Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Sans? I haven't seen you since- everybody thought that the human had gotten you as well"
The librarian stared in shock as Sans placed a large pile of books on the check out counter. He looked the same as always, but, if he was not mistaken, it almost seemed like Sans' permanent smile diminished ever so slightly. The corners of his face looked as if they had been dragged down, and the bags that were constantly underneath his eyes had increased in both size and darkness.

"how much gold do you want for all these books?"

"You want to buy them? Well, i guess 100g for all 10 books? They never really mattered anyway, these were some books barely anybody took out anyway, won't make much of a difference to me whether or not they remain here."
Suddenly, the corners of his smile went up ever so slightly, he seemed to have been pleased by the kind gesture.
"hey, did ya hear what happened to the queen?"

"Yes, i did. Sans, what were YOUR views on the policy the queen enstated? Especially after a human coming here, and your brother.. well.."

The smile once again diminished, he seemed to be in a uncomfortable position talking about something like this.
"well... it isn't like anything i can say will change anything, i'll be heading off now, thanks for the books."

"Catch you around, Sans."
And with that, the skeleton had again vanished into the raging snowstorm outside.

That Librarians remarks had caught him off-guard. Isn't strange for him to be so against ever seeing that human's face ever again, yet sticking by and even leaving the rest of the underground behind with the queen, when it had been her who had wanted for humans to be treated as friends, and it was her protection that had resulted in his brother's death, her promise he had kept.
Then again, there was no way she could have known about something like this, and she still didn't know that the human had killed somebody.
He had been talking to this woman through the door long enough to know enough to know she would never have let the child leave the RUINS if she'd have known what they would do.

At last, he had made his way to the entrance to the ruins, where he had planned on knocking on the door, same as usual, and the queen hopefully being able to hear and let him in. Normally, he wouldn't have truly cared about waiting in the snow until she arrived, however, under Undyne's rule and the now massive quantity of Royal Guard members that patrolled everywhere, he could get in trouble if spotting communicating to her. Most people thought he had died after Papyrus had, and he planned to keep it like that.

"knock knock?"
He could hear giggling from the other side. Tibia honest, it was nice to finally have a name and a face to the voice he had been hearing for years.
"Who is there?"
"just me, i brought some books that i thought you might enjoy, do you mind letting me in?'
And suddenly, just like that, the cold frosted air that pricked at Sans' skull was replaced by a warm, sweet scent.

"Greetings, Sans was it? I have to say, it is rather unfortunate that I must stay here in Ruins once again. It'll be better now, that I have a friend living with me."
Toriel smiled, she seemed noticeably happier here than she did back at that castle, with the weight of responsibility that came with being the Underground's ruler sat like a jeweled crown on her head.
"You know, my friend, you are much different than I expected, in all honesty, I did not even know there were skeleton monsters still around."
Sans smiled, a smile that showed understanding, as he had also expected much different from her.

"well, in all honesty, i didn't really expect my door pal to be a boss monster, let alone the underground's former queen."
"You flatter me, Sans. Also, I have to thank you for all these new books, they didn't cost you too much I hope?"
"nah, don't worry 'bout it even if they did i can only imagine how dull it'd be re-reading the same stuff over, over, and over."

It was strange, how Sans had never been here in his life, yet he still felt welcomed, or like this place was a second 'home' of sorts.
Truthfully, without Papyrus, his actual home had lost the spark of life you would feel otherwise. The sound of childlike laughter replaced by the sound of silence. It felt wrong to be there all alone, knowing that Papyrus wasn't going to be their. It felt wrong thinking that he was never going to come back.
Why, why had the kid killed only Papyrus, not a single other monster? What had Papyrus ever done to them? Did they just feel threatened from the promise of capture?
No, they had struck him only when he tryed to spare them.
He should stop, it was worthless dwelling on something he could never change. That was something Sans had learnt the hard way.

"Sans, come on, let me show you to your room. If you do not mind, you will be staying in the room my child had when they were living here."
The brats room?
"My friend, you seem on edge, I do think you should lie down, I will finish of the Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie."

Opening the door, he stood inside that child's old room. If Toriel hadn't told him before hand, it would have been pretty easy to guess this was the room of a child, with things such as fingerprint paintings, a box of toys, and small sized shoes organized into colors. It smelled of candy and flowers. The carpet had been slightly worn, and their was a small rip in the lampshade.
Finally, as he set his eyes down on the bed, which had the appearance of being seemingly untouched, he felt a yearning to just lay down, and forget about everything that was going on.

So, with his eyes set on the almost blank wall that face his bed, he felt himself slowly drift off, his waning eyes finally sliding shut.

Chapter Text

Sans woke up to a unfamiliar smell, obviously whatever it was, Undyne hadn't had the time to teach Papyrus to make it.
Quickly slinking into his filthy jacket, he slowly stumbled out of the room he had been staying in, almost tripping over his own feet while making his way down the illuminated hallway.
"Oh, Sans? Glad to see you are up, you had slept in so late. Well, I am making waffles, would you care for some, my friend?"
Waffles? Sans was familiar the concept of them, yet had failed to actually try them before.
"k, sounds good."

As he pushed the cut up, syrup drenched waffles around his plate, occasionally pulling out his fork, only to stab it in again, Sans could hear the constant droning of Toriel's voice, and the quiet clicking of the clock that sat upon the wall. He stabbed into his breakfast again, this time slowly pulling it towards his mouth, only to take a small nibble before once again resting his cutlery down.
"Sans, are you alright, is something on your mind that you would like to talk about?

"naw, nothin' i'm just not feeling super hungry or anything..."

Toriel forgets the matter, and goes onto a new subject.
"Well Sans, I remember you talking about your brother, when are you planning on returning back to him? Surely he must be missing you very much..."

Chapter Text

The fork clattered as struck the wooden table. Quickly panicking and reaching down, Sans immediately knew that Toriel knew something was up.
Finding an excuse to not have to say anything, he started shoving the dripping waffles into his mouth, sauce getting all over his clothes.
"aw man, sorry tori, i'll go clean this up."

Had she said something wrong?
As soon as she had mentioned the brother Sans had said he adored so much. Now that she thought of it, why had he wanted to come to the RUINS with her, without his brother?
On top of that, she had noticed that he had not so much as mentioned him since arriving here. Had something happened between them, or had something happened to Papyrus...
"Sans, my friend, are you alright, please do talk to me. Has something happened between you and your brother, or has something happened to him?"

Sans was in shock. It was bound to happen, of course, but that didn't stop the overwhelming disbelief and flood of emotions Sans was feeling in that moment.
It had been so incredibly hard for him in the last few weeks since that human had killed Papyrus, and the fact he was no longer in snowdin, that he could have no true happiness
while there, it in itself was a constant reminder of what had happened.
The fact he even just stood and watched the battle go down, in the last moments, as he had spared that brat.
The fact that the human didn't even harm another soul.
Honestly, these emotions were a somewhat refreshing respite from the otherwise dull repetitive stuff he'd endure otherwise.

"naw don't worry yourself, k toriel? my brothers good, i just decided to, uh, move in here for good, 'cause of all the stuff going on out there, heh."
Toriel's gaze suddenly turned dark, he could recognize that sort of stare anywhere, Papyrus had a similar look in his eyes whenever he could tell Sans was lying.
To be honest, Papyrus wasn't easy to lie to, he was intelligent, and had grown up around Sans, not to mention his social connections with people like Undyne. It was kind of comforting to see that look again.

"Do not lie to me Sans, from the way you had been talking about your brother earlier, you would have most certainly remained out there with him, through thick and thin, if there was not something preventing you from doing so.
Listen, Sans, we have been talking through that door for years now, you loved your brother very much, and I... really do want the best for you, so it would make my job easier if you would simply tell me what has happened."

Guess he couldn't really hide it anymore, huh.