Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sometimes, you exist.

Sometimes your body and soul anchor to reality and you get to be real. You feel the refreshing misty breeze of Waterfall's swamps, the glowing warmth of the sun, the rhythmic pitter-patter of your heart. It's like a treat when it happens, but it never lasts.

It’s become a fact of life for you, it's been like this for a long time. Sometimes you’re real. And most of the time you aren’t. 

A long time ago this upset you. But you’re used to it now! And it’s really not all bad. Watching the other human, Frisk, go through the underground over and over was… fun. Staying with Toriel, hanging with Sans and Papyrus, meeting Undyne and Alphys, performing with Mettaton, fighting Asgore…

It was all invigorating. You felt like you were really there, even when you weren’t. 

(You always avoided Frisk when you were real. It hurt less that way.)

This time, Frisk did even more than they ever had before. Asgore survived the encounter, Alphys and Undyne got together, Frisk found a place called ‘the True Lab’, and they fought Asriel. They found the truth about the first fallen human. 

And then the entire Underground was freed. 

Nothing has repeated, or ‘reset’ as flowey called it, since.

On any other night, you’d be sitting in the Dreemur household. Watching your friends Frisk and their friends go about their lives. It's nice, you can almost forget they can’t see you. That they don’t know you.

But today Frisk had finally convinced Sans to take them to the underground to visit flowey and, like always, you decided to tag along.

Flowey had been as happy to see them as you expected him to be, but after a picnic of peanut butter jelly sandwiches with no crust things settled down.

They’re heading home through Hotland right now, which is your least favorite of the underground’s biomes. Frisk had once again traded their striped sweater for a striped T-Shirt of the same colors and boots for chunky tennis shoes- laces untied. Despite them having tied them again and again during this trip.

Sans didn’t bother changing. You assume skeletons can’t feel temperature. He did however have a ridiculously big backpack, in contrast to Frisk’s smaller one. 

Ritualistically you follow Frisk and Sans from a distance. They were walking over another bridge when Frisk tugs on Sans’s sleeve- they shake their water bottle at him. 

Sans stops walking, tilting his head to face Frisk with an easy smile. “huh? ‘ water ’s the matter, kid?” 

They huff, but fail to hide the quirk of their lips. They shove their water bottle towards his chest.

“hehe, sorry.” Sans winks. “i couldn’t ‘ mist’ that opportunity” You snicker to yourself, not even because of the jokes. Sans just looks so proud of his own antics that it’s hard to not smile back.

Frisk appears just a bit less amused, signing something to Sans that you couldn’t catch.

Then, reaching for his own water bottle in his backpack, Sans hums. “looks like i’m out too kid,” He slides his water bottle back in the bag. “tell ya’ what, i’ll take a shortcut to my sentry station and get us some more water”

Frisk smiles and nods, letting Sans take their purple water bottle from them. 

“stay put, okay? magic doesn’t grow on trees and i still gotta get us home.” He ruffles their hair and something you refuse to call jealousy tugs on your heart. “tori will have my head if I come back with a deep fried human”

Frisk giggles and signs something. Then Sans leans backwards, teleporting away in a whirl of cyan and yellow.  

It doesn’t take long for Frisk to start to idley swing their arms and bounce on their feet and humming and walking back and forth over and over and over. It reminds you of the first time they tried to wait for Toirel to come back for them in the ruins- they lasted a whopping hree minutes. Frisk really can’t hold still, you muse.

They trip on their shoelace.

A few things happen at once. Frisk yelps silently, losing their balance over the cliff. Some of Hotland’s auburn dirt flies into the air. You run towards them.

You can’t say what possessed you to do so, you’ve seen them die before. Many, many times. And they’ve always been fine, brushing it off like it’s nothing and going back to their mission of getting a ‘good ending’.

Maybe it was the threat of this death in particular. The idea of them falling into the lava, so close to the core- something about it felt so wrong . It feels too cruel to watch happen, like it was somehow a fate far worse than any death.

You jump out towards them, crashing into a slide on your stomach with your hand stretched out towards them. For a single, terrifying second, you phase through them.

Your hand catches their wrist, sliding a little bit from sweat but holding tight.

They stare up at you wide-eyed, mouth agape, and dangling back and forth over the lava. You can feel the heat radiating from the magma. It felt familiar.

“h— Hold on” You choke out.

You don’t have time to think about how terrible and scratchy your voice sounds. Instead you focus on pulling Frisk up, you swing your other hand around and wrap it around their arm. Then, with all the strength you can muster- which apparently isn’t much- you drag Frisk over the edge.

With one final tug you yank them up to the left of you in a heap, flopping onto your back with the force of it. Your lungs burn as you take heaving breaths. It’s so hot.

Wait - burns?

You’re real. Frisk’s seen you.

Something like dread settles on your heart.

Frisk pops up and leans over you, expression shifting through a million emotions at once- they raise their hands to sign something, but you beat them to it.

“Are you okay?” You blurt out then wince. It hurts to speak.

When was the last time you had to speak? 

They nod frantically and then sign. ‘ Where did-‘ A pause. ‘Who-‘ Pause. ‘You saved me! Thank you! I’m F-R-I-S-K, Frisk’ They finger spelled their name, then repeated their own made-up sign for it. You couldn’t help but smile. You already knew both, the resets gave you plenty of time to learn things like that. And wanting to understand what Frisk was saying had been a big motivator.

Frisk’s eyebrows furrowed- they look worried. ‘ Do you know ESL?’  

You nod. “oh- yeah, yeah I do” You cough a little, trying to clear your throat.

‘ You’re bleeding’

You blink in surprise, then look down at the arm you had reached out to Frisk with. Sliding across the ground had ridden up your striped sweater sleeve and tore up your skin. It stung badly, now that you think about it.

You bring a hand to touch the wound skin, your fingers come back bloody. It burned. Weirdly- it felt nice, you don’t often get to feel.

Frisk jumps up and raises their hands to sign something- they’re looking past you now. ‘ Sans! My friend’s hurt!’

Your heart leaps to your throat. Because oh god Sans is back. You forgot about him. You’ve already been seen by one person! You did not want to be seen by another!

Maybe if you just hold really still you’ll stop being real- and they’ll forget all about this?

Yeah- yeah that should work!

Wait- did frisk just call you… their friend?

“woah, yeah i can see that. thought i was seeing double there for a second-“ Sans approached you quickly, squatting down next to you and Frisk. You start to doubt your plan of just holding still, maybe you should run instead.

“yeash, that’s a nasty cut.” He hands Frisk their water bottle back and they take a few big gulps before offering it to you. You don’t move. 

“guess paps was right about bringing first aid” He mutters to himself as he slides off his backpack and pulls out a small box. “frisk, ya know each other?”

‘ They saved me’ 

You start to calm a little, it’s hard when they’re talking to you. But just watching them talk to each other-? You do that all the time!

“saved you, huh?” Sans pulls out some disinfectant, gauze and little colorful band aids with race cars on them. You smile. You bet Papyrus chose those.

Frisk looked sheepish. ‘ I tripped’

“didn’t I tell you to stay put—?”

Frisk looked to the side with a small frown.‘ Yeah..’

Sans sighs and pats their head, having to reach up a little due to him being crouched. This earned a small smile back from Frisk. “what am i gonna do with ya’, kid?”

He looks back at you with an easy smile. “thanks for looking out for frisk, kiddo. i owe you a million. can i see your arm?”

You stare at him blankly. 

“uh… kiddo?”

Oh- he’s talking to you now. You almost forgot they could see you. “Uhm…”

Sans seems to come to some sort of conclusion, because his demeanor shifts into something a bit softer. “right, sorry kiddo. where are my manners?” Sans holds out a hand to you, “i’m sans, sans the skeleton. proud ‘duncle’ of this little squirt” He nods his head to Frisk.

Frisk smiles and discreetly signs to you ‘ it’s okay’ .

Did- 

did they think you were scared of them?

Well you are, sort of. You’re scared of getting comfortable with being seen, only to lose it. You’re scared of them finding out that you aren’t really human- not anymore. You’re scared of them finding you that you’ve been following them for years.

But you aren’t scared of them. You trust them, more than anything. 

(Maybe you’re scared of that, too.)

You take hold of Sans’ hand. He’s already seen you, letting him fix your arm couldn’t hurt. Right?

Ppppppbbbbbbhhhfffttttfffffftttttt

….

Sans chuckles and gives you a wink. “hehe, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it's always funny”

The ghost of a laugh bubbles from your throat. Wow. You can’t believe you just fell for that. You’ve seen him do it so many times and you still fell for it. This is ridiculous.

Frisk bats Sans on the arm lightly with a playful-disproving expression. They wagged a finger at him as if to scold him for pranking you.

You, on the other hand, feel honored.

Sans reaches back for the disinfectant, pouring some onto little cotton balls. “alright kiddo, let’s see that arm?”

Sans looked so genuine . The kindness of these monsters never ceases to amaze you. You love them all so much. 

“Alright Sans” You respond just a bit too quietly- it’s hard to get your voice at the right volume. 

You hold out your arm and pull up the sleeve, it’s sort of a relief- You can feel the temperature of Hotland now and it’s living up to its name. This is not sweater weather.

“sorry bud, this might sting a little…”

It doesn’t take long for Sans to clean off your wound and wrap it up with gauze. The stinging sensation was foreign, but not too bad.

“so what brings you to the underground, kid?” aren’t you a bit young to be exploring the place on your own?” Sans adds one last red race car bandaid onto your wrist.

Oh right. Crap. You need an excuse, and a good one too- Sans is really hard to lie to. Heck, he might already know you’re about to lie because of how long you’re taking to respond! You need to think fast. Oh geez—

‘ did you fall down?’ Frisk, ever the savior, perks up from beside you. ‘ It happen to me once’

“Yes!” You say, maybe a bit too suddenly. “I mean- yes, I fell. It uh… hurt. A lot. I don’t recommend it.” 

“…huh, makes sense.” Sans shrugs and starts to pack the first aid kit back up. “you’re all patched up kid. and tell ya’ what, how about you come with us out of the underground?” 

Absolutely not.

He holds up his phone and gives it a little shake. “we don’t get much skell -service ’round here, but we can call your parents once we’re out.” 

Clever pun, but no way.

Frisk jumps up with a goofy looking smile. ‘ Yeah! We’re already super close to the MTT Restort! We’ll be your tour guides!”

Oh, you wish.

“Thanks- thanks for patching me up and uh- the offer… but I’m good” You stand up, fiddling with your hands, why would a normal human kid say no to them?

 “I uh- don’t like… Mettaton.”

Sans blinks at you. “…you don’t wanna come, ‘cause you don’t like mettaton?”

You sweat a little. “…Yes?”

Sans snorted , full on cackling to himself and wheezing. “ oh- kid, t-that’s hilarious.” He wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye. “don’t worry, we won’t see him there. he’s off doing pop star things” Sans starts to walk forwards.

“uh-“ 

‘ It’s okay, Mettaton can be lot. He scared me at first, too.’ Frisk gives you a patient smile.

What.

They take your hand and start following Sans, pulling you along.

What!?

You sputter a little. “I’m not scared—“

“so how ya like the underground so far?” Sans interrupts you.

Dumbfounded, you glance at Sans, then at Frisk, then back at Sans. 

You don’t think you’re getting out of this. 

Letting out a little breath you make yourself relax. This- this is okay. Soon, it’ll be nighttime- then you can leave when they’re sleeping, probably at the hotel. Just, play along for now.

“It’s… pretty.” You answer, perfectly vague. “It’s nothing like the surface. I fell down into the uh, gray place?” 

Frisk releases your hand once you reach the same walking pace as them and Sans. ‘ You mean newhome?’ They sign. ‘ I never got to see much of it’

You feel a bit bad for lying, but not anyway.

“‘s a pretty big place, me and paps actually lived there for a bit” Sans chimes in.

Oh wait- you actually didn’t know that! “You did!?”

Frisk looks equally surprised. ‘ You did!?’

“yup, not the most interesting place to be honest. “ Sans mused, seemingly unphased by your shared excitement. “small apartments, small puzzles, small shops… heh, it’s where i got my first job”

Oh, you’re interested . Sans was such a secretive and mysterious monster and this is new information! “What was it?” 

“A tele-bone operator” He winks.

“a tele.. oh. Pft-“ A laugh escapes you. “That was bad”

‘ Sans!’ Frisk huffs. ‘ Was that all a bad pun setup?’

“heheh, nah kiddo.” Sans winks. “only part of it” He turns his head upwards, looking at the ceiling almost wistfully. ‘i actually was a telephone operator, cause newer phones were hard to come by we had to use”…….

You smile, losing yourself in Sans’ first job stories. 

Maybe this won’t be so bad. Just until they fall asleep.

 Just for a little.

Chapter Text

‘ I wanted to be the ambassador, but my mom said I had to do school stuff instead’ Frisk signs, looking a little grumpy at the memory. ‘But I still get to help out with other stuff!’

You listen patiently as Frisk rambles beside you with Sans trailing a bit behind. He was getting tired, he said. But you weren’t all too sure you believed him, he had that faraway look in his eyes- one that you’ve only seen every now and then during the resets. To be honest, it worries you. It always does.

But there’s nothing you can do about it so you make yourself shove those feelings aside. Right now you’re determined to be a totally normal human child. (Until nightfall so you can go back to doing not-so-normal once-human child things.)

To do this, of course, you need to talk. Part of you was glad Sans was following behind, Frisk is easier to talk to. Mostly because they talk enough for the both of you.

You had decided to ask about when they fell underground, despite you already knowing the story a million times over. And Frisk seemed happy to answer, despite them not telling you the full truth. Frisk often leaves out details when talking to humans, and they haven’t told anyone the full truth, per Asriel’s request.

Most of the time Frisk gives half-truth, vague answers. ‘ I was scared when I first fell down, but then I met a bunch of super nice monsters. Once we all became friends all of the soul power of the underground was used to break the barrier .’

They never mention Asriel, the other six children, the monsters attacking them or Asgore’s plan to destroy humankind. This is definitely for the better, you think. Humans already were reluctant to warm up to monsterkind, Frisk was doing everyone a service leaving some things out.

You hope it's not too much of a burden on them.

“Yeah,” You muse in response to Frisk’s oh so tragic woes. You recall how upset they were when they were told they couldn’t be ambassador, you kind of upset too. “Being an ambassador sounds way cooler than school.” You don’t know exactly what ambassadors do, but it has to be more interesting than watch Frisk do long division.

They hums to themselves, contemplating something.

‘Y’know, you’re a weird human’

“haha- w-what?” You laugh a little, trying your best to act casual. Did you mess something up? You thought you were doing so well. There’s no way they’re already onto you, surely not. 

‘ Not in a bad way!’ They correct, they must’ve magically sensed your distress. Their ability to read you is not comforting. They keep signing. ‘ Just, most other humans get upset with me when they find out that I helped free the monsters. That or they treat me like some kind of unreachable celebrity.’ Frisk pauses, looking at you. ‘But you do neither, it’s refreshing’

..Oh.

“Oh” You say in a lighter tone, you’re relieved that they aren't onto you… but you hate to see them sad. Frisk is such a good person, they of all people deserve to be happy. Now once again you’re wishing you could help them- or at least cheer them up. Hearing to have an impact when all you can do is watch. 

Your heart feels heavy.

…

Wait a minute.

You speak up, looking  at Frisk with the bravest face you can muster. “Hey, uh, I’m no human expert but…” You draw out your word to buy yourself more time, you aren’t sure how normal human kids comfort people.

It occurs to you that Frisk might not know, either.

You clear your throat. “…But, I’m sure they’ll get over it! It’s only been a few years after all, and humans take like- forever to get used to stuff. They’ll calm down eventually and then you can make tons of human friends. I just know it.” 

Frisk looks a bit more hopeful now. ‘You really think so?’ A pause, a confused smile.. ‘You’re… not a human expert?’ 

Uh oh. 

“I’m, uh, homeschooled,” You say, avoiding eye contact. It’s not a complete lie. You do try to teach yourself things at home when you don’t follow Frisk to school. “There’s not a ton of humans to talk to there… but I have my family”

Frisk mimes an “oooh” sound with their mouth. ‘What’s your family like?’

What’s your family like….?

“Well… they're kinda crazy” You feel your face heat up a little. Was it too much to think of your- Frisk’s friends- like… family? You have for a while but saying it out loud felt different. It felt like it finalized something you didn’t want to admit you feel.

You shake your head, it doesn’t matter. Nobody but you will know the difference.

 “Well, They’re Super loud during the holidays, or on any day really. But they’re crazy nice too. They’re always there for each other and….they mean a lot to me.” They do, they really do.

‘ Awww,’ Frisk is smiling now. Good. ‘ they sound like my family, they’re also a bunch of softies’

You snicker. They are all softies, Frisk included.

 “Guess we’re both pretty lucky then” 

—-

Judging by the change from red sandy dirt to brick roads, you were getting close to the Resort. It should be just about…

‘Oh! It’s just around here!’ Frisk suddenly grabs your hand and rushes around a corner ahead of you, stomping across the navy blue brick roads then slowing to a stop. They hold out their free hand dramatically showing off your destination, the MTT resort, like they had built it themself. You stumble from the force of them pulling you- then laugh at their antics. Frisk is ridiculous sometimes, in a good way.

It’s darker here than in the rest of Hotland, or maybe it’s just because it’s gotten late. You look up slowly at the MTT resort, making a show of taking in the prestigious blue building looming in front of you. Only a year or so ago the towering windows would’ve been illuminated in a warm glow, the gold sign would’ve been perfectly polished and Sans would’ve been waiting for us Frisk to have a ‘talk.’

Now the lights are out, the gold sign has faded, the once green bushes are dead and through the glass doors you can see the memorial fountain’s run dry. You already saw this yesterday, when Sans and Frisk had first traveled back into the underground. But the picture is no less… baffling? nostalgic? It’s a weird emotion you can’t quite place.

Looking at Frisk, you imagine they feel the same way. During the resets everything had been the same for so long , it’s hard to get used to seeing changes. Humans take forever to get used to things.

“‘yeah, ’s not in its hay day anymore, but it’s still a pretty great place to stay.’ Sans spoke from your right- he definitely teleported. Luckily you were used to Sans’ spontaneous teleportation.

You tilt your head, scrutinizing the state of the place. “Mmhm, It looks a little old, but I can see the vision.” You look at Sans. “This place must’ve been the nicest in the world.” At least, you’ve never seen a place nicer than MTT resort in its prime. 

‘When I spent the night here before, the bed was big enough to fit like..’ Frisk waves their hand around a little. ‘Like six more beds in it! It was crazy!’

Ohhh, you remember this. Frisk almost never failed to spend a night at the resort, if only to play around in the way too big beds. You don’t bother trying to deny your jealousy of them getting to do that.

Sans chuckles to himself. “dunno about the whole world, kiddos. but it definitely was the best in the underground.” He strolled up to the double doors, resting a hand against the glass before pushing it open. A bit of dust floats up as he does. “and tonight, we stay for free”

Something like excitement stirs in your chest. The last time you were real, you were stuck out in Snowdin Forest the whole time. And that didn’t feel good at all. But sleeping in a real super big bed? In the nicest hotel in the Underground!? That’s got to feel amazing. That’s exciting.

“That’s so cool…” You whisper to yourself. 

As you step inside the dark building, your eyes drift to the old Mettaton fountain. 

Come to think of it, Mettaton does look a bit eerie in the dark like this, frozen still, strangled in shadows and covered in dust. Frisk accidentally killed a froggit during their first time in the underground- you can’t help but think the powdery substance looks the same. You shiver.

“huh, looks like the memorial statue’s seen better days too.” Sans casually strolls up to it and then in one easy motion, slips off his jacket and covers it. He pats the jacket-covered statue with his hand and gives you a wink. “there, jacket a day keeps the mettatons away”

You can’t help but giggle into your hand. Weirdly- that made you feel better. You approach the now less-threatening statue. You take a deep breath, you're about to do something crazy. 

“…But won’t you feel bone-ly without your jacket?”

Sans’ eyes widen in tune with his grin- he looked genuinely surprised for a second there. Meanwhile Frisk just gapes at you like you just broke some sacred oath. Sorry, Frisk. But you’ve always wanted to do this.

“nah, i have a metta- ton of extras.” Sans snickers. “i’ve bot plenty of them.”

Oh no, robot puns! You’ve bitten off more than you can chew, never throughout all the resets have you seen Sans or Toriel make robot puns. This is unprecedented territory.

“o-Oh! That’s good,” You tighten your fist and look Sans in the eyesockets, you’ve gotten this far, you can’t give up now. “I’d hate for you to have to steel a new one.”

“me, stealing? c’mon kid don’t you rust in me? i’m not the type to go around pushing buttons ”

Aren’t they technically stealing the hotel rooms-? Never mind.

“Right, it’s not like you could get that kinda software anywhere else!”

“‘s a real shame, there’s no way to console other buyers.”

Oh wow.

 “i think i deserve a metal for getting it first.”

These puns…

 “y’know, cause it’s 8-bit of a trouble to find. even when you're a pro like me.”

They’re so….

“a pro-grammer.”

They’re so bad!

You stumble backwards, struggling for another joke to say, for any counter attack you have left in you- but are at a loss. 

“Well- I, uhm- it’s..” There’s no way you could beat that! Sans’ bad punning skills are so off the charts it’s dizzying! He just effortlessly told not one, not two but four puns in one go! You clench your sweater right above where your  soul is, this is the end of the line…

Frisk jumps forwards. ‘Guys!!!’

All heads snap towards them, Frisk, your first friend, your last hope. But they- they don't even like puns! Well they do- but they’d never admit it. You narrow your eyes, what could be their plan?

‘I’m hungry.’

Oh, that’s makes sense—

‘ Can we go get a BYTE to eat?’

Silence.

Frisk’s expression turns into something devious, something giddy. 

Frisk just made their first pun. 

Like, their first one ever. Even counting all the resets.

A bewildered and overjoyed laugh bubbles out of your throat, snapping the dramatic tension in the air. Frisk doubles over in silent yet incredibly loud laughter joined by Sans. His arms are wrapped around where his stomach would be as he laughs and you don’t bother to hide your happiness. Your cheeks feel so warm- they hurt from smiling. You're grinning like an idiot.

Sans looks so genuinely happy right now, like he’s just won the lottery. “oh, kid, buddy, pal you have no idea how long i’ve been tryna get frisk to pun. you just made my dream come true. i never thought i’d see the day!” 

You do have an idea- you’ve been there the whole time. Your giggles die off at the reminder of your nonexistence but you still feel all warm inside. “I’m glad I could help!” You drop an arm around Frisk’s shoulders with a cheery, and maybe a little smug, grin. “Welcome to the punning squad Frisk!”

Frisk snickers and hugs you back. Before you can realize that you’ve just had your first hug in ages, Frisk is dragging you in a run toward the stairs. You don’t even stumble this time, their excitement is contagious and has you giggling as you bolt upwards. 

Frisk picks out room 24, the same one they always get when they stay for a night at the hotel. You appreciate their consistency, some things never change.

You gasp when you open the door.

In front of the bed and pushed against the wall Frisk and Sans’ picnic blanket was laid out. On it there’s a lit electric lantern, sandwiches on plates, chopped up cucumbers in little bowls, juice boxes (and ketchup) set out and- Sans. He sits leaning against the wall with his arms crossed behind his head and eyes closed as if he’d been sleeping there for a while. Even though you just saw him wide awake.

You blink, then grin. Sans is so cool.

Frisk giggles, signing something to Sans that you didn’t catch before pulling you to sit down. You tuck your legs under yourself and then turn to Sans.

“Thank you Sa—“

He was already watching you. You feel your words stifle, something about the look in his eyes was too focused for your liking. Like he was judging you. 

Then he goes back to normal, shifting upwards and away from the wall with a relaxed expression. Your nerves dissipate with it. Mostly. “whoops, sorry kiddo.” He shrugs. “spaced out there for a sec”

“Oh, it’s- okay” You're still tense, but you give him a smile anyway. “I do that sometimes too, thanks for the food”

‘Yeah, thanks Sans!’

“no problem, kiddo 1 n’ kiddo 2…” Sans draws, tilting his head to the side a little to look at you. “y’know i don’t think i ever caught your name”

Frisk gasps, whipping around to face you with guilt written all over their face. The sign frantically. ‘I’m so sorry! I'm too used to meeting monsters! They always introduce themself without asking’

“No, no that’s okay!” You understand, really. Everyone only got Frisk’s name on this final reset. Monsters social scripts for introductions are different in that way.

“My names…”

What…. what’s your name again?

You feel panic swell in your soul. This can’t be right. You know you have a name, or at least you had one. Why can’t you remember? How could you forget? You haven’t needed one in a while, but still…

Frisk pulls on your sleeve.

You open your eyes, you hadn’t realized you closed them. Frisk is frowning at you. Sans too- at least, his permanent smile is strained. He’s also moved closer.

“you in there, bud..?” 

“Its- it’s a secret! Yeah…” You laugh it off. Normal human children know their names, you can’t let them know you’ve forgotten. That’s definitely embarrassing. “..Sorry I can’t tell you.”

Something in Sans’s expression changes. “pssh, no need to apologize buckoo.” He pats the top of your head. “any pun-lover is a cool person in my books, you got your reasons and we won’t push.”

Frisk looked at Sans with a surprised look. Knowing them, they definitely want to push for an answer. 

He lightly shakes his head at Frisk. “yeah that means you, frisky business.” 

They let go of your sleeve, signing something almost hesitantly, it’s weird to see them be unsure of something. ‘Are you okay with Nicknames?’

“A… nickname? For me…?” 

“yeah, if ya don’t mind.” Sans winks. “or i could just keep calling you buckoo.”

You snicker a little at the idea, nodding your head at Frisk. “I don’t mind nicknames. But even I don’t know what I’d call myself” Nicknames are normally based on people's traits, and you're hardly a person.

“huh, how about punster? that’s pretty fitting.”

Punster? That’s awfully goofy. And not really like you, you’ve only ever told puns once- and that was just today! “Uh…”

Frisk shakes their head in protest. ‘I think they need a cooler nickname, like Hero! You saved me from the lava after all’

Yeash, Hero feels way too self righteous. You’ve only saved someone once. And you’ve watched them get hurt way more times than you’ve rescued them. “I don’t know about that one either…”

A thoughtful silence falls between the three of you.

…….

“how ‘bout ‘bud’? y’know, cause your our buddy”

‘Oh yeah, that one’s nice! Sans already calls you it too.’

“Bud” You mutter to yourself. It’s definitely fitting. You’ve never wanted anything more than to be your family’s ‘buddy’. And it’s a pretty common nickname, so it doesn’t feel like whatever your old name might have been was replaced either. It’s … good. You smile.

“I like that one.”

Frisk grins, clapping their hands together before signing. ‘Yay! It’s nice to meet you, Bud!”

“it’s a pleasure, bud”

Looking at Sans and Frisk, your chest feels all warm again. You want to say “I’m so glad I get to talk to you.” or “I love you guys” or “I’ll miss this”. But you don’t.

Instead you stuff a cucumber in your mouth. And- wow. You forgot what eating was like. It’s actually really nice. It reminds you that you feel hunger when you’re real. “Woah, this is so good!”

Frisk looks amused, they reach for their sandwich. ‘ You’ve never had cucumbers before?’

“I don’t think so, at least not in a long time.” The cucumber dissolved before you could swallow it. You don’t remember food doing that, it must be a weird recipe for cucumber. 

“this is monster food, by the way” Sans explains, he must’ve seen your surprised expression. “it’s magic, so it dissolves n’ goes straight to the soul.”

Oh, right! You learned about that in Frisk’s school. “Ohh, that makes sense. I heard about that, just forgot…” You yawn into your hand after a bite of your sandwich- it’s made out of some sort of meat and cheese. Yum.

‘What time do we get up to leave tomorrow?’ Frisk signs to Sans while they chew. 

“around seven, once we’re past the barrier we can take a shortcut back home n’ then contact your parents” Sans takes a drink of ketchup. “you uh, you know their phone numbers, right Bud?”

“Mmhm” You lie, but it should be okay. You won’t be there tomorrow so they’ll never know. Your soul hurts a little at the thought.

Frisk hums. ‘Do you miss them..? You sounded like you love them a lot. They’re probably worried.’

You pat Frisk on the shoulder, you don’t like to see them worry. “It’ll be okay, I’ll see them soon. Then everything can go back to normal” You’ll have to wait until you're not corporeal too, can’t be visible while you follow everyone. You have a feeling it won’t take long for you to disappear.

Frisk smiles. ‘You’re really brave, Bud”

“o-Oh! Thanks, Frisk” You smile, feeling just a bit embarrassed. “Y’know I think you’re really brave too. You and Sans both. Coming back to the underground after finally getting free…”

You trail off, they’ve been down there for so long.

And if Sans has the awareness of resets that you think he does…

“it sounds like it’d be hard” 

“well, can’t say i’m not excited to go home. but it’s not all bad, it’s nice to visit- honest.” He turn to you and winks. “plus we got a new bud out of it”

You snicker, then yawn. Your limbs feel heavy. Like clockwork Frisk yawns too. Sans chuckles to himself. “you two are a lot alike, you sure ya didn’t clone yourself frisk?”

Frisk shakes their head, then jumps up with some sort of revelation. ‘Oh! Oh!’ Frisk looks at you with metaphorical stars in their eyes. ‘Can I tell my Mom I cloned myself when you meet her!?’

“Pfft- Frisk we look nothing alike! And- when would I meet her??” You assumed they’d plan to get you home before dropping off Frisk at Toriels. 

Frisk paused. They looked almost- sad. ‘Oh, I thought… we could have a playdate? Won’t we see eachother again?’ 

Oh…

“Aww, Frisk. I’ll see you again after this. Promise.” It’s true, you’ll see them . They just won’t see you. “I’m glad you’d want to have a playdate with me!” Still the truth, that sounds like so much fun. You don’t really play much these days.

“good, it’ll be fun having you around. kid. someone to keep frisk out of trouble.”

‘Hey!’

“speaking of stayin’ out of trouble, it’s time for bed kiddos.” Sans stands up, taking the lantern that lights up the room and putting it to the side. “let’s clean up first”

You and Frisk nod, quickly getting to wiping off the plates and putting them back in the backpacks- right next to the paper towels. It’s funny, Sans actually takes charge in cleaning when Papyrus isn’t around. You bet if he only leaves his room messy to tease his little brother.

—-

Before you know it, you're climbing into a gigantic plush bed. It has more than enough room for frisk, sans, you and 5 more monsters. Despite this, Sans is sleeping in the room next door. You're glad, it’ll be just a bit easier to sneak away. Frisk is a very heavy sleeper but Sans not so much.

Sans fumbles with the lantern on the bedside table. “you guys want the light on or off?”

“Off, please.” You request, fiddling with your pajamas. Frisk lent you some of their spares, made of soft white fabric with colorful stars on it. It’s a shame you have to go now. You don’t want to leave. You really don’t. You wish you could stay in this moment forever and ever.

The light flicks off, encasing the room in darkness. You shudder. 

“night frisk, night bud”

You hear movement from your left where Frisk is. It’s too dark to see what they signed. Still, you think it’s safe to assume they were saying goodnight.

You let out a breath. “Goodnight Frisk, Goodnight Sans.”

.

.

.

Frisk falls asleep about 15 minutes after laying down, right on schedule. If everything is going as planned, Sans should be asleep now too. He falls asleep immediately.

You peel the covers off yourself and tiptoe off the insanely big bed. Your eyes have adjusted to the light by now, letting you see the Frisk shaped bed-lump as you walk by. 

You hesitate once you reach the door. Isn’t it rude to leave without saying goodbye? You don’t want them to think you aren’t thankful, or that you didn’t like them and Sans. 

Your eyes trail over to the backpack…

Finding the paper towels was easy, but a marker was like a pin in a haystack. You know Frisk brought some to draw with, you’ve seen them coloring on this trip during downtime. You keep reaching around… ah! Your hand wraps around something plastic and thin. You pull out the marker and scribble down a note on the towel.

There, that’s good enough.

Quietly, you leave the towel-note on the bedside table, neatly settled next to the lantern. Yournwhole chest hurts with sadness. You grimace, this is why you never interact with them. You shouldn’t of agreed to come along, you shouldn’t of even saved them—

You wince at the thought of letting them burn, this is all too confusing.

So instead of thinking about it you scramble out into the hallway and shut the door behind you with a click. Your breaths are short and pained. It’s so dark.

No, there’s no time for that. Get down the stairs first. Just get downstairs. You repeat your goal like a mantra.

Creeping down the extravagant staircase that only reaches the first floor was difficult, each step was a risk of falling all the way down. Your head feels like it’s full of Cotton, it’s so cold down here. Has it always been this cold?

You reach the fountain and- it’s 0n. How-!?

There’s something behind the Mettaton statue.

Your body is filled with icy anxiety, an all too familiar sense pulling on your soul. The world seems to bend around its presence. The figure demands youR attention, yet it’s too hard to l0ok at. The rushing water d0e5n’t help. It’5 pitch black and pouring and p0uring and p0uring and 

Yov’re walking t0wardz it. 

VVhy are you walKing towards it? Y0u need to run. It’s too dark, it’s too c0ld. It’s so so wrong. 

You r3ach out a hand towards it. 

Your m0vem4nts

             are choppy. Rigid. 

                                          Like Ic3.

               5t0p. Pl3ase st0p. 

W̴̛̹̹͓̮͖̻͓̘͎̤̩͌͆̃͐̾̓͂̈́̀͌̉̐͌̑͘͝ͅĘ̴̡̢̛̛͉̥̬̺̘̯̘͇̖͈͔͖̳͍̩͎͚̳̅̋́̐͋͂̏̀͌̅͐̍͋̌͆͑̓̓̄̏̍͌̋͘͝͠

̴͇̗̠̙̦̦̞̳̲͓͖̋̐̽͗́̒͒͛̀̑͌͛̅̀͒̀̅̀͘͝͠

̶̡̛̝̘̜̱̳̠͇̖̘̗̞̪̮͔͕̝̻̮̲͓̬̭̭͓̼̫̓̔̀̇̎̉̈̔͋͊̃̀̉̅́̈́̊̇͛͛̌͐͘̕N̷̡̛̩̩̱̳̱̬̣̟͇͍̣͕̗̞̖͕̽͒̑̇͋̎͑̐̇͗̈́̕͝E̸̪͍̟̦̟̯͉͙̼͎̥͇̼͇̦̱̗̪̞̍̽͌̔̑̊̈́͊͐͊͂̂͋̾͑͋͂͑̔̽̿̈́̎͘̚͘͘̚͠E̷̢̡̨̛͔̫̲̻̩̖̝͔͕͇̟̿͊͂͗̋D̴̨̢̨̢̡̮̱̩̳̲̘͙͉͔̩̲̺̮̲̬̙̪̺̃͋́̽̈́̇͗̔͛͂́̈́͋̋͗̀̊̀͌̽͂̊̋͘̕̕̚̚͜͠ͅ

“bud-?”

You scream , spinning around so fast that you fall back into the fountain. You scrambled to get out, barely noticing Sans running towards you. You fall out onto your knees. Water dripping from—

Nothing?

There’s no water.

You turn your head slowly, bring the fountain into your view. Sans’ jacket is still covering it. It’s dry. 

You put your hand over your face and scoot so your backs against the pool. You desperately try to breathe, but it’s all coming out in sputters and hiccups.

“woah, woah there bud, it’s okay. you’re alright”

Sans is crouched in front of you. Wearing a baggy tee shirt and pink slippers. His right eye is lit up in cyan. The magic casts shadows behind both of you. He holds up his hands like he was trying to appear harmless to a wild animal. 

“heya, bud.” He lets himself fall into a sit in front of you. “mind breathing with me for a sec?”

You shake your head frantically, you need to leave. You need to get away.

“c’mon bud, i could really use your help. skeletons aren’t exactly known for their breathing skills”

You blink, Sans- he isn’t making any sense. Didn’t he see them? Isn’t he afraid? 

Sans starts to take over exaggerated breaths, exhaling slower than you’ve ever seen before. You unconsciously start to mirror him. Sans- you know he’s strong. You’ve watched him work as the royal judge of monsterkind for ages. If anyone can keep all of them away, it’d be him, right..?

You cling to that hope. 

“s-Sans, didn’t- didn’t you see them?” You breathe out, desperate for something. “In the fountain…”

“..who?” A pause. “did ya mean mettaton…?”

You can’t bring yourself to respond. You curl in on yourself instead, slightly shaking. You’ve seen some of them before, but never all together. And they were never so….. real.

They’re like you .

No. It’s no real, it was just….

“..sounds like a pretty rough nightmare, kiddo” A weight is dropped on your shoulders. It’s- sans’ jacket? You look up towards the golden Mettaton. His jacket is still there, too. He must’ve teleported a different one to you.

“thought you needed it, ya look chilled to the bone ” Sans winks. You can’t help but smile just a little, that one’s been so overused by him throughout the resets that’s is came back around to being funny again.

You pull the jacket tightly around yourself, but don’t bother to put your arms through the sleeves. It’s warm and smells faintly of ketchup.

Sans maneuvers himself to have his back against the fountain next to you. “here, i got some water too.” He slides you a glass, it looks like it’s from Grillby’s. Sans stole this. “i’d offer you some hot coco, if we weren’t in the underground n’ all. that normally makes me feel better.”

“….What do you get nightmares about…?” You’ve seen him wake up crying in the middle of the night before, but he always looks more depressed than scared.

“just boring adult stuff, like taxes and puzzle makin’. or losing my favorite pun boom”

Somehow, you doubt that. You don’t push.

“what about you? nightmares about boring kid stuff?”

“I.. don’t know.” You answer honestly. “It’s hard to remember. …And also to forget?” Your frown then look up at Sans with a serious expression. “This sucks Sans.”

“heheh,” He chuckles. “ya took the words right out of my mouth, bud.” 

A silence falls over the two of you, sitting in this dark empty hotel with only Sans’ magic for a light. You’re glad he’s here, you need to leave, but…

You glance out the glass doors, you’d forgotten how dark nights are in the underground. It looks suffocating. 

Images of ṫ̶̳̫̞͆h̶̢͊ė̸̬͕̪̅͜m̸̥̥̳͋̓̄͝ͅ flash in your head. 

You wince, they make your head hurt.

“hm, wanna hear a story kiddo?” Sans had his head leaned on the fountain pool’s edge. He barely tilts his face towards you. 

“A story…?” You shift to face him fully, letting yourself lean against the cold wall. Your eyelids feel heavy yet your nerves are on fire. “But you don’t have any books, do you?”

“nah, but i’ve got this one memorized. its about a very fluffy bunny”

Slowly, you smile. You know this one.

.

.

.

Sans lays Bud down under the covers with a sigh. The kid’s face is still tear stained, eyes red and puffy. He fixes the blanket over them- and properly covers Frisk while he’s at it. The kid moves around a lot in their sleep.

He was all kinds of suspicious of Bud at first, they seem to lie at the weirdest times. Constantly contradicting themselves. They’re familiar with the underground, but don’t know their own name.

They’re unphased by his teleportation, but seem surprised they talk to them. They know and love their family but lie about knowing their phone number. Why?

The inconsistency had him questioning his own judging abilities. He had assumed it was a runaway case at first, sad, but not uncommon. He’s relieved to see that it’s (probably, maybe) not the case. 

He hears shuffling from the bed and looks down to see Bud snuggling up with the blankets and his jacket.

They’re half asleep, but give a little smile. “…. thanks Sans…..”

Welp, it’s official, Tori’s rubbed off on him. He’s become a total softie. He takes the note they wrote on a paper towel with him when he leaves.

Sans doesn’t sleep that night.

Chapter Text

Please do not be afraid, my child.

My name is TORIEL, caretaker of the ruins..

Oh, Shh, sh. It is okay.

I t  w i l l  a l l  b e  o k a y 

.

.

.

“Hmm ..” You slur to yourself, rolling over onto your side. There are soft things all around you, carrying a distinct warmth to them. Like a fresh slice of pie. You burrow yourself deeper into the fabrics, just a little bit longer. Then you can…

You can….

…….

…Where are you?

Despite your best efforts to sleep a little more, you feel awareness sneaking into your mind- bringing along that distant thrum of anxiety that seems to haunt you. You’re sleeping… you normally don’t do that. This definitely is not normal. So that means….

Something shakes your shoulder and you blink your eyes open, what a weird sensation- to feel . Slowly, you peel your eyes open and glance up. Frisk is staring down at you.

Oh.

That was real .

You actually met Frisk and Sans, stayed with them and failed trying to sneak away. You inwardly curse yourself for messing up, getting weird nightmares. You frown, you can’t remember what was a dream and what was real. 

You look down in your arms, your holding part of the Sans’ jacket bunched up like one of Frisk’s stuffed animals.

So you did run into Sans. That’s, hm. You feel a weird mix of dread and joy. This was not going according to plan. You have to leave, like- right now.

‘Good morning’ Frisk signs from above you. Their bed head is immaculate, clumps sticking up in all sorts of directions. 

Despite yourself, you smile. “Morning Frisk” 

‘Sans’ jacket?’ They tilt their head in questioning. 

“Um” You glance to the side and push the jacket away, cheeks heating up. They probably think you're weird- to Frisk and Sans, you’re a stranger. You keep forgetting this. “I, uh, couldn’t sleep” You vaguely explain.

Frisk nods in understanding, and to your surprise they don’t question you. Instead they pull off to the side, not bothering to smooth down their wild hair. Frisk sleepily rubs their eyes.

You glance at the window, no light is peeking through the blinds. On the surface, the days are getting colder and shorter again. You don’t know if that affects the underground- but if it does it’d explain why Frisk is up before the sun. They’ve been sleeping in more now that they’re above ground.

Luckily, the dark outside doesn't look as scary as it did last night. You have Sans to thank for that, you think. His story fended off all the weird dreams and bad feelings. 

About that…

You’re a little worried. Sans only ever gets up at night when he’s upset- or to work on that mystery machine. He probably wasn’t up for very happy reasons when he ran into you. And yet he helped you anyway.

You want to return the favor.

“Uh, hey, Frisk?” They should be able to help, right? If there’s one thing they’re good at, it's being nice. You clear your throat. “So, Sans helped me fall asleep last night, and I wanna thank him.”

Frisk stares, as if waiting for you to continue. 

“..but I’m not? sure? how?” Uh oh. Was this not normal-human-child-like enough? 

After a moment Frisk nods, now with a small smile. ‘You can just say thank you’

“Well- yeah, but I want to thank him even more than that!” You spin around on the bed, folding your legs underneath you after getting out from under the covers. “Y’know, to show my gratitude and all”

Frisk puts their pointer finger and thumb to their chin, considering your delima carefully. You copy their movements, maybe this is the secret to their empathy? After a few moments of silence, Frisk sits up and snaps their fingers.

‘Let’s make him breakfast!’

—-

“Frisk…” You glance at them warily. “Are you sure oatmeal is supposed to look like that?”

On the floor in front of you sits the monster oatmeal, lovingly heated in the hotel kitchen’s microwave and garnished with ketchup. You tilt your head to get a better angle. The brown mush seems… crunchier than normal. 

Besides that, it looked good. Steaming gently with the plastic lid pulled back and set in the middle of yours and Frisk’s normal oatmeals. You even had the idea to cut up some cucumbers for him, seeing as they were so delicious. Those were placed in a little plastic bowl to the right.

Frisk seems dubious of the state of Sans’ breakfast, too. Dark eyebrows furrowed together. ‘We can’t switch it, we only have two other oatmeal left’ They signed, face twisting together. ‘And I don’t wanna eat ketchup, yuck’

Weird, you thought Frisk liked ketchup. They must’ve had a change of heart during this trip. “Easy,” You respond. “I’ll have it then.” 

Frisk gives you an incredulous look. ‘You’ll eat that!?’

You blink. “Is… is that bad?” 

‘It’s oatmeal covered in ketchup!’

“Is that bad!?”

A pause. ‘It’s- no, no it’s not bad… but it’s definitely not… normal?’

“Really? But Sans does it all the time!” Nobody else is ever surprised by Sans drinking ketchup. You assumed it was normal behavior.

‘Yeah but that’s just a Sans thing. Do you know other people who drink ketchup??—

You hear footsteps. “Sans is coming!” Quickly, you switch out the crunchy oatmeal with your ‘normal’ oatmeal, Frisk pours some ketchup on top. 

There, perfect.

A slow knock-knock-knock sounds from the door. You hop behind the oatmeal cups so Sans will be able to see it when he comes in. Frisk follows suit.

“Come in!”

The door lazily creaks open, revealing Sans fit with his too-big traveling backpack that he must be using magic to carry. “‘morning, kiddos.” He blinks, eyes opening just a tad wider. “woah, what’s all this?”

‘Bud wanted to make you breakfast!” Frisk proudly signs.

“Well- breakfast was Frisk's Idea, but I wanted to say thanks” You give Sans a sheepish smile that hopefully communicates your gratitude. “for last night, and bringing me along in the first place really”

Sans smile turns more genuine, he slides his backpack off his shoulders to the ground. “aw shucks bud, ya really don’t gotta thank me.” He plops down across from you and Frisk, observing the poorly cut up cucumber slices. It looks like it was cut by someone who's never held a knife before. “but it’s appreciated anyway. you two made quite the feast,” He winks. “and now i get to be a bit more lazy”

You preen at Sans’ positive reaction. You just made things easier for Sans, you got to help! It’s like you won an award. “Glad I could help Sans!” You pick up your oatmeal cup and take a big bite of it.

The taste is….

Indescribable…

But, it still tastes like something. And a strong something at that. Flavor is a luxury, even the gross flavors. You revel in the ability to feel.

“uh, didja mean to have ketchup there bud?” Sans laughs a little and raises a bone-brow at you. “don't get me wrong, i love ketchup. just might not be for everyone. ‘specially in oatmeal”

You nod your head at Sans. “Well, this one looked kinda- crunchy?”

‘It was burnt’ Frisk sheepishly signs.

“Yeah! burnt. But we wanted yours to be the best! So I took it, since Frisk doesn't like ketchup anymore” You take another bite, face involuntarily scrunching up your face. “It's bad.” 

Frisk snickers. ‘ I still like—“ They suddenly look alarmed, eyebrows shooting up. ‘You don’t need to keep eating it! We can share mine!’ Frisk reached out to take away your cup. 

You pull the ketchup oatmeal closer to your chest, almost protectively. Clearly, they don’t understand that this sort of thing needs to be savored. “No, it’s okay! I like it” 

“kid, didn’tcha just say it was bad? we have other food you know, i can fix up something else for ya”

Again, you shake your head. “It is bad, but like…” You look down at the half empty, steaming cup in your hands. It radiates heat, like a little fire. 

“It’s a good bad, y’know..?” 

Sans blinks at you. “uh… honestly, not really. but who am i ta judge?” He shrugs, putting his spoon back in his now empty cup. “just lemme know if you need some less ketchupy food, kay bud?”

‘Yeah or tell me! I have monster candies in my bag. They’re really good, like gummy worms.’

“no candies til’ after lunch, kiddo. tori’s orders”

‘Saaaannsss’ Frisk somehow whines in sign language.

You relax, eating some more of your oatmeal with a smile.

You have no clue what a gummy worm tastes like.

—-

You’re not sure how you let this happen.

To you, your plan felt foolproof. Stay with Frisk and Sans for the day, wait for them to fall asleep, then escape into the night. Simple enough, you’re pretty good at disappearing. It should’ve worked fine.

And yet, here you are the next day. Stood at the entrance of Asgore’s throne room, minutes away from where the barrier used to be, and feeling the weight of your lies coming back to haunt you. 

Sans had brought you and Frisk through a different route than Frisk usually took through the underground. The core was too dangerous to pass through, so you all went around- taking the slightly longer way back through newhome. You felt relieved, for some reason.

Maybe it was because you got more time with them. It was a really fun walk, chit chatting with your new friends across the monotone city. But you had your issue in the back of your mind the whole time. 

How are you going to leave?

You know you’re running out of time. You can feel it. That palpable drifting feeling. You don’t know what happens if you disappear in front of someone, and you do not want to find out. 

You can already see it happening in how Sans and Frisk look at you. It’s taking longer and longer for them to notice that you’re there . 

It hurts to watch it happen.

And you know why, you got too greedy with your existence. You got too comfy with being real, and now you’ll have to deal with the repercussions.

You grimace, eyeing the golden flowers that circle the king's old chair. You really need to leave. You should’ve left before anyone woke up, not make breakfast with them. If Frisk and Sans can still notice you, they’ll be expecting you to have a family to call. You don’t even know how to use a phone, you never bothered to study how Frisk does it!

Caught up in your thoughts, you hardly registered Frisk tapping your shoulder. 

You hope it’s because you were lost in thought.

‘We’re almost there!’ Frisk is grinning. They're wearing a puffy jacket that’s zipped all the way up, still with blue and pink stripes. Frisk is nothing but consistent. 

You’re matching them now, too. A spare blue and pink striped jacket hanging on your shoulders. (it’s cold up top, don’t want ya turning into a bud shaped popsicle)

You smile at Frisk. “I don’t know where you get all this energy, Frisk. Aren’t you even a little tired from your traveling?”

Frisk shakes their head. ‘How could I be tried? I’m too excited to get back!’

“well, ya don’t have to wait anymore,” Sans nodded forward. A cold breeze blows through the lavender pillars framing the exit. It ruffles Frisk’s hair, but not yours.

“cuz’ we’re here” Sans finishes, letting his eyes fall shut as he walks through the doorway. Frisk, on the other hand, runs out ahead.

They throw their hands up in a cheer once they reach the cliff side overlooking the distant mountains and cities. All the trees have those funny red, orange and yellow hues. And the sky is a chilly gray. 

Frisk drops their hand and looks at Sans with a wide grin. Their signs, much like them, are quick and bouncy. ‘We made it! Hooray! It’s time to go home!’

A laugh bubbles out of your throat, it’s hard to not get wrapped up in Frisk’s excitement. Even if it means your time is up. 

You catch a glimpse of your hand. 

It’s grayscale. 

Sans chuckles and holds out his skeletal hand for Frisk- no whoopee cushion this time. “yup, and it’s ‘bout time.  ya ready for a shortcut?” His smile is… earnest, he’s probably excited to go back too. You know he doesn’t like leaving Papyrus for too long.

You let out a breath as they disappear.

Bye Frisk. Bye Sans.

—-

It took longer than you’d like to become unreal. But soon enough all colors on you faded to their monochromatic counterparts, textures and temperatures disappeared, your footsteps lost friction with the ground and any tiredness faded away. 

Oddly enough, Frisk’s jacket and Sans’ bandages remained in place. They lost color, too. But it didn't fall like you expected. 

You shake yourself, stretching out your arms up towards the sky like Undyne does in the morning. This does nothing, of course. You still feel nothing. 

This is always hard to get used to. 

You shake your head. No time to think about that. It’s time to go home.

A long time ago, being left alone on Mount Ebbot would’ve been more than an issue. But you’ve learned some tricks since then. You shut your eyes, straining to find the one thing you can feel. Straining to sense your family's SOULS.

When you close your eyes super tight like this, and focus super hard, you’re able to feel where SOULS are. It’s like a big old spider web, with strings connecting every single soul to everywhere else in the world . And if you know what to look for, it’s easy to find the right string…

There!

You open your eyes, finding yourself standing in the dining room- and it’s full to the brim. Alphys, Undyne, Papyrus, Sans, Toriel and Frisk are all huddled around the polished wooden table with bowls of soup, it’s Tomato Basil, you think.

“A s-secret name? Sounds like something from a t-TV show!” Alphys comments. “So did t-they ever tell you their real one?”

Frisk rapidly shakes their head. ‘No! I think they’re a super secret agent, or something. We just called them Bud”

Oh.

They’re talking about you.

They- Frisk remembers!?

“I would not say that, I have heard of children behaving in stranger ways.” Toriel winks at Frisk, earning a giggle from them before she turns to Sans. “I do trust that Bud got home alright? I can’t imagine how they ended up there in the first place…”

Sans is sleeping in his chair.

“BROTHER?” Papyrus taps Sans’ shoulder. Once, then twice, then three times.

“huh wha-?” Sans lifts his head a bit, speaking through a yawn and keeping his eyes open for just a second. “oh yeah, bud, good, weird kid… called their parents….”

‘Yeah! That’s right’ we called their parents’ Frisk seems uncharacteristically unsure, like their struggling to remember. ‘They love their family a lot. It reminded me of you guys.’ That they did seem sure about. 

It makes your soul feel warm and hurt at the same time. You don’t like these feelings.

“Ngah! Frisk!” Undyne dramatically points a spoon at Frisk, forcing Alphys to duck her head. “Woah,” Undyne pulls back once she notices. “sorry babe”

Alphys snickers a little. “It’s o-okay” 

“ANYWAY! Frisk you little punk! You should’ve brought this new human over for dinner!” 

“AGREED! WE COULD HAVE MADE THIS INTO FRIENDSHIP TOMATO BASIL SOUP! I’M SURE THEY WOULD HAVE ENJOYED, SEEING AS THEY LIKE KETCHUP SO MUCH”

‘They promised that we’d hang out, so you can all meet them too! But they’re a little shy, so maybe not all at once.’

Hold on Frisk, you didn’t promise that. You only said you would see them again.

Suddenly, something like… guilt. Something like guilt churns in your stomach. Who are you kidding? You knew they wouldn’t have interpreted your words that way.

Sans’ head drops into his soup bowl with a thunk . 

“NYEH!” Papyrus pulls his brother’s skull out of the soup, leaving a circle of red on his face. You snicker, it’s like his telescope prank had come back for vengeance. 

Papyrus shakes him, then huffs when Sans doesn’t wake up. You don’t miss the fondness in his eye sockets. “WELL,” Papyrus wipes his brother’s face. “IT LOOKS LIKE IT’S TIME FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO MAKE HIS LEAVE.” 

He stands up, scooping up Sans with him and then holding him under one arm like a weird blue football. “TORIEL, WE BOTH THANK YOU FOR DINNER! AND IT WAS LOVELY SEEING YOU AGAIN HUMAN FRISK! CALL ME WHEN YOUR FRIEND IS READY TO BE INTRODUCED!”

Frisk waves happily at Papyrus. ‘Bye Papyrus! See you soon!”

“Of course, Papyrus.” Toriel smiles warmly. “I am always happy to cook for you all, and give Sans my regards.” She giggles. “I can tell that he is tired from his trip.”

“Me too! And g-get home safe!” Alphys chimes in.

“Yeah! And see you tomorrow for training, Paps!”

“NYEH HEH! OF COURSE, FRIENDS! GOODBYE!” Papyrus jogs out the door, but shuts it gently behind him when he’s outside. 

You sigh, and drift over to the couch in the family room. 

There’s a lot to think about.

Chapter Text

“ OH, OH, OOO. LISTEN TO MY WORDS, BROTHER! YOU WILL REMEMBER THE OTHER HUMAN’S CONTACT INFO! OOO“

‘Try longer ‘oooo’s?’

“ OOOOOO YOU WILL REMEMBER BUD’S PARENT’S PHONE NUMBERS. OOOOOHOOH . YES. INDEED! IT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN! RIGHT NOW!”

Sans follows the golden watch Frisk steadily swings in front of him with his eyelights. The little clock twirling back… and forth… and back….and.. 

Yeash. They’ve been at this for what, 20 minutes? 

He watches the small black hour hand tick to twelve. 

Yup, 20 minutes. 

“uh, kid?” Sans draws, he doesn't look away from the watch as he speaks. Frisk had insisted he keep his eyelights on it the whole time to make the whole hypnosis thing work. “i don’t think this is working”

Three days after coming home Sans had found Frisk knocking on his front door, with a request for him to call Bud’s family and ask for a playdate. And Sans would’ve been happy to do so. Frisk won’t admit it, but he knows they wish they had more friends their age. Plus, as much as monsters feel weird about humans, he doesn’t want them to be ostracized from their culture. You hanging around would be an easy way to help. He was all for it. 

Until he tried to remember your parents phone numbers.

Until he tried to remember when you left at all.

But he can’t. Nothing, Nada.

He knows, logically, that you must have left at some point. And he had to have called your parents because where else would you have gone? He wouldn’t let you just casually leave on their own, especially after that little stunt at the hotel. He’d been making sure to keep an extra eye socket on you. 

Sans was tempted to write this off as exhaustion. Teleporting around like that gets tiring after a while- and it’d been a crazy few days with watching Frisk and an extra mystery child. Maybe it’s a blur because he was exhausted? 

But it’s wishful thinking, and he knows it. If anything, his memory is too good . Same for Frisk. The kid’s made of pure energy, and has a determination fueled memory of steel. There’s no good reason for them not to remember. 

Needless to say, he’s kinda freaked out.

Frisk slumps, finally lowering the watch and dramatically flopping onto their olive green couch. The old springs creek with the force of their dissapointment. 

Frisk puts their hand up to their chin, they’ve  proposed and tried about a million different ways to restore their memories by now. From hypnosis to teleporting all the way back up the mountain and retracing their steps. Sans has no doubt that they’ll keep trying until they get to see Bud again. He isn’t sure if this is a good thing.

But he’s partial to seeing you again, too. You seem like a good kid. Not to mention helping take care of Frisk has instilled some kinda parental instinct in him, and your situation didn’t exactly scream ‘I’m okay’ . He wants you to be alright.

Frisk turns to Papyrus, who was now sitting criss-crossed on the carpet in front of the couch. ‘Papyrus, you’ve dialed every single number before, right? When you found mine? Can we try that?’

Oh boy.

—-

It’s happened again. 

It wasn’t supposed to happen again.

You clasp your hands over your mouth, pressing your back against the wheelbarrow you crouched behind- hidden away from the rest of the humans at the pumpkin patch. You can feel the crisp air on your skin. You can feel the metal against your back. You can feel your hands warm on your face. You can feel. You’re real. 

It wasn’t supposed to happen again. At least not so soon! This- this only happens like, once every other decade at most! So rarely that you barely have one solid memory of what it’s like - and now you’re real twice in one month!? This is weird. Its weird and you don’t like it at all!

Your hearts hammering in your chest, you wince at the foreign feeling. This is bad. This is so bad.

With Frisk being at school today you decided to tail Undyne and Papyrus- who were headed to a pumpkin patch. Toriel had learned about pumpkin carving on TV and, to your surprise, she was eager for everyone to try it out. Toriel normally doesn’t like scary decorations!

Everyone was ecstatic about the idea. Toriel promised roasted pumpkin seeds, Alphys has been looking for inspiration online, Undyne’s been going on about a pumpkin-mashing competition, Papyrus is determined to make the “GREATEST PUMPKIN OF ALL” and Sans is, well… Sans. He seemed content about it, at least. Even Asgore plans on joining! 

It all sounds like a super fun day that you wish you could join  that you can’t wait to watch! All they have to do now is get some pumpkins, which shouldn’t be an issue for them.

You huff a little. It shouldn’t have been an issue for you either! All you had to do was watch! But the second you floated off the back of Undyne’s pickup truck you plummeted into the ground, real as the pain in your arm from your fall.

A fierce and suspiciously Undyne-like stomp breaks you out of your thoughts. There’s- there’s yelling from the entrance of the pumpkin patch. That can’t be good.

“The hell do you mean we’re not allowed! ?” 

You blink, staring at the colorful leaves and dirt around you and your makeshift shelter. That’s definitely Undyne. You guess you’re not the only one having a hard time today.

“No can do Fishy .” An unknown gravely voice sneers in response. “You have ta have a child with you to come in. That’s the rule.”

Cautiously, you poke your head out from behind the wheelbarrow, curiosity getting the better of you. Watching other people feels safe, anyway. This way you don’t have to think about your predicament. Maybe if you just watch for a while you’ll stop being real sooner?

You see that a large burly man with red hair has put himself between Papyrus, Undyne and the Pumpkin patches entrance. He’s standing in front of the shabby wooden fence surrounding the farm with his flannel clad arms crossed. “So how about you and your monster friend go somewhere else, yeah?” 

You narrow your eyes. That… can’t be right. Glancing out past the fence you can see plenty of people without kids getting pumpkins just fine. Unless those people have invisible kids, like you.

Well, you see plenty of humans . You frown a little, this kinda thing happens sometimes. When there’s a bunch of humans and no monsters somewhere, the humans seem to have rules that mean your family can’t come in. Like a price that Frisk never seemed to have enough gold to pay for.

“ Fishy!?— ”

 Uh oh, Undyne looks super mad. She’s got that scary angry grin on. Which is fair, you think, this rule is clearly not enforced anyway, and they deserve their pumpkins!

 “—We can literally see people without kids in there getting shit! So how about you let us in BEFORE I LET THIS SPEAR IN YOUR-“

“INTO NOWHERE IN PARTICULAR!!! NYEHEH-” Papyrus cuts in, pushing himself in front of Undyne and her half summoned spear. “THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, GOOD HUMAN! EVEN IF YOUR RULE IS BIASED.”

“The rule ain’t biased - “

“Not biased my ass!”

“OKAY GOODBYE NOW!” Papyrus hastily spins Undyne around by her shoulders and starts pushing her away from the farm. He’s moving with impressive speed, definitely for the better.

Multiple thoughts hit you at once. One, this isn’t fair , it wasn’t a short drive to get here, not at all. And there weren't a lot of pumpkins left at the stores making this their only option. At this rate there could be no pumpkin carving at all!

Two, you don’t want to be left alone . You’re pretty sure you can’t find and follow souls when you're real. Which means you’ll be trapped here with a bunch of strange humans who don’t like your family. The idea makes you breath uneasily.

And three, you’re a child.  

That’s what they need to get in. 

You bite your fist, eyes darting between the pumpkin patch and the increasingly further away monsters. You shouldn’t be doing this again, it hurt enough last time. You really shouldn’t. 

You whine at yourself. Who are you kidding? Your resolve died the moment you caught Frisk.

You bolt up and start racing towards them.

“H-hey! Wait !”

Undyne whips around to face you, a snarl shadowing her face. Papyrus does the same, albeit much less snarly and way more concerned - he’s probably worried that Undyne will scare you. Luckily you stopped being scared of Undyne a long time ago.

“W-wait—” You stumble, resting your hands on your knees. The cold air makes your lungs burn and your face feel contradictorily hot. You hope that it’s a normal thing to feel after sprinting. You look up at Undyne and Papyrus. “aren't we going to get- the uh, the pumpkins?” 

Papyrus blinks, looking all sorts of confused. He checks the space behind him as if expecting someone else to be there- then back down at you. “ERM, LITTLE HUMAN, ARE YOU SPEAKING TO US? BECAUSE I DO NOT RECALL MAKING PUMPKIN RELATED PLANS WITH YOU”

“Yeah, what’s your deal!? Are you messing with us?” Undyne is clearly trying very hard not to suplex you on sight. You appreciate the effort, even though she still sounds super mean.

It takes you a second to remember to respond. “Oh- I’m your child! Y’know- the one you brought to the pumpkin patch..?” You wink just like sans does, but make it overdramatic- you don’t want them to miss it.

Papyrus kneels down toward you with his bone-brows furrowed. “MY APOLOGIES, LITTLE HUMAN. I DO NOT KNO—“

Something lights up in Undyne’s eyes. “OH YEAH” She jabs Papyrus with her elbow. “Fhuhuhu!! How could I FORGET ! YOU! The child!” She stares at Papyrus with intent. “The one that we need to get in the pumpkin patch. ”

Papyrus blinks- then his tone falls unnaturally flat. “OH! WHY YES, OF COURSE!” He pops up to stand straight and props his hands on his hips. “HOW COULD I FORGET SUCH A NECESSARY DETAIL!”

Undyne grins, something smug creeping into her expression. “Yeah, yeah. Now C’MON LETS SHOW THAT STUPID HUMAN WHO’S BOSS!”

The ground moves away from you in a flash, and then suddenly your back at the gate entrance. It takes you a little to realize you’ve been picked up. You’re now tucked beneath Undyne's arm like a football. And- Papyrus is held the same way on the other side? You stifle down a giggle.

“YOU!!!” Undyne roars once she’s in front of the red headed man. “HERE'S OUR KID!!!” You’re (very heroically) swung out in front of the big human, who stares at you in disbelief. He… doesn’t look very happy. You’d be afraid, if not for it being Undyne who’s holding you up by the scruff of your sweater. 

You can see Papyrus’s boots in the corner of your eye, Undyne must’ve put him down. “YES! WE, UM. FORGOT THEM???” A pause. “WHICH I ASSURE YOU DOES NOT HAPPEN OFTEN! WE ARE VERY GOOD CARETAKERS.”

Mr. Redhead’s eyes flick between you and the monsters behind you. “Yeah, right. That’s your kid. Y’know not sure if you folks ever heard of genetics, but monsters can’t have human kids.” He nods his head to the left. “Beat it.” 

You frown, you have no idea what genetics are. But you decided not to care because this guy is mean. You swing your arms around. “Well we’re family anyway! So- so you have to let us in or.. or else!”

“Oh yeah?” Mr. Redhead stands up straight and looms over where Undyne holds you. Suddenly, you don’t feel so brave anymore . Even with Undyne and Papyrus. “Or else what? ”

“O-or else, uhm-“ Your heart starts pounding again, you don’t know how to threaten people! You barely know how to talk to people! You bite your lip, there’s got to be something. What do adult humans hate a lot?

“….or I’ll- cry??? y-Yeah! I’ll cry super loudly! It’ll be super annoying!”

Undyne lets out a triumphant laugh. "Oh, you don't want to see this kid cry!” She gives you a little shake for emphasis. “Trust me, it'll decimate your puny human ears! You'll never want to hear again!" 

Papyrus nods vigorously, he holds up a hand. "YES, AND THEN I'LL HAVE TO PERFORM SOME (EXTREMELY COOL) PUZZLES TO CALM THEM DOWN! WHICH CAN ALSO BE RATHER LOUD AND DISRUPTIVE!!"

Mr. Redhead looks torn between irritation and disbelief. He glances back at the humans in the pumpkin patch, some of which are watching now. The sight makes you want to hide away again. 

Mr. Redhead growls.  "Fine, fine, you can go in! Just... keep it quiet." He starts to shuffle away, heading towards the red barn off to the right.

Your mouth hangs open a little in an almost-smile. You’re… really surprised. You weren’t really expecting that to work.

Papyrus put his hands to his cheeks, completely lighting up. “WOWIE! THANK YOU KIND HUMAN FOR LETTING US IN, AND ALL IT TOOK WAS US THREATENING YOU!” 

Mr. Redhead doesn’t respond, or react at all.

“Ugh, ignore him!” Undyne puts you down surprisingly gently as she starts to walk in. You follow behind her, agreeing with her sentiment. “We have some pumpkins to SMASH!” Undyne pumps a fist in the air.

You grin in return. “M’ just glad you guys can get your pumpkins! I thought it was over for sure!”

“WELL WE COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU, LITTLE HUMAN!” Papyrus pats your head, and you somehow feel even happier. “WE WOULD HAVE BEEN METAPHORICAL TOAST IF NOT FOR YOUR VALENT EFFORTS!!”

“Yeah! That was pretty ballsy of you, punk! You just ran up to us like nobody's business!” Undyne flashes you a grin. “You got some spirit, for a human!”

Your face warms a little, and you glance off to the side. You’re so so sure about that. You only acted at all because you had to. You don’t think that’s very spirit-full behavior. “Thanks Undyne, but I dunno- I just didn’t want you guys to leave without pumpkins” You offer a sheepish smile.

“PFT! That’s bull! You did something! That’s more than the rest of these people can say. So that’s what counts.” She hops on top of a pumpkin making it tilt when she does. She points down at you like she used to with Frisk from the mountain tops in Waterfall. “Now say it with me! I’M- wait a minute,” She falters. “What's your name, punk?”

“Oh- It’s Bud!” You blink, surprised by your own words. When did you accept Bud as your real name?

She throws her arm up and summons a spear before whipping it down to point at you, it’s almost nostalgic. “Now say it with me! I’m Bud and I’m awesome!!!”

“Uh, I-I’m Bud and I’m awesome!?”

“ Louder!”

You put your hands into tight fists. “I’m Bud and I’m awesome!!”

“ LOUDER!!!”

You take a deep, deep breath- leaning backwards as you do. “ I’M BUD AND I’M AWESOME!! !”

Undyne leaps into the air and lands next to you, creating a dust cloud beneath her. “HELL YEAH! THAT'S THE SPIRIT!!!”

You snort and laugh, Undyne’s energy is contagious as ever. “YEAH!—“ Your voice dyes out, turning into a raspy squeak. Ouch.

“Whoops,” Undyne laughs, picking up the pumpkin that she jumped off and hoisting it up with one arm. “Maybe that was a little too loud.”

You shake your head. That was just as loud as you could’ve hoped for. You didn’t know you could get that loud. It felt- invigorating, in a way. Like you were more real than ever. “Then I think I like being too loud”

“NYEHEH! I’M GLAD, LITTLE HUMAN!” Papyrus stands off to the side, tapping on his phone. You wonder how he uses it through those gloves. “I TOO ENJOY BEING LOUD! MOSTLY BECAUSE I ENJOY BEING MYSELF! AND I AM QUITE LOUD”

“Hey Papyrus, who you texting?” Undyne kicks a pumpkin over to him, squishing the yellowed grass in its wake. “We gotta get these pumpkins back to the truck”

“OH! I’M TEXTING WITH SANS!” He glanced at you. “HE IS MY BROTHER! HE’S BEEN SEARCHING FOR A SMALL HUMAN WHO LOOKS LIKE YOU AND IS NAMED BUD ALL WEEK!”

Oh. No.

You feel stupid all of a sudden. You forgot they know you exist. You keep forgetting that Sans and Frisk didn’t forget you completely. You should’ve used a different name!

Undyne whips her head towards you. “Wait you’re Bud!? Frisk has been talking about finding you literally nonstop! Punk, you gotta come over. They’ll probably explode from happiness, or something.”

Oh, no way. How would you explain your disappearance!? And what if you fade in the middle of a conversation!? You can’t let yourself risk this again. You struggle for words.  “Wait, no- I’m uh, I’m not-“ 

Undyne squints, leaning towards you. “So you’re a different human named Bud?”

“Uhm—“

“nope,” You hear his voice from behind you “that’s bud alright.”

“ Sans!?” You blurt out as you spin around, almost tripping over your feet. Maybe you’ve gotten too used to him teleporting, because you fully expected Sans to be standing right behind you. Instead, Papyrus has him on a video call facing towards you.

The small Sans in the phone looks like he’s outside, you can catch leaves falling behind him as he walks- probably bringing Frisk home from school. You think it’s around that time. 

“heya, kiddo. woah—!“ The camera’s image swings into a blur then focuses on Frisk, who's waaay too close to the screen. Their face lights up in recognition. You haven’t been recognized like that in a long time.

You physically can’t not smile. You laugh a little as you breathe out your words. “Hi, Frisk”

“kid” A sans-sounding voice laced with a chuckle has Frisk look away off screen. “they can’t see what you’re signing like that, hold on a sec’”

“NYEHEH!” Papyrus claps his hands together. “I KNEW YOU WERE THE SAME BUD- ESPECIALLY AFTER SANS TOLD US YOU WERE! IT’S GREAT TO ACTUALLY MEET YOU!”

“oh- thanks Papyrus, it’s uh, it’s a pleasure to meet you too— I mean,“ You trip through your words- your brain is way too frazzled to handle these conversations. 

“Dang, what were the chances?” You jolt a little when Undyne drops a heavy hand on your head. “You’re making a name for yourself now, saving the day twice in a row!”

“T-thanks, but I- uhm,“ You blank. It’s like your mind completely forgot out to speak like a ‘normal human child’. Or how to speak at all, for that matter.

“hey, give our bud a chance to breathe, yeah? don’t wanna send them running” Sans winks. “then we’d have ta’ track em down again” You wince, somehow that sounds like a promise.

“Whoops, sorry Bud. Forget you younger humans can be squishy” Undyne pulls up your head with her hand and looks you in the eyes as if she was searching for an injury. “You good there?”

You take a deep breath, trying to gather up some words. “Mmhm, I’m good. Just- didn’t expect you all to… know each other?” That’s a flat out lie. You try not to feel too guilty.

“speaking of knowing each other,” Sans cuts in. “ frisk’s asking for that playdate, here-” The phone camera blurs again, revealing Frisk standing on the sidewalk with their ruby backpack hanging of them. 

Frisk bounces up and down as they rapidly sign. ‘Bud!!! We tried so hard to find you but we couldn’t remember your parents phone numbers for some reason and so we tried a bunch of different ways to jog our memories but nothing was working and there’s way too many numbers on the surface to dial them all and I never thought I’d see you again!!”  

You stare wide eyed at the mini-Frisk in the phone. That- that was a lot of words. “Uh,”

Frisk’s, seemingly reading your mind again because they make themselves slow down their signing. ‘Do you want to come over?’

Oh.

You want to. You probably won’t be any good at playing, you’re not sure you even know how. But when Frisk and MK do it it looks like so much fun. You’ve always wanted to join. You want to so badly. 

But you can’t. You wish your family could understand that. “No, I mean, I can’t, I’m- sorry,” Your words come out strained. “I’m busy, I- I have to go home right now. My homeschooling day hasn’t ended yet,” You glance down, feeling shame build up in you like bricks. “ …Sorry.” 

Frisk’s face falls. They look so disappointed . It makes you wish you could disappear on command. You can’t believe you’ve disappointed your closest friend like that. ‘It’s okay!’ They sign. ‘You don’t need to say sorry. We can do it this weekend!’

“say, you live around there bud? cause’, paps and undyne can give you a ride back home if ya need one” You still can’t see Sans on screen, but you can imagine the inquisitive look in his eyes. In all their eyes. They’re onto you, for sure. You need to get away.

“No! I mean yes, I’m like right next door!” A nervous laugh escapes you. “No need for a ride- I need to go. I need to go now.” You instinctively fiddle with your sleeves, but force your expression to stay relaxed as you step backwards- towards the wooded looming behind the farm. You don’t know where you’ll go, but you know you can’t stay here. 

“IF YOU ARE SURE, LITTLE HUMAN! BUT ARE YOU ALRIGH—“

“ Bye !” You spin on your heel and run . Undyne yells something- and you can hear illegible chatter for a moment as you make your escape. But you can’t make out any words. That’s fine, you don’t need to know. You just need to escape. You refuse to look back at them. Not even when your lungs start to sting, or when your legs start to burn. You don’t even slow down until…

Until…

.

.

.

You stumble to the side, leaning against a tall white-barked tree dappled with dark lines. Your stomach feels bad, empty. Like it was curling in on itself and your legs feel all weird and weak. You let yourself slide down to the ground with a thump. Only lifting your head up to face the sky.

You sluggishly blink. …It’s sunnier, now. There’s rays of light shining through the orange blur of leaves. If you focus, you can feel the warm light on your skin. It kinda tickles.

A breeze hits you and you shiver. That didn’t feel good at all. You aren’t sure you like being real anymore. You also aren’t sure being gone is any better.

Maybe you should’ve said yes. If you did, you’d be home now. Maybe Toriel would make a sweet, warm pie. You could play with Frisk and MK in the backyard, making leaf piles and chasing each other around. Then afterwards everyone could watch movies on Toriel’s couch until you all fall asleep in a cozy warm pile. The thought makes you smile.

You open your eyes again, you don’t remember closing them.

You can’t do that. Sans and Frisk would’ve asked questions, they’d want your parents numbers and to know how you disappeared. And they’d want an address to drive you back home to. That, or you'd disappear randomly while you're there. Either way will raise suspicion and get you too attached.

Either way, they’ll forget you eventually.

You don’t know why or how Sans and Frisk still remember you, or why everyone else has kept the knowledge that you exist. That’s not how it’s supposed to work. When you’re gone, you’re meant to be gone . Whatever this is, whatever’s been making you more real than ever cant last. You can’t trust that it’ll last.

You curl into a ball, wrapping your arms tightly around your knees. You’re so cold. You’re so real. It’s terrifying.

You just need to… go to sleep, you tell yourself. 

Just go to sleep.

.

.

.

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P̵̿͗ͅḶ̷̃Ȩ̸͇̼͎͇̎A̶̹̯̳̔5̴̥̬͖͊̊3̵̟̠̀̓̓͛̌

̷̡̖̮̫̒L̴͙͍͊́͜ͅ1̴̜̞̺͌͗̌̕S̸̠͉̓̽͝T̸̪͔̰̣̽Ę̴̞͈͎͓̏̔̾͗Ņ̷̺͇͈̩́́̾̈́̀

̴̢̢̱̫̼̍̍T̸̼̆͜0̴̧̰̉͑̔

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Ư̴̼͙̒͊̐̈́́͑̽5̸͍̰͕̗͗̆͂̈́̽̈ ̷̡̛̯͕̦̱̯̦̄̽͛͗͠͠U̵̯̮̓̊S̷̻̆̅͛͘͜͝ ̶̡̛̟̐U̷̧̪̞̫͕̮̿͐͐̚S̷̢͈͙̩̯͋̇͋̒͊̌͑͝

F̸͙͈̦̤̄̈́̓̈͛͝ͅÎ̶̺̗͚̋̍͛̒͗͝N̸̳̉͠D̸̡̮͙͎̜̮̹̃̃̃̆

S̴̨̳̯̪͉̹͙͐̀̿̃̽̌̓T̷̡̘͝4̶̦̠̜͂̏̄̈́͛͜ͅY̵̹̞͗̔͋̓

Ņ̴̤͇̒̈͋̕0̶̨̧̳͉̭͙͍̥̈́

YÝ̶̧̤̥͎̳̩̮͇͖͍̱͈͕̟̪̺̙͇̖̜͖̫̳̲̐̑̉̈́̎̈́̀̿͆͂̀̐͒̒͐̀̽̇̈́̍̎̽́͘̕̕͘͝͠͠Ỏ̵̢͔͓̠̩̰̮͎͚̬͉͕͙̭̯̟̠͖͂̀͂̂͛̇̓̇̐̿͒̅̑̄̈́̃͆̐̎̚͝ͅƯ̶̧̠̳͙͇̲̤̤̠̤̰̫̞̝̠͕̯̞̙̬̦̯̘̻̂̒̀̿̅̄̽̄͐̾͑̈́͂͛͑͊͆̓̓̄̏̽͛̌̇͐̃̕̕͜͝͝͝͠’̵̡̧̧̧͎̙̠͇̥̪̞͎͍̹̼͈̪͓̞͋̽́͆͌͌̍̀͐͑̏̈́̋̔͌͊̓̈́̂́͛͘͘Ŗ̸̢̨̢̣̫̤̟̞̫͚͎̘̠͚͉̩͉̥͚̞̤̗̯̩̩̣̯̮̟̳̥̳̤͋̎͂̌͌͌̐̃̽̅͌͋̓̋̎̕͘E̴̛̛̮̰̺̣̍̑͗̍̌́̈́̅̒̍̑̍̂̅͗͊̊̉̒̍͋̏̂͛̉̄̀̚ͅ 

0Ự̶̡̛̼̱̮̯͚̱͉̗̺̫͖͓̰̘̜͕͕̳̝̻̩͓̞̮̮͍͚̝̳͓̲͖̜̎̌́̂́́̌̋̅̊̈̈́̓͐͛͊̈̈́̍͆̏̂̓̂̕͘̚͜͜͜͝͝͝͝ͅR̷̛̯̝̣̼̲̯̻̥̣̦̠̱̟̼͍͔̳̙͉͎̙̔̿͌͆͗̀̈́̊̏͗͗̇̒̔̀̍̐̒͆̇̑͑̕̕̕͝͠͝ͅͅͅ

F̴̙̦̘͐͊̈́́͋́̈́̌̋̍̓̍̄̏̉͆̒̈́̈́̈͌̌͗͋͊́̿̈́̕͘͜͝ͅĨ̸̢̢͎̟͕̱̰̔̊̌̈́̀̔͛̑̈͐́̾̈̿̔͌̎̀͊̈̕̕͘͜͝Ņ̴̡̥͎͓̙̭͉̞̱̥̖̻̞̲͈̺̱̺̗̤͇̳̰̮̳̹̭̾̑̓̈́̐̀̿̒̈́̐̅̐͒̈́̃̀̉͌̃̈̏̽̾͒͐̈́̊̌̾̉͋̿͘͘͝͝A̶̡̨̨͈̜̪̺̬͙͈̙̯̟̮͈̠̯̣̼͎̩̺̰͍̜̾̿͂͌̇̐͘̕͘͝L̷̢̡̻̗͕̠͖͈̹̦̗̭̦̮̞̺̝̫̟̦͎͍̮͈̖̣͈̗̼̰̬̼͕̼̟̉͌̓̊̆́̅͒̆́͌̈́̃̓̽̅̔̀̏͋͛̔̿̃̐̽̕̕͘͘͘͜

Opportunity.”

Chapter Text

You stare blankly at the forest around you, you’re still awake. It’s still dark.

The grass around you has been suffocated in sharp, icy crystals. So much so that the funny puffs of air you breathe out no longer makes a dent in it. You think your lungs might’ve frozen, too. With the way they ache as you inhale, stinging against the air. It doesn’t feel good. None of this feels good.

It all feels worse now, which is odd. You’ve been cold, and it didn’t hurt this much before, …did it?

You felt fine earlier, with Undyne and Papyrus in the pumpkin patch- and it was warmer then, too. So it’s got to be the cold that’s doing this. What else could be digging into your palms, throat and chest like this? What else could feel so heavy, so dark, so lonely?

Another shiver wracks your body and you whine in protest. You… you don’t wanna feel like this anymore, you want it to stop. You want to stop being real all the time and go back to just watching. You want to feel none of this bad icky stuff. You want whatever- whatever it is that’s causing this to happen to go away! You’d rather feel nothing at all then feel all this .

A warbling cry escapes from your lips and you pull your heavy arms up to scrub at your face- somehow, it burns. Your eyes are wet.

You want to go home.

You want a lot.

.

.

.

A light catches your eye. Something sharply bright and… getting brighter? It blares into your face and you scrunch your eyes shut- it’s so bright it hurts. You can hear movement. You curl in more.

Something shakes your shoulder, you flinch back.

“ shit - bud, are you okay?”

…

Sans?

You peel your eyes open, looking up to see that all too familiar skeleton looking down at you, eyelights flicking back and forth. He’s holding his phone, which is making that too-bright light, in his hand. 

You sniff, looking up at him in bewilderment. 

“S… San? Sans, what are you doing here?” It makes no sense at all, Sans should be sleeping (or working on his weird machine) at this hour. Not wandering the woods.

Something in his expression relaxes when you speak, and he kneels down next to you with a slight shrug. “‘could ask you the same thing, bud” He glanced to the side. “thought i might find ya out here… just wanted to check“ 

His tone softens. “so how ‘bout you? didn’t wanna go home, kiddo?”

There’s an awful pang in your chest, it makes you want to cry away all these weird bad feelings. It makes you want to have what Frisk has- you want to be told it’s gonna be okay and be wrapped in blankets and be given hot apple cider and hugged an comforted and safe. There’s so much want that it almost spills over.

“I… couldn’t.” You force out. Focus, you need to focus. He’s got to be onto you now. Normal human children go home when it gets dark, so you need an excuse. You push yourself up, hands digging into the mud, it’s cold. “m’ sorry.”

He looks- confused? Concerned? You can’t tell. It’s too dark. It’s too cold. 

Sans waves his free hand in the air a little. ah, “ya don’t havta apologize- m’ not mad at you. just confused, whaddya mean you can’t ..?”

You don’t respond for a second, because part of you wants to tell him the truth. Part of you wants to scream it out like you did with Undyne, to tell the whole world about your weird unreality. It makes your hands feel clammy, the idea of telling the truth. It’s scary. You open your mouth and-

Your hearts pounding, you can feel tears well in your eyes. You can’t . It’s like… like something in your throat stops you.

You just can’t.

“I just… can’t.” You say it in a tiny whisper, like a secret, like the world would fall apart if you were any louder.

His expression strains a little, scrunching up in the corners of his eye sockets. He clicks his teeth, somehow. “…thats okay, bud.” 

Then, his strained expression disappears. Sliding into an easy smile again. “…say, how do ya’ feel about coming over ta my place for the night? we have a spare couch, much comfier than the ground.”

That sounds so nice it makes your eyes burn, you scrub your face to get rid of the tears. He’s- he’s so mean for offering you that. You know you can’t have it! You can’t be a part of their family! They need to stop! “T-that’s not fair, Don’t say that! I can’t!” You yell as you hide your face. It’s not fair.

You hear shuffling. “shit-, hey, hey kid don’t cry, i uh, i won’t do it again?” A pause. “m’ sorry, really. didn’t know ya couldn't do that either… would your folks be upset?”

You snivel, and shake your head no. It’s just you . You just can’t do it. You wish you could tell him, then everyone would stop taunting you with the- happy safe warm together - they all have.

“huh… well i hear ya kid. it’s just a shame, y’know?” 

It is a shame. The biggest shame of all. You lower your hands a little to peek at sans- now feeling curious of his words.

He keeps talking, even though you didn’t respond. “see i was hoping you could help me make my midnight snack. i was trying ta make oatmeal,” Sans scratches his head and glances to the side. “but i forgot how”

…

…what?

You blink, resting your hands down on your lap. That… how could he forget how to make something so simple? He’s made oatmeal a million times before!

“..You forgot how to make it…? ” You mutter “But- it’s so easy?” 

Sans shrugs. “yup, completely slipped my mind, happens to the best of us”

Wait, oh no. Your eyes widen. What if you making oatmeal made him forget about oatmeal- like how he should’ve forgotten about you!? Now he can’t make it, and it's your fault!

You frown. You can’t leave him like that… you’ve got to help him, even if his weird ketchup oatmeal doesn’t taste good at all.

You wipe your face with your sleeve again, “Okay, I can help you with that… but then you gotta bring me right back here, okay?” You start to stand- but then everything gets fuzzy and you stumble.

“course kiddo— woah!” Two hands catch your shoulders, keeping you upright as the weird fuzziness fades. “bud, you alright? geez kid, when’s the last time you’ve had water?” 

“M’ fine-“ You blink your eyes shut over and over again until the darker spots fade. “And uh, I dunno..?” You’re not sure why he’s asking you that all of a sudden, but you’re starting to accept that Sans is just confusing to talk to.

Sans mutters something under his breath, you can’t figure out what he was saying. Slowly, he lets go of your shoulder, only holding onto one now. “alright kiddo, ya ready for a shortcut?”

You nod, feeling only a little nervous to go through a shortcut. You’ve never actually been in one before, not even when you traveled the underground with him and Frisk. But you’ve always wanted to see what it’s like. “I’m ready”

In a smooth movement Sans’ eye lights up and he takes a step backwards- gently pulling you with him. The ground is sucked out beneath you, like gravities tilting out from under your feet while it condenses. In a flash of Cyan-

You’re standing in Sam’s and Papyrus’s kitchen. 

It’s dark still, but so much warmer. It’s melting away at the numbness in your skin, so much so that it almost burns. But not in a bad way, or even a good-bad way, it just feels… good. You let out a little breath you didn’t know you were holding

“yeah, s’ pretty cold today.” Sans strolls over to the wall, flicking on the rightmost switch beneath the upper cabinets. You wince as the room is filled with warm light, he only turned on one- but it felt like he brought the entire sun into the room. He walks behind the kitchen stove, which is embedded in the island, and slides an empty pot to the side.

Sans waves you over. “c‘mon bud,” He winks. “this oatmeal won’t make itself”

Right, you straighten up a bit and walk over- you’re on a mission. You use Frisk’s step stool to climb up in the tall skinny seats once you reach the island. You slump a little in the seat, all your limbs feel heavy.

Sans slides a glass of water in front of you- it’s MTT brand, the ones from the hotel. Sans stole this. You giggle a little, then pause. Drinking water has nothing to do with oatmeal! 

“Sans, this isn’t part of oatmeal making. You have to put water in a bowl, not a cup.” Yeash, Sans better remember what a bowl is- you’re not sure if you can explain that.

“oh, whoops.” Sans opens one of the cupboards, pulling out an actual bowl this time. He turns his head slightly to face you while he fills the bowl with water. “hey could you do me a favor and drink that water? don’t wanna waste it”

“Oh yeah I can do that” You mutter as you pick up the tall glass of water and take a small sip- then another, and another and another until you're chugging the entire thing. You drop the glass down and gasp for air. Water has never tasted this good before! A dryness you didn’t know was in your throat flushed away, and your head feels much less fuzzy. 

“how ‘bout this?” Sans sets down a blue spotted bowl with water filled up to the brim. Itt’s practically spilling over.

You shake your head. “No that’s too much water, it’ll get all over the microwave. You have to have it like…” You move your hand next to the bowl, hovering a little under the halfway mark. “This much, okay?”

“gotcha’, this much water.” Sans taps the bottom of the bowl, way below what you just said. You huff.

“No,” You grab his hand and pull it upwards. “ This much,” You eye Sans. “and make sure it’s not in a cup”

“woah, kid. hold on a sec’,” Sans pulls back to look at his hand, there’s a brown smudge where you grabbed him. “yeash, you need a shower.”

“Huh?” You scrunch up your face. “But you don’t need to shower to make oatmeal” The idea does sound nice, you can’t remember what showering is really like but Frisk always seems more content after one. You can’t though, you’re only here to help Sans.

“maybe, but you can’t teach when you’re covered in dirt, bud.” Sans slides his hands back into his pockets. “it’s un- sans -itary”

You snicker a little at the pun. ..That makes sense, you guess. Papyrus is always adamant about having clean hands (or gloves) when cooking. 

“Mmm, okay,” You concede. “You definitely don’t want dirt in your oatmeal. So uhm- can I use yours? Then I can keep teaching you”

Sans looks a bit more relaxed now, for some reason. “sure thing bud, it’s the first door on the left upstairs. there’s clean towels on the rack”

You slide off the spin by chair with a “thank you, Sans” . Then you turn on your heels to trek upstairs. You know how to get there by heart, the layout of the house is somehow the exact same as their house in the underground. You’re pretty sure Papyrus and Sans just transported the entire house to the surface, you’ve stopped questioning how.

You reach up to flick on the light and then shut the door behind you with a click. Right, shower time.

You unwrap the bandages still on your arm and throw away the bandaids. Then, you pull off your (and Frisk’s) muddy clothes. The shower is merged with a bathtub, so you have to climb over the cold porcelain edge. You leave grayish brown stains behind you.

You fiddle with the water until it’s set to the middle bar, which is the “perfect temperature” according to Toriel. 

The feeling of warm water on your back startles you- but quickly makes you want to go to sleep, all the aches in your body seem to wash down the drain- along with the dark water. 

After scrubbing yourself down with soap and rinsing off you wrap yourself up with one of the towels on the rack. On your tippy toes you reach out and wipe condensation off the mirror. Just enough to get a look at yourself.

And…

You look so different.

Years and timelines of dirt and grime are gone, leaving just you behind. Your hair is untangled, and has lost a lot of its mass because of it. It's a good thing Sans keeps a comb around. You look so… normal, like this. You look like any other kid.

There’s a knock-knock on the bathroom door.

Sans calls out in a whisper, probably to avoid waking up Papyrus. “hey bud, i got some clothes for you. i’ll leave ‘em by the door.” 

You nod, and keep patting yourself dry with the fluffy white towel. 

“…bud?”

Right, you forgot that Sans can’t see you. Communicating is hard. You clear your throat. “Yeah I heard you! Thanks Sans” You whisper-yell back. 

A Sans sounding chuckle drifts through the door. “‘kay, kiddo. meet you downstairs.” His words are followed by footsteps, slowly getting quieter. You find yourself staring at the door for a little, it’s all nice and warm in here- it’s making you all sleepy. Maybe you could just…

No! Violently, you shake your head. You have stuff to do!

You return to drying off, and once you’re done you crack the door open- spotting the bundle of fabric that was laid out there for you. You kick them in and hold up the first item by its corners.

In front of you hangs a short and wide black T-Shirt with “Skele-dude ” printed on in white jaggedy font. The fabric’s warm in your hands, and it smells like laundry soap. You twist it around and over your head. The other item is a pair of gray sweatpants, the kind that are speckled with light and dark spots. The ends cover your feet. But you don’t mind. How could you be bothered by something so soft ? Much softer than what you’ve been wearing for the past… forever. You still want to curl up on the floor and sleep, but you resist. There’s no time lollygagging, not when you need to teach Sans.

The door glides open with a twist of the handle, leaving you to step out into the hallway. You tiptoe down the stairs, holding onto the railing as you go.

Turning the corner into the warm-lit kitchen, you see Sans sitting at the counter. You straighten up as you walk towards him, you need to get this done with so you can leave. “I’m all-“ You're interrupted by your own yawn. “m’ all done.. oatmeal time, is that okay?”

Sans slowly spins in his chair, looking at you with a raised bone-brow. “hm? who’s oatmeal ?” He glanced to the side. “never heard of her”

You’re taken aback- is his memory getting worse!? That absolutely cannot be good! “Sans, oatmeal isn’t a person! It’s-…. uh…” 

…Wait, what is oatmeal? You know it’s food, but it’s definitely not a fruit, vegetable or a meat. Maybe it’s a kind of bread-?

“—its food! Not a girl.” You settle on. 

“oh yeah,” Sans taps his chin. “my bad, i get forgetful when i’m tired“

That’s not true. Sans never gets forgetful.

“—you gotta be tired too, yeah?” He yawns, stretching up his arms with a few pops and cracks. “how about we do this in the morning?”

You narrow your eyes, this is starting to feel like some sort of Sans-scheme and you won’t have one bit of it. You can’t stay here all night, not a chance. “No, cause I’ll need to go, uh… home, just to come back here! And then it won’t be a midnight snack anymore.” Not to mention that eating oatmeal sounds really nice right now, you’re hoping he’ll let you eat any leftovers.

Sans hums for a second, looking like he’s really thinking about it. Then he shrugs it off with his easy smile. “ya got me there, bud.” He slides off the chair, hands stuffed in his pockets as he walks back over to- he’s getting a cup again!?

You clambered over to the counter, jumping into the spiny seat. This is madness! “Sans you need a bowl! ”

Sans pauses. “oh yeah, thanks bud. you’re a real hero” He puts the cup back in place and grabs a bowl.

You preen a little at the praise. If you had to choose one good thing about being real, you’d have to say getting to help.

Oh, wait no! You’re done liking being real. You almost forgot.

“Sans,” You speak up when Sans turns the faucet on. “make sure you don’t put the water up to the top. Just about half empty is good”

“on it bud,” Sans says as he returns to the counter, a bowl filled with just the right amount of water in one hand and a can of oats in the other. 

You grin. “Good job! Now you just put the oats in the bowl”

Sans drops the whole can in the bowl.

“No!” A series of giggles escape you as you sit up in your chair. Hands on the counter, you reach for the oatmeal . “Sans you gotta take the oatmeal out of the can! You can’t put metal in the microwave!”

Sans grins. “woah, you sure about that? i can -‘t figure out why we shouldn’t” 

“It’s because the-“ Wait, that was a pun! “Saaans! This is no time for joking, this is serious cooking!” You pop off the lid and pour some oats into the water. Adding a little more than your family normally does, that way Sans will have some leftovers that you can eat.

He chuckles, leaning onto the counter with his arms folded. “right, my bad. midnight snacks are serious stuff.”

You nod with a huff. Finally, Sans is making sense.

“Okay, and now we put the bowl into the microwave…” You furrow your eyebrows. How many minutes was it again? “uhm…”

“how about two and a half?”

Right! That’s what it was. “Oh yeah, good job Sans!” You chirp. “Go and put this into the microwave and then we should cut up some fruits”

Sans scoops up the bowl with a nod, depositing it in the microwave and pressing the beeping buttons. Then he pulls a plastic box of little red strawberries. Then a butter knife and cutting board from the cupboards. 

You feel a little nervous, knives can be dangerous- especially if you don’t know how to use one. That’s what Toriel says, at least. “..Um, sans, do you remember how to cut stuff up?” He probably does, but it doesn’t hurt to be safe.

“huh,” Sans lays the berries out and begins to slice off their tops with ease. “looks like i do.” He smiles. “guess i got lucky”

You lay back in your chair as Sans cuts the berries, feeling all clean and warm is making it very hard to stay awake- your minds being cornered by warm sleepy feelings. You shake your head a little, no sleeping. Not yet.

“all done, here.” Sans slides the bowl of oatmeal in front of you- you hadn’t realized he’d taken it out of the microwave. And you definitely didn’t see him lay all of the strawberries on top in a pretty looking circle. It looks really good- that caving feeling in your stomach gets stronger.

“It looks super great sans,” You smile, feeling proud of yourself and him. You might not be able to do much, but you could make a yummy looking bowl of oatmeal. 

And… Sans is smiling. You can do that, too.

“‘m glad I could help”

“me too, bud.” Confusingly enough, he pushes the spoon towards you. “welp, aren'tcha gonna eat?”

“Huh? But- you need to eat it! It’s your midnight snack, not mine” You’d love to have the leftovers, but it’s rude to eat someone’s food before they even get to it.

“nah, m’ not hungry.”

????

You throw your arms up in confusion- but only a little, they still feel very heavy.  “Then why did you make a midnight snack?!”

“just felt like it” Sans shrugs. “and i’d hate for such good looking oatmeal ta go to waste.” Sans winks. “plus, you’re practically drooling over it”

You push yourself away from the oatmeal that you were, in fact, drooling over- feeling a bit embarrassed. That was probably rude of you. You fiddle with your hands. “Are you sure…?”

“it’s all yours, bud”

With Sans’ assurance you dig into the dish- stuffing a big spoonful in your mouth. It’s warm and fruity and everything you could’ve ever imagined. It makes tears well in your eyes, you feel good. So you take another bite, and then another and another until the entire thing is gone.

That caving in feeling, which you're pretty sure was hunger, is gone now. Replaced with a comfy warmth all around you. You feel sluggish, but not in a scary way. Nothing feels scary now, not when you're curled up on a spinny chair feeling soft, warm and full.

You hardly registered being moved, the plush under your head and a heavy warmth draped over the rest of you. 

You hardly register it, but snuggle up into it anyway, content

.

.

.

“THEY’RE ASLEEP?”

“yup”

“…ARE YOU ALIGHT?”

“yeah, just… worried. …nobody’s takin’ care of them, paps.”

“...ME TOO, BROTHER. NOBODY DESERVES THAT.”

“….”

“….”

“YOU THINK SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THEM.”

“obviously, humans can be cruel paps.”

“ERM, YES… BESIDES THAT, I MEAN.”

“…”

“THEY KNEW UNDYNE’S NAME”

“huh?”

“THEY KNEW UNDYNE’S NAME. BEFORE SHE SAID IT, THEY KNEW BEFORE EITHER OF US SAID IT”

“…you sure? they could’ve overheard”

“I’M SURE, SANS”