— did none of your books cover this topic?"

Sans thinks back to his studies and shakes his head when he can't remember a time where he read about pregnancies in detail, not even about skeleton pregnancies.

His creator mutters something that he wasn't able to catch, and the younger's eyelights drift down to the elder's round, ball-like belly again.

The thought pops into his head.

"but how did you fit him inside?"

Gaster presses a hand to his face.

---

Gyftmas is coming up, and Sans wonders what the monster the tradition is based off of thinks about the holiday. Wasn't their name Gyftrot? Can he meet them?

The little skeleton flips through the pages of his dark blue book, the one that Gaster gave him. The book is nearly devoid of empty space, even the corners are filled with doodles while the rest of the papers have entries and notes about his daily life and studies. For Gyftmas, he hopes for a new book to write in.

Asriel's book is something he can't quite bring himself to put a pen on even after all this time. It's something that his very first friend gave him, he can't dirty it. Sans is never telling Asriel about that though, nor Chara. They might pester him to write a thing and might end up reading it.

After that disastrous day of trying to reenact one of the scenes (memories) that the skeleton had wrote down, it's safe to say that he won't be showing them anything he's written any time soon.

He hopes for a new book, though. That way he'll have another one without messing with the gift his best friend gave him.

As usual, the underground looks forward to Gyftmas. With the Underground Festival having just finished, it'd be like a whole week of continuous fun where no one has to worry about anything other than gifts and food and enjoying themselves.

The festival? It was nice, Sans didn't partake much in it though. Too preoccupied with errands and taking breaks with Asriel and Chara to really get to experience the whole thing; they did play a few puzzles and ate from every stall they passed. Other than that, they were busy walking around and moderating.

In the end, they hadn't needed to do much moderating, so it could be considered a bit of a waste. Of course, Sans doesn't think that any time spent with his best friends is a waste. That's just stupid.

Sans thumbs at a corner, fiddling with the paper edges and tracing it with a phalange, lost in thought.

Chara and Asriel have been a bit off lately. It's nothing huge, it's most likely just a small spat between the two siblings, as siblings do; but he can't shake off the feeling that there might be something they're hiding from him.

Not to mention that time during the festival where Asriel had a sudden outburst. What did he mean by 'I get enough of it from everyone else'? Does he mean the respect? The titles? If anything, that's the least that Azzy deserves. He's worth every drop of respect and adoration a monster could muster.

Does he not like it?

The little skeleton tilts his head slightly, a thumb pressing against the edge of a paper.

"It's lonely at the top."

"Kol? What does that mean?"

A polite, soft voice rings in his skull. He shakes his head from side to side, trying to rid it of the sudden wave of disorientation that came over him.

"Respect can ostracize someone?" Sans asks out loud, pulling on his scarf and letting it pool down onto the ground, red liquid. He suddenly felt a little suffocated in it.

The skeleton shivers at the uncommon chill hitting his neck, a breeze through his spine.

Respect can ostracize someone, and Azzy doesn't like titles that much...

Sans tips his head back and lays down on the cold, hard floor of his room. The white ceiling greets him, Waterfall crystals adorning the space. Gaster picked those out for him, so that when the lights are off there will still be something to look at.

That was a fun time.

But he wishes that he could be with Asriel and Chara right now, strolling through the damp waterfalls and looking at the twinkling rocks as always.

He drags the dark blue book closer to him, noticing a sharp sting from a finger in the process. Curious and confused, he glances over, immediately seeing the bright red line that runs across the pad of his thumb.

Oh, a wound? That's...huh.

Sans only has 1HP. That should've dusted him.

His soul turns cold and heavy. That could've dusted him. The realization settles like lead in his non-existent stomach.

Why didn't it?

Even for a monster kid, he's considered fragile based on his ridiculously low HP. Just one hit could kill him, it's why Undyne isn't as rough with him as she is with other kids and why said other kids never really approach him; they're fond of roughhousing.

He's never gotten wounded until now... Gaster never hit Sans during training, only exhausted him.

What about the experiments?

Sans goes stock-still. Breathing shakily though he doesn't need it, he reminds himself that HP only depletes if there's the intent to harm. Gaster never meant to harm him, he never means to hurt him. It's only a responsibility, something they both have to do.

The cut doesn't mean anything either. Sans didn't dust because there was no harmful intent to the cut. He didn't mean to hurt himself.

None of it means anything.

Calming down, the little skeleton rubs at his ribcage, wanting to take out his soul. Taking out his soul calms him down better than any medication.

So he does, and the little glow brightens in his hands as he cups them around it. His soul's colors remain the same, light blue with a faint yellow that he identifies with. Patience and Justice.

It's as pristine as always. A blush spreads across his cheekbones at the unintentional compliment and the colors light up even more, the yellow becoming obvious to the naked eyelight.

Sans brings the upside-down heart closer, anxieties washed away by the presence of his very being held in his own hands. He's in control of the situation, nothing can hurt him or anyone he cares about. A thought then worms its way into his head.

He regards the surface of his soul curiously. It looks almost gelatinous and easy to break apart, but he knows that souls have an outer shell to them that thickens if the monster gains something called LOVE and EXP.

Sans removes his hands from underneath, letting his soul float down smoothly. Just as he's about to poke at it, the door slides open.

The little skeleton jerks away, hastily scooping up his soul and turning to glare at the intruder.

Gaster stares back inquisitively.

"um. hi."

Darn it.

---

Chara woke up today and decided that waking Asriel up via sudden movement was the best way to start the day. They shuffled around quietly in their shared room and procured an alarm clock they never ended up using since, they both woke up bright and early anyway.

Too bad for Azzy, Chara didn't quite wake up at their usual time and found him still asleep.

They stand beside the goat's bed and coo silently at the small snuffling noise that Asriel makes, before setting the alarm to a minute later.

Chara lingers by the door to their room and watches as their sibling shrieks and shoots up from the bed once the clock starts ringing by his ear.

The two royals meet eyes and after a few seconds, Azzy calms down enough to give a glare that could burn someone alive.

A beat passes, then two— and Chara sprints towards the bathroom, hearing Asriel behind them.

"CHARA HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME I TRUSTED YOU."

"Shouldn't have!" The human cackles as they shut the door on the goat monster's nose and muffle giggles at the ensuing drawn-out groan of defeat.

It's always fun messing around with Azzy. Hopefully their parents, erm— Toriel and Asgore, mom and dad, are already awake though. That was probably something they should've checked first before pulling that prank on Asriel.

Having had their fun, Chara pulls away from the door, still giggling periodicially as their mind keeps wandering to the face their sibling made.

They splash their face with warm water. Back on the surface they had to wait for water to boil if they wanted a hot bath but here, now that the CORE was up and running, they didn't have to wait. The water's temperature changed with a flick of the wrist and Chara has never been so grateful that Sans'...dad? existed.

Chara didn't know what to think of Gaster even after nearly a year underground. Everyone thinks he's amazing, and Chara does too; it's just that they don't know what the hell's going on behind that constant smile.

Despite that, they really do think that Gaster's nice. He did help them recover from the fall after all.

Once they gurgle water and spit they strut out of the bathroom, no longer hearing Asriel's whines. Sure enough he's not there anymore. Chara hears faint noises from the kitchen.

For one reason or another, they freeze in the hallway, a hurt in their chest. There's nothing to thaw the growing chill that surrounds their soul and they go to grasp at their shirt, breaths coming in short and everything— everything's too much all of a sudden, how— are they really going to— they—

"Charaaaa! Are you done already!"

Everything goes back to normal, and it's like nothing ever happened. Chara feels okay.

"Azzy, you nag too much!" They call out. Entering the living room that doubles as a dining room feels like second nature by now, same with every other action they've done since falling underground.

Asgore sits at the table, glasses perched on his snout as he looks through some papers with a furrowed brow. His eyes regain their joy when he glances up to see Chara, and they grin crookedly, greeting him with cheer.

"Morning!"

The king laughs deeply and reaches over to pull them into a hug that encompasses Chara's entire being, warm and soft.

"Good morning, Chara. Would you like some tea?" Asgore's beard tickles Chara's face and they splutter at the feeling. "Dad, your beard! Beard!"

Nothing could've prepared Chara for the sudden pokes at their sides, and they yell as Asriel laughs at his victory, wiggling his paws. Trapped in Asgore's hug, Chara has no choice but to surrender and screech at the tickles from both the beard and paws.

Soon enough, the human is left wheezing and red-faced. Toriel snorts at the scene, carrying plates to the table and Chara scrambles to escape their dad and sibling, all too willing to help her set up.

"Mom, they were bullying me." They complain to her as they eat. Toriel smiles teasingly at them.

"And you did not do anything to deserve such treatment?"

Chara pulls a face and stays silent, spearing some eggs as Asriel smugly chews in their direction. Only Asgore looks sheepish, but the amusement is clear in his eyes.

Petals catch their attention, yellow and inviting. Chara's gaze lingers on the small flowers sat in a vase by the fireplace; a memory that happened months ago surfaces in their mind. They don't quite remember who got sick after mistakenly eating those flowers, was it mom or dad?

"It's going to be Gyftmas soon." They hear Asgore say.

"Are you going out again?"

Toriel sounds exasperated, yet fond. Chara glances down at a faint nudge at their leg and blinks at the lone piece of paper sitting by their foot. Slowly, they pinch the paper between their toes and flick a fork off the table, watching it go underneath as Toriel and Asgore jolt.

"Ah, why don't you get another from the kitchen, my child?" Toriel suggests kindly. Chara gives the both of them an embarrassed smile and reaches down to get the utensil, folding the paper quickly into their hand.

They scurry into the kitchen and drop the fork into the sink quietly, unfolding the note.

Merry Gyftmas, Chara! Does this count as a greeting when it's not actually The Day yet?

Asriel's familiar handwriting stares back at them and Chara lets out a small 'heh', mildly amused.

The tradition of putting a star on top of a Snowdin tree is pretty popular, right? But what's red and shines brighter than any star?

If in two days you don't have your anwer yet, go to Sans and he'll tell you what to do.

Have fun!

Chara squints at the words skeptically; what's red and shines brighter than any star?

The sun?

Their grip on the note spasms when they awkwardly remember that— of course not. Neither Sans nor Asriel know what the sun looks like.

For the second time, Chara's chest tightens and the chill digs into their soul.

"Chara? You have been in there for awhile, my child. Is everything alright?"

The warmth of Toriel's concerned voice chases the feeling away. Chara's okay again. They fold the note again and tuck it into their shorts, scrambling for a utensil as their mom peeks from the corner.

"Yes! Everything's fine, mom." Exclaiming, the human holds up the utensil they'd been looking for.

A spoon.

Toriel stares silently at the spoon as Chara feels the back of their neck heat up, spreading to their face and to their cheeks.

"The forks are on the other side—"

"I know! I know!" They yelp, shoving it back in the drawer and pulling out a fork, red-faced. The goat monster giggles at her child's silliness, draping an arm across their shoulders as they hurry back to her, scowling in embarrassment.

Later, when the royal siblings are on one of their walks and heading towards Hotland where Sans is, Asriel laughs in Chara's face; having seen the whole thing from his spot on the table.

Sans gives them the most pitying look they've seen from him to date. Chara trips him for that.

---

What's red and shines brighter than any star?

After two days of mulling it over, Chara decides that the difficulty of the question was on purpose. They were never meant to figure it out without help— the last bit on the note was a dead giveaway.

Gyftmas looks pretty bright this year, they think blankly, watching monster children run around with bright red ribbons around their wrists and clothes. The ribbons are red. Is that the answer?

"hey." They almost stiffen in surprise, but recognize who the voice belongs to as a familiar red color appears in the corner of their eye. Sans' mouth twitches in a smile that he smothers, and Chara knows that their moment didn't go unnoticed.

"Hi Sans," Chara greets simply, tone chipper and light. A beat passes before a similar response comes from their skeletal friend, more cautious. They keep a straight face.

It's obvious that Sans is suspicious about the peppy voice that Chara used, but they really just did that to mess with him.

It's just— so funny, how the skeleton is more suspicious about happy people than the ones with obvious sadness in their eyes.

Now Chara's a little sad.

Shaking it off with practiced ease and a bright smile, the human links arms with Sans. "So! My skeleton friend, what answers do you hide in your abyssal sockets!"

Their skeleton friend snorts at the posh voice they take on.

"my eyes are actually candy i put in my sockets."

"No ti— wait what?" Chara's gaze skitters to Sans.

Sans stares at them for a long, long moment before looking away, an easy smile on his face. "you were saying something about getting answers?"

"Huh? What? No? Sans, that's not important are your eyes actually candy— Sans—"

"the first thing you have to do," He speaks loudly, drowning out Chara's mildly hysterical questions. "is to go over to the librarby and look for that one book."

Chara clicks their tongue, squinting. "Fine then, you better tell me the truth or I won't do the whole thing." Though they're glaring they're already walking, snow crunching beneath their feet as Sans follows them.

"What book is it anyway?" They ask him. The little skeleton shrugs in response.

"Veeeery helpful, Sansy."

"azzy thinks so too."

"Uuugh... You're the worst."

"you're so mean, chara."

"Azzy's meaner than me."

"really?"

"I hate you. You know, I thought about getting a nickname that ended with a 'y' too. That way we'll have matching nicknames."

The little skeleton tilts his head curiously, eyes lingering on the sign on Pyre's roof as they pass it.

"oh, that's cool. why didn't you?"

"It sounds terrible no matter which way I say it."

"ychara. chay. charya. cyhara. chary. chari..."

"No, stop. I didn't sign up for torture."

"charizard?"

"Isn't that a pokemon??"

Pokemon. Sans frowns at the familiar word, trying to wrack his head for where he's heard that from.

"i don't know what a pokemon is." He says it slowly, his tongue unfamiliar with words that he recognizes he's said before in another life. Maybe it was something popular, if Chara knows about it. Chara said they came from the countryside, so.

"Oh, right." A pained expression crosses the human's face, and he notices how a hand goes to their chest before dropping. Sans frowns even deeply, the downward tilt to his mouth more obvious to someone who wouldn't know him personally, and tugs at the end of his scarf.

"you okay?" The scarf slips down slightly as he lets his phalanges twist in the hem of Chara's jacket.

There's a long moment of silence before Chara sighs, shoulders slumping.

"Yeah. I'm, well I could be better, I guess? It's something...it's something I have to deal with myself."

The human's hand loosens his own's grasp on their jacket and lets him hold their warm, mitten-clad hand.

"Um. Just, be here for me, okay? I'll get through it myself, don't worry Sansy."

Sans tightens his grip on them.

"sure. i'll always be here. it's we and us isn't it?"

Chara's grin is as warm as their hand, yet Sans can't help but feel a chill as he wonders why they're trembling so much.

...It's probably because of the Snowdin temperature.

He shakes off his doubts as the library comes into sight and they enter the building.

"alright, so..." Sans starts, eyelights scanning the bookshelves. Chara, having absolutely no idea where to begin, follows his gaze.

Despite the library being big enough to only be a modest house, the human makes a face at the tedious task they have ahead of them. They're supposed to look for a book in a library and have no clue what kind of book it even is?

"Azzy sucks at making puzzles." They comment flatly, making Sans snort and knock against their shoulder. He tugs them with him to a table and sits down.

"hey, that's my best friend you're talking about." Chara rolls their eyes at the small jab at their arm, rubbing at it and glaring at the shelves.

"I should probably get started if I want to make it in time for dinner."

"yep. good luck!"

"You're the most useless guide ever!"

"you're so mean, chara."

The human huffs at the little skeleton's indifference, nearly complaining again if the librarian hadn't given the both of them a stern look. Sans nods at her and mimes zipping his mouth shut. Chara pouts and copies him.

Chara hisses at him when Sans waves them away with a cheerful smile.

There's a clock on the wall behind the librarian's desk and the skeleton takes note of the time, starting his countdown. Asriel told him to have Chara come home before evening; by that time their present would be ready and...

Sans glances over to his best friend, smothering a giddy grin. His eyelights spin momentarily into stars.

Chara turns around to narrow their eyes at him, feeling a boring gaze on their back, before cooing at the stars they could spot from a mile away. Sans flushes and tugs his scarf up.

He can't wait for it to end, Sans thinks glumly.

The human turns back to the shelves and browses through the books, sighing quietly. Familiar icy cold digs into their soul but they ignore it.

---

Asriel peeks over the tall countertop, excited to see the finished product of his and Sans' hard work.

Not really? He and Sans only designed it and had someone make it for them, making sure no one would say a peep about the present. It was on short notice but he was sure that the monster making it wouldn't mind!

"Here you go little prince."  A rigid yet kind voice from the dog monster interrupted his thoughts, and Asriel's face lit up at the box in her hands.

"Oh STARS—" The little goat monster squeals, reaching for the delicate looking box. He falls short when the dog monster raises it where his arms can't reach.

"Tsk, tsk," She tuts. "Now, now, little prince. This ain't some toy you can play around with, a'ight? I know you're glad our little prinx has magic an' all but you should really be careful..."

The prince pays her words no mind, beaming at her. "It's alright, Miss Doge! Chara's good, and I think they'll be happy to receive the gift! That's what's most important, right?"

Doge the dog monster falters, and Asriel takes that opportunity to snatch the box away from her, cradling it with care.

She rubs at her snout, grumbling.

"A'ight then. Go along now, I got other orders to finish."

"Thanks Miss Doge! Say hello to Hachi for me!"

Asriel sprints out of the shop before the dog can reply, not wanting to stick around any longer than he has to. There's a nearby digital clock in Hotland that he uses to check the time.

Massive lights flash back at him and he has to squint against the force of it.

He has an hour left before Sans takes Chara home. He better hurry.

The little goat monster takes a quick peek at the gift inside the box, breaking out into a happy fanged grin as he continues to run.

Skidding to a stop before the ferry, Asriel nods at the river person before hopping on, securing the delicate box in his coat.

"New Home, please."

Without a word, the river person starts rowing. Asriel peers at them, worried; they've never been so silent before. Was something wrong?

Just as he's about to dismiss his concerns, they start speaking in a soft, undecipherable voice.

"Grief is a stain that can never be erased. Do not be afraid, for we shall soon take our place."

Asriel's mind goes blank for what seems like a second, confused beyond belief. He comes to himself as the pier on the edge of New Home enters his view.

"Farewell, children." Asriel offers them a smile and some gold, not paying any more attention to their words.

"Bye, have a good day!"

His house is just up ahead.

Chapter Text

Sans listens to Chara's complaints all the way to New Home. The skeleton walked them both to the end of Waterfall before deciding to shortcut them in the middle of New Home, hoping that he was buying Asriel a little more time for prep.

The human had an arm linked around his own, huffing about how they never found anything in the library and how Sans didn't give them enough time to go through each and every book. Sans probably shouldn't laugh.

There was never a book to look for. Chara had been looking for a book that was already with Sans and the trip was just a thing to distract them. They'll be really mad once they find out that the whole thing was a sham, but hopefully it'll be worth it.

The Dreemurr house is just up ahead.

Sans sees Asriel through the window as Chara steps up to unlock the door with a spare key they still haven't told the royal couple about. Seriously, when are they going to confess to stealing it?

A delicious aroma wafts from the open door and Chara pauses to take it in.

Asriel makes eye contact with him and shoots a thumbs up and a fanged grin.

Sans follows behind Chara contentedly as they slowly step inside, closing the door for them. They seem a bit lost, eyes wide and mouth not in their habitual smile.

They reach the dining room where Toriel waits with a fresh helping of pie. Sans could tell that it wasn't her famous butterscotch-cinnamon or snail pie just from the scent. A part of him knew it as the scent of cider— apples.

Asriel and Asgore sit at the table, beaming warmly at the human. Sans silently takes a step aside to let them have their moment.

"Mom," Chara calls out, voice uneven. "I thought you only baked your own recipes?"

The goat lady, holding a plate of pie, sets it down gently with a soft clink. "I thought you might like it, my child." Her eyes look at Chara with a motherly tenderness that they can't help but tear up at.

Apple pie.

Sans had the faint thought that it all seemed so cliché.

He wasn't sure what it was about apple pie that made Chara look so stricken with nostalgia, but the tears in their eyes as they ran over to hug Toriel— he was sure that they were of gratitude.

A soft paw at his gloved hand catches his attention, and Sans lets Asriel drag him into a group hug with the rest of the Dreemurr family.

It's warm.

Sans sighs in content, knocking his skull gently against his two best friends. He feels the careful stroke of a large paw against the back of his head as one of the royal pair holds him closer to the group.

He feels like family.

Though this dinner is solely for Chara and the rest of the royals, Sans thinks that maybe it wouldn't be bad to let himself indulge a little more than he usually would.

The old clock in the hallway chimes and they separate, Asgore clapping his paws together. "Time to eat! Sans, won't you eat with us?"

Sans blinked. Oh, he's being asked to eat with them?

"You'll stay, right?" Asriel chimed in, an insistent look in his eye as Chara looked back at him with the same hopeful glint.

Toriel eyed him with an encouraging smile.

Stars knows how much he wants to— but Gaster's expecting him soon, Sans had only asked for a few hours to stay outside with Chara before another experiment was conducted...

The little skeleton scuffs a shoe against the ground in thought, troubled.

Maybe, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to join them? Gaster wouldn't mind right?

"m'kay," Sans murmured.

Everything felt so warm that night.

---

Gaster had, in fact, minded.

The elder skeleton gripped Sans by the shoulders and turned him this way and that, eyelights flickering in his sockets that were furrowed in emotion. Static filled Sans' skull in a way that was almost painful in its urgency.

"Why were you so late? What were you doing?" His creator demanded. Sans couldn't lie to Gaster.

Gaster calmed down significantly when he mentioned the royal family's dinner, the tense set of his shoulders slumping into a tired curve. He sighed and absently adjusted his creation's jostled scarf and sweater.

"My apologies, Sans. I shouldn't have been so rough with you."

Sans shakes his head, the niggling terror that had burrowed itself into his non-existent gut dissipating. He remembered something like this before. Someone, someone once reacted the same way before.

From his past. Past memories? Life?

He wished he could remember all of the details. It kept escaping him.

"I'm..." Gaster's eyelights wavers guiltily. "I'm truly sorry. My emotions got the better of me and..."

His creator sighs in a rare display of exhaustion. It was the same with Gaster's smiles, Sans ponders thoughtfully, genuinely unbothered by what happened now that the moment had gone. Same as Gaster's smiles, seeing the royal scientist being anything but impeccably straight backed was rare.

A terse silence continues on for a few seconds before the little skeleton realizes that maybe Gaster was looking to atone in earnest.

"it's fine," Sans responds. "it was a little scary, but you didn't mean it right?"

Gaster flinches and reaches out to Sans gently, looking upset that he would imply that he did. "No, of course not, little one."

Sans wasn't that little anymore, but he'll let it slide this time. From Gaster's perspective Sans was small, since he's so tall.

"then it's okay..."

The younger skeleton trails off, captured by the sudden light that shone from the scientist's belly. What was that?

"Oh." He heard Gaster mutter.

Looking up at the other skeleton, Sans blinks at the disquiet in Gaster's expression. Was everything really okay? He thought briefly, starting to get antsy.

He notes how the static spikes loudly before coming to its usual low, comforting buzz. "...gaster?"

His creator meets his eyelights and pats his head for a brief moment. "No, it's nothing to worry about. Head to bed now, Gyftmas only lasts until tomorrow."

Is something wrong with Papyrus?

Sans takes a breath he doesn't need and nods reluctantly, stepping closer to hastily give Gaster a hug then shortcutting out of the room.

---

Chara found themselves staring up at the ceiling again, full from the meal they'd had before retreating to their shared room with Asriel. The goat prince lay in his own bed, soft snores and bleats escaping him periodically.

The first few times Chara had slept in the same room as Azzy, they remember absolutely losing it while listening to his sounds. It was hilarious.

But they couldn't sleep. It was those first few days all over again. Spending a night staring out the window or up at the ceiling, wondering if this was a dream. If they'd really met such wonderful people.

Sometimes, when they weren't feeling their best, Chara would close their eyes for a long time and open them again. It brought them a sense of relief when nothing changed in their surroundings. It wasn't a dream.

They couldn't stop thinking about something though. On repeat, it circled their mind.

If this was a dream, they'd be waking up soon.

Chara turned their head to look at Asriel. Their sibling was fast asleep.

Thoughts of the various kind monsters underground went flashing through their mind, and Chara pulled their comforter over their head. They...they really needed some comfort.

The human let out a grunt, burying their face in a pillow and grimacing. They shouldn't have made that pun.

Maybe tomorrow they'll tell Asriel about their plan. Maybe. Sans could be there. Sans would understand more. Probably.

Out of the three of them, he had the most composure. It depended on the day honestly. Sans got flustered way too easily so maybe Chara should hold off on telling him, and Azzy wouldn't be happy if Chara told him. No one would be happy if Chara told them their plan—

I mean, how would anyone be happy knowing someone's gonna die—

Chara took a shuddering breath, calming themselves. They hugged the pillow to their face and stayed quiet.

"...Chara..?"

They tilted their head just enough so that their voice wouldn't be muffled. "Yeah?" Inwardly, their mood worsened upon hearing how nasally they sounded.

"...Are you crying?" The sound of a shifting mattress reached Chara's ears.

"No."

"You are..." Asriel's soft footsteps stopped by their bedside and there was a tug on their comforter. "Are you okay?"

They don't respond, hugging the pillow tighter to their face.

"...Is it about that thing you wanted to talk about?" With a long moment's hesitation, they nod, the drag of fabric wiping their tears away.

Asriel didn't know what to do. He knew what he was supposed to do, but how was he going to...

The goat monster climbed onto his sibling's bed and plopped himself against Chara's side, using them as a pillow of sorts. He watched them squirm away from him, making muffled complaints about his weight.

Rude.

"Tell me about it?" He offered near silently, and Chara stilled. Asriel observed as they lay their head on its side, brown eyes red and swollen and tired as they made eye contact with his.

After several seconds where his best friend and sibling seemed to struggle to open their mouth, Asriel reached to pull on the lamp's switch, landing on Chara's stomach when they wiggled to take a better look at what he was doing.

They let out a small whoosh of air and fell silent.

It took a few more tries before the human started talking, and...

"To break the barrier—"

And...

"—I have to—"

He was not happy.

"Chara." The goat prince gritted out, terse, ignoring Chara's flinch and interrupting them in between a sentence. Tears bubbled over and spilled from his eyes from how upset he was— how could they just— just decide—

(*An unreasonable and righteous sort of rage filled them for a split second.)

"Azzy." They retorted, glaring angrily as they furiously wiped at their cheeks. "How else are you going to set your people free, huh? That's the only way to break the barrier, so I don't—"

"It's not happening! Chara, aren't you happy here? You don't have to do this, it's not necessary. You're the not the only human out there, you don't have to—"

A sob threatened to choke down his words and Asriel paused to take a deep shaky breath, noticing Chara's expression as he did so.

Chara's face was overrun with tears and guilt. They scrubbed away at the droplets that kept flowing with a sleeve and hiccuped.

"Look," Asriel's voice wavered. "I...I know you don't like humans. So it should be okay for you to not be the one to...die. I—" A bad taste spread itself on his tongue as he said it.

As he reached for the human, they gave him a fierce look.

"It has to happen," Chara insisted. Futilely, if someone were to ask him. There was absolutely no way he was going to let Chara do it. "No one ever comes up to Ebott. You can't just sit and wait for someone else when you have me! Azzy, please. Think about monsterkind, I want, I want to help—"

"Dying isn't going to help us in the long run! And and crossing the barrier to steal a couple of souls isn't going to go over well with the humans, don't you think?" Asriel had to make Chara understand. "If humans suddenly disappeared just as monsters surfaced wouldn't that, wouldn't that imply something?"

"It might start another war, Chara, I..."

"But you can win." Chara gripped him by the hand, a desperate look in their eye. "It'd be so easy, Azzy. I saw the tablets. I know you can win. Take my soul, cross the barrier, take out the humans, easy!"

The goat monster suddenly had the feeling that maybe their vendetta against humanity was larger than he thought.

"It's not that easy." He told them firmly, sliding his hand free from Chara's. "If we wait, it would be better for us. Humans... humans will forget if someone fell down here if we wait long enough. Us monsters have that kind of time."

Chara sniffled again and flinched when Asriel wrapped his arms around them and squeezed tightly, closing his eyes shut.

It was difficult, reigning in his own tears as his best friend shivered and curled up slightly. Asriel was positive that Chara didn't really want to do it, they didn't really want to die. He knew they were happy here, he knew them enough to know when they were in denial.

"A-Azzy," They sobbed. "I don't want to make everyone wait that long when they can be free sooner. You all, you all deserve better and I can't just sit by..."

"Besides, I don't...I don't have that kind of time, Azzy."

Cold. It had been so warm during dinner that Azzy felt breathless with how cold he felt now.

He couldn't breathe. What?

"What do you mean?" Asriel whispered.

It was either Chara hadn't heard his question from how hard they were crying, wracking their entire body and shaking from the force of it, or they ignored it. He gulped and moved to kneel against them, leaning into the hug.

The goat prince let his sibling cry it out, something heavy on his shoulders as the facts sunk in as he sat there clutching Chara.

How long did humans typically live? Was there anything in the books about it?

Despite his best efforts, tears still slipped free, an overwhelming terror gripping his soul.

He couldn't imagine a world where he lived without Chara by his side. He couldn't. He just couldn't. He thinks he might just dust if he had to live without them.

Asriel held Chara closer.

---

For the next few days, things were normal with the royal siblings. Sans was glad that the strange atmosphere was completely gone now; everything was more bearable when they were all happy.

The golden heart locket that he and Asriel designed for Chara was perfect. They cracked it open and started crying! He'd panicked for a split second thinking they hated it so much they cried, but their ecstatic smile as they wiped away their tears told him otherwise, and he calmed down.

Sans put in a lot of hard work into the whole thing. Having such a small thing play music and be able to have a picture tucked in wasn't as easy as he thought— he'd even had to drag in his creator from time to time to help revise it again and again when it didn't quite turn out the way he and Azzy wanted. 

Now his only issue was that Gaster's belly started shining from time to time. When that happened, the doctor usually excused himself from whatever he was doing. The adults that spent time with him only looked mildly concerned and excited, so Sans doesn't think it's anything to worry about that much.

But still, it was really bothering him.

"Are you even listening, squirt?!!" Sans offered Undyne a mean look at her shout, feeling his mood sour as she grinned smugly.

Just because she grew several inches taller than him doesn't mean he's so short that he deserves squirt as a title. He's still growing!

Sans had half the mind to throw his milkshake at her and her smug face.

Instead, he took a loud and long slurp, turning away from her.

"NGGAAAAAH!!" He stared ahead, not paying any mind to the faint thump and creak of a fist against something hard.

He wondered when she would finally realize that throwing an non-magical object at him would be as effective as actually hitting him, and with zero risk of unintentionally dusting him.

Sans getting a paper cut was something that gave him that epiphany.

Inwardly he made fun of the him from, what, a few days ago? Weeks ago? Freaking out over injuring himself with paper of all things. He wished he could forget that moment but it was too funny, now that it was done and over with.

"LISTEN UP!!" He didn't want to, he thought glumly. Azzy and Chara were away in New Home and he couldn't spend time with them today. Royal duties, apparently. "Their royal highnesses gave me the important job of looking after you and making sure you weren't lonely without them, you weenie!!!"

The skeleton turned to look at Undyne, curious. "they did?"

He regretted turning around when he saw her still smug face. Just as he was about to jerk away in embarrassment, cold hands grabbed his skull to forcibly stare into his sockets.

"Sans." Undyne huffed angrily. He shut himself up, wanting to see what she had to say. "I know you really like their royal highnesses but you gotta branch out more! You're hanging with them so much that, that," She stomped a foot, stewing in place and making a nearby tree shake.

"We don't even get to hang out anymore." She grumbled, hands twitching on his face before she let him go to cross her arms. Absently, Sans rubbed at a cheekbone, confused.

They were friends. That wouldn't change even if he started hanging out more with other people, right?

"i don't see your point." He tilted his head, eyesockets narrowing in thought.

She was upset because they weren't spending as much time together? That...

Undyne gave him a blank look.

Actually, yes. He could see her point, and he couldn't say he didn't understand, but—

Taking one glance at her expression, the words in Sans' mouth died off.

She seemed genuinely bothered by it. He couldn't say he didn't really care about it right now. The imagery that popped into his head as he adjusted his position was of a small him pushing a book onto a shelf, shelving away his own concerns.

"...okay then. you wanna go build a snow castle?" He suggested. Feeling something loosen in his chest when her face lit up, a wide grin splitting across it.

"HELL YEAH I DO!!!"

"watch your profanity, fishsticks."

"SHUT UP AND MOVE!"

Sans wondered not for the first time if he had a secret power that helped him cheer people up as Undyne tugged at his arm harshly, powering through the snow.

"slow down, 'dyne. my arm's gonna pop off." He complained, only to get a face full of snow when they passed a few other kids having a snowball fight.

Silence.

The skeleton shook off the cold snow that totally, absolutely, did not bother him, and peered up at the fish monster whose eyes were glinting in the direction of the monster group.

"...whatever you're thinking, i don't want any part of it."

"Like you're gonna sit out on this." Undyne countered steadily, confident.

Well, it's not like she was wrong. But Sans had to keep up the image of being her reluctant hostage turned friend.

His eyelights flicked over to the kids who were staring at them, looking like they regretted ever being alive in the first place to witness Undyne's (and his) combined vengeance.

"you take charge, i'll watch your back." He grumbled.

"HAH!" She barked out a laugh and set her hands on her hips arrogantly, stepping in front of him. "YOU READY TO GET FU—"

Sans hit her in the side.

Coughing, she continued. "YOU READY TO GET BEATEN INTO THE GROUND, NERDS?!"

He wasn't sure who said it, but he was pretty sure someone whimpered out a small "no" in the back as Undyne advanced, gathering snow as she went as Sans cheated with magic to make his snowballs.

Hey, no one said he couldn't.

They had it coming anyways.

After that day, and several more instances in the future, it eventually caught on that you had to pause any sort of fighting whenever Sans and Undyne were walking together.

---

The skeleton blinked slowly in Chara's direction. Asriel was off getting them all nice cream because the line was too long for all three of them to stay in.

Chara's hands stayed inside the pockets of their coat, though Sans could tell they were a bit nervous. Because of what? Their question? It was a strange question, but nothing to be so worried about.

They smiled at him hesitantly.

"um. could you repeat that?" He asked them. Before continuing on without missing a beat. "can humans live on without a soul?"

Chara nodded, quieter than usual.

Sans tilted his head, moving to observe the line behind them. He had a hunch, that maybe this wasn't something they wanted anyone else to hear.

"i'm not sure," He responded, voice hushed. "monsters can't live without their souls, you already know that."

"but since humans are so different from us it's possible they could. not to mention that you didn't know about souls until you fell.. if someone forgets they have a soul, would the soul cease to exist? does it only exist physically when there's knowledge of it?"

Trailing off into a murmuring tangent, Sans completely missed the expression that flashed across Chara's face.

"Huh, so it's kinda like that movie with the guardians."

"what?"

He looked up from the snow, curious, then shook it off to think more. Chara grinned a mix between bittersweet and amused.

"i don't know if humans can live without their soul, but maybe Gaster does." Sans said, peering over Chara's shoulder to see Asriel making his way back to them. The human then tugged their coat closer, leaning back into the bench they sat on.

He immediately recognized that was the end of the conversation when they didn't say anything else.

"Like I said, it's way too cold for ice cream!" They whined, yet they still took the dark brown package by the popsicle stick sticking out of it. Asriel rolled his eyes and held out the nice cream covered in a lighter brown packaging to Sans.

"You were the one who said they wanted something sweet," The goat chided. "We can't go around abusing Sans' shortcuts either. Shush." In the same breath, Asriel showed Sans an apologetic expression as he tore the nice cream open, watching as the plastic disintegrated the moment it was torn.

"Sorry Sans, they didn't have anything resembling ketchup so I got you salted caramel instead. Hope that's okay?"

He popped the caramel flavored treat into his mouth, letting it rest there, before an imperceptible twitch broke his blank face.

It was a lot horrible than he expected it to be.

Which was weird, since Sans has never had an issue with other sweets but for some reason caramel made him want to try kicking someone in the teeth.

A second passed and Sans soundlessly bit down on the nice cream, keeping his face completely devoid of expression despite the awful sensation in his mouth. It was so different from ketchup yet so similar in that they both tingled, though caramel felt like it took more time to dissipate into magic.

It may just be that he was unused to it but he never experienced the same with any other...

"..You okay?" Chara asked him after a solid minute of him tolerating the taste as he waited for the cold treat to melt away to magic.

Sans gave the royal siblings a double thumbs up, face still blank.

"...You know, you don't have to eat it if you don't want to." Asriel reached for the popsicle stick hanging out of Sans' mouth and gave a tug, blinking when there was no give. The skeleton narrowed his sockets at him in defiance and he backed off, tearing open his own nice cream packaging.

"If you wanna suffer that badly I guess." He stuck his tongue out at Sans. Chara snickered, content with the chocolate flavored one Azzy got them.

"What flavor's that Azzy?"

"Hmm?" In a single motion, Asriel chomped down on his popsicle. Chara stared at him in growing horror as Sans felt his own teeth numb in sympathy. He shivered and grimaced.

The human squinted at Sans when they spotted his shudder, incredulous.

"I saw you bite on yours too, Sansy." They accused.

Sans took out his nice cream and stuck his tongue out, both to get the taste off and to show his maturity.

Asriel coughed on the treat in his mouth, giggling as Chara made a grossed out sound, kicking snow up at both monsters.

"You're both gross. Yuck. Who bites on their nice cream like that. Ugh."

---

"Hey."

Before they left the crime scene, Chara pulled Sans back when Asriel took the lead, focused on something they said about their royal duties.

Their grip clenched on Sans' jacket. He raised his view from the crinkle of fabric to make eye contact with them.

"You'll ask Gaster about it, won't you?"

Sans blinked. Of course he would. There was very little he wouldn't do for the two siblings, if he were to be honest. He reached for their hand and gripped it.

"of course." He hummed. "when do you want your information, your highness?"

Sans received a roll of the eyes for his ribbing (heh). Obviously he hadn't tried enough to tickle their funny bone.

He was no expert on puns but he had the faint thought that maybe he was getting better at them.

"By—" Chara jolted, spotting something beyond Sans' shoulder. Most likely Asriel realizing they weren't beside him and waiting impatiently. "Tonight."

His brows shot up. They'd both get in trouble for colluding so late, not to mention that sounded very much like they blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"early morning sounds better." He told them as they started marching onward, dragging him with them.

"Yeah, yeah. Good. As long as no one else is around and I get to talk to Gaster."

So what they really wanted was to get to talk with the royal scientist in private, not for Sans to deliver to them their needed information. Got it.

"understood, boss." He drawled, getting a shove for his efforts. Sans easily regained his balance and strode after the huffy royals.

His soul still felt warm, though he couldn't help but notice how a shiver ran down his spine.

...Must be residual magic from the nice cream.

Chapter Text

"A pleasant morning, your highness."

"...A pleasant morning to you as well, Dr. Gaster."

---

The first thing that Sans noticed as off was how withdrawn Chara seemed to be after their talk with Gaster.

He didn't say anything to Asriel about it, but he could tell the prince must have some clue of what happened since he kept giving Sans these furtive glances.

Even when Asriel started looking nervous, Sans didn't say anything, knowing that if he stayed quiet then Azzy would drop the issue sooner or later; thinking that it might not be as important as he thought it was if Sans wasn't panicking.

Sans knew he only had to wait for Chara to open up to them. It only took some time, a level of trust, and a private place for them to confide to someone.

Days went by and Chara only grew more distant, but just as Sans was contemplating giving panic a try, they suddenly snapped back to normal as if they hadn't been spacing out and sneaking away to Hotland whenever they had the opportunity.

It...probably wasn't that big of a deal. Keyword being probably.

That was also his first mistake.

---

"No living being can live without a soul unless their will to survive is stronger than their own soul."

"...So you can live without a soul?"

"Theoretically, yes. But I wouldn't reccomend attempting anything to try and prove it, your highness."

---

The second thing Sans noted as off was when Chara seemed a little...happier. It was likely a result of them spending more and more time with both him and Asriel, along with frequently chatting with monsters they'd never tried to talk to before.

They were a little more impulsive too. They'd always been impulsive before but now there was a sense of, haste? To their every action.

Sans stayed quiet. Asriel was happy that Chara was 'breaking out of their shell', as Asgore had put it. There wasn't anything to be worried about.

Gaster's belly shone really brightly this one time and he looked to be in pain. Now that was something to be worried about.

A whisper of a memory told Sans that Gaster might be going into labor soon, whatever that was.

Wait, no. Labor is something human women (mammals?) go through when giving birth... But Gaster's a skeleton, and he's male. There wasn't anything that could try to explain to Sans how that worked, other than magic.

Maybe Gaster would opt for taking Papyrus out of his belly directly rather than...pushing him out..?

Both ideas gave him a shiver that rattled his entire body when he thought of them.

Stars, he hoped the birth of his little brother wasn't as grotesque as what he had in mind.

Sans wondered how his own birth went, before cringing.

He hoped he didn't come out all gross back then too, actually.

---

"I'm not quite sure this is a good time to discuss this, young highness."

"Why isn't it? Please, doctor. Hear me out. I need someone to help me."

"It would be in your family's best wishes for you to live your life to the fullest."

"But none of the monsters will be living theirs any sooner if we wait out mine!"

"Please, keep your voice down... let us take this to my office, little one."

---

When Sans noticed something was off for the third time, he tugged Chara to the side to confront them.

They were giving away some stuff they'd gotten throughout the year. The old cinnamon stick plush Sans found in the dump and learned to sew by hand because of was given away so easily, just like that, to a monster years younger than the three of them.

Alright, he might have been acting immature, and he might have been acting out of hurt... But he knew there was something wrong.

Sans refused to believe that they hadn't been as attached as he was to that silly cinnamon stick.

"...you gave it away."

"...Yeah."

Words stuck in his throat, Sans watched Chara intently, seeing a myriad of complicated emotions flash in their face. The most obvious of them all, guilt.

"you wanna tell me why?"

"Not really?" They winced.

Sans' hurt cooled and dwindled and it showed in how his expression turned flat. Chara seemed to struggle to keep their breathing even for a split second, clenching their fists tightly.

"i won't ask anymore," He told them. "just know i'm all ears whenever."

His comfort fell flat too.

Chara smiled at him, opening their arms slightly for a hug that Sans gave after a moment's hesitation.

---

"Sans told me about your job."

"...Yes?"

"Your job right now is to find ways to break the barrier, right?"

"I would hardly consider taking your soul to be a method that the King would approve of."

"..."

"...I will hear what you have to say, nothing more."

---

The fourth time Sans noted how something was off, Asriel had been crying. Leaning against him while they rested on a ledge, having been playing around with an echo flower.

There was an age old story that when you confessed your best hopes and dreams to an echo flower, they would come true. If you confessed your worst fears and nightmares, they wouldn't be so horrible anymore.

The two monsters knew it didn't work that way, but many other children slept better knowing someone in the underground will have heard their wishes and woes. Sometimes, they would come across someone out of stripes doing the same thing.

Sans chalked it up to something called psychology...something about how talking about your problems out loud made you feel better.

Usually, talking about your problems led to crying, which made you feel both better and worse.

And unexpectedly, Asriel began murmuring to the echo flower beside them.

Sans didn't catch all of it. He didn't want to interrupt and didn't want to intrude either, since Asriel was talking to the flower, not him.

It started off lightly. Simple pet peeves like how he kept forgetting about leftover pies that his mother put in the fridge, or how his father would always smother him with his beard when they hugged.

Then it took a step down from light and simple, then another, and another.

Until Asriel was bowing his head, voice shaky and near inaudible to Sans' ears.

He'd inadvertently leaned in closer to hear what the prince was saying,

"And— and I wish, I wish that Chara would stop being so weird and acting so weird like they're going to—"

Before Azzy sniffled grossly and loudly, hiccuping and bringing up a sleeve to wipe his face off.

Sans reached for the goat monster to give him a one-armed hug, feeling emotional from seeing his best friend so distraught.

So Sans wasn't the only one noticing things.

He gently knocked his skull against Asriel's as the other monster covered his face with his paws, hiccups and sobs escaping him.

He couldn't ignore it now. It was making lil' Azzy cry.

"crybaby?" Sans said mutely. That earned him a chortle that was quickly followed by a light smack.

---

His creator also seemed to withdraw into himself more. Gaster looked as though there wasn't anything wrong, but Sans couldn't help it. With how abnormal Chara's been acting, he felt a bit anxious about anything else popping up.

One night, after training, Gaster beckoned him to his side.

"Someday, you may be taking my place."

That was a given, wasn't it? The smaller skeleton blinked up at his creator.

"When I return to dust, know that no matter what I did or what I didn't do, I've always wanted to do what was best."

A person confiding in Sans has never felt so awkward and heartfelt. He didn't know what to say to that. Gaster never did anything like this before.

There was a short huff of laughter from the scientist.

"I do not expect you to understand my reasons for doing anything, Sans." A hand came to rest on the little skeleton's head. "But if ever you wish to do anything else that does not involve me or my position, feel free to do it."

...

"are you telling me i can run away from home if i want to?" Sans asked in suspicion. Gaster raised a hand to cover his face, shoulders shaking minutely, before he shook his skull.

"Let me help you beforehand, if that is what you wish to do."

Sans gave him a look that tried to convey how weirded out he was by Gaster's statement. This has really been such an odd couple of days, and Sans didn't feel like being dishonest with himself anymore.

"is papyrus coming out soon? is that why you're being so...weird?"

Gaster's eyelights flickered in a show of pleasant surprise. "You caught that?"

oh.

Sans' eyes spun into stars that glowed a faint blue as his sockets widened.

"he's really coming out!" He exclaimed, latching onto the scientist's coat and jumping in place. "when? when's he coming? is he gonna be okay? are you gonna be okay?"

Gaster smiled at him gently and laid a skeletal hand on his belly. Something in the air shifted and Sans felt the magic that thrummed with Gaster. There wasn't just a constant low buzz of static hanging around his creator anymore, there was also the strum of something bright and steady.

Was that Papyrus? He thought breathlessly.

"Only time will tell when your sibling would like to come out. Not to worry, we'll both be alright once he does."

Sans really, really couldn't wait.

---

For some reason, it suddenly became uncommon to see the two royal siblings with Sans. Now it was usually one or the other hanging out with him, or the siblings being together.

Luckily, all three of them were free. Chara didn't have anything to do and Asriel had no duties to perform, and Sans' schedule was free for once; his creator wasn't feeling well enough to perform any experiments or training with Sans.

They found themselves in the palace garden where they lay in the grass and weaved a couple of accessories made from flowers they could reach.

Sans had absolutely no clue what he was doing as he fiddled and wound the vines and stems around each other. Asriel was running out of flowers from how many he was stuffing inside his flower accessories, while Chara's work was neat and clean. As expected, since they were the artist of the three of them.

"The hell are those?" The human pointed at the monsters' messy bracelets and crowns that were too small to be crowns. Sans offered them a shrug and stacked a few crowns together meticulously to plop on his head.

None of them fit, so now he had a flower tower on his skull.

Asriel giggled and casually wove another vine around his flower....donut. It was getting thick enough to deserve that title.

Chara scrunched their nose and ripped off some grass to toss in the goat monster's face.

"There's no way I'm gonna let the two of you walk out of this palace with those on."

"of course, your highness." Sans nodded— bad idea. His tower of flower crowns came tumbling down as he stared in disdain at how some of them rolled into the bushes.

Laughter came from Chara at the sight.

"HAH—" They clapped their hands over their mouth and wheezed, slapping a hand against Asriel's knee repeatedly as they continued to laugh.

The goat prince eyed them and started to huff, struggling to stop his own amusement.

He broke when they looked up at him with a completely red face, hysterical.

"W-was it that funny?" Asriel asked them haltingly, giggling, one of his patented fanged grins growing on his face at how happy Chara seemed to be. Whenever any one of them laughed it was always the most contagious sound.

Chara sputtered to explain, taking in deep breaths and pointing at Sans, who was looking between the siblings with joy and slight bemusement. He didn't know how his tower falling down was so funny but he was glad to see them both enjoying themselves.

A faint flicker of blue and yellow passed the joints that connected his phalanges as he smiled.

"His face, Azzy. His face!" Chara gestured. Asriel gasped in mock offense and slapped Chara's hand away gently. "Are you saying there's something wrong with Sans' face! Because that's stupid, I'll throw ink in your face, see how you like that."

The human didn't seem to expect his response and a burst of new laughter came out, stuttering about how that wasn't what they meant as Asriel wiped away some stray tears from laughing so much.

Sans idly collected his fallen flower crowns from where they'd rolled to using magic, satisfied to see that their movements back to him were somewhat smooth and he felt no drain from controlling so much in one go. His training was paying off! And Chara was still laughing their butt off with Azzy.

He silently unraveled part of his scarf to smack Chara with it, only resulting in louder giggles that Sans found himself rolling his eyelights at. Was nothing going to make them stop?

Despite that small thought, he couldn't help but smile, soul warming affectionately.

Finally, the human calmed down, heaving and grasping at their stomach— complaining about how much it hurt.

Asriel wasn't as affected, being a monster and all. He deliberately tried to push on Chara's stomach, and it quickly devolved into a tickle fight when they caught onto his scheme and jabbed him in the side.

The royal siblings' skeleton friend stayed on the sidelines, watching them and leaning back on his hands. Stars were in his eyes as he watched them have fun and tumble around, shrieking and yelling about.

He was perfectly content with not getting in the way of their tickling.

"Sans, help me!" Azzy demanded as he giggled, and Chara shrieked a "NOOOOO" when Sans didn't hesitate to join the fray, holding the human down and dodging flailing limbs as they howled in laughter.

"STOP, STOP, TIME— T-TIME OUT I CAN'T BREATHE—"

Without a second thought, Sans let them go, smothering his snickering under his scarf as he swayed slightly. The goat monster, however, stayed hovering above them, a triumphant beam on his face.

"Who am I?" He asked mockingly.

They peeked up at him from beneath their hands, still shaking from the force of their guffaws. Mischievously, they replied. "The God of Hyperdeath?"

"NO!" Pink creeped up on Asriel's ears as he bleated, incredibly distressed.

The GOD of HYPERDEATH!

Also known as: Asriel's Gary Stu Persona.

Sans' sudden wheeze rattled his bones, the wind knocked out of him by the hilarity of the memory. He vaguely remembered going through a bunch of notebooks that Asriel owned, helping him look for any blank ones that the three of them could use to write down bucket lists and plans (though Sans already had more than enough space for that in his books).

Then, they stumbled across a doodle and what looked to be a status CHECK.

Asriel Dreemurr
The Absolute GOD of Hyperdeath!

HP   Invincible
DF   ∞
AT    ∞

* Loves Toriel Dreemurr's pies.

A blush of blue spread across Sans' face as he covered it, laughing quietly and wheezing.

"No! Sans stop laughing— Chara, shut up!!"

"p-profanity," Sans chided half-heartedly, gasping; feeling light-headed.

"Aww, are you gonna go 'baa' again Azzy?" Chara cooed mockingly. Asriel's ears were turning pink from the teasing as he screeched again and slapped grass over Chara's face.

"Chara's a bully, Chara's a bully, Chara's a bully—"

"What! No I'm not! I'm the most innocent person here, you're the one shoving grass in my face like a bully."

"You did it first!"

"Did I? I doubt it, since I'm innocent."

"Charaaaaaaa," The whine dragged into a high pitched bleat that had Sans stumbling, plopping down into the grass beside them.

He felt, really, really light. The skeleton noted vaguely that his phalanges were flickering slightly with magic.

Sans... Sans felt happy. Good. An immeasurable amount of affection for the two siblings filled his soul and he watched as they pushed each other and fixed themselves, brushing off the greens and whatever dirt that had gotten on their being.

Warm. It was warm. The sun would never shine underground but the familiar warmth of sunlight on his skin was there.

No, that's not quite right. He's a skeleton.

It was tragic that he doubted he'd be able to see the sky in his time.

Once the goat prince had patted himself of any stray dirt on his usually pristine fur, he reached for Sans and tugged him up when Sans let him, bringing the fallen flower crowns with him.

"Hold on," Chara called out, gathering more flowers from the field. Plants weren't so scarce underground for some reason, particularly in the New Home castle. Now that was something to look up in his spare time, it seemed like an interesting enough topic.

"Dad won't get mad if we make the garden bald right?"

"Too late for that! You're mowing the whole thing!" Asriel called out, idling by Sans' side and watching Chara pick flowers.

"You're right, all that's left is to set fire to it." Ignoring the faint 'what's from both monsters, the human hefted their ill-gotten goods into their arms, securing the bundles. "Work your magic, Azzy!"

"I'm not setting the garden on fire!"

---

Some coaxing from Chara had Sans pouring magic into the flowers they'd stolen from the castle gardens. If there was anything he knew about flowers, it would be that they could be made to last longer than a few weeks when they absorbed magic. The echo flowers in Waterfall always had the ability to repeat words, but before, wayyy before monsters were sealed underground, the moment they were plucked they'd start losing their glow.

Now, with so much excess magic permeating the air in the massive cave system with nowhere to go, they could last a month or so when they were taken out of the ground. Not that many monsters did that anyway, since it could be considered as desecrating the Waterfall area and was looked down on.

Pulling back from his work as Asriel chattered away about snail facts, Sans observed how the petals shimmered before settling down.

Flickers of magic still sparked at his phalanges and he realized that he might have overdone it when he had to take a minute to steady himself.

"Aw, shit." Chara's voice caught his attention. "Sansy, you should have stopped if you were feeling tired, you're not looking too good."

"i'm not?"

"No, you're not." A soft paw prodded at the corner of his eyesocket. Sans only then noticed the growing ache in his socket, and he winced, a gloved hand coming up to clutch at it.

"We should get you home," Asriel insisted. A green glow came from his paws as he held it close to Sans' head. That was an overreaction. He didn't need healing, just some rest.

Sans nudged the paw away, grumbling. He heard a huff before the glow disappeared and Asriel took his hand. Much better.

He hadn't noticed, but the goat prince started his healing with his hands instead, hiding it from sight. It took more effort but intent made up for it.

"Are you okay?" Chara tapped Sans' shoulder. His vision was...weird. Instead of seeing his friend, all he saw was a silhouette with a ponytail and something draped around their shoulders.

Numbers.

CHARA DREEMURR

He started gagging.

"Sans?"

A hand stroked his back soothingly as the royal siblings took his sides, their concerned voices ringing in his skull like echoes, shaking and pushing at his every thought until it hurt.

Sans covered his mouth with his arm, gasping deliriously as the sight in his left eyesocket disappeared. Blue sprang up and slid down his cheekbones as he hunched over.

What's—

HP24  DF10  AT3  EXP0  LV1
* THINKING ABOUT HIS LUNCH BREAK

HP50 DF2 AT4  EXP0  LV1
* SHE'S S AD

HP36 DF6 AT7 EXP70  LV4
* LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO SCATTER DUST

He couldn't breathe,

ASRIEL DREEMURR
* WORRIED.

Make it stop make it stop make it stop there's too much please please—

CHARA (DREEMURR)
* WORRIED.
* ...

Please stop—!

The Judge has arrived.

Tears dripped down onto the floor as Sans sobbed, quivering, curling into a ball between his two best friends.

"Sans, what's wrong? Are you okay?" A quiet thump, and he heard a quiet 'ow' from Asriel.

"Of course he's not okay, stupid."

"Did you have to hit me for that?!"

"Sorry! I'm stressed!"

Wet laughter tore itself out of his throat, but he whimpered immediately after, feeling his magic churn and how his eyesocket continued to itch irritably.

It hurt. It really hurt.

What was that?

"...can we go now?" Home. The labs. Back to Gaster. Gaster would know what to do.

"Yeah. Yeah. That sounds like a plan..."

"Do you.. require assistance..?" Chara barely stumbled over their words at the formal wording.

"mweh-heh," Sans giggled tiredly, not even bothering to stifle it. He stood up on weak legs, sighing in relief when he didn't fall apart the moment he did. "nah, i can manage."

Despite that, Asriel offered him a paw. Sans accepted it without another thought, knowing it would be better to have something to hold on to in case his legs do fail him.

Chara's face popped up from the side, eyebrows drawn together, clearly concerned. Smile not there.

He couldn't help but notice the troubled expression that crossed their face, as if they were torn about something.

What are you thinking about, Chara..?

They shook their head and hooked an arm around Sans', grinning at him. "Let's go get you some rest."

The siblings took him home and Sans lay in bed, scarf off, staring at the ceiling.

Gaster was at the CORE.

And he still felt shaken, off-balance. Like something had changed, something changed with him. He didn't know what it was, and it made him weak and struggling to form a proper coherent thought that was anything beyond...

Beyond the boiling in his marrow, seemingly reminding him of something he had no knowledge of. There was a warm itch in his eyesocket, and sometimes it grew hotter when he unconsciously tilted his head to the side; looking for an object that wasn't there.

It wasn't very pleasant.

Flashes of numbers, stats, went through his mind.

It hurt.

It didn't hurt as much as some of the experiments Gaster ran on him, but it was nearly unbearable. At least when he was with Gaster he knew it would end soon.

With this,

With this he had no clue.

The mix of ache and burn and itch had him tearing into the sheets of his mattress.

Sans remained in his bed, shuddering, waiting for Gaster to come home.

Chapter Text

quick greetings! hellooo <3 thank you for reading this far into my horrible little fanfic

i've decided to rewrite the story since all my notes are gone (made the horrible mistake of putting them all on paper and they got wet with some of my luggage when i moved) but i hope you're all not TOO mad at me for disappearing for months idk what to say

i'm still somewhat active on twitter and semi-inactive on tumblr by the name mayannaisev !! my handle has changed a lot from what it used to be yes. buttt if you wanna try interacting with me go ahead lmao i check my accounts every few days

i do have another fic that's still in the works and it's going to be more of a bunch of connected drabbles. it's already out though :D the title is "hate is a strong word (but it is the only strength i have left)"

thank you again for coming back to this story! it'll be back eventually, it's just gonna take a lot of time,,